“Hold still, I wouldn't want to miss.” Wizard Buckingham said, preparing to cast his spell on me.

Supposedly it would give me the ability to transform other people into whatever I desired once per day. Unfortunately knowing Buckingham’s style of magic all too well I knew there was going to be a catch. Something always went wrong. I was sure today would be no exception. The trick to being Buckingham’s apprentice was to watch what he did and spot what went wrong. That way you could make sure it didn't happen when you tried it.

I felt a wave of magic flash past me as Buckingham finished his spell. The first thing I did was look at my hands, which were still completely normal. Then I looked at Buckingham, who said “Do you feel it boy?”

I shook my head no. I felt completely normal, “I think you missed.”

Just as I said it there was a commotion behind me. I spun around, hands up and ready to cast a defensive spell. Several sheets of fabric twisted through the air like serpents. Just behind them needles, much smaller and more nimble, twisted, string spiraling behind them.

My surprise was short lived. I threw up my shields just as the fabric was inches from my face. The leading cloth was torn in half by the defensive bubble. However, even as the half on the outside slammed against my shield, the half on the inside didn't miss a beat. It leapt towards my face and stuck.

My face burned where the black fabric touched it, so much so that I instinctively reached up to pull it off. It came off easily, and I breathed a sigh of relief, until my hand started burning too. Unlike my head, the torn fabric was certainly large enough to fit around my hand.

Immediately the burning sensation returned, but this time accompanied by a pressure. It felt as if the fabric was trying to give me the firmest handshake in the world. This time it was stuck fast, and trying to pull it off proved incredibly painful.

“How do you deal with a transformation spell boy?” I heard Buckingham say from behind me. That was Buckingham, always turning everything into a “learning experience.” He had an entire gallery of apprentices who had not survived one of these learning experiences or another. Whenever one apprentice was burned to ashes in some experiment or another he revived one of the other ones.

I did not intend to join them.

I tried to think through the pain in my hand. There was no way I could fight all of them off. I had to get out of this using magic. There were a couple ways.  I could try to dispel the transformation as it was happening, which would stop the transformation in its tracks. Unfortunately another transformation was necessary to undo the resulting disfigurement, and there was no way I could do either of those without one of my hands. I doubted Buckingham would be willing to revive me from my “learning experience” any time soon.

That left only verbal and will power. Great.

My shield was beginning to falter. Not only was I distracting myself but my hand was too. A needle and thread pierced my shield. I refocused on my defenses but it was too late. The needle attacked my arm, sliding in and out without drawing blood. Despite this it was still very painful. I clenched my teeth and tried to think.

Verbal spells were right out. Most of them were simple things like mage light or conjure flame. Such small spells would do nothing against this.

The needle was now banging on the inside of my shield, out of thread. That was the good news, no more piercing pains in my arm. The bad news was that it had completely sewn the black fabric to my upper arm, and it was still squeezing my hand with uncomfortable amounts of pressure. In fact, now that I focused I realized I couldn't even feel my fingers anymore.

I pushed myself not to think about it and think about how I would get out of this without becoming some sort of cloth monster or something.

Transformation spells could also be willed away by someone with a strong enough willpower. I was merely an apprentice, and had only willed off minor curses. Something this physical would be very difficult. No, that wouldn't work either. I would have to combine the methods somehow.

All the while I could feel the insides of my arm burning. It was like the insides of my arm was popping like popcorn. The feeling was excruciating, and when it finally subsided my entire right forearm went limp. It flopped like a beanbag. The weirdest part though was that I could feel the whole thing.

That was when my shields began to falter. The various sewing supplies renewed their attack on my defenses, and my power was running out quickly. I had to think of something now.

A thought struck me and I used much of my remaining power to cast another simple shield, this one around my mind. Sometimes these sorts of spells altered the mind of the target, so I did as much as I could do avoid that.

I could almost hear Buckingham behind me, silently judging my decision.

My shields were nearly translucent now. They would only last a second or two longer. Luckily my previous action had given me an idea. The more you accepted a transformation the more painless it was, you could even sometimes control it to an extent. This was my only chance. I used the last of my power to give myself a minor increase in willpower.

Instantly my shields fell. Needles and scissors and fabric raced towards me. The scissors had been hard at work, and each piece of fabric was a more organic shape, clearly meant to fit together. I braced, then remembered I was supposed to accept the transformation. I tried my hardest to not resist as the fabric coated me from head to toe. It was soft, and each piece attached individually until I had a cocoon of cloth all around me. Some parts were suspended off my body, and others were stuck fast.

I projected my thoughts as much as possible. Yes, I wanted this to happen. Knowing, of course, that I would remain in a vaguely human form. I would also be able to move and speak. With these thoughts in mind I explored the fabric coating my body.

