Moon Struck: When Were & Howl Book 1

by Jeanette Raleigh

  Chapter 8

  The amulet hung in the back of my closet on a hanger with my belts. Maybe not the best place for a magical item of questionable usefulness. The problem with Rob had me opening the closet before bed and considering the potential. If I used the amulet, couldn’t I change into a wolf, run the full moon with Rob and maybe cheat destiny a little?

  I’m not a magic user except for the were change. I’ve never met a sorcerer, wizard, witch, or even held a magical item before now. Still, my hand itched to pull the amulet out and give it a go. It belonged to the shape shifters before, and maybe if I played with it a little, I could find a way to return the magic to its rightful owner.

  Really, I’m not that altruistic. I was just deluding myself, giving my reflection a little more polish in the old self-image department than I really deserved. But it was enough. Another full moon come and gone, but this time, the office was spotless. Not even the stapler out of place the next morning. Rob was a grumpy wolf that morning.

  That evening, staring at the ceiling in the dark after yet another day of awkward non-conversation with Rob, I decided to try out the amulet and see if maybe, just maybe, I could turn into a wolf. And then of course, return the amulet and do all that other good and honorable stuff that a person should do.

  Throwing the covers back, I turned on the light and peered into the closet. Did I mention, all these thoughts were running through my head in the middle of the night? I grasped the cold metal with a decisiveness I barely felt. The vivid purple center seemed just the right color to me. I fumbled, pulling it over my head, anxious to have it on and half-sick at the thought that it might not work. I longed to be a wolf.

  I stared at my hands. Nothing. No wolf paws, no turtle pads, no furry rabbit’s foot…I guess I’m not that lucky. I went to stare in front of the mirror.

  Yep, that was me, and still in human form. Good looking if a bit round in the face, button nose—must have gotten that from the mouse side of the family, wherever that was. I waited. Nothing.

  If anyone would understand the insanity of taking such a risk, it was Ali, and while she might not understand an eleven o-clock phone call, she was all I really had.

  “Yrmph?”

  Guess I woke her up. “Hey Ali, can I talk to you for a minute?”

  “Jen? Hey, what’s up? Are you okay?” I guess calling your best friend in the middle of the night might lead one to the conclusion that things weren’t okay.

  “I’m fine. I just, well, this is kind of embarrassing…”

  “More than catching your lab experiment on fire senior year?”

  She would bring that up. “Hello? That was five years ago. No, I put on the amulet.”

  The phone was dead silent. I waited for a minute. “Ali, you still there?”

  Ali’s quiet voice barely above a whisper spoke across the line. “Jeez, Jen, what happened? Are you half and half?”

  I flushed, grateful she couldn’t see it across the distance. Half and half. I hadn’t considered some of the more interesting problems that might arise with putting on an unknown amulet. “No, it didn’t work. I was just wondering if there were words or something that I’m supposed to say?”

  “How would I know? I just stole the thing.” Ali sighed, but I could tell her heart wasn’t in it. It’s a fair bet that she wanted to try the amulet out first and was just waiting for the next weekend when we were together. Ali would of course have wanted me as backup in case anything went wrong.

  “Sorry to wake you up. I was just hoping you knew.”

  “Why not say I want to be a penguin while you’re wearing it and see what happens? Want me to come over?” Ali’s voice had that rough quality from just waking up and from the lack of enthusiasm, I could tell it was a friendly gesture on my behalf and not because she was really interested in coming. Ali turned her nose down at the wolves, so I suppose the amulet was just a source of amusement more than anything else.

  “No, I don’t want to keep you up. I’ll try it out and let you know tomorrow.”

  “Okay, hey, if it works, let’s get together tomorrow and experiment a little?” Ali’s voice brightened, and I could only imagine the kind of trouble she was planning. I would be the guinea pig (the wolf if I was lucky.)

  “Sounds good to me.”

  I hung up the phone and with rash enthusiasm and ran back to the mirror in the bathroom. With all the energy, positive thinking, and goodwill I could muster, I spoke aloud. “I want to be a wolf.”

  Nothing happened. I laughed at myself for believing in a lump on a string. How crazy of me.

  Pretty colors shifted along the amulet's surface in the bathroom light. The lump might be unformed, but it sparkled randomly, just little lights here and there. I wore it over my pajamas and went back to bed, wide awake. Grabbing a book, I started to read, every now and then fingering the amulet.

  I looked at the clock. It was almost midnight. Stretching, I closed the book, and pulled the amulet back to look at it. Feeling a fool, I closed my eyes. “I want to be a wolf.”

  For several seconds nothing happened. Another let down, but I was used to it by now. I turned off the light and closed my eyes, rolling on my side. The feeling of disappointment was almost crushing.

  But then, something changed. My body started to itch, a burning itch like a thorn-scratch after picking berries. Nothing at all like a normal change would feel.

  I ran to the bathroom and watched in the mirror as my eyes started to change, lightening to a glowing green and then yellow. Most wolves had yellow eyes. Mine stopped short at yellow-green, but then my body started to change, too, so maybe the eyes kept right on changing later. I would have Ali take a picture of me in wolf form just so I could see what I look like, and then I thought leaving evidence might not be so stellar an idea.

  Being a wolf took a small bit of getting used to. Running on four wolf legs was a little awkward compared to the scurry on mouse legs, but not enough of a difference to throw me back to the toddling days of young childhood.

  I ran around the house like a hyper dog or a cat on catnip. My paws flew as I skidded across the linoleum of the kitchen. I’d wanted to do that since I was a kid. While Andrea and Todd mourned for the lack of pets in the family, during the full moon Todd would play like a dog. From what I’ve seen with the neighbor’s dogs, they weren’t really that different.

  I tried out everything, sniffing the wood on the table pine (yum), wagging my tail. Forgetting myself for a moment, I howled, you know the kind of wolf howl every kid practices as a human but only werewolves can really pull off. Suddenly I realized that an angry neighbor would probably call the landlord if I didn’t shut my mouth. After exhausting myself with play, I figured I would change back to human and go back to bed. Ali and I would experiment more tomorrow night.

  The amulet had vanished when I changed form. Instead of an amulet I wore a collar that stuck to my neck. I barked. “I want to be human.”

  Nothing happened. I tried everything. I started by putting my whole soul into the positive thinking wish to be human. And after several minutes of heavy wishing, I realized that even positive thinking must have limits. Who knew? After sniffing around the house in case I lost the amulet in my wild run, the reality of my situation settled in.

  Whining, I put my face on my paws. Ali would find me tomorrow. And then I realized...I had to go to the bathroom. I was in for a long night.