Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

M y long bunny ears allowed me to hear the girls, even with my bedroom door shut. Citra was grumbling at her homework. Ivy was singing in the shower. Everyone was perfectly fine, so it was also perfectly fine for me to take a little time for myself.

And ever since my first purposeful transformation yesterday, the only thing I wanted to do in the spare moments I got to myself was be a rabbit.

There was something calming about it, while also being exhilarating. It was the best thing ever, and the perfect distraction for not thinking about Hugo and my shriveled relic of a heart.

Of course now I was thinking about Hugo.

Sigh.

My phone rang.

I turned back into a person and checked my phone where it lay on my bed beside my clothes. It was a video call from Erika.

I half-threw my clothes on before hitting accept and aiming the camera up at the ceiling so I could finish getting dressed.

"Daisy? Are you there?"

The voice didn't belong to Erika. It belonged to Tess.

"Tess? Is that really you?" I said. "It's been forever."

"I'm here," she said. "Where are you?"

I finished pulling up my pants then picked up the phone.

Erika and Tess were on the screen. Seeing their faces was a time machine that whisked me back to our carefree days. They made my heart do a little dance of joy. It really had been too long since we'd all gotten together like this.

"What's new with you two?" I asked.

"Same old," Erika said.

"Work has kept me insanely busy," Tess said.

"You still haven't told us what exactly this new job is," Erika said.

"I, uh…." Tess's face turned red.

"If it's stripping or something, there's no judgment here," Erika told her.

Tess barked a laugh. "Not with my thighs."

"You have beautiful thighs," I said. "I'm sure lots of people would gladly pay to see you bare them."

She shook her head, her cheeks burning even redder than before. "It's nothing like that."

"Deep government spy then. That's why you never have cell service," Erika said.

I nodded. "And why the rooms you're in always look so gray and nondescript."

Tess pressed her lips together, suggesting we were closer to guessing the truth than we'd thought, which was kinda wild.

Surprise and disbelief swirled in my stomach. I leaned in and closely watched her expression. "You're a spy?"

"Spies can't say they're spies," Erika said. "Right?"

Tess's feed went all crackly, meaning her service right now was terrible.

With a chuckle, I said, "Is she just doing that so she doesn't have to answer us?"

"Ha! Maybe," Erika said.

Tess's part of the screen went completely black, which sucked, because we'd hardly gotten to see her at all.

"What about you, Daisy?" Erika said. "We need an update on your bunny transformation."

"Well, it's happened again a bunch of times, because apparently I can control it," I said. "Obviously, I have to keep doing it."

"That's crazy," Erika said. "Do you love it or is it scary? I bet you love it."

"I do love it. I didn't expect to, but it's awesome."

"That's so cool. We have to see."

"Well, when I change back to regular me, I'm naked, and no one wants to see that."

"You have beautiful thighs, Daisy," Erika said. "I'm sure lots of people would pay good money to see them."

I laughed. "All right, you asked for it, but when I'm naked, I'm ducking out of view, down on the floor because you didn't say you'd pay money to see my thighs."

"Fair enough," Erika said. "Now show me that bunny."

I propped the phone on the headboard and climbed on the bed. Then, standing where Erika—and Tess if she got her signal back—could see me, I focused on transforming.

Immediately I shrank down in a puddle of clothes, then popped my rabbit head in front of the camera so Erika could see.

"This is real," Erika said with an enthusiastic squeal. "You're actually a rabbit."

Believing me because she always believed me was one thing, seeing it with her own two eyes was another, I guessed.

"I bet Ivy is absolutely obsessed. Has she begged to get you to take her to the market again so she can kiss the magic rabbit, too?" Erika asked. "Turn back into you so we can talk."

I hopped to the edge of the bed and dropped down to the floor. Then I transformed into my regular self, and reached over the top of the mattress to retrieve my clothes.

"Ivy is really jazzed about it," I said. "But even if I wanted to do that, the rabbit who started this is gone."

"What do you mean, gone?"

"I mean all of the rabbits that are supposed to be at the farm are not there."

"Weird," she said.

"It gets weirder."

"Wait, what do you mean if you wanted to do that ? What could possibly be bad about turning into a rabbit?"

"Being small and vulnerable," I said. "A perfect snack to any number of predators."

"But not in the safety of your house."

She was right, but all of this was new. I still didn't know that something bad wouldn't happen. Also, I couldn't let Ivy's fate be that she could never kiss anyone or she'd turn them into a rabbit, too. She deserved better in her future than what had happened between me and Hugo.

The ache between my ribs returned at the thought of him. I hated that.

"Did I just see what I thought I just saw?" Tess asked, her voice cracking with her poor reception.

"If you saw Daisy turn into a fluffy little rabbit, then yes," Erika said.

"This is…." Tess trailed off.

I finished dressing and sat back up to see her expression. She looked pale, like seeing me like that had shocked all the color out of her.

"See, there's a dark side to all of this. Look at her," I told Erika.

"Fully disagree," Erika said.

"Tess?" I said, hoping she'd say something.

She turned her head to the side like someone was calling for her. "I have to go."

With that, she was gone. And I was left wondering if my transformation was really that horrifying to her. Was something else going on? I mean it was weird, but her reaction seemed like more than that.

"Mama!" Ivy called.

"Sounds like you have to go, too," Erika said. "Call me again soon."

"I will."

We waved at each other, then hung up. I opened my bedroom door and found Ivy standing there in the hall with a hairbrush in hand.

