"Oh for heaven's sake, I'm no longer giving you a choice!" The female voice snaps and extends her hand so half
of her arm could be seen. The sleeve of a red and black striped jumper peeps from vortex, rolled up and
slightly dirty. Before you can move, it takes a hold of you and yanks you up, through the vortex.
A wave of nausea spreads through your small, furry body as the colours fly around. You are forced to shut your
tiny black eyes to keep your sanity from slipping away. But something is different about this trip. You don't
feel yourself changing, and there is a wonderful warmth from the beautiful young hand that encompasses you,
grasping you tightly and protectively. You sigh, enjoying the silky softness of her pale skin against your
dark brown fur.
But then it ends. You are plunged from the journey of colours back into the real world, where time is moving
as it should, and everything is logical. Or at least, it was. You feel the warmth of her hand slip away and a
hard, flat object appears beneath you. You slowly open your eyes and look around at the room, seeing the
wooden table you now sit on in the middle, a large bookcase taking over one dark stone wall, another being
covered with large posters containing strange diagrams and odd, magical paraphernalia. In front of you,
closing a vortex, is a familiar face that, despite everything else, you are glad to see.
Once the hypnotic swirls are gone from the floor, she looks to you and smiles gently, her soft red lips
parting. You stare at each other for a while, neither of you moving. Then she shuts her eyes and walks to the
bookcase.
"Your journey to the lake is too dangerous right now." She says whilst searching through row upon row of
books. "Because of your carelessness, the Order has found you travelling and shifting, and they don't like
people travelling and shifting. It's what they do, and they want to keep it exclusive. We've got to get you
back to normal and get you out of here. Disguised or something. I don't know. But they'll find you. We just
need to hold them off for long enough so we can get a reasonable case together…" She continues to talk, but
you don't listen. Your eyes wander about the room as confusion sets in. You find yourself staring at an odd
metal rod, split into four parts, each with a different colour on. Your mind takes in many possibilities: