Hurricane #27: The Morning After (Patreon)

For a few moments after Serrano woke up, she felt disoriented. It wasn’t waking up in a strange bed—she’d done enough couch-surfing that she didn’t get shaken by that. What bed was it? Not her old crappy apartment bed (probably ruined by water at this point, anyway), not the Sheraton hotel couch, the guest apartment at the school. Check.

But it wasn’t the bed. It was the scent, the warmth, the feeling. It was waking up in a bed with someone next to her.

Yet, it wasn’t just that, either. It was…the feeling of being relaxed. She’d all but forgotten that.

The coyote looked up at Sarah’s face, then let her eyes travel across the sleeping wolf’s body. She hadn’t woken up beside someone in at least a full year, if not two or more. That someone had only been another woman once, and the night hadn’t been a great experience for either of them. She’d wondered then if maybe she wasn’t bisexual after all. After last night, though? Well, shit, maybe she wasn’t bisexual after all. She’d never had that kind of experience with a man before.

Sarah made a disarmingly cute, sleepy growl, and stretched, cracking her eyes open. She flashed Serrano a small, almost bashful smile. “Good morning.”

“Hey.” The coyote kissed the wolf’s nose, and sat up. “I don’t think we have anything in the kitchen here, so I guess we can go see what they have for breakfast on campus.”

“Mmm.” Sarah stifled a yawn. “We’re still entitled to free breakfasts at the Sheraton.”

“I mean, sure, but getting there’s going to be difficult.”

Sarah sat up, too, and blew a raspberry. “You’re quite a rule-follower for a punk singer, aren’t you?”

“Fuck you, and when have you heard me sing?”

Sarah smiled a little, looking away. “Three times.”

“Wait, what? Seriously?”

She nodded, ears coloring. “We hadn’t met yet. You’re really good, you know.”

“Thanks.” Serrano tilted her head. “When do I get to hear you sing?”

“Mmm.” The wolf gave an uncharacteristically self-conscious shrug. “It’s not like there’s been much opportunity. Maybe we can hit a karaoke bar, and you get me drunk enough I’ll be willing to go on stage.”

“How much liquor does it take to get a faerie wolf drunk?”

Sarah grinned. “How much do they have?”

Serrano tossed a pillow lightly at her and stood up. “I think our warden’s meeting us at the coffee place at the Student Union. We should get going. I bet that vixen’s going to be there bright and early, if she’s there at all, and we have to be ready to meet her.”

“That’s assuming Irsaw will let us tag along.”

“That’s assuming they can stop us.”

The wolf laughed. “Isn’t that supposed to be my line?”

“Mmm.” She shrugged. “I’m just tired of feeling like I’m waiting for the next paw to drop, Sarah. It needs to start being my paw dropping on other people.”

This time out, they caught the bus by the guest apartment right on time, and rode to the Union. It was marginally faster than walking as a giant, but the view wasn’t quite as nice. The Union, though, looked like an entirely different building inside on this scale: it looked normal. At least, until you walked up to the balcony waist-high to the giant area. Then, it looked fucking enormous.

The food court was closed except for the coffee shop and the taco stand. Did she want a breakfast burrito? No, she wanted an apple fritter if they had them.

“Giant Donuts,” Sarah read aloud, then looked over at the donuts behind the display. “They don’t look that big.”

“Just a themed name, I guess.”

“Thanks, I hate it.”

Serrano grinned. It reminded her more of a chain donut place than Frank’s, just a little too clean and orderly and with a smaller selection. But the prices were good. Sarah got a single cream-filled donut that, despite the wolf’s assertion, looked pretty damn hefty. Serrano got her beloved apple fritter. “Let’s sit over there, on the balcony.”

Sarah grinned, following the coyote. “I can’t tell if you like looking up at giants more than you like being one.”

“I’m flexible.” She took a seat, watching economy-sized coeds filter in, usually singly, occasionally in groups of two or three, and munched the fritter. “Hmm.”

“Hmm, what?”

“Comparing this to my favorite coffee and donut place. This fritter’s decent, but Frank’s beats it. The coffee here’s way better, though.”

“Frank’s? Your favorite wasn’t the place you worked at?”

She shook her head. “They were fine, but in that ‘eh, it’s fine’ way, you know? All about consistency. None of the coffee places I’ve been to here are great, although I’ve heard the new one downtown is next level.”

“Hmm.” Sarah sipped her coffee. “So when did Professor Irsaw say they’d meet us?”

“I think about now.” Serrano pulled out her phone to check the time. “Yeah, we might have—”

“Serrano.” Sarah pointed up.

The coyote looked up at a giantess approaching. Mrs. Webb, the librarian, dressed smashingly in a business suit. The clack against the floor drew Serrano’s attention down to her high heels.

