A Rabbit's Wish - Chapter 2

When I woke, one human and one snake—four eyes in all—were staring at me. Trembling, I tried to scramble onto the human, only to discover that my arms and legs had grown long. My whole body was bigger, pale, and completely naked. Clinging to him was suddenly much harder.

Then I realized it: I had taken human form!

Mom was always telling me how impossibly hard transformation was. She said only one animal on Fuling Mountain had succeeded in centuries, becoming the mountain god who protected the land from human development.

What a liar. It had taken me only a month. Easy! An animal as amazing as me could practically become emperor of the universe.

Filled with courage, I planted my new feet on the floor, put my hands on my hips, and scolded the snake in animal speech.

“I’m human now! I’m bigger than you, so you can’t eat me!”

My legs immediately buckled, and I toppled against the human. Too many years as a rabbit had left me unused to standing.

The cobra’s amber eyes ignored me and fixed on the man holding me. Her tongue flickered as she hissed. A human should not have understood her, but I did: I had crushed her egg and deserved to die. She ordered him to hand me over.

My skin tightened with terror. I wrapped all four limbs around the human and stared at the four-or-five-meter snake. Even if she could not swallow me, she could poison or crush me. Wasn’t transformation supposed to make me an immortal? Why could I do nothing?

Tears streamed from my eyes as I babbled, “I didn’t mean to step on it. And it smelled rotten—it would never have hatched. I’m sorry, Mother Snake. Crushing it was wrong, but please don’t eat me. I’m all fat and won’t taste good.”

The cobra raised a third of her body and sniffed me.

“No. You smell delicious. Eating you will help me lay healthy eggs.”

I locked my legs around the man’s waist and buried myself against his chest. Female king cobras were famously vindictive. Hurt their eggs, and they would pursue you to the ends of the earth. I was doomed.

The human suddenly laughed, cupped my bottom, and gave it a squeeze.

“Stop making trouble. You will never have any more offspring in this life. Go home. I’ll avenge you.”

What?

My grip loosened in shock, and I almost fell. He patted my bottom. “Hold on unless you want to die.”

The cobra’s slit pupils rounded as she lowered her head. “Will you have any?”

“Perhaps,” the man answered.

Her tail swished. “Fine. Then the prey is yours.”

She swept away like the wind.

So now I was the human’s prey.

Humans made spicy rabbit heads, diced chili rabbit, dry-pot rabbit, braised rabbit, pickled-pepper rabbit, cumin-roasted rabbit legs… I must have borrowed a leopard’s courage to live with one.

Regret. I had to run.

I crept off him and bolted in a zigzag. One reach was enough for him to catch me by the nape and toss me onto the bed.

Wearing loose clothes, he set one knee on the mattress and advanced slowly. A strange golden light flashed in his eyes—the look of a predator certain of its catch. Terrified, I dove under the blankets and shook.

Then the top of my head and the base of my spine tingled as he rubbed them.

“Silly rabbit. Your ears and tail popped out.”

I covered my tail with one hand and my ears with the other, my face blazing. What an embarrassing, half-baked transformation. Mom would scold me to death.

While I panicked, the human felt me all over, apparently judging the quality of my meat. I went rigid.

“Plump. Nice to touch,” he said. “You absorbed my spirit grass very well. I spent ages growing it, and you ate almost everything in a month. You owe me.”

Hope lit my eyes. “If I repay you, will you not eat me?”

He paused, narrowed his eyes, and snorted. “I still get to eat you. It depends on your performance. You did crush my brothers and sisters, after all.”

No wonder he understood animals. He was a king cobra in human form!

Rabbit shocked.

Mom, that foolish rabbit, claimed transformation was rare when transformed creatures were everywhere. I had escaped one den only to fall into another. I did not want to die.