Annie XLI: Pet to the Rescue

(Chronological index: New World Order #1)

It was a week before Pet's birthday, which meant it was a week before Pet and Annie's shared birthday party. Pet had finally decided what she wanted to get her cranky roommate.

Ray had been no help. "Seriously!" Pet complained as Denise drove to the mall. "He says, 'oh, she loves you and she'll love whatever you give her.' What kinda advice is that?!?!"

"Very unhelpful," Denise agreed. "So what are you getting her?"

"I mean, I mean, it's so hard to shop for Annie. Sure, everyone gets her candy, that's easy. But it's not a surprise any more! I want her eyes to bug out! I want her to know that Pet is a force to be reckoned with!"

"And you are, Pet," Denise said. "What are you getting her?"

"I want her to remember this birthday more than any birthday she's ever had!"

"I'm sure she will! What are you getting her?"

"I was thinking of something in Brookstone."

"Good idea," Denise nodded. "What?"

"What?"

"That's what I asked," Denise persisted. "What?"

"What do you mean, what?"

"You're thinking of getting her something from Brookstone?" Pet nodded. "What. Are. You. Getting. Her?"

"Something from Brookstone!" Pet started to sound agitated.

"When she opens the package, what will she see?"

"Her present!"

Denise pulled into a parking space, took four deep breaths. "Pet. My little pet. When we get to the store, and you see the salesman, you will tell him we want to purchase...?"

"Oh, I haven't gotten that far. I'll just look around until… Denny, have you always had that tic in your cheek?"

-----

Denise walked slowly through the mall. She knew exactly where the Brookstone store was, but she was half expecting a cry of 'Oh! There!' from her pocket.

Sure enough, as they crossed something that was dripping with colorful items that Denise's mind tagged, 'New Age,' Pet squealed and pointed.

"That's not Brookstone," Denise said.

"No, but maybe they have something for ghosts."

"That's a thought," Denise agreed. She walked in, glancing at the displays deeper in the store. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to the arrangements.

A flute leaned on a rainbow colored pitcher. A house of cards made from a Tarot deck surrounded a birdcage with a plastic dragon inside it.

A little toy train ran around tracks near the ceiling. The flatcars carried a crystal ball, a non-human skull and an eagle feather.

The saleslady didn't walk up, she just seemed to appear. One moment your eyes crossed the space by the life-sized plush komodo dragon, then you looked back because you realized someone was standing there.

She looked like Mrs. Claus. Small, round, wrinkled from weathering as much as age, and about sixty teeth in her relaxed but high-wattage smile.

"Hello, hello, what are we looking for, dear?" she asked Denise.

"Actually, it's my sylph that's shopping," she replied, lifting Pet out of her pocket.

"It's for my friend, she saw a ghost or she dreamed she met a ghost after she touched the ashes and he was an okay guy and he enjoyed Annie's dad's beer, well Ray's dad, not Annie's dad, but she calls him Dad still, and gave Dad some messages from Grandpa Walt, he's the guy whose ashes were in the box and anyway, is there anything she can use to help her talk to ghosts if she wants to?"

"Um... Your friend is a sylph of course," the shopkeeper said as she turned towards a large row of overpacked shelving.

"Why of course?" Denise asked.

"Because humans would either be her owners or friends of her owners, not her friends."

"Nuh-uh," Pet insisted. "The government says that Denny owns me but our hearts say we're friends. They're not mutually disclusive."

The woman stood up with something in her hand and smiled rather condescendingly at Pet. "That's what she taught you to say."

"No," Denise said. "That's what she decided to say. And a bit of a misquote of what her friend often says. I didn't know she'd even thought of it that way. But she's not wrong."

"Hmm." She looked skeptical. Denise was just about to turn away and leave. "Well, this will help your friend." She offered a small black stone with white flecks.

"Snowflake obsidian," Denise murmured.

"Yes. It provides grounding and protection from negative energies. It'll help your 'friend' remember her dreams without opening her up to more...depressing ghosts."

"Great!" Pet said. "How much?"

"Take it, little one. On the house."

"Uh huh," Denise said slowly as Pet took the stone in both hands.

