Her Other Form

Callie had kept a secret her entire life - one she was forbidden to reveal to others, no matter the circumstances. But this time was different. She didn't think she could get out of this without using it. And worse-she sensed they might already have an idea of her secret.

Growing up, her parents had warned her that there were people out there who still knew about her kind and their secrets, and they would want to hunt her down, study her, and - in the name of science or education - kill and dissect her in the process. They also supposedly possessed some form of magic that could force her people to transform into their other forms.

These evil people that her parents had told her stories about were usually part of secret societies, most of which operated within older universities. Supposedly, these universities conveniently had ancient buildings with secret dungeons at their disposal, and plenty of wealthy donors ready to pledge. They maintained histories of magic long since written off as fiction by most of the world. Except for those who knew magic was real because they lived it. People like her family.

Despite her parents' grim warnings and many other efforts, Callie still insisted on attending a university. She thought her parents were paranoid, and she never actually believed their stories about secret societies, dungeons, and dissections. She couldn't accept that something like that would exist in this modern day and age. She'd never even once encountered a human who continued to believe in magic beyond their childhood.

To appease her parents, Callie had chosen a small, newer university, believing that no such institution could possibly harbor a secret society with a sketchy, hidden dungeon in the basement, used to imprison students they had drugged at a party. Because that would be ridiculous. She was, of course, wrong on all counts. She had just barely arrived at school, and she had already been drugged and caged like an animal.

She considered the possibility that her parents were wrong. Maybe this was just a serial killer's secret dungeon, in which case, escaping would be much easier since it was unlikely the killer knew her secret. Of course, she already knew that her parents had been right all along.

Imagining the lecture she'd receive from them if she got out of there alive, she cringed. Maybe being dissected wouldn't be so bad after all.

Callie gingerly sat up on the cot she'd found herself sprawled on and took a better look at her surroundings. She was trapped between three smooth concrete walls and a ceiling, with no cracks or windows on any of them, and one side made of iron bars like a jail cell. In the hall outside of the cell hung a light bulb from the ceiling, barely visible past the right side of the cell.

Getting through the bars would not be an issue for her once she was in her other form, but she would need to know if there was a way out from there or if she would still be trapped.

To her left and out of sight, she heard a metallic scraping. She froze and flopped back down onto the cot, pretending to be unconscious still, but leaving her eyes cracked open, hoping to get a look at whoever was coming. She wondered if there was a camera somewhere monitoring her, but at the least, she refused to acknowledge or interact with her captors if possible.

A single set of footsteps made their way down some stairs, a few steps more, and they stood before her cell, casting a partial shadow over her. The person then stood at the door of her cell, staring at her. They were wearing a deep red, velvety cloak that covered their face and bodies down to their shoes and carried a tray in their gloved hands. She resisted rolling her eyes, of course they're wearing some kind of creepy, ceremonial cloak, she thought to herself.

The hooded person watched her for a few long moments, making her skin crawl. She was feeling more like a caged animal on display by the second. Finally, they knelt and eased the tray through a rectangular slot at the bottom of the cell door and set the tray on the floor. Then they stood and went back the way they had come.

Once she heard the door close and lock again, Callie got up to see what they had left. The plastic tray held a cup of water and another with some sort of steaming broth. She wouldn't touch either, of course, as it was likely drugged. Or maybe it was some sort of potion to force her to transform - who knew?

Moving closer to the door, she pressed her head into a gap between two of the bars, hoping she might be able to squeeze through enough to see up and down the hall, but they were too narrow. She knew she could just transform, but she didn't want to risk not having an escape plan first, in case she was being watched.

Looking back down at the tray to see if they left her anything reflective, she had an idea. Removing the dishes from the tray first, she placed it back through the slot and set it on the floor outside the cell. Next, she poured the water into the tray. It wasn't very effective, but by adjusting the tray until it caught the light just right, she was able to see some of the details she was hoping for.

There were a total of 4 cells in this dungeon, and she was in the second cell closest to the door. She thought she could make out a small window on the wall at the end of the hall to her right. She'd guessed they'd never encountered someone with the same other form as her.

She closed her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief. Catching herself, and not wanting to draw attention just in case, she turned it into a sigh of frustration. She pulled the tray back into the cell and slammed it on the floor in a show of defeat. Then she threw herself onto the cot again, covering her face as if she were sobbing. Finally, she rolled off the cot and crawled underneath, hoping that if there was a hidden camera somewhere, it wouldn't catch what she was about to do next.

Breathing deeply with her eyes closed, she counted to ten, trying to settle her nerves. She needed to be calm and sure of herself to make the transformation. Just as she feared, her first attempt failed. She felt her skin ripple and bones shake, then nothing.

"You can do this. You have a way out," she barely whispered, not saying her other thought aloud, "If you fail, you're probably going to die".

Callie tried once more to still herself, to strengthen her resolve, to believe that she could transform. She knew she could; she had done it many times in the privacy of her home growing up. It had been a year or two, at least, since the last time she had done it. She had lost her appreciation for her other form at a young age and had no reason to transform very often. But given normal circumstances, she could do it with little effort. These were not normal circumstances.

She visualized her other form in her head and made the effort again to push her body into that form. Her back arched slightly in the limited space as she felt her skin tingle and ripple, and her back went numb, then fuzzy. Extra legs pushed out of her sides just as the rest of her body began shrinking. She felt antennae sprouting from her head, and as she shrank, palps extended from her face, and wings from her back. Then it was over, and she was much farther from the bottom of the cot than she was before. She stretched her wings and fluttered them, getting used to her other form again.

