Rat Shapeshifter

Prologue

 'The grass is always greener on the other side.'

This famous saying has applied to my life in more ways than one.

I'm a shapeshifter, from a family of shapeshifters. Now, before I continue, let me get two things straight. No, I am not a wolf, dragon, or lioness. I am a wererat. And two, no, it is not the most awesome thing in the world. I mean, who would want to be a rat, of all creatures? The moon goddess couldn't let me be a werewolf like my father or even a werecat like my mother. Noooooo. I had to be a wererat.

A wererat!

Ever since I began complaining(basically when I first shifted) dad has been giving me lectures on why I should be grateful that I have two forms in the first place. Something along the lines of 'the generous gifts of the Moon Goddess'.

I could recite his entire repeated speech off the top of my head if I cared enough to listen the first few times, but honestly, who likes to listen to parents telling you how ungrateful you are?

I swear it's almost like he carefully worked and planned out what he would say to me since the day I was born.

Now, you probably wanna ask me, 'hey. How does a cat and a wolf have a rat?' Well, it's a long story and like my very existence I'm annoyed with the part my ancestors play, so I'll give you the short version. We were cursed for living in different animal skins.

Haha, just kidding. I'm pretty sure you didn't believe me anyway, seeing as I don't know anyone who'd like to live in a rat's corpse.

Actually, there was kinda-well, not 'kinda'-a huge war thousands of years ago between all the different clans and prides...except the insignificant rats, of course...and, like, all the other wereanimals died, so the rats became 'heroes' and sacrificed themselves and the Moon Goddess 'blessed' them with having one type of wereanimal every generation(so, like, once I die there will be a new wererat born).

I would get beat up at school, except my real predators like the cobra, snow owl, and snow leopard were grown-ups and had more control over themselves. Of course, the fact that my dad was the Beta of the only surviving wereclan in the world helped too.

As I neared the red brick building I saw the familiar animal doors lining the walls on the back part of the semi-human school. See, we actually share a school with the humans, except they don't know we're there. I approached the one that was basically just a hole in the wall with some words saying 'Extra-Small Mammals' scribbled in chalk above it. Even though I had felt the cloaking ward I quickly scanned the people around me, searching for any stray humans, and shifting into my ugly rat, backpack and all. I vanished through the hole, keeping a close eye on my peers.

Hey Claire! You just focus on getting to class. I'll watch for any potential threats.

That's Nibbles, my inner rat. I never questioned her way of thinking; she was around much longer than I was.

Okay, Nibbles.

I scurried around poles, climbing up long beams, and occasionally ducking when a sparrow or hummingbird flies near. My sharp, untrimmed claws scrabbled against the cement-and-marble flooring, dark pink nose turning this way and that, following scents and skirting away from others.

I finally poked my long face through another hole and into a large auditorium, already with most of the pack present. I shifted into my human form, brushed the grey hairs out of my yellow-eyed face, and made my way down the aisle towards my best friend, Brittney. As usual, she had saved a seat for me.

"Hey, Brittney. How's Prune doing?" Prune was Brittney's inner Pronghorn Antelope. Go and look it up in the dictionary, you'll see it has next to nothing similar to a grey rat. Our inner animals didn't see each other as a threat, but Nibbles said there was no call to be friendly either. We were friends solely because Brittney and I had made a childhood promise long before our first shifts  that no matter what animal we transitioned into or how powerful we turned out to be, we would ignore the nagging voice in our heads and be friends.

Looks like I profited more from the promise than she did.