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My chin hit the floor with a hard thump, and I clenched my eyes shut, wincing. The impact rattled up into my head, ringing there deafeningly for a few moments. I was too stunned to really move, but I forced my eyes open. There were stars dancing in my vision, but that was kinda expected. In addition to the stars, though, there was an odd, softly drifting... pink smoke?

I gave my head a shake in an attempt to clear it, and I could feel the movement pulling on my chest. I groaned at the bizarre sensation. The air of the walk-in freezer was cold on my skin - beyond what I was used to. I tried to get my arms underneath me, but all I succeeded in doing was squirming on the ground.

The sound of a soft cough drew my attention upwards. The pink smoke was beginning to dissipate, and the stars in my vision were clearing. I was about ready to try getting up again when through the smoke walked a mouse in a... purple witch hat and a small purple coat?

I just stared straight ahead at them for a few long moments, the cold and my discomfort forgotten as I gaped. The mouse removed their hat. Without it, I could see that they appeared to have somehow dyed their grey fur a shocking shade of red on top of their head. They flapped the big floppy hat about, coughing occasionally as they fanned the pink smoke away. As I got a better look at them, I could see a bit more. They appeared to be wearing a pink bowtie as a belt around their coat, with the bow on the back. In addition, there was a small haversack hanging around their shoulders.

Once the smoke had dissipated a bit more, they replaced the hat atop their head, and then brushed their diminutive 'robe' off. At last, they looked back at me, and blinked as they noticed my open-mouthed stare.

There was a long moment while the two of us just stared at each other. I got the impression they were as off-balace as I was.

Then, quite abruptly, they straightened up, placed their hands on their hips, and puffed their chest out. They took a deep breath, and then spoke in a voice that I immediately knew they were trying to make lower than it ought to be. "Hah! Now you see the folly of your ways, foolish human! You will spend the rest of your days ruling the day you crossed-"

"Rueing." I said it before I realized what I was doing. They blinked at the interruption, and I tried to blink right back in equal surprise. Tried, but failed to. For some reason, my eyelids weren't responding.

"Excuse me?" they said, in a squeaky voice that was much more what I would expect from a mouse. You know, if I were to expect a mouse to start speaking.

"Rueing." They kept giving me that blank look, so I cleared my throat. "You said I would rule the day, but you meant that I would rue the day." They kept staring at me for a good few seconds, and at length I lowered my gaze and muttered, "Er, sorry."

"No no, that's fine. Ahem." The mouse placed their hands back on their hips, puffed out that chest again, and then declared, "It is better that I be accurate, foolish former human, for you will RUE the day that you dared to raise arms against Efraqeprix, Manipulator of the Arts Arcane!"

A sharp gust of wind kicked up as they said this, and it ruffled their robe and that bowtie belt dramatically. They remained standing there with their hands firmly planted on their hips, their nose tilted up slightly.

Perhaps they expected me to speak at this point. I will be honest, I had quite a few questions that needed answering. There were so many, in fact, and they were rushing through my head so quickly that it felt like my brain was tripping over itself.

There was a mouse talking to me. There was a mouse in front of me, they were wearing a witch's outfit, and they were talking to me. Also, there were a number of very concerning things in what they'd just said. After a long few moments, though, I finally settled on the bit of flabbergastment that I felt most needed to be expressed:

"...did you just make a breeze in the walk-in freezer!?"

The mouse blinked, and stopped puffing their chest out. "...yes?"

"How did you do that!?"

"I... I just told you that I was... you know, the bit about the arcane arts?"

"I..." I trailed off, staring at them. "Yeah, I'm going to be honest, I tripped up on your name and kinda lost track of the rest."

"Efraqeprix."

"Efakuh...?"

"Efraqeprix."

"Efrake-"

"No, it's a 'q', not a 'k', you have to-" They stomped one of their paws, and took a long, deep breath. "You know what? Effy. Just call me Effy."

"Effy." I nodded at that, and again I got that odd feeling of my chest moving with the motion. "Cool. So, Effy... uh, am I dead?"