My legs felt the strangest. The fabric was pushing on them in weird places, and was loose in others. My body felt a bit strange as well. The sides were tight, but the front and back were loose. My arms were also tight, with the fingers of my only remaining hand being squeezed the tightest. I had forgotten about my hands. I pushed down a wave of panic. It was too late now. I had to accept the change. The sides of my head had a lot of pressure, and I could already feel it constricting within the cocoon. My face however was oddly free, with my nose and jaw having a massive amount of wiggle room.

Moments later it was the needles turn. I tried not to panic as dozens of needles pierced everywhere where the fabric touched. More needles sew together the places where the fabric didn't touch my skin, and I was grateful I could not feel them in such places. Unlike my arm, this wasn’t painful. Instead it felt like I was constantly touching dozens of tiny pieces of metal. The sensation was strange, slightly uncomfortable, but not unbearable.

Then I realized that the fabric had not created a mouth. I focused all of my willpower on this fact. I would be able to speak when the transformation finished! I would! My efforts paid off, but not in the way I had expected. The fabric, which I could now feel quite easily, on my back was pierced by a pair of scissors. They cut a small hole before I felt something else enter. It was solid and plastic feeling, and as soon as my new zipper was pulled closed I recognized what it was.

I tried to speak, but instead of coming from my mouth the words came from my back. They were a bit distorted, but understandable. “Shit shit shit shit shit.”

This, of course, was in response to what had happened when I stopped focusing on my other goals. The fabric had stopped contracting, and as a result my body felt distorted in ways no one should ever experience. I had shrunk, messily. Instead of simply getting smaller like a normal shrink spell the fabric had forced my flesh into a new shape. Immediately upon realizing this I fell to the floor with a thud.

My entire body felt positively inhuman. Even more so as I began to feel a soft tingling in my skin. Moments later I could once again feel the air against my body. Sort of. It was like I was wrapped loosely in a blanket, perfectly shaped to fit my new form. Speaking of which, my body felt very strange. There was no way I would be keeping my humanoid form.

The tingling in my insides reminded me that even though I had not won the battle for being humanoid, there was one last thing that I had to absolutely positively avoid. I wanted to stay animate. No, I would stay animate. This transformation would not cause me to lose my ability to move. I was sure of it.

Another thing I knew, was that I was turning into a stuffed animal, and my insides were changing accordingly. I felt lighter by the second, but colder as well. My body wasn’t producing heat anymore, and the feeling was positively strange. My, well paws now, squished when I moved them, or at least pressed them to the floor. Unfortunately my hands were mittens now, no fingers at all, not even a dew claw.

The needles and thread and all of the remaining fabric fled back to their not so neatly organized drawers. I gave a sigh of relief, knowing that it was over.

I flexed my right arm, and discovered that it had reanimated. I hopped to my feet, intending to take a breath of air before realizing that that was impossible now. I brushed it aside before spinning around to pronounce my victory (sort of) to Buckingham.

However when I turned around I knew immediately that I had failed. The wizard stared down at me with his unique mix of amusement and frustration. But how? I could still speak, I could still seek help from other wizards!

“And you you think they would help you?” I hated it when he read my mind. My barrier must have fallen during the transformation. And being a stuffed animal probably didn't help my mental defenses. “Even your closest friend would probably keep you as a pet for a few days or something. And if you are discovered in transit, or the nearest wizard isn't so friendly? Well let’s just say you came to me for help. Here’s what I would do.”

I felt wires crawling through my body. The sensation was excruciatingly painful, like a pair of pliers twisting your insides apart. Something burned itself onto my right front paw. A sticker, which read “press here!”

I tried to protest through my speaker, but instead of my words distorted yips were all the noise that the speaker made. Moments later they ceased. I tried to say something, anything, but it was no use. Only when the button on my forepaw was pressed would I say anything. And for some reason I doubted I would have any control.

Then I collapsed. It was much faster than the growth of the button. In fact, it was instant. One moment I was standing on all fours, the next I went down like a rag. Probably because I was basically a rag. One full of plush stuffing that is.

A pair of hands wrapped around my middle section, squishing where my ribs should be in a very strange way. In this way I was lifted into the air by Wizard Buckingham himself. He brought my limp form up to eye level before informing me of what I had done wrong.

“You over thought it. You treated the type of spell instead of the means. Fabric and needles have no momentum. A simple force shield instead of an impermeable one would have been sufficient, and protected you for far longer, and would have been more mobile. From there you could have pushed them back into their drawers and locked them up. You would have remained human and had enough time to gather the power to disenchant them. Instead you over thought it. You went the complicated rout, and not just complicated, but risky. You probably realize that now.” Buckingham explained. As usual, he made me feel extraordinarily stupid. I would have sighted if I could.

“But look at me, talking to an inanimate object!” Buckingham exclaimed as he pressed the button on my forepaw, and my speaker emitted a few quick yips.

Buckingham laughed before placing me on one of the shelves. “Now, after I disenchant that table, I might revive Alissya. She’s probably learned her lesson by now.”