Chapter Text
Note: Thank you so much for taking the time to read my story! Everything in here is based off NWM run 9. (Though there might randomly be mention of something from NWM1 and NWM5.) I do not own this world, just having fun writing in it :)
Zinnia Ingraham was terrified. A moment ago everything was normal. She was sneaking around the kitchen looking for a snack while her parents were distracted by a client. This was a ‘high stakes’ job, as her father would put it. Therefore, Lakyn was obviously with them. Perfect timing to steal some cookies. And whatever these were, they smelt amazing. Zinnia’s eyes went wide as the smell drifted to her from across the large kitchen. A big, toothy grin grew on her face as she took a few steps toward her goal. There was something a bit off though. With each step she took, Zinnia seemed to be getting further away. ‘I bet Lakyn hexed them again,’ the young girl thought.
A few steps closer, and the cookies continued to grow out of reach. “I don’t know how to break hexs yet,” Zinnia grumbled. Way up on the counter, the cookies continued to taunt her, their scent reaching down and wrapping around her in a hug. That’s it. She’d climb. She reached out one furred arm and…
One furred arm.
Zinnia stopped and looked down at her strange looking hand. Well, paw really. She still had five fingers but they were black and furred, with gray fur going up her arm. She looked down and saw gray fluff covering the rest of her body. This wasn’t a hex her sister could have pulled off. So she panicked.
A shrill cry came bursting from her mouth as she tore across the floor, flopping foreword as her back legs outran her front. Zinnia tumbled, managed to gain her footing, then took off. Though the kitchen, into the sitting room, and then finally diving under a couch cushion was when she came to a rest. She felt her chest heaving and heart pitter pattering against her ribs. ‘What’s going on?’ Zinnia thought, her mind racing, trying to come up with an explanation. She didn’t know of any hex that would transform a person so completely like this. Into… whatever she was. What was she? She popped her head out from behind the couch cushion to look out at the sitting area. No mirrors here. Reaching up, she grabbed her face and felt along to her nose. She had a snout, that’s for sure. When she reached back, she felt a tail also.
Tentatively, Zinnia pulled herself away from her protective lair, pulling most of the seat cushion with her, and inched her way to the back of the room. The artifactorium has mirrors. Wide eyes scanned the halls as the small creature made her way down the hallway to a closed door. Darn. Taking a deep breath, Zinnia jumped, grabbed the door handle and twisted before she fell down with a soft thud. She scurried inside, and came face to face with a large bronze trophy. Looking back at her, she saw a raccoon. A small raccoon cub to be exact. She reached out and touched the trophy in awe, watching as her reflection did the same.
She was a raccoon? She was a raccoon.
Zinnia thought back to the bedtime stories her parents used to tell her of great uncle Henry the gray wolf, great, great, great granddad Hugh the wolverine, and great, great, great, great, great grandma Eliza the bobcat. She remembered the stories of the treasures they found and their ridiculous adventures aided by their animal forms. The Ingrahams have always had a long history of being Nagualli, until recently. Neither Zinnias grandparents nor parents have had the gift. Neither did Lakyn. But she did.
And she was a stupid raccoon.
Zinnia continued to stare at herself in the trophy, watching as her nose twitched, her whiskers spread, and how her tail tapped behind her. Twitching back, her ear picked up the sound of a door opening and voices murmuring. The meeting! It must be over! In a flurry of motion, Zinnia jumped up into the trophy cup in an attempt to hide, but only managed to get halfway in and knock it down with a metallic clunk. Not safe. She bolted from the scene, running for a tapestry hanging on the wall. Small hands desperately tried to hang, but her claws weren’t long enough yet. The raccoon managed to hang on for a moment, but her lack of balance sent her and the tapestry falling down in a mass of red, blue and silver.
