“How much will it cost?” Sarai was desperate for the shaman to understand her plight. For years she’d tracked him down, and now that he was finally found, he would not acquiesce to her only request.

“Please, mademoiselle, I cannot grant what you ask; it is simply unnatural.” His reply came shakily, as if the very nature of her request unnerved him.

“And why not,” she demanded. “You have the power to do so.”

“If you truly wish this, the price is great, and the sacrifice you must make is too much for a human to bear,” was his gentle warning. “You must envision what it is you wish to become. Remember, to turn back requires excruciating pain and masterful will. You must think human to become it.”

Orange and black sprang into her mind as if of their own volition, and she imagined the precise workings of powerful muscles as she hunted in the jungle, and the stench of its fear filling her sensitive nostrils.

Bones crunched, muscles stretched, and paws gripped the earth where her hands and feet once were.