Were-Pirate Story

(1) Worse than pirates! (1)

A burly figure strode along the rotting collapsed decked quayside, his faded navy frockcoat flapping madly in the high wind. One eye was obscured with a black rag of cloth; the other had a greedy look about it. Every step he took, he was forced to drag his semi-dead leg behind him, the condition of the docks being as unhelpful as they usually were these days, causing it to catch on the ever growing number of uneven planks. His face was contorted with a fresh looking livid open scar running from left temple to right cheekbone, cutting through his nose and left eye. He seemed to have a constant scowl about his person, glowering at every person who walked past him; as if blaming them for his facial disfigurement. With a cutlass encrusted with the dry blood of the last poor soul who questioned his motives, and a pistol with a well worn handle, this man was obviously not to be messed with.



Over the last one hundred years, the tiny hamlet had grown and transformed from a miserable, disease-ridden, spit of sandy beach into a miserable, overcrowded, cutthroat-infested town of over eight thousand. Only a select few roads had the privilege of being lined with cobblestones – stolen ballast from unsuspecting ships – the others were narrow mud ruts. The closely packed buildings were constructed from either rotting wood, or crumbling brick, or a mixture of the two, crude in their construction and rude in their purpose; an endless succession of grog shops, gaming places and bawdy houses. There was also a legitimate merchants’ shop, and even a church at the most westerly end of town, even though it was seriously in need of repair.



As the man reached the end of the docks, he turned the corner and ended up on a street with uneven cobbled ground; the man sighed angrily, he muttered something to himself about what the cobbles would do to his gammy leg. His foot caught on one of the cobbles and he nearly ended up head over heels. His short temper began increasing slowly as he was forced to go hunting for an old ‘colleague’ of his who lived here.

“JONES! Where are ye?” The man yelled through the crowded street, passersby closest to him jumped back in fear and surprise, unwillingly allowing a small, terrified street boy to scamper forward towards the man.



Fourteen year old Davy Jones was a scrawny boy, he had no meat on him and was gaunt looking with an unkempt air, his shoulder length blonde hair - which looked dark grey with street grime - was in its usual messy state, his green eyes had the look of a hardened street orphan within them, his skin was heavily tanned from the long hours out in the baking sun, the filthy rags draped over his skinny frame could hardly be recognised as the clothes they once were. The soles of his feet were hardened from walking barefoot all his life. He looked, and smelt, as if he had never had a wash in his entire life; which he probably hadn’t. The other street orphans always went to Davy for tips about anything and everything. He knew the town like the back of his hand and he could reel off all the names of people to avoid and the best pockets to pick; despite this, he still came to nothing next to the man bearing down on his skinny frame.



“What took ye so long?” the back of the man’s hand connected with the side of Davy’s face with such force that it threw him to the ground. The man picked him up by the throat and, holding him at eye level, asked if he’d remembered their deal. Davy shook his head rapidly.

“Well” Billy Tanacker replied smiling devilishly “Let me remind ye” people walking past would have caught small snippets of their conversation “. . . promised . . . went wrong . . . goin’ sailin’ . . . Nancy’s tavern . . . next week . . . island  . . . map . . . treasure”



Less than five minutes later, Davy found himself dodging gaps in the quayside on his way to Captain Tanacker’s ship. The ship looked like every other sailing vessel, pirate or not, that Davy had seen making port here before. The basics of the ship were the same as all the others. The only thing about the ship which was more than slightly unnerving was the condition of the sails; he’d never seen anything like them before: the material was almost skin-like in texture, blood red in colour with a hint of a metallic glint, blinding in the sunlight. Upon setting foot on the ship, a minor sensation in the sole of Davy’s foot told him that the wooden deck was uncared for; and that he probably had a splinter. The corrupted sweaty, unclean, rotting air stank of dead flesh, both human and animal, and was so bad that if he had been blind, Davy would have believed he’d walked into a solid wall. Some members of the crew look slightly younger than the law might allow, Davy thought as he was given the tour.



Captain Tanacker abandoned him outside the infirmary whilst he made the ship ready to sail.

