He had no idea what the Amulet of Zulo was, or how to find out what it was. Aunt Patty didn't have a computer and wouldn't go into the small nearby town at all. If she needed anything from town, she had it delivered by a nice family that lived a couple miles away and stopped in every so often. With this limiting him, Lee found he would have to wait until he got home to search for more information on what the thing was, and if there was any connection between it and his family's curse. In the meantime, he was kept busy.
After he'd finished with the books he'd been told to read, and his aunt was satisfied he had at least a cursory understanding of what was in them, the next thing for him was to start to gain a better control over his transformations. Part of this required both him and Patty to be naked outside, something that embarrassed him to no end at first. But after he'd watched her shrink down and into Cairn Terrier and back, the shock of seeing her nude seemed to dimish some. When it came time for him to try, under her careful eye and critical instructions, with most along the lines of, "Feel the dog. Know that he part of you and you are part of him," and, "Do not let the dog dominate. If you do, it will be harder," as well as any number of rebukes when he mucked up, Lee found it wasn't easy.
Sometimes he only managed to make part of himself change, usually the tail or the paws. Other times, he got stuck midways, usually because he grew excited or fearful or distracted, with the biggest annoyance was when he managed to change his nose and mouth to a dog's muzzle, complete with white fur, whiskers, and a dog's tongue. Unable to change back, he had had to spend the rest of the day like that, eating and drinking out of a dog bowl when it was time for meals. And when he'd tried to force the transformation, he'd only managed to make it worse by giving himself the head of a dog, which left him not only looking ridiculous having the body of human with the head of a canine, but also unable to speak, except in barks woofs yips and other doggy sounds, which left him frustrated to no end.
But in the end, he managed to change himself completely into a English Bull Terrier and back again. And within almost a week his aunt Patty said he was ready to go home. With the promise that he'd come for the holidays, Lee found himself excited to be finally going home, yet nervous. He had a power he kenned that very few people had, or even knew about. It was something he shared in common with his aunt and a number of other family members still living. And one he understood that his ten-year-old sister probably had, which left him conflicted on how he should feel that he shared something like what he had with Cassie.
Home, he unpacked the few things his mom and dad had sent. His dad at work, he wanted to talk with his mom, but found, at the same time, he felt like he wasn't quite ready. Begging off with, "I'm kind of tired from the trip. Maybe later," he then bid aunt Patty goodbye and headed to his room.
The house silent, which led him to believe that Cassie was out with her friends or rehearsing for the upcoming play she was in, Lee dumped his stuff on his bed, but didn't put it away. Instead, he headed down the hall to the room his mom used for sewing, when she had the time, which had the only computer set up on a rickety table that was missing one leg and had instead a pile of books in place. After he'd booted up the computer, Lee sat back and waited for it to run through its start-up. His eyes drifted around the room, taking in the familiar and for a split second, he had the unmistakable sensation come over him that he had missed something. That there was something important he was trying to remember, but whatever it was, was something that was barely escaping his ability to recall whatever it was.
With a soft ding, the computer announced itself. And as the desktop appeared, Lee tore his eyes away from the drawers his mom kept various bits of whatever for her sewing in and double-clicked on the internet icon.
For the next hour or so he researched. First, he looked up more about the family curse, whether anyone else had documented such a thing, and who else might have also have the same ability. Most of his searches coming up with information about werewolves and lycanthropy and hollywood bullshit, he was eventully rewarded with a few websites that talked about myths about such a curse that dated back to the ancient times of Babylonian and such, as well as tales about families who had lived with, and been killed for having such a curse. When he ran out of things to look for on that, he turned his attention to the Amulet of Zulo, of which there turned out to be a lot.
Most of what he found where stories. Some sick, others twisted, most sadistic, Lee soon grew bored with them and started to alter his search paramaters. After some time, he found a website created by user name Boucher, which seemed to offer some of the best sources he'd seen so far. The links provided took him to other well researched sites, and by the time his mom called him for dinner, Lee had barely managed to get through an eighth of the websites.
After dinner, of which it was just him and his mom, Lee figured he would go back to searching, but was disappointed when his mom told him, "Get your shoes on."
When he asked why, he was told, "Don't argue. I'm not in the mood. You are going to need a few new things for school. And I have to coach the final girl's basketball game of the summer season tonight," and seeing no way out, as his mom usually did as much of her running all in one go, Lee went to find his shoes.
He didn't really want to sit through a girl's basketball game. But having no choice, he plopped himself down a few feet from the bench and tried not to look bored, as his mom would disapprove. As the game began, and the seven girls his mom coached moved about the court, Lee was once again over come by the feeling that he'd forgotten something. Out on the court, Chris, her sister Tanya, Jessica, Diana, Annie, and Lizzie took control of the ball early and sunk the first basket. And as the opposing team tried to counter this, lost the ball, and his mom's team scored again, Lee found himself soon beginning to feel that there was supposed to be a girl named Tanya on the team.
Unsure why he was positive of this, as he'd never once paid attention to the girl's league, let along who was on his mom's team, Lee wanted to go ask his mom about this, but instead he remained where he was. The game playing out, Lee soon lost interest and as he turned his thoughts inward, he tried to figure out what he might have forgotten. When the final buzzer sounded, he was half-convinced that it was probably something his aunt had told him. And as he waited for his mom, Lee wandered to one end of the gym and back, lost in thought. When his mom came to find him, he still wasn't sure, but something nagged at him that there was some conncection between the Amulet of Zulo, the family curse, and this girl, Tanya. So certain of it, he missed entirely how excited his mom looked, or what she told him about the team.