FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The bedroom door opened and a large, black-haired man entered the room, noticing his wife sitting on the bed. "Hey, Marissa," he said, smiling at her. "Ready for bed?"

"Um..." The long-haired brunette simply looked up at her husband, scratching her arm. "I... may not be able to come to bed tonight." She moved her hand over to her stomach and began scratching it too, before, bending over and reaching down to scratch her legs as well. "Sorry, Dave. But it seems that this curse has other plans for me right now."

"...Oh." The black haired man's face fell. "It's happening again, isn't it?"

"I'm afraid so." Shaking her head, Marissa pulled up the sleeve on her nightgown, revealing the shaggy white fur that was sprouting on her arm. She lifted up her hand as well, watching as her fingernails were replaced by dark claws. "At least it's happening right as I'm about to go to bed, right?"

"Yeah..." Dave chuckled, remembering how the curse always seemed to affect Marissa at the most random times. One minute, she'd be sitting down with the rest of the family to watch some TV, and the next she'd be dropping to all fours and sprouting fur all over her body. The worst was when it happened at work... heck, Dave could still remember having to pick her up and carry her out of the office once. "I guess you caught a break this time, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess I did." At this point, Marissa stood up and began taking her nightgown off completely, leaving her almost naked. By this point, though, the fur was already covering her entire upper body, and it was starting to make it's way down to her legs. "Still," she said, as a large fluffy tail suddenly burst from her backside. "It'd be nice if I didn't have to worry about this at all anymore."

"Well, it's kinda your own fault, you know," said Dave, watching as the white fur spread down her legs. "I mean, you probably could have been more careful when you were carrying that paint can out to your car..."

"Well, what was I supposed to do?" asked Marissa. The fur finally reached her feet, and she watched as they grew larger, toenails growing out into sharp black claws and pads forming underneath them. "I mean, I was carrying the paint out, I lost my balance... and all of a sudden, that woman was just right in front of me! I didn't mean to spill it all over her!" She lowered her head, remembering the white fur coat that the woman had been wearing... and how she had managed to trip right in front of her, spilling the black paint she had been carrying all over it. God knew that stuff wasn't going to be coming out anytime soon... or ever.

Dave sighed. "You could have at least explained to her what happened," he said, watching as his wife's toes merged and thickened, making her feet look like paws. "Maybe you could have tried to help her get out of it, or... I don't know, offered to pay for a new coat. Heck, she may have even been a bit more forgiving if you had done that!"

Marissa lowered her head. "I... guess I just panicked," she said, getting down on her hands and knees. "She looked really angry, and I didn't want her to hurt me or anything. And I was really late for work!" Already her legs were shortening, the bones in both her legs and arms shifting and pulling her into a quadrupedal stance. Her fingers were shrinking and merging just as her toes had, as her hands grew pads and morphed into a second pair of paws. "I had no idea that she was a..."

"...A witch," finished Dave. "Yep. And now look at you. Cursed to become a sheepdog at the most random of times. She really punished you, didn't she?"

"Yeah..." Marissa sighed. "I mean, I guess it's not that bad all the time. I just wish it wasn't so rrrrarrrr...." She shook her head, opening her mouth to speak again. "So rrrarrf! Rarf!" It was no use trying to speak anymore, as her vocal structure was already changing to prevent her from speaking normally. Her face slowly began pushing out into a muzzle, white fur sprouting all over to match the canine look. Her ears grew larger and larger, black fur spreading across them as they flopped over to rest on her cheeks. As they did, she suddenly began lifting one of her feet into the air, bringing it up to to the side of her head and using her claws to scratch at her ear, just like a normal dog would.

Dave simply chuckled at the sight. "You really like doing that, don't you?" he said as the final changes began. Her nose turned black, darkening and changing to match the rest of her face. Her brown hair began turning white, shrinking and almost looking like it was getting sucked back into her skull. But while it was becoming far shorter in the back, it actually appeared to be growing longer in the front, to the point where it seemed to cover her eyes. As the final bit of hair disappeared from the back of her head, she was left simply standing there... no longer a human, but a white sheepdog.

