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  She ducked into the storeroom and down a long aisle to where the transformation potions were kept. She would have never guessed in a million years that her familiar would have used a transformation potion, although it made a certain amount of sense now that she thought about it. Halloween was the time when Terrique transformed from her usual cat form to human.

  But why a dog? Terrique hated dogs.

  “Because he couldn’t keep his paws off me.”

  Terrique was stretched out on top of the box that held all the ingredients Tabby needed to break the transformation spell. Her front paws were crossed in something Tabby thought of as her diva look. She had a snooty look on her face and tip of her tail was twitching.

  “I was going to turn him into a cat,” Terrique said. “I know how you love cats.”

  Not so much at this moment, Tabby thought.

  “I heard that.” Terrique’s tail flipped over her back before it beat a rhythm on the box. “Anyway, I’m not sure who disappointed me the most. This man, because he’s such a hound dog, I believe the expression is. Or you, because you’ve allowed yourself to form a connection with him.”

  The dog in her store was the man she’d been daydreaming about? The literal man of her dreams?

  And he’d thrown himself at Terrique?

  Well, of course he had.

  “You went out looking like me!” Tabby threw up her hands in exasperation. “And in that outfit. What did you expect? I wouldn’t even wear something like that.”

  “That was the point.”

  “Augh!”

  Tabby didn’t have the time or the energy for this. “Off the box,” she said. “I need to break your spell before that poor man out there becomes a dog for real.”

  The spell had lasted beyond sunrise, which meant Terrique must have given him a double dose. Or, heaven forbid, a triple dose. If that was the case, Tabby didn’t have much time and neither did her fantasy man.

  Terrique took her sweet time stretching, but she eventually sauntered off the box. Tabby ripped open the top and sorted through ingredients as fast as she could.

  Show tunes sung in her familiar’s off-key caterwauling started playing in her mind.

  “I am going to cut you off catnip,” she said.

  “Idle threats,” Terrique said before she resumed a truly horrible rendition of “Memory.”

  Tabby threw the ingredients into a plastic bag, zipped it shut, and shook it. Then she took a piece of chalk from her pocket and drew a circle around herself on the storeroom’s concrete floor.

  Out front, the dog started to bark.

  The caterwauling got louder.

  Tabby tried to shut it all out and concentrate on the ingredients in the plastic bag. She needed to infuse the ingredients with a bit of power from herself—more than a bit, considering the power of the spell he was under—but that power was just out of reach.

  She wasn’t strong enough yet.

  Terrique started in on “Rum Tum Tugger.”

  Tabby heard Lilibeth shout, “Teddy, no!” and the man she was with cry, “Dude!”

  The dog burst into the storeroom at a dead run, claws scraping on the concrete floor. His barks echoed inside Tabby’s skull as he made a beeline right for Terrique.

  The caterwauling ended in a screech as Tabby’s familiar took off across the boxes, the dog in hot pursuit.

  He must have recognized her by smell. Either that or he’d transformed all the way into a dog who hated all cats on sight.

  How was she supposed to work like this? Dead on her feet, power drained to almost nothing, and a man’s life in her hands. Not to mention her familiar’s life. Terrique wouldn’t be afforded a new shape if the dog ripped her to shreds. She’d be doomed to live the rest of eternity as an unbound spirit, and Tabby would never see or hear from her again.

  The mere thought of that nearly made her cry. As annoying as Terrique could be, Tabby couldn’t imagine life without her little Terri, a nickname her familiar thoroughly hated.

  “Concentrate,” she muttered. She could do this. She’d created spells under far worse conditions, although at that moment she couldn’t think of when.

  Emotions amped up her power, and right now Tabby was riding the crest of an emotional tidal wave. She reached deep within herself, grabbed that power with both hands, and threw it at the plastic bag.

