After Alistair and his pack left, Mandy lay on the ground in the Turtle Playground. She was desperately scared and completely alone. The sun was beginning to set and the air was cool, yet somehow she didn’t feel cold. Pain wracked through her body, starting from her chest, where Alistair had bitten her, and radiating out to every part of her. She trembled, terrified. She knew she was bleeding in several spots. Would she die out here in the park of exposure and blood loss, not able even to cry out?
Mandy tried to get up but found she couldn’t move. It was as if Alistair’s words had bound her with invisible ropes. She tried to scream for help, but try as she might, she could make no sound. Slowly, the sun began to set, and as it did, she started to shiver uncontrollably, though she was not cold. She was hot, flaming hot, and getting hotter by the minute.
Gradually, the moon rose, a perfect circle, glowing golden and red – a full moon. Waves of pain swept through Mandy, and along with the pain, an unbearable itch spread over every part of her body. Mandy tried desperately to move her hands to scratch, but she was still bound by Alistair’s spell.
She looked down at her hands and saw that hair was rapidly growing on them, that hair was growing all over her body now. So that’s what must be making me itch, she thought. Now Mandy’s hands were elongating, and her nails lengthened and turn into claws. So much for my manicure, thought Mandy, and felt silent, hysterical laughter coursing through her, along with the pain and the itching.
Mandy finally understood what must be happening to her. She was transforming into a werewolf. But if that was so, why had Alistair left her there? Surely he would want her for his pack, now that she was like him. During her captivity in his den, she had talked to many of the wolves and they had all said the same thing, that Alistair had been there when they first transformed and had taken them back to join the pack. Most of the werewolves she had talked to weren’t too happy about leaving their families, but all were resigned to their life with the pack. Alistair had made it clear to them that if they ever tried to escape, he would hunt them down and kill them and their families. That definitely gave them the motivation to stick around.
A few of the wolves in Alistair’s pack, however, worshipped Alistair and believed in his vision of a future world where werewolves would dominate humanity. These were the flesh-eaters, who gleefully followed Alistair and hungrily shared his kills (or would make kills of their own). Each time they consumed human flesh and blood, they grew stronger. And in this way, Alistair was building his army.
There were few females in Alistair’s pack. The only one Mandy had met while she was at the pack house was Jenna, a small girl, maybe 11 years old, who talked very little and seemed to be scared of her own shadow. (And considering she became a wolf in the full moon, Mandy guessed that was partially true.)
And then there was Nora, Alistair’s girlfriend. As far as Mandy could tell, Nora was not a werewolf, despite spending many years with Alistair. Mandy wondered about that. She had heard Alistair lecture to the pack that they were building a master race; surely that would be helped along if Alistair mated with another werewolf. Why had he not turned Nora? Could he possibly love her? No, it didn’t seem possible that Alistair could love anyone but himself.
Mandy returned to her conundrum. Why had Alistair left her here alone? Maybe he had thought she was going to die and that it wasn’t worth waiting around to see? That somehow didn’t seem right, but she couldn’t come up with a better explanation.
Mandy’s metamorphosis continued, and even more intense pain began flooding through her body as it condensed and her limbs, torso, and head began to reform. Would the transformations always be this painful? Maybe she couldn’t survive this. Maybe she was still going to die.
Then abruptly the pain stopped, and finally she could move again. It was as if at the point at which her transformation was complete, Alistair’s spell was broken. Mandy sat on her haunches and instinctively started to howl. The howls, she felt, were therapeutic, like having a good cry after your boyfriend had broken up with you.
She was still howling when the brown shaggy wolf approached her. At first, Mandy assumed it was one of Alistair’s pack come back for her after all, but this wolf felt different; concerned, somehow.
“Shh,” he said. “You’re going to wake the whole of St. Louis at this rate.”
Mandy was surprised she could understand him. How was he talking to her when they were both in wolf form?
“I’m Josh, by the way. Who are you?”
