“Hmm.” Lily tilted her head as she lowered her hand, watching Finn’s hand pause in their ministrations. Muscle memory she supposed, not that she possessed anything akin to that. At least, that she was aware of.

“Priest?” She laughed lightly, a small sparkle returning to her eyes, if only for a moment. “You would make a very enthusiastic priest.” Whilst it was a teasing comment, Lily meant it in good faith. A caring taunt, if you would.

Gradually, Lily tipped her head backwards to look up at the ceiling. The dull throbbing from her temples was still present, each little thrum bringing an aching pain with it. Despite the painful headache, Lily restrained from complaining further than she already had. They had far more pressing issues at hand than her little headache.

With a small sound, the woman looked back towards Finntello and a smile broke out across her lips as she saw the dream catcher. “It’s not ugly!” She was very quick to defend his work, leaning forwards to get a better look at it between his fingers. “It’s perfect.” Slowly, she brought her eyes up to meet Finn’s. “Thank you, Finn.” Her voice carried all the honesty in her body, to have someone who barely knew her offer something like this was not only kind but extremely generous.

Callisto furrowed his eyebrows at the tiniest glance he received from Xevon, setting a straight line above his eyes. He decided not to comment on the brisk interaction, instead only the facts of their current circumstances.

“The cellar door is always a nightmare to locate. We will have to address that issue when it arrives.” His eyes remained trained on Xevon’s head, even if the man wasn’t looking in his direction. “There is no point trying to find it if they don’t have those daggers.” Then he heard a strange sound from behind him, looking over he could see Lily leaning back over her own legs. Her hands pressed into her hair and holding the crown of her head, a flicker of concern washed over Callisto’s face and he drifted the smallest bit closer.

Lily had been smiling happily at Finntello when that pain in her head suddenly rocketed down her bones, her jaws felt like they were on fire. She curled her spine in on itself and gripped her head tightly in surprise. A harsh hiss coming from her at the sudden infiltration of the bone ache. Her lips parted as she breathed heavily, still slow and controlled but with significantly increased effort.

Eventually, she lifted her head and brought a slender hand to her jaw and pressed the pads of her fingers into the skin, willing it to go away. Her eyes had donned the slitted pupil appearance once more and did her canines look slightly pointier? Poking out from her top lip were the tiniest glints of sharp canines that appeared to be increasing in length, extremely slowly, but still growing.

Lily stared at Finntello, her eyes barely shifting from their position as he spoke, letting her free hand limply be taken into his own. She could hear something. Not his voice, something else. Something dragging along the floor, a long and grating sound as it pulled along the floorboards. Then there was a halt in the sound, a heartbeat in length before the noise was replaced by a creaking sound. Her muscles tensed and her hand on her jaw suddenly flew out towards Finn to slam him away from herself, landing square on his chest and pushing with all her strength to get him away from her. A loud crack sounded from below them, loud enough for others to hear, then various slightly quieter bangs.

Lily had pulled herself up from the bed quickly after bolstering Finn away from herself, her breathing increasing in its rate as she half dipped, half fell to her knees with a dull thud. The bones meeting the wood harshly, creating a sickening sound.

Callisto had heard the sounds too, he could take a guess at what it was. He had found that room, splattered with blood but with nobody in there. He remained a safe distance from her, there was no point in interfering at this point. There was little he could actually offer. Callisto took a look over his shoulder towards Xevon, the briefest of glances before he focused back on the pair before him. Finn looked like a deer in headlights as Lily continued her painful experience.

It felt like white hot pain was coursing through every bone in her body, sparking every possible nerve with an agonising sensation that made her heart feel like it was about to implode. Lily steadied herself with one hand planted firmly on the floor in front of her face as she curled over, a rough groan drawing slowly from her chest. She prayed that Finn’s blessing had not been so painful, this was excruciating.

Accompanying her sudden collapse and straining was a series of small cracking sounds. At first they were barely noticeable, drowned out by Lily’s anguished groaning. But then the more significant bones began to snap and break to reform themselves, drawing borderline screams from her. Though short in their length, the blood curdling cries were loud.