The moment she was finished, Marissa quickly ran over to the door to her bedroom, scratching on it with her front paws. This room was too small, too constricting... she wanted to get out! She wanted to be free, to run around to her heart's content! Noticing this, Dave simply shook his head once again. "Guess there's not much I can do," he muttered, opening the bedroom door and walking down the stairs, Marissa eagerly following him. As he reached the ground floor, Dave walked around to the house's back door, opening it up to let Marissa out. "There you go. The backyard is all yours," he said. "Knock yourself out."

Panting happily, Marissa quickly ran outside into the night air, her heart racing with excitement. The backyard was where she could run around freely, completely giving in to the new instincts that came with her body. Part of her human mind did remain, at least enough for her to remember who she was and what she used to be, but it wasn't nearly enough to prevent her canine instincts from completely taking over every time she changed. And with them came a new sense of excitement, of happiness and freedom, one that allowed her to fully embrace the change whenever it came.

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The next morning, the sound of the door bursting open caused Dave to jolt awake. Shaking his head, he noticed Marissa running into the room completely naked, rushing over to her dresser and pulling out clothes. Well, naked if you didn't count the white fur covering her body. It wasn't nearly as shaggy as it had been when she was fully changed, but it was still fairly thick, enough to prevent her skin from showing in most areas. "Morning, honey," said Dave, smiling. "How was last night?"

"Oh... same old stuff," sighed Marissa. The fur on her body was slowly beginning to disappear, giving way to the skin underneath it. Noticing this, Marissa quickly put on the outfit she had pulled out, covering herself up before the fur could disappear completely. "Excitement, happiness, running around, all that crazy stuff... and then changing back and passing out within a few hours." Part of the curse was that she couldn't fall asleep while she was in her sheepdog form, since she often had too much excitement to even think about closing her eyes. But when all that energy disappeared, the crash was often enough to knock her out completely, resulting in the change from sheepdog to human slowing to a crawl. Sometimes the change would take hours, and she would be asleep for almost hours.

"Ah," replied Dave. "So you woke up in the backyard, then quickly ran in here to put some clothes on before you fully changed back at..." He looked over at the clock. "...6:30 in the morning." He sighed. "Talk about a rude awakening..."

"Well, no point in going back to bed now, since I have to be at work in a few hours..." muttered Marissa. "Which means another day of barely being awake and having to slog through everything all over again..." She shook her head. "It's times like these that I really hate having this curse..."

"Well, don't get too caught up in that stuff," said Dave. "Remember, we still have to celebrate Candice's birthday today, so make sure you're prepared for that."

Marissa suddenly froze. "Wait... what?" She turned to her husband, her face stricken with worry. "She's turning 22 today, isn't she?"

"Um... yeah." Dave frowned. "Why? Is that a problem?"

"Oh no..." Marissa turned away, though Dave still noticed her face turning pale. Her daughter's twenty-second birthday was today... and she had completely forgotten. "I'm so stupid... how could I forget..."

"Okay... well, don't feel too bad," replied Dave. "I mean, we already wrapped all her presents and everything, so we don't need to worry about that. And I already bought the cake and all the ingredients to make the barbecued ribs tonight, so you really don't need to worry about-"

"No! It isn't that." Marissa looked up at him, her face stricken with worry. "It's just... I've been having this dream for the past few nights." She sat down on the bed next to Dave, still looking over at him. "It involves me standing in a room with that... that witch. The one who cursed me. And she's always laughing... this horrible, twisted laugh that just makes me shiver with fear. And then she stops laughing and looks at me, and says 'It won't be long now. At twenty-two, your daughter will suffer the same fate as you!' And she just keeps laughing and laughing..." She lowered her head, covering her face with her hands. "It's been happening more and more frequently now. I don't know what to do about it..."

"Well..." said Dave, not really sure how to react. "Do you really think that it'll happen? I mean, it is just a dream. Or she could just be trying to scare you."

Marissa shook her head. "I don't think so," she said. "I don't think she would make empty threats when she's perfectly capable of following through with them. And I really don't think that it's just some random dream either, with how often it's happening." She stood up, her fists clenching. "It's bad enough that I have this curse... I don't want it passed on to her, too! Especially now that she's graduated from college and is trying to get a job! Can you imagine what would happen if she started transforming in the middle of an interview or something?"

"That... does sound pretty bad..." said Dave, shaking his head. "Is there anything you can do about it? Maybe a way to prevent it from happening or something?"

