Chapter 12

I still couldn't quite believe that we were doing it. In a way, it felt terrible that, if it weren't for the pleasant fortune we'd suddenly accrued, we'd have just pretended it had never happened and carried on with our normal lives. Alas, with a full wallet, I was scanning the walls of jumpers in Primark, umming and ahhing at the purple woollen top that had taken my fancy.

Primark wasn't the normal place for a millionaire, but it wasn't bad. Items here just never lasted more than a week. It was perfect for last-minute panic purchases for unimportant events. A students' wonderland, essentially. If it wasn't missing a fancy dress section it would have been perfect.

But the cheap fabrics and discount sock baskets were a terrible mask for what I was really feeling. Retail therapy was not going to remove those monsters from my mind, or the fear that my family could be in the worst kind of danger. I was going home at the weekend, and I would indulge in spending quality time with them, even if it was at a dingy old museum.

Maybe those monsters were lurking behind the very wall I was gazing at, salivating at the opportunity to cleave at my throat and chew the skin from my face…

I subtly slapped at my own face. Snap out of it, Amy.

I had a job to do. We were all there, spread through the store looking at various items. It had been an hour, and my legs were getting tired. The alluring scent of new clothes had become indistinguishable. I was heavily bored, and I'd seen nothing more suspicious than a damp spot on some guy's trousers.

In order to blend in, I had to show some genuine interest in the clothes. Fortunately, I'd found a black faux-fur coat that I rather liked. Thirty quid. Clearly no quality to it, and probably produced in some dirty Chinese factory, but it looked nice from a distance.

Ooh, and that shirt isn't so bad!

I unhooked the hangar from the rail and turned it to see the plain white back. The design on the front was of a dog with a humorous caption, and that was enough for me to like it. The dog reminded me of Douglas. Twelve pound, as well, cosily nestled at the shallowest depths of my budget.

"Looks nice."

George's voice shocked me, and my handbag almost came loose from my shoulder. I readjusted the strap. "I quite like it. Needed a new shirt, anyway."

He leaned in slightly. "Seen anything?"

"Not yet," I replied. "Somebody was yelling at a worker about a refund, and some boy pulled down an entire rail of jeans, but apart from that…"

"Not a Scooby." He said.

"Exactly. When are we calling it a day, eh?"

He shrugged and looked down at the five-set of underwear he'd found. "As soon as I pay for this? Oliver wants to go to Oggy Oggy after this, and I admit to feeling peckish right now."

I smiled as I saw just what he was buying. "Those are very bright…"

"What's wrong with them?"

I giggled. "Oh, nothing. I think the pink ones really suit you."

"Alright, Stefani," He grumbled. "I'll keep that mocking compliment in mind when I get all snug into them."

"Stop your whining and go tell Kiani that we're done here," I said, amused. "We'll go get some food."

He left to inform the others and pay for his charismatic boxer shorts. Under the impression we'd be leaving, I headed for the changing rooms to check my new purchases for size. The queue was substantial, especially so for a weekday. I took my place in the line, where I had a pretty good view of the line of curtains that people shunted in and out of.

It wasn't long before Kiani joined me. She had a pair of trousers in hand, and she quickly scuttled up to me. "Hi, Amy! Fancy seeing you here!"

I blinked at her, flummoxed. "You knew I was here…"

"Shh…" She hissed, glancing around suddenly. "I think it's better if people don't see us always hanging around together. You and George, maybe. But us?"

"I don't think there's anything wrong with it," I replied. "Anyway, there's no point now. Might as well act, you know… normal."

"Think we'll ever be normal?" She huffed a laugh.

Aware of our surroundings, I said, "Sure. We're normal right now."

"… Whatever." She sighed and folded her arms, trousers looping over one arm.

I gathered from her further silence that she too had noticed nothing unusual in the shop. We engaged in some light conversation about the night out we'd shared a couple weeks back at Embassy, the biggest clubhouse in the area. No doubt we'd have some interesting nights there to come, but there were other matters at hand that were about to become terrifyingly apparent.

"That's weird…"

I was distracted from my dedicated blank stare at a selection of scarfs. "Hm? What is?"

I followed her gaze. She was looking over the shoulder of the lady in front of us, towards the line of curtains that hid the changing cubicles. "Somebody just went into the one at the far end."

"Yes?"

"There was already somebody in there."

I shrugged. "You must have missed her coming out."

"No, I've been watching it the whole time."

