A little while later they were all walking out of the estate and down the road to the car boot sale. There were hundreds of stalls selling all sorts of things from clothes to books to crafts, and they took their time wandering around, looking for bargains. They came home, weighed down with second-hand games and study books and clothes. They’d even bought some of the farms produce to have for their tea.
Clara’s third night of shape-shifting was gratifyingly uneventful. She was relieved to hear her dad going to bed at the same time as her mum, so she could leave the house at her usual time. In her dog form she tried, but failed, to access her new power and, giving up on it for the time being, spent most of the night sitting on the hilltop clearing, trying to resolve some of the things that had kept her awake the night before. Of course, there was nothing she could do about her dad’s job, but she decided she would seek out Sinead, as soon as the school trip was finished, and spend some quality time with her. Having resolved to do this, she spent some considerable time staring down at her house, trying to come up with ways she could get back into her bedroom if the front and back doors were inaccessible for any reason. She’d brought both keys out with her this evening, but a way to get back in through her bedroom window would be much more preferable, she thought. All she’d need to do is leave the window open, and then she could get back in that way if necessary.
What kinds of animals would be able to get in through an upstairs window, though, she pondered. She’d have to become an animal that was either an excellent climber, or something that could fly. The idea of becoming something that could fly excited her, but also reminded her of her aunt’s warning about the difficulty of becoming a small animal. A largish, climbing animal could also be a bit of a problem – imagine if somebody saw a monkey climbing up the drainpipe outside her window!
There’s nothing for it, she thought, I’m going to have to speak to Aunt Selina and get some advice.
***
Clara’s projects were all completed and submitted on time, and the half-term holidays were approaching. She received her exam results back and was pleased to have scored highly in all of her lessons. Her parents were also delighted and said that they were going to get her a special present for her birthday as a reward.
Her twelfth birthday took place during the half-term holiday and, as a treat, Clara’s parents took her to see a film at the cinema. For her birthday present, her parents gave Clara a small, second-hand TV for her bedroom. Clara was thrilled with this little piece of independence, as it’d give her an excuse to go to her room more often.
Before she knew it, Clara was back at school for the final term of the school year. The weather was warmer, the evenings were lighter, and with the exams and course work behind them, everyone was in a good mood.
Even Sinead seemed to have forgiven Clara, and almost seemed back to her old self. Clara had missed her friend and was happy that their friendship was getting back to being like old times, even if it sometimes meant making up a threesome with Sarah.
Her parents were also pleased that Clara and Sinead had made up, to the extent that they turned a blind eye to the occasional time that Clara came back late from an evening out with her friend.
One pleasant evening, the girls were taking advantage of the long mild day and were walking through the woodland at the back of Clara’s house. While Clara was now familiar with the area, Sinead had not come into the woodland before and was enjoying their little adventure. It was getting late and, as some clouds flitted across the sky, Sinead glanced up and said, “Ooh, look at the moon.”
Clara didn’t need to, to know that the moon was almost full, but she did so for her friends’ benefit, and commented on how pretty it was. Then a deep growling sound started up along the path ahead of them. Both girls immediately froze and stared down the path. Clara hadn’t noticed how far they’d walked, and they’d accidentally wandered into the wild dog’s territory. He was, apparently, annoyed at their presence.
Clara glanced over at her friend and could see Sinead was frightened. The growling became louder and Clara saw her friend begin to shake.
“Don’t make any sudden movements,” Clara murmured under her breath. She was sure her friend’s fear would result in a panicked flight, and she didn’t want the dog to chase after Sinead.
“What are we going to do?” Sinead whispered. Clara could see Sinead was using all her willpower not to turn and run and it was quickly running out.
“Take a step back, slowly,” said Clara, and she reached over and took Sinead’s hand in hers. As both girls edged backwards, the dogs growling became louder and more ferocious and it lowered its head and took a step towards them.
Okay, thought Clara. That was a bad idea, what now?
Clara reached out with her mind to the dog. Even though it wasn’t a full moon, Clara found she could connect with the dog’s mind. She could sense that it was starving and felt extremely threatened by their presence. She sent it calming thoughts.
We are not your enemy, she said mentally. We want to be friends with you.
She continued to repeat this message for a while and then reached out again to see if it was making any difference. Unfortunately, the dog was so hungry that it was irrational; almost insane with hunger, and not interested in being friendly.
Clara started to feel nervous, herself. She couldn’t calm the dog down and they couldn’t move without it chasing them. Sinead’s shaking had turned into a quiet sobbing and Clara knew it was only a matter of time before Sinead either completely collapsed or took off. Clara tightened her grip on her friend’s hand.
And then an idea formed in her mind. It was crazy, though. It would never work. And Clara’s eyes moved from the beast in front of them up to the moon and back. Sweat trickled down her spine. The dog’s growling continued. Try as she might, Clara couldn’t think of a better idea.
“Sinead, listen to me carefully,” said Clara, urgently. “I think I heard someone on the track behind us. I’m going to see if they can help. Stand very still and don’t look the dog in the eye. If you don’t move, I don’t think he will either.”