“Let loose the mooring lines!” Then, after a scuffle and the sound of running, Billy’s voice boomed through the ship a second time “Full canvas!”

“Ye’d better hold on t’ summit, little brother, the sea be unforgiving at ‘er calmest” a familiar voice sneered up from behind him somewhere. Davy spun round on the spot and turned slightly pale when he saw who had addressed him

“YOU!?” Davy voice did nothing to hide his surprise. The two siblings exchanged looks; Sam’s was more like an evil glare, while Davy’s more withering.



Sam was one year older than Davy, and apart from subtle differences – like eye and hair colour – people could easily have seen that they were siblings. Like most of the crew on the ship, Sam was a heavy smoker. Also, like the crew and the Captain, Sam was hiding one very large secret.



One hour later, Davy was up in the Crow’s Nest watching his home disappear into the horizon. Hearing something and looking down, he saw Billy looking up, shouting something at him “Stop daydreamin ‘n’ get yer arse down ‘ere afore I join ye up there ‘n’ throw ye down!” Davy immediately sprung into action. Ducking under the bar that circled round the Nest, he immediately began half stumbling, half scrambling down the rigging; he jumped down the last few feet onto the deck and stumbled towards the Captain

“Y . . . Y . . . Yes, Captain?” Davy stuttered as he bent double, trying to catch his breath whilst standing to attention before Billy

“Sam’ll take yer place up there” he gestured in the general direction of the mast “Ye’ll be swabbin deck” Billy marched back to his cabin; leaving Davy standing on the deck with a hard brush in his hands

“Retarded Moron!” Sam shoved Davy to the floor as he headed to the rigging.

***

“Ship ahoy!” Sam’s sneer drifted from the Nest and reached the ears of the crew on deck. Everyone looked up, and then started running around preparing the ship in case the other was hostile; one sailor pushed Davy over and ordered him to fetch the Captain. Billy was in his cabin sighing at a photo of himself and his own twin when both boys were twelve. When Davy knocked on the door, Billy jumped and quickly put the frame back into one of the desk drawers.

“In” As he pushed on the door, Davy could have sworn he heard sadness in the Captain’s voice when he issued this command “What do ye want, Jones?” The sadness was disappearing from his voice rapidly

“Sam claims there’s a ship, Captain” Davy’s reply sent Billy running for the door, pushing him over. As he arrived on deck, Billy headed straight to the main mast and looked up at Sam who shouted the position to him; Billy headed for the Forecastle where he was handed a telescope.



The enemy ship was almost identical to their own, but with plain white sails; the Captain saw it, then turned fuming towards the crew, who were at their posts, awaiting his orders.

“False alarm, the bloody thing’s headin’ in a differen’ fuckin’ direction” The crew groaned and swore with anger before started stowing all the equipment they had been gathering. “SAM!” Billy’s angered voice carried its way up to the nest where Sam was cowering in fear “GET YER ARSE DOWN ‘ERE NOW!” Sam slowly started descending the rigging towards, what he believed, was certain death. Billy grabbed Sam before he’d reached the deck, where Billy viciously tore Sam’s shirt off and told two other members of the crew to hold him to the mast, with his back facing Billy; another crew member carefully brought up the metal tipped cat-o-nine-tails, handing it to the Captain.

“Two dozen of the best, ter teach ye not ter lie” Billy stood back, allowing the bosun to draw the whip back and let loose the first lash; Sam howled in pain like a wounded beast every time it struck. The crew, furious themselves at him, enthusiastically counted with every stroke on Sam’s blood stricken back.

***

As the sun was setting, Billy ordered Davy to visit Sam in the brig, who was lying on his front on the wooden floor, so as not to be in any more pain than he already was. He painfully twisted his body slightly so he could see who was making the sound of the footsteps that were coming down the ladder towards him.

“Fuck you want?” Sam tried to sound angry and annoyed at Davy but the pain was too much

“You look like fucking shit” Davy commented on his brother’s wounds.

Sam could only manage a short reply “Huh!” he tried to sit up, but gave in to the pain.