I thought about it for a second. Then, I laughed. "You can't serious think that… there? Come on, Ki."

She huffed and whipped her black hair. "Just keep watching."

Not wanted to seem overly sceptical, I watched the far set of curtains. There was a member of staff standing beside it providing some crowd control and collecting unwanted hangars. The other staff member at the entrance to the changing area was letting people in one-by-one as cubicles became free.

The curtain of the last cubicle fluttered, and out stepped a girl with flowing blonde hair. She handed a couple hangars over to the staff and walked off.

"I think that answers your question." I told Kiani.

She looked a little spooked, and that surprised me. "That wasn't the girl that went in…"

A blonde-haired lady holding a new pair of high heels and a yellow top was next in line. She showed the clothes to the worker, who smiled brightly and indicated with a hand to the final cubicle. The other staff member beside it helped to point it out, and the lady wandered in, disappearing behind the curtains.

Our position in the queue had gradually been moving, and we were now second in line with nothing but a little old gran blocking our view, and she must have been only four feet tall.

That old gran eventually found another cubicle, but we hoped to high heaven that we weren't called in any time soon. We needed to see…

The lady that came out wore a yellow top and the exact same high heeled shoes she went in with. She handed a hangar to the member of staff and strolled towards and past us. Thankfully, she didn't notice us gawking.

It wasn't the same woman. Not unless she'd aged twenty years and died her hair a dark brunette.

"Excuse me?"

I jumped when the worker at the entrance addressed me. "Uh… oh! Sorry…"

She beamed a smile. "That changing room is free." She pointed down the short corridor. The other girl pointed to the curtain second from the end.

"Sure…" I muttered.

The girl cocked her head. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah!" I replied, attempting to regain my casual tone. I think I pulled it off. "Thank you."

I stepped into the short corridor, with five changing rooms on one side all blocked off by thick black curtains. The first three were occupied. I eyed up the girl at the end, who was similarly locked onto me.

"This one here!" She chirped helpfully. She stepped forward and raised her arm. It blocked off my path to the fifth curtain, and urged me into the fourth. I accepted the push and entered, swooshing the curtain over my head.

Did I really doubt it? Seriously? After all that had happened over the last few days, I scoffed at the idea that aliens could be using the changing rooms? I'd never scoff at anything again. Ever.

Get a grip, Amy. Think of something.

Whatever it was, I was right next door to it. It was separate from me by less than an inch of cubicle wall. There was a gap, maybe three inches tall, from it to the floor.

Could I…?

It was stupid. I was stupid for even thinking it. But I had to know. I had to know what was going on behind that wall.

Maybe the monsters are there.

I put my unworn clothes on the hook. I'd lost interest in them entirely. Instead, I placed my ear to the wall of the fifth room. I couldn't hear anything. Nobody was in there yet.

Curiosity, by this point, had won me over. I squatted and got down onto my hands and knees and dropped my head sideways. From here, I could see…

Black fabric? I twisted my head and looked in the opposite direction. I could see the socked feet of the person in changing room three. Changing room five's floor was blocked off.

Yes, something was definitely going on here. We'd found our unusual activity.

Still, nobody had entered it. In the distance I could hear an unfamiliar voice complaining that there was a cubicle unused. It only helped to raise my nosiness.

I ripped my new black coat from its hangar. Looking up, there was a gap just below the ceiling that wasn't blocked by anything. I threw the coat over, and I heard it thump down on the floor of the fifth cubicle, right beside the wall.

I was about to engage in utter madness. I knew it too well. But I had to. I needed to know!

I closed my eyes and concentrated on a fluffy, furry tail. I pictured beady little eyes and a sniffly little nose. I saw myself clutched to a tree, aiming for nuts or anything else I could dig my rodent teeth into.

The squirrel was becoming a part of me. Then half of me. Then most of me.

The tingling at the base of my spine became a sensation of elongation. The sprouting of fur all down my body to my emerging tail was incredibly itchy, as it criss-crossed the fibres of the clothing that sagged around my whole body. My teeth adjusted horrible, many shrinking but the front four mutating and stretching to become the horrible twin-pincers that made me rodent. I could feel my eye sockets moving sideways, and I didn't dare open my eyes to see the once complete world split in two.

Entombed in clothing, I felt safe. My mind became a nest of anxiety, even in the dark space, and I could only imagine the sense of fear I might receive at the moment I came out of hiding.

Eventually, the changes stopped. I was squirrel.