Changed in the Dark

Eli and Shelby stood quietly at the edge of the woods, watching the sun rise together for the last time. 

“You know you could always come with me,” Eli told her, breaking the silence.

Shelby shivered and pulled her jacket tighter. The sun was still rising but its rays held no warmth in the cold winter morning.

She shook her head, “You know I can’t do that Eli. I belong here.”

He crinkled his nose in disgust. “You mean you belong here with him.”

She turned away, refusing to look at him and see the accusation plain on his face.

“What has he ever done for you besides kill all your dreams and trap you here?”

“You’ve never even met him,” she retorted.

“I don’t have to. I’ve seen how you’ve changed.” She met his comment with silence. “Come with me, Shels. Get away from this town. Get away from the pressure. Get away from him. Live a little before you just give it all up.”

Eli tried to grab her hand but she stuffed it into her jacket pocket. He grabbed her arm and made her face him.

“Why won’t you even consider it? Why won’t you answer me!” Eli’s shouting startled a flock of birds out of their sleep. They flew out of the trees, breaking Eli’s focus and letting Shelby pull her arm out of his grasp. She stepped away, out of his reach.

“You can’t understand,” she said through clenched teeth. This wasn’t her choice.

“Then explain it to me.” Eli crossed his arms stubbornly. “Explain to me why my best friend since preschool, the girl who has planned for years the most epic road trip ever imagined, the girl who got accepted to two ivy league colleges, just stops caring about any of that and throws everything away for some buy nobody else has met. Explain that to me Shels.”

With every word she shrunk further into herself. He was right. Everything had changed since she met Caleb and there was nothing she could do to make Eli understand. She’d been commanded to keep her silence. She had no choice.

She faced him slowly, tears filling her eyes and streaming down her cheeks. “You can’t understand Eli. You think I want it to be this way? I know what I’ve done, but I belong here. You may never understand what that means but I can’t just leave. So go. Go on your adventures. Live your life. Don’t wait for me anymore because I’m not coming.”

With those words Shelby turned away and walked back through the trees towards the road. Eli didn’t follow and that hurt worse than any of the words he’d said. She’d done her best to keep him out of this, to keep him safe, and it looked like she was beyond successful. Though she didn’t realize how much it would hurt them both.

“Better for me to hurt him than to let Caleb do it,” she said quietly to herself. He’d told her that there would be a price to pay, she just hoped it would be worth it.

She reached the road and stopped. Eli’s car was parked right where they had left it, but a lanky man now leaned against it. Darkness seemed to surround him, blurring his outline in the murky light of the early morning.

“Well, how’d it go?” Caleb asked in that greasy voice that grated violently on her nerves.

Through sheer force of will she unclenched her jaw to answer, “As expected. He doesn’t know anything and will be on his way by tomorrow.”

“Good, can’t have those pesky loose ends running about, now can we?” Even through the haze of darkness, she could see his yellow eyes glow. Lust, amusement, mirth, disdain, she couldn’t tell what emotion was behind those eyes but her skin began to crawl anyway. What she wouldn’t give to go back and make different choices. 

Caleb looked behind her, seeing more than her human eyes could. He held out a hand, “Time to go sweetling. You’ve said your goodbyes, now it is time to pay up.” 

With a last glance behind her, she put her hand in Caleb’s and the world spun away into darkness.

The sensation lasted only moments before she was back on solid ground. The friendly woods were replaced with the harsh stone of Caleb’s castle. The room they’d ended up in was hers, or at least, the room that would be hers after tonight. 

Caleb still held her hand. The darkness that previously surrounded him was gone, exposing him to the light from the room’s lamps.

He towered over her in height and looked down at her with those glowing eyes. He may have been slender, but she knew the strength he hid. The strength that gaze reminded her of. 

“Please let me go,” she said quietly, meaning more than just her hand.

He slowly released his grasp, letting her hand fall down to her side. “Now now, my dear. We both know that isn’t going to happen. You got yourself into this, and I plan to keep you.” He walked over to the table next to the bed and picked up the steaming goblet that was waiting there. 

The steam had nothing to do with the temperature of the room or the contents. The steam flowed and changed, creating a ghostly image of the pale moon that morphed slowly into a bat, Caleb’s preferred animal transformation.

Caleb held the goblet out to her. With shaking hands, she took it, disrupting the images produced by the steam. 

“It’s best to drink it in one go, it’s less … disconcerting that way,” he advised her gently.

She looked at him, tears blurring her vision, and tipped the contents of the goblet into her mouth. The liquid was salty and metallic. It burned as it made its way down her throat. She had to stop herself from gagging and made herself swallow it all down. The burning didn’t stop. Her insides felt like she had eaten lava. The burning spread from her stomach how to her limbs. Her hands began to shake so violently that she dropped the goblet. 

Eli caught the goblet effortlessly and stepped back to a safer distance. He’d told her once that these things didn’t always go as planned. It hadn’t stopped her then and it wouldn’t stop her now. She was determined to survive this.

