Julie tenatively knocked on a door in that small part of Glendale that could be considered the "bad" part of town. "MADAME SERENITY" read the sign over the door.
A short, slender black woman who appeared to be in her fifties answered. "May I help you?"
"My husband, he's disappeared. He was a cop, and he said he was going into the FBI, but nobody in the FBI will tell me anything, and I know he wouldn't have gone without saying goodbye, and the cops won't tell me anything except that he told them a completely different story, one of them gave me your card and said you could help." Julie was crying.
"Come in and have a cup of tea, you poor thing." Madame Serenity ushered her guest to her kitchen table, then made her a cup of tea. A large tabby cat stared at the intruder from the floor.
Julie told Madame about her experiences during the day and what the police had told her. Madame gave a heavy sigh. "The curse is walking again, it seems."
"What curse?"
"The transform or dare curse--you're not from here, are you?
"Frank mentioned it once--some seminar they wanted him to go to, but it sounded like a waste of time so he blew it off."
"So he wouldn't even have known what he was dealing with. . ." Madame Serenity mused. She turned to her cat. "Say hello to the nice lady, Trevor."
"Hello" said the cat.
For the first time since Frank had called, Julie clean forgot her predicament. "Your cat can talk?" she asked.
"My cat used to be the star tight end on the high school football team. I used to be a cop named Patrick Aloysius F. X. O'Duffy." She gestured to a grainy, black and white framed picture on the wall, of a big Irishman on his day of graduation from the Police Academy.
Madame Serenity gave her guest an explanation of the Transform or Dare curse.
"So you think that's what happened to my husband?"
"I have felt the curse's activity over the last few weeks. When I was transformed, the person who transformed me included that I could never again be affected by the curse--he didn't want me transforming back, you see. Anyway, the curse doesn't directly affect me, but I'm more aware of it than most people, and I've dealt with it for many decades now--I age very slowly. I think I can find out what happened to your husband, but I warn you--the knowledge will probably not make you any happier."
"Can't he be changed back, if he's been changed? Or undared?"
"Possibly, if we can get the cooperation of someone who holds the power. But possibly not."
Julie nodded. "I need to know, regardless of what we can do."
Madame Serenity picked up the old-fashioned phone on her kitchen table, and called the police department. After a short conversation with the officer on duty she turned to her guest. "They told me where your husband and his partner last visited before they came to the station. We'll start there."
She picked up the cat. "You're bringing your cat?" asked Julie. Madame Serenity grinned and tapped her nose. "Extra pair of nostrils comes in handy. You'd be amazed what they can smell and we can't."
Trevor rolled his eyes. "Looks like I get to do all the work again." he said.