The Alarming Scent of Cinnamon

V

Gretel awoke with the sun. Golden light seeped in through the holes in the roof and the windows. She sadly watched the dust dance in the morning light.

Hansel woke up shortly after Gretel. He tried to stretch, but realized he was in a dog's body. He focused on transforming back, but found that he couldn't.

Gretel stood up and stretched.

"Let's try and find a town," she said. "The sooner we can have this read to us, the sooner we'll get back home."

Hansel barked.

"Are you going to turn back?" Gretel asked.

Hansel barked again.

Gretel shrugged.

"Your choice, I guess."

Gretel began to walk over to the room she and Hansel had once shared.

"You think we should take some stuff from here?" she said.

Hansel barked again. Gretel looked at him strangely.

"You sure you don't want to change back?" she asked. "I really don't understand you."

Hansel whined, and walked over to the cabinet of Faerie treasures.

"You wanna keep those? Me too," Gretel said. "Help me load them into the bag." Hansel tried to help Gretel put the various items in the bag, but found he did more harm than help.

When everything was loaded into the bag, Gretel picked it up. Or, rather, tried to.

"It's too heavy!" she said. "We're going to have to sort through everything."

Hansel watched Gretel take everything out of the bag.

"Just bark if you want to keep something," Gretel said. She was too tired to be emotional.

It took about half an hour to sort through the cabinet of Faerie treasures. Gretel wanted to bring the least amount of things possible so the bag would be lighter.

She held up a cracked geode, remembering how she and Hansel had taken turns throwing it against a rock, trying to crack it open.

"I say we keep this," she said. Hansel barked. Gretel set it in the bag. There were only a few items left on the floor. What they didn't take, they put back in the cabinet.

Gretel picked up a wild turkey feather. She remembered how she and Hansel had followed the turkey all day, as quietly as possible.

"This would get crushed in the bag," she said. Hansel stayed silent. Gretel set it back on a shelf, fighting back tears. This cabinet represented everything she and Hansel had found together, and they could hardly keep anything. A tear slid down her cheek.

The last thing on the ground was the shiny rock Gretel had found. She wiped the dust off it again, trying to reach into every little divot and make it look just like it used to.

But she couldn't.

Deep in her heart, she knew it would never look the same. Deep down, she knew some things would never be the same.

Gretel threw the rock across the room, crying. Hansel barked.

"We're not bringing it," she said.

Hansel whined.

"I said, 'We're NOT bringing it!" she cried.

Hansel glanced at the rock across the room. He whined softly, but stood up, ready to leave.

Gretel grabbed the bag and slung it over her shoulder angrily. Hansel knew better than to talk to her when she was like this. There was no arguing with Gretel when she had her mind made up.

Hansel and Gretel walked out of their house. Gretel gingerly closed the door. She wanted to slam it, but at the same time feared the house would fall down if she did.

Hansel followed Gretel as she led the way through the meadow, stomping on weeds as she went. Hansel yelped as a thistle caught in his paw. His human body had toughened feet from days of walking around in the woods, but his paw pads were soft and tore easily.

Gretel looked back at him.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

Hansel whined.

"You just need to turn back into a human! Why won't you?"

Hansel whined again.

"What does that mean?" Gretel cried. "For the last time, I can't understand you!"

Hansel nudged the backpack.

"You want something in the backpack?" Gretel said.

Hansel barked. It was a long shot, but he thought there might be something about getting stuck while shapeshifting in there.

Gretel opened the bag. Hansel gingerly took the spell book in his jaws and set it on the ground. Gretel opened it for him. Hansel scanned the table of contents.

Shapeshifting! There it was. Hansel put his paw on it and whined.

"Move you paw, I can't see," Gretel said, brushing his paw off to the side.

"Shapeshifting? Is that it?"

Hansel barked enthusiastically.

Gretel flipped to page 146 while Hansel sat and watched. Gretel began to read off the page.

"Shapeshifting is the ability to change one's shape into an animal or-" Gretel paused, sounding out the word, "creature."

Hansel skimmed the page, looking for anything about getting stuck in a form. His eyes snapped to the subheading 'Dangers of shapeshifting'. Under it, he read silently:

It is possible to become trapped in a form. The longer one is in a form, the harder it is to leave that form. However, as you gain experience (Hansel had to sound out that one) you will be able to stay in forms for longer amounts of 

Hansel barked at it, putting his paw under the subheading.

Gretel stopped reading aloud and read it in her head.

"Ohhhh," she said. "I get it. You can't change back!"

Hansel nodded.

"Well then, what are we going to do?" she asked.

Hansel tried to shrug.

"Think about what it's like to be a human," Gretel said. "Think about all the little things. Remember when we would dance in front of the fireplace with Ma and Pa? Remember when we would sit down every night and pick the thorns out of our feet? They were so tough, we didn't even feel it!"

Hansel closed his eyes, listening to Gretel. He remembered everything he could about being human. The feeling like a fish flopping in his stomach when he'd swung around in the cage. How it felt to give a hug. How it felt to run.

Hansel focused on becoming a boy again. He willed his bones into motion. Finally, they began to move. However, it wasn't just uncomfortable this time. He felt physical pain, burning and stinging as his muscles stretched in ways they shouldn't be able to. As he transformed, the smell of burnt cinnamon hung heavy on the air.

Hansel knelt in the meadow, a human again. He was sweating and panting from the excruciating experience. The cinnamon smell drifted away.

"You ok?" Gretel asked.

Hansel nodded shakily.

"Let's go," he said, standing up shakily.