Amanda unlocked the door and both her and Nate walked into the shop. Nate glanced around the shelves in awe and Amanda flipped on the lights. Amanda caught his look of wonder as she walked further into the store.
“Yeah, a transformation fan like yourself could have a lot of fun in this store.” Amanda smirked as she walked behind the counter.
Nate noticed a small dragon statue on one of the tables near the register. He picked it up and started looking at it. I marveled at the rippling musculature of the beast, it’s long sharp claws and impressive wingspan. He let out a whistle showing how impressed he was. He then noticed the inscription on the bottom and began to read it.
“Give me wings and claws, scales and fangs, horns and breath of fire, a dragon I desire to be.” Nate looked over the statue. “Pretty cool.”
“Did you just read that inscription out loud?” Amanda pointed to the dragon statue he was holding.
“Yeah, why?” Nate noticed his hands felt weird and he looked down again, noticing green scales were starting to grow in as his hands increased in size and black claws began to grow out. He quickly put the statue back down. “Gah!”
Amanda gave a quick wave of her hand and the changes quickly reversed themselves. “Yeah, that is an outdoors only spell, please. You’ll grow into a beast roughly the size of a semi-truck.”
“Cool…” Nate looked back down at the statue.
“No, Nate. I need you to focus. I need you to help me figure out what to turn your new friend into.” Amanda made sure to accentuate “friend” to emphasize her sarcasm.
“Something gross, preferably. Or some sort of animal. Maybe something we could donate to a zoo.”
“Get rid of him and get a tax write off! I love it!” Amanda went into the back and started looking through her potions. Nate continued to look through the store, debating whether or not to touch other things. He decided against it and followed Amanda to the back. He found her standing at the table in the middle of the room, holding two different bottles. “What do you think? Monkey or Komodo Dragon?”
“Komodo Dragon, definitely.” Nate grinned as he watched Amanda put a new label over the potion and wrote “Lycanthrope potion” over it.
Soon enough, the bell on the door rang, signaling that someone new had entered the store. Soon after, a voice called out, “Hello?”
Nate recognized the voice immediately and whispered, “That’s him.”
Amanda nodded. “Stay back here.”
Amanda walked out to the front and greeted Michael. Nate listened as they discussed between the two of them until Michael revealed why he had come. He peeked around the corner and watched as she handed him the vial with the new label.
“I happen to have been brewing a new batch today. Here, you go. Extra potent.” Amanda gave him a grin and watched as he popped off the top and downed the entire contents then and there.
“Extra potent huh? It would be good to teach that punk kid a lesson or two then.” Michael let out a chuckle and handed the vial back.
“What punk kid?” asked Nate, walking out of the back.
Michael started laughing. “Well, you of course.”
Something started to feel off about Michael though as he dropped to his knees. He clutched his gut and cried out as he saw the skin on his hands and feet turn to scales and change to a light green color.
“Wha...what’s happening to me?” His clothes were looking loose on him now as his body slowly began to shrink.
“You see, you threatened my friend Nate here and I don’t take too kindly to folks who do stuff like that. You think I’ll turn just anyone into a werewolf? That I’ll give just anyone that gift? I don’t think so.”
Michael continued to quickly change from fully grown man to ancient lizard. He rolled over onto his back as every part of his body changed and reformed. Nate walked over and watched in fascination as his face pushed out and the last bits of his humanity disappeared.
“Wow…” Nate looked up at Amanda. “Remind me never to get on your bad side.”
“I doubt you ever will.” Amanda flashed him a smirk. ”Now, I need your help grabbing this guy and taking him to a cage in the back until we can find someone to claim him.”
Nate leaned down and started pulling the discarded clothes away from the newly transformed Michael. Michael snapped and hissed at Nate, who backed away quickly.
“What is it?” Amanda looked concerned.
“He snapped at me!” Nate pointed down at the Komodo Dragon.
“So? You’re a big, scary werewolf! Just grab an end of him!” She leaned down and grabbed onto Michael’s front end, careful to avoid his mouth. Nate grabbed the back and they quickly made their way to the back room of the ship where sure enough Amanda had a large cage waiting. They quickly deposited Michael inside and Amanda closed and bolted the heavy gate on the front.
Nate and Amanda walked out to the front of the store and stood behind the counter for a bit in silence. Nate looked over the store and the shelves full of trinkets, potions and other items, all with the ability to transform the user in some way or another.
“You know, I’ve been looking for some extra help. Someone to help customers, test out new potions and trinkets and demonstrate them for the customers. Would that be something you’d be interested in?”
“Really?” asked Nate. “I don’t know how I’d get here though. It’s all the way downtown.”
“Let me worry about that. Now, do you want the job?”
Nate couldn’t help but smile. “Yes! Yes, of course I do.”