Marissa shook her head. "I've tried looking online for cures," she said. "Counterspells, protective items, anything I can find... but I haven't found anything at all." She slowly covered her face with her hands again, quietly sobbing. "It's not even her fault! She had nothing to do with this! Why did that stupid witch have to involve her, too? I just... I don't want to see her life ruined just because I made a simple mistake!"

"Okay, just calm down," said Dave, getting up and putting his arm around her. "Look. There isn't anything you can do about it right now, so I think you should just go to work and focus on that for now. I'll stay here and see if I can find anything out while you're gone, okay?"

Slowly, Marissa lifted her head. "...Okay," she said. "Just don't tell her anything, okay? I don't want her to freak out because she thinks she's going to have some kind of horrible curse for the rest of her life."

"Don't worry, I'll be quiet," replied Dave. "Now, you should probably start heading off to work. I know how much you hate being late."

Marissa glared at him for a second before running down the stairs and grabbing her keys. Once she had them, she ran out the door to her car, unlocking it and opening up the door. But just as she was about to step inside-

"Excuse me? Miss?" The voice was enough to startle Marissa into turning around. In front of her was a short young woman, about mid-twenties, with long black hair flowing down her back. "You look upset about something," she said. "Do you mind if I ask what's bothering you?"

"Um... I do, actually," said Marissa, turning around again. "It really isn't any of your business, and I really need to get to work, so if you would excuse me-"

"Actually, I already know what you're upset about," said the woman. "I just thought it would be weird if I opened with that." Noticing the confused look on Marissa's face, she sighed. "I saw you transform on my way home last night," she said. "I was driving past your house, and I thought I sensed some kind of... strong magic, coming from your yard. So I got out, snuck around your house, and noticed you lying on the ground... transforming from dog to human." She shrugged. "So I thought I'd check up on you, to see if you were okay. I mean, going through something like that isn't something most people get to experience, is it?"

Marissa just stared at her, blinking a few times. "Wait. Back up," she said. "What do you mean, you 'sensed some kind of strong magic coming from my yard?'"

"Oh... yeah, I can sense magic," said the woman. "One of the perks of being a witch, I suppose. Oh, that's right! Sorry, I completely forgot to mention that I'm a witch!" She held out her hand to Marissa. "My name's Kayla. Nice to meet you!"

"Marissa," replied Marissa, hesitantly taking Kayla's hand and shaking it. "So... you're a witch?" A few weeks ago she wouldn't have believed her, but since she'd already had a run in with another witch... well, it wasn't like she had any reason to doubt Kayla's words.

"Yep!" said Kayla. "I was curious, so I thought I'd stop by to ask you about that whole... transformation ordeal. How did it happen, anyway? Did you pay someone to do it to you? I mean, I know some people are into that kind of thing..."

"What? No!" Marissa stepped back, shaking her head. "I wouldn't pay for something like that! It's... actually a curse." She shook her head. "Basically, I was carrying black paint out to my car, there was someone who happened to be standing nearby, and I ended up spilling it all over her white fur coat. She turned out to be a witch, and now I'm transforming into a sheepdog at random times during the day. I got lucky last time, because it was at night and nobody but my husband saw it... but there are times when it happens during the day, while I'm at work, with everyone watching... it's really embarrassing, and I don't know what to do about it..."

"Hold up," said Kayla. "So you spilled paint on her, and she ended up cursing you... did you see who it was that did it?"

"Um... yeah, I did," said Marissa. "She was tall, had curly blonde hair... I think she was wearing a black dress at the time..."

Kayla snapped her fingers. "Of course!" she said. "I should have known that Tara was behind this... this is exactly the kind of thing she would do..."

"Tara?" asked Marissa. "Wait... you know her?"

"Of course I do!" replied Kayla. "We've been at each other's throats since the day I moved here!" She sighed. "See, she seems to have this idea that she's the only witch who 'deserves' to live in this neighborhood. So when she heard that I was here... well, she didn't exactly react well. Ever since then, she's basically taken every opportunity she can to mess with me. She's turned me into stuff, interfered with my spells... heck I can still remember getting home after meeting her for the first time and noticing how much bigger everything looked. Then I looked behind me and noticing the wings sprouting from my back..." She stopped, noticing Marissa's disturbed expression. "Well... I guess that's not important. My point is, she isn't someone you want to mess with... though I guess you've already figured that out, huh?"

