(Fantasy)

I woke with a pounding head and a throbbing shoulder. A bright light was shining in my eyes so I couldn't see anything. “What happened?”
“You were shot.”
“Shot?” I couldn't see anyone. Suddenly, the light snapped off and the room was thrown into shadows. Rubbing my eyes, I saw that I was in some sort of operating room. “Yes, shot. Brett and Dalla brought you here, said I was the only one that could save you so I did the only thing I could.” I was drawing a blank, what was it Dylan could do? An image came into my mind. It was a stack of files, one flashing after another. It all came flooding back. “Wait, what exactly did you do?” He smiled. “Just a little experimenting. After years of tests, I think I've finally perfected the process. You we're out for three days.”
“Three days!” What would my mom think.
“Oh, and don't worry. I told your mother that you were picked for a free trip to New York.”
“She wouldn't believe that.”
“Coming from me she would. She will believe anything I tell her.” I flash of pure evil lit up his eyes for a second. “She's awake!” Dalla burst into the room, followed closely by Brett. “Dalla! Brett! I'm so happy to see you two. What happened? The fight I mean.”
“Well, after you were shot the hunters ran off.”
“Like the cowards they are.” Brett added. Dylan was in the other room, so I asked them the question that was bouncing around in my head. “Did he really, you know, do the blood thing?” They shared a sad look.
“It was the only thing that could save you. You would have died.” I sighed, that’s what I had been dreading. “So now I'm a...” Dalla nodded. A tear made it's way down my cheek. “Don't cry, it's not all that bad.” Dalla gave me a hug, being careful of my bad shoulder. “How does the whole shifting thing work? Does it hurt?” I was a mess of emotions. Scared, excited, worried. “We'll talk about it later, right now you need to recover.” Brett said. “Come on Dalla. Let the girl rest.” She gave me one final hug before exiting out the door they had come in. I leaned back on the bed/table and closed my eyes.

Two days later, I was released from the lab. Brett picked me up and drove me home. “How are you feeling?”
“Tired, freaked out, you name it.” He laughed.
“It took me a while to adjust too. Or at least that's what I've been told, I don't remember a lot about my beginning.” When he got to the turn to my house, he turned left instead of right. “Brett, this isn't the way to my house.”
“I know.”
“Well where are you taking me.”
“You'll see.” He didn't say anything else the whole drive.

When we finally got to our destitution, I saw it was a small place in the woods. “Where are we?”
“This is where we hang out when we're human.” We walked in to find three people. One was Dalla, one was Thaddeus and the other was a kid with brown hair and bright green eyes. “Thaddeus!” I wrapped my arms around him.
“Hello Julie. I see you lived through the transfusion.”
“Hold still.” Dalla was in the process of wrapping gauze around his middle. “If you wouldn't move so much, we wouldn't have to change these so often. Arrow, can you pass me the clips.” The kid, Arrow, tossed two clips to her. I sat in the chair beside Thaddeus. “So, how do I shift?”
“When you want to shift into your wolf form, just release your inner wolf. It should be simple for you since you were always close to wolves.”
“Sounds simple enough- wait what? What do you mean, I've always been close to wolves?”
“Julie, we might as well tell you. When you were little, you were one of the volunteers that received the treatment. You showed no signs of the transformation so they assumed that it hadn't worked. You have always had wolf blood running through your veins.”
I gasped, but then recalled one file I had read:

March 3, 1998
3 year old has been given blood treatment. No signs of symptoms.

March 14, 1998
No sign of success or failure. Treatment shows no affect to young subjects.

That file was my file! “Why would my parents let them do that to me?”
“You're parents were poor and Dylan offer money. They couldn't say no, they were desperate.” Tears were streaming down my face. “Can I ever go back?”
“You can but you would have to be careful.” Brett told me. I thought about my mom, and Sophie. “If being here, away from them is safer, then I'll stay.”

That was when my life as Julie, the animal loving, guitar playing, school attending normal human ended and my new life as Julie the Shape-shifter began.