“The captain told me to remind you that it’s gonna be a full moon tonight; no idea why” Davy reluctantly told him

“I know. I look forward to seeing who he’s chosen to convert you” Sam smiled evilly at the thought of it “I hope it’s Harry, he’ll make you squirm. Or Tom. He’s a nasty one, he is” If Davy was confused a minute ago, it was nothing to how puzzled he looked now.

“You don’t know what we are.” Davy shook his head at Sam. “Ye’ll find out soon enough” He sneered as Davy slowly went back up the ladder to the main deck.

(2) Strange Escapades (2)

The grimy, litter ridden, street was all but abandoned; any wheeled vehicle wishing to avoid the ever growing number of potholes appearing in the road would have an exceedingly hard time, pedestrians were forced to watch their steps to make sure they never injured themselves on the uneven crazy pavements. The small number of remaining buildings matched the street; slowly disintegrating doors hanging off their hinges, glass panes missing from the windows, almost every wall looked unfit to hold a first floor - let alone a second or third - and the tiles from the roofs of the buildings were mainly in small pieces covering the pavement and the sides of the road. Any and all solid vertical surfaces were ‘decorated’ with some choice words, phrases and imagery courtesy of the local teenage graffiti artists who used to hang around there during their drunken weekend night-time shenanigans.



With the temperature rising even higher in the midday sun, a figure appeared in the first floor window hole of one of the rundown buildings near the centre of the street, surveying the scene as he smoked a cheap cigarette. After spotting something strange out of the corner of his eye at the end of the street curiosity took over, and twenty year old Gus Tanacker jumped from the window, landed on his feet, and, after quickly glancing round, walked down the street towards the large object.



Gus was not quite like your average twenty year old. He had been bleaching his short, spiky hair as a rebellion against the law since he can remember. His heavily tanned body was very muscular from working out in his old school gym and doing exercises in the small room he could call his own. Circling his left forearm was a black tribal dragon tattoo. In the middle of his back, unseen behind his shirt, was a second tribal tattoo; this one was of a red werewolf hanging on to the side of a full moon. He had six piercings: a ring and a stud in each earlobe and two bars in his right eyebrow. His grubby white shirt was covered in small rips and tears. The jeans he was wearing also needed several repairs. The old steel toe capped boots looked well worn. He had no place to live as such, after his stepdad had literally thrown him out of the front door, but he had still made himself a little ‘home from home’ in the building he had just jumped from.



As he came closer, Gus saw that the object was a soggy, bulging cardboard box. He approached with caution, not knowing what was inside. When he was a couple of feet from the box, it emitted a low strange groan; Gus stepped back and grunted in surprise. There was a naked girl inside. About one and a half metres in height, curled up in a small ball. The girl had long, messy hair which was so dirty that Gus couldn’t tell what colour it was supposed to be. The kid was unhealthily skinny, easily anorexic. Her skin looked extremely ill in colour. Her back was covered in small cuts; while the rest of her body had varying sizes of bruises. The girl uncurled herself slowly and suddenly opened her stunning hazel eyes as she spotted Gus towering over her.

“Who are. . . Where am I?” the girl’s nervousness showing easily in her uneven voice.

“Um . . .” Gus stumbled for words; still recovering from finding a girl in a box on the corner of his street “This place doesn’t actually have a name. It’s nowhere, the end of the line; you only end up here if you’re unwanted or running away, like me. Until you arrived, I was the only one here”



Not five minutes later Hayley, for that was the girl’s name, had one of Gus’s towels wrapped round her frail body and was perched on the edge of Gus’s rusty old camp bed getting and giving information about her current position; Hayley’s dad had been beating her, blaming her for anything and everything that went wrong in his life. Last night he had crossed the line; Hayley had been given a strong sedative, hidden in her evening meal.

“And then I woke up in a horrible soggy cardboard box with you looking down at me” Hayley forced a sad smile.

Gus confessed to being slightly kinder and gentler than his looks. Hayley was unsure at first, but found herself warming to him for a reason she couldn’t yet explain.

