She noticed his change. Even with her nose in her work, she still noticed him. That brought him a little comfort until he realized that she wasn’t looking at him. Her eyes were on Abby.
He looked over and immediately went on alert. It was hard to shift away from his own personal crisis, but Cecilia was in danger now, and that snapped him into lightning focus. Abby was about to change. She’d probably heard the gunshots and had her adrenaline spike enough to kick her over.
Her hands were knotted into fists, and her breath came in short pants. Her eyes were narrowing, and her lips were pulled back in a growl. She was about to shift, but was it into a black bear or a hybrid? And would she have any brain left when she was done?
Hank straightened to his full height. Cecilia had set her tablet down and stood as well, but he edged her behind him toward the door. There was precious little room to maneuver in here. He would have to keep Abby contained and calm—and bring her back—all in a space barely large enough for a hamster.
“Mom?”
Brittany was paying attention. Faster than her father who was still too deeply settled in his denial and his own tablet.
Hank spoke quietly to Brittany. He needed her to understand and not freak. “She’s showing you that she can change, too. She’s shifting into a black bear. Don’t be frightened. It’s normal.”
Abby’s eyes started to bulge out and there was panic in her gaze. Shifting could be painful, the first time even more so. It felt like your body was shattering as it went to an energy state, but it was only your thoughts that actually broke. All those notions of who you are and what your body is burst with a very real psychic pain. At least that’s how he’d felt. Abby, too, apparently, because her mouth split wide in a scream.
Her husband leapt up. Even he couldn’t ignore a woman’s bellow.
Cecilia was at the door, abruptly jerking it open to scream out into the hallway. “Everything’s fine here! We’re just having a discussion. Don’t come shooting! Donotcall security!” Then she slammed the door again and blocked it shut with her body. “Your turn, Hank. I’ll hold them off as long as I can.”
He wanted to laugh. There was no taking turns like in a game. This was Abby’s show. It all depended on how she handled sharing her rational mind with the animal inside. And nobody did that well the first time, but he did try to help.
He held up his hands and spoke clearly. “You’re okay, Abby. Just go with the change. This is how it’s done.”
Fur was sprouting all over her face and body. Black fur infused with a golden glow that would disappear once the change settled. Her nose was elongating as her face became darker, thicker, and distinctly bearlike. She growled at him, the sound low and threatening. And then her chest started expanding, hips, then legs.
Only the first change went this slow. Soon, she’d get the hang of doing this almost instantaneously. But for right now, it was like every part of her popped in individual sequence. And with every change, she released a sound of half anger, half agony. Which is when Hank realized that she’d made a classic new-shifter mistake.
Her clothing was too tight. He’d checked that before. She had on a loose blouse that ripped easily, pants with an elastic waistband that adjusted though it looked pretty silly on a big bear, and cheap sandals that broke the second her feet started expanding. But he forgot about her bra.
Her eyes narrowed, and she looked down at her chest. Her claws started ripping at the heavy elastic, shredding the blouse and drawing blood through her furred chest. She cut it slightly, but then she must have really looked at her hands, now big furred claws. She drew back in shock, her head tossing back as she roared again, but that only banged her against the equipment there.
Meanwhile, her husband bolted upright and started screaming. No big surprise. His wife was now a bear. But that was nothing compared to what Brittany did. She went full hybrid, and the stench nearly brought Hank to his knees. It certainly made her father start choking. She also leapt out of bed, disconnecting all her monitors in the process, which began a series of beeps and bings. And then she saw her own arms. She’d been pointing at her mother, but with furry arms and clawed hands. Which began a whole other series of screams of horror.
Hank tried to divide his attention. He didn’t want to take his focus from her mother. Abby was the most dangerous one here at three-hundred-plus pounds of panicked bear, but Brittany was equally lethal with her claws and younger mind. At least Abby’s mind understood what was going on.
Thankfully, Cecilia kept her head. “You stay with Abby. I’ve got the other two.”
He wanted to shout her a warning, but he didn’t have a chance. Not with Abby spinning around as machines blared at her. She had no special awareness of her body and her bra chose that moment to snap in half, ricocheting painfully into her arm. She threw her arm over her head with a roaring yelp and then banged into another monitor.
Meanwhile, Cecilia faced the other family members and snapped at them in her doctor voice.
“Settle down this instant!”
Would have been better if she hadn’t started gagging. God, Brittany sure could turn on the BO. At least the father was out of danger. He’d dropped to his knees as he retched into the biohazard wastebasket.
Abby turned to her husband, but Hank waved his hand to get her attention. Then he let fly with his best boot camp sergeant imitation.
“Freeze, now!”
At least he got it out without coughing, though the stench in this closed room was making his eyes water. Better yet, Abby’s gaze locked on his.
“Abby! You understand what happened?”
The bear straightened to her full height, but then couldn’t keep her balance. It was hard to manage in a body suddenly so different. She only remained upright for a couple seconds, and then she teetered forward. She was going to fall and he needed to get out of the way fast.
“The bed,” he said as he pointed at it. “Fall forward onto the bed.”
She did. It was clumsy, but she managed it. And more than that, he now knew that she had kept control of her mind. The bear wasn’t in control, her thinking mind was. Excellent. There’d be more adjustment, but for the moment, he could work with that.