  She’d over-estimated herself. Power ripped into the bag and combined with the ingredients Tabby had mixed for the spell. The bag disintegrated in a shower of bits of plastic while the spell itself, now a living thing, roiled in the air, held inside the confines of the chalk circle.

  She only had one shot at this. When she broke the circle, the spell would be set loose inside the storeroom, but it wouldn’t last. Dissolution spells by their very nature were short lived.

  She needed the dog to run through the spell in order for it to work.

  Lilibeth and the man were trying to catch the dog, but he was eluding them both. Terrique was scrambling from shelf to shelf, a furry black blur running on the tops of boxes to stay out of the dog’s reach.

  “Bring him this way!” Tabby said to her familiar.

  Terrique changed direction in mid-leap. She ran down the aisle toward Tabby, hissing and spitting at the furious dog snapping at her heels.

  Tabby needed to time this right. She also needed to basically sacrifice her body. Once she broke the chalk circle to release the spell, the circle would no longer protect her, and the dog would plow right into her.

  She counted down, making herself wait until Terrique jumped onto the box right next to Tabby’s head but outside of the circle. The dog couldn’t change directions that fast. His claws slipped on the concrete floor, and that’s when Tabby erased part of the chalk with her foot, breaking the circle.

  The spell broke free of its confines right as the dog slammed into Tabby, knocking them both to the floor.

  She tried to cushion the fall, but her head still hit the concrete, the dog landing on top of her.

  His brown eyes weren’t soulful now. They were furious. His teeth were bared in a growl, and they were entirely too close to her throat, but Tabby made herself stay still. She needed to give the spell time to work.

  She just hoped it worked quick.

  7

  The last thing Teddy remembered was chasing a black cat. The cat had the same smell as the woman who’d poisoned him and turned him into a dog, and then a rage so pure and red took over his senses, that he was pretty sure he’d lost his mind.

  Again.

  Now here he was, sprawled on top of a woman who looked sort of like the woman who’d poisoned him, but she didn’t smell the same. At least he didn’t think so. His nose wasn’t working right.

  Again.

  He’d just started to rub his nose on the woman’s shirt to try to get his sense of smell back when he realized his nose wasn’t as long as it should be. He could barely see the end of it even if he crossed his eyes. He brought a paw up to rub at it, but his paw wasn’t a paw anymore.

  He had hands!

  And better yet, thumbs!

  “Holy crap!” he cried, which came out as actual words, not barks.

  He had himself back!

  Which was about the time he realized he also had no clothes on.

  “Dude!”

  The voice belonged to Daniel. Teddy’s roommate was standing at the end of a long aisle surrounded by tall shelves crammed to the gills with boxes and bottles and jars. Daniel’s girlfriend Lilibeth stood next to him, a serene smile on her face.

  “Welcome back,” she said, and then she nudged Daniel. “Give him your sweats.”

  “Oh. Right.” Daniel took a pair of sweatpants out of his backpack and brought them over to Teddy. “We kind of forgot to bring clothes for you, what with the shock of you being a dog and all.”

  The woman beneath him was staring at him with a strange expression on her face. Teddy had no idea how he’d ended up on top of her, but at least she hadn’t kne
ed him in the crotch.

  “Sorry,” he said as he pushed himself off of her.

  “No need,” she said. “I think I should be apologizing to you.”

  He turned away from her while he slipped the sweatpants on. They were a tight fit—he wasn’t as skinny as Daniel—but they were better than the alternative.

  When he turned around, the woman was holding her hand out to him. “I’m Tabby, and I think this is all my fault.”

  He held out his own hand, prepared to introduce himself, but a curious sensation filled him when their fingers touched.

  A shock of electricity shot down his spine, but it was more than that. He felt a sense of recognition, like he’d known her his entire life. Like she was the one he’d been waiting for all these years when none of his other dates turned into the kind of relationship he’d really wanted.

  He felt like he’d come home.