She flashed me a steely expression. "I'm ready."

I took the hairbrush, gave her a thumbs up, and followed her to the bathroom.

"What were you doing in there?" she asked.

"Talking to my friends," I said as we reached the bathroom.

"I heard that." Ivy stood up on the stool and watched me in the mirror. "But what were you doing before?"

Turning into a bunny. "Hanging out."

"All alone?"

"Sometimes it's nice to have a little time alone."

"I don't think so. I don't ever like to be alone."

"I know. I wouldn't really want to be all by myself all the time or anything," I said. "I like knowing that you and Citra are still here in the house."

"I'd rather we be in the same room."

"You could always sit with Citra while she does her homework."

"Uhhh."

I knew the suggestion was less than stellar as soon as I'd said it. We grinned at each other.

My phone rang in my pocket.

"Maybe it's Hugo," Ivy smiled wider.

"It's not Hugo," I said.

"How can you know if you don't check?"

Because Hugo didn't want to talk to me. I didn't say that, though. Instead, I pulled out my phone.

Chet.

I showed Ivy the screen and set the phone on the counter.

She wrinkled her nose. "Work?"

I nodded. "Definitely not as important as hair brushing time."

"I thought they weren't supposed to call you at night."

"They're not."

I kept brushing.

The phone stopped ringing. Then it started right back up again.

"Do you think it's an emergency?" Ivy asked.

"Doubtful. If it is actually important, Chet can leave a message."

The phone stopped ringing again.

I took the time to slowly work through and finish my task. Then I set down the brush. "All done."

"Another successful night of zero knots." Ivy shot her arms into the air.

There had been plenty of knots. I'd just worked them all out. "All good."

"Ivy, come see this," Citra called from downstairs.

Ivy looked to me for confirmation that we were one-hundred-percent done here.

"Go ahead," I told her.

She ran off.

My phone started ringing again.

Frustrated, I answered, "What?"

"You picked up," Chet said. "Finally."

I opened my mouth to respond, but he plowed through without giving me the chance.

"Emergency podcast session, right now. I'm calling it," he said. "Throw on your yoga pants and get down here."

I never wore yoga pants to work.

"Slow down," I said.

"We're at the studio waiting for you."

In the background, someone said, "We could break the window. What do you think one of these costs? Not that much. Like twenty bucks?"

"Do not break my window," I said. "Put me on speaker, Chet. Can everyone hear me? I repeat, do not break my window."

"We won't have to if you get down here," Chet said.

"There is no such thing as an emergency podcast," I said. "Whatever you want to record can wait until?—"

A crashing sound carried across the line.

"We'll meet you inside, Dais. You won't believe what's going on. The Tentaculoids have probed so much of the town that everyone is transforming. It's the apocalypse, and this is our time to shine."

His words barely registered above the ringing in my ears and the fury pumping through my veins.

I took a moment and a breath. It didn't help. The explosion that was coming had been building for far too long.

"Get out of my studio," I said. The words sounded calmer than I expected, iceberg cold, but completely even. "I am not coming, but I'll make sure the police are. I have spent far too long dealing with your inappropriate behavior, your endless demands and refusal to respect the boundaries I've set in place. We're done. Do not call me again."

I hung up the phone, my whole body shaking.

I just quit my job.

It was exhilarating and terrifying at the same time.

"Mama, come see! So many bunbuns," Ivy squealed.

I walked down the stairs as if my whole world wasn't exploding and joined the girls at the window.

Outside, rabbits were hopping all over the place. They filled the street, invaded gardens, and one even made a daring leap onto my car roof. Where had the furry flood come from?

Amidst the chaos, two people in sharp suits strolled around like they were on a mission. They seemed oddly at ease amid the pandemonium. Whirring sounds filled the air.

With monstrous machines rolling behind them, the suit guys aimed long tubes toward the rabbits and sucked up the hoppy invaders with gusto.

Each whoosh and thwump of the vacuums pounded in my chest like a fist.

I stumbled a step back.

And without thinking, I called the only person I could think to call—Brianna.

She answered on the second ring. "Daisy, hi. I was going to call you this evening."

"There are people in suits sucking up a whole bunch of rabbits outside."

"The Library," she said, her voice tight.

"What do I do?" I asked as I checked the locks. "I thought you said this was over."

"Don't talk to them. Don't go anywhere unless you want to be detained and quarantined indefinitely."

The girls looked at me with concern.

"Come away from the window," I told them, and waved them over with open arms.

Citra shut the curtains on her way.

"It's a contagion. Apparently the source rabbit is still out there, or it would be over. The infection can't be stopped until the source is cleansed."

"What does that mean?" I asked.

"Everything will go back to normal again soon…probably," Brianna said. "There's still one thing I need to do here first. We'll be at your place by morning. Stay safe."

We got off the phone and I looked at the girls, then back at the closed curtain.

"Apparently those are librarians, and they're gathering all the rabbits," I said. "We're going to keep the doors locked."

"But you turned into a bunny," Citra said.

"That's why we're going to stay inside, okay. Everything is going to be fine."

Except Hugo didn't know about the danger. A knot formed in my stomach. I couldn't let them take him.

"I'll be right back," I told the girls. "Do not open the door, okay?"

"Where are you going? You can't go out there," Citra said, her voice rising in panic.

"I'll be right back, I promise," I said as reassuringly as I could.

Then, without further delay, I hurried out the back and ambled over the fence.

Before I hit the ground, a dark voice vibrated through my chest.

"Hi, neighbor."