Instead of scratching the desktop he leaned over and watched Orion batting a felt mouse around. Maybe Orion was becoming inspired to be more active. That would be a good thing.

Anica had followed Jasper into the living room, as he'd expected she would. She leaned over and helped him with the keyboard so he could bring up Word. She smelled really, really good. He wished she'd scratch him behind the ears. . . .

No! Forget that stuff. He didn't care about ear scratching anymore. He'd had a taste of being a man again, and he would focus all his energy on getting back to that. Once he had a screen to work with, he typed a message to Anica.

CLL LLY.

"You're right." Anica picked up her cell phone out of a holder shaped like a dragon. "I should have thought of that immediately. She'll still be at work."

Jasper was already on to the next thing. MKE POSHN.

"Right, right. Obviously we didn't give you enough." Anica put the cell phone to her ear. "I need to speak to Lily Revere. It's an emergency."

d.a.m.n straight it was an emergency. And he was . . . getting his ears scratched by Anica while she waited for Lily to come to the phone. He was also purring. s.h.i.t. He needed to knock that off, but he couldn't seem to stop the rumbling noise, especially when she scratched her finger along his jawline. Yeah, like that. Nice.

How could he react this way when he was so angry with her? Apparently his human mind could be boiling because he was trapped in a cat's body, but his cat body loved being caressed by a woman who knew exactly how to do it.

"Lily, it's me," Anica said. "Jasper changed back for a few minutes. Yeah, I know. It was exciting, except that now he's a cat again, which frustrates both of us."

As she continued to rub behind Jasper's ears, he had to remind himself why it was so bad to be a cat, and specifically Anica's cat. He recalled the thrill of manipulating the commodities market and pulling down a sizable profit. That was increasingly harder to do in this economy, but that only ramped up the challenge.

He loved a challenge. Being a pampered cat living in Anica's apartment was a sick joke compared to the life he'd had before, no matter how good it felt when she smoothed a finger over his nose.

"I need you to come help me mix up the potion," Anica said. She paused to listen. "I suppose I could do the actual mixing before you get here, but I think you need to do that chant thing. Okay, good. See you then."

After tucking the phone back in its dragon holder Anica stroked her thumb along Jasper's jaw, and he arched into her touch. "She'll be here as soon as she gets off work," Anica murmured. "In the meantime I'll mix up the brew and start it simmering. I'll make a lot this time."

He wanted plenty of that brew, no matter how nasty it tasted. But if one bowlful had given him only about ten minutes, he hated to think how many he'd have to drink to get an entire twenty-four hours. And then what? Would he have to keep chugging the stuff to keep from growing hair and claws? Had he turned into some kind of werecat?

Just then he noticed Orion lying on his side next to the sofa, reaching with his paw as far as he could underneath. The poor chump had lost his felt mouse and was too porky to squeeze under there and get it.

Anica walked into the kitchen to collect the ingredients for the potion, and Jasper leaped down from the chair to follow her. Then he glanced over at Orion, who was struggling mightily. Jasper remembered how the orange cat had valiantly attacked the retreating fairy, which had kept Anica from having to live, even temporarily, with nude paintings and X-rated upholstery.

Orion's heart was in the right place. Yeah, maybe he'd tried to kill Jasper initially, but Jasper would have felt the same if his s.p.a.ce had been invaded. Walking over to the sofa, Jasper dropped to his stomach and made himself into a very flat cat so he could wriggle under the sofa.

Once there he found the mouse right away. Funny what becoming a cat could do to a guy's perspective. Losing control of his life had made him a lot more sympathetic to the kinds of concessions Orion was forced into every day. If Orion wanted the mouse, Jasper would provide the mouse.

With a swipe of his paw he sent it skittering out from under the sofa. He had a limited view from under there, but he could see Orion pouncing on the felt toy, then rolling over and kicking at it with his back claws. Watching Orion enjoy the mouse gave Jasper a good feeling. Life in general still sucked, but Orion's playfulness had turned out to be a little spot of happiness in the middle of a swamp of despair.

After watching Jasper slurp at least a gallon of the potion she and Lily had concocted, Anica expected him to change back into a man again sometime during the night. Instead she woke at five and found him still very much a cat curled up at the foot of her bed next to Orion. The two cats weren't exactly touching, but they were lying less than two inches apart. The war between them appeared to be over.

But if Jasper was still a cat Anica hesitated to leave the apartment, and yet she needed to go into work for a couple of hours. Probably everything would be fine and the two cats would sleep undisturbed. But if something went wrong, if Jasper had some unantic.i.p.ated problem, she'd never forgive herself for being unavailable. She'd like to have someone here who could notify her in an emergency, but she couldn't make herself call Lily again.

Her upstairs neighbor Julie, the one who kept her video camera constantly focused on the street, would be awake, though. Julie slept in the middle of the day because she thought the most interesting events on the street happened between dusk and dawn.

