Incredible. And it relaxed her enough that she climbed down from her awkward place on the bannister. She perched on the edge of the stair and watched in a surreal kind of envy as the grizzly continued to settle beneath Hank’s ministrations.
And then Hank looked up. The grizzly whined at the loss. So did Cecilia, though she didn’t voice it aloud. Hank lifted his dark face and turned to Mother. The woman was still on the couch, though she was sitting there much the way Cecilia was on the stair step. She had her feet under her and the shotgun in her lap, but at Hank’s look, she set the weapon aside.
“Okay, Sammy. I’m coming over. It’s me, Mother. You know who I am.” She took two steps forward. Then suddenly she snapped out an order. “Say something when I’m speaking to you, child!”
The grizzly’s head pulled back and it barked out an “Eep.” That’s what the sound was. An eep of startled response, except really deep. And then it opened its mouth wide. Cecilia heard its breath come in and out a couple of times, as if it were trying to talk but couldn’t figure out how.
So Hank did a kind of long bark. It wasn’t a short burst of sound like a dog’s. More like a rolling symphony of sounds that were guttural and yet had enough tones in it to make it sound like conversation. Weird, but amazingly reassuring because it sounded just like an adult teaching a child how to speak. Especially when he did it again. Once, twice, and then waited patiently as the grizzly tried again.
The next sound was almost funny. The grizzly grunted but it came out very much like a bark. Short, low, and more like a surprised gasp than anything else. And then the grizzly did it again. And again. Its eyes widened, and it looked straight up at the bear with a kind of look-at-me expression. In response, Hank gave it a long lick with his tongue and a bump with his nuzzle.
Was that the bear’s form of a fist bump? Had to be because the grizzly did it right back this time. No longer terrified and suddenly as much like a happy puppy as a three-hundred-pound bear could be.
Until another set of wolf howls cut through the air. Everyone’s head snapped up, including hers. She’d begun to relax on the steps, but suddenly she tensed along with everyone else because those howls were really freaking close.
Cecilia didn’t know what to do except to look longingly at Hank’s clothes. Somewhere buried in his pants was the Swiss army knife that would cut her free. And now that she heard those wolves outside, she sure as hell wasn’t running out there. Meanwhile, Mother was stepping forward with her own stern tone.
“All right, Sammy, you’ve had your fun. Time to turn back now.”
Cecilia frowned as she looked at the woman. She’d set aside her shotgun and stood there in front of both bears with her hands on her hips and her legs spread wide. She looked calm but stern, like a mother telling a child it was time to turn off the video games. Her brow was arched, and she looked like she was counting in her head. Definitely a by-the-count-of-three-please look.
Everyone looked at the grizzly. Hank’s big bear head, Cecilia from her place on the stairs, and even the grizzly looked down at itself. Time to change back? Like into a human?
Again, Cecilia’s mind tried to express that it was impossible, but that was a small, shrinking portion of her mind. The rest was eagerly anticipating the sight. Just where would all that mass go? What about the fur? What would Sammy look like as a human?
And they all waited.
And waited.
Then Mother lost her patience.
“Now!” she snapped. Loud enough that everyone except Hank jumped: Mother from the force of her demand, Cecilia because she was startled, and the grizzly because the child had probably been conditioned to respond to that tone from childhood.
It worked. The huge creature shimmered as she jerked to respond to Mother. There was a golden glow to the transformation, but it was gone in the blink of an eye. The grizzly’s golden brown fur seemed to disappear into it and reform into a young black woman. Her pale brown body had a sturdy frame, a sweet face, and neat braids of black hair tucked against her head. And her liquid brown eyes sparkled with triumph as she grinned up at Mother.
“I did it! Mother, I did it!”
“That you did, little girl,” Mother said, her tone filled with pride.
Then she looked at the big black bear and threw her arms around him. “Hank, I did it!”
Hank chuffed in a note of clear pride, and his long tongue licked her neck. She was completely naked, but no one seemed to notice. Cecilia only did because her medical mind was cataloging the girl’s body and seeing no deformities, no scars, and nothing different from a human girl of approximately sixteen years. If anything, she—
Crash!
The explosion of sound and glass caught Cecilia completely off guard. As did the stinging cuts from the shattered window. She would have screamed. The sound was startling enough. But by the time she drew breath, every part of her had seized up in terror. Because there, leaping into the center of the living room was the largest dog she’d ever seen.
And then she realized the truth.
It wasn’t a dog. It was a werewolf, and it had Mother in its jaws.
