Crimson Scepter

The carrot was the first thing I'd stolen in three days, and it tasted like victory and dirt.

I crouched behind a fallen log at the edge of a clearing I didn't recognize, gnawing the root down to a nub while my ears swiveled like weather vanes. Every crackle of leaves, every whisper of wind through the canopy, my body reacted before my brain caught up. Freeze. Listen. Breathe. That was the rhythm of my life now. Had been for weeks, ever since I'd gotten separated from the Green Thumb gang during that ambush near the bamboo forest.

Mystique Sonia had told me to run. So I ran. And I kept running until the sounds of battle faded into birdsong, and then I kept running some more because stopping meant thinking, and thinking meant remembering the way First Squad had looked at me when I'd frozen during the fight. Not angry. Worse. Disappointed.

I finished the carrot and wiped my paws on my chest fur, which had gone from snow-white to something closer to dishwater gray. I couldn't remember the last time I'd groomed properly. Every time I started, some noise would spook me and I'd be halfway up a tree before I realized it was just a squirrel.

Pathetic. That's what I was. A rabbit who couldn't even relax long enough to clean himself.

The sun sat low in the sky, painting everything amber and gold. Pretty, if you liked that sort of thing. I didn't. Sunset meant predators waking up, meant finding shelter, meant another night of huddling in hollow logs while my stomach growled and my ears strained for sounds of danger.

I should have stayed with the group. Should have fought. Should have done something other than run.

But I didn't. And now here I was, alone in a part of the forest I'd never seen, with no idea how to get back and no idea if anyone was even looking for me.

A twig snapped somewhere to my left.

I was up the nearest tree before my heart finished its first panic-beat, claws digging into bark, breath coming in short, sharp gasps. My ears flattened against my skull. My nose twitched so fast it probably looked like I was having a seizure.

Silence.

Then, footsteps. Lots of them. Rhythmic. Marching.

I peered down through the leaves and felt my blood turn to ice water.

Rabbits. Dozens of them. No, hundreds. Marching in formation through the clearing below, their fur a uniform dark gray, their eyes forward, their steps synchronized like they'd practiced this a thousand times. At the front walked a rabbit I'd never seen before, bigger than the rest, with fur the color of storm clouds and a white patch on his chest that looked almost like a crown.

He carried a scepter. Actual gold, or at least something that gleamed like it, topped with a purple gem that pulsed with an inner light.

I pressed myself flatter against the branch. Maybe they wouldn't see me. Maybe they'd pass through and I'd never have to know what an army of rabbits was doing in the middle of nowhere.

The big rabbit stopped. Sniffed the air. Turned his head slowly, deliberately, until his amber eyes locked onto my hiding spot.

"There's someone up there," he said. His voice was calm. Controlled. The kind of voice that didn't need to shout to be heard. "Come down."

I didn't move. Couldn't. My muscles had locked up completely, that old familiar paralysis settling into my bones like it belonged there.

"I said come down."

The scepter rose. The gem flared.

I don't remember falling. I remember hitting the ground hard enough to knock the wind out of me, and then I was surrounded, gray fur pressing in from all sides, and the big rabbit was standing over me with an expression that might have been curiosity if it wasn't so cold.

"A ghostface," he said. "Interesting. I thought your kind were extinct."

"I'm not... I'm not a..." I couldn't finish. My voice had shrunk to something smaller than a whisper.

"You're not what? A ghostface? The black patch around your eye says otherwise." He crouched down, bringing his face level with mine. Up close, I could see the scar running through his left eye, pale against the dark fur. "What's your name, little ghost?"

"J-Jumpy."

"Jumpy." He said it like he was tasting the word. "Fitting. You look like you're about to vibrate out of your skin."

I was. I could feel it, that awful trembling that started in my core and spread outward until even my whiskers were shaking. The other rabbits had formed a circle around us, silent and watchful, and I couldn't see a single gap in their formation.

"Please," I said. "I don't want any trouble. I'm just... I'm just passing through."

"Passing through." The big rabbit stood, and I noticed again how tall he was, how broad. He had to be twice my size, maybe more. "You're in my territory now, ghostface. Nothing passes through without my permission."

"I didn't know. I'm sorry. I'll leave."

"You'll leave when I say you can leave." He turned to address his soldiers. "Secure the perimeter. No one enters or exits until I've finished with this one."

The rabbits moved as one, spreading out into the trees, and suddenly it was just me and him in the clearing, the last light of sunset bleeding red across the sky.

"I'm Thumper," he said. "King of the Eastern Warren. And you, little ghost, have wandered into something much bigger than yourself."