"Dead!?" Effy looked quite horrified at that. "Oh goodness no! I would never do anything like that! It's just so... inelegant and awful."

"Sorry. Look, I just... the last thing I remember is stepping into the walk-in freezer, seeing a mouse, and going for a broom. Next thing I know, I'm on the floor, everything's cold, I'm really tired, and there's a mouse talking to me."

I yawned after saying that. The exhaustion was really sinking into me, the kind of deep tired I normally only felt walking home after a double shift.

"Yes, well, again, arcane arts. It's sort of my thi- are you even listening to me?"

I blinked, and gave my head a shake. "Yes. Yes, I swear. Sorry, I just keep nodding o-" I yawned again, my mouth stretching open wide... and then wider and wider than I expected. I felt a small pang of concern about this. One part of my brain was terrified that the top half of my head was about to flop off, but another part was just comfortably flexing the muscles along my jaw as it stretched impossibly wide. Besides, the fear was being overpowered by my exhaustion.

Effy was staring at me when my mouth clapped shut again. They stared at me for a bit, then walked on closer. They seemed... well, it was odd. They were still clearly much smaller than I was, but they somehow seemed bigger than they ought to be. But, well, I didn't know if I'd ever been lying on the floor when a mouse walked up to me, so maybe I was wrong on that one.

They leaned forward, and tapped me on the forehead. "Um. Um, are you... okay?"

"Yeeeeep..." I muttered. "Jusssst sssssleepy." I went to roll over as I finished saying that, but when I tried to move my arm it just... didn't. I did feel muscles flexing, slow and sluggish, and the movement rolled all the way down my torso... and further, running through my body. I groaned as my body turned, until I was on my back, staring up at the mouse witch.

They just kept staring at me, a mildly alarmed look on their face. Then, all at once, they yelped out, "Oh, right!" They slapped their forehead, then walked right by me. I could hear them muttering to themself, and then all of a sudden I felt their hand on my... legs? It sort of vaguely felt like my legs, but both at once. On top of that, it sort of felt a bit like my rump, too. My brain was too hazy to really process the odd sensation, though. They gave a hard tug, and I felt myself jerk back, maybe an inch. Effy muttered again, then said something in an echoing, squeaky voice. I didn't understand the words, but when they tugged again, I felt myself sliding along behind them. It was a bizarre sensation, feeling my bare body dragging along the floor. For whatever reason, it just felt like my torso was sliding over the floor and nothing else. This felt... wrong to me, somehow. I was dimly aware of watching my uniform slide by me, discarded on the floor of the freezer. That was odd...

There was a soft bump that the entirety of my back rolled over, and as my body passed it I felt warm air brushing over my smooth, bare skin. Soon, the bump passed underneath my head, and I grunted a bit at the impact. Behind me, I could just see the doorway to the walk-in freezer, and I realized that I had just left it, and was now in the slightly dim, short hallway that led to it from the rest of the restaurant.

Effy released me, and then padded back over to my head, their paws clicking a bit against the tile floor. I could feel heat beginning to return to my body, and as it did, that sluggish feeling was starting to fade. The witch mouse took off their bright purple hat, revealing that shock of red headfur again, and used the big floppy thing to fan themself as they glanced over at me.

"Sorry, that was my fault. When you found me, I didn't really think about what I was doing. I was a bit focused on the whole, 'Oh no, big dumb human with a broom!'"

"Uh, I guess that's kinda understandable?" I replied. I still wasn't sure what all was happening. I took a deep breath, and the warm air tasted good and refreshing on my tongue. Wait, the air tasted...?

"Well yeah, I was totally justified in what I did," they were saying, rolling their eyes as though that were the most obvious thing in the world. "Still, I should have thought through the inconvenience of turning somebody into a cold-blooded creature in a freezer."

