Greg didn't know what he was thinking. He had fallen asleep behind a large pot of plastic flowers that was set up against the back wall of the front hallway. When he woke up, he heard three female voices coming from the nearby bedroom. He quickly recognized two of them as Trish and Heidi, but the third one was unknown to him. Once again, his curiosity got the best of him, and he slowly creeped towards the door to get a closer look.

He reached the doorway and peeked inside. As he thought, Trish and Heidi were inside; Trish on the couch and Heidi in the chair besides it. Sitting next to Trish was an unfamiliar woman, with raven black hair tied in a pony tail and a skin tone that suggested that she was most likely Hispanic. Greg found her to be rather cute, but he wondered what she was doing in the house. Could she also be a witch?

Again going against his better judgement, he started to sneak inside, trying to stay as close to the wall as possible, and hoping that they would not see him.

"Whaa...?" said the voice of the third woman, in a slightly confused tone.

Greg looked toward the three girls, who's eyes were all on him. He froze in spot, unsure of what to do next.

"Is that your mouse, Heidi?" the black-haired woman asked. "...He's kinda cute."

Greg raised an eyebrow. "What? Mouse...?" he mumbled.

Trish and Heidi looked towards the woman, with slightly surprised expressions on their face. Then, Heidi's face lit up in what looked like a look of realization.

"Yeah!" Heidi said in an unusually excited tone. "I was looking all over for him!"

"What the hell?" Greg said, reacting to both Heidi's behavior and what she said.

Before he could react, Heidi rushed from where she was over to where he was, and kneeled down over him.

Greg backed away slightly from her. "What's goin-"

"Be quiet," she ordered quietly but with the familiar harshness that he had come to know. "Follow my lead."

Heidi's placed her right hand on the floor behind him, and with her left hand, she pushed him into its open palm. As he fell on his buttocks in her palm, she stood up and laid her other hand's palm on top of him. From between her hands, he could see her walk over to Trish and the third woman, both of whom were looking towards Heidi. Trish in particular looked to have an expression of concern on her face.

"I got 'em!" Heidi said, in the same bubbly manner as before. "He tried to run away from me, but I nabbed him before he could get away."

Heidi uncovered her palm, revealing Greg to Trish and the black-haired woman. Both of them looked down on him in Heidi's massive palm.

"This is Greg," Heidi said.

"He's even cuter up close!" The black-haired woman said in an affectionate tone, with the facial expression to match.

"Say 'hi' to Cynthia, Greg," Heidi ordered.

Greg looked up towards Heidi's face, pasted with an unusually bright smile. He did not know why, but seeing her this cheerful was even more frightening than her usual stone-faced demeanor. Instead of doing as she said Greg opted to remain silent. He had no idea what was currently going on.

"He's a bit shy," Heidi said towards Cynthia.

"Aww..." Cynthia moved her hand towards Greg. Heidi quickly pulled him from her, with such force that Greg nearly lost his balance and fell from her hand.

"What was that for?" Cynthia asked, a confused look on her face.

"Like I said," Heidi started, "Greg is shy around people. He might bite you."

"Oh... I just wanted to pet him. I've been bitten by mice before, so I'm numb to it. Can I touch him? Pleeeease?" Cynthia interlocked her fingers in front of her and brought her hands to her face, and looked into Heidi's face with a beggingly expression on her face.

"Umm..." Heidi looked towards Trish, and then back at Cynthia. "I need to prep him."

"What?" Cynthia said,before withdrawing her hands.

"Oh, you see... I try to encourage him to not bite people. THEN they can touch him." Heidi turned around and began to walk out of the living room.

"Where are you going?" Cynthia asked.

"It works better when unfamiliar people aren't around," Heidi answered. "...Trish, can you come with me?"

"...Sure, why not?" Trish replied, before turning to Cynthia. "I'll be back in a few."

"Okay, Trishy-baby." Cynthia smiled at Trish.

Heidi, with Trish in tow, walked out of the living room, across the front hall, through the kitchen, and into the back hallway. From there, they walked into Trish's bedroom, and once inside, Trish closed the door behind her. Heidi walked to Trish's bed, and sat down on it. She tilted her hand to the side, causing Greg to slide out of her palm and onto the mattress.

"You gotta admit," Trish said, "She can be very persuasive, can't she?"

Heidi let out a frustrated sigh.

"Okay!" Greg stood up on the mattress. "Can somebody tell me what's going on!?"

