The Law of Tooth and Claw

Chapter 1 - Shift Day

“Do I have to go, Mom?”

“Yes, Sweetheart, you must go. You’ll want as much support as possible when you begin shifting. It’ll be very stressful, even for the strongest or wisest 10 year old.”

Today is my 10th birthday, the same day that werewolf children first turn into their wolves. Everyone will be at the shifting ceremony this noon, even the other children, who have shunned and bullied me because of my mark. With a full moon for the background and the silhouette of a howling wolf as the main design, my mark is the mark of a human changed into a werewolf, and the children discriminate me because of my transmutation.

I turned towards my loving adoptive mother, “Okay, Mom. You guys will go too, right?”

“Of course, Jasmine, you’ll have the best 10th birthday that anyone could have. Now go get dressed. We’ll be waiting for you outside.”

My mother, Joyce, closed the door to my room behind me. I struggled to get into my long white dress, especially since I still had the uncoordinated hands and fingers of an un-shifted child. With my dress finally on, I slipped on my shoes and sauntered to the door.

Suddenly, I was overcome with a strange feeling. I mentally shrugged it off as the beginning of my shifting phase, but as I tried to open the door, it felt as if some invisible force was keeping me from opening the door or moving at all. Now I had no control over my limbs and could only watch in terror as I opened the window of my second story room and jumped out. Amazingly, I landed perfectly on the balls of my feet. I still had no control over my limbs as I ran faster than ever into the area the children call the forbidden forest. The trees grew taller and older, and the forest grew darker and denser as I ran like an Alpha in his prime through the undergrowth. I knew that at one point, I will cross the border of my pack’s land, but I could worry about that once I regained control of myself.

In the dense woods, I could not tell how long I’ve been running, but after what seemed like hours of the blinding fast running, I slowed to a stop in front of a large boulder in a small clearing. Silver light filtered down from the hole in the thick canopy and landed on something shiny on the boulder. Out of my own curiosity and control, I clambered up quite awkwardly and saw the most amazing piece of jewelry ever. My naturally boyish personality kept me from enjoying the jewelry and dresses that most girls would like, but this necklace was an outstanding exception. The entire piece must have been made out of silver, the chain was thicker than normal chains for necklaces but not as thick as a gangster’s chain, and the charm was an exquisitely etched tiger with every detail from the whiskers to the eyes to the stripes drawn out. Something compelled me to adorn the necklace, and as soon as the tiger settled just above my still flat chest, I remembered an incident from long ago.

I was four and visiting the human city for the very first time with my parents. As we walked along the sidewalk, I noticed a small silver tabby with piercing blue eyes meowing pitifully at the base of a telephone pole. The poor thing was clearly a stray and incredibly thin, so I, an animal lover, wanted to take it home to raise it back to health. As soon as I picked up the scrawny cat, my mother screamed at me to let it go, and seeing my confusion or noncompliance, my father ripped the cat away from me and threw it over the nearby buildings. I knew right then and there that the poor cat was dead. The thin silver tabby with pleading blue eyes would forever haunt me because my interaction with it has caused its death. I never knew that my parents hated cats this much.

Returning to the present, I noticed that the woods had changed. The forest grew lighter, the bird calls and leaf rustles grew louder, the scent of wildflowers and pine grew stronger, and the world seemed larger. Thirsty, I trotted over to the sound of a bubbling brook. Wait. Did I just “trot?” Looking down at the calm flowing water, I gasped at the reflection of the silver tabby with piercing blue eyes, but this time, the cat blinked when I blinked and opened its mouth when I opened my mouth.