The burning made its way up her arms to her fingertips. Her fingernails began to glow red. The burning wound its way down her legs and pooling in her feet. She was barely able to stay upright but wanted more than anything to reach down and take of her shoes, shoes that suddenly felt five sizes two small and like they were melting onto her feet.

Filled to bursting with the burning sensation, her skin began to bubble and an unearthly scream ripped from her throat. Her vision was blocked by a blinding blue light and she fell heavily to the floor. Pain like she’d never felt before throbbed through her, pulsing along her to heartbeat. Bones broke and twisted, fur burst through her skin, fangs forced their way through her gums. 

How long the transformation lasted, she didn’t know. It felt like an eternity, but when she felt like giving up, the pain finally began to ease. The burning receded until she was left alone in her skin, panting heavily. She sighed and soaked up the coolness from the stone floor beneath her body.

“Magnificent,” she heard Caleb say in a reverent tone. She looked up at him and was startled to find that the terror she had previously felt in his presence was gone. He looked no more special than any other man, other than the glowing yellow eyes.

Carefully she gathered her paws beneath her and pushed up, standing shakily on her four legs. Caleb walked to the other side of the room and drew back a curtain, revealing a giant mirror hanging on the wall.

“Come darling.” He beckoned her over with the hand not holding the curtain. “Take a look at yourself.”

She walked carefully to the mirror, discovering her new body as she went. Muscles bunched and relaxed as she took step after step. She stopped in front of the mirror, shocked at her reflection. A black jaguar with glowing blue eyes looked back at her. She moved her head to the left and the jaguar copied her.

“It has been five hundred years since we’ve had a transformation of your kind. You are quite the find, my dear.” 

The awe in his voice made her uncomfortable, so she just stared at him. Hopefully he would tell her how to change back sometime soon.

“Aw, yes, how silly of me,” he said. “You won’t be able to open any doors in your current state, and this castle is now your home so you must be able to roam. To switch between forms, just picture the form in your mind, close your eyes, and push.” Caleb crossed over to the four-poster bed and sat gracefully on the edge. “Go ahead. Try it. I’ll wait.”

Shelby tried. She closed her eyes, blocking out the reflection of the jaguar and Caleb’s self-satisfied smirk. She imagined herself as she’d been this morning, wrapped the image in a bubble, and shoved it away. Coolness spread through her body and quickly disappeared, leaving her standing on human legs, in the clothes she had been wearing earlier.

A quick glance in the mirror confirmed, she was back in her human skin, but she didn’t feel the same. A jittery energy swam through her, making her want to pace, or fight something to make the extra energy go away.

Caleb appeared behind her and put his hands on her shoulders, holding her steady. “Perfectly executed. Now for the last stipulation. You may go wherever you like. You may do whatever you like, to a certain degree. But you may not leave. Every day, when the sun sets, no matter where you are at or what you are doing, you will be transported to me. At least, you will until I deem you can be trusted to return to me without being forced.” He knew her too well. Given the chance, she would disappear and never return. She knew he wouldn’t let her go that easily, especially with the powers he had just given to her.

He looked out a nearby window. “You have about two hours of daylight left to explore as you will. Then we’ll test the tie that binds us. You may leave.”

She didn’t wait for him to change his mind. Sprinting to the door, she threw it open and raced out of the room. She’d been to the castle before and knew, roughly, which way to go to get out. She raced past people she didn’t recognize, the nervous energy in her veins pushing her to go faster than she’d ever been able to run before.

The front doors loomed ahead. As she ran, she stared at them hard and they burst open without being touched. She met the sunlight outside with relief but didn’t stop running. Keeping her eyes open this time, she imagined the powerful jaguar, put it in a bubble and shoved it out into the world. Mid-stride she went from two legs to four and loped ahead at neck-break speed.

She ran and ran, not caring where she ran to. Dodging trees and leaping over shrubs, her energy never failed and her muscles never tired. She breathed easily as she ran. 

At last the final rays of the sun dropped below the horizon and with a painful jerk she found herself no longer running in the forest, but laying at the edge of the lake nearby the castle. Caleb lounged on a nearby boulder, lazily tossing pebbles into the water.

Shelby pushed herself back into her human form and sat down at the edge of the water, putting her arms around her knees and resting her head on them.

“Looks like it worked,” Caleb said.

“Obviously,” Shelby said grumpily, speaking for the first time since he whisked her away to his castle.

“Well someone is touchy after being gifted with immortality and magic.” Irritation colored his words. “I guess I’ll just leave you to mope. Don’t stay out too late, who knows what roams these woods in the dark.” He chuckled as he left.

Shelby stayed by the edge of the lake, watching as a slight breeze sent ripples through the water. The moon rose above the trees and shone down on the lake. Laying back on the shore, calm filled her heart as she watched the stars and moon move across the sky. Forever begins now and she would finally be able to live it.