Many hundreds of years ago a new species of creature was born. Foolish sorcerers used their power to combine with animals to gain power. But the animal part of them was too strong for them to retain their human selves. When the half-breed creatures ran off, taking their magick and sorcery with them, we humans were able to devolp the great science we have today and now allows us to keep control over the few remaining half-breeds…..


“Ugh, this is dull,” I wispered to Sean, sitting next to me. Why had I ever decided to take a world history class? All they could talk about were those stupid, primitive half-breeds.

“I hear you, Ryan,” Sean wispered back. “We should totally ditch.”

“Do you boys have something to share with the class?” Mr. Crete stood over us, the huge textbook open in his hands.

“Of course not, sir,” I grinned and leaned back in my chair.

“Well, then. Will you please continue where I left off in the book,”

“Umm,” I looked down at my open textbook. It probably wasn’t even open to the right chapter. “I’m afraid I don’t know where we were.”

“Then will you please go down to the principals office. I’m sure he can help you.” Mr. Crete walked back to the front of the room and wrote out a short,
pink, slip.

I sighed and stood up. “Ditch when you get the chance,” I wispered to Sean. He nodded, then I walked out the door. Principal’s office? Hah! This was just the perfect opportunity to ditch the stupid school.

Quietly, I snuck out the service enterance in the lunchroom. I reached in my pockets for my hoverboard, but it wasn’t there.

“Darnit,” I had left it at home. I sighed and headed towards the place I now called home, my Aunt and Uncle’s place.  At least my Aunt and Uncle were clueless. They’d never notice that I was coming home an hour early.

Quietly, I snuck into the house.

“Ryan?” I heard my Aunt call from the kitchen. “Aren’t you home a bit early?”

“No way, Aunt Vinny, school let out early for a teacher meeting,” I invented quickly.

“Okay, then,”

I headed up to my room and grabbed the new hoverboard I had gotten for my birthday. “See ya later!” I called as I ran out of the house.

“Hey buddy!” Sean was waiting outside for me.

“Hey Sean, you managed to get out of class,”

“Yep, let’s go,”

I flipped out my hoverboard and got on. The magnets kept it at a perfect foot off the sidewalk. I hit the rear booster and shot off.

“Ha ha!” I called back at Sean, “Just try and keep up!” I knew perfectly well he couldn’t, of course, considering the modifications I had made to my board. Still, Sean raced off after me.

Together, we raced down the sidewalk, dodging surprised adults and jumping across the road between cars. I clicked the controls and sped up to the top speed of 50mph, then turned and dived across the highway.

“You’ve got no chance!”I yelled at Sean. He just stopped and looked past me, horrified. “What’s with that look?” I asked.

“Look out!” Sean manage to scream.

I turned around just in time to see the grill of a huge semi before everything went black.




“Uhhh,” I slowly opened my eyes and rubbed my head. Slowly the memory of what happened came back to me. “Oh my gosh, I got nailed by a truck,” I sat straight up, then imediately regretted it as my skull gave a harsh throbb.  

“Ow,” I slowly looked around. I seemed to be in a hospital room, though it wasn’t like any I reconized. The door to the room opened and a nurse came in.

Ahh!” I yelled. The nurse was some sort of cat-mutent.  She was covered with fur, and even had ears and a tail!

“what’s wrong dearie?” she asked kindly, coming towards me.

“Don’t touch me you freak!” I screamed. I scrambled out of the bed and hit the floor. I tried to run, but there was something wrong with my feet, so I over balanced and landed on my face on the old linoleum. Turning around, I looked back at my feet and immediately noticed what had caused me to trip. My big toe was missing on both feet. I yelled again and tried to push myself up off the floor when my ribs cracked aduibly and I collasped in pain.

“Oh dear,” The cat nurse bustled over to where I lay. With incredible strength, she picked me up and layed me back on the bed while I was in too much pain to resist. “I wouldn’t advise trying to run before your feet have finished changing,” she said to me helpfully.

I just stared at her in a mix of anger and depression. I was in hell. That was the only answer. I died after getting hit by the Semi and was stuck turning into a half-breed freak like the cat-nurse.

“Don’t worry dearie,” the nurse said kindly, “It’ll only take another couple days. I mean, look. You pawpads are already coming in, so you’re either a feline or a canid,”

“What are you talking about?” I asked angrily,

“Well,” you were half-dead when we found you on the outskirts of the
village a couple days ago..’

“Wait,” I cut her off, “A couple days ago? What day is it?”

“10th day of the of the 9th month. Why?”

That ment I had been out for a week! I sat straight up, then a fire-y pain lanced through my back and I slipped back into the fuzzy blackness.