Thirteen
Alis
Arcas’s first shift into a human was astonishing. He’d never shown any signs of being anything but a bear cub, but one day, he suddenly started convulsing in the middle of our evening meal. I was terrified, thinking that he was ill. There was nobody I could ask for help; it was just me and him.
I rubbed my head against his shaking little body, trying to show him that I was there for him. That he wasn’t alone. I licked his fur… and suddenly there was no fur, just smooth skin.
My cub had turned into a human boy. He was beautiful: gold locks curling around his cute little face, green eyes staring at me inquisitively, rosy lips that were smiling at me.
He immediately got up and walked on two legs as if he’d done nothing else for his entire life.
“Mum?” he asked and held out
