A Wolf's Soul

Chapter 2

"I'm a werewolf!" Just three words.

Her father dropped his whip. "Don't lie, Lunette."

"It's true! Every full moon, since my twelfth birthday." Tears streamed down Luna's face. Her secret was revealed. But at the same time, Luna felt like a great weight had been lifted from her shoulders. For once, her parents took her word for granted.
"A monster", her mother whispered, "That's what you are. A monster."
The weight settled down on Luna's shoulders again. She should of known that they wouldn't of approved. Suddenly, the front door slammed shut. Luna's mother uttered a short scream. Her father stood up. "Who's there?"
A tall man walked in. He had a long black coat, and a black scarf covering his face, but Luna caught a glimpse of his face. She could of sworn he was struggling to keep his face straight. "Lunette, you silly girl. I told you, you're not a werewolf!" Luna blinked, confused. She wondered who this man was and what he was doing here. The man turned to her parents. "My name is Professor Jonathan Green. I met Lunette yesterday night on the streets. She's a girl with too many problems. I'd like to send her to St.Werewolf, our school for children with problems, practical things like dyslexia, or mental problems, like disobedience. Lunette would like to go, if you agree, Mrs. and Mr. Lupus." Luna wondered what he was talking about. She hadn't agreed to anything. Her mother looked thoughtful. She must have seen her chance to get rid of Luna, because she asked about a dozen different questions. "It's a boarding school, right? Can you keep her in the holidays too? Do you whip them? And exams?"

"Exams? Every day. We can send you results of you like. We have the finest whip collection you'll ever see. And of course it's a boarding school. And, if you want to, you don't have to see her ever again! And on top of all that, the school is free!"

Luna backed away, pressing against the wall. Never seeing her parents again, too good to be true! But...whips? Exams every day? No thank you. But her parents nodded. They wished Luna had never been born. They never wanted to see her again. She was too expensive, they treated her like an ill animal. The man grabbed her wrist. "We'd better be going then, Lunette." And he walked out of the house, pulling Luna behind him. As they stepped outside, the man spoke again, but his voice suddenly sounded like a twelve-year old boy. "Right. Sorry for scaring you Lunette. Let's start again." He threw the coat aside. He pulled his scarf off his neck. Luna saw a boy with dark hair, blue eyes and a cheeky smile that teachers disliked so much. And he was standing in two long wooden poles. Stilts. He nodded towards a bus. "I'll explain on the bus." When he had payed and they had settled down on two seats, the boy held out his hand. "Jaswinder Sanguinem, Weredog. Please to meet you"
Luna shook it. "Luna. Please don't call me Lunette."

"Right. Call me Jasper, everyone does."

Luna realised with a flash what Jasper had said. "Weredog?"
Jasper grinned. "Let me explain. I'll start at the very beginning.
When a child is born on a full moon, a soul from the nearest dog-related animal, becomes your soul. Mine was a dog, yours a wolf. The animals don't notice anything, they live a normal life. But we don't. Well, some don't. On the child's twelfth birthday, they can transform. But only, and I mean only, if the child is unhappy or frightened. Otherwise they live happily ever after, bla, bla, bla. But you and I, and every other werewolf or weredog or whatever, are different. When our parents know, we are whisked away to St.Lupa's, the school for Canis Transformis. That's what we're called. Though we mostly call ourselves Soul-Transformers. When I turned into a dog for the first time, it was right I front of my parents. Bad luck." He shrugged, yawning. "Anyway, St.Lupa's teach you how to have some control over your monthly transforming. They make you happy. No whips, no exams. Though the teachers do make fake exams to show to some parents. Because the happier you get, the more control you get over your animal side. And when you're the happiest you could ever be, forever, the soul disappears, replaced with a human one. The soul returns to the animal, and that animal comes rushing to your side. That's your protector, your sidekick. Man, I can't wait until I get mine" Luna's head whirred. She tried to register this all. "This isn't a joke, right?"
Jasper shook his head, laughing. "This is the bus that takes new Soul-Transformers to the school. The teachers choose someone older to go get them. I still don't know why they chose me. I'm barely six weeks older than you."
Luna got a splitting headache from just all that information. A thousand questions filled her head. "Why just dog-like animals?"
Jasper shrugged. "Dunno. Some reckon there are Cat-Transformers out there, but no one knows. But there isn't a single dog-like Soul-Transformer that isn't in St.Lupa's. Weredog, Werewolf, Werefox, Weredingo, Werehyena...anything. I'm a big black stray dog." He grimaced.
Luna nodded. This is a dream, she thought, it has to be a dream. Jasper talked on about everything but Luna was so exhausted, she fell asleep. The next moment Jasper was shaking her. "Can't believe you fell asleep! We're here now."
It wasn't a dream. Luna smiled.

Jasper brought her to a stern-looking woman. She frowned. "What do you want, Jaswinder?"

"I'm bringing Lunette Lupus"

"Bring her to the headmistress"

Jasper nodded, quickly darting away. Luna asked him why that woman had been so hostile towards him. Jasper snorted. "Everyone hates me here. I'm the prankster, the one that no one likes. It's why I still haven't got any control over my form. No friends, no happiness."

"I think you're nice."

Jasper looked up surprised. "You want to be my friend?"

Luna hadn't meant that, but she shrugged instead, brushing her red hair behind her ears. "As long as I don't go to bed with a broken leg and gooey stuff in my hair"
Jasper brightened up. "I won't, I promise!"
Luna laughed. She knew that she'd have fun at this school, more fun than she had ever had with her horrible parents.