  And she must have felt the same way. He could tell by the catch in her voice when she started to explain what had happened to him. By the way her eyes never left his face. By the little pulse that beat fast in the hollow of her throat, and the way she didn’t let go of his hand.

  “I didn’t know who she’d spelled or what she’d used,” Tabby was saying. “I’ve been trying to figure it out all morning. I probably shouldn’t let her out like this, and I might not. Ever. Again.” She shot a glare at the small black cat perched on a high shelf watching them with what Teddy could have sworn was a look of self satisfaction. “I’m so sorry this happened to you.”

  He looked down at their hands, still clasped together. “It was an interesting experience, but there’s one thing I don’t understand.”

  “Dude! Just one thing?” Daniel had his arm around Lilibeth, who still had a slightly stoned expression on her beautiful face. “You were a dog, man! That doesn’t happen every day.”

  True, but Teddy had a feeling that experience would fade over time. He just wasn’t sure why he’d had it in the first place.

  “I purchased a spell from your store,” he said to Tabby. “One that was supposed to stop anyone from using magic during the party. It must have been defective.”

  The cat made a huffing sound, and Tabby’s eyes went wide. “You didn’t!” she said to the cat.

  She turned her attention back to Teddy. “Did the spell include a lock of your hair?”

  He thought back to the wizard who’d cast the spell on his apartment. She’d used fiber from his carpet and piece of his hair. “Yeah,” he said.

  She’d also been in disguise.

  Tabby sighed. “My familiar played another trick on you. She used a ready-made spell—which we stand behind, by the way; I’ll be glad to refund your money—but when she mixed in your hair, that made the spell apply to everyone but you, so that when she came back later with the potion…” She shrugged. “Again, I’m really sorry.”

  “I’m not,” he said, realizing as he said it that he really meant it.

  Yes, he’d spent a good part of the day as a dog, and if Lilibeth hadn’t spent the night with Daniel, he might have stayed a dog forever since Teddy sucked at the whole Lassie telling people Timmy’s down the well thing. But he’d met the woman he was supposed to be with, and she was a wizard to boot. A beautiful human wizard who apparently felt the same way about him, since she was still holding his hand.

  “It’s time for us to go,” Lilibeth said to Daniel.

  “Huh?”

  “They need time alone.”

  “Oh!”

  Teddy barely heard them leave. He was too busy looking into Tabby’s beautiful green-gold eyes.

  “I’m keeping you from your store,” he said.

  She moved a little closer to him. “We’re closed today. Halloween’s our busiest night of the year, so we close on the first.”

  He smiled. “Good to know.”

  “What about you? Am I keeping you from your job?”

  Teddy was pretty sure he was already fired. “No. I have nowhere else to be.” And nowhere else he wanted to be.

  She smiled back at him. “Good to know.”

  He took a step closer to her. He could feel her breath on his face, and his own breath hitched in anticipation. “This is going to sound corny, but I feel like I’ve met you before.”

  “Me, too.” She raised a hand and touched the side of his face, and her touch was electric. “You have a cute grin, has anyone ever told you that?”

  Instead of answering, he bent his head and kissed her.

  It was the most exquisite kiss he’d ever had in his life. It beat all those chaste first-date kisses hands down, and he never wanted to stop.

  Teddy had rules he’d never broken in his life when it came to dating. He never did more than kiss a woman on the first date. Always brought her flowers on the second. And never assumed the third date meant he was going to score.

  He was pretty sure this didn’t constitute a first date even though she’d seen him naked. He didn’t have any flowers to give her, but the way she was kissing him, he was pretty sure she’d be seeing him naked again, and soon.

  And that felt right. Right and good and like he’d always been meant to be in this moment with this woman, even if she was a wizard with a trouble-making cat who wasn’t really a cat.

  Rules were meant to be broken when you found the one you were meant to be with. Teddy had never been adventurous, but he had a feeling life was about to get far more exciting than he’d ever imagined.