“No!” Sinead whispered, frantically. “You can’t leave me here. If you move the dog will attack us.”
“No, it won’t,” said Clara. “I’m positive it won’t. Don’t worry, this will be over soon. But you need to keep still for a moment or two longer”. While she was talking to Sinead, Clara was simultaneously sending thoughts to the dog that she didn’t exist, and she thought it was working because the dog was focusing on Sinead and ignoring Clara’s slow, backward movement. Clara could tell that Sinead wasn’t happy with the plan but didn’t know quite what to do about it. By this point Clara had edged towards some conveniently thick bushes and she ducked down behind them, hidden from view.
Behind the bush, she closed her eyes tightly and concentrated with all her might on becoming a dog. She focused hard on the dog’s shape and fur; she concentrated on improving her sense of smell and hearing. While she was doing so, she heard the tenor of the growling dog change, and knew she only had seconds left before the dog decided to take action against its intruder. Opening her eyes, Clara was surprised and elated to find that the transformation had worked. But she didn’t have time to think about how or why. She leapt into action, running from behind the bush to the stray’s right and barking at it. Clara stopped about ten metres away, lowered her head and growled a challenge at the stray.
Her plan worked immediately, the dog turned fully in her direction, initially surprised, but then reacting instantly to this new threat. Knowing that she needed to get the dog to move away from Sinead, Clara barked again, advancing and retreating in front of the animal. The dog seemed confused by her behaviour, but its natural instincts took over and it decided that this new intruder needed to be shown who was boss.
Having access to its mind gave Clara the advantage of knowing the exact moment it decided to attack, and as it did so, she turned tail and ran for the trees. Being slightly s
maller than the wild dog gave Clara the advantage in the brush of the woods and she was soon far ahead of it. Only when she mentally heard the dog decide that she was well out of his territory, did she slow down and check behind her. True enough, the dog had stopped following her and was pacing just outside of its territorial boundary.
Hoping with all her heart that her friend had run as soon as Clara had distracted the wild dog and was now safely home, Clara surreptitiously looped back to her pile of clothes, shape-shifted back into her human form, dressed and headed to her friend’s house.
When she arrived, it was to find her friend sobbing hysterically, unable even to tell her parents what was wrong. Clara explained what had happened to Sinead’s parents, saying that she’d gone for help and when she came back her friend had gone. As Sinead seemed to be starting to calm down, Clara left the family to it and went home.
That night, Clara replayed in her head the events of the day. She relived the fear from being threatened by the dog, her friend’s distress and most of all, her ability to shape-shift, even though there wasn’t a full moon. But how had she managed to do it? How had she thwarted the curse? Could it be that the curse had weakened over time? Was it because Clara had a strong transition? Clara punched her pillow in frustration at all her questions. There was so much she had to learn about her gift. Would her aunt know the answers? Clara wasn’t sure that she would. Selina had already told Clara that the skills Clara had displayed were more than Selina had ever been able to do. I bet Great Aunt Clara would know, thought Clara. If only I could’ve had a chance to talk to her. Is that why she wrote the diaries? So her expansive knowledge wouldn’t be lost? I need to find them. It was her last conscious thought of the night.
***
The following day Clara didn’t see Sinead in school. Sinead didn’t call on Clara over the weekend and Clara only glimpsed her at a distance on Monday. On her way home from school on Tuesday, though, she saw Sinead leave the school ahead of her and ran to catch her up.
“Sinead,” she called. As Clara ran up behind her, Sinead spun around. Clara was stunned by the expression of anger on her friend’s face.
“Don’t you talk to me,” spat Sinead. “You left me to get attacked by that dog. You are no friend of mine.” And with that Sinead turned her back on Clara and stormed away. Clara felt the blood drain from her face. She was shocked senseless and could do nothing but watch numbly as her former friend marched away. That was the last thing she’d been expecting. Tears stung her eyes. It’s not fair, she thought. She’d prevented Sinead from getting attacked by the dog and, instead of Sinead being grateful, she was blaming Clara. And there was nothing Clara could do about it.
Clara was not aware of her journey home. When her mum saw the expression on Clara’s face and asked what was wrong, Clara found that she couldn’t talk through the lump in her throat. She merely shook her head and broke down in a flood of tears. Her mum gently folded Clara into her embrace and held her, murmuring soothingly and stroking her hair while she sobbed.
When she was all cried out, Clara told her mum about falling out with Sinead. Her mum tried to assure her that it’d all be forgotten soon, and the friends would forgive each other, but as Clara blew her nose and wiped the tears from her face, she knew that there was no going back. She kept seeing, in her mind’s eye, the anger and hatred on Sinead’s face and knew that their friendship was broken beyond repair.
Later that evening, alone in her room, Clara’s sadness turned to anger as she thought, once again, about the disadvantages of the curse. Why couldn’t she be normal, like everyone else? Why did she have to be a freak? As the hurt radiated through Clara, she decided she wasn’t going to put herself in this situation again. If she didn’t have any close friends, then there was no chance that she could be hurt by them. Until the curse was broken, she’d remain alone. She’d focus her attention on developing her gift to its fullest extent. She’d learn everything her aunt had to teach her and push her gift even further beyond that. She wanted to be able to do everything Great Aunt Clara could do. And she’d find the diaries to help her.
