Morph Challenge - Part One

“Grace, your eyes… They’re yellow.” Borris said, drawing Sarah Grace’s attention away from her practicing using her pyrokinetic abilities. Surprised by the sudden comment, the small ball of fire between her hands surged slightly before fizzling out. Looking up at the great bear, she found him gazing at her with equal parts curiosity and worry.
“My…what?” Grace asked, not quite comprehending his words.
“Your eyes are yellow.”
Standing, Grace turned and looked around. On the crate above where she’d been sitting, she found her bag. Digging inside, she drew out a small mirror and took a look. True to his word, her eyes had gone from steely-blue to pale yellow, with pupils more oval in shape.
Borris opened his mouth, his eyes glancing past her shoulder a fraction of a second before someone grabbed hold of Grace’s shoulders, shouting “Boo!” so loudly that Sarah Grace let out a quick shriek. Almost instinctively, she doubled over and whoever had grabbed her dropped on top of her. The next few seconds were filled with a chuckling Borris, a cackling Sparky, and Grace trying to untangle her limbs from Sparky’s.
As Grace sat up, she felt her hair shift and the laughter suddenly stopped. Looking up, she saw both Sparky and Borris looking at her. No, they weren’t really looking at her. They were looking just over her. Turning around, Grace tried to see what it is had caught their attention. Seeing nothing, she looked back to them. “What is it?”
“Um, Gracie, is there something you want to tell us?” Sparky’s lips twitched with a suppressed grin.
“What are you talking about?” Grace asked, starting to lose her patience.
“Um, well, you have… Ah, you have ears, Grace.” Borris explained slowly.
“I am well aware of the fact that I have ears, guys. I’ve had them for almost nineteen years.”
Borris huffed and took the mirror carefully between two claws and turned it towards Grace. Looking into it, Grace saw her eyes again – pale yellow. Her nose looked a little pink, almost as if she had a fever. Then, she saw what her friends has been talking about. There, atop her head and amid pale blonde hair, was a pair of large tawny brown, black-tipped cat ears. Grace’s mouth dropped open and she reached trembling hands up. Before she even touched one of the ears, they twitched.
Sparky’s eyes dropped down and she had to slap a hand over her mouth to keep from laughing.
“Grace immediately dropped both hands to her lap and closed her eyes. “I do not have a tail. I don’t have cat ears. My eyes aren’t yellow. I’m dreaming or hallucinating or something. I’m going to wake up and everything will be normal again.”
“Grace, I don’t think you’re asleep.” Borris said gently.
“I don’t – YEOWTCH!!” Grace shouted when Sparky suddenly tugged on one of the cat ears. Sparky jumped back and Grace pulled away sharply.
“Grace, what’s that on your neck?” Borris asked.
With a sigh, Grace pulled the neck of her shirt down slightly to reveal a small, dark mark just above her collarbone. Taking the mirror from Borris, she saw that the mark was only about an inch across and in the shape of a paw print, as if a cat had stepped in ink and then stepped on her neck. Licking her thumb, she tried to wipe it away. Unlike ink, though, it didn’t rub off. In the corner of the mirror, Sarah Grace caught sight of a tail flicking near her shoulder – the same tawny-brown as her ears, but with black bands down its length.
“Grace, do you have that book I let you borrow?” Angel asked, walking up. She stopped when Grace looked up with twitching ears. The co-captain’s eyes widened in surprise and she started to say something. At the same time, her two massive wolves, Alpha and Omega, padded up. Sarah Grace took one look at the wolves and pressed her back against the crates, her mouth opening in a scared hiss. When she hissed, she revealed inhumanely teeth – her canine teeth longer than normal with an extra canine right behind it.
“Well, this is certainly interesting.” Aisuru chuckled, settling down to perch atop the stack of crates.
Hearing the assassin’s voice seemed to snap Grace to attention and she immediately relaxed, her shoulders drooping and her ears flicking back. “What in the world was that about?” She asked nobody in particular.
“Well, Sparky scaring you made your ears appear. Maybe the cat inside you reacted to the wolves? You’re not afraid of them, but it is. It must have reacted through you.” Borris suggested.
“Alright, but what caused this? I’m human. Sure I have weird powers, but I’m human. Right?” Grace asked uncertainly.
“We have had weirder things happen.” Angel smiled. “We’ll figure this out.”
“And if we don’t, we’ll have a pet cat!” Aisuru teased.