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I mean, forget the misery of my mom's disappearance. Forget the fact
that every day during fifth period I would have to do algebra for my
stepmother. Having to live with that mangy mongrel would drive any kid
insane.
I felt the changes begin.
My hands. Transforming themselves into
134 paws. Little white paws with long, dull claws. Long claws that
clacked and scratched against the kitchen floor when the obnoxious mutt
raced around the dinner table, yapping at the top of his lungs until
someone finally dropped him some scraps.
My legs grew shorter, skinnier. My thick, human leg muscles began to
shrink, tightening into taut, sinewy springs. Muscles powerful enough to
propel the cursed beast three feet - four feet - in the air. High enough
to jump on my lap and fatally ruin my concentration during key points of
video games.
I felt fur growing along my back. Thick, curly white fur that made my
nose itch. That stuck to my favorite black jeans.
The transformation was nearly complete. I was a five-foot-long poodle.
With a human boy's head.
Not for long.
My head began to grow. Larger. Wider. My nose stretched out in front of
me. My eyes grew dim, as if I'd just put on a pair of sunglasses. My
ears shrank and slid up the side of my head.
My mouth, too big to be a poodle's mouth. Uh-oh. Long white muzzle,
blunt, not delicate like the poodle's.
Uh-oh. Definite uh-oh.
135 Cassie yelled.
What was happening? What was I?
I held up one paw to look at it. Moved and slammed against a wall. I was
hot, I knew that much. My fur was a mix of kinky and straight. The
straight fur was more clear, more transparent than truly white.
Polar bear? I was half-poodle, half-polar bear?
I was a poo-bear?
And then, the instincts kicked in. The polar bear's cold-blooded
predatory intensity joined to the Daffy-Duck-on-espresso lunacy of the
poodle.
I could smell prey. I saw a pair of wolves, eyes glittering. Not prey.
Predators. Nope, I wasn't going after them. I wanted something more like
a seal. Yeah. Or else a mouse.
Then, I heard the sounds. Movement. Something living. Just on the other
side of the wall.
I rose on my hind legs. Then, I dropped down again and charged.
Rachel cried.
WHAM! Eight hundred pounds of hyperactive poodle smashed through the
Sheetrock wall. Prey! Possibly a seal!
136 Tennant jerked around.
"Aaahhhh!"
I crossed the fifteen feet between us in seconds. Tennant dove out of
the way just before my hubcap-size front paws smashed his chair into pieces.
Volkswagen,> Rachel said.
My prey dashed. Ran for the door. Big mistake. Running just made me
excited. Running was like an advertisement: Yes, I am the prey, please
come and eat me.
Four massive steps and I was on him. I shoved him with my huge paws. He
flew through the air and hit the wall.
The seal was cornered. Down.
Time for lunch.
137 EH
OOOO!" Tennant wailed, cowering like a trapped rat. I felt no pity for
him. I didn't know about pity. I was the poo-bear.
Cassie screamed.
I said.
Everything was black-and-white in this morph. Simple. Kill the prey.
Kill the enemy. Nothing else mattered.
And yet, some small part of my mind said,
Tennant curled into a little ball in the corner. He yelled, "Help me!
Help me!"
138 But the crew didn't seem terribly interested in helping him. Mostly
they were running.
it. You had another mixed-morph. Now get control. Getcontrol.>
Jake said.
I was in grizzly morph, sure, but . . .>
Ax said calmly, as though
nothing unusual were happening.
Cassie encouraged.
the mission?>
The mission?
I poked Tennant's huddled body with my paw. Watched him shrink and shudder.
your friends. Talk to us, talk to me and ->
Jake snapped.
It was like a bucket of ice water dumped on my head.
It was like waking up from an intense dream. Fast. Painful. Slowly my
mind grasped control.
139 Jake
said.
don't care what your problems are. You deal with this, right now.>
I started to shrink.
My body deflated like a balloon with a pin-hole.
My head, shrinking. Becoming a normal poodle head.
obviously angry.
Jake said.
remember what he always says.>
What I always say? What was he talking about?
Jake said,
You can whine or you can laugh.>
I laughed. Laughed in recognition. Oh, yeah. I do say that.
I was completely poodle.
"What the-?" Tennant said, scrambling to his feet.
Cassie said.
Or was it?
140 I sprinted away from Tennant.
"Andalite," Tennant hissed. He no longer carried the fear scent. He
smelled of pure hatred. "You've made a terrible mistake. You should have
killed me when you had the chance. I will not show you such mercy."
Jake said.
Tennant reached down and grasped an electrical cord that was lying on
the floor. He yanked one end of it out of the wall, the other from the
stage light it was attached to.
CRAAACK!
Tennant's makeshift whip could slice me in half.
I whimpered.
Jake said.
Rachel said.
out of there.>
I cowered behind the remains of Tennant's chair.
CRAAACK!
He missed me by inches.
"This is going to be so therapeutic," Tennant cackled.
Jake said.
Tobias called.
141 CRAAACK!
The cord slapped across my back! Like being hit with a smoldering-hot stick!
"Yipe!" I cried pathetically.
Tobias
said.
Cassie said.
William Roger Tennant dropped the whip, reached down, and grabbed me by
the neck. Lifted me in the air. Turned around to face the cameras.
Wrapped his hand around my throat and held me up in front of his face.
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