"Don't be suspicious. Everything I deal in has its own price. The universe will take care of that."

"Ah. You're trying to come across as one of those little, odd, out-of-the-way stores like in the stories," Denise said. "But I think a storefront that wasn't right next to the food court would be more out of the way..."

"Don't mock what you don't understand," the lady said in a dark tone.

"I do know that the wrinkled sales representative is usually a man," Denise fired back.

"It's NOT my FAULT!" the lady shouted. Pet flinched and Denise took a step back. "The box was full of SEX CURSES, but the idiot in Shipping... With his handwriting ANYBODY would have read SEXY CURVES! I thought it was lingerie based love potions!"

"Yeah, right, we'll be going now, thanks for the rock!" Denise made for the door as the woman ranted about quality control, computer labels and someone's pentrollship.

"Is she okay?" Pet asked.

"WAIT!"

"Here it comes," Denise said softly and turned around. The clerk bore down on them with a scowl.

But instead of asking for money she looked from Denise to Pet and back. "You still think you two are friends?"

"Yes," Denise said.

"I know we are," Pet insisted.

"Maybe you just never had a chance to find out?"

Pet shook her head. "I know how it would turn out if we could find out what you never had a chance to find out."

"Maybe,"the strange woman said. She sketched a strange gesture at the two of them. "Maybe." Then she turned and went to the back of the store.

"Huh..." Denise said. After a moment she left the store and they went on down the mall.

"She's weird," Pet said.

"Yes," Denise agreed. "But I can't wait to take Annie to that store."

"OOOOH!" Pet lowered the stone to the palm she knelt on and clapped her hands. "That's a wonderful idea!" Then she had to grab Denise's thumb as the hand twitched. "Denny?"

"I'm just... I feel... I mean, I don't feel... I should sit down." She moved sylph and stone to her pocket as she staggered towards a wide intersection of the mall's passages.

She found a bench and leaned on the back. Some sort of fashion show was going on in the intersection. A crowd watched preschoolers show off their new clothing styles.

The benches seemed to all be full. She turned around to see if there was one nearby.

Pet kept calling her name worriedly. "'S okay, Pt," Denise replied. "Jst gotta sits down an call Raynnie."

Then she tripped and fell. The fall went on for a long, long time. Lucky for her, there was a huge pink tent on the ground when she landed.

She rolled around inside the fabric for a while.

"Denny! DENNY!" Pet was hissing. Denise followed the sound. God, Pet was loud. And what was up with the pink tent? A prop for the fashion show?

Then she recognized the color. They'd made a tent the same shade as the shirt she'd been wearing. That bothered her but she didn't know why.

Pet was getting rather insistent. Denise crawled through fabric and over... stuff.

"That's not a button," she told herself. "Because if it's a button, it's the size of a big fat DVD. And I don't want DVDs to look like shiny buttons under my knees because... Because..."

Light burst into her tinted cloth prison. She looked up into the worried face of a woman she did and didn't recognize. A young blonde that was dressed just like Pet was today.

"Denny! We have to get out of here! Where's your phone?"

"Pet? How'd you get so big?"

Denise was still trying to come to grips with the moment. Pet was getting frantic. "Your phone, Denise. We need your phone. Is it in your purse?"

"It's in my pocket." She slapped at her hip. "Hey! I'm naked!"

"Yeah, yeah, you can have my clothes when we're out of sight, okay?" Pet started digging through the pile of cloth they were standing on.

Denise still hadn't gotten on top of the situation when Pet slid a giant flat box into view.

"Come on, take the other end!" the sylph hissed. The giant sylph. The angry or terrified giant sylph. Denise grabbed one end of the phone and Pet took off.

She followed the sylph's lead as they carried the box towards a large wooden building.

Denise looked up to see if there was a marquee. There was a sign saying that this kiosk was a wonderful place to start a small business in the mall...

It was... She was... "Ohmigod," she said softly. "I sylphed."

Pet led her to the bottom of the empty shelving unit. Then she lowered the phone and pushed it under the bottom of the façade.

"Drop and slide under, Denise."

"I sylped, Pet! I sylphed!"

