Under the Light of a Full Moon

by D. A. McGrath

  Clara felt a little sad for the dog, but thought it’d be a good idea to stay out of its way for the time being. She’d have no fear approaching the animal as a human. But she had no idea how it would react to the presence of another dog in its territory.

  This is a good spot, she thought. To see what’s what.

  She was pleased that, even in her animal form, she was able to pick up the thoughts of other animals. She spent some time up on the hill stretching her mind to see how far she could reach. She found it more difficult in the direction of the estate.

  I wonder if it’s maybe something to do with the animals being indoors, she wondered.

  She could stretch her mind much further out across the woods and farmland, picking up many animals, including what she thought were rabbits and squirrels and maybe even a fox.

  She then tried to focus on the animals in her immediate vicinity, in the clearing itself. There were small birds sleeping in nearby trees, some mice and other small rodents in the grass. Then she sensed something else. Not a presence, more like a collective of some sort. She moved in the direction of the presence and sniffed. At that moment, the moon came out from behind a cloud and lit up the clearing until it was almost as bright as daytime. And right there in front of her was an anthill. There were many little ants arriving with leaves and twigs and other detritus and disappearing with them into the anthill and then scurrying out again.

  Clara watched them in surprise. She couldn’t pick up thoughts from the individual ants, but she could definitely sense their overall ... purpose, she thought, that’s what it is. Clara watched them for a while longer and then moved away again to sit and admire the view. Her sleeplessness from the previous night catching up with her, Clara found herself dozing off. She woke, feeling a little refreshed, not long before dawn.

  Yikes! she thought. I didn’t mean to stay out this late, and she ran back down the trail to the log where she’d left her clothes.

  Taking a deep breath Clara closed her eyes and remembered what she’d done the previous evening to transform back into human form. Trying to concentrate on the Clara that was in the mirror, she tried to forget her anxiousness and about the lateness of the hour. This wasn’t helped by a bird in a nearby tree starting to sing its dawn chorus. Clara shook her head to try and block the birdsong out. But after a few seconds the bird song, and its implications, crept back in.

  “Stop it, stop it, stop it,” she said angrily to herself and then shook her head again to stop herself from tensing up. Clara initiated the wall technique she used to block animals out of her mind in the hopes that the exercise would work with the birdsong. She pictured both the bird and her anxious feelings in her mind’s eye and firmly placed them on the opposite side of the thick wall. Feeling herself relax a little, Clara went back to focusing on her mirror image, going through the process of noticing every detail from the top of her head down to her toes. It was only when she started to shiver that she realised that the transformation had worked and she was standing, naked under the trees, covered in goose bumps. Clara allowed herself a whoosh of relief before she quickly dressed and trotted back to the house.

  As the night sky brightened from dark to dawn, Clara snuck back in. Her movements undetected by the other sleeping occupants.

  ***

  Clara was left alone to sleep in that Saturday morning, not getting up until lunchtime. She’d expected to get an inquisition about her sleepiness, but, though her mum watched her closely, she didn’t say a word. They’d not heard anything further from the practice about Clara’s blood tests, so her parents had accepted the GP’s explanation that the changes in Clara’s sleeping habits were down to her age.

  Clara spent the afternoon with Sinead and then spent much of that night in dog form on top of her hill, stretching her mind as she’d done the night before. She sensed the lonely dog again, in the same general area as before, searching for food and marking his territory.

  Clara had already decided a specific time she was going to try and transform back to her human self. The proposed time was later than her initial attempts on the first night of the full moon but much earlier than her rushed attempts the previous morning.

  Coming back down to her log at the pre-arranged time, she was able to concentrate fully on her mirror self with no distractions and, as such, she managed to transform back to her human form much more quickly than the previous two nights.

  Later, snug and safe in her bed, Clara happily reflected on her experiences of her first solo full moon. The terror she’d suffered when she struggled to change back to her human form was already fading from her memory and she couldn’t wait to write to her aunt to tell her about all that had happened.

  ***

  The next few weeks were busy for Clara. There was heaps of revision to be done because exams would begin right after the Easter break. They were of vital importance because they would define which classes the students would be in the following year. During this term there was also a parents evening at the school.

  Clara’s Mum and Dad were delighted with the feedback from her teachers. While they said that her concentration sometimes drifted during class, they were generally happy with her progress and were expecting good results from her exams, but that she needed to put the time and effort into revising.

  Clara was not pleased to discover that, as a result of the feedback, her parents were re-considering her visit to Selina’s during the Easter holiday as they thought she should spend the time revising.

  They wouldn’t be swayed by Clara’s pleas that she’d revise every day while at her aunt’s and didn’t accede to her wishes until Selina suggested that they reduce her stay to four days, and she agreed to supervise Clara’s revision while she was staying with her. Her parents reluctantly relented, much to Clara’s relief.

  Clara spent the first ten days of her Easter holiday revising diligently under her mum’s supervision, and much to Sinead’s disgust. Clara saw Sinead once or twice out of the window, in the sunshine, and was envious that Sinead’s parents weren’t as concerned about the exams as her own. But Clara recognised that she had to revise particularly hard because she wouldn’t be able to revise as much when she was at her aunt’s house.