“Right” Gus managed to compose himself slightly as he heading towards the door “I’ll go get you some clothes”

“You have money?” Hayley sceptically looked around the shabby room with one eyebrow razed.

“I never said that” a strange smile spreading over his face.



Gus was back within the half hour bearing ‘gifts’ for the both of them: Hayley had a simple pair of jeans and a basic white tank top, whilst Gus had got himself a second shirt; same as the one he was wearing.

“Here you go, put these on” He threw Hayley’s clothes at her before wandering into the remains of the hallway. She caught them as they unfolded in the air. Hayley waited for Gus to disappear round the corner before letting the towel fall to the floor and put the jeans and top on whilst Gus was out of the room.

They spent the rest of the afternoon getting to know more about each other: their hobbies, likes, dislikes and generally found out a bit more about each other’s pasts. That night, Hayley slept on Gus’ bed whilst he slept on the floor.



The sun shone blindingly into Hayley’s eyes; she turned away and found herself staring at the empty floor strange where’s Gus? She looked sleepily out the window and spotted something strange; Gus was walking up towards the house from the end of the street, naked.

“What happened? Why are you outside? Where’re your clothes?” questions poured out of Hayley’s mouth as she leant out of the window, with danger of falling out; which she did. Gus was underneath her faster than she would have believed. He caught her with ease.

“Careful!” Gus carried her back up to his room. As Gus was getting dressed, question after question was pouring out of Hayley’s mouth, who was standing behind the door in the hallway. Realising this was uncomfortable for him, Hayley asked what the plan was for the day.

“Don’t know yet, depends what we feel like doing” Hayley just shrugged at the reply “OK, you can come in now, if you want.”

Three quarters of an hour later, Gus was showing Hayley inside some of the safer buildings along their street. As budding artists, Hayley and Gus had taken two empty books and a pencil each with them. Gus’ style looked enthusiastic and crazy while Hayley’s was more precise and measured. Hayley asked Gus if he could lean on the doorway in one of the buildings so she could go and sit in the street facing the house and draw him and the building; Gus agreed on the condition that he could draw her when she had finished. She agreed so Gus allowed Hayley to position him on the doorway in whatever position she wanted him in. While she was drawing, Gus realised that Hayley would probably find out about his secret anyway, no matter how hard he tried to hide it; but he put this to the back of his mind for the moment so that they could both draw each other decently.



As the sun and the temperature were at their highest, both Gus and Hayley were back in Gus’ room eating a couple of sandwiches while giving good comments on each other’s drawings; their individual styles were both brilliant, Hayley’s drawing brought out the beauty and age of the house and the kind nature of Gus; while his showed the horror and decrepitude of the same building and Hayley’s opposite to it. When they had finished their lunch, Gus plucked up the courage to talk to Hayley about his secret. Hayley was puzzled when Gus stood up, checked the window and locked the door: two metal hooks had been secured to either side of the doorframe, allowing Gus to roughly place a stray wooden floorboard across the door. When Hayley saw the look on his face, she understood that he was about to divulge something very important to her.

Gus drew a sharp breath before starting “Right, where to start? Well, firstly, do you want to stay with me or go back home or go somewhere else?” Hayley immediately said that, because what had happened to her last time she had gone into care, she wanted to stay with him. “Um . . . Right . . . Er” Gus thought carefully about how he was going to tell Hayley about his ‘problem’. Hayley crossed her arms as Gus stuttered “Bear with me, It’s very hard to admit this!” Gus snapped at her as she flinched back in fear. Gus quickly apologised and continued “Remember when you asked about my tattoo and I changed the subject?” Hayley nodded, confused “And then when you looked out the window this morning, you saw me coming back up to the house?”

“With nothing on? Yeah, I remember that.” Hayley smiled, still slightly confused.

