“Ella, where the hell are we?!?!”

She completely ignored my statement, and started circling around me, just inside the spolight, muttering in some strange language.

“Ella! Listen to me! What are you doing? Ella! ELLA !”

But she didn’t stop. Only the numerous pairs of eyes, growing in number now, snickered at my vain attempts to get her attention.

“Stop walking! Stop—whatever you’re doing! ELLA !”

I tried to stand up, and almost pulled a back muscle before I realized that my legs weren’t responding.

“ ELLA !” I yelled her name loudly a few more times, before I screamed again.

And remember, I’m not a screamer.

My scream was summoned by Ella’s new hideous form. When she walked in front of me, I saw her start to sprout hair from every surface on her body. A powerful tail covered with the same gray fur cut through the back of her pants. Her nose extended into a large snout; her eyes turned a yellow color; her teeth grew out of her mouth, sharpening as the grew.

That was why I screamed.