“What in the world was that?” The shrill cry of Mary Ingraham rang in Zinnia’s ears. Not good. Trying to untangle herself from the fabric was futile, as the squeak of the door opening was heard clear as day. “Zinnia Eliza Ella Ingraham!” Her name lashed out like a knife. Zinnia didn’t dare move. Each step forward her mother took sounded like an explosion through the floor. She heard the dragging of the trophy she knocked over. “Crap, it’s dented.” Her mother muttered.
That was enough to get Zinnia peak her head out of the mass of fabric. Her great grandads dueling trophy was dented? Really, really not good. She let out an involuntary squeak which brought her mother’s eyes to lock on to her own.
“Edgar!” Mary screamed. “Get in here, one of those filthy…” She trailed off as she watched the small raccoon cub struggle to get out of the tapestry. “Zinnia.” The animal paused and ears perked up. “EDGAR!” Mary screamed again, this time with much more enthusiasm. She rushed forward, grabbing her transformed daughter and cradling her close. “Aww, its ok Zinny.”
Zinnia began to hiss and spit and protest when she heard the loud stomping of her dad, and a trailing of what could only be her sister. No. This was terrible. This was embarrassing. She didn’t want anyone else to see this! She tucked her tail close to her and laid her ears back against her head. Doing her best to be unseen, she snuggled herself up as close to her mom as possible.
“Mary what’s wrong?” Zinnia’s father’s voice came booming though the artifactorium. Peeking up, she could see his wand was drawn, but he clearly didn’t know what the trouble was. Sure enough, Lakyn was looking excitedly behind him
Mary Ingraham grinned widely. “It’s ok. I thought a raccoon got in the house.”
“Mom what are you holding?” Lakyn asked impatiently.
Her hiding spot began to peel away as Zinnia’s mom adjusted her grip to hold out the raccoon cub.
“It’s a baby raccoon!” Lakyn said excitedly. “Can I keep it?”
“No give it to me, I’ll get rid…” Mary Ingraham quickly cut off her husband.
“It’s Zinnia.” Her voice rang out across the room.
“What?” Edgar Ingraham said flatly.
“Zinnia. She has the gift.” She held out her daughter, who was flailing and waving her arms wildly, trying to get out of the grip and hide.
As if on cue, or by sheer panic, Zinnia felt her mother loosing grip on her. Her senses dulled, vision grew less sharp. “Oh shit,” she could hear her mother say. She felt herself fall, but she braced herself with her growing legs and arms. She couldn’t stand, so she sat on the ground until the transformation finished. She felt drained. Her skin was clammy and paler then it should be, and her eyes had black circles around them. Zinnia’s mom leaned down and gave her daughter a hug. “It’s ok, you’re ok sweetie.”
Edgar Ingraham made an audible yip as he jumped foreword and picked his daughter up. “Let’s get you to bed, and we will get a healer in to make sure you are ok. Then,” he continued triumphantly, “you can get whatever you want for dinner.”
Zinnia just smiled. Whatever she wanted for dinner? She was too tired to think, but a big steak sounded fantastic right now. She didn’t notice as her parents filed out of the room with her, they left Lakyn standing alone, watching her family leave with an alarmed look on her face.
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It had been four days since Zinnia had what she was calling the ‘Raccoon Incident.’ It hadn’t happened since. Zinnia knew it was there, however. She felt the connection. It was mostly something she was trying to put out of her mind, until her father came and woke her up way too early. “It’s summer,” she whined, “Not even the Gillygaloo are out yet.”
“No, but you have a lot of work to do.” Her dad’s voice wasn’t the normal half joking tone. It was serious.
Zinnia sat up and locked eyes with her dad. “You are the future of Ingraham Antiques,” he said. “We are sending you on your first expedition in two months. Not get up, we have a curse breaking tutor for you here, and we have a Nagualli teacher on the way. Get dressed, breakfast is waiting, then meet me and your mother in the library.” With a flick of his robes, her father exited the room, leaving a wide eyed Zinnia staring after him.