Two furry, pink-pawed creatures with sharp claws face each other on a glowing green floor in a dark, cave-like room with a castle in the background, with two slippers nearby.

One chilly, pitch-black midnight, when the whole house felt like it was holding its breath for something it remembered but I did not, the swap finally happened—quietly, as if it had been waiting for years. Pop. A thin spark of green light flashed across my ceiling like fierce lightning, leaving a shivering glow. The whole room gave a quiet, shuddering shake, as if something unseen had just stepped through from a place never meant to be found by anyone still alive. YAY! This was totally the BEST thing that could ever happen to me!! I almost burst with excitement—but even inside my joy, a thin, icy thread crept up my spine, as if the house itself had just opened one slow, ancient eye and was watching to see what I dared to do next. I had spoken to the dark for years, and tonight, something finally spoke back. I was small. I was grey. I was free. Suddenly, my familiar bedroom stretched and twisted into a towering castle of shadows. My slippers loomed as big as shiny cars parked in the dark. My tall bed rose above me like a steep, wooden mountain. I looked down at my human hands, but they were gone. In their place were four tiny, pink paws with sharp, needle-like claws. Scritch, scratch, padded my new paws on the cold, hard wooden floor, like secret writing only the house could read. Soft, velvety grey fur wrapped around me, and long, sensitive whiskers twitched in the heavy, waiting air. With every step, a tingle of something ancient and magical crawled along my paws, like a Mehr sehen