"Right, right," I nodded a bit, feeling the movement rolling partway down my torso again in that slightly discomfiting way. I lay there for another moment or two, breathing in the warm air and the delicious tastes on the air. Then I blinked. Or at least, I tried to blink, and abruptly realized I couldn't. I turned to face Effy, and I felt that twist stretching down my torso, making me shiver from the bizarre overstimulation. "Wait, what was that last bit?"

Effy shot me a look that I could only describe as a devilish grin. Don't ask me how a mouse manages to look devilish, but this one did. They swept that pointed hat back up onto their head, and then reached into their tiny haversack. "Well, when you mess with a witch, there are always certain... complications." They withdrew their hand from the bag, and began pulling out an enormous, oversized hand-mirror that was bigger than the entire mouse. There was no way that thing could have actually fit in that bag - for that matter, there was no way that Effy was lifting the thing. I quickly forgot about such practical issues, though, as the mouse turned the mirror towards me, and I saw a rather bewildered snake looking back at me.

I just stared for a few long moments, my mouth hanging open. Then, I muttered, "That's a fun tri-" I stopped speaking as the snake in the mirror also opened its mouth, mouthing out the words exactly as I was. I took a closer look, my brain having trouble keeping up with what was happening.

The snake looking back at me was mostly on its back, with its front third or so twisted around so that it was lying on its belly. The scales along its back were all a blueish-grey colour, a bit rough. The only exception I could see was a narrow band of bright yellow around the neck. This band met up with the smooth, bright yellow scales running along its entire underbelly, deepening down to a vivid orange at the tail.

I kept staring for a moment, and then tried to push myself up with my arms. I didn't feel any of the reassuring movement of my hands going towards the floor, but I did see an odd quiver run through the snake's body. I hesitated, then took a deep breath. The taste of the air was incredible across my tongue, and I was sure I could pick up every single meal I'd served that night. I saw the snake's tongue flick out and taste the- oh god, taste the air. I pushed away that thought and the sensations, though, and focused on my torso, trying to impart a feeling of up.

My body shuddered, and then started moving in ways that felt impossible. There was a tensing around where my legs would be, and I saw that snake's bright orange tail coiling in. At the same time, powerful muscles flexed in my chest, all the way down to my belly, and then the snake lifted itself up somewhat. My vision lifted, and my mouth dropped open. The snake's tongue flicked out at the air again.

"So..." Effy lowered the mirror, and then raised an eyebrow at me. "Regal ringneck. What do you think?"

My eyes finally flicked down from the mirror towards the mouse, and I stared at them. They looked oh so pleased with themself. I kept staring for a moment, and then I yelped out, "What did you do!?"

Effy fumbled the mirror, and had to catch it before it hit the floor. I was recoiling from them, my body moving strangely. I didn't know what I was doing, so all that really happened was that lengths of my coils rolled, or occasionally draped over each other. There was a brief, disorienting moment where a part of me that I was sure was my neck brushed against something that was once my ankle.

"How is this- am I- did you actually just-"

"Quiet!" Effy hissed at me, glancing around. They were shoving the mirror back into their haversack, the huge thing again seeming far too large for that. They started walking towards me, lifting their hands to calm me. "Come on, there are still humans here."

"Still huma- _I'm_supposed to be still human here!" I yelled. I kept trying to back away from them with little success. I was casting around, my senses all new and strange to me. The overpowering taste of the air was only adding to my confusion, and I didn't know how much longer I was going to be able to take this.

"Hey, well you're the one that attacked me while I was minding my own business!"

"You turned me into a-"

Both of us froze and fell silent as the door from the main part of the restaurant opened, and an enormous figure stepped into the short, dark hallway. Those footsteps felt like they were thundering, and I just stared over at the enormous figure.

"Hey, is anybody in here? Come on, we're closed and we're trying to clean u-"

"Turk!" I said, overjoyed. I'd never been so happy to see my jerk of a manager before. "Turk I'm right he-"

I fell silent as Effy jumped on me, and squeezed my mouth shut with their paws. "Shush!" they whispered, their small furry body hanging onto my head. I tried to shake my head to get them off. Why would I be quiet? Sure, Turk was a bit much, but I'd rather be dealing with him. Maybe he could help me?