“My brother and I were both born with what I call a curse, my brother disagrees of course, he calls it a ‘superpower’ of all things.” Sighing at the word ‘superpower’, he paused to gather himself, and to let it sink in for Hayley “We first morphed on our tenth birthday” he sighed nervously, getting the information in the wrong order “on our eleventh birthday, we realised that we didn’t need to wait for a full moon to change” Gus could see the expression on Hayley’s face change as she began to understand “Billy, my brother, went off the rails when we turned twelve, he ended up sailing off with a bunch of pirates.” Hayley raised her eyebrows, unconvinced “What he gets up to, I’ve no idea. Frankly, I don’t think I want to know either” Gus’s tone went slightly sour at the thought of what his brother was doing and where he was.

“So . . .” Hayley asked, more confused, and fearing she already knew the answer “Are you trying to tell me that you and your brother are some kind of werewolves?”

(3) Nancy’s Tavern (3)

After being forced to duck through the lower-than-low doorway, customers will find themselves struggling to stay upright on the uneven wooden floors from the swaying and pitching of the ship. They were also exposed to the elements via the glassless windows and a hole-ridden ceiling. The different smells of spices, herbs, burning meat and yeast rose up from the rickety flight of rusty stairs at the rear of the room. The tables and chairs were made from, what looked like, ancient pieces of driftwood and were more than very uncomfortable. Hanging on the back wall, near the stairs, was a damp driftwood sign telling them that the toilets were also located under the inner deck.



A very nervous Davy, who was now ‘officially’ part of the crew, was following a moody Sam and Captain Tanacker through the door

“Sit ‘ere, I’m gonna sees if me Nancy be available” Billy pointed at a three person table nearest the door. Davy and Sam perched themselves carefully on the edges of two seats; as far away from each other as possible. As the Captain disappeared down the stairs, an angry female shout came up from the kitchen

“BILLY! What have I told you ‘bout comin’ down ‘ere t’ me kitchen?” The boys smiled slightly when they heard Billy stuttering as he trying to explain himself to the owner of the voice. The voices became louder as Billy came back on deck, closely followed by, who Davy assumed was, Nancy.



Nancy Sampson was strikingly beautiful. Her long messy hair was jet black in colour an contained an odd array of items within it; there were three pairs of chopsticks sticking up from the bob at the back, there were about seven different flowers and five multicoloured ribbons dotted round in her hair. Her strange eyes were slightly different colours; her left one was emerald green, whilst the right was more turquoise in colour. She was very short for her age, no taller than Davy or Sam.



Davy jumped slightly as a small black kitten jumped on his lap; Sam let loose a short, menacing laugh at him, Sam stopped abruptly when Nancy gave him an almighty clout round the back of the head.

“Fuck you do that for? Bitch!” as soon as the words escaped his mouth, Billy gripped his neck and lifted him about a foot off the ground; his feet swinging madly in the air “Sorry” Sam croaked, eyes bulging with fear.

“INSULT HER AGAIN, I DARE YA!” Billy’s voice shook the rickety building; to say Sam was frightened would have been a severe understatement.



Quarter of an hour later, Davy, Sam, Billy and Nancy had been joined by the rest of Billy’s crew. They had taken up the entire cafe and even spilled onto the outer deck.

***

Not five miles from the tavern ship, a small motor dinghy with two occupants was battling the high sea.

“So, why are we going there again?” Hayley shouted, but Gus had hardly heard her over the noise of the sea, so she yelled louder in his ear.

“My brother” Gus’s reply was almost lost in the wind

Hayley was confused “I thought you hated him?”

Gus shook his head “Not as such, but we do get on better now that we don’t live in the same house” he smiled nervously, taking a breath “this is something we do every year; not for any particular reason, just because we want to” Hayley looked at him quizzically. Just before Gus replied, they were hit by a large wave; the landing threw them around the dinghy like ragdolls.

“I was the one who had the original idea and, after a very long time, Billy eventually - and rather reluctantly - agreed. After I told him that we were the last two members of our family and that we shouldn’t lose contact with each other” Hayley was still confused, but less so than before, as Gus and Hayley picked themselves off the floor; regaining control of the boat.



As Gus and Hayley moored themselves next to the Tavern ship, one of Billy’s crew looked over the rail at them then he ran to get the Captain. Billy Tanacker was not that surprised that Gus had arrived, but wondered what the pirate meant when he’d said that there was a young girl with him.