"Trish, in one of her many dim moments, has decided to bring one of her friends over here," Heidi answered.

"Hey..." Trish twitched, apparently taking offense to how Heidi had insulted her.

"I know that!" Greg said. "Why are you acting like I'm a mouse or something!?"

"Because of the drink that Trish gave Cynthia," Heidi replied. "It gives her the illusion that you're a mouse instead of a small human."

"But it only tricks the sight," Trish continued. "The other senses are unaffected, so if she tried to touch you... well..."

"...I... think I get it now..." Greg said, folding his arms.

"...So, do you have any more bright ideas?!" Heidi snapped at Trish.

"What!!" Trish flinched. "Me?! You're the one that brought me in here! I thought you came up with something! Besides, YOU were the one who almost made her touch him!"

"I only did it because I knew she would have wanted to see him up close. If she tried to touch him, I would stop her and explain why, which I did. But she still wants to pet him."

"Why don't you zap her memory?" Greg suggested.

Heidi looked down upon Greg. "We only do that when humans--humans not related to us by blood--know that we're witches. Cynthia does not know that, so-"

"Got it!" Trish suddenly exclaimed.

Both Greg and Heidi jumped in surprise at Trish's sudden outburst, and looked towards her.

"Stand up, Runt."

Greg glanced towards Heidi for a second, before doing as Trish ordered and standing to his feet. He found the mattress of Trish's bed somewhat hard to stand on, but he managed to keep his balance. Trish then pointed her index finger towards him, before a burst of magic flashed from its tip and sped across the room, and began to spiral around him. He then felt his torso, legs, and arms become warm. He looked downward, and saw that he was now wearing a grey fur costume that resembled a mouse's body. He looked behind him, and saw a long pink tail extending from his posterior. On the mattress besides him was a matching grey head that was shaped like a mouse's.

"What the hell is this?!" Greg exclaimed. "How is this going to help?! Most people can tell the difference between a real rat and a fake!"

"Weren't you listening?!" Trish said. "She'll still SEE you as a real mouse, and now you'll feel like one. All you gotta do is talk like a mouse. Squeaks and stuff."

"What...?" Greg raised an eyebrow.

"This better work," Heidi said as she stood up. "I mean it."

"I know it will." Trish got a somewhat cocky smile on her face. "It's flawless."

"I wouldn't go that far."

"Whatever." Trish opened her bedroom door behind her, and walked out of her room.

Heidi looked back towards the bed, particularly at Greg. "Put on the head, and let's go," she ordered in an annoyed tone.

"Alright, alright." Greg turned towards the mouse head, and picked it up. "You know, this isn't my fault, so you don't have to be mad at me."

"You should have stayed hidden until Cynthia left. As far as I'm concerned, you both are at fault."

Greg sighed, and then placed the foamy head onto his head. His world became dark, except for the two eyeholes at the front, which he had difficulty seeing anything through. He felt something push against him, which knocked him off of his feet. Now sitting down, he found himself being lifted from Trish's bed, and then carried out of the room.