"I know, Denny. But you can't have a breakdown out here. Get inside, we'll take care of this. Okay? Keep quiet. And...I'll give you a piece of chocolate."

Denise's eyes crossed for a second. "You don't have any chocolate."

"It's at home. You trust me, right? I always trust you when you don't have the chocolate on hand."

"Yes... You do. Okay. I trust you."

"Then SHUT UP and crawl!" Pet hissed through clenched teeth. Her owner, shocked at the forceful delivery, dropped and slid across the linoleum.

Inside, the shelves pushed up against each other. It made for a large, cavernous space. Denise looked around, hugging herself.

Pet slid the phone in a ways, then started to strip. "Here," she said. "I'm naked half the time. Put these on, maybe you'll relax."

"Pet, Pet, Pet. What am I going to do?"

"We're going to call Ray. He's going to come get us. We'll hide until he gets here. Then we can be sure that he owns you, no one else."

"Owns..." Tears welled up in Denise's eyes. Pet removed her panties and added them to the pile. Then she took Denny into a warm hug.

For all her rough edges, Annie had taught Pet that hugs should not be two people leaning in to form an A.

She actually sneered at hugs that were just touching arms to waists, looking like an H.

In Annie's mind, and now Pet's, hugs should make two people look like an I.

The full body contact Pet offered actually relaxed Denise, at least for a moment.

That allowed her to see that her pet, her 'ittle Pet, was being the grownup right now.

"Can I have the breakdown now?" she asked. Pet's head reared back to evaluate the other woman's expression.

"If you can do it quietly. We don't want any kids investigating the mouse with the screaming terrors. In fact, if you can keep it a silent breakdown, I'll give you two pieces of chocolate. 'Kay?"

"'Kay," Denise nodded. She braved a smile. Pet smiled back and kissed her. They broke apart and Denise started to pick up the clothes. "Um, thanks for this, Pet. I really... I'm not used to nudity. Not my own, anyway."

"You will be," Pet promised. She was kneeling by the wall, looking out.

"Oh, God, I will, won't I?" Denise muttered. "God help me."

Pet turned her face to the sky for a moment, "Yes, please do." Then she went back to her watching.

"What are you watching?"

"I'm watching a mall security guard walk towards your piled clothes. Hopefully, he'll see them."

"Oh!" Denise stepped towards the opening. "We can ask him to call-"

Pet tackled her owner and bore her to the ground. Denise struggled but she was held in a desperate grip. Then Pet whispered in her ear.

"Finders Keepers, Denny. You don't want to let a giant see you until it's Ray."

Denise didn't answer. She just sagged and started to cry. Pet hugged her again.

They watched silently as the guard called the security office on his radio. He reported finding some clothes and a purse. Then he gathered it all together and walked off.

"Okay," Pet said. "We know where your stuff is going to be. We can call Ray now."

"And tell him I sylphed," Denise sniffed.

"NO! Don't use that word! Not on the phone!"

"Pet, what does it matter?"

"Anyone could be listening. If a computer sets up a flag, the first woman to sylph in twenty years? Do you want to be in a lab for the rest of your life?"

Denise started to cry again. Pet alternated hugging the woman and helping her put clothing on.

Then she eased her into a corner to sit and sniffle. "I'm going to call Ray. Try not to get too hysterical in the background, okay?"

That drew a small laugh from Denise. "I promise," she said.

Pet unfolded the phone and started dialing. Ray answered. "What is it, Denise?"

"This is Pet, Ray. We need you to come pick us up. BOTH of us. Pick BOTH of us up. Right away."

"Okay," he said. Denise could almost hear him shrug. "Car trouble?"

"Sort of," Pet said. "We can't reach the pedals."

"Huh?"

"You need to come to the mall and PICK US UP!" Pet said urgently.

"You said that. You're at Regency? Find something to do, we'll be there in about an hour."

"Arrgh! Is Annie there? I need to talk to Annie, Ray."

"Sure. Hey! It's for you. Pet. Denise's car broke down."

"What's up, Pet?" Annie's voice asked.

"We're at the mall. We need Ray to PICK US UP. BOTH of us."

