The Change, part 3

ULRICH

I woke up to a bang, which was followed by a loud noise that set Kiwi barking like crazy. Sitting up, I looked over at Odd. The dork had grown a longer neck overnight, and stretching out had banged his head into the wall. He'd roared at hitting his head, and that was the noise. Now he was rubbing his head, glaring at the wall.

"Woke up on the wrong side of the bed, Odd?" I asked.

He growled at me, sounding almost like Kiwi. Then he looked first shocked, then miserable.

"What is it?"

He tried to answer me. But no English words were coming out.

Oh. That's the problem. He can't talk anymore. "Well. Now we'll get some peace and quiet."

He whined at me, trying to sound like Kiwi.

"Sorry, Odd. You won't get any sympathy from me." I got up and checked my arms. Scales ran all the way up and covered my shoulders, and my shoulders didn't quite feel like themselves. They felt fine, but they didn't quite feel normal. "Hey, Odd – yes or no: did my shoulders change any?"

Odd stood up, came over to my bed, and stretched his neck out so that his head was behind my back. Then he pulled his head back around in front of me, and nodded.

"Okay, let's go talk to Karen and find out what happened to them."

KAREN

"Well, two things have changed about your shoulders."

We were talking after all the normal people had finished breakfast. Rosa was the only person here who hadn't virtualized. Odd was stuffing his much larger mouth, and Ulrich was making sure not to look at him, though Yumi and Jeremy looked impressed, and William was throwing food at him in random directions and making Odd swerve his neck to catch them.

"First of all, they're in a better position to allow you to walk on all fours whenever you get to that point. Aelita had that problem, too. I had to help her walk upright at first, and even now…"

Aelita was practicing walking around the table, and she was tilted forward a little. Standing upright made her wobble badly, now. Since she didn't have her tail yet, she would end up dealing with that problem for a few more days.

"Second, your shoulders are altering in such a way so as to allow for the presence of wings on your back. They'll need shoulders, too, in a manner of speaking."

"Wings?" He looked a little…I don't know how to read that look.

Odd grinned at him, but he didn't try to say anything. Probably wise, considering how his vocal chords have...disintegrated beyond capabilities of human speech.

"Now, there's something that all three of you will need to make sure about pretty soon, while you still have the time to think about it. Odd, pay attention. Aelita, can you stop walking for a minute?"

Both stopped their respective activities and looked at me.

"Odd, you'll have to worry about this sooner, but all three of you need to find some, ah, legwear that you won't mind getting ripped in the back, and focus on only wearing that for a while."

Ulrich and Aelita nodded while saying some random affirmative phrases, and Odd's mouth dropped open. It looked like he was pretending to say "Oh."

"And yes, Ulrich, sometime you'll have to ditch the shirt altogether – you too, Odd – to allow for your wings. Aelita…I suggest picking a swimsuit, like I did. Those have open enough backs to permit wing freedom."

"Won't I get cold?"

"It's pretty warm right now. And, once you're scaled most of the way, you won't really notice breezes except on your wings. No big deal."

William asked me, kind of cautiously, "Um…has anything changed on you yet?"

I sighed. Not from any boredom with the question, but… "Yes. Xana's getting her strength back enough to start changing me, too."

I wasn't ready to tell them what had changed. The truth was that Xana had told me last night what she was doing to me that night, and that she was going to be going very random with my transformation. She wasn't strong enough to change me majorly yet, but she was strong enough to start giving me scales all over my shins and knees. If I had to guess, my forearms would be next, followed by my waist. Beyond that, I didn't know.

I hoped Turner was mostly ready with his speech. He'd need it pretty soon.

ODD

I spent the whole day working on some kind of system so that everybody could understand me. I finally managed to get some sounds out that resembled my friends' names.

An extended hiss means Sissi, a strangled growl is Ulrich, a coo is Yumi, and a cough followed by a short growl is Karen. That's all I can come up with. Aelita, William, and Jeremy are out of my limits.

But what I don't get is why I can't talk with my mind. Karen could! Why can't I? And the worst part of it is, I can't figure out how to ask her! My vocabulary is limited, as Jeremy would say, and I don't have enough of a code to fill in the blanks. I hope someone else comes up with that question first.