  On the morning of the eleventh day, she was put on a train to her aunts with a bag full of schoolbooks and stern instructions to behave herself and study hard. To pass the time on the journey she did pull out one of her textbooks and do some reading.

  Clara was as glad to arrive at her aunt’s house on this visit as she’d been to arrive home after her previous visit. Over dinner, they talked about what Clara had done the previous month during the full moon. Clara described to Selina how she’d struggled to shape-shift back to human form on the first night and Selina listened closely with interest and concern.

  “I don’t know why I struggled to change back the first night, though,” finished Clara.

  “Well, dear,” replied Selina. “You may have tried to change back too soon,” she paused and thought for a moment. “Or it could be that you didn’t want it enough.” Seeing her niece frown she went on, “Part of shape-shifting is about wanting the change to happen. You change into an animal fairly easily because you’re helped along by the curse, but you have to really want to change back afterwards to get back into your human form. It could be that you were enjoying the transformation so much that, sub-consciously, you didn’t want it to end.”

  Clara considered this explanation. After her failed attempts she’d genuinely wanted to change back, and so she had in the end.

  “What should I do about the stray dog?” she asked after a pause.

  “Well, you were right to be cautious,” replied her aunt. “Domestic dogs see the house and garden as being their territory, but they’re generally fine if humans introduce other dogs into the house, as they’re trained to treat newcomers in the same way they treat their family. Stray dogs are different. Their territories are much wider and, depending on how wild they’ve become, t
hey could defend their territory to the death.”

  “I got the impression that the stray used to have a home and a family,” said Clara.

  “You should still take care, though,” warned Selina. “Perhaps it’d be best to avoid entering the dog’s territory until you’re already introduced in a neutral place. If the dog does threaten you, behave submissively and leave the area as soon as possible. You don’t want to get into a fight with a stray. Even if you do get away in one piece, you’d have a hard time explaining any injuries to your parents in the morning.”

  Clara glared at her aunt in alarm, hoping she was joking, but her aunt’s expression was completely serious. Clara swallowed and decided to change the subject to something a little less disturbing, “What are we going to do tonight?”

  It was the first night of the full moon and Clara was excitedly anticipating her next adventure.

  “I thought we might try a different animal tonight,” said Selina.

  Clara’s eyes widened. She hadn’t even thought of trying a different animal.

  “What kind?” she asked breathlessly.

  “What kind would you like to be?” Selina asked, smiling at Clara encouragingly.

  Clara thought for a while. What did she want to be? There were so many options, although, she wouldn’t be able to be anything too exotic for this part of the country. She smiled tentatively.

  “I’ve always loved horses,” she said. “Can we do that?”

  “I think we can do that,” said her aunt. “Although being a horse is not the same as riding a horse.”

  “Yes, but all the same,” said Clara, her eyes shining. “A horse.” And she was barely able to contain her excitement for the rest of the day.

  Chapter Eleven

  Later that evening, Clara and Selina left the cottage and walked into the woods. It was a surprisingly warm, calm, evening for the time of year, but cloudy. While they were both very aware of the full moon, they couldn’t see it at that moment.

  “Okay, now,” started Selina. “Same procedure as before. This time you are a majestic horse. Tall and proud, sleek and defined, you want to toss your mane and stomp the floor and neigh.”

  Clara closed her eyes and pictured the most beautiful horse she could think of. It was a warm, sandy colour with a long mane and tail that were almost white. It had a white star on its forelock and white socks at the bottom of each leg.

  She wanted to toss the mane and swish the tail of that horse. And when she opened her eyes, she found that she could.

  She wasn’t a big horse, more of a pony really, but when she looked behind her, there was the swishy tail. When she glanced down, there were the white socks. She let out a neigh of joy and kicked her rear end high into the air.

  When she turned to her aunt, she found herself next to a piebald horse with brown and black splotches all over its flanks. Horse Selina shook her head vigorously and then trotted off smartly into the trees.

  Clara trotted off after her, used now to moving on four legs she didn’t have the coordination problems she’d experienced when she first became a dog. They trotted through the, now familiar, woodland until they reached some open moorland. Being much bigger than dogs they covered the ground quickly and then Selina really let loose on the open ground. Clara leapt into a canter and followed her aunt. They thundered across the ground with the wind whipping through their manes, their tails flying out behind them. Clara thrilled at the speed and soon outstripped Selina by relaxing into a full gallop. Eventually out of breath, she slowed down and circled back to where her aunt had stopped to take a drink from a cold, clear, gurgling stream.

  Lowering her head Clara did likewise, her heart still hammering from her run, feeling exhilarated.

