On the run!
Same morning.
'What the hell happened to me?' she screamed in her head. She turned her head back in forth and her new reflection in the mirror mimicked her every move. How could she turn into a wolf? This was not normal! Oh no! Eda! Dad! Everyone! She couldn't let her family see her like this! But what was she supposed to do? She turned to move—but she tripped over her own feet—er—paws. She tried to get up and walk a couple paces only to trip over her legs again.
Walking on all fours is a lot harder than people think. You think that it would be like crawling… it isn't. She got back up and took just one step forward, and then moved one of her back legs, then another front one, and then the last foot. She had to walk around for a little while before she got used it.
Well, that solves one problem—but she still had a much bigger one.
No make that two. She walked to the door, only to see that it was still closed.
'Now what am I going to do?' she thought bitterly. She now had a pretty good idea how a house dog felt when it wanted out. She looked around her, trying to figure out what she should do and what the heck happened to her.
That was when she saw something shining on the floor among her blankets. She trotted over to get a better look. It was her necklace.
But as she looked at it, she noticed something was different. The bright golden glow that it had was gone… as was the figure of the wolf inside. Wait… was this what happened? She wore the necklace and now she's cursed or something?………..no the wolf was probably sealed away and now was released.
She stumbled backwards, falling in a heap of fur and blankets.
It was the necklace that did this to her! Damn it! Next time she saw her dad, she was going to kick his butt.
She got back up and began to pace her room, trying to think of what to do. It's not like she could go downstairs and tell her parents what happened! She stopped pacing and lied down, putting her head on her front paws and tried to think of something—anything!
Before she came up with an idea however, she heard it once again.
She could hear the wolves outside howling… and this time she could understand them.
'Where are you?' they howled, they sounded like they were frustrated.
She wasn't sure if it was instinct, but she automatically answered them. She wasn't even sure if they could hear or understand her but she howled, 'I'm here! I'm right here! Help me!'
She ran to the window, and figured out how to put her two front hands… paws on the windowsill and continued to howl at them to help her.
"Luz?" her Willow’s voice called from the hallway.
Luz quickly shut up, not realizing how much noise she was making. Oh, God—what was she going to do? She couldn't let her friend see her like this! She had to get out of the cabin … but the doorknob was starting to turn.
Panicked, Luz dropped down from the window and ran underneath the bed, praying that her friend wouldn't see her.
The door opened, and the first thing that she saw was her mother's bedroom slippers.
"Luz?" Willow called out. "Are you in here?"
Luz stayed quiet, not daring to say a word—not that she could in this state. She just stayed where she was and didn't move a muscle.
Finally moments later Willow turned and left; probably thinking that Luz was outside looking for amity or already downstairs. But as she left, she left the door open by just a hair.
Hardly daring to believe her luck, she waited until she was sure that Willow went downstairs—one good thing about being a canine was that her hearing and smelling was so much better. She could even hear the sounds of the toast popping up from the toaster and the smell of sausages frying on the stove.
Her mouth was beginning to water and her stomach began to whine.
Once she heard Willow reach the first floor landing, Luz crawled out from underneath the bed and headed to the door, she didn't know why but she just had to get outside, to where the other wolves were.
She blamed it on her new wolf brain for that.
She was somehow able to make her way down the stairs, she had to move sideways, and move one leg at a time until she was able to make it down to the first floor. She was very tense.
(Can you blame her?)
Jumping at the slightest noise, this time it didn't help that she could hear everything so much louder and farther away than before. She looked around her, trying to find her way out and not be seen at the same time.
Suddenly, she felt a slight wave of cold air—her head turned immediately to the breeze. Before she could stop herself, she headed toward the place where she could fell the fresh air. It was coming from the living room! She poked her head around the corner to see that the door was left open. She ran towards it. She was sure that she was going to make it…
That is until she heard the scream.
Her sensitive ears pulled back at the shriek and she stopped dead as her head turned towards the source of the noise.
Gus was standing there, pressed up against the wall, staring at her with both fear and amazement clearly in her eyes.
Without thinking, Luz cried out, "Gus!"
But instead of her voice—it came out as a bark. She immediately shut up as to not scare her other friend.
"Dad!? Willow!" Gus called out. So much about not scaring her. "You might want to come here!"
Something in her panicked voice caused his dad to come running inside, dropping a bunch of tools and grabbing his shotgun in the process. He came in and asked, "What's goin—"started to say before his jaw dropped at the scene before him. His eyes fell onto his son before he stared at wolf luz , as if unable to believe his eyes.
Get back," he whispered to Gus as he moved towards Luz.
Luz didn't know what he was about to do, but something told her not to stick around and find out. She dashed towards the open door before his dad could say or do anything else, and she somehow was able to jump over the fallen tools before her padded feet finally hit the cold ground.
As soon as she was outside, she felt the wind whip through her as the hard ground barely registering underneath her feet, the sting of the fresh air burning her lungs… it all felt wonderful. But she didn't have time to stand there and enjoy it. She hit the ground running, and didn't look back.
She was able to run, how she was able to do so and not fall down in the process she had no idea. All she knew was that she had to get as far away as she could from the house. Her friends didn't know that it was her running on all fours and they might do something extreme.
She could hear Gus’s father swearing at the top of his lungs as she left them behind. She felt her heart ache at the thought that she was running away—but what other choice did she have? She reached the forest, and without even pausing to think, she kept on running. Not knowing where she was going or what she was going to do.
So she kept running, and running—her human body would've tired out long ago, but she was full of adrenalin that she felt like she could keep running forever.