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  “This is for your own good,” my dad said firmly.

  “But ... it’s hurting me ...” I hissed. “And why do you have a collar and lead? You never let me have a dog ...”

  “We’ve had it for a while,” replied my mom. “Just in case this happened. In case you started to change.”

  This was like some sort of nightmare. Not only was my body changing in ways I could never have thought possible, my parents were now treating me like an animal in order to stop me from finding out what was really going on.

  I took a step forward. “Dad, please ...”

  My dad didn’t answer. Instead, he wrapped the dog lead around his fist and pulled even harder.

  Then he began to change. He went all blurry for a second and, as he came back into focus, he looked different. His skin had turned pale yellow and he looked – well, he looked like he’d taste delicious.

  I turned to look at my mom. She too had a yellow glow to her and her bare arms seemed to be asking me to bite into them. They looked as tasty as the fried chicken we’d had the night before.

  It took me a moment to realize that my parents hadn’t changed at all – it was my eyesight. I glanced up at my reflection in the living room window, and was surprised to see my eyes had changed shape. They were wider now, and a deep yellow in colour. Thin black slits ran down the middle of each eyeball.

  I turned around and stared at my parents. They stood out from everything else in the room. The walls, furniture and plasma TV seemed to fade away into the background. They had lost all their color and looked as though someone had painted them gray.

  But my mom and dad – they looked wonderful. In fact, it was hard to take my new eyes off them. Any bare skin glowed pale yellow and I could almost see the hot, sticky blood pumping through their veins.

  My tummy rumbled.

  My dad must have heard it because he gripped the lead in both hands and pulled the collar even tighter around my neck. He looked scared and – through my new eyes – that just made him appear better tasting than ever.

  I would never hurt my parents, though, and I tried to tell my dad that but the choke chain was now so tight around my throat I couldn’t speak. I began to feel dizzy and my tongue hung loosely out of the side of my mouth. I knew it wouldn’t be long before I would stop being able to breathe. I had to loosen this collar.

  Reaching up with one of my paws, I sliced through the lead with one of my long nails. My dad fell back against the fireplace, pulling my mom down with him. The pain on my throat went away and I bent forward, taking long, rasping gasps of air in an effort to fight off the dizziness.

  Feeling better, I stood up again and turned to make my way back to the office. If I could just get onto the computer, I was sure I could find out how to stop this. How to stop my mom and dad from being so scared.

  I heard footsteps and spun around to find my dad coming towards me – a metal poker from the fireplace gripped in his hands like a weapon.

  Spine

  My dad brought the metal poker down hard on my right shoulder and a lightning bolt of pain ripped through my arm – much worse than anything I’d felt before.

  “I told you to stay away from my office!” my dad yelled.

  Why was he doing this to me? I would never hurt him or my mom. I just wanted to find out more about what was happening to me and if there was anything I could do to stop it.

  I tried to tell them that I loved them, but all that would come out was a deep growl. It sounded like I was snarling at them.

  The poker came down again, hitting my leg this time. My dad’s face was twisted in a mixture of fear and rage. His teeth were gritted and his cheeks red.

  He attacked me for a third time – the poker hitting my left arm. Suddenly, I reacted. I lashed out with one of my paws and scratched his cheek with my sharp claws, leaving four streaks of blood behind.

  He staggered back, clutching at his face and with blood all over his hand. At once, I felt bad for hurting him, but there was another feeling inside me now as well – another feeling pushing the guilt away. I lifted my claws to my mouth and lapped my dad’s blood from my talons – and then I knew what this new feeling was. It was hunger. The raw hunger of an animal. I had tasted blood, and now I wanted more.

  The werewolf inside me was starting to take over.

  I knew I had to try and keep hold of myself. I may look like a walking monster on the outside, but I was determined the animal instincts would not take control. I tried to think of the most boring, down-to-earth things I could and started running through them in my mind.

  My name is Adam Heath. I live in Minnesota with my mom and dad. My mom belongs to a book club and reads lots of yucky romance novels. My dad goes fishing for the weekend every month or so.

  My name is Adam Heath ...

  I could hear my thoughts ringing inside my head as though they were being pushed to one side by something more powerful. The wolf was battling with me, trying to take charge. Trying to force any memories of Adam Heath into the darkest corners of my mind.

  My name is Adam ...

  For a second, I couldn’t remember my last name, and it scared me. If I could remember who I was, then I wouldn’t be a real werewolf. I could stop the change and go back to being plain old Adam ... Plain old Adam ...

  I had forgotten my last name!

