Meet Amber, a teenage girl struggling with the death of her father, an overstressed mother- and lycanthropy. All she wants is for her life to go back to normal, but a magical corporation has lost a valuable test subject and they believe Amber will b...
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Chapter Seventy Five
"Aw, crap!" Stark yelled, slapping the steering wheel. "Are you serious?"
It was 5:30 in the afternoon, and the sun was beginning to set. According to him, we were still a half hour from home— and traffic was at a dead stop.
"You've got to be kidding me!" he ranted. "We don't have time for this!"
I sat up straight in my seat and looked around. "Do you know what's causing it?" I asked.
"Probably a wreck somewhere," he grunted, honking the horn in frustration. I didn't do much good, since nobody within twenty cars of us could move. "Can you see where it is?"
I crained my neck as far as I could, but the road went around a curve not far ahead, blocking my view. "No," I said.
"This is bad," Stark said, looking up at the sun. "The moon's probably going to be up before this clears up."
"What can we do?" I asked.
"Go run ahead," he told me. "See how far it goes. If we have to, I'll turn the car around and we'll take the back roads home."
"Won't that take even longer?" I asked.
He shook his head. "It'll be longer than taking the highway, but I know some shortcuts. If the traffic is bad enough, it could be faster."
"All right," I agreed, and got out of the car. I got a few weird looks from the other drivers as I jogged past them. For every twenty feet I travelled on foot, they were lucky to move five.
Maybe I should just run the rest of the way home, I thought to myself. I could do it without much trouble, especially if I found a secluded area to change. We were only half an hour away from home, after all.
"No, a half hour of driving," I reminded myself, discarding the idea. Thirty minutes of driving on the highway would mean at least five hours of running. Even with this traffic, it would still be faster just to stick with Stark.
I finally rounded the curve, and groaned in frustration when I saw that the wreck still wasn't in sight. It would be thirty minutes before we even got this far in the car! I spun on my heel to run back and tell Stark this—
Just in time to see the sun sink below the horizon.
Oh, crap, I thought as the telltale feeling washed over my body. I didn't have any time to waste. I took off running back the way I'd come, keeping my head low so nobody would see anything. It was happening. The moon was coming up behind me. The full moon. Making me change. Making me...
"No!" I grunted, the words coming out half as a growl. I could hold back the changes a little, but the full moon would eventually win. I could feel my ears growing pointed, and I hoped my hair was enough to cover them. My arms started to tingle again, but this time it was because thousands of tiny brown hairs were fighting to come out. I didn't have much time.