  Once they’d both recovered their breath and quenched their thirst, Selina started to lead Clara back towards the trees. Clara was a little disappointed that they appeared to be going back to the cottage, she wanted to run and frolic some more. Horses couldn’t smell as well as dogs, but they certainly had the same acute sense of hearing, and Clara had never been more aware of every muscle in her body. She wanted to explore these new sensations some more. She followed her aunt reluctantly, stopping occasionally to observe a smell or a sound picked up, to kick at something on the ground that felt strange or to rise up on her hind legs to see how tall she could become. Selina accepted Clara’s loitering with patience and let Clara explore her surroundings at her own pace.

  The route Selina took back to the cottage was off to the side of the main track they’d originally trotted down, and much narrower. As such, it took them longer to travel back, having to go most of the way in single file.

  Clara paused to taste a bush at the side of the track and, when she caught up to her aunt, she realised something was wrong. Selina was standing stock still, her ears pointing rigidly in the direction of the main woodland track. Clara stopped too and faced in the same direction, trying to identify what had caught her aunt’s attention.

  She felt Selina tense up beside her and this made Clara anxious. And then she heard it. Something was rumbling down the track towards them. After a few moments she could see what appeared to be two horse-led caravans coming along the track and, running alongside each caravan, was a humongous dog.

  Clara turned to her aunt in terror. What would happen if they were seen? What if the dogs came after them? What were they going to do?

  Much to her surprise, when Clara turned to Selina, she was no longer seeing the pie bald horse of earlier in the evening, she was now looking at a brown deer.

  That makes sense, thought Clara. The woods were much more likely to have wild deer roaming at night than wild ponies, but how did her aunt change like that? Clara stared at Selina in bewilderment for a few moments and then thought, Oh well, you won’t know until you try. With the picture of her aunt firmly in mind she closed her eyes.

  Okay, she thought. I want to be a brown deer. With big brown eyes, smaller ears and nose. Thickset body, slender legs and two toed hooves. Hearing the Gypsy caravans getting closer, Clara desperately wanted to change into a deer and not disappoint her aunt. When she opened her eyes, it was difficult to see if the change had worked. She appeared to be about the same size she’d been before and she could still feel that she had four legs, but it was dark where they were standing and apparently neither horses nor deer had particularly strong night vision. However, Clara thought the transition had worked, she sensed her aunt’s approval and pride in her mind.

  Clara felt Selina move slowly away behind her, in the opposite direction of the Gypsies and obliquely away from the woodland track. Clara turned and followed her aunt as quietly as she could. Behind her she heard one of the dogs begin to growl. Clara froze. She couldn’t help but turn back to see where the growling was coming from. To her relief she could see that, although the dog was clearly aware that they were there, it was tied with a long rope to the caravan and wouldn’t, therefore, be able to follow them. She reached out with her mind to the dog and picked up its thoughts about her and Selina. Its intentions were clearly not friendly as the dog had been walking all day and was both tired and starving. Also, it’s growling had drawn the attention of the other dogs, who also now seemed to be aware that they were missing out on something. The dogs were growling so loudly that Clara was afraid the Gypsies would stop to investigate, and, as this thought crossed her mind, the second caravan was pulled to a halt by its driver.

  Clara desperately sent out a mental plea to the dogs to stop growling, she tried to put a picture in their minds of a bowl of dog food and a comfortable blanket to distract them from the smell of herself and her aunt. She tried to tell them mentally that she and Selina were friends and weren’t for eating. After a moment or two Clara realised that the growling had, indeed, stopped. The dogs now sat by the still caravans looking interestedly in her direction but not with the same intense concentration as before. Clara sensed the dogs were confused.

  A Gypsy in one of the caravans shouted to one of th
e dogs. Sensing that the dogs were under her influence, Clara urged the dog in question to look at its owner and ignore her presence. She was delighted when the dog did so, and then the other two dogs also lost interest in her and her aunt. After a few tense seconds, the Gypsy caravans started to move forward again. A little while later they were out of sight and Clara relaxed. She was covered in sweat, and her heart was hammering at a hundred miles an hour.

  Clara turned to Selina, who was standing a little way away, also tense and alert. As the sound of the Gypsies faded away, they both turned and started to make their way back home.

  Clara had never been so grateful to see the brightly lit cottage emerging from the dark and know that she wasn’t far from her warm, comfortable, safe bed. She felt like she’d run a marathon, And I probably did, she thought wryly.

  Clara wanted to discuss the events of the evening with Selina right after they’d transformed to their human forms. But her aunt directed her straight up the stairs to her bedroom, Clara yawning all the way, and all Clara had the energy to do was to crawl under the bed covers and fall immediately to sleep.

  Aunt Selina gazed down at Clara’s relaxed, sleeping face. She was struggling to come to terms with what her niece had been able to achieve that night. She’d changed from one animal form to another on only her third full moon, and she was not only capable of communicating with other animals but appeared to be able to influence them as well. That was a skill that Selina had never been able to develop in all her long years with the gift, and she was proud but also a little envious of Clara’s abilities.

  How powerful was her young niece going to turn out to be, she wondered, gently stroking the fringe from Clara’s forehead, and what would it mean for Clara’s future?

  Selina sighed anxiously, she could tell that keeping Clara from danger was going to be a struggle, and she could only hope that the child was mature enough to be able to handle what was coming.