Maybe it was because she had been human at one point, though she didn't know this. Or, perhaps it was because she was often more intelligent than the rest of her kind, which allowed her to often figure out things that brought others of her kind often to a swift end. But, for whatever reason, the melanistic squirrel had somehow managed to live nearly twice the age span of the rest of her species. She occupied the same set of trees, searched the same areas for for food, and when the occasional male was in the area, she eventually allowed him to mate with her, producting quite a number of offspring over the years.
When she found the shiny thing, her interest was only slightly piqued. Climbing down the tree and cautiously aproaching it, she first sniffed it, then bit it, tried to chew at it, and found it to be non edible with a metal taste. Trying to burrow under it, as it didn't seem to move, her simplistic mind thinking maybe she could make a nest under it, even though she often lived in trees, she found the ground to hard. Losing interest, she gave it one last sniff before turning away and stopping when she was saw a creature her senses warned was a predator.
The raccoon, who had also been attracted by sun glinting off something shiny, paused. Sniffing, her brain not recognising the thing before her that was baring its teeth, making a series of noises and waving its tail, she did know that they were good to eat, when she could catch them. Snarling, the raccoon launched itself at the thing before it, trying to use her claws to catch hold of and tear into it.
The thing launching itself at her, the squirrel began to use her teeth and sharp claws in attempt to fend it off. The two ending up rolling first one way, then another, biting, scratching and tearing into each other, with the raccoon soon having the advantage, the two suddenly came in contact with the thing that had drawn them to the area. Uttering a series of noises, both animals felt almost as if something had pinched and limping away, the squirrel went only a couple inches before she flopped down on the ground. Breathing heavily, she didn't understand what was happening as her coat began to lighten to a grey colour, her tail bushed out and developed a ring pattern and she began to increase slightly in size and weight.
Across from her, the raccoon struggled to get the strange sensation to stop as she rubbed and rolled on the ground. Her fur darkening, she let forth a series of strange noises that sounded like they could be from either a raccoon or a squirrel, then began dig furiously at the ground as her paws tightened and started to shrink.
The transformations only lasting a couple minutes before both animals had finished changing. Where that had once been a raccoon was now a squirrel, whilst where the squirrel had been there was now a raccoon. The former raccoon, losing herself to her new instincts, took one look at the predator some ways from her, made a series of noises, waved her tail, then turned and fled a short ways across the field and up a tree. The neo raccoon, who still adjusting, gazed at the animal and thought of giving chase. But then it saw something glittering, and approaching, she sniffed it, picked it up in her paws, bit into it, then scampered off. Clutching the Amulet of Zulo, which, after a number of years, had reappeared in a field near a farm that had once been lived in by a family that had come in contact with it, the raccoon waddled across the grass and toward a distant house. Slowing as she approached it, she sniffed the air and not smelling the creatures that were sometimes around, often inside, and who would often chase her away, she made her way up and into the attic.
There, she made her way toward were she had made a nest for herself. Examining the thing, finding it no longer glittered, she soon lost interest, dropped it and wandered away in search of food.
The amulet rolling across the animal's nest, it continued for some ways until it stopped near a pile of rags and forgotten clothing. Hours passed and when the raccoon returned to rest, she sniffed about, but finding nothing had changed, laid down to rest. Outside, the sun trekked from east to west in the sky until it was beaming through a venting and striking the necklace so that it sparkled, it was the first thing the raccoon saw when she awoke.
Curious, completely forgetting that she was the one that had brought it up here, she approached it. Reaching out to touch it, she made a serious of vocal sounds, then edged closer. Reaching out to pick it up, she felt something pinching her paw the moment it touched the shiny thing and the stuff it was on. Vocalising her discomfort, she sat down and stared at the amulet. Cocking her head to once side, even as her fur began to regress, she had an odd thought that went beyond the usual basic ones that often occupied her. Shaking her head as she began to understand that the thing was called a necklace, what it was sitting on were rags and clothes, the raccoon tried to call out how she felt, and was alarmed by the noises that came out, which sounded more like sounds the creatures who chased her away made.
Frightened, she stood, backed up a couple more steps, turned, began to waddle across the attic. Rearing up on her back legs without giving it a second thought as she began to gain size, she started to walk on two legs until, with a splintering crash, the floor beneath her gave way and she crashed down through the ceiling into the bedroom below. Lying on something soft that had broken her fall, her change speeding up as she began to look more and more like a human, she peered upward at the hole, confused.
Thoughts flashed through her developing mind and for a brief moment, she remembered being a raccoon, before that a squirrel, a goat before that, and even before that a human. But then it slipped away as the new memories of the human girl she had just been turned into began to form. Standing, shaking her head, looking at the bed, the beast turned human turned away and stumbled out of the room. Knowing her name was Melissa, that she was six, she wanted her mommy and daddy. Looking through the house for them, and not finding them, she returned upstairs to the room, which her mind said was hers. Seeing that the room was cleaner and that hole was gone, she peered at the ceiling, wondering if she had been mistaken about falling through it.
Not sure, she eventually turned away and headed for the dresser. There, she proceeded to take out a pair of clean pyjamas. Dressing herself, she lay down on the bed. Deciding to wait for mommy and daddy to come home, oblivious to how reality was still rewriting itself, she snuggled under the covers and within moments was asleep, dreaming of an older girl named Holly, who seemed familiar somehow.
Upstairs in the attic, the forgotten Amulet of Zulo lay next to the pile of clothes that at one time had belonged to a girl who had gone out to play one summer day, had had an accident and died, but was now alive and well. Time slipped by and as before, it disappeared.