  He’d come home.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Award-winning author Annie Reed describes herself as a desert rat who longs to live by the ocean. Since she hasn’t yet convinced her family to relocate to a nice chunk of beachfront property, she’s done the next best thing—written a series of stories set in a contemporary Pacific Northwest city where magic and reality go hand in hand. Private investigators Diz and Dee populate Annie’s more lighthearted stories, while denizens of a much rougher neighborhood lurk in her Tales From the Shadows.

  A talented and versatile writer whose fantasy, science fiction, and mystery stories have sold to a wide variety of publications, Annie is also the author of the Abby Maxon mystery novels Pretty Little Horses and Paper Bullets, as well as A Death in Cumberland. Annie’s short stories also appear on a regular basis in the Fiction River anthologies.

  For more information about Annie, go to www.annie-reed.com.

  THE UNCOLLECTED ANTHOLOGY STORIES

  All Hallows’ Hangover is part of the innovative Uncollected Anthology series.

  Every three months, the talented group of UA authors picks a theme and writes a short story for that theme. But instead of bundling the stories together, each author sells their own. No muss, no fuss—you can buy one story or you can buy them all. (We’ll be honest; we hope you buy them all!)

  This time around we’re thrilled to feature a story by guest author Rebecca M. Senese!

  If you’d like to keep reading more fine stories with this issue’s theme—Enchanted Emporiums—click on the following links:

  THE MAGIC BEAN

  Rebecca M. Senese

  (featured guest author)

  After a safe life, an inheritance affords George the chance to leap for his dream: his own coffee shop. He even finds the perfect spot: a small, rundown shop.

  Soon George is planning and polishing. Every day the shop looks cleaner, feels newer. Flaws melt away.

  But every night strange images haunt him and threaten his sanity.

  Is George’s desire to run a coffee shop a dream or a nightmare?

  THE SWEET SHOP

  Leah Cutter

  Tong Yi waits for something to happen—for his brother to return from the war zone, for his boss to trust him again, for his magical training to be expanded.

  Something. Anything.

  Then powerful wizard Uncle Bei takes him to The Sweet Shop—a magic shop more special and strange than Tong Yi has ever imagined.

  Tong Yi finally returns to the war zone as well, deli
vering a message to a client he'd never expected.

  But he must now make a decision about the war, about his place in it, about his magical training.

  And everything, everything, has a price.

  Sequel to "Dancing with Tong Yi" and "War on all Fronts."

  WHAT YOU WISH FOR

  Dayle A. Dermatis

  Why does a two-thousand-year-old djinn own a convenience store and spice shop in Manhattan?

  The world has changed, for one thing, and Wadid isn’t proud of some of the things he’s done in the past. But really, he loves that he can help the magical community—and enhance the cooking skills and palates of some of his customers.

  That’s all well and good until two gunmen burst through the front door and threaten him and one of his customers. Wadid breaks his personal code and uses his darkest ability to make them go away.

  Not that it matters. Because the next person who walks through the door is the last person he would wish for.

  “…One of the best writers working today.”

  —USA Today bestselling author Dean Wesley Smith

  FEAR’S MIRROR

  Michelle Lang

  Viv Levy, owner of the Sacred Circle magic store in New York City, knows she runs a big risk in her job. All kinds of supernatural currents, including quite dangerous ones, run under, through and above the streets where regular people walk. And evil often seeks a place of power...

  A mysterious stranger seeks Viv’s help in dealing with a sinister magic mirror, and another stranger arrives when all appears lost. But will Viv herself have the courage to look into Fear’s Mirror?

  An urban fantasy short story set in the world of the Ms. Pendragon series!

  “This is simply a fantastic read....Ms. Pendragon has the best Arthur and Guinevere I have seen in years of reading everything I can find about Camelot. Merlin is completely charming, and not since Mary Stewart has Mordred received a better treatment.” – Amanda Killgore, Huntress Reviews (review of Ms. Pendragon)