There was a click, and then the lights flashed on. I saw Turk blink in the sudden brightness, his hand on the switch. "Hey, you in here?" He glanced around, then his eyes turned down. He looked square at me, and the mouse witch clamped onto my head.

There was a very long moment of silence while he took in the situation, I could see the confusion on his face. Quite suddenly, I realized why Effy had tried to stop me.

"Snake! S-snake!" He stumbled back, yelling, his hands flailing and looking for... something. Anything. Effy let go of my head, then dropped off of me. I saw them bolting for the freezer, which was still open. They turned and called over their shoulder at me.

"Distract him! I'll be back in a minute!"

"Distract him!? How?"

Turk was thrashing around at this point, back himself into a corner and staring down at me in horror. I'd never taken him for the type to be afraid of snakes, but, well... I suppose I wouldn't have felt great about running into one unexpectedly in a dark hallway, either.

"Do snakey stuff!" Effy's voice was a bit more distant, now.

"Stay back!" Turk was yelling again. I turned towards him, and then recoiled as he stomped a foot down - he was much too far away to actually hit me, but vibrations going through the ground were jarring. "Just... just stay back until I can find something I can use to smack you!"

"Dude, don't freak out!" I yelped. I tried backing up, but my body was still moving oddly, and I think that all I did was wiggle in place on the ground.

"How the heck did a snake get in here!?" He was yelling, and flailing around. Probably looking for that broom I grabbed when I saw Effy.

"Talk at him!" Effy was still calling to me from somewhere in the freezer.

"Talk? Having the giant snake in the restaurant _talk_at him isn't going to help matters, Effy!"

"No, talk slow and soft! Maintain eye contact!"

"Oh for the love of..." I shook my head, the motion rolling down my torso. Turk was still casting around for something, and I let out a long, slow sigh. Then, I tried to lift myself up as high as I could, coiling the lower half of my body to support myself. "Hey. Hey Turk!"

"I knew that broom was right here... oh come on where in the..."

"Softer, slower!"

I let out a small hiss of annoyance. Then, I stared at Turk, and tried to draw out my words. "Turk. Turk, look at me."

I don't think he understood me. That really wouldn't have made any sense. But he did hesitate in his flailing about, and then looked back over at me. Our eyes met, and then I was frozen in place, unsure what else to do from there. His mouth was half open, and I knew he was about to start yelling again.

"Talk at him! Go on, go!"

"Turk." He hesitated, and so I went on. "Turk, hey, no need to freak out." I could see him starting to pull away, so I forced myself to calm down. I put more breath into my voice, softening the edges as much as possible. "No reason to panic, Turk. No reason to freak out. Just... chill out, man."

And Turk... didn't look away. He kept staring at me, those panicky eyes meeting mine. I could see the fear and panic beginning to fade, and some of that tension leaving his features. I drew myself up taller, and slid closer to him. It took less effort this time to make my voice soft. "Yes, just like that, Turk. Let those fears slip away, stay calm, and keep your eyes on me."

My face couldn't be more than a foot from his at this point. I could see how soft his breathing had gotten, and his mouth was hanging open. My eyes stayed trained on his, and that was when I saw something... odd. I could see my gleaming emerald eyes reflected in his brown irises. I was still speaking softly, a gentle litany of calming words. As I watched, though, I saw the gleaming green of my own eyes starting to swirl around the brown of his irises. It was like his eyes were getting teary, and making the colours bleed together. As I kept watching, though, the two colours began to definitely spread in distinct curls around his irises. I wasn't aware of the words I was saying... they were just coming out, as though they were calming me as much as him. "Ssssoft, now, Turk. Soft and so simple, slow thoughts, silent mouth, sleepy muscles..."