“I’m Mandy. Are you a werewolf too?” Mandy knew that that might seem like a stupid question, but it occurred to her that, for all she knew, he could be a regular wolf, escaped from the zoo or something. Did St. Louis Zoo have wolves? She didn’t remember. It had been a while since she’d last been there.
“Yep,” answered Josh. “How about we get out of this playground? You’re probably hungry. I have some friends over at the other side of the park by the zoo. They should have some food for you.”
Mandy realized that he was right. She was not just hungry, she was crazy hungry – ravenous, in fact. She followed Josh, grateful that Alistair’s spell seemed to have been broken and that she could move freely again.
Chapter 20
Mandy woke up the next morning with a splitting headache and her body aching in places she didn’t even think it was possible to have aches. She found herself lying on the ground underneath an elm tree, and someone had put a rough blanket over her. Then it suddenly dawned on her that she had her old body back; granted, a battered and bruised version of her body, but still she realized she was no longer a wolf.
She wondered briefly if she could have somehow dreamt the whole thing. But then she looked around and realized that all around her were the shapes of sleeping wolves, some snoring rather loudly. Mandy sat up and took in her surroundings. She felt really disoriented. She tried to remember where she was and how she had arrived there.
Slowly, as her head started to clear, she began to recall the events of the previous night. She remembered following Josh through the park, scared of her own urges. Every few minutes, she would sense a small animal – a rabbit, a mouse, a squirrel – and she had wanted to pounce on it. Each time, Josh would gently nudge her, saying he knew she was hungry, but if she would just follow him, there would soon be food. And there had been.
Finally, they had reached a wooded area behind the zoo filled with wolves. The wolves gathered around Josh and he had introduced her to the pack; not that she really remembered any of their names. Mandy had understood from what Josh had told her that most of the pack members were not werewolves, just regular wolves.
The wolves had brought Mandy food, freshly caught squirrels and rabbits, which she ravenously devoured. (This morning, when she remembered that, she felt a little queasy, but last night her appetite for small, furry creatures had seemed insatiable.) She had eaten until finally exhaustion had taken over and she realized that she must have fallen asleep there on the ground.
Mandy sat up straight and drew the blanket around herself tightly. She was thankful for this old, worn cover. The air was chilly, and there was little left of her tattered clothing underneath the blanket. Mandy was wondering what she should do now and where she could possibly go, when a boy walked into the clearing. Her first reaction was:
Wow, he’s cute! He had brown hair, chocolate brown eyes, and a very nice smile. He was wearing well-fitting blue jeans and a green hoodie.
“Good morning, Mandy,” he said. “Did you sleep well?”
“Um... I’ve got a headache,” she replied. “Er... who are you?”
“We met last night,” he said. And then, before her eyes, he morphed into the familiar brown wolf that had rescued her. “Remember me? I’m Josh!”
“Hey, how can you do that when it’s not full moon anymore?”
“I learned,” said Josh, “and you can too. Want some breakfast?”
“Um... I don’t know.” She remembered the rabbits and squirrels from
last night and definitely didn’t want any more of those! Josh seemed to sense her thoughts and laughed.
“Nah, I was thinking more like Rice Krispies,” he smiled. “I think it’s time we introduced you to P.A.W.S.”
***
Miri was sitting at her usual table with Sandy, Sean, and Joey. Sandy and Sean were both on their second bowl of oatmeal. Joey was showing her his new magic trick, which involved making teaspoons levitate in the air. Miri suspected he was using real magic for this feat, which was kind of like cheating, but he was so enthusiastic about this “trick” that she didn’t have the heart to call him out on it.
“Who’s that?” asked Sean suddenly. For the first time in a week, Josh had walked in, and he was leading a girl of medium height with shoulder-length, light brown hair into the dining room. She was wearing some oversized sweats and her hair was wet, like she had just come out of the shower. Her head was turned towards Josh as they exchanged conversation. He led her to the food laid out on the center table and handed her a tray. They both filled their plates and then started to walk towards Miri’s table. It was then that Miri saw the girl’s face and dropped her spoon in surprise. It was Mandy from Saul Emmanuel. What in the world was she doing here?