Leaving both cats asleep on the bed, Anica padded into her living room and picked up her cell phone. Sure enough, Julie was awake and seemed delighted to be asked to do a neighborly good deed.

Thirty minutes later she was at Anica's door, dressed in her usual Goth black, her hair spiked and her eye makeup heavily applied. Anica hadn't figured out Julie's financial situation, but the girl was about twenty-two, wasn't going to school and didn't seem to have a job other than filming segments of anything interesting that might show up, doctoring them to disguise ident.i.ties and then airing them on her brother's cable show.

Julie also wrote scripts, which explained the small laptop she had tucked under one arm. To Anica's knowledge none of the scripts had been produced, not even on her brother's show. Anica suspected that Julie and her brother were living on trust funds of some sort, but it wasn't the sort of question a person asked.

"So you have a new cat?" Julie walked in and looked around.

Belatedly Anica remembered she'd never invited Julie into her apartment. They'd only talked when pa.s.sing each other on the stairs. Anica was usually careful about who she let into her place because they might become curious about the magic books and the crystal ball. Advertising her status as a witch wasn't always a wise move.

"The cat's only temporary." She prayed that was true. "I hope to find him a good home." Like his own, for example. "But he doesn't seem to be feeling all that well, so I've closed him in my bedroom."

"Oh." Julie's gaze traveled eagerly around the living room, pausing to linger on the bookshelf and the crystal ball, which Lily had magically repaired last night. "Okay."

"It's probably better if you don't go in the bedroom, because he won't know you. But I wanted someone to be around in case . . . well, in case he gets upset. Call me if you have any problems." If Jasper transformed, he'd probably put on his clothes and come out of the bedroom, which would startle Julie and bring up all sorts of awkward questions, but at least Anica would be notified of what had happened. She'd deal with the questions if and when necessary.

Julie nodded. "I can do that."

"I've made espresso, and there are some leftover doughnuts from the shop."

"Cool."

"I've left Orion out here and he's a pretty friendly cat." Anica gestured toward Orion, who was lying in the hall just outside the bedroom door, as if keeping tabs on his new friend. She wondered if maybe now that he'd decided Jasper was okay, he liked having a friend around. Or maybe he was waiting to pounce and renew the hostilities. Better to keep them separated until she knew for sure.

"Orion's a neat name. I've seen him in the window sometimes. What's the other cat look like?"

"All black."

"Like a witch's cat."

Anica couldn't tell if it was a chance remark or whether Julie was fishing for information. "I suppose, if you go with the stereotype."

"I guess it's a cliche." Julie fiddled with one of her skull earrings. "Were you having a party in your house last night? I heard some loud noises."

"Must have been the movie I loaded onto my computer," Anica said. "I probably turned the sound up too loud. Sorry about that."

"I keep forgetting you don't have a TV, just the DVD player on your computer."

"That's it."

"Listen, you know that one DVD I loaned you of my brother's show? I can get you some more if you want. It's free entertainment."

Anica nodded as she edged toward the door. "Sounds great," she said, although she'd rather gnaw off her left arm than sit through another cable show produced by Julie's brother. Her one experience had taught her that Julie's brother was a little short on editing and cinematography skills.

"See you later, then," Julie said. "Oh, I forgot. Have you heard the rumor that someone in this building is a witch?"

Uh-oh. So the eagerness to cat-sit might have been eagerness to take a look inside this apartment. Anica managed to look amused. "Somebody's been reading too much Harry Potter. If anyone around here could cast spells, you'd think they'd update the plumbing."

Julie grinned. "It is obnoxiously old. I keep expecting Moaning Myrtle to come out of the toilet."

"As I said-the Harry Potter books have us all thinking that witches and wizards are real. I'd be amazed if anyone in this building is capable of magic." And that, for today at least, was the truth.

She kept her wand in her purse, in case it was suddenly activated, but she'd begun adjusting to the reality of not having magic at her disposal.

"I'll probably give you a call in an hour or so to check on things," Anica said as she headed for the door. "Thanks again for doing this."

"No problem."

Not for Julie, maybe, but Anica hoped she hadn't just created an even bigger one for herself by letting this girl into her life.

Jasper listened to the conversation taking place outside the bedroom door. So Anica was leaving for the coffee shop. He could be really lucky and transform while she was gone. A man coming out of the bedroom would probably scare the s.h.i.t out of the girl who was supposed to keep tabs on things, but he'd figure out some story to give her.

Maybe he'd bill himself as the irresponsible brother who liked to sleep in and therefore couldn't be counted on to take care of the new cat. It wasn't much of a story, but he wouldn't worry about what this girl, whose name seemed to be Julie, would think of him. Yes, he'd really like to transform right now.

And he couldn't understand why that wasn't happening. He'd taken in enough of that evil slime to make him sick to his stomach. He thoroughly agreed with Anica's statement that he wasn't feeling that well. The transformation potion was gross. He wouldn't care, though, if it worked.