He hoped that Trish's plan would work out, but still did not see why they could not just erase Cynthia's memory to be on the safe side.

~~~

Trish waited at the entrance into the kitchen, and looked back towards her bedroom. Before long, Heidi walked out, holding in the palm of her hand Greg, who was donned in the grey mouse costume that she had created with her magic.

Once Heidi drew closer, Trish walked into and through the kitchen, and then made her way into the living room, with Heidi following closely behind her. Once they arrived, they saw Cynthia sitting on the couch, waiting patiently for their return, no doubt.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," Trish said.

"It's alright," Cynthia replied. "That was some prep you did in there."

"What do you mean?"

"I heard you yelling from in here."

"Oh..." Trish's cheeks became slightly red.

Heidi laughed as she stepped ahead of Trish. "Oh, you know Trish! She has such a big mouth, but it's the only way to get Greg here to behave."

"I see." Cynthia stood up, and began to walk towards Heidi. "He must be a bad pet, but look at him now. He's just sitting there, not moving at all. Little cute thing..."

"You really want to pet him, don't you?" Trish asked. "Is it THAT important?"

"Not really," Cynthia answered as she stopped in front of . "I just like how their fur feels. It's all soft and warm."

"And you sure you don't mind being bitten?" Trish asked, despite knowing full well that Greg would not, or rather could not, bite her.

"I said that I didn't already." Cynthia looked at Trish, with a sly look on her face. "What, you worried that I'll get rabies?"

"No!" Trish quickly answered. "Why would we have a mouse with rabies?"

Cynthia laughed. "Good point."

She turned back towards Heidi, or more specifically, Greg, and reached out towards him with her right hand. Trish still found it odd that Cynthia was so fixated on touching what she thought was a mouse. Though she had nothing to worry about; after all, the plan that she had come up with was, as she said earlier, flawless.

Cynthia's fingers descended on Greg, and she began to rub his fur. Just then, Trish noticed a look of slight confusion on Cynthia's face.

"That's weird," Cynthia said.

"What?" Trish asked.

"I don't know what it is..." Cynthia started as she kept rubbing on Greg's fur. "But he feels... off."

"'Off'?" Heidi asked. "What do you mean? He feels like any other mouse, doesn't he?"

"He feels..." Cynthia paused for a moment, as she looked down at Greg. "...I don't know. He doesn't feel as warm as other mice. Plus, his skin feel kind of hard."

"That's weird," Heidi said. "I don't feel anything like that when I touch him. Isn't that right, Trish?" Heidi turned back towards Trish, with the familiar serious and angered look on her face that she had come to know.

"Uhh...!" Trish was a bit unnerved at Heidi's glare, before focusing back at Cynthia. "Yeah! Maybe there's something wrong with YOU!" She jokingly said, as Heidi looked back towards Cynthia.

"No, I'm quite sane," Cynthia said, as she withdrew her hand from Greg's furry body.

"Yeah, right." Trish rolled her eyes.

"...Maybe it IS me, though." Cynthia stared at Greg for several seconds. "...Can I hold him?" With both of her hands, she began to reach for him.

"...Sorry, but no," Heidi pulled Greg closer to her body, away from Cynthia's grasping hands. "I haven't made Greg THAT comfortable around strangers."

"Aww man..." Cynthia pouted.

"Anyway," Trish rushed towards Cynthia and grabbed her by the shoulders from behind, "we wasted enough time here. We should head for that computer store, before we spend too much time here and it closes on us." Trish then began to push Cynthia out of the living room and towards the front door. "Let's go, go, go!"

"Trishhh~!" Cynthia called. "Hey! Quit rushing me!"

"If you stay here any longer, you'd probably try to replace me with the rat!"

"You're getting jealous over a mouse? WOW...!"

"No, of course not!"

As the two reached the door, Cynthia looked back towards Heidi. "Nice to meet you Heidi! Maybe we'll see each other again. You and Gregie!"

"Same here," Heidi replied. "You two have fun on your little date. ...But Trish, before you leave, could I speak with you for a minute?"

Trish and Cynthia glanced at each other, before Trish released her grip from Cynthia's shoulders.

"Wait outside for a minute," Trish ordered.

"Okay."

Cynthia opened the front door, and walked outside. Trish closed the door behind her, but did not shut it completely. Trish then walked into the living room, where Heidi waited for her, Greg still sitting in the palm of her hands. As expected, her faked cheery demeanor was completely gone; instead was her usual serious self.

"When you get back, I'm going to punish you for this," Heidi said.

"What?!" Trish was shocked. "The plan worked! She didn't find out about us!"

"She almost did. Plus, there's the fact that you brought her in here in the first place."

"...So, how am I going to be punished? You're going to take away my powers?"

"You're lucky. If she did find out about us, I might have seriously considered it. But I'll be lenient. I'm still not going to tell you what it is, though. Just don't think about it while you're out. I don't want you to be so fixated on it that you can't enjoy your date." Heidi smiled mockingly.

Trish stared at Heidi for a few seconds, before turning around and walking out of the living room, and then out of the house. Cynthia had taken a few steps away from the door, but was waiting for her, just as she had told her to. Trish pulled her keys out of her pocket, and closed and locked the front door behind her.

"What was that all about?" Cynthia asked as Trish approached her.

"Oh, nothing," Trish answered. "Just wanted to know when I'll be back and all that."

Cynthia folded her arms. "I don't see why I had to leave for that."

"Well, I didn't know what she wanted me for. It could have been some super-huge, mega secret that you weren't supposed to hear."

Cynthia scrunched her mouth to the side, and looked at Trish as if she thought she was being silly.

"What?"

"Okay, Trish. Whatever you say." Cynthia shook her head, and then began to walk away from Trish, towards the sidewalk.

"Where are you going?" Trish asked.

"That computer store," Cynthia answered. "We're still going, right?"

"Of course we are! Wait for me!"

Trish ran to accompany Cynthia, who had taken her first steps onto the sidewalk in front of the house. The two young women then turned to their right, and began to walk down the road, eventually leaving Trish's house behind and out of sight.

Deep inside, Trish was relieved. The plan that she had come up with was not as perfect as she had thought it would be, but in the end, it worked. She was almost grateful at Greg for playing his part as well. Unfortunately, Heidi was still not very happy at all with her, and she was not looking forward to whatever Heidi had planned for her when she got back.

She had to find a way to make her day with Cynthia last as long as she could. Even if it meant finding mundane activities to do with her.

"Trishy-baby?" Cynthia called. "What're you thinking about? You're being awfully quiet."

"Oh! Nothing," Trish replied. "Nothing about stuck-up and overbearing witches. Nope. Nothing like that." She chuckled nervously.

"...You're so weird."

