Radios and Snow's Secret?!

"I'm stuffed," Ocotillo announced.

"I can't believe Rabbit still tried to kiss you. I kind of want to throw up after that," Qibli said.

"I really had no change, whatsoever," Annabeth said.

"I don't think I've ate this many vegetables in one meal. I literally had no protein or carbs," Eri said.

"I wish I ate mouse... NOPE! Lina, you are going to resist this!" Lina meowed at herself.

"I don't WANT to believe it," Ocotillo said to Qibli.

"Ooh... I wonder if Eri's powers can temporarily turn me into a cute boy," Rabbit said.

"NOPE! NOT GONNA HAPPEN!" Ocotillo yelled.

"At least he admits that his normal self is anything but cute," Qibli said.

"Hey, you're still guilty of punching me in the face Ocotillo," Eri rubbed her sore cheek.

"Well, I'm sorry you look like the filthy scum that's been harassing me for months!" Ocotillo said in her defense. "Maybe if he stopped being how he is, I'd stop giving him death threats and punching him. This is purely self defense."

"I understand, but it still hurt," Eri said.

"Though I am sorry I hit the Eri behind the Rabbit face," Ocotillo said.

"It's fine. Wait! If you beat me up now, that would mean when we return to our bodies, Rabbit would have a lot of sudden pain! That would be great for us," Eri said.

"True!" Ocotillo agreed.

"Hmm... I wonder if radios still work. I found one in our room," Eri said, her rabbit ears perking up.

"I hope it does! I haven't listened to music in foreeeeeeever," Lina said with a hopeful expression.

"She says she wants to listen to music," Cheshire said.

"Tell Lina to shut up! Sorry, but the meowing is constant and annoying!" Gally said.

"I can still understand YOU ya know! Frankly, that is hurtful!" Lina scrunched her nose up at Gally.

"Okay! Lemme get it!" Eri said. She ran upstairs and came back down with a red radio in her hands. She set it down on the stairs, turned the knob, and it turned on. "THE RADIO WORKS!" Eri announced.

"YAY!" Lina said, "But you gotta admit, I make a pretty cute kitten!"

"Yeah, you do!" Moon said after Cheshire translated.

The radio host, a female voice, said, "Annnnnnd here we are with the 10 o' clock Santee talk show!"

"WHAT?!?! Santee?!" Lina meowed.

"Awesome!" Eri said.

Lina jumped next to the radio. She flattened her ears due to the loud volume but still listened closely.

"If you're new to the show, here at the Santee talk show we specialize in survival tips and just talking. Sometimes we'll play songs live from our resistance members!" The host said.

"Have any groups come back?!" Lina swatted a paw at the radio.

"I'm your host, Amani Bashara, and you can call us at this number!" Amani said and said the number.

"Ooh, it's zucchini girl!" Eri commented, "She was nice."

"Answer my questioooon!" Lina swatted at the radio. "Wait, we can just call them!" She ran to Cheshire, "Tell them to call the number!"

"Someone call the number!" Cheshire said.

Ocotillo dialed the number into Eri's phone. She put it on speaker so everybody could hear.

"Heeeeello, I'm Amani Bashara, and what's your name?" Amani asked.

"That's not important," Ocotillo said, "I'm a part of Lina Vancouver and Eri Lau's group and they'd like to know if the people they told you about came back."

"Okay caller, the Canada group is still there. They have about five more days left," Amani said, "Any other questions?"

Ocotillo looked around, "Any questions guys?"

"Ask her about any body switches happening!" Eri said.

"This may sound insane, but have you had a problem with bodies switching around?" Ocotillo asked, "That's why I sound like a boy and look like one, not that you can see me."

"Oh. Well, about a month ago, we did have a day where we swapped sexes. But not one where we swapped bodies with each other," Amani said.

"Thanks anyway. Keep a lookout for body switches!" Ocotillo said, "Thanks, bye!"

"Goodbye random caller," Amani hung up and the radio played a song performed by the Santee band.