"Oh, my God! Really? That's... CRAP! How's Denise?"

Pet's posture sagged. She relaxed a bit when it was clear that Annie had picked up on the message.

"She's okay. For now. Come get us, please?"

"Half an hour!" Annie promised. Ray started to protest, then he got quiet. Again, Denise could just imagine the little sylph shutting him up with a gesture and a glare. "Where are you...at?" she asked.

"Security has Denise's purse. We're near where they found it."

"Okay. Right away. Tell Denise not to worry." Then she hung up. Pet turned off the phone and scurried over to sit by Denise.

"The Calvary is coming," she told her former owner. "And she's bringing Ray, too."

"I'm impressed, Pet," Denise said. "Where did the ditzy blonde go, though?"

"You don't need her. You need help." She pulled Denise into an embrace. "What you need is Annie. This is my Annie impression."

"It's a good im- Oh, God! Annie!"

"Yeah, she's coming," Pet said.

"No. What's she going to say!"

"Knowing Annie," Pet said, "she'll crawl in here, take one look at you, and say your diet's working."

"She's going to be senior sylph! She's... I'm going to have to take orders from her!"

"Silly!" Pet said. "You already do! I mean, when they're good orders and make sense or she knows more than you do. It's smart. And for now, she'll know more about being a sylph than you do so, it'll be smart to listen to her.

"You listened to me. Even though I don't have any chocolate."

"That's right," Denise said. "Because I trust you."

"Well, okay then." Pet was clearly sure all the issues were dealt with. So when she started to tear up again, Denise felt ashamed for dumping all this on her little Pet.

"Now, what, Denny?" Pet asked,

"My husband. I lost him today. I'm never going to be...with him. Not for real."

"Okay, now you're a BIG Silly." Pet slipped out of the embrace and knelt before Denise. "Ray belongs to you, Denny. He's never going to treat you like he treats me or Annie. No matter what size you are."

"Really?" Denise whimpered. "But he's known so many sylphs..."

"And he knew you before you became one. Everyone else, he met after they shrank. That's how he formed the relationships. You? You're gonna get to sleep on the big bed!"

"So you guys'll be jealous," Denise moaned.

"No more than we already are," Pet shrugged.

"Oh, no," Denise moaned.

"What the hell, Denny?"

"I'm so ashamed. I mean, this is the life you LIVE! I'm whining about becoming just like you!" She rolled away from Pet and started to stand.

That's when they heard a voice. Someone outside the kiosk. And way overhead. "Do you hear something? A voice?" It was a thunderous voice to Denise. She couldn't begin to place it in any sort of context. Not age, gender... Just giant.

"Tell Ray," Pet whispered, "bedding." Then she pushed Denise down under the lip of the shelf and took off running.

Denise was frozen in fear as she heard a different voice. "Hey! Look! She's naked!"

"Are you feral?" the first voice roared.

"It's called FREE!" Pet retorted. "And bigger men than you have tried-"

"Catch her!"

Then they were gone. Denise was alone.

------

She was still curled up where Pet left her when she heard more voices. The fashion show had ended and the crowd drifted through the mall.

At first Denise just got more scared. Then she thought that if Ray showed up, she'd never know it. She crawled slowly over the floor to the lip of the door.

Flat on the cold tile, she watched the spot where her clothes had been piled. A little bit later, Ray showed up with a security guard. He was carrying a plastic bag that she assumed held her clothes.

She almost called out her husband's name, but caught herself. People were walking by between them. She'd never make it all the way there.

"This is the spot, sir," the guard said, pointing at the ground. Denise thought he was about six feet away from the actual spot. She remembered the movie poster.

It probably didn't mean much, or it hadn't. But she realized that six feet away was now a significant distance. If she'd left footprints he'd miss them.

Her eyes teared up again. She closed them and tried to concentrate on the conversation. She should at least be able to pick Ray's voice out of the babble.

"Yeah, I'm sure it's a prank of some sort," Ray said. It was familiar and it was strange. So loud, so forceful. But the tone made her heart jump. It was him.

"Your wife's running around the mall as a prank, sir? Regency management doesn't find streakers all that funny."