Hayley kept very quiet and very close to Gus as they walked along the deck to the building, past pirates who were staring at her behind her back. Gus tried to comfort her as they walked through the open door of the tavern. Billy and Gus exchanged quick, manly hugs. Hayley was surprised at how much the two brothers did actually look alike; apart from Billy’s scar, Gus’ piercings and the differing colours of their sink and hair. Nancy introduced herself to Hayley, who took an immediate liking to her, and they started gossiping about anything and everything.



Soon after Hayley’s conversation had ended with Nancy, Billy Tanacker then turned on her; ordering her to tell him why she was hanging out with his brother; Hayley tried to explain, but Billy wouldn’t let her get a word in edgeways. Gus, naturally stepped in, shut his twin up, and tried to explain to Billy.



One hour later, after Gus and Billy had been planning things together about something and Hayley and Nancy had finished gassing about what things was getting like in the human world; the Captain hobbled towards the ship giving orders to get back to the ship. Hayley hung back so she could speak to Gus, who also wanted to see her. When they met up, Gus explained to her what ‘the rough plan’ was. Hayley voiced her worries about her being the only human on a ship of werewolves; Gus told her that so long as Billy and he were also on the ship, nothing would happen to her; he also suggested that she pretended to be a werewolf, to try and put them off further; Hayley shivered as Gus suggested this. Gus quickly walked back into the tavern, remembering something that he thought he’d left behind.



Hayley began to hum an old tune that she thought she remembered her mother singing to her before she passed away. Making her way towards the ship, she was aware that Sam had kept back a couple of nasty looking crew members. Sam, along with the two other pirates, came up behind her. Hayley spun round and stopped humming.

Referring to the tune she had been humming seconds before, Sam voiced his thoughts on the subject “Dangerous song to be singing, for any who are ignorant of its meaning. Particularly a girl. Particularly a human girl” Sam had said the word “human” as if he’d just stepped in something horrible. Sam’s sidekicks cracked their knuckles and grinned evilly.

Gus Tanacker sneaked up behind them “What makes ye think she’s human?” As they turned towards him, Hayley – in a moment of genius and bravery, and a small amount of stupidity she thought – stealthily removed Sam’s rapier from his belt, holding it menacingly against Sam’s neck; Who surprised himself by becoming somewhat terrified at the realisation that he had his own cutlass to his neck and in the hands of a human no less.

***

Back onboard, Sam and Hayley had decided to leave each other alone. Davy sensed this almost immediately, and was slightly amazed; when he asked Hayley how she’d done it, she just replied that Sam hadn’t liked the tune she’d been humming so she took his rapier and showed him what a human girl could do.

“What tune were you humming, out of interest?” Davy questioned her.

As soon as the name of the tune had escaped her lips, Hayley shrank back when Davy expression showed that he thought the same about it as Sam had “Gus spoke to me afterwards and said something about him not wanting me to hum or sing that tune too often on this ship, how come?” Davy bit his lip before he replied

“The tune is about normal, human pirates, and, as I’m sure you know, we’re neither normal nor human” Davy decided to add something when he saw her face drop “We have our own version of it, though. You might like it” he then went on to sing their version:

“The Wolf and his cubs

Stole the bitch from her cave

And bound her in human bones

The seas be ours

And by the powers

Where we will, we’ll roam”

After singing the first verse, Davy was joined by the crew standing closest; even Hayley and Gus joined in, trying to get the words right, much to the amusement of Billy and the remaining crew. Sam was the only one who refused to.