~~~

Sitting in Heidi's giant palm, Greg placed both of his palms on either sides of the giant foam mouse head covering his head, and pulled it off of him. His eyes stung slghtly from the light rushing into his retinas, as they had been in the darkness of the head for too long.

"That was a close one," Greg said, before tossing the mouse head down to the floor below. He reached behind his back, looking for some kind of zipper, but did not find anything. "Son of a..."

"Now, as for you," Heidi's voice said from behind.

Greg turned around, and saw her looking down upon him. From where he was, her face seemed much larger than he had ever seen her before; her serious demeanor--and her emerald green eyes both looking right at him--was much more intimidating than ever.

"Me!?" Greg exclaimed. "What did I do?!"

"You already know what you did." Heidi began to kneel down onto the floor. "As I said earlier, you should have stayed hidden until Cynthia left."

"But Trish's plan worked- Oh wait... You're still going to get her..."

"That's right." Upon reaching the floor, Heidi grabbed Greg out of her palm by the tail of his mouse costume, and placed him on the floor in front of her bare feet. Then, she stood back upright, as Greg watched her loom over him like she usually did.

"So, are you going to tell me what you're going to do to me?" Greg asked as he stood up, though struggling a bit due to the costume.

"No."

"Of course not." Greg sighed.

Heidi stepped over him, and began to make her way out of the living room. Greg watched her as she nearly walked out of the living room, before looking downward at the fake fur that covered almost all of his body.

"Oh, right. ...Hey!!" Greg yelled out. "Wait!!"

Heidi stopped, and looked back towards him.

"You think you could get this thing off of me? It's making me hot."

Heidi turned around and stepped a bit closer to him. "Why not?"

She pointed her indea finger towards him, which released a bolt of magic that fired directly at him. The powder-like magic circled around his body, gradually lowing onto the floor, as the fur costume faded from his body with it. As the spiraling magic reached the floor and disappeared, the mouse costume was completely gone from his body. Greg instantly felt his body cool down, his sweaty hands dry off, and his limbs felt much more free.

"Thanks," Greg said.

"Mm." Heidi then turned back around and walked out of the living room. Greg then heard the back door open, and then shut.

Greg looked around the room, before something to his left caught his eye: the fake grey mouse head. It seemed that Heidi seemed to have either forgotten about it, or did not deem it important enough. It would most like be disposed of later, so Greg decided to leave it be. He then began to make his way back towards Parvati's bedroom. He did not know what time it currently was, but the next thing on his agenda was to wait for Parvati to arrive back home. That, and wonder what Heidi had in store for him.

