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"We have to go to the room and change," says Billy. "I want to drop by in some boutique to buy presents for the girls. Isn't it nice to meet them today?" The young witch is very pleased. She adjusts the hood of her coat, then she wants to tie Nina's scarf. Nina turns away.

"Don't help me."

It’s getting dark early. The snowstorm with its chaotic gusts is wrapping up the road, houses, cars, people, while pedestrians are wrapping themselves in jackets, scarves, and collars; some of them are covering the eyes with their hands because of the snow that is wildly hitting their frozen faces.

"Why are you mad at me? We had such a good time…" Billy looks at her fiancée in bewilderment. Her cheeks are flushing from the wind and the unpleasantly stinging snowflakes.

"It was you who had a good time, Billy. You and your friend Thorn!" Nina yells at her. "And now you want to go to the club and, obviously, continue the fun with her!"

"Nina… it's not what you think! I swear," Billy tries to hug her smiling shyly. "Don't be silly, little squirrel, I love you…"

"Will I always stay a silly little squirrel for you?" Nina blurts out with annoyance in her voice. Tears choke her, human tears; a little more and they will burst to pour down her cheeks.

"Stop talking nonsense. I'll cancel the meeting now, and we'll go back to the hotel," replies Billy. She is upset and puzzled.

Nina is embarrassed: she realises that Billy can't hang around with her shifter all the time, "No need to cancel anything. It's all right. Go to the club and have a good your team reunion. I'll take a walk in the park." Nina's voice is trembling. She shifts into a squirrel and runs up the nearest tree.

"Are you crazy? There's a blizzard outside! Wait, you might get lost or freeze!"

The animal helps Nina deal with her emotions. The animal helps her focus only on her instincts. Now she needs agility and speed.

A thick tree trunk, a long branch, a thin branch, almost fall off the tree, a second to catch a breath, again on another tree, and so on, and so on until she reaches the bus station. Her heart is beating like crazy; her paws are cold.

Here is the bus.

"Damn! It’s almost leaving now!"

She gathers all her strength and jumps straight from the tree onto the little girl's blue backpack. The girl turns her head in surprise, but she sees nothing because of the hood and the snow wall.

"Hurry up and get on the bus!" her mom says.

"We were lucky, all next bus trips are canceled because of the weather," her dad adds.

The bus is warm and quiet. There are not many people inside. Dad helps the girl to take off her jacket. She sits down by the window with her head resting on her mother's shoulder. The bus moves off.

There is no way back.

When the girl and her parents fall asleep, Billy gets out of her backpack and squeezes herself between the girl's leg and her teddy bear. It's about an hour drive, she needs to rest a bit. Nina is not a stupid squirrel; she will do everything right as traditions require.

Nina is so comfortable and good. The girl looks like Billy when she was her age. Nina often slept on Billy’s knees without feeling fear and sadness, and now this terrible Thorn stuck in her life.

***

Nina doesn’t want to get off the bus, but she has to. The girl stays. The child will never know how grateful Nina is for her pure warmth.

Having changed taxis a couple of times (she was secretly jumping in and out in her squirrel form, since her money was left in Billy’s bag), Nina finally got to the hotel with the right passenger.

The hotel looks gorgeous even in an impenetrable blizzard. She gingerly slips inside with another visitor and hides behind an armchair to take a breath, dry off, and look around.

In the hall there are many armchairs and sofas upholstered in expensive material; the tables are decorated with real flowers and winter compositions. There is a three-meter Christmas tree by the huge window (Billy would not like that the poor tree was cut just for the decoration purposes). She would come here at night and make it come to life; the tree would take root so deep, and its bark would be so strong that no one could ever cut it down: all the saws and axes would be broken, and all the lumberjacks would have mushrooms or small fir trees on their heads every time they try to approach the tree. Billy is a good woman. She always takes care of those who cannot take care of themselves. Nina looks up: a heavy, monstrous chandelier hangs from the ceiling. Oh my, it could break the marble floor if it falls down! She doesn’t like humans’ big creations: they give her the feeling of being small and powerless.

Nina could not decide when she should shift as if she doesn’t want to become a human. In this imperfect form, she can burst into tears, and everyone will notice it, otherwise, she's just a sly little squirrel under the armchair.

She cleans her muzzle and mustache one more time before transforming into a human. And here she is sitting in a rich armchair with a bored look.

"Calm down, Nina, don’t breathe so fast," she says to herself. "He’s just noticed you. Now look at your watch. Act surprised."

She gets up and walks towards the front desk, looking bored.

"Good evening!"

"Good evening, ma'am. What can I do for you?"

"Could you tell me which room Mr. and Mrs. Greenwald are staying in?"

"Unfortunately, ma'am, we cannot share such information."

"I stayed in the same room together with them. I’m their... daughter-in-law. We were talking in the lobby just twenty minutes ago; they returned to the room, having taken my purse by mistake. My phone and the magnet key are in this purse. I forgot the room number. I'm so forgetful; I keep on forgetting everything!" Nina is playing a naive silly girl she’s been playing all her teenage years.

Her pretty words and pretty tits seem to sway him: the girl doesn’t create an impression of a liar. Just look at her! She is not wearing street clothes (that means she has definitely left her clothes in the room), besides, she is very red and very sexy…

Nina bites her lip. She’s kind of getting into the whole situation why Billy dislikes men so much. No human woman will be able to notice, but Nina is feeling his male arousal. Disgusting. Billy is almost always right.

"Mrs. Greenwald, Mrs. Greenwald, Mr…" He’s doing it slowly on purpose to have a chance to flirt with her: she’ll be so grateful when he tells her the room number!

Faster, faster, idiot!

"Here she is. Floor 6, room number 6001… Ma'am? Where did she go?"

In a squirrel form Nina is already rushing with all her might to the sixth floor. She could have found Billy's parents without this guy, but she would have had to run all over the building and sniff every door. A large number of people, the melting snow that visitors brought from the street on their feet and clothes, as well as the constant washing of the floors don’t help in finding the right smell.

The sixth floor is a long corridor lit by dim antique sconces that make it seem mystically illuminated. There is a cart with clean white towels in the distance, but there are no service staff or guests to be seen. Now she can smell exactly where Billy's parents are.

Nina looks in the mirror and hurriedly fixes her copper curls. The engagement ring, that Billy gave her a few weeks ago, sparklers provocatively on her finger. It has to be done even if Billy doesn't want to!