“Yo ho, all paws

Hoist the colours high

Heave-ho

Cursed and howling

Never shall we die”



“Some have killed

And some have mauled

Others are beasts of the sea

With the keys to the cage

And the devil to pay

We lay to Fiddler’s Green”



“The heart has been raised

From its human cage

Hear its sepulchral tone

A howl to all

Pay heed the squall

Turn your sails to the sea”



“Yo ho, all paws

Hoist the colours high

Heave-ho

Cursed and howling

Never shall we die”

(4) Moonlight Sailing (4)

Hayley looked down from the Crow’s Nest with alarm as a cry of pain went up from Davy and some of the other pirates. She could see that most of the crew were doubled over, clutching their stomachs. Those few that had some control, which included the Tanacker twins and Nancy, were already at different stages of morphing into beasts. Being the only human onboard, Hayley decided to quietly stay up the Crows Nest. Hayley jumped every time she heard noises coming from below; not daring to look down. A huge crash made her squeal slightly as well as jump; Hayley hid close to the mast, as far away from the edge as possible as underneath her a loud howl came from the Captain’s wolf before all the other noises disappeared, she assumed this was to try to organise the crew of wolves. She thought it was eerily quiet; till she heard one wolf climb the mast. A second crew member jumped and landed behind her; grabbing her, pulling her down, carrying her onto the deck and throwing her at one of the masts. All the wolves stopped what they were doing and stared at her. She took in the features of the wolf who had taken her: the beast was just over seven foot in height, it’s body had a toned look, It’s fur was blonde and the beast’s eyes were amber in colour. Hayley was quickly brought back to the situation in hand when the blonde furred wolf took a huge bite out of her shoulder. A different werewolf, this one taller and more muscular with white fur, roared and rugby tackled the smaller wolf. The second werewolf threw the smaller one overboard in a blind rage.



The crew were standing around whining, unsure as what to do. The white furred beast was crouched in front of her trying to do something for her. Hayley was now staring at this wolf: the beast was over eight foot in height, the wolf’s body had a muscular look, It’s fur was white and the beast’s eyes were black.



Another wolf howled and pointed towards the sky; this wolf was a foot shorter than the white one, the wolf’s body was skinny, It’s fur was gray in colour and the beast’s eyes were yellow. All eyes went to the sky; Hayley followed their gaze and saw that the full moon was peeking round the edge of a cloud, showing itself again. All eyes went back to Hayley.



The pain she was suddenly feeling was almost too much for her to bear; she screamed as her bones snapped then slowly regenerated, she clenched her stomach as her organs began to shift and resize, fur the colour of her hair sprouted all over her body, her scream was cut short before becoming a painful howl as her vocal chords changed, the howl ended abruptly in a whimper as her jaw dislocated and reformed round her new muzzle, she was temporarily blinded as her human eyes became more dog-like, her half-paw-half -claw hands went to her mouth a second time as fangs appeared, her ears shifted and became pointed like a Vulcan’s. Finally, her senses went berserk; she could hear the traffic which was well over ten mile away, she could tell where each splinter in the wood ended and where the next began, through her claw-paws she could feel the exact texture of the deck, and her tongue could even tell how much moisture was in the air. Her sense of smell had changed considerably; she was now experiencing the smells as if they were colours.



Hayley-wolf stood up and, even though she was still the smallest onboard, she no longer hurt her neck as she had earlier when she looked up at them in wolf form. She looked at her own hands and experimented with them: flexing her digits, making a fist, etc. She tried to speak but found she only made dog like sounds. Hayley started feeling her new body, seeing what she’d lost and what was new to her.



The Captain-Wolf growled and barked at his crew, who immediately went back to the jobs they had been doing before the change; strangely, Hayley found that she had – somehow – understood all that the Captain had ‘said’ as if his words had been projected into her mind directly. As the crew busied themselves, two wolves – who she now knew were Gus and Davy – led her down to the Captain’s cabin, where they tried to explain and comfort her as to what had just happened

She recognised Davy’s voice as soon as it penetrated her mind “Please forgive us, we’re not like Sam at all” she had guessed that the wolf who had bitten her would have been Sam

Next came Gus “I should have protected you better, I’m so sorry”

Hayley shook her head, projecting her thoughts at him “Please don’t be. It was inevitable, me being the only human onboard. It’s not your fault Gus, or yours Davy” the boys still looked guilty about the attack.



Billy’s wolf burst through the door

(Please Note: Chapter 4 is a work in progress)