"Yeah, that's for sure," sighed Marissa. "And what's worse is that she's been appearing in my dreams, saying that she's going to curse my daugher, too... even though she didn't have anything to do with it!" She lowered her head, sobbing quietly again. "I don't want this happening to my daughter! I need to find some way to stop it... but I have no clue how!"

"Well, you know..." Kayla grinned. "I might be able to help you out. I have tons of experience with this kind of thing, so I'm sure I could find something in my house that could cure both of you!"

Slowly, Marissa lifted her head back up. "...You want to help me?" she asked.

"Of course! I'm always willing to help people out!" replied Kayla. "Well... that and I really just want to pull one over on Tara for once. She's gonna be so pissed when she finds out about this!" She pulled a card out of her pocket and handed it to Marissa. "That has my address on it. When you leave work, meet me at my house, okay?"

"Um... okay!" Marissa took the card, smiling. "Thank you so much! I'll see you then!" Grinning, she stepped into the car and drove off, filled with a sense of hope. If this woman could really cure her and her daughter, then all of her worries would be over! She wouldn't have to worry about changing in public and embarrassing herself and, more importantly, her daughter wouldn't ever have to suffer the curse herself, or even find out about it! All she had to do was meet up with Kayla, and she could finally put this whole incident behind her!

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The sound of the door slamming startled Dave into looking up from his computer. Turning his chair around, he noticed his wife standing behind him, holding some kind of bottle. Surprisingly, she was grinning, which Dave wasn't expecting considering how upset she had been in the morning. "Huh... you look happy," he said, looking down at the bottle she was holding. "What's that in your hand?"

Marissa simply chuckled. "You are not going to believe this," she said. "So as I was walking out to my car, this woman came up to me and told me that she had seen me transform in the backyard last night. And... well, long story short, she's a witch, she apparently has some kind of grudge against the witch who cursed me, and she said that she's willing to cure me and Candice!" She held up the bottle that she had been holding. "This is what's going to do it. All I have to do is put some of this in the barbecue sauce tonight, and we'll never have to deal with this again! It'll be perfect!"

Dave frowned. "Um... are you sure about this?" he asked. "I mean... it seems kinda unlikely that you'd just happen to meet the one person who can cure you as you're leaving the house. For all you know, she could be working with that other witch who cursed you in the first place!" He looked down at the bottle she was holding. "Do you even know what's in that bottle?"

"Well... no," said Marissa. "But I don't think anything's going to happen... I mean, she's already taunted me about cursing Candice, so I don't think she would feel the need to do anything further." Noticing Dave's skeptical expression, she sighed. "Look, even if this does make things worse, let's weigh our options: we can either take the chance and suffer the consequences, or do nothing or still suffer the consequences. Or we can take the chance and if it pays off, we'll be back to normal and won't have to worry about this anymore. You follow?"

"I... guess," said Dave. "But it still feels like a bad idea to me. Keep in mind that it's not just you drinking this stuff; if you're using this in the recipe, then all three of us are going to end up eating it. I mean... doesn't it seem a little bit too risky to you?"

"Yeah, but I still think it's better than doing nothing," replied Marissa. "Look, if you're really worried about it, I can just separate the barbecue sauce into portions and not put any of this stuff in your portion. Do you want me to do that?"

"...Okay," said Dave, after a brief moment of hesitation. "I still think this is a bad idea, but I'm willing to let you go on with it if you really want to. Just don't say I didn't warn you!"

Marissa chuckled. "Don't worry," she said, turning around to leave the office. "The two of us are going to be fi- WOAH!" As she tried to leave, she nearly ran face-first into her daugher Candice, who was just running around the corner at the time.

"Oh! Sorry, Mom!" said Candice, chuckling. She grinned, her pearly-white teeth complimenting her straight brown hair, which was tied back in a ponytail. "Hey, what's that?" she asked, pointing to the bottle in her mother's hand.

"Oh, this? It's... not your concern," said Marissa, trying to move the bottle out of Candice's view. "So... you been enjoying your birthday so far?"