“Ms. Layotl. Ms. Wilde.” She stopped with her jacket almost touching the balcony, making both canines tilt their heads back to look up at her face.

“Hi, Mrs. Webb. Uh, I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“Professor Irsaw has a class this morning, so I’ll be your liaison from the College. They’ve filled me in on what they understand of your situation, including what led to local law enforcement’s interest.” Her gaze rested on Serrano.

The coyote sank into her seat a few inches. Sarah looked up at the mouse. “I trust they’ve also filled you in on how we’re waiting on a contact from one of Sark’s agents.”

“One which could be a trap.”

Sarah gestured at Serrano. “Between us, we’re capable of handling that.”

“I don’t doubt your prowess, Ms. Wylde, but we don’t know what the capabilities of your opponents are. The best way to handle a trap is to not be caught in one. I’m not convinced it isn’t safer for both of you to stay here. You’re quite recognizable.”

“They might not recognize me as a small, bipedal, clothed coyote, at least not instantly.”

“That is quite a ‘might,’ Miss Layotl.” The mouse looked skeptical. “And—” She made a soft, surprised squeak.

“Huh?” Serrano looked at where Webb was looking—at where Sarah had been. A different woman sat there now, a squirrel. Fox squirrel, given her coloration. It took a few seconds for it to register that the squirrel had Sarah’s hair, Sarah’s eyes, even Sarah’s clothes, albeit resized for a woman nearly a foot shorter. A bustier woman nearly a foot shorter.

“I’m pretty good at going incognito,” the squirrel said, sipping her coffee. Her voice was almost still Sarah’s, a few notes higher and without that slight lupine burr.

“So I see.” Webb lifted her brows, then straightened up. “All right, we’ll be off.”

“Uh.” Serrano raised her hand. “Not to point out the obvious, but you’ll stand out downtown a bit more than we do right now.”

“I won’t. Meet me outside the little entrance in five minutes.” Webb walked off.

“Woof.” Serrano stared after her.

“After last night, you’re staring at another woman’s butt?”

Serrano looked back at Sarah-squirrel, then waved a hand at the receding mouse. “She’s got a really nice butt.” Her gaze dropped a few inches. “Did you make your tits bigger?”

“No, I did not make my tits bigger. And fine, she’s quite attractive for a librarian. I’d rather have a warrior, but I suppose we get what we get.” She squinted at the coyote, who was still staring at her chest as if measuring. “They’re the same size, Serrano. Honestly.”

“The same size as when you were a foot taller?” Serrano finished her coffee and stood up. “So proportionally, you made your tits bigger.”

Sarah groaned, rolling her eyes and standing up, too. “They’re not that big.”

“They’re wrecking balls.”

“Only if I’m at least a hundred feet tall and swing them into a building.”

She leered. “Hot.”

Sarah rolled her eyes again.

They headed away from the balcony, back into the parts of the Union that felt scaled properly for them, then outside onto the still little-scaled sidewalk and driveway. From this position, they couldn’t even see any of the giant-specific areas.

A car pulling up honked its horn lightly at them. They looked over to see a slate grey hybrid sedan rolling to a stop, Mrs. Webb looking at them expectantly from the driver’s seat.

They walked over. “Shotgun!” Serrano quickly dropped into the front seat. Sarah shook her head, sliding into the back.

“The hotel is the Marriott downtown?” The mouse pulled away, the car near-silent until the gasoline motor kicked in, and glanced at Serrano.

“Yeah. Uh, I didn’t know you could shrink, too. Is this something all the giants around here do?”

“No. Almost no one has that ability unless they’ve learned the proper spells, which range from medium to extreme difficulty depending on the methodology. Moreover, few giants are interested in becoming little. I feel rather tiny and vulnerable.”

“I kinda do, too, which is weird since this is the size I’ve spent ninety-nine point nine nine nine percent of my life at. So what’s the plan?”

The mouse looked at Sarah in the rearview mirror. “What would your plan be, Ms. Wylde?”

“See if more than one of those black SUVs is parked outside, although we’ll need to make sure we’re not mistaking ordinary limousines for them. See if Agent Vixen has anyone else with her, either openly or secretly. That’s not what she agreed to, but she’ll probably have backup anyway because she doesn’t trust us any more than we trust her. Then, see if we—probably I—can pick up the message without attracting her attention. It’s almost certain to be a request for another meeting.”

Webb nodded.

“And,” Sarah continued, “while I’ll keep you informed, you should let me handle this. With Serrano as help if needed.”

“I am capable of helping if necessary, Ms. Wylde.”

“I’m…not doubting you, Mrs. Webb, but you are a librarian.”

The mouse readjusted her glasses. “Exactly.”