Will wandered through the museum, looking for the rest of his class. He had wandered off to use the bathroom and they had continued on without him. He wandered into a closed room, not noticing the sign that said the exhibit was closed.
The room was dark, only lit by a few lights. Various crates were scattered about the room and half packed. At the far end of the room, a couple of workers were talking as they exited the room through another door, leaving Will alone in the room.
Will started to look around at the various items around the room. He noticed a tray of various pieces of jewlery. He examined the various items, a couple necklaces, a few braclets until he discovered an interesting looking ring. It had an amber colored stone set into it that almost seemed to glow. Will picked it up and examined it for a few moments before carefully placing it back on the tray.
"Hey kid!" exclaimed a worker, seeming to appear out of nowhere.
Will exclaimed in surprise and accidently knocked the tray over, sending the various items flying in all directions.
"Hey, careful!" exclaimed the worker.
"I'm so sorry, I was just trying to find my tour group," explained Will. He was scampering around, picking up the various pieces of scattered jewelry.
"Just leave it, please," replied the worked. "Just go, please. Before you break something else."
"I'm really sorry," said Will as he exited the room.
Will walked back into the main hall, where he saw his class was exiting the museum. Will ran to catch up with the group, hoping they hadn't noticed he was missing. He spotted his friend, Nate and took a spot next to him.
"Where were you?" asked Nate.
"I got lost," replied Will.
"Typical," muttered Nate.
***
Later that afternoon, Will arrived home after school. He walked into the house and threw his bookbag down by the door. The house was quiet. Both his parents worked late, typically. He wandered upstairs to his room.
He walked over to his desk and flicked on his computer. As he waited for it to boot up, he leaned over to untie and take off his shoes. It was then that he noticed that there was something lying in the cuffof his pants. He reached down and pulled it out, surprised to see that it was the ring he admired in the museum. He pulled off his shoes and sat on his bed. He couldn't believe he hadn't noticed it was there sooner.
He turned the ring over in his hand, inspecting it when he noticed there was an inscription on the inside of the ring.
"In canis corporea transmuto," he read aloud. Weird, he thought, I have no idea what that means.
Will decided to try the ring on. To his amazement, the ring fit perfectly. The ring seemed to glow slightly. He passed it off as a trick of the light and got up, crossing the room to the computer.
He reached over to the mouse when he noticed his arm was covered with a light white a grey fur that was getting thicker by the minute. Will's heart starting to race with panic as a tingling sensation worked it's way through his body.
"What's going on here?" he exclaimed as he noticed his fingernails were turning black and pushing out into claws. He turned his hands over and noticed his palms were transforming into paw pads. "This isn't right."
He moved his hands up to his face, feeling it was covered with the same fur. He quickly got up, making his way to the bathroom as fast as he could, pulling off his clothes as fast as he could. The fur was growing everywhere.
He looked at himself in the mirror. His face was covered in the white and gray fur. His nose had turned black and cold. His ears had grown and were flopping over, also covered in the same fur. He started losing his balance and braced himself against the sink. Will looked down and watched as his legs and feet stretched and reformed into hind paws. It wasn't painful, but no less jarring to watch. He looked over to his hands and found they had turned into his front paws. Will looked up to the mirror in time to see his face push out into into a snout and the transformation was complete. Will dropped to all fours.
"Now what?" he muttered. To his surprise, he could still talk. He thought he needed to get help, but who could he trust? He wandered back into his room and noticed a chat window had popped up. It was his good friend Nate. Of course, Nate could help. Nate was always really saavy when it came to finding solutions. But how to get a hold of him. Typing would be an issue, since he no longer had paws.