Clara determined to speak to her mum first thing in the morning about how soon she could next visit her aunt at the cottage.
Chapter Sixteen
Aunt Selina arrived at Clara’s house near the end of the school year and as the next full moon was due. The plan was that when Selina returned home, Clara would go with her and stay for some of the summer holidays.
Clara was delighted to see her aunt and desperately wanted to talk to her about everything that’d happened over the previous couple of months, but it was several days after Selina’s arrival before they found some time to be alone.
After dinner one evening Selina suggested that she wanted to get some exercise and asked Clara if she’d go with her. Clara eagerly agreed and guided her aunt out the back door and into the woods. She showed Selina where she shape-shifted, and she took her to the hilltop spot she went to on the nights of the full moon. She told her aunt about the different animals she’d become, pointed out the farm where she’d chased off the fox and she even showed her aunt where she’d taken to leaving food out for the wild dog so that it didn’t starve. She explained what had happened with Sinead and Selina told Clara that she’d been very brave to do what she’d done.
“I’ll admit,” said Selina, as they walked companionably through the trees. “I’ve never heard about any ancestor since the curse that has been able to transform before the moon was full.” And Selina was silent for a moment, “Are you sure you didn’t get your days mixed up and there was a full moon?” she asked.
“I’m absolutely sure,” replied Clara fervently. “The first night of the full moon is always on a Thursday, but I was out with Sinead on the Tuesday night.” Selina frowned at her niece, thoughtfully.
“Well,” she began. “You’ve had a strong transition,” and Selina shrugged, “Maybe that’s why you were successful in doing it.”
Clara looked at her aunt. From Selina’s expression, Clara could tell that her aunt didn’t quite believe her story. At that moment, Clara’s previous thoughts about whether Selina would be able to answer her questions came back to her and she felt her heart sink a little, her aunt might not be as knowledgeable as Clara had hoped she was.
On another evening walk, Clara asked Selina what she’d done on the three nights of the full moon. Clara was slightly disappointed to hear that her aunt generally changed into a cat, stayed in the house, and slept most of the night away in cat form. But then she thought about how nice it must be not to have to sneak in and out of the house on those nights and to be able to transform without worrying about being found out. As they were walking back to the house, Clara noticed that someone had opened her bedroom window. She decided to use it as an opportunity to raise one of her concerns with her aunt.
They paused to evaluate the situation from the woods. There was no porch or anything to climb up on under the window. There was a drainpipe, but it was slippery and a little distant from the window itself. Eventually Selina agreed that the only animal that could get in would either be a primate or winged animal.
“But I think it’s too soon in your development to start thinking about that kind of advanced shape-shifting,” Selina said firmly. “You’re still learning to use your instincts in dog and cat form.”
“But I’m much more advanced than that, Aunt Selina,” protested Clara. “I’ve been practising changing from one form to another; I’ve changed into the forms of deer and foxes. I can control the other animals in my mind and completely shut them out if I want to. I’m ready for this Aunt Selina, honestly.”
Selina shook her head vigorously, “No,” she said, frowning. “You’re doing too much, too fast. You shouldn’t be pushing your gift so far. It’s dangerous.”
“How is it dangerous?” Clara asked.
“The gift is powerful, Clara. Have you forgotten the story I told you about Martin? How he lost himself in his animal form? Or about ho
w Stephen lost his temper and transformed in front of children? You need to maintain discipline with the gift, be strong minded, stay focused. If you let it take control, who knows what could happen?” Selina shuddered and Clara could tell her aunt was genuinely afraid for her.
Clara sighed. She thought that, maybe, if she could show her aunt how strong and in control she was during the next full moon, maybe Selina would teach Clara how to transform into a bird or primate.
So, for the three nights of the full moon, Clara showed Selina how confident she’d become at transforming. Selina was impressed by her niece and kept trying to set her tasks that would catch her out. But Clara passed them all with flying colours. She transformed from a dog to a cat and raced up a tree as if she’d been doing it her whole life. And she shape-shifted back into human form when her aunt did, even though Selina tried it as early as she, herself, was able to on the third night.
Overall, Clara was pleased with her performance. Selina was troubled.
***
Both Clara and Peter were ecstatic when the end of the school term arrived. Six weeks off, with no school and no homework to worry them.
A few days after the end of term, Clara’s mum helped her to pack a case to take to her aunt’s house. Clara could tell that her mum was going to miss her while she was away, and she knew that she’d miss all of her family. She’d be relieved, though, to have a break from keeping secrets all the time and being mindful of keeping up her act of normality.
Clara’s parents and brother took Clara and Selina to the train station the following morning, helping them with their luggage onto the train and waving them enthusiastically away.
When they arrived, Selina arranged for a taxi to take them to the cottage with their luggage. As they passed through the village Clara glanced longingly at the village hall, the front door of which was open to the warm, summer’s day.
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