Here is a snippet from my current WIP, One of the Restless.
In this chapter, Johnny is trying to get Chris to a friend’s house where he can change into a werewolf without hurting himself or anyone else, but the sun is setting quick, and Johnny’s magical abilities as somoene who can see and manipulate the strings of the universe, also come with terrible migraines that hit at the most inopportune moments.
Johnny just barely grazed the brake pedal with his boot when Chris sat up. Johnny looked down and saw Chris’s hands were hands once again.
“I’m okay,” Chris said. He looked down at the map again and whispered to himself, “I’m okay.” He drew his finger down the ink roadway. “Left up here.”
Johnny turned the steering wheel, the side mirror caught a flash of light and shot it straight into his eye, then the throbbing started. Johnny put his sunglasses back on.
“How much longer can you hold on?” Johnny asked. He wasn’t sure if he was asking Chris or himself.
“Long as I have to,” Chris said. “But don’t slow down.”
A few more miles down, and Johnny had to turn on the headlights. It was getting dark. It had been a long time, but he thought there was a turn coming up pretty soon. “Hey Chris?” he asked.
All he heard was the atlas sliding off Chris’s lap onto the floorboard. Johnny glanced over, but couldn’t make out Chris’s face in the looming darkness combined with the shades. He lowered them experimentally to make sure the light was far enough gone that it wouldn’t make his headache worse. It was sufficiently dim and so he took them off and looked over.
“There a turn up here?” Johnny did his best to retain a normal tone of voice. He left space for Chris to answer, but the only answer he got from Chris was a guttural snarl.
Johnny did his best not to panic. The kid had pulled it back once before, except Johnny could hear the change happening, the crackle of sinew and the pop of sliding cartilage and bone. Johnny reached out his hand and pushed a few of the strings crowding his vision out of the way, leaning forward and squinting to see Chris better.
Chris was midway through the change. One of his eyes was still human, the other more wolflike, the blue iris filling his eye to the socket. On the left side of his face, the corner of his lip had split backwards, resulting in a canine glasgow grin. There were places where Chris’s clothes had begun to meld with his skin. His lower half looked broken and emaciated as his hips and legs changed.
Johnny returned his attention to the road.
“We’re almost there, Chris. It’s gonna be okay,” Johnny said. He reached out to pat Chris’s shoulder.
Chris snapped at Johnny’s hand, his jaws less than an inch from closing around Johnny’s hand, Johnny jerked his hand back toward his chest. Chris let out a whine and curled into a ball on the seat. “Sorry,” Chris said, slurring because his mouth was no longer the right shape to properly form the word.
They were still at least fifteen miles away, it was getting darker by the minute, and Chris was in pain. Johnny slowed down.
Chris twisted his head to an unnatural angle looking at Johnny. His neck and shoulders were shifting and narrowing. “Why...stopping,” he asked, each word a tremendous effort.
“We’re not gonna make it, kiddo,” Johnny said.
Chris shook his head side to side.
“It’ll be okay though. I’ll sit outside. Try not to tear up the seats too much--that upholstery is original Adriatic Blue.”
“I can...do it,” Chris said, his words getting ever more malformed as his nose and mouth extended into a snout.
“I know you could, Old Sport,” Johnny said. “But you don’t have to.”The truth was, even if Chris could keep from changing for another ten or fifteen minutes, it still wouldn’t be enough time. The strings were so thick, Johnny had stopped bothering to keep his bad eye squinted shut. He could barely see the road. He could barely see Chris, unless he really concentrated, there was no way he’d be able to get them there without running them off the road. “We’ll get ‘em next time.” He reached over and patted Chris on top of his head. “Good boy.”
Chris responded to this by growling.
“Copy that,” Johnny said. He brought the car to a stop, snagged his bag and keys, and vacated the vehicle. It was going to be a long night.
