Mika looked around the stables after finishing his conversation with the mule. He felt a tingle. Damn, he thought, I kind of liked it here. It was fun. You know, I asked that mule if he wanted to be changed back, and when he didn't I left him alone. Audrey and Jess didn't ask me, they just changed me back without a by-your-leave.
Mika's childhood was a grim expanse of study, spartan discipline under the watchful eye of his magical trainer, and more study. He had had more fun in his few hours as a stableboy than he had had in a year as a student of magic. Maybe he needed more of this? Didn't he have as much of a right to a childhood as anyone else? Maybe he didn't have to be the thick-witted, deferential stableboy Robin had made him, but couldn't he still be a kid? Just for a few days. Or a few weeks. Or a little longer, depending on how it went.
No, this was crazy. He had obligations. Obligations to his master, who had treated him like a slave. Obligations to Audrey, who had seemed to think that he was best suited to be a beast of burden. Hadn't they all really been like Robin? Maybe it was time for Mika to take control over his own life.
He remembered where Jess had put the rock down. . .