Nick opened the top drawer of the old chest of drawers. There, among other items of old jewelry was the ring he had heard so many stories about. Stories of Grandpa Wilby turning into a big old English sheepdog. Nick didn’t find these stories frightening, rather he found they excited him. He often wondered what it would be like to transform and now he held the key.
He had known that Grandpa Wilby still had the ring after all these years, determined not to have to go through those changes again. Now, after several attempts at trying to find the ring, Nick finally located it in an old chest of drawers in his Grandpa’s basement.
“Nick, we’re leaving!” called out his mom.
“Okay,” he responded back, slipping the ring in his side pocket and running upstairs.
Nick and his parents arrived home late. He hugged both his parents and said goodnight, heading upstairs and straight to his room. He had waiting so long for this, he couldn’t stand to wait another moment.
He pulled out the ring and set it on his desk. He then carefully removed his clothing. He wanted to see every change as it happened, not missing a thing. Nick picked up the ring and examined the inscription. He moved in front of his full length mirror and read the inscription to himself.
“In Canis Corpore Transmuto,” he said and then looked closely at the ring. At first, nothing seemed to be happening. Nick let out a deep sigh. “I knew it was too good to be true.”
He walked back over to his desk and set the ring down when his noticed a light, whispy coating of white hair growing in on his hand. He dashed back to the mirror, his heart in his throat from the excitement.
Nick looked himself over, seeing his entire body covered in a thin coating on white fur. His nose was darker, and felt colder to the touch. His lips also had turned darker. He smiled, revealing his teeth with larger, more prominent canine teeth.
This is working, he thought. He was so excited he could barely breathe. He watched with fascination as the changes progressed.
His entire body was quickly being covered in long, shaggy fur, white with patches of black. He could feel his body changing and reforming, his legs becoming his hind paws, his hands and arms becoming his front paws. He watched as his face pushed out into a snout, completing the transformation. He dropped to all fours and walked around his room. He couldn’t believe it actually worked. He was now completely a large, Old English Sheepdog.
“Wow,” he whispered, and was then shocked to find he could still talk.
“This is so cool,” he said, the excitement in his voice. He leapt onto his bed and laid down, thinking over his recent metamorphosis when he slowly drifted off to sleep.
Nick awoke the following morning to find he had turned back into his normal human self. He sat on the edge of the bed and wondered what to do now. In the meantime, he had to go to school.
Nick quickly got dressed and packed his books into his book bag. After considering it for a moment he chucked the ring in too. He figured he’d research it later and see what he could find out. He also made sure to throw in his USB drive and index cards for a presentation he had to make in English class.
He ran downstairs, hugged his parents good morning, grabbed a packet of Pop Tarts and ran out to catch the bus.