He was making progress, but he wasn't there yet. He also owed a bunch of money and he'd have to make plans to cover that expense. Besides, Anica had promised Lily she could come over. They should get that obligation out of the way. s.e.x would have to wait.

"I've, uh, changed again," he said.

She gasped softly. Then there was silence. "That's good, isn't it?" she said at last. "You should have twelve hours this time. Are you encouraged? I think you should be encouraged."

Mostly I'm h.o.r.n.y. "Sure, I'm encouraged. Listen, why don't you call your sister? I'm going to take a shower." A very cold shower.

"Okay. She probably won't stay long. She'll be taking off work to come over here. Oh, I just thought of something."

"What's that?"

"You haven't been out of this apartment in days, except for that one time when Edna tried to . . . well, anyway. Would you like to go see Lily instead of having her come here? Would you like to go out?"

Jasper's first reaction was eagerness. His second was fear. Could he trust this change to hold? Because he wasn't willing to admit that fear to Anica, he put more heartiness into his answer than he felt. "You bet! That would be great."

"Good. I'll call Lily and tell her to expect us. We'll just take the bus down to the Bubbling Cauldron."

"Call a taxi." If he changed form in a taxi, he and Anica could do damage control. On a city bus, no way. He'd be an urban legend before tomorrow morning.

"All right. A taxi it is, then." Her footsteps moved away from the bathroom door.

She probably knew he was scared once he'd asked for a taxi. Oh, well. She'd sense it sooner or later. He understood how a newly hatched chick might feel leaving the protection of its sh.e.l.l. But he had to do this sometime. It would be good for him to get out. Rejuvenating.

The discussion about leaving the apartment had eliminated the need for a cold shower, so he took a hot one instead. He would have thought he'd really need a shower after all this time, but no, he was actually clean. He didn't need a shave, either. Apparently when he changed back into a man he regained the body he'd had at that particular hour on Monday.

At six p.m. on Monday he'd been leaving his condo to meet Anica at the restaurant. He'd showered and shaved after work because he'd hoped they'd end the night in her apartment and in her bed. He didn't feel at all like the same man who had walked into that restaurant.

Yet his body was exactly the same as it had been then. His fingernails and toenails hadn't grown and he still had the little nick on his chin where he'd slipped with the razor. On the outside he hadn't changed at all. No one looking at him would be able to tell that he viewed the world completely differently from the way he had on Monday.

Turning off the shower, he reached for one of the towels hanging from a hook on the wall. The towel smelled like Anica, so he took a second to bury his face in it. He wanted to spend the rest of his life with her, and yet he wondered if he was being honest with himself by thinking he could handle the concept of her magical abilities.

He had no way of judging, because she wasn't using magic now. When she'd regained her power he might be forgiven for getting nervous every time she picked up a wand. That wand, once it was operational again, would be a potent symbol of what he'd been through.

He finished drying himself and wrapped the towel around his hips before walking out into the bedroom. He hoped Anica wouldn't be there. She was too much of a temptation. Now that they'd decided to leave the apartment, he didn't want to be sidetracked. Time to face the challenge of stepping out into the world for the first time since his transformation.

She wasn't in the bedroom. She might have figured that if she happened to be there when he walked naked out of the bathroom, they'd never make it to the Bubbling Cauldron. He dressed quickly, borrowed a brush he found on her dresser to tame his hair, and walked out into the living room.

Anica was in the kitchen putting away the food she'd been cooking. Her face was flushed as she bustled around filling containers and shoving them into the refrigerator.

"You were in the middle of making dinner. I didn't think of that."

She glanced up and smiled. "No problem. I finished making it, so I can heat it up later."

"Or wait until tomorrow night. I could take you out to dinner."

She paused to gaze at him. "That's a nice offer, but the truth is, I'd rather eat here."

So would he, he realized. Being alone with her was more important than flirting in a restaurant and playing footsie under the table. "I guess we've moved past the dating stage."

"Yes, although I don't know what stage we're in."

"We're in transition," he said.