At the same moment as Miri saw her, Mandy saw Miri. There was a huge crash as she dropped her tray in astonishment. Milk was flowing in a big puddle; grapes were rolling away; cereal pieces seemed to be flying all over the place, and several ended up in Josh’s hair. Everyone in the dining room had stopped eating now and were looking at Mandy, her face turning beet-red. And for a moment, for Miri, it felt good, very good. Here was one of the kids who had made her life hell in Saul Emmanuel. So what if she was a little embarrassed?
At the other side of the room, Danny, who had been deep in conversation with Lilith, stood up when he heard the commotion. He came to the front of the room still holding his cereal spoon and looked at the mess on the floor and at Mandy and Josh. “Welcome to P.A.W.S.,” he smiled. “Seems like you could do with a little help cleaning up.”
Before Mandy could answer, Danny pointed his spoon at the mess on the floor and gave it a little flick. Instantly, the mess (cereal, fruit, and broken crockery) levitated into the air and took itself to the garbage can by the door. Danny gave a little bow and returned to his seat next to Lilith.
Wow. Miri hadn’t seen Danny do magic before. They had been concentrating in their classes on trying to find her special skill, with no luck so far. Miri was beginning to think she was a dud in the magic department. Miri had never really thought about what Danny’s magic might be like.
Mandy was equally astonished. Josh put his hand on her shoulder and guided her to the table next to Miri’s. He then got Mandy a replacement tray of food. Now Miri saw that Mandy was glowing, talking animatedly to Josh, probably asking him about Danny. Ouch, not another one. Didn’t Danny already have enough admirers here? Miri felt the familiar stab of jealousy. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Danny was Jessamyn’s son, for God’s sake. What could he possibly see in Miri?
Yet over the last few days, it had seemed that they were getting closer. During their lessons, they had shared a lot about their childhoods. Miri was fascinated by how Danny had become an animagus. She was surprised to find out that he wasn’t taught by Jessamyn, that he’d spent months pouring through books in the library, searching for his “spirit” animal with only a little guidance from Cedric, the librarian. He had been torn between becoming a bird like his mother or becoming a cat.
Birds obviously had some advantages. Being able to fly, for example, would be amazing. His mother, he explained, had originally flown to America in her hawk form from her childhood home in Ireland when she was just 13 years old. She had rested along the way on cruise ships, but amazingly, the whole journey had taken her less than a week.
Yes, he thought, it would be cool to be a bird. But despite sifting through many bird books, he could not find a species that he was kin with. He had read Richard Bach’s Jonathan Livingston Seagull and toyed for a while with becoming a gull, but somehow that still didn’t seem quite right.
One day he was out in the park watching a group of sparrows arguing with each other over a leftover sandwich a tourist had dropped. They didn’t know they were being watched, and not just by the young boy sitting on the bench, but by a ginger tomcat hidden in the bushes. Danny saw the cat. He watched him inch closer and closer to his prey. Ears down, close to the ground, his bushy tail started waving back and forth, back and forth. Then suddenly the tomcat pounced, and Danny knew instinctively that this was it – his destiny. He was born to be a cat: independent, self- assured, aloof. If he had lived in Africa, he would have been a lion. But in St. Louis, being a regular cat allowed him to blend seamlessly into the world, both here in the park and out in the city.
“So that was it?” Miri asked. “You just turned yourself into a cat?”
“Oh, no,” explained Danny. “It took a lot more work than that. I had to study all about cats, and then there were many, many spells to prepare in order to make my initial transformation. I also read tons of books written by cat animagi. Even so, when I made my first transformation, I was terrified. There are plenty of horror stories of magicians who make a subtle mistake and get trapped in an imperfect form and can’t change back.”
Miri smiled. “I remember when I first transformed,” she said. “Even though I liked being a cat and all, I was really scared I wouldn’t be able to turn back... and I truly didn’t know how. I merely fell asleep, and when I woke up the next morning, I had changed back.”