Callisto’s eyes widened, turning his attention away and snapping it so Xevon. If the god was below them and she was up here howling in pain, it was like ringing a dinner bell. The sudden onset of his panic and fear evident in his stretched eyes.

Lily’s fingers curled into the wooden boards, small splinters piercing the skin under her nails as the keratin began to grow and score harsh lines into the floor. Her head hung low, her spine curved sharply. Beneath her skin, the smallest of strange movements bulged against the flesh as things began to move.

Callisto’s brows pushed together so harshly that it formed deep wrinkles between them, his lips pursed to reveal a portion of his teeth as Xevon spoke. He tried to ignore the scene playing out beside them, for once he agreed with his companion. It was a reluctant agreement, but agreement all the same. He felt the pull of dread at his heart, he was useless unless he let himself go completely. The thought was almost more terrifying than the idea of facing off against the demon downstairs. He could hear the sounds begin again as Lily cried out, it was leaving the room below them.

“Fine. But please do not throw yourself at him like a mad man.” Callisto’s voice was sharp, unwilling to let Xevon think this was a good time to try and be a hero. The man looked over as Finn was pressing a fabric bundle between Lily’s teeth, tears were streaming down her cheeks and seeping into the fabric. Then his attention was drawn to her legs, the bones had begun to form their new shapes, creating the digitigrade posture. However…she wasn’t getting smaller. Bit by bit her form was actually growing in size, her muscles expanding. A wash of confusion came over him, this was new. His head tilted to the side as he watched, only when he heard another thunk from below them did he snap out of his hazy look and turn back to Xevon. This girl was somehow different, he couldn’t pin the reason, but she was.

Callisto’s face settled into seriousness. “What are you waiting for?” He peeled out before heading into the hallway, his eyes burning with something other than fear for once. In fact, he almost looked confident in their current task.

Lily’s ears couldn’t make out the sounds of the voices properly, there were snippets here and there. Overwhelmed by the static fuzzy sound that was coming from within her own head, she almost tore herself away from Finn again as he approached. At the twitch of her neck away from him, the vertebrae fractured and produced a mournful weep from her lips, it felt like every bone in her body was being pulverised.

Finntello was speaking to her, her eyes met his as he lifted her jaw up to get better access to her mouth. The panic and pain in her eyes made her appear like a terrified cornered animal. Tears had spilt from her eyes and were flooding down her flushed face as the fabric was pushed between her lips, she did not take her eyes away from his. Quiet and trust. Those were the words she made out, whilst alone they seemed comforting, the abject horror painted onto his expression told a different story.

Outwardly, her muscles were growing exponentially. Actually pushing at her clothing before slowly, soft pale cream fur began to manifest itself over her skin. The pain was still ever present, but now it was pain from the shifting of her bones, pulling and mangling her form. Her eyes winced closed, trying to keep herself still and to keep her throat from letting out yelps. But she could not help herself when she wrenched herself away from Finn, yanking herself away drew a deep sound from her chest. Lily half dragged, half pushed herself with her new legs away from him, she did not want to hurt him. The bones in her legs were still soft and not fully reformed, so when she tried to pull them up to use the pads of her growing paws to walk, the bones bent and swayed unnaturally, bowing her gait.

With her back now facing Finntello, a soft sound emitted from her throat as the fabric within her mouth fell to the ground. She had not pushed it out, her mouth was larger, it slipped out from between her teeth. Her breathing had turned to laboured panting, her tongue falling from her lips between four enlarged canines. With her head dipped lower than her shoulders, her head remained unseen, but the fur had overtaken her entire form, hiding the clothes beneath if they even still existed.

Lily’s ribs heaved with effort as she stared at the ground in front of her, instead of her hands, two large paws gripped at the wood. Claws extended out and pierced the old soft material and scored the ground in criss cross patterns as the woman fought to control her own voice. Her hips lay on their side with her legs splayed out to one side, the dull thud of a tail onto the ground was the only thing that alerted her to its existence. The pain had started to dull, but the ache of her bones persisted.