"No, no. She was drinking with some friends. If they went skinny dipping in a pool, there's every chance her clothes could end up here." He wandered around the mall for a bit. He came by the kiosk, but at the wrong end.

Ray was still talking as he and the guard walked away. Denise screwed up her courage to run after him, but a sneaker slammed down right in front of her. She whimpered and drew back.

She did know that he would never stop looking until he found her. She just had to be patient. She scooted back a bit further and prayed.

She heard a slithering sound. After she finished the prayer, she opened her eyes. Annie stood there, hands on hips, an exasperated look on her face.

"Honestly, Denise! Diet and exercise OR diet pills. Not both!" Denise smiled. Pet had really nailed her friend's response.

That reminded her of Pet's fate and she burst into tears. Strong arms wrapped around her and just rocked her back and forth.

After she got the crying under control, Annie still held her.

"Okay," the older sylph said, "Ray's going to try to ditch the guard. Chipper's going to call in a few, Ray'll pretend it's you, you're naked at someone's house, problem solved. He'll swing by here to pick us all up.

"Speaking of us all, where's Pet?"

"She sacrificed herself for me," Denise said softly.

"Sounds like her. Where is she?"

"She didn't even say goodbye."

"Denise, I'm going to slap you like they do in the movies if you don't answer me. And let me tell you, it's not going to be like I slapped your ankle two weeks ago. What happened to Pet."

"She said. She said, tell Ray you get to sleep on the big bed. Because I'm the former wife. Then she ran away. So the giants followed her and I'll be safe."

Annie considered that for a few moments.

"She didn't even say goodbye," Denise repeated.

"Then she's not gone," Annie said simply. "Or she doesn't plan to be. Some of that... That doesn't all sound like what Pet would say."

"You weren't here."

"No. But... No. You're crying over nothing." She hugged Denise tight. "Of course, you still have plenty to cry over."

"Oh!" Annie exclaimed. "I almost forgot!" She pulled a satchel out from behind her hip and took out something wrapped in foil. "You'll need this."

Denise took it but just dropped it on the ground.

"No, no," Annie said as she lifted it up. "Bad girl. Do what Annie says. Unwrap it." Denise obeyed rather than pick a fight. It was a bar of chocolate as big as her forearm.

"I'm not hungry," she said. Annie shook her head.

"You haven't eaten since you shrank, right? Trust me. You need to eat something. Your metabolism is different now."

"This is too much for me."

"Okay," Annie agreed. She moved Denise to the shelf and sat down beside her. "Just take a bite or two. When you're done, we can wrap it back up for later."

Again, she wasn't in the mood for a fight. She took a couple of bites. She didn't want to be lectured so she took a few more. And another couple, so Annie wouldn't feel hurt.

Before she knew it, she was down to a shard the size of her finger.

"What the...?"

"It's one good thing about being this small," Annie said with a knowing smile. "It's almost impossible to get fat. It's all in how hard your body has to work now, to keep you warm. Or something. It was on Discovery. Or Oprah? I dunno."

Denise swallowed the last bite. It was probably her imagination, but she started to feel like she was getting warmer. "Is there another-"

Annie was already handing her a second bar.

"Thanks," Denise said softly.

"Think nothing of it," she said. "We both know that-" She stopped, visibly reining something in. Denise looked up.

"All snark aside, Denise. I am here for you. Ray will be here for you. I'm not going to say anything trite that's dismissive. Your situation sucks." She took both of the other sylph's hands in her own. "But if there's anything I can do. Anything. You only have to ask. Okay?"

"Okay," Denise said. They hugged. Denise started to cry again.

"It's okay, it's okay," Annie assured her. "Eat the chocolate. Trust me, you can cry and eat at the same time."

-------

They sat quietly and listened to people go by the kiosk for a while. In the dark, empty space, time was largely without an anchor. Denise had no idea how long Ray had been gone, much less Pet.

She wanted to kneel by the opening and look for her husb- Her ex-husband. But Annie said they were better off away from the door.

Denise watched with envy as Annie lay back and relaxed. She couldn't join her friend. She'd lost too much in such a short space of time.