“Can you sleep in your feline form now?” asked Danny.
“No,” Miri replied. “Whenever I take a catnap, I wake up back in human form.”
“Well, that’s something we should work on, then,” said Danny. “It’s very useful to be able to sleep as a cat, especially if you can learn to sleep like a cat. Cats, you see, can come out of deep sleep instantly if they need to and be alert immediately and ready to pounce.”
The rest of the day, they practiced. Miri would turn into a cat and Danny would startle her and she would try to hold on to her feline form. In this way, she began gaining more and more control over her form.
It was fun working with Danny. She hoped that they were becoming friends, but outside of class Danny still hung out mainly with Lilith. And try as she might, Miri couldn’t stop the little jealous imp inside her taking hold whenever she saw them together.
And now there was Mandy. What in the world was she doing here? Mandy had always been a hanger-on in Jeanie’s group of cronies, not central but always there, like a pimple that wouldn’t go away. What had happened to her? How had she ended up here? Miri sincerely wished that she would just disappear and go back to where she came from.
About an hour later, Miri was sitting in her morning math class with Professor Ainsworth. She was trying to conquer a particularly difficult algebra problem, and all the Xs and Ys were making her head spin. It didn’t seem fair that she still had to deal with math, now that she was a shapeshifter. What possible use could a cat have for algebra?
There was a knock on the door, and Josh appeared, leading Mandy into the room. He talked for a few moments with Ainsworth and then left. No fair, thought Miri. Why doesn’t he have to do algebra?
“May I have your attention,” said Ainsworth. “Today we have a new student. May I present Mandy of the Werewolves.”
A murmur went up around the room, and Mandy, in the true tradition of new students around the globe, looked down at the floor, extremely embarrassed.
“You may sit at that desk over there next to Miri,” he said, pointing to the empty seat to Miri’s left.
Mandy made her way towards Miri. Professor Ainsworth brought over an algebra worksheet for Mandy, and a pencil. Mandy looked down at the paper, avoiding Miri’s glance, and tried to solve the first problem. Miri was pleased to see that this was no easy task for Mandy either.
Werewolf. So Mandy was attacked by a werewolf and
rescued by Josh. Wow, how did that happen? Did a werewolf enter Saul Emmanuel? How? Josh had assured Miri that the tunnel they had escaped through was sealed after they left.
Miri was burning with curiosity and even more distracted from the algebra problems than usual. At the end of the class, as she was packing up her stuff, she glanced over at Mandy. She was not moving from her spot. Lilith, at the door, shouted out to her: “Hey, wolf girl, lunchtime!” Still Mandy didn’t move, and her eyes filled with tears.
“Mandy?” Miri asked cautiously. “Are you okay?”
“No,” she replied, “I’m not okay. How could I be okay? I’ve lost everything: my family, my friends, my clothes... my whole life. How could I possibly be okay? It’s different for you; no one ever liked you anyhow.”
“Well, if you want to be like that, I’ll just go, then,” Miri retorted, and started to leave.
“No, wait,” said Mandy. “I’m sorry. That wasn’t fair.”
“It’s true, though,” countered Miri. “You girls made my life hell at Saul Emmanuel. I’m much better off at P.A.W.S.”
“Are you a werewolf too?” asked Mandy.
“No, I’m a shapeshifter.” And for the fun of it, Miri changed into her cat form before Mandy’s eyes.
“Wow,” said Mandy, “that’s amazing. But I don’t understand. If you can do that, why were you ever at the academy?”
“Well,” explained Miri, “I couldn’t always do that. Actually, it was you girls who helped me change the first time.”
“Really?” Mandy asked, surprised. “How?”
“Trade secret,” Miri smiled, suddenly realizing she neither wanted nor needed to rehash the past with Mandy. “Come on, let’s go get lunch” she said instead. “I’m starving.”
Chapter 21
Now that Josh was back, Miri had expected that he would continue her training in the afternoons. So she was surprised when she got to the classroom and Danny was waiting for her.
P.A.W.S. Page 9