Mary looked through the wooden box, and found the human vial.
Finally, I can be human again, thought Mary.
She quickly downed the vial, and sat back to wait for her changes. As she replaced the vial in the box, a thought suddenly occurred to her. If the human vial was in the box, then Amy could not have drunk it. Her vial was sitting at her feet. But if she hadn't drunk the "Human" vial, what did she drink?
Mary looked over at Amy. She was holding her abdomen in pain.
"Mary, I don't feel so good, " said Amy weakly.
Amy's body seemed to be bulging. Her belly was swelling as the fur receded off her abdomen.
"I should say not. Which one did you drink Amy?" asked Mary.
"It's your fault, " spat Amy angrily. Mary backed away a little, startled by the bitterness in her voice. Amy's body continued to get bigger, and stretch longer. Mary knew part of the reason she seemed bigger was that Mary herself was now shrinking. But Amy's paws seemed to be getting longer, more like an animal. And the sharp lengthening claws were making her look like a monster.
"I just wanted to be magical, like in the movies, " said Amy gruffly. Her voice had taken on a deep baritone. "But you - you wouldn't let me. I wasn't good enough to be a gryphon. You were going to force me to be human. And since you were bigger, I couldn't stop you. So I decided to be BIGGER."
Amy smiled when she said the last word, revealing small sharp teeth. The teeth grew longer, as Amy's beak grew longer and was covered by creeping dark blood red skin. The skin looked hard and tough, and now covered her whole body.
"Amy, what have you done?" asked Mary with fear. Her own fur and feathers had been replaced by soft pink skin. She felt very vulnerable. She grabbed to box, and began to slowly back away.
Amy sat up on her haunches and groaned. She closed her eyes and grunted as if in pain, as she placed her front paws against her aching head.
"I just wanted to be something magical, like in the movies, " said Amy, still with her eyes closed. "Like in Shrek. I wanted to be like that cute dragon in Shrek that married Donkey. She was big, but she seemed nice. But something is wrong. I feel so funny. This feels so weird. I feel so wrong."
Mary watched in shock as two large spiral horns grew out of her skull, twisting as they grew longer. Large spikes began growing from her long neck, slowly popping up all the way down to her long tail. Amy opened her eyes and revealed large reptilian slits.
She bent down and glared at Mary, as she continued to back away with the box. Her eye was almost as large as Mary's body.
"Where are you going, Mary? I'm not going to hurt you. I am a good dragon, " said Amy.
Mary saw Amy's long thin forked tongue run along her lips. Mary knew the girl was good, but she didn't know how much influence she still had over her animal instincts.
Amy suddenly reared up and began to cough. First puffs of smoke, then small flames began to waft out of her mouth.
Mary turned and saw a small animal den behind her, several yards away. It was much too small for Amy to enter now. She hoped it was empty. She used Amy's distraction with her temporary coughing fit to run away towards the animal den.
Amy let out one last hack, then spat forth a large gush of flame. It incinerated the trees in front of her.
"Oh my, " said Amy, strangely fascinated by the power of her flames and the way the fire burned the trees. She looked around, and saw that Mary was gone. She had not seen where Mary had hidden.
"Mary! Mary where are you? Please don't leave me, " said Amy, as she began to stomp noisily through the forest. Mary hid in the small den, and prayed that Amy could not find her. "I am not going to hurt you. I promise. Please don't leave me alone."
Amy continued to tear through the forest, accidentally knocking down several trees with her large body.
"I'm sorry about the fire. It was an accident. Please don't run away," said Amy.
Mary felt the ground shake as the dragon approached. She remained crouched in the den, the wooden box close to her chest. Amy stopped inches away from her hiding spot. She could see a sharp claw, almost as big as her body, just inches from her face. She could hear the heavy breathing of the beast.
"I wasn't going to hurt you, " said Amy gruffly. Her voice sounded deeper, almost like an the grunts of an animal. It was beginning to become difficult to understand her words. "But now you are making me mad. Come out now. Last chance."
Mary huddled in the den, clutching the wooden box tightly. She didn't know what to do.