A howl.
Before my eyes, he grows, his hair spreading to cover all his body in black fur, some of it turning into a tail at the base of his spine. His head stretches, his nose turning into a muzzle with a set of sharp teeth.
Holy shit.
Theo, however, doesn’t look the least bit daunted as he arrives at the scene and seconds later, I find out why.
As the wolf Sebastian has transformed into tries to hang on to his shoulder, fangs buried there, Theo lifts his head and stretches his arms and in the next instant, his dark skin has grown fur from his head to his toes, now claws.
A bear.
Sebastian has turned into a wolf and Theo into a bear.
I stumble backwards, trip and go down hard in the snow. No matter how many times I close my eyes and rub them, when I open them, the same scene stands before me – a wolf as black as those piercing eyes I’ve stared into before fighting a bear that has Theo’s necklace around his neck.
I’m not dreaming. This shit is real. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t shit.
Confused, terrified, I no longer care what happens. Let someone call the police. Or animal control. Maybe the zoo has room for them both. I run off as fast as I can in the opposite direction, my heart going even faster and my thoughts fastest of all.
What are they?
And if I can communicate with Sebastian, then what am I?
HOURS LATER, AS I SIT in an abandoned den in the middle of who knows where. I made a wrong turn somewhere and had only wound up going deeper and deeper into the park. I still don’t have any of the answers. All I know is I’m cold and alone, and that they’re out there somewhere.
They’re humans. That can somehow turn into animals.
My mind had been circling around these two facts for ages now. How they do it and how they acquired the ability, I don’t know.
I’ve gone over everything I know about it. Mythology. Fiction. Movies. Everything I’ve read or seen suddenly became more than an entertaining story. What if legend was merely...data? Where does one begin scientifically to make sense of all of this?
Mutation? But this seems like an entire metamorphosis altogether, and in just a span of seconds.
It should be scientifically impossible.
Which means there’s probably something more than science at work here.
Which makes it even more scary.
Unless there’s a science out there you don’t understand. At one time all of science was considered ‘magic.’ There’s no need to panic just yet.
Sighing, I pull my knees closer to my chest.
Well, that explains why they don’t like shirts and why they don’t have combs. That’s probably part of their animal side.
But seriously, what are the chances of me running into two of them?
I stare at my hand.
Unless I didn’t run to them. Unless somehow, they were attracted to me. Sebastian did say I called to him.
I’ve been asking what they are but maybe I should be asking: What am I?
Suddenly, I hear the sound of footsteps, of hearts beating a hundred feet away. The scent of Sebastian and Theo drift into my nostrils.
Clarissa, where are you?
Shit. They’re here.