"Well... to be honest, it's actually been kinda boring," replied Candice. "So I thought I'd get together with some friends after dinner, go see a movie... you know, just hang out. Then we can do cake and presents when I get back. That okay with you?"

"Of course!" said Marissa, grinning. "Um... anyway, I should probably get started on making dinner. We can talk later, okay?"

"Okay," said Candice, grinning. "Hey, quick question: was that you I heard barking outside last night? I remember hearing some really loud barking, and I thought it sounded kinda like you, so I got up and looked out the window. I thought I saw some movement in the backyard, but that could have just been my imagination..."

"Oh..." Marissa grinned sheepishly. "Yeah... that was me. I started changing right as I was about to go to bed, so... I kinda ended up having to spend the night outside." Candice knew about the curse, of course; the entire family did. She even joked about it sometimes, but Marissa knew that Candice wasn't going to be joking as much if she had to go through it as well.

Candice laughed. "Well, better at night than during the day while you're at work, I suppose," she said. "Anyway, I'm going to go out for a quick run. I'll catch you later, okay?" With that, she turned and ran out the front door, leaving Marissa standing there with the bottle.

Marissa simply smiled, before heading into the kitchen to start making the ribs. Even though Candice had just graduated from college, she was still Marissa's daughter... and she still needed to be protected. As she began mixing the ingredients, she thought about the smile that Candice had been showing off... that blissfully ignorant smile. The smile of someone completely unaware of what was about to happen to her... and Marissa intended to keep it that way. Candice didn't need to know about any of this. All she had to do was drink the potion, and she would be cured without even knowing she had something in the first place. It was the perfect plan.

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"Wow, honey!" said Dave, digging into his ribs at dinner. "These taste amazing!"

"I'm glad you like them!" said Marissa, eating away at her own ribs. "What do you think, Candice?"

"They're really good!" said Candice, her plate already completely polished off. "Anyway, I should probably get ready to leave for the theater. I'm going to go change real quick, and then I'll probably head off, okay?" As she stood up, though, she suddenly bent down and pulled her socks off, itching her feet as soon as they were gone. "Sorry... these dumb socks are making my feet really itchy for some reason," she said.

Marissa frowned. Itchy feet? Was she changing after all? Had the cure not worked on her? She subtly leaned over to Candice's side of the table, looking down to get a good look at her feet. But they looked completely human; no fur, claws, pads... nothing. So... was that it, then? Was she not changing after all? Those questions continued pestering Marissa as Candice walked over to the trash can to dump her ribs before going upstairs to change clothes.

As soon as she was out of earshot, Dave turned to Marissa. "Do you think it worked?" he asked.

"Well... we might not know for a while," said Marissa, trying to forget about the whole itchy feet ordeal. "But if a few days go by and nothing happens to either of us, I think we can consider it a success!

"Well, I really hope it works," said Dave, getting up to dump his own plate. "I would hate to see this curse made even worse because you trusted someone you shouldn't have. And I would really hate to see Candice dragged into it, too!"

"Well, if we're lucky, we won't have to worry about any of that anymore," said Marissa, reaching down to scratch an itch on her leg. "We'll just return to our lives, and everything will be okay." She stood up and walked into the kitchen, dumping what remained of her ribs as well.

"Yeah, hopefully," said Dave, walking into the family room and sitting down in his chair. The moment he did, though, his ears picked up something strange: an odd clicking sound, coming from the kitchen. "Um, Marissa?" he said. "Do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Marissa stopped walking - and the moment she did, the clicking sound stopped as well. "What are you talking about?"

"Hold on, it just stopped," said Dave, holding his hand up. Confused, Marissa began walking towards him again, and again the clicking began. "There!" said Dave, getting up again. "Do you hear it now? I think it's coming from-" The moment he looked at his wife, the words died. "Oh no..."

"What? What's the matter?" asked Marissa, looking down at herself. "Is something wrong with - gah!" She cried out in shock, shaking her head and staring down at her feet. Slowly, white fur was starting to cover them, and her toenails had already grown out into claws, resulting in them clacking against the hardwood floor. "What? No!" she cried, examining her feet in shock. "This can't be happening!"

Dave simply shook his head. "Well... I guess it didn't work," he sighed. "So either you screwed something up, or..."