Callie heard the metallic scrape of the dungeon door unlocking again and panicked. She took flight, clumsily heading for the ceiling and out through the bars, trying to stay as high up as she was able, to avoid being seen.

Then there was the light. She had forgotten about the lightbulb, which dangled between her and her escape window. The bright, warm, magical glow pulled her in despite herself, and she hit the hot glass and bounced off after being burned slightly.

No, leave the light, get out of here, she thought to herself with force. With great difficulty, she managed to ignore her instinct and fly away from the lightbulb and head towards the window.

She turned back to see the now gigantic figures coming down the stairwell. Panic helped her escape her trance; she continued fluttering clumsily until she arrived at the window. She landed on the ledge and looked back at the people who now stood where she had been kept. There were three of them, and they were all hooded.

"Where is she?" a woman asked.

One of the figures knelt on the ground to look under the cot, then shot back up. "She's not here," he said, then cursed loudly.

They all started searching the cells in different directions.

Callie turned and tried to fly out the window, but hit a metal screen. She flopped and fluttered against it all over as quietly as she could, but couldn't find a hole or gap to escape through. So she stilled. She moved to the inside of the open window frame, hoping she wouldn't be visible. She had no idea what sorts of creatures these people were used to encountering and prayed they'd never dealt with someone who could transform into a moth before. A form which disappointed her, and she otherwise found utterly useless. But maybe today it would come in handy.

They searched all over the tiny dungeon in very little time, then came over to the window. A hand reached under the window, almost touching her, and felt around the screen. Seemingly satisfied, he pulled his hand back out.

"Could she have snuck past us and gone upstairs?" the woman asked.

They all looked in the direction of the door, and Callie took the opportunity and dropped from the window onto the bottom of one of their cloaks. She nuzzled between a fold as much as she could, then held on tight as they moved quickly down the hall, up the stairs, and out of the dungeon.

Once out of the dungeon, the building wasn't much brighter. The only lights she could see were candles burning. She winced, thinking about accidentally burning herself if she were drawn into one of those.

The room was also full of people, all without their hoods up. She twitched her wings angrily when she recognized the man who must have drugged her at the party she had been at. It was moments like that she wished she had claws or venom. Anything to defend herself with. She bitterly imagined trying to tear him to pieces in her moth form, and no stretch of her imagination could make it anything but hilarious.

"Everyone, put your hoods on," one of the figures from the dungeon barked, "the specimen has transformed and escaped." Ew, she did not like being referred to as a "specimen."

The room jumped into action, everyone covering their faces and looking around the room.

"What did she transform into?" a female voice asked.

"We don't know, but she managed to sneak past us when we were downstairs, so she's probably something small. You, go make sure the door is still shut and locked," the apparent leader ordered.

She needed to find an escape route quickly, and preferably one that was not near a candle.

The room had several windows that slid open to the side and were screened. They were quickly checked but left open. It was still hot this time of year, and the cool air coming through the windows provided the only relief in this otherwise sweltering building, which appeared to have been constructed in the 1950s and showed no signs of air conditioning.

Her ride checked under a table, which was positioned in front of one of the windows. As soon as he was done inspecting it and turned away, she fluttered off of him to hide under it. She crawled upside down to the very back of the table by the wall, then crept up to the top of the table. Carefully peaking over the table, she looked around. No one seemed to be looking in her direction, so she moved up the wall, over the window frame, and onto the screen. She started crawling all around it, trying to find a gap she could fit through.

Callie froze when she felt there was someone watching her. Scanning the room again, the humans all seemed to be occupied, and no one had spotted her. Except for the cat.

A few seconds later, a large, black and white cat was sitting on the table by the window where she was hiding. Callie was near the top of the screen, currently out of reach, but she knew there was little safety in that. She remained still, trying not to provoke the cat any further. But its pupils dilated completely anyway, which she knew from experience was a bad sign.

She considered turning back into her human form, but she was heavily outnumbered and not entirely sure where she was. Instead, she decided to continue, slowly, to check the screen for weaknesses. The cat's tail twitched slightly, and she froze again.

"Hey," she heard someone nearby call out, "could she have transformed into a moth?" One of the robed figures stood near the window, following the gaze of the cat as it stared at her. She never noticed him approach.

A few others gathered around to see for themselves.

"Catch it, but be careful not to damage it," the leader ordered.

That was when all hell broke loose.

One person wrapped their hands around the cat to hold it still, while another reached toward Callie.

There was a scream followed by obscenities hurled at the "demon cat."

The person reaching for her dodged sideways and tripped over their robes as the cat leapt in Callie's direction.

Callie darted right, flitting to the far edge of the screen, just missing the sharp claws.

The cat hung from the screen for a moment, wild eyes locking onto hers. Just as a crack sounded and the screen gave way. It tipped forward, taking Callie and the cat with it. Callie took flight immediately, while her savior toppled to the ground, still holding onto the screen.

She flew as high as she dared, skimming the tree tops and letting the glow of the moon draw her onward.

Relief flooded through her, but she knew it would be short-lived. She was alive, but she would have to watch her back carefully from now on. They probably all knew what she looked like, but she'd only seen a few of their faces.

The right thing to do, at least according to her parents, would be to leave school and run home, let her family give up their lives, and be forced into hiding.

But Callie didn't feel like running. She wasn't about to give up the money she had already invested in her tuition, her future, or her life either.

Besides, she knew a few magic tricks of her own. Next time they tried to mess with her, she'd be prepared.