It had worked before, although not until about eighteen hours later. He'd hoped that lapping up twenty times as much would speed the process. So far, all he had was ma.s.sive indigestion . . . and nothing to do.

So in the manner of cats everywhere, he slept, until voices outside the door woke him. The hackles on the back of his neck rose. Anica's voice wasn't one of them. The person talking to Julie was that Shoumatoff person who was dead set on relieving him of his precious boys.

Julie's voice got louder, as if she and that horrible woman were coming down the hall. He could also smell tuna, which if he happened to be a real cat would probably smell like ambrosia.

"Miss Shoumatoff," Julie said, "Anica doesn't want anybody bothering her new cat."

"Anica will be grateful to me for taking care of this. I came by to see if she'd done it and renew my offer to handle it for her. Obviously she's too busy, so I'm taking charge."

"Miss Shoumatoff, I don't think Anica's going to be happy if you-"

"Of course she will."

As the voices drew closer to the door, Jasper decided he'd better head for cover. By the time the door opened and Shoumatoff the Castrator came through it, he was under the bed in the very middle. He could see two pairs of boots-one black pair that looked capable of stomping on kitty toes and another that looked as if they'd come from the Salvation Army. He could guess which ones belonged to Shoumatoff.

Orion had arrived, too, and was winding himself around the combat boots and meowing his head off. The smell of tuna was overpowering.

"I'm calling Anica," Julie said. "This is not right."

"Go ahead. I'm sure she'll be thrilled that I'm handling this ch.o.r.e. I'll bet he went under the bed." Shoumatoff's jowly face appeared, framed by the lace bed skirt. She looked like she was wearing an old-fashioned cap, sort of like Whistler's mother.

"I see you under there, you sneaky cat. Come get the tuna. Not you, Orion." She shoved the orange tabby out of the way.

Jasper was outraged that she'd push Orion around like that. Tuna or no tuna this woman was bad news, and by G.o.d he was going to do something about it.

She edged the tuna under the bed, keeping hold of the can. Once Jasper thought he had enough of her arm to work with he attacked, sinking his teeth and claws in.

It wasn't the wisest plan. She yelled, but she was more agile than she looked. She reached under the bed with her free hand and grabbed him.

Hissing and spitting, he tried to use his claws on her, but she was bigger and stronger. She manhandled him into a carrier and slammed the door, but as she picked it up and started down the hall, he heard Julie yelling something about Anica's instructions.

"Now, Julie, you know this is for the best."

"Anica said you're not to take him! Give me that!"

Jasper was flung around inside the carrier as the two women wrestled for it.

"Look, you left the front door open!" Shoumatoff said. "What if Orion got out?"

"Oh, my G.o.d!" Abruptly Julie let go of the carrier. "Orion, where are you? Stay right there, Miss Shoumatoff. Please don't leave. Orion! I can't lose both cats."

Jasper's hope faded. He doubted Orion would leave the apartment, but he knew Julie would feel obligated to track down Anica's main cat, not the temporary stray. While Julie searched for Orion, Shoumatoff headed out of the apartment.

Jasper was so screwed.

Chapter 11.

As Anica ran down the sidewalk, her shoulder purse banging against her side, she dodged pedestrians as best she could, but she b.u.mped into several people and almost knocked over an older man. She called an apology over her shoulder and kept going. She was half a block away when a taxi pulled up in front of her building.

Edna Shoumatoff came down the steps with a pet carrier in one hand. Anica was out of breath from running and her attempt to call out was worthless.

If she'd ever needed magic, she needed it now. But there was no magic and Edna was getting into the cab headed for some clinic. Anica didn't even know which one. By the time she tracked Jasper down it might be too late.

She couldn't let that happen. With a burst of speed she reached the taxi and grabbed the door as it was closing. She gripped the carrier handle with both hands and braced her feet against the pavement.

Edna peered out at her. "Anica, what's the problem?" She could barely speak as she gulped for air. "Don't . . . take . . . him."

"Someone needs to!"

Anica managed to speak without gasping. "You can't just take someone's cat to be neutered without their permission."

"You got a tomcat in there?" The cabdriver turned toward the backseat. "Poor slob. I don't think you women fully appreciate how that affects a guy."

"He's not a guy," Edna said. "He's a cat."

Technically, he's also a guy. But Anica couldn't very well say that out loud.

"Cats have feelings, too," the cab driver said.

They were gathering a crowd, and Anica was ready for this episode to be over. She reached in and grabbed one end of the pet carrier. "Miss Shoumatoff, I promise you this cat is not an overpopulation problem. Let me have Jasper back."

Edna held on to the carrier with a surprisingly strong grip for a woman her age. "No!"

The cabdriver sighed. "Make up your mind, okay, ladies? I'm not getting any richer sitting here by the curb."

Anica pulled harder. "I've made up my mind."

"So have I!" Edna jerked the carrier from the other direction.

"Oh, thank G.o.d you're here!" Julie cried out from behind her. "I'm so sorry, Anica!"