The sibilance of my words came naturally, and I could feel myself drawing out the sounds as my voice grew softer and softer, and almost sing-song in its delivery. I kept staring into those eyes, now looking like swirling brown and green irises in a pool of white. I gradually rocked my body to the left, and felt a flutter when his head followed my movement. I rocked back to the right, and he followed again, and a shiver ran down the considerable length of my body. I had him now. I could see the whites of his eyes receding, slowly being covered with more and more swirling, spiraling green and brown. "Yessss, Turk, sssink and lisssten... ssssink and lisssten to my wordssss... Calm and ssssimple, lissssten to the ssssnaky..."

A small paw came down gently on one of my coils. I didn't look down as Effy muttered, "Huh. You're kind of a natural, y'know?" I didn't respond. I couldn't explain it. I was enraptured by my power over the big human in front of me. He needed my attention, he needed me to guide him. I was aware of the mouse walking around to my front, and then right by the human and to the door. They glanced out the door, and then looked back over their shoulder at me. "Hey, tell him to open the service entrance for us."

Could I do that? So far all I'd been able to do was make him be calm. I couldn't shrug, though, so instead I just said, "Turk. Ssssoft, now. Be a ssssweet human and open the door for ussss..."

He moved. I was a bit startled when he broke eye contact with me, but some part of me knew, instinctively, that he was still listening to me. He lumbered over to the rear door, walking slower than I'd ever seen him move. He pushed it open, and then held it for us.

Effy patted my side, and said, "Come on, let's go!"

They took off out the door, and it was only then that I noticed they were carrying an enormous bag of... what appeared to be pistachios. I shook my head, and then slithered awkwardly after them, my movements jerky. I kept thinking that I should glance at the human and make sure he was still under my spell, but some part of me just _knew_that he was.

I made it out onto the pavement of our back parking lot, the surface rough, but oddly comforting against my belly scales. I twisted my body around until my head was facing the human. I took one last, long look at his eyes, and the lovely colours spiraling in them. Then I spoke, "Be a dear... closssse the door. Ssssstay nicccce and calm for me."

He nodded, stepped inside, and then the door swung slowly shut. I stared after him, and my mouth slowly dropped open.

"Well, you took to that much better than I could have hoped." Effy had stepped up beside me and they leaned against my side.

"Did I jussst enthral that huma-" I caught myself, then blinked. "Did I just hypnotize Turk?"

"Why yes, you did." They patted my side, and I just kept staring at that closed door. "And you know, I quite think you liked it, didn't you?"

I didn't answer that, mostly because I didn't trust myself to. I gulped, and then glanced away, and muttered. "So... what now?"

Effy was busy stuffing the enormous bag of pistachios into their small haversack. There was no way that it should have fit, but they kept shoving it in, until eventually it was fully inside of the tiny bag. "There." They clapped their hands off, then glanced over at me. "Well, now we head back to my place, and we discuss the details of your employment as my familiar."

"Your familiar?" I demanded, glancing over at them. "You- I- You just turned me into a bloody snake against my will, and you think I'm just going to be your familiar now?"

"Oh please, you were trying to hit me with a broom for nothing!"

"You-" I stopped again, and then glared at them. "You literally just stole from us."

They opened their mouth to respond, and then stopped. After a moment, they tipped that witch hat towards me. "Okay, fair point. But come now, you'll enjoy it. Besides, once you've finished your contract, I'll even turn you back into a big dumb human." They rolled their eyes... then shot me a grin. "Unless, of course, you find that you enjoy slithering and enthralling people too much."

I did my best to glare at them. I assumed that a snake glaring down a mouse ought to have put them off-balance, but they seemed entirely unfazed. They simply said a couple words, then patted my side. I shuddered as I felt something suddenly come to rest on me, and I twisted around to stare at a small saddle that they'd summoned. It was strapped on around my torso, with a few small saddlebags hanging down at my sides.

Without another word, Effy hopped up onto the saddle. I glared at them, but in reality, I barely even felt the weight. They grinned at me. "Alright then, off we go!"

I rolled my eyes, then faced forward again and started slithering along the ground. "This is absolutely ridiculous."

"Yuuuup. Pretty sure you'll love it, though."