"LINA! They're playing Second Suite in F!" Eri exclaimed.

Lina meowed excitedly and she tried to do the clarinet fingerings, but failed due to having no actual fingers.

"Does anybody else have the urge to pet Lina? Kittens are adorable no matter what!" Cassie said, she leaned against the stair railing with a big smile towards Lina the kitten.

"I know! Kitten-Lina is so cute!" Snow said.

"Yeah, make sure to remember to add the 'kitten' before the 'Lina' or else you'll sound creepy," Lina meowed.

Cheshire roughly translated, "Make sure to only compliment her when she's a cat or else you sound like a creepy pedo."

"That's Rabbit's job," Snow commented.

Smoke-Storm meowed loudly.

"No, Smoke-Storm, I did not steal your cuteness," Lina meowed. "I just borrowed it!"

"Humph," Smoke-Storm said.

Lina rolled her eyes, "Whatever."

"Don't worry Smoke-Storm, you'll be a cute kitten again soon," Cheshire said.

After the first movement of Second Suite in F finished, the band played a song from one of their marching band shows.

"THEY'RE PLAYING THE CLOUD EMPRESS SHOW!" Eri flipped out.

Lina meowed and did an excited jump.

"Ah, I remember marching band. We did pretty good," Snow said, "I don't know which I like more, yours or mine."

"OURS IS BETTER!" Lina said.

"She says hers is better," Cheshire said.

"Wait, what was yours Snow?" Lina asked and Cheshire translated.

"Silver Gardens High School Marching Band!" Snow said proudly. 

"Thank GOODNESS it wasn't Broken Arrow or Tarpon Springs! And think I remember seeing you guys at Nationals! You guys were really good!" Lina said and Cheshire translated.

"Broken Arrow is really good," Snow said.

"They are TERRIFIC!" Lina nodded. Cheshire was too lazy to translate and decided that the nod was enough to convey Lina's agreement.

"TARPON SPRINGS IS TOO GOOD!" Eri said.

"Nooooooooooooo!" Ocotillo said.

"What?" Cassie asked.

"My worst nightmare has come true. I... need to use the bathroom..." Ocotillo said.

"I feel so lucky I didn't switch sexes," Moon said.

"Haha, I only have to use a litter box, and even though I'm male, it's not as awkward," Lina said smugly, and Cheshire translated.

"Yeah, whatever. It's awkward for me... maybe I can hold out for a few days," Ocotillo said.

"THAT'S UNHEALTHY!" Eri said.

"Don't ruin my insides!" Qibli said.

"Okay! Fine! I guess... I'll go now!" Ocotillo said and hurried to the restroom.

"To be honest, I'm completely fine with looking like a girl," Snow randomly confessed. "Maybe it's because of the time Lorina and I cr... never mind."

"WHAT?! You and Lorina what?" Cassie asked.

"I don't really want to tell now... it's kind of embarrassing," Snow diverted his eyes.

"Is it something blackmail worthy?" Eri asked.

"What's with you and blackmail?" Snow asked.

"What about Eri and blackmail?" Umber asked.

"Nothing!" Eri quickly said and shot Snow a glare.

"Argh! What did you and Lorina do? This is making me more curious!" Cassie said.

"I think I know what he's talking about..." Riley said.

"Oh, really?" Snow asked.

"Well, Lorina and I were close friends, so she might have told me," Riley said.

"What did we do, then?" Snow asked.

"I thought you said you didn't want to tell," Riley said.

"If you guess, I might confirm whether you're correct or not," Snow said.

"Hmm... I'm trying to recall it..." Riley said.

"So, it's something that starts with 'cr' and it has to do with gender..." Lina said to herself.

"Oh! I remember now! YOU AND LORINA CROSSDRESSED!" Riley said.

"Y... yeah...," Snow quietly said, his face growing red.

"Wow, do I really like a tomato when I blush?" Cassie commented.

"Ooooh! Spicy! Did you guys pass?" Eri asked.