He hoped that it was not anything too strict.

~~~

Greg laid on the sole of Parvati's right red flip-flop, his fingers interlocked behind his head as he looked up at the ceiling, dozing in and out of reality. Once again, he was disappointed that Parvati opted to wear her ballet flats to her job that morning. He almost missed seeing the thongs of her flip-flops being worked between her toes.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps approaching the bedroom, familiar footsteps. Greg sat up and watched the doorway expectedly. Sure enough, Parvati walked into the room, carrying her purse and wearing a white blouse with small flower designs, blue jeans, and those white flats.

She looked towards Greg on her sandal, and gave him a smile. "Good afternoon, my pet." She closed the door behind her.

"Good afternoon, my Goddess," Greg replied, a smile of his own on his face. "How was work?"

Parvati walked towards her bed. "It wasn't anything special. I just got my paycheck, and that's it."

"I see." Greg slid off of her flip-flop, as she sat down on her bed.

Parvati placed her purse on the bed beside her, and reached down to remove her shoes from her feet. "So, what did you do today?" She pulled off her right flat and set it on the floor next to her.

"Nothing much. It was pretty boring." Greg lied.

"That's not good." Parvati removed her left flat from its foot, and set it down besides its partner, before sitting up again. "You were waiting all day for me, weren't you?"

"Well, yeah." Greg glanced at her massive feet near him.

Parvati giggled. "I know what you want." Each of her toes wiggled. "You are so predictable."

"Well, it HAS been over seven months..."

"Hah... Why don't you kiss 'em?" Parvati suggested.

"Yes, my Goddess." Greg made his way towards Parvati's gigantic feet. They looked beautiful, though he had since come to expect nothing less from Parvati.

As he was within inches of her left foot, Greg reached his hands out for it. However, before he could touch her flesh, both of her feet lifted off of the floor. He then found himself falling forward onto the floor. He looked upward, and saw that Parvati had her legs crossed on the bed while she was looking down upon him.

"What gives?" Greg asked, a bit confused and annoyed.

"Sorry, but you can't do that now," Parvati replied.

"Huh? Why?" Greg stood to his feet. "Is it because of Heidi? I thought it was okay to do little stuff."

"Heidi told me what happened earlier."

"What...?"

"That was a close one, but you and Trish are in trouble. Heidi will take care of Trish, so that leaves you with me."

"W-what are you going to do?" Greg asked.

"...Twenty-four hours. No feet for you."

"What!!?" said a shocked and dismayed Greg. "C'mon! Don't do that to me!"

"Sorry. It was Heidi's suggestion, and I'm going to enforce it."

"Can't you do something else to me instead?"

"I made my decision." Parvati looked towards her nightstand, where her digital clock was. "At 4:49pm tomorrow, you can kiss my foot all you want. For now, you'll just have to be a sight-pleaser."

"...Man..." Greg dropped his head in disappointment, and slowly began to walk underneath Parvati's bed.

"By the way," Parvati said.

Greg looked up towards the giant woman.

"Heidi said that the mouse costume you had on was going to be your original punishment, but since you asked her to remove it, she had to find an 'even worse way to torture' you."

Greg's mouth dropped. "Oh, you gotta be kidding me." He slapped his palm against his forehead.

"Sorry, my pet. I guess if you wanted to play with the girls, you should have endured that costume, at least until Trish got home. I can't reverse her spells like Heidi can."

Greg sighed, and continued to make his way underneath the giant bed, and then towards his dollhouse.

Heidi had gotten him good. As he walked, he wondered what she had in store for Trish, the person responsible for what happened that day in the house.

~~~

Trish walked into her dark room, and flipped on the switch on the wall, which illuminated the room with light from the ceiling. It was just past 10pm; she had prolonged her date with Cynthia for as long as she could, coming up with meager excuses for them to stay out. However, Cynthia had to work the next day, so she eventually had to go back to her apartment. That left Trish with nowhere else to go but come back home.

Despite wanting to enjoy her day with Cynthia, she found it hard to focus on her date; Heidi's punishment, whatever it would turn out to be, was on her mind throughout the whole day. She knew that the date did suffer somewhat, but she just could not help it. Hopefully next time, she could go out with Cynthia without that burden on her mind.

She closed the door behind her, and then looked towards her bed. She noticed a sheet of folded-up paper set upon it. She approached her bed, navigating her way around her piles of clothes that she still had not cleaned up. Upon reaching the bed, she grabbed the paper, and unfolded it. It seemed to be a note, addressed to her from none other than Heidi. She began to read:

Trish rolled her eyes, and continued reading:

Trish gulped, and nervously read on:

"What the hell?" Trish said, flabbergasted.

Trish stared at the note for a few seconds, before falling forward onto her bed and sighing loudly. She could not believe that she had gotten so worked up over nothing.

Then, a small polaroid picture fell from behind the note that she held. Trish picked up the picture, and saw that there was a smaller note attached to it via a paperclip:

Sure enough, in the polaroid was an image of a small grey mouse that looked to be standing on one of Trish's clothing piles. In the picture was yet another note, set out in front of the mouse; it almost looked as if the mouse was holding the sheet of paper in its front paws. Trish squinted her eyes to read the message on this third note:

Trish sighed again, before removing her glasses from her head and burying her face into her mattress.