"I suppose we are." She looked at him thoughtfully. "Ready?"

He had the feeling the question had more than one meaning. "Yes."

"Then let's go."

He helped her on with her coat, something he hadn't done since leaving the restaurant Monday night. "I've loved this coat ever since I first saw it, but now I realize it could be sort of a-"

"Witch's cape?" She b.u.t.toned it and picked up her purse from a table beside the front door. "My mother gave it to me for that very reason. She has one exactly like it."

"So she's a witch, too?" He held the door for her and waited while she locked it behind them.

"Quite an accomplished one." She tucked her keys back in her purse. "My dad's an excellent wizard."

"When I first met you, you said they were out of the country." He took her hand as they started down the stairs.

"They are, but their work is in the magical realm, not the civilian sector. Oh, and by the way, they don't approve of their daughters dating nonmagical men."

That put a different spin on things. He'd been worried that her magic would be a problem for him. Apparently his nonmagical status could be a problem for her. "Why don't they approve?" He'd never been the object of prejudice before, and he didn't like it.

"They feel it causes too many problems because of the lifestyle differences. I can't tell you how many nice wizard boys they've introduced me to. I couldn't get excited about any of them. I guess it's because I grew up around magic, but being with a wizard is so ho-hum. They don't turn me on."

"Nice to hear."

"Obviously you do." She squeezed his hand as they descended the second set of steps to the ground floor. The s.p.a.ce was small and designed chiefly to house the mailboxes lining one wall.

He was happy that she'd admit that openly, but his d.i.c.k began to react to the conversation. "We might want to change the subject. I'm getting the urge to back you up against the mailboxes."

"Risky business. Anyone could walk through that door."

As if to prove her point, the door opened and Edna Shoumatoff came in wearing her quilted coat and her Cossack hat. She carried a burger bag in one hand.

She stiffened when she saw Anica. "I would ask if you've had that tomcat fixed, but I'm afraid to find out the answer." She glanced sideways at Jasper. "She has a tomcat and refuses to neuter him. Irresponsible, if you ask me."

Jasper gazed at the woman who had nearly had him castrated. He didn't think an operation so final would have been reversed when he changed back. This woman in the Cossack hat had almost ruined his life. His parents' lives, too, for that matter. They hoped he'd eventually give them grandchildren.

"I know about this cat," Jasper said. "He has issues, and now would be a really bad time for him to go under the knife."

"There is no bad time for that to happen. If nothing's been done, I hope the two of you are keeping watch over him day and night."

Anica cleared her throat. "Miss Shoumatoff, I can promise you that someone has an eye on him every minute."

"As long as he still has his b.a.l.l.s, anything's possible. But I can see you won't be budged on the matter. You might introduce me to your friend, Anica."

"I'm sorry. This is Jasper Danes. Jasper, this is my neighbor Edna Shoumatoff."

"Jasper?" Shoumatoff narrowed her eyes. "Wasn't that the name of your cat?"

"One of life's little coincidences," Jasper said. "Nice meeting you, Miss Shoumatoff."

"Something fishy's going on. I can smell it. I suppose you've heard the rumor that there's a witch living in the building."

"That's ridiculous." Anica took hold of Jasper's arm. "We'd better get going, Jasper. The cab just pulled up outside."

"You're right. Let's go." Jasper was more than happy to get away from Shoumatoff, but when he stepped out onto the sidewalk he had the strangest thought. How many stray cats are out here, afraid and alone?

He'd expected to be worried about himself and his reactions as he moved back into the stream of humanity bustling along the sidewalk outside Anica's apartment. Instead he was worried about cats. He glanced around, as if expecting them to run out from their hiding places.

None did, and he wasn't sure what he would do if that ever happened. He held the cab door for Anica and climbed in after her with a sense of relief. No doubt about it. He might regain his human form, but he would never again be the same person.

Chapter 24.

Anica held Jasper's hand through the silent cab ride to Rush Street. She could feel the tension running through him, and he spent most of his time looking out the window as if seeing Chicago for the first time.