  I had to get to a computer while I could still remember how to use one. The library would still be open at this time, but I didn’t think the neighbors would enjoy the sight of a half-formed werewolf plodding down the street. Plus, now that I was almost naked and covered in fur, there was nowhere to put my library card.

  I had to use the computer in my dad’s office and I ran back towards the locked, white door. Just as I reached it, my mom brought the plasma TV down on the back of my head and I fell sideways into the kitchen, splinters of glass puncturing my skin.

  And then my spine snapped in half.

  Teeth

  I’m pretty sure my spine snapped completely in two then came back together. At least, that’s what it felt like. I lifted my snout and howled in agony as the pain shot down my back and wrapped around my belly.

  My claws dug into the expensive kitchen floor and I screamed to my mom and dad for help – but all I heard was the slam of a door, and the turn of a key in the lock.

  Then I felt the muscles in my back begin to rip apart. No, not just feel them – I could hear them as they tore apart. It was like the sound your knife makes when you’re cutting through beef – only much louder. It was horrible.

  And as if the pain in my back wasn’t bad enough, I felt my gums tear open as long, razor sharp teeth burst through. It was a good thing I wasn’t able to speak any more as I now had thick fangs filling my mouth. I would have sounded totally stupid!

  I was in agony, and I thought I was going to die. I really believed that the change had gone too far. I wasn’t just becoming a werewolf – my body was breaking up into little pieces and I would never change back. The last thing I would ever see was the kitchen floor and what was left of the shattered TV set.

  The lower half of my body shifted as my muscles pulled in tighter together. They gathered around my reshaped spine and hunched me over, moving my legs closer to my arms. No – they weren’t arms anymore. They were two front legs.

  I had four legs. I thought, this is going to cost my mom a fortune in shoes.

  Then, just as quickly as it arrived, the pain went. I lay, panting on the kitchen floor in case the agony returned, but somehow I knew it wouldn’t. In fact – not only was I sure the hurting was now over, I felt incredible.

  I climbed up onto all four feet and padded across the kitchen. I arrived in the hall and looked around. To my surprise, I could see streaks of yellow hanging in the air in front of me – as though someone had painted brushstrokes onto a piece of clear glass. I suddenly realized that I wasn’t seeing the smears of color – I was smelling them.

  My senses were more powerful than ever, and I could u
se my nose to follow the path my parents had taken after my mom had hit me with the TV. They had run along the hall – and gone into dad’s office.

  After all that stuff about me not being allowed in there, they’d done just that!

  I felt the rage deep inside me. I would get them for this. I would rip their –

  No! I wouldn’t do anything like that. I may now be a fully-formed werewolf, but I was not a monster. I pushed the wolf-like instincts to the back of my mind and made them stay there. I would never hurt my mom and dad, and I had to let them know that.

  My claws clicked against the floor as I made my way to the office door. The handle looked yellow with my dad’s scent and I reached up with my front paw to try and turn it – but I couldn’t get a grip on it. So I scratched at the wooden panels, scraping the paint away with my claws.

  “Go away!” bellowed my dad from inside. “I’ll kill you if you come any closer!”

  The fur on the back of my neck rose up in anger. There was no way I was going to let my prey kill me. When I got in there I would clap my teeth around that human’s throat and –

  Stop it! I am not going to hurt anyone – and my dad’s not really going to hurt me. But then why did he say he was going to kill me? Didn’t he realize I was only trying to let them know I wouldn’t harm them?

  I had to get inside that office and tell them that I was still me. That I was still ... still ... Damn! Now I couldn’t even remember my first name!

  I rose up on my back legs and threw my weight against the door. The lock gave way at once and the door crashed open. My mom and dad were backed up against the far wall of the room and, in the dim light, I could see that my dad was struggling to load a shotgun, with his fingers trembling.

  Why would my dad have a shotgun? I’d often wondered what it would look like inside his office, and I thought it would be filled with fishing rods and books about carp and trout. But this was nothing like that.

  Shelf after shelf was filled with the heads of dozens and dozens of dead animals, with even more staring down at me from the walls above. My dad hadn’t gone fishing when he was away after all. He’d been hunting …

  I froze as something caught my powerful eyesight. There – on the wall above my mom and dad – were the heads of two werewolves. Two werewolves that looked exactly like me.

  “I’m sorry,” my mom sobbed. “We couldn’t have children of our own, and I wanted a baby so much! I really thought we’d have longer with you ...”

  I heard the click as my dad finished loading the shotgun. He aimed the twin barrels straight at me.

  With a final glance up at the sad, lifeless faces of my real parents, I let my human self go and allowed the werewolf to take over the last remaining parts of my mind.

  Then I pounced.

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