"What is your name?" The little blue kitten repeated, jumping from the window sill and onto the foot of the bed I had woken up in.

"Willa." I answered, looking around the room for any sign of anything that was mine. No Gat, no hat, no boots, and no duster. I wasn't even wearing the pink robes from before. Shorts that barely reached the middle of my thighs, a heavy undershirt with no collar, and long white socks that went all the way over my knees had replaced them.

Were my legs shorter? The more I looked at them, the more I thought that they didn't look like my legs at all. They were too damn pale and skinny.

"What is your name?" The kitten asked again.

I ignored him, swinging myself out of the bed and putting my feet on the floor. Standing up, I moved to step over the girl that was seated at my feet. Instead, I tripped over her and went stumbling towards the door. Barely managing to regain my balance before I slammed into it, I swung into the bathroom and looked at myself in the mirror.

"What's going on? Is it always like this?" I heard the girl say.

The reflection looking back at me was not my own. Her muddy eyes were not mine. Her brown hair was not mine. Her plain face was not mine.

"What is your name?" The cat asked, hopping onto the sink and up to the light fixture above my head. He peered down at me with angry blue eyes.

"Sakes alive, I already told you and I'm getting good and damn tired of hearing you ask me that." I said, stepping back to put some space between us and preparing myself to draw my aura. I had some questions and by my power, I was going to get some answers.

The cat growled, a deep rumbling sound coming from its little chest. "I am left with no other choice."

I had been in enough scraps to know what was coming next. I didn't know were Gat was, so I couldn't use my usual methods to deal with the tiny beast. I would have to do it the old fashioned way. I drew my aura and pushed it through my palm. A small shiv would do, nothing fancier than a blade with a handle, but it didn't come. I looked down. A small bubble of colorless aura shook in my palm. Just as I looked at it, it popped into a momentary flash of iridescent light. "Shit."

I drew my aura again, pulling harder to make my will become reality. Another bubble and another pop followed, like confetti sent to celebrate my failure.

"Alright. The oldest fashioned way." I said, looking up at the cat with the intention of grabbing him by the scruff of his neck.

As soon as I locked the eyes that were not my own with the talking kittens, he spoke, his voice echoing upon itself. "Dominus."

Every muscle in the body that was not mine ceased to move.

I did not stop my grab for the talking cat in a moment of hesitation, I was stopped.

A pressure, unlike anything I had ever felt, compressed on me from every direction. Everything I could see was washed in a dark blue light with the exception of the kitten. In my peripherals, the girl that had been on the floor had partially stood. Every second that passed she gained a fraction of the height she should have, as if she had been suddenly caught in a thick pit of invisible mud. The space between us grew greater and greater until I could no longer see her.

The compressing pressure receded and I found myself standing alone in a space that was such a dark blue it was almost black.

The little blue kitten folded out of the darkness at my feet, sitting utterly still.

"What is your name?" It asked again.

"Look, I don't know what game you're playing, but I want to know where in the hell I am. Did that damn cloud send you?" I said, pulling back my bootless foot to kick the damned thing.

The pressure returned in an instant, halting me with one leg locked behind me.

"You are in my domain. You will not so much as think without my explicit command," The kitten growled, walking towards me. "Your name is Autumn Aubrey. You are a Maiden of Zenithcidel. You were viewing memories in The Well."

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Some of those words made sense. I hadn't been a Maiden in a very long time and I was of Zenithcidel even if I was doing my best to sever that connection. The kitten knew something. The mention of The Well had told me that. I had never been allowed to visit The Well no matter what I had done to try and get in.

The kitten repeated the same words in his deep voice. "You are in my domain. You will not so much as think without my explicit command. Your name is Autumn Aubrey. You are a Maiden of Zenithcidel. You were viewing memories in The Well." He circled me with his little steps, completing a repetition of his words every time he reached the spot directly in front of me. After the ninth time, he stopped.

"I am Samsara. I am your familiar. I have been directed to prevent you from losing your self. What is your name?" His voice filled my mind, forcing all of my other thoughts to vanish.

"Willa," I began, not understanding what my captor wanted from me. I'd given him my name several times. "I'm not lying. I am Willa Hollilock. I left the temptress in a smoking crater after it made itself appear to be my sisters. I have sisters! Milly and Sara! They are in Merrowcrest, you can ask them! I took a Fold from the city above that I paid Fritz for and then a Shift happened. I don't know what you want, but sakes alive that's the truth of it."

"What did you do before you took the Fold?" The kitten asked, its little tail swishing violently.

"I." I began, but my words fell short. I remembered the alley way, the streams of city folk hustling by me, and the weariness of wishing to never look over my shoulder again. There was no trace of when I had woken up or what I had done that morning. When I reached the edge of the moment in the alley before Fritz had arrived, there was nothing. I couldn't answer his question not because I couldn't remember but because the memories were not mine to remember. I didn't know what I had eaten for breakfast that morning because I hadn't been there.

The cat wasn't some odd illusion from a sorcerer holding me captive. Like he had told me, his name was Sam and he was my familiar.

My legs weren't shorter than I was used to, they were just my legs.

The girl on the floor wasn't just a girl, she had a name. Her name was Anna and she was my friend.

My friend.

Whose friend?

"What is your name?" Sam asked.

"Autumn Aubrey." I whispered and I came crashing back to myself in full.

"Who is Autumn Aubrey?" Sam asked.

"I am a Maiden of Zenithcidel. Daughter of Idensyn Aubrey. Thief and possessor of The Well. Debtor to The Circle of the Nine Mothers."

"What were you doing?" Sam asked.

"Viewing Memories from The Well so it may be extracted from me and returned to the Mothers." I answered and the pressure that was holding me vanished.

I fell.

I hit the floor of the strange blue place that Sam had taken me to and looked at my familiar. "Where are we?"

"You are in my domain. Bringing you here is the second directive I have if the first fails." He answered, tail still swishing.

"I didn't know there was a second," I said, looking around the space. Beyond the light, the blue faded to black. For a single second, I thought I could see something moving within it. Your eyes are just adjusting. "How do you do it?"

“I do not know. I cannot know. It is forbidden.” Sam said, flashing his fangs. His familiar tone of distaste towards me had seeped back into his voice since his duty had been fulfilled. His voice had the strange echoing effect it had before. "Laxo."

Thunder filled my ears and the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. Everything that Sam’s domain had pushed away came rushing back, the thunder tapered off, and I was back in the bathroom, still poised to grab Sam's scruff.

"Are you, you, now?" Anna asked, standing next to a tall pile of folded blankets that sat neatly atop a pillow.

Before I really knew what I was doing, I walked over to her and threw my arms around her. "Thank you."

I wouldn't tell her, and Sam had done his duty, but realizing who Anna was had been the thing that brought me back.

"Your welcome?" She questioned, returning the hug.

We separated and I went to the sink and scooped mouthfuls of water into my mouth until my thirst was sated. "How long did you say I was asleep?"

"Three days." Anna answered.

"It is going to take me a while to explain to you why that occurred and I will, but I really need to eat something first." I said, throwing my arms up and stretching until I was balanced on the tips of my toes.

Sam interrupted our conversation. "I have explained to the mortal what she needed to know."

"I don't understand it at all, but Samsara helped me get the idea," Anna said. "I think."

“How the fuck did that happen?” I asked in disbelief.

Sam didn’t answer my question. "You will do nothing. The mortal will go."

I put my hand on my hip and turned to my familiar. "Sakes alive. Who made you the boss?"

Sam did not see the humor in my joke.