Jared sat back on his haunches and wished he could open his eyes and find that everything was only a bad dream.
The vice principal yelled at several of the gawking students and ordered them to get to class. Jared remained miserable in his humiliation even as he tried to twist his head around far enough to snag the underpants and try to pull them off his sheepdog body.
While caught up with that task, he barely registered the arrival of the school custodian, who produced an old leather belt. "I pushed through a few more notches," the man told Vice Principal Tetrick. "Should work as a temporary collar."
Jared, whimpering, tried to back away as the custodian advanced on him. "You don't understand," he barked. "I'm a student, not a dog."
Neither of them paid his whimpers the slightest attention as the custodian secured the leather belt around Jared's fuzzy neck. He squirmed and tried to slither out of the collar. While the collar felt foreign and unwelcome at first, part of him liked the feel and smell of the leather around his neck.
"I'll fasten him out back until you find out who he belongs to," the man told the vice principal.
"And get those blasted underpants off him while you're at it," Tetrick groused. "Kids and their pranks!"
The custodian attached a piece of rope to the belt to serve as a leash as he led the sheepdog through the corridors. At least most students had reached their classes, meaning very few people were on hand to witness Jared's walk of shame. He'd entered the building that morning a typical 17-year-old male. He was departing on all fours, changed somehow into an old English sheepdog.
Why had he kept Wepwawet's evil schemes secret? Because, as he always tended to do, he tried to ignore potential problems until they go away. Now, not a soul had a clue about what was happening to him.
Once they reached the utility shed out back of the high school, the custodian looped the rope around a metal pole. "I reckon that should keep you out of trouble," he remarked.
This wasn't good! Jared needed to get help. The most likely candidate being his brother, but he couldn't reach Kevin while tied up.
The custodian turned toward him and frowned. "Oh, right," he said and drew a long knife.
Jared's eyes widened until the man flicked the blade beneath the waistband of the underwear and sliced though the fabric. As the underwear fell away in shreds, Jared felt like he had been robbed of his last claim to humanity.