The ears on her head twitched backwards as she heard the thunk of the bed being moved to the door, slowly Lily turned her head to look over her shoulder towards Finntello.

In the place of the woman sat a larger than normal lion-esque creature, the fur around her neck and head was slightly tufted with the majority of her form being covered in pale cream fur. The only areas of a darker champagne colour were the tips of her ears, two small dots above her eyes and the tip of her tail. Which twitched back and forth behind her as her dark coffee eyes stared as the feathered man before the door. Her jaws were parted as she continued to pant, displaying the large teeth she had managed to gain from this transformation.

She thought she was going to poof into a small fluffy cat, not whatever this was. After a minute of staring, Lily forced herself to try and lift herself to her paws. The hulking mass made a strained growling sound as the act pulled at the freshly formed muscles and bones. There was still a small amount of bobbing to her movements, giving away the fragility of her new state. Once on her feet, she locked eyes with Finntello once more. Her shoulders met the portion of his torso just above his hips, the top of her head almost equal with his biceps. Could she talk like this? Lily didn’t want to try, fearing that if she tried to talk it would be painful and she would cry out again.

Callisto had already begun his descent as he heard Xevon. “Yes, well, normally it is not that dramatic and they get smaller. Not bigger.” With that he vanished down into the hallway beneath, just as Xevon headed down on the other side of the creature beneath.

The black hulking mass of meat and bone jerked at their appearance, at first whirling around to look at Xevon. His skull lowered as a guttural sound pulled from its form at the sequence of taunting that the winged man let spill from his lips. His shambling form moved to head towards Xevon as the taunting continued.

Callisto remained now behind the god, his eyes flickering over the entire scene. He could feel the dulled panic within his chest, but something else was suppressing it for him. He had made no active decision to cool that part of himself, it had simply happened when he saw what was happening to Lily. Something about it had flicked a little switch he didn’t know he possessed.

And it seemed that Xevon was about to bear witness to exactly what that meant. Callisto kept himself quiet, not wanting to escalate the situation any faster. They needed time, not instantaneous attack.

The heaving ghastly mass continued its gurgling sounds as it advanced towards Xevon, the lantern on the staff swinging dramatically with each step. With each taunt that was thrown towards it, the sounds only became greater in volume.

Callisto gritted his teeth from where he stood he could see the ever shifting mottled bone, fur and feather combination of its back. He knew that the creature was not stupid. It just did not converse with them, they were annoying pests not something to talk to. It only appeared of lesser intelligence, but to presume an old god was an idiot would be a fatal mistake.

The god had made it quite close to Xevon as the man continued to jabbing comments, the creature suddenly whipped its arm up. The gnarled boney hand swiping out, the length of its limb disproportional to the rest of its hunched form. Callisto sucked in a breath at the action, his legs shifting in preparation. It barely grazed the space where Xevon was. A harsh call drawn from its throat as it swiped again, still closing in on the winged man.

Lily blinked slowly as she listened to Finn’s voice, her ears flicking at the massive comment. A chuff of air left her ribcage in distaste. She glanced towards the bed he was seated on, noting that he had moved it himself, alone. That seemed a little…strong for someone his size.

Her body still ached, the dull pain still lingering in her muscles. She didn’t want to move in case it drew about another screech of pain, but she couldn’t just stand there. With Finn sitting down, her head was slightly higher than his own.

Cautiously, Lily dipped her head down to meet Finntello’s head height, ears pricking forward as she kept her gaze fixed on him. Now that she wasn’t writhing in pain, Lily had to admit, this was a lot cooler than wings in her own opinion.

She kept herself still for a moment before she pushed her head forward and nudged into Finntello’s chest with the top of her head, emitting the smallest deep huff as she did. Keeping her head pressed against him, pushing his form back a little. Her breathing was still laboured from her previous panic, but it was gradually returning to normality.