For the first thirty minutes after this, I thought I was the cleverest man alive.
Runt yipped irritatingly non-stop, but the fact that he kept this up so long showed there was nothing worse he could do. Well, he could've tried
to bite me, but I was a lot bigger than he was. I had tricked the demon and I felt invincible.
At minute thirty-one, Runt was starting to calm down. I had finished eating a bowl of instant noodles when my phone rang. I let it go to the
answer-machine. It was my boss. He asked if I could do a shift that evening. It suddenly hit me that there was no way for my to change back
human. I couldn't change myself. The only one who could change me was Runt and there was no chance he'd do that now. Runt the
chihuahua's silent brooding told me he had worked this out too.
I went into the bedroom and found my work uniform. I found I could balance the hat in such a way that covered the horns, but it didn't feel
very stable. And my tail formed a very visible crease in my trousers. But worse than this, the clothes felt so uncomfortable. I felt hot and itchy
and just plain wrong. I couldn't bear it. I ripped the uniform off in a fury. With it in tatters around me, it was clear that I wouldn't be making
that shift.
I heard a noise in the other room. Thinking Runt was up to no good, I ran to catch him in the act.
"If you're not being a good dog, I swear-"
The chihuahua was cowering in the corner. In the center of the room was a tall woman. She was radiantly beautiful, with long golden hair.
Aside from a quiver on her shoulder and a sword on her waist, she was completely naked. Behind her were spread two large, pearly wings and
a bright halo was suspended over her head. She raised her bow at me.
"You are the Imp that escaped last night?" she demanded.
I gulped.