I nodded. "Okay. First we'll..." My voice trailed off as I got distracted by a glint of light in the sky. It was the moon, not quite full, but close to it, rather silvery and bright. It was a very beautiful sight --
"... Jonni?!" I blinked and became of Karyn shaking my shoulder. I shook myself and realized that I was not quite as morphic as I had been a moment ago!
"Whoops!" I concentrated and went back to my morphic form. "Whoa. I see why folks kept reminding me about the moon tonight!" I muttered. Off in the distance, I could just hear a howling of a wolf somewhere. I flicked an ear in that direction, then tried to become human again... I couldn't quite make it fully. I mean maybe 95% human, but I could feel a faint dusting of fur on my skin, my teeth were a bit longer, and I still had the ears and the tail of a leopardess, though not quite as large. "This is annoying," I muttered.
Karyn blinked at me when I said I couldn't manage any more than that. "We better get this fixed before the full moon," she said. "And figure out a way to do it safely!"
"We'd better!" I agreed. Well, now I can see why Mom wanted me to wear my ID collar! I could feel the thin fur I had right now trying to bristle a little. This was maybe not the best night to be trying to study!
We arrived at Mark's house without any other odd developments, though I did hear another brief wolf howl in the distance. Mark's mother opened the door -- she was a smallish, stoutish looking woman, but had a friendly smile. "Ah, you two must be Karyn and Jonni -- Mark and Zach have been telling me about you two, or trying not to when I ask." She seemed amused by this. "Well, you two look like nice enough girls -- come in, come in! The boys are downstairs waiting for you."
"Thank you, ma'am," I managed. I suppose being called a nice girl is a compliment. The house was pretty nicely furnished on the inside from what I could see before we found the stairs down and went down into a family room/den. Mark and Zach were paying intent attention to the TV where they were playing video games with the sound turned up. I felt faintly miffed that they didn't notice us come down stairs. There were a couple couches and tables set around the entertainment center, and a shelf of CDs and DVDs.
Karyn cleared her throat. "Hey, you two. You got company."
Both Mark and Zach jumped at her voice and spun around, then Zach let out a sound of disappointment as the video game promptly beat his character. "Drat! Uh... hi, Karyn, Jonni."
Mark grinned at Zach, then turned back to us and waved us in from the stairs. "Hi -- we were just killing time before you two ladies got here. Just give us a moment to get our things." Mark and Zach got up and dashed up the stairs, leaving Karyn and I alone for a moment. She looked at me, and I knew she was thinking 'Boys'. Blast. I'm starting to think more like a girl every hour!
