Page 3 of Riding A Cock-Horse
Jack just grins, used to my brand of crazy.
“All right then, let's jump overboard. Everyone can swim, right?”
“Yeah, I can swim, but why wouldn't the rest of you just shift,” I point to the girls to add, “and fly away?”
“Because they'll be expecting that. If we all stay in our human forms and swim away, we have a better chance of escaping. It might throw off our scents a bit more.”
“Gotcha. Ok, let's do this.”
I make for the door, but stop when it feels like my bones are snapping inside of me. I look back at the others, a scream caught in my throat.
“Fuck, she's shifting!” Jack says before I feel my body completely contort and twist into something I don't even know.
It happens within seconds, and when my vision refocuses and I stare out, it's at an unfamiliar view. The others are still before me, but I’m much smaller and lower to the ground. My sight is much keener. I feel powerful, sleek—undefeatable. My brain is still my own, but I definitely can feel whatever animal’s that I am lurking there.
Aggressive.
Angry.
Caged.
I look at the others and see their faces of shocked alarm.
And I know…
I'm a monster.
Don't panic; don't panic.
I chant this in my head as I look down at my hand—which is not a hand, but a paw.
A massive paw.
Oh—I knowthatpaw. Dear God, I'm a lioness! I've been turned into Nala, and Dean Hardwick, a.k.a. Scar, is going to regret the day he killed Mufasa, a.k.a…
Wow.
I'mreallynot making any sense, but I'm going to blame it on my animal brain. Said animal brain rolls its eyes at me. Quite frankly, I don't enjoy its tone, but I'll take it if it means my lion isn’t going to eat my friends. Now that I think about it, I don't haveanyurge to eat them. That's great! I start to talk, but it comes out in an odd chuff, and everyone immediately scrambles back.
How to reassure them that I'm not going to eat them?
Looking at my sharp claws, I get an idea. I scratch out ‘Not going to eat you’ into the hardwood. Good thing we don't have a ticket because someone would definitely sue for repairs—and for bringing animals aboard. I see Jude read my message. Well, I hope he can because alionesswrote it. The gang is still just staring at me with the same shock. Huh…maybe they weren't expecting me to be this badass?
Maybe I’m so fucking cool—
Something catches my eye from the corner of my periphery; I turn and give the loudest scream ever—except, do you know how a lion screams? The sound is shrill, hoarse, and absolutely terrifying. It one hundred percent resonates with how I'm feeling because coming out of my ass is my tail—and it’s a freaking snake!
You thought that sounded bad?
It gets worse—because coming out of my lower back is a damned goat's head!
“What fresh hell is this?” my lion roars, the goat bleats, and the snake hisses.
I'm not a fucking lioness—I'm…I don't know what this is!I’m three animals in one. I try to run away, but the goat and the snake follow because, well, they're attached to me. I run in a circle as my goat screams and my snake tries to bite me, until finally, I roll over—onto the goat, twisting its head in a gruesome manner. The pain, because the damn thing is attached to me, fills my body. Suddenly, I can feel the snapping and twisting of my bones as I shift back into my human form. I lay there naked, panting, traumatized, wondering how much therapy this is going to cost me in the future.
“For the love of whores, what was that?!” I manage to gasp.
The other six are still standing there frozen.
