Karyn Travis
Travis Residence
4: 27 P.M.
"Are you alright honey?" My mom asked as I walked though the door.
"Yeah, I'm fine." I sighed. "Did you get the milk like I asked?"
"Shoot, I knew there was something I forgot. Well, I had to go drop off your brother from robotics anyway. I'll grab it on my way back." Looking fairly frazzled, my mom quickly rushed past me and ran out of the house. A few seconds later she ran back in, grabbed the car keys, and ran back out. Smiling, I walked upstairs. My mom was great, although at times she could serve as a standalone vaudeville act.
Walking into my room, I plopped my bag down and sighed. While I had been hoping that Jon would be able to figure out some way to use the stone without accidently causing the apocalypse when trying to order pizza, I had to respect his decision. After all, it had already resulted in unwanted casualties.
At the thought, I looked down at my chest. Though admittedly they weren't that much bigger than before, they and the blonde hair had been a major shock once the change had really started to sink in. Fortunately, the hair wasn't as bad as it could have been; an innocuous question by my mom had confirmed that my hair had merely been dyed and straightened, putting to rest any sudden fears that my entire family history would be different, as not a single one of my relatives had anything close to resembling what my hair looked like.
"Well, at least I've got you, don't I?" I asked sweetly as I kneeled down next to my dresser. A largish plush doll of a winged black unicorn looked back at me through deep eyes, and I halfway expected it to start moving.
Smiling, I picked it up and sat down on my bed. While I wasn't much of the stereotypical girly girl, obsessed with pretty princesses and Barbie dolls, some things did appeal to me, albeit with some twists. A love of horses, and their fantasy variants, was grudgingly one of the few things that I shared with the average girl next door. So when I found the plush, along with the one I had gotten for Jon, I just had to get it.
"I'll have to go back there sometime." I said to myself. While the name of the store, "Plush Paradise" didn't particularly ring of originality, the title was perfect. Thousands of plush dolls littered the shelves, from basic animals to fantasy creatures to a good selection of licensed characters from various video games and anime and whatnot. The fact I had walked in there a few weeks ago and spotted the two dolls right away had been sheer luck.
For what had probably been the hundredth time since I'd bought the dolls, I laughed. Though Jon would probably never understand the reference I'd secretly made, the connection to Peter Parker was too much. Nerdy? Shy? Slightly more attractive than he gave himself credit for? Yes to all three, though I'd never admit the last one to his face. He'd probably have an aneurysm with all the blood rushing to his face.
Rolling over in bed, I plopped the doll onto one of my pillows and reached for the remote to the T.V. I had spent a year begging my parents for. Homework could wait for Jon Stewert.
I nearly missed the sound; had I not been to so many farms during the summer, I would have never recognized it. The distinct sound of a horse snorting was suddenly forgotten with the sudden impact in my back.
Twisting around, I saw the horse plush was gone without a trace. Suddenly frightened, I looked all around the room, all sorts of vaguely thought out but never seriously considered scenarios rushing through my head. Despite my fear, however, no one was there.
Sighing, I started to look for where the plush may have fallen. Getting off the bed, I had almost made it around before there was a sudden stabbing pain in my back. Gasping, I turned to look again, but the result was the same. Fearful for a different reason now, I reached around to feel my back.
"Oh my God!" I screamed. Something was propping up the back of my shirt, and worse, I could feel it. Tearing off my shirt, I dashed to position myself in front of my mirror. The result nearly gave me a heart attack. Right in the middle of my shoulder blades was a tattoo of a pair of wings, the ink weaving in and out through the color spectrum. The new body art didn't concern me nearly as much as the black fur and the miniature pair of wings did, however.
Trembling, I reached around to touch the tattoo, as if it were a dream. Brushing against one of the growing wings, I nearly screamed when I realized I could feel my hand through the wing. Hesitantly, I touched it, feeling the smooth fur that was now spreading across my back.
It felt like a jolt of electricity had been sent through the tattoo. Pulling my hand back, I saw that a small patch of fur had attached itself to my finger. All my extremities suddenly began to tingle, and the fur began to grow on the tips of my hands.
Stunned, I sat down on the bed, watching the changes. Cautiously taking off my socks, I saw that my feet had begun changing as well. Unlike my hands, which seemed to remain the way they were, my toenails started to grow and mold together. The combined nails grew black and eventually covered most of my feet, and I could even start to feel the bones meld
"This can't be happening!" I screamed, even though I knew how ridiculous it sounded. Looking back, I saw that the wings were now getting massive, the huge black feathers softly rustling against my back. Twisting my head as far as it could go, I suddenly realized it was twisting a lot farther then I remembered.
Shakily getting up on my new hooves, I stumbled my way back in front of the mirror. My neck was starting to extend, the black fur slowly crawling up and elongating my throat. Before I even realized it, it had reached my face. Feeling as though someone had put my face in a mask and was pulling it off as hard as they could, my head began to elongate, part of my vision disappearing under my growing nose. As my head reached equine proportions, I felt the changes reaching across the rest of my body. With a sudden, bursting pain, a horn grew out of the center of my head, growing nearly a foot long before stopping.
Soon, it was finished. Standing nearly half a foot taller, with wings brushing up against the ceiling, I looked back at myself. To me, it seemed like I was a cross between a real life version of the plush doll and myself. Black fur, black wings, white stripe down my nose, long, pointed horn, and, amusingly, dark red hair.
Stumbling on my new hooves, I managed to sit down on my bed. Yelping with pain, I realized I had just sat on a previously unnoticed tail. Moving it aside, I carefully leaned back in my bed, trying to figure out how to move my wings. Carefully, gently, I managed to stretch them out enough to where I could safely lean back on my now audibly straining bed.
"I need to call Jon."