She wasn't sure if she hoped that Pet had been caught and turned in or if she'd gotten away. She did hope that the little sylph would come back.

Annie suddenly sat up straight.

"What?" Denise asked.

"Listen," Annie told her. In the distance, someone was singing.

"Drink and the devil had done for the rest," the voice said.

"Yo, ho, ho and a bottle of rum," another voice near her said softly. Denise was surprised to realize it was her, singing along.

"It's Ray!" she said softly but urgently.

"I know," Annie assured her. She pulled something out of her satchel. Instead of candy, it was a big doll's eye. The pupil wobbled as she took it to the door and skimmed it across the tile.

"Eye see an upstaring orb!" Ray said. It was in his simply horrible pirate's voice. Denise had never heard anything so lovely.

A second later the plastic bag landed in front of the opening. "Come on!" Annie whispered as she dropped to the ground. Denise slid under the door like a runner scoring at home.

Then she looked up. And up. And up. Into Ray's relieved face.

"God," he said, "I thought I'd lost you." He reached down to pick her up. Annie helped her to her feet.

"Don't be scared. He's very gentle with sylphs," she assured Denise.

Giant, warm, impossibly firm but incredibly gentle fingers wrapped around her. Denise felt safe, absolutely safe in his hands. She relaxed.

When the muscles loosened up, her hold on her terror also let go. She burst into tears, holding tight to his thumb.

There was that roller-coaster feeling Annie had tried to describe as he lifted her into the air and stood. Then he walked over to a bench and sat down.

"It's okay," he started to say.

"It's NOT!" she protested.

"Well, no, but I mean, you're safe now."

"Only after Pet's sacrifice!" she wailed. He didn't respond and she looked up at his face. Through her tears she saw him look at Annie in his other hand.

"She says that Pet said to tell you, Denise sleeps in the big bed. Then she ran off to draw people away from Denise."

"The big bed?" he asked. His voice rumbled in her ears. It also traveled through his bones, vibrating in her body and shaking the air in her lungs. Annie glanced at her for any contribution, then continued.

"Denise thinks that Pet ran away. And, you know that werewolf movie? Where the witch caught the guy in his wolf form? And his wife made him sleep in the kennel?"

"I would never-" he started to say.

"Yeah, yeah. You'd let your dog-form wife sit on the couch and sleep on the bed. I know that, you know that, Pet knows that.

"Denise is feeling very scared, and fears that Pet ran away so she wouldn't be jealous."

Ray lifted his wife up to his face and kissed her very gently on top of her head. "Darling, don't be such a fucking idiot."

"What!?!" She slapped him on the nose as hard as she could. "How DARE you..." Then she started crying again. She shrank, Pet was gone, Annie didn't believe her and Ray was calling her stupid.

What more could go wrong?

Then again, part of her mind said, Ray IS the one who found us. So that much went right.

And Annie believed Pet would sacrifice herself, just not that she'd run away. And the two sylphs did know each other pretty well. Damned well. The diet joke proved that much.

Her tears wound down and dribbled off as sniffles. She looked up, wiping her eyes. Annie and Ray were watching her patiently.

"Okay," she croaked. "I'm done. Can we go look for Pet?"

"What, exactly, did she say, Denise? Right before she left."

"Bed," she replied. "Like I said, she heard the voice, she tucked me into a safe place, said 'Tell Ray, Bedding,' and-"

"OH!" Annie said.

"Yep," Ray replied. He slipped the sylphs into his pocket and stood. There was a weird dip as he picked up the bag of her clothes, then he was walking again.

Denise noticed that Annie was crowded away from her, holding the side of the pocket.

"What are you doing over there?"

"Is the hitting done?" Annie asked. "Because if it's not, revered master can take a punch better than I can."

"Oh, God above, Annie. I'd never hit you." She tried to spread her arms to invite a hug. Ray stepped suddenly to the side to avoid being hit by a running child.

She tumbled to her knees. Annie caught her and helped her up. "One hand on the pocket border at ALL times," she said.

"Got it," Denise said with a nod. She grabbed the fabric with both hands.