When they were almost at the bar, he turned to her. "It's like waking up from a dream."

"I'll bet." At least he hadn't said waking up from a nightmare. She hoped that some of his experiences had been good ones. Some of hers certainly had been. "Are you doing okay?"

"Yeah, but it's very weird." He returned his attention to the view out the window. "Before I used to notice the buildings. Now I notice the alleys and the s.p.a.ces between the buildings, places a cat might hide."

"I know. I found Orion just wandering around one night. If you can believe it, he was skinny then. I'm sure I overfed him because I felt so sorry for him."

Jasper glanced at her and smiled. "Me, too. I'm a bad influence. Listen, I've been thinking he needs another cat around."

"You mean later, after you-"

"Right. Obviously not now. Later. Orion could use the exercise. He loves it when I play chase with him."

"I'm sure he does. I'll definitely think about getting another cat. You're probably right that it would be a good thing." The cab pulled up to the curb and Anica glanced out her window at the bar with the large neon cauldron over the door. She started to get money out of her wallet.

Jasper put a hand over hers. "Nope. My treat. I'm the one who wanted the cab instead of the bus." He handed money through the window separating the backseat and the front. "Keep the change."

"Appreciate it," the driver said. "You folks have a nice night."

Anica hoped it would be. She could still feel a certain amount of tension in Jasper as they left the relative intimacy of the cab and stood on the sidewalk outside the bar.

She turned to him. "You're sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine."

She didn't think he was completely fine, but who would be if he'd spent most of the past few days as a cat? "I've never mentioned this," she said, "but I like the fact that you're a generous tipper."

"I remember what it's like to depend on those tips. Now it's even more important that I tip big. I'm on a mission to do a bunch of good deeds."

"That's true." Anica had a thought and it might make Jasper less nervous if he had a goal in mind. "I might have a good deed you could do."

"Yeah?"

"Lily's developed a crush on one of her customers, a guy named Griffin Taylor. But he doesn't seem to notice her. I don't know if he'll be there or not, but he might be."

"I'm not sure how I could help that situation along."

"I'm not sure, either. I wanted you to be aware of it, though, in case something occurs to you."

"Like what?"

"I don't know. If the opportunity presents itself, say something nice about Lily, see what sort of reaction you get." She could tell he wasn't keen on this. "Or not. We'll see how it goes."

"If I screw it up, that would make me pretty unpopular with your sister. I don't want to be unpopular with your sister. I already have to worry about being unpopular with your parents."

She was encouraged by the fact he was worried about his standing with her family. That boded well for the future. "You know, we probably shouldn't meddle in this deal with Griffin." She started toward the door. "If it's meant to be it'll happen organically."

"Unless she casts a spell on him."

Anica whipped around to face him, her whole body quivering with anxiety. "She wouldn't do that, not after seeing-"

"Just kidding."

He didn't look as if he'd been kidding. She'd bet he still wasn't totally at ease with the magic issue. And she wasn't totally convinced her sister wouldn't consider trying out her magic on Griffin, either.

"Come on," Jasper said. "Let's go see how your sister handles a martini shaker."

"Okay."

"And thanks."

"For what?"

"Taking my mind off the possibility that I might suddenly turn into a cat again."

The inside of the Bubbling Cauldron was dark and filled with noise and laughter. What light there was had a red tinge to it. Jasper could see how a witch, especially one with Lily's personality, would be happy working here.

He missed his cat vision, which would have made the search for a vacant table a hundred times easier. As he scanned the room, he noted where the bathrooms were. If his calculations were wrong and he felt the change coming, he'd head for the john. He hoped to h.e.l.l his calculations weren't wrong.

"I see a table." Anica tugged him toward a far corner where a round table with two chairs sat empty.

"Perfect." Jasper had hoped for a spot out of the main flow of traffic. The noise seemed deafening after the relative quiet of Anica's apartment. Had bars always been this loud?

They'd barely had time to sit down before Lily came rushing over. "Hey!"