I should have run. Every instinct screamed at me to bolt, to find some gap in the perimeter, to disappear into the forest and never look back. But my legs wouldn't cooperate. They never did when I needed them most.

"What do you want from me?" I asked.

Thumper smiled. It wasn't a nice smile. "I want to know why a ghostface rabbit is wandering alone in my territory, looking like he hasn't eaten properly in weeks, twitching at every sound. I want to know what you're running from. And I want to know if you're useful or if you're just prey."

"I'm not prey."

"Everything is prey to something." He raised the scepter again, and this time I saw the gem start to glow, a soft purple light that seemed to pulse in time with my heartbeat. "Let's find out what you are."

The light hit me like a wave, warm and tingly, and I felt something shift inside my body. Not painful, exactly. More like being rearranged, my bones softening, my muscles stretching, my fur rippling as new curves formed where there hadn't been any before.

I looked down at myself and made a sound I'd never made before. Something between a gasp and a squeak.

My chest had... grown. Significantly. Two soft mounds of white fur that pushed out from my body in a way that felt completely foreign. My hips had widened too, my waist narrowing in a way that made my whole silhouette different. Rounder. Softer.

And my tail. My tail had gotten bigger, fluffier, more prominent.

"What did you..." I couldn't finish the sentence. My voice sounded different too. Higher. Softer.

"I've been experimenting with transformation magic," Thumper said. "You're the first rabbit I've tested it on. I have to say, the results are promising."

I stumbled backward, but my new center of gravity betrayed me. I tripped over my own feet and landed on my newly expanded rear, which cushioned the fall in a way that would have been funny if I wasn't so terrified.

"Change me back," I said. "Please. I don't want to be..."

"Don't want to be what? A female? Attractive?" He stepped closer, and I scrambled backward on my hands and rear, my new body moving in ways I didn't understand. "You're much more interesting this way, Jumpy. Much more... suitable."

Suitable for what, I wanted to ask, but the words died in my throat because the gem was glowing again, and this time the light felt different. Warmer. Softer. It wrapped around me like a blanket, like a hug, like every good feeling I'd ever had all at once.

"That's it," Thumper said. His voice had changed too. Lower. Softer. Almost kind. "Just relax. Let the spell do its work."

I tried to fight it. I really did. But the warmth was spreading through my body, melting my fear, softening my thoughts, and somewhere in the back of my mind I knew I should be terrified, should be running, should be doing anything other than sitting here and letting this happen.

But it felt so good.

"Look at me, Jumpy."

I looked up. His eyes had changed. They were still amber, still sharp, but now they seemed to glow with that same purple light, and the longer I looked, the harder it was to look away.

"You've been alone for so long," he said. "Scared. Hungry. Tired. Don't you want someone to take care of you?"

Yes. God, yes. I wanted that more than anything.

"You want to belong to someone. To be safe. To be loved."

My tail was wagging. I could feel it, that happy little motion, even though some distant part of my brain was screaming that this was wrong, that I was being manipulated, that I needed to fight.

But the screaming was getting quieter, and the warmth was getting stronger, and Thumper was so close now, close enough to touch.

"Be mine," he said. "Be my mate. Be my queen. You'll never be alone again."

I should have said no.

Instead, I felt my eyes change. I couldn't see it, but I could feel it, something shifting in my vision, the world taking on a pinkish hue. My heart was pounding, but not from fear anymore. From something else. Something warm and wanting.

"Yours," I heard myself say, and my voice was breathy, eager, nothing like the voice I'd had before. "I want to be yours."

Thumper smiled, and this time it was genuine. "Good girl."

I made a sound that might have been a purr if rabbits could purr. My tail was wagging so hard I could feel it brushing against my legs, and my new body was responding to him in ways I'd never experienced before. Heat pooled low in my belly. My breath came in soft pants. My lips parted on their own.

"Kiss me," I said. "Please."

He did. His mouth claimed mine, and I melted into him, my new curves pressing against his chest, my paws reaching up to grip his shoulders. It felt right. It felt perfect. It felt like coming home.

When he finally pulled back, I was panting, my heart-eyes fixed on his face, my whole body trembling with something that wasn't fear.

"Take me home," I whispered. "Take me to your kingdom."

Thumper nodded to his soldiers, who had returned to form a protective circle around us. "Bring her. She's one of us now."

I let them lead me away, my tail still wagging, my eyes still pink, my mind still swimming in that warm, soft fog. Somewhere far away, I knew, Mystique Sonia and the others were probably looking for me. They'd search the forest. They'd ask questions. They'd never find me.

And even if they did, I wouldn't want to leave.

I was Thumper's now. His mate. His queen. His.

And I'd never been happier.