The two monks walked with James as they made their way behind the plaza stores.

As they moved beyond the public area, her eyes glanced across the alleys, looking for potential escape routes. Given a good chance, she would run and take her chances.

James fidgeted with her bag as they walked. Her hands were shaky as she moved one of the summoning devices to a better location. She hoped she wouldn't need to use them, as she hadn't had the nerve to do much testing.

She was still considering options when, to her surprise, they stopped. The alleyway was relatively narrow and dull. There was maybe enough room for four people to stand side by side within it. They weren't far from the plaza, so she wasn't sure what they were thinking.

"This should be fine," said the shorter of the two, taking several steps away from her. She tried to follow, but a large hand fell on her shoulder. James couldn't remember their names despite having only been introduced minutes before.

The monk took out a small carved circle of wood, and its surface glowed brightly momentarily. James glanced around but didn't really notice any change in the environment.

"What was that?" James asked, despite herself.

"Just something to give us a little privacy," the short monk said as he turned to look at her. "Now then, we can begin."

The taller monk grabbed her beanie and pulled it from her head. It wasn't difficult, given that the hat had been loose from the start. This revealed her fox-like ears to the two monks.

"Hey!" James said, turning to reach for the hat. She wasn't sure what she hoped to accomplish with that, but it was more of an ingrained reaction than a considered action. She swiped at the air where the monk held her hat and, to her surprise, simply handed it to her as he stepped back. What was their game?

Angry at herself and the monks, she gripped the hat tightly and glared at the two before shoving it into her bag. She pulled the bag over herself protectively, almost hugging it for comfort, and kept the hand that had held her hat within, seeking carefully.

"What do you want!?" James yelled at them. Her ears folded back, and she couldn't help but admit in the back of her mind that being free of the hat felt much better.

"This one apologizes, Kitsen. We had to be sure," the smaller monk said, frowning. "But you break the treaty by being here."

"What the hell is a Kitsen?" James yelled back. James had never been especially prone to anger, but the last day had been a whirlwind. Then, these two show up and start jerking her around. "What treaty?" She nearly pulled her questing fingers from her bag to point accusingly at him but kept hugging the bag close instead.

The monk turned to his companion, and the two looked at each other before he responded. "You are a Kitsen, and the treaty is between your world and this one."

"I'm a human!" James asserted. It didn't matter that she was in this fox girl's body. She was still human. What had they called her, a Kitsen? Another world? She didn't want any part of that. "This IS my world. I was born here."

"Is there an enclave of Kitsen living among humans?" the smaller of the two said, putting his hand up to his chin as if to consider this.

"No, ugh," James said, slightly exasperated. She carefully moved her hand through the pile of cards in her bag. She didn't know which were which, but hopefully, she would get something useful. "I'm a human! I am not a monster!"

"Enough," said the taller monk beside James, stepping towards her. "No more tricks, fox. We know no monsters live in our world. Tell us of the portal you came through."

"I'm not a monster. I don't know what you're talking about, " James said truthfully, stepping back from the taller monk.

"How many of you are there?" the monk continued to question James accusingly about things she didn't know. "Are your kind the reason why they can summon these magical copies?"

"Brother Bistort," the shorter monk said. "Perhaps we should take a calmer approach. A cornered animal is most dangerous."

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"I'm not an animal!" James said as she slid several cards onto one of the devices within her bag. She had had enough of this. Maybe she could get some of this crap to work for her for once.

In a swirl of green and red, the most frightening monster in the entire game of Summon Monsters appeared next to James and the monk: The Knife Goose.

"Attack!" James yelled as she turned and started to bolt away from the monks. She hadn't taken more than a step before the tall staff-wielding monk was behind her, lunging forward with a hand. So fast!

A blue barrier appeared, and a glow rippled across it as the monk smashed into it and was blasted away.

He was thrown several meters away and landed in a kneel. James may have beefed on the monster, but one of the cards had been Shield. She supposed she was due some luck. However, she knew it wouldn't save her again and continued running down the alleys before she rounded a corner.

The goose honked at the monk before it picked up its knife from the concrete and charged, flapping its wings at the monk.

The monk's staff crushed the goose's skull with a single deft strike, causing it to break down into a magical fog.

"It would appear that peace was never an option," the shorter monk said with a sigh, and then the two began to chase after the fox woman.

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James rushed down the alleyways, turned down an alley, and crossed an old, small brick road. She made it into the alleyway across from the one she exited.

Running wasn't as hard as she had expected. Her heart hammered in her chest, her breath came easily and steadily, and she leaped over small obstacles and even dodged gracefully around parked cars. James felt like she was running faster than she had even back in high school. If she hadn't been at risk of being caught, she would have tried running up the wall like in those Wuxia movies. It seemed that a magical monster body had some benefits.

She turned the corner down another alley and noticed the monks out of the corner of her eye, following rapidly. Oh, right, they had magic too.

She had gotten distracted again and chided herself before she redoubled her efforts to evade the monks. She took corner after corner and crossed several smaller streets. She avoided the larger roads because... why was she avoiding larger roads?

She had gotten turned around at some point as she took corners, but she was reasonably sure it was to the left.

James turned left and ran down that alley, but at the end, she was met with a tall chain link fence with some kind of barbed or razor wire at the top. Crap.

She turned to the right and pushed between a narrow gap between two buildings. It was tight. She didn't think she would have fit if she had been in her original body, but she only needed to turn sideways in her new, slighter form.

She sidestepped the dozen meters quickly before she exited into another alley. It was a short one, only thirty or so meters long. A chain-link fence covered the only exit with two large chain-link swing gates, locked with a padlock. It wasn't as high as the other but was topped with razor wire as well. She had no delusions of somehow getting over it. The only other thing in the alley was a dumpster and a door into one of the buildings, which had an even larger padlock.

"Fuck!" James cursed at herself and turned back towards the opening, only to hear the taller monk's voice.

"She went down there."

"FUCK!" James cursed again as she dashed behind the dumpster and began to pull what cards she had out of her bag.

"No, no, useless, no, fuck!" James cursed as she went through them, tossing them away as she searched frantically.

A large bang and the sound of crumbling brick and stone resounded from the passage she had come from, startling her and causing her to fumble her cards onto the concrete. Pieces of brick bounced off the dumpster as she looked frantically at the cards all over the concrete.

James pressed herself into the corner between the dumpster and the wall. She placed her hands over her head and closed her eyes. She was so screwed she mumbled quietly to herself, "I'm not here, just a part of the wall! Don't see me!"

"Where is she!"

"This one does not see her. This appears to be a dead end."

"There, cards."

James peeked an eye open to see the taller monk pointing his staff right at her. James' heart leapt into her throat, and she froze. But his eyes were on the small pile of cards at her feet instead.

"Escape magic?" The shorter one said, "The detector?"

The taller monk checked the small trinket from before, but the gem was dim. "Still useless."

He moved over to the gate and struck out with his staff to shatter the padlock, which broke into several metal chunks from the force of the blow. He pushed it open as the shorter monk walked forward.

"Let us split. If fortune favors us, we may yet find her."

The taller monk nodded, and the two went in different directions.

"What the fuck?" James asked herself, the tension leaving her slightly and feeling more than a little frazzled. How had they not seen her just sitting there? James looked down at herself, and the shadows seemed to shift and return to their natural positions. What the fuck?

James turned to look at the small passage she had moved through. But it was no longer small. It was thrust apart like two giant hands had placed themselves in the gap and pulled apart. A few bricks were hanging precariously.

She looked back at the direction the monks had gone and made a decision. She moved down to the cards on the ground, gathered them quickly, and ran back down the narrow passage she had come from.