"Yes... we did," Snow said.

Lina kitty-laughed, "HAHAHAHA!"

"Yeah, yeah. Meow meow meow!" Snow snapped at her.

Lina stopped laughing in horror, "You DO NOT want to know what you just said! You can't speak cat right, so you said some reaaaaaaaally bad things."

"Snow, you said something pretty inappropriate in cat. Bad Snow!" Cheshire said.

"Wait, what did he say?" asked Winter.

"You really don't want to know. It was quite obscene," Cheshire said.

Ocotillo ran from the restroom, "I'M BACK AND THAT WAS EXTREMELY WEIRD! Please! We need to find a way to turn back as soon as possible!"

"Hermione! Do you have any info about this kind of stuff?" Eri asked.

"Actually, I think I might have read something about this in a book I have. Just wait a moment," Hermione ran up to he room she stayed in.

After the moment passed, Hermione came down with a book in her hands, and her face beamed with delight. "I found it!" She announced.

"What's it say?" Eri eagerly asked.

"Okay, first, here's the information about body swapping!" Hermione said, and she read aloud, "The magic causing these miraculous body switches has not yet been identified and many wizards today are still trying to discover it. However, the magical community knows that once it has settled over a place, it will only affect those who have come into contact or use magic. It gets triggered when two people have a strong feeling to one another. Once it sets on two people, the people around them that are magic users or have come into contact with magic will be affected. Sometimes the last two people left won't even have relationships with each other."

"That could explain me and Riley," Cheshire said, "since we don't have much of a relationship with each other."

"Oh! And here is the part about speeding up the return process" Hermione said, "The switches that have happened to large groups of people usually last between five to seven days. There is a potion to immediately reverse the process, but it is extremely difficult to make. Not to mention, we don't even have the ingredients."

"What are the ingredients?" Eri asked.

"Unicorn blood, dragon blood, fairy wings, spider legs, eye of newt, African sea salt, and the hair of a Chinese dragon," Hermione listed.

"Yeah... no spiders, please," Annabeth said.

"Though meeting a Chinese dragon sounds cool," Eri said, "But I agree, we wouldn't be able to get all those ingredients in time."

"However, the book says that in rare cases, the body switches don't naturally reverse even after weeks of being switched," Hermione said.

"So, let's give it a week, and if it doesn't wear off, we go get the ingredients," Eri said.

"Yeah," Hermione said.

"Well now that that's over, I'm gonna read!" Lina announced. "Cheshire, can you go upstairs and bring me my book? The title is City of Ashes."

"Will do!" Cheshire said. He soon came back, and gave Lina the book.

Lina looked at the title, "OH! I can still read! Yes!"

"Well I'm sure you would. I still understand cat despite being in the body of a girl who doesn't," Cheshire said.

"Yeah! It's a little hard, but that swirly line over here is an S right?!" Lina asked.

"It is indeed an S," Cheshire said.

"I knew it!" Lina said proudly.

"Hey, I'm gonna go scout the area, and see if anything's changed or is going on," Eri announced. "Anyone wanna come?"

"I will!" Lina said, and Cheshire translated.

"I thought you were gonna read," Eri said, but her cadence at the end made it sound more like a question.

"I was, but I wanna scout too! It'll be cool!" Lina said, accompanied by Cheshire's translation.

"Alright! Cheshire, you're coming too," Eri said.

"Wh-what? But I was gonna do something!" Cheshire said.

"Sorry, but I can't understand Lina without you," Eri said.

"Yeah, we're sorry, and we actually do mean it," Lina meowed.

"I guess that's fine. I took on the responsibility of being her translator, so it makes sense that I have to go," Cheshire said.

"Anyone else wanna come?" Eri asked.

"I'll go," Snow said.

"Alright! Hey, Cassie, wanna come?" Eri asked.

Cassie, who was both uncomfortable with Snow and being in his body, reluctantly said, "Yeah, I guess."

And the five of them were about to go out when they encountered a not-so-strange stranger in the hotel.