As we waited there in the office, Mr. Adler pulled out his phone and began to do some research. At my suggestion, he looked up 'changeling' and almost immediately found a match. It was freaky how similar I looked to the illustration, except I was real. I was a real, live Changeling, just barely bordering on the outside of the uncanny valley.
Thanks to the internet, we also learned what exactly Changelings were (Osmond never really showed me much beyond pictures). If the article was to be believed, Changelings were shape-shifters (hence the name) that fed on love.
I'm not gonna lie: it was rather interesting, the prospect of being able to shape-shift and fly. I didn't like the 'feeding on love' bit, but it wasn't clear what the effects of that would be on a willing donor.
We then decided to talk for a while, trying to get my thoughts off of my predicament. At one point, a janitor walked in and nearly fainted, but with a quick explanation, he seemed... Well, the aura around him was now dark blue and purple instead of pure purple. I had absolutely no idea what it meant, but it was certainly something.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Farvald's purple aura had become speckled with dark magenta, while Mr. Adler's was the complete opposite (deep magenta with spots of purple).
Eventually, my phone rang from my coat pocket. I instinctively tried to retrieve it, but without hands, I had to get Mr. Adler's help.
He answered the call and turned it to speakerphone, where I heard my mom's voice. "Rove, I've just arrived. What happened?"
I looked to Mr. Adler for comfort, then spoke. "You really need to see it to believe it."
"Why does your voice sound weird?"
I sighed. "Just come here to the office, and you'll see what I mean."
Her voice was now laced with concern. "Why can't you come out here to me?"
Mr. Adler spoke up, "Mrs. Hummel, please just come inside."
"Tom? Tom Adler, is that you?"
"Yes, Mazarine, it's me; now please come inside."
She paused momentarily, before replying, "Okay..."
The call disconnected, and Mr. Adler placed my phone back into my pocket.
That next minute was one of the most stressful of my life. What was she gonna think when she saw me? Would she freak out and attack me, like Mr. Adler did? Would she refuse to believe it? Would she just run away, leaving me all alone?
Finally, Mazarine rounded the same corner we did just a little while ago. From her position, she could only see Mr. Adler and Mrs. Farvald, so she immediately picked up the pace. "Mr. Adler, what happened? Where's my—"
Then she finally caught sight of me and froze, her hands clasped over her mouth. I looked off to the side, not having the courage to look her in the eye.
Mr. Adler placed a hand on my back and began, "Mrs. Hummel, let me explain—"
But he was suddenly interrupted by something neither of us had expected: she rushed up and hugged me. "Rove, is that really you?"
I was taken aback by her action, only managing to stutter out a weak, "Y-yeah..."
She tightened her grip on me, her purple aura gaining dark magenta and pink streaks. "Oh, my poor boy, what happened?"
"I... I don't know..." I stammered. "I was just sitting in class, then I got this h-headache, and.. and..."
I couldn't keep it together; I began to openly cry into my mother's shoulder. "I'm so scared, Mom... What's gonna happen to me now?"
She broke the hug to look me straight in the eye. "I'll tell you what's gonna happen: I'm gonna take you home, and we're gonna try and figure out how to fix this."
I whimpered. "A-and if we c-c-can't...?"
She smiled warmly. "Then you'll still be my son."
I gave a hesitant smile back, and we resumed our hug.
Mr. Adler waited until we finished before he spoke up again. "Alright, if there's anything you need, don't hesitate to come to me. I may not know how this happened, but I'll use my skills to help as much as I can."
Mazarine nodded. "Thank you, Tom."
With that, she picked me up into her arms and began to carry me outside. It'd been so long since she was able to carry me, I'd forgotten just how comforting it could be. Her arms were like a warm blanket on a cold winter's night, her heartbeat a voice that told me I wasn't alone, and that everything would be alright.
She managed to get me to the car without attracting any attention from passerby, placing me into the passenger's seat and buckling me in.
Once we pulled out of our parking spot, I just had to ask, "I thought you would've freaked out more."
She instantly replied, "Of course I'm concerned, Rove. You've suddenly become something from that cartoon that Bea watches, and we have no idea what to do about it."
I blinked, then mentally slapped myself. Of course she'd know what a Changeling is; she was often in the same room as Bea while she watched that show.
She asked, "Does it hurt at all?"
I shook my head. "Surprisingly, no. It may just be the shock of the whole thing, but I only feel slightly sore."
She breathed a sigh of relief. "That's good to hear..."
Then she added, "How about mentally? Are you holding up okay?"
I sighed. "It was freaky at first, but now I'm just kinda numb to it. I'm more concerned about how everyone else is gonna react..."
She nodded. "I can only imagine..."
We fell into an awkward silence for a while. I decided to turn on the radio, thankful that the knob had notches to grip my hoof on.
If I was gonna be like this for any longer, I'd have to find a workaround for not having hands.
We pulled into our driveway about seven minutes later. Mazarine checked our surroundings, then groaned when she realized one of our neighbors was outside, tending to her garden. "Alright, we're gonna have to be sneaky about this..."
She reached into the glove compartment and retrieved some wired earbuds. She tied the earbuds into a loop, making something that'd hopefully look like a leash from a distance. I pulled up my hood, and she draped the makeshift leash around my neck. "Act dog-like," she whispered before she opened her door and stepped out.
I hopped over the divider and followed her out, being careful to make sure none of my body became visible from under the coat. We began to make our way towards the front door.
"Good morning, Mazarine!"
We both froze, and Mazarine turned to see our neighbor waving at us. "Hello, Ms. Finch," she replied cautiously.
The sweet old lady looked down, spotting my covered form. "Is that some kind of dog?"
My mom, to her credit, replied quickly. "Yep, I thought it'd be good for the kids to have a little companion around. He's rather shy right now, but I'm sure he'll grow to love them."
She nodded. "That's so sweet. What breed?"
My mom froze, not versed in dog breeds at all. "I don't exactly know."
Ms. Finch stood up from her position at the edge of her garden. "Well, maybe I'd know."
Mazarine quickly objected, "He's really shy, especially around strangers. I only just about got him to come out of his shell."
Despite the circumstances, I had to hold back a snicker at that.
She seemed torn, but eventually backed off. "Alright, if you insist. But once he's grown more accustomed to others, you simply must bring him over; I'm sure he'd love Saffron."
My mom nodded, well aware that Saffron was Ms. Finch's golden retriever. "Sure, can do."
With that, she waved as we continued to the door.
As soon as we made it inside, I collapsed out of relief. "That was so close..." I breathed.
Mazarine looked torn, her aura a light grey. "It didn't feel good, lying to Ms. Finch like that..."
I wilted. "I know, but..."
I wanted to comfort my mom like she'd comforted me. I wanted to say this was only temporary, that we'd fix this so we wouldn't have to lie to anyone else.
But I just couldn't bring myself to do it. "...nevermind."
She breathed, putting that to the back of her mind. Her aura shifted to one of indigo splotched with orange. "Alright, we've gotten home; now what?"
I pondered for a moment, taking off my coat. She stared at me momentarily, making me realize that she hadn't yet seen my wings. I looked back, my neck much more flexible than before, and concentrated on my wings. After a moment of mental searching, one of them twitched.
Progress had been made.