When she looked out again, she realized they were in Sears. Home goods. Vast stretches of fabric covered beds like football fields. Pillows looked like glaciers caught here and there.

Ray moved the middle of all the bedding and looked around. "Marco," he said softly.

"It's about TIME!" Pet shouted. Ray turned and looked down. Pet ran out from under a bed and grabbed the hem of his pants. He picked her up and put her in the pocket with the others.

She looked at Denise and smiled. "Oh, POLO!" Then she looked over at Annie. "She's crying AGAIN! What for this time?"

"Shut up," Denise moaned, taking the other sylph into a hug.

----------

"And they were all, we don't want to hurt you, and I was like, then leave me alone! I'm allergic to giants!"

Pet described her daring distraction while she was getting dressed in the clothes Annie had brought.

"Then I ran past the cash register and behind a rack and they knocked over the rack of bras and the lady behind the counter shouted for security and two women shouted that they were perverts and they said they were just chasing the naked woman and then that got the women mad.

"And they were like, no, no, the little one that was naked, and I shouted PEDOPHILES! and a woman blew her rape whistle and security took the big one in body tackle and I ran and found a mannequin and climbed up her pant leg and hid in her sock while security guy kept saying, ma'am, I have him you can stop kicking him! but she said-"

Denise and Annie were in the other pocket, listening. Ray stood patiently until she was done, nodding and exclaiming where she was particularly brave.

"She's ditzy again," Denise said softly.

"No, no," Annie said. "Just in a hurry." The sylph bent her knees a bit to sink down in the pocket. Denise followed her example and listened closely.

"There are a lot of things in the human world Pet doesn't understand. She has nothing to do with politics, for example. Most scandals go over her head. She isn't interested in the people, or their sex lives.

"She doesn't know about transmission problems or oil changes. So there are all these...things that compete for giant attention. When she does get someone to listen to her, she feels that she has to get everything out quickly before you move on to another topic."

"I never ignore Pet," Denise said. "I never stop listening to her."

"Not in all the time I've known you," Annie said with a nod. "But I know that Ray ignored me a teensy bit in high school. When the hormones made him crazy enough that even my glorious nudity couldn't distract him from the girls in tight t-shirts."

"No," Denise protested. "No, never."

"Okay," Annie agreed. "But there were other people in the house. Did Carla ever lose interest in a Pet story about what she found under the coffee table?"

"Maybe," Denise said.

"Look, I'm just trying to understand my roomie. Not looking to assign blame. However it happened, she talks like this. And giants smile and encourage her to talk. And she goes on.

"Just between us sylphs, she's more confident and relaxed. She holds her own and waits patiently for others."

"Wait," Denise said with a scowl. "Wait, I've heard her talk to you like that."

Just then, Ray slipped Pet into the pocket. "That's because sometimes, Annie makes me think she's a giant. She's like, I'm going to tell Ray-"

"Pet?" Annie said softly.

"Oh. Yeah. Well," she said to Denise. "She's confident. She seems like a giant."

"And I don't?" Denise asked.

"Well, no, not when you were crying, you didn't," Pet said. Denise blinked at her.

"Did Annie teach you candor?" she finally asked.

"No, Denny. You taught me honesty. Remember?"

"Damn," Ray muttered. The sylphs looked out of the pocket and ahead.

The space the odd little store had been in was locked up. "I knew it," Denise said bitterly.

"I could break in," Ray muttered. "See if we find anything that-"

"Ray?" Annie called up to their master.

"Yes?"

"You saw Security already once today. And you had one sylph. Now you have three. That's going to draw their attention. And one of those sylphs can NOT stand up to legal attention."

"I know, but-"

"If she wanted to be found, she'd be found, right?"

"Yes, Annie. But I-"

"You can't risk anything that will have Denise taken away from you forever."

"No," Pet agreed. She elbowed Denise in the arm.

"No," Denise reluctantly agreed. "No, it's not worth it, Ray. You're a software guy, not a cat burglar. Let's just go home."

-------

It was a quiet ride home. Denise showed a brief interest in the interior of the carrier in Ray's car. Then she just sat in the corner and stared at the walls.

Annie and Pet sat on either side of her and hugged her now and then.

