The love of Amanda Cali’s life was a cat. Now, Landon Applegate had not always been a cat, just as Amanda hadn’t always been in love with him. Amanda and Landon were the genius students of Finch Hummingbird, Mr. Finch to his students, and Trolley Cart, T.C to anyone who knew her well, the most well known warlock and witch in the magic world. Mr. Finch had discovered the two in a small town at the base of Antarctica, and had brought them back to work with him and T.C, teaching them how to use their magical powers to the fullest ability. Amanda and Landon were at totally different ends of the social spectrum. Amanda was a pure mortal, both parents having nothing to do with magic, and she lived in a normal house on Ice St. in Antarctica. Landon on the other hand, had two very powerful witch parents and lived in a mansion on Stuffy Hill. Both teens now lived in California in a large mansion right on the beach, where they practiced magic.

On the day of this specific incident, T.C had decided to take a nap and Mr. Finch had gone out to get some supplies at the store Witches Brew that was right next to the Haloweenrama and Prayery Dog’s store. The latter being a store for the average religious zealot who wanted their pets to have everything worthy of G-d, it was a remarkably popular store, considering.

“Kids, I’m going to take a nap, and since Mr. Finch is out on business, I expect no magic in this house! When I wake up I expect to find everything in the order that I left it!” T.C declared, as she waddled off to her room. She had no real reason to think that the two would disobey her, for she thought that none of her students had. The plump older woman had been teaching magic for 20 years, and had never woken up from a nap with any problems, but that was just a fluke, for it is well known to those who were her students, that when she was napping was the perfect time to try spells that you didn’t do very well.

Amanda rushed into Landon’s room saying, “Landon, I think we should practice out incantations. T.C is asleep and I really want the weekend off so I can see my friends.”

Landon, who had been hopelessly in love with Amanda ever since she had fallen down the stairs of his mansion while trying to escape his dog Fido, could do nothing but agree to help Amanda with her incantations. Amanda was elated, because the rule of the two teachers was that if you could do a spell as close to perfect as a spell could be on the second lesson, you got the weekends free to do what you like. Since Amanda’s mortal friends had been planning to go to a town concert, she was really intent on doing this well. Landon stared at Amanda with black eyes, hoping that she was seriously going to practice because Amanda had the record for short attention spans. Amanda, who knew about her rather large record, stared back at Landon with her golden eyes wide with innocence. She flicked her black hair behind her shoulder and watched as Landon pushed his golden bangs out of his eyes. Finally, he sighed and began to walk out of the room.

They went down to the practice room where they had padded floors and walls, considering how many people screwed up with spells, this was helpful. Landon stood in front of Amanda, his feet spread apart, as he waited for her incantation.

“This boy is skinny like a rat, so make him very…very…” Amanda said, her voice trailing off as she saw the white cat that belonged to Mr. Finch.

“Cat!” she shrieked without thinking. Nothing would have happened had cat not rhymed with rat, but alas, it did, and Landon Applegate was turned into a cat.

Landon was being reasonable calm about this, considering. He had been sure that Amanda would lose concentration, and there were worse things to be than a cat. He sat on the ground and stared up at her, his black eyes round saucers in his furry golden face.

“Oh Landon, I’m so sorry! I was trying to pay attention I really was!” Amanda said, her eyes watering as she reached down and picked him up. Amanda was allergic to cats and any animals with fur for that matter, so holding Landon was hard for her.

Landon purred which Amanda took to mean that he was angry, which really meant the opposite. He was really very okay with being a cat, especially since Amanda was holding him, and since she had never shown any interest in him before, this was the best it would get, he thought.

Amanda ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time. She knew that she couldn’t just reverse the incantation as it wasn’t that easy and you needed to do it perfectly to make it work. So she decided to take Landon and go down to the Witches Brew, since Mr. Finch always had a coffee after he shopped and he couldn’t possibly still be in the shop. She put Landon on the passenger seat of his car and drove as fast as possible to the shop. Mrs. Driver sat at the register, waiting for customers, and when she saw Amanda, she smiled, until she saw the cat.

“Amanda, you know you can’t bring animals in here, even familiars,” she said.

“No Mrs. Driver! This is Landon, I accidentally turned him into a cat!”

“Oh dear, why don’t you talk to T.C? She could help you,” Mrs. Driver replied.

“She doesn’t know, she is taking a nap!” Amanda wailed.

“Well then, we’ll just have to fix this,” Mrs. Driver said.

She and Amanda set to work on finding just the right incantation to bring Landon back to normal, all the while, Landon watched them with fascination.

“Can he understand us?” Amanda asked.

“I don’t think so deary, why?”

“Well, I’m so embarrassed. I’ve been in love with him forever! And he never showed any interest, I was going to ask him to help me, but this happened; now it’s so sad! He’s going to hate me!” Amanda confessed.

On the contrary, Landon felt amazing. Amanda loved him too! When he was turned back he would hug her and tell her, and then they would practice together forever until they were as powerful as his parents.

After two hours of struggle, they managed to find the right spell and quickly turned Landon back. The first thing Landon did was hug Amanda and say, “I love you too you silly girl! I’ll practice with you anytime you want! Even if you do turn me into a cat!”

Amanda laughed and hugged him back. The two climbed into the car as Mrs. Driver waved and wished them good luck in their lives. The teen love birds laughed and joked on the way home, and they didn’t even get in much trouble for being late. They stayed up late into the night, long after Mr. Finch and T.C went to bed.

“Come on, lets practice some more!” Amanda said to Landon, happiness filling her face.

“Okay,” he said.
They went to the practice room and Amanda pointed her finger as she looked at the frog pictures that Mr. Finch had brought down, smiling she turned back to Landon.

“Look, it’s like you’re my frog….oops.”