Ray got the sylphs into the house and up to the bedroom. He put all three of them on Denise's pillow. "Honey? How are you feeling?"

"Tired," she said.

"Okay. Sylph's often go to sleep right after the change. Anywhere from immediately to six hours later. You might be experiencing that, or maybe shock is..."

Pet's waving arm finally drew his attention. He realized that Denise was asleep. Annie confirmed that it was a deep, deep slumber.

"Okay, I have a few errands to run. Keep an eye on her?"

"Sure, sure," Annie said, making waving gestures.

"You can't leave!" Pet shouted.

"I have to get her car out of the parking lot," he replied. "I'll get Ruth to help. But stay up here, okay? I don't want anyone to know about Denise, not yet."

"I think her boss is going to notice on Monday," Annie pointed out. "When her high heels are taller than she is?"

"I'll figure that out," he said. "Something...I'll figure something out. I just have to make sure there are no loose ends."

"What are you going to tell Ruth?" Pet asked.

"That Denise is at a party with a friend, and there was drinking and she didn't want to risk driving so they all took a cab."

"Tell her that we're with Denise," Annie pointed out. "Or she'll want to come in and say hi."

"Good. Good point," he nodded. Then he left. Pet curled around Denise while Annie took both of their heads in her lap and stroked their hair.

"Why is it a secret?" Pet asked. "I know he kept you a secret for a month, but why...?"

"He's afraid the media's going to go crazy," Annie explained.

"Oh. Are they?"

"Nuckin' futz," Annie assured her.

-------

Denise woke in the night. Sort of. It's more that her sleep got a little shallow. She was dozing on some sort of canvas. She was also spooning a warm body, her hands at his waist. She sighed and wiggled closer to it.

Another body was spooning her from behind. Her move away from that body caused it to wiggle after her. She smiled at the heat sandwich she was in the middle of.

Then some sort of thunder god started to snore. The whole canvas shook. Sleep got a lot shallower and she broke the surface.

She realized the hip under her hand wasn't Ray's. Nor was the chest pressing against her shoulder blades. She rose up on one elbow, eyes darting madly around. There was a red constellation in the sky. It said 1:05.

One, five, she thought. Genesis: God called the light day, and the darkness He called night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day. One day. One day. What does that mean?

Way, way off in the distance, the thunder god or his friend farted. A ripping explosion that shook the ground. But sounded familiar. It almost sounded like Ray.

Oh. Day one. It was still the first 24 hours of her life as a sylph. She slipped out from between the other sleepers. She heard Annie groan as her hand dropped to pillow.

Taking that arm gently by the wrist, she placed it on Pet's waist. The two scooted together without waking.

She slid to the edge of her pillow and dropped down to the sheet. Ray was sprawled across two thirds of the bed. He always expanded to fill the space available.

Denise smiled and walked towards his head. He lay still as she rose up on tiptoe to kiss his nose.

He growled and she retreated. She groped her way past the pillow, then to the very corner of the mattress.

There was a little light seeping in from the window. Enough to see the nightstand. It looked very, very far away.

But the girls did this every day! It couldn't be that far! Could it?

She bunched herself up, ready to jump.

"Be careful," Pet said softly. "If you try too hard, you'll jump all the way over to the other side. Then it's hard to stop before you fall off."

Denise turned. "It's all so different," she said.

"I wouldn't know," Pet said. "I've always been here."

"I know," Denise agreed. "Now, I really need the thundermug over in the drawer. But I'm afraid to-"

Pet grabbed Denise's arm and lifted her into a fireman's carry. With two quick steps, she leapt over the dark abyss and landed lightly on the table. She swung Denise to the tabletop right next to the ladder going into the drawer.

"There you go, Denny," she said happily. "Until you get used to being a sylph, I'll take care of you!"

"Thanks, Pet," Denise whispered with a quick hug. Then she scurried down the ladder.

Pet smiled to watch her go. All those years of being taken care of, now she could take care of right back.

Until Denny didn't need her anymore, at least. That thought wiped the smile away.

Well. They'd always be together, at least. She sat down on the edge, legs dangling, waiting patiently for Denise to come back up.



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