"No! I know I didn't!" cried Marissa, grabbing the bottle off the counter. "I did everything correctly, I'm sure of it! I added the correct dosage, I mixed it in with... agh!" Already, she could feel the bones in her feet shifting and growing, pads forming underneath them as well. She felt her toes merge once again, thickening and completing the transformation from feet to paws. "Dammit..." she muttered, grabbing onto the counter. "It's really hard to keep my balance like this..."

"Well... the only other explanation is that you got screwed over," said Dave. "Maybe you shouldn't have trusted that woman after all, huh?"

"No" yelled Marissa, shaking her head. She'd been so close to getting rid of the curse... she couldn't just give up now! "Okay, how about this?" she said, grabbing her phone. "I'll call her up and get her to explain what happened. If it's a mistake, she might be able to fix it, right?"

"Um... I guess so," replied Dave. "I mean, I just hope that it isn't a complete waste of t-"

Suddenly, there was a loud scream from upstairs, followed by the sound of running footsteps. A few seconds later, Candice was running down the stairs into the kitchen, her eyes wide with fear. But that wasn't all: her arms were covered in shaggy white fur, and her ears had grown larger and sprouted black fur... just like Marissa's when she was transforming. "M-mom?" said Candice, her voice sounding even more terrified. "W-what's going on? Why is this happening to me?"

"Um..." Marissa looked down at her phone, then looked back up at Candice. "It's... a bit complicated..."

"Gah!" cried Marissa, her hands flying up to her larger ears. "I-I can't focus... everything is so loud..." She shook her head frantically, squeezing her eyes shut. "Everything's getting dimmer... I can't even make out colors anymore... What the hell is happening to me?"

"I... I can explain it to you in a second, okay?" she said, frantically dialing Kayla's number into her phone. "I just need to call someone so that-"

"Are you SERIOUS?" yelled Candice, her voice going from terrified to angry. "You're not even going to explain this to me? Who are you even calling, anyway? Why are they so important that-"

"Hello?" This voice was coming from the phone. "This is Kayla. How may I help you?"

"Kayla? It's me Marissa," said Marissa frantically. "Listen, I did everything that you asked me to. I mixed the potion in with dinner, gave some to myself and some to my daughter... I did everything you said torrrrraaarrr...." Oh no... was her voice going already? Trying to keep calm, she cleared her throat and spoke again. "But it didn't work at all! I'm still changing, and so is my daugher!"

Candice's eyes widened. "What do you mean, you mixed a potion in with dinner?" she cried. Her ears were already growing longer and longer, until they finally flopped down onto her cheeks, completely covered in black fur. "What are you talking about?"

"Really?" asked Kayla, "That's weird... hold on, let me check my storage real quick..." The other end of the phone went quiet, save for the occasional sound of glass clinking. "Dammit!" the voice on the other end finally yelled, startling Marissa. "Damn you, Tara!"

"What? Tara?" said Marissa frantically. Already she could feel a familiar tugging on her spine, as it felt like it was stretching and growing... until it finally burst through her pants, forming into a shaggy, white-furred tail. But she wasn't exactly focused on that at the moment, since she had a far bigger issue to deal with. "What about her?"

"That damn witch... she somehow figured out how to mess with my potions!" cried Kayla. "I don't have a choice... the only thing I can do is make a new one. It might take a while, though. I'll go as quickly as I can."

"What are you even talking about?" cried Candice frantically. She suddenly looked down at her bare feet, noticing another jarring sight: they were growing and shifting just as Marissa's had, white fur sprouting all over them as the toes thickened and merged to make them look more paw-like. As the rough paw pads formed on the bottom, she immediately lost her balance and plummeted to the floor, forcing Dave to run over at catch her before she could completely hit the ground. "Oh my god..." she stammered, looking at her feet. "T-the fur... the claws..." She reached down to feel them with her hands, feeling her fingers rub through the fur and along the pads on the bottom. "This... doesn't feel right at all..."

"Please, just hurry up!" yelled Marissa, feeling a familiar itchiness on both of her arms. "My daughter's terrrraaarrr..." She cleared her throat again before speaking. "My daughter's terrified, and she's probably going to kill me if I don't fix this!" She looked down at them, noticing the thick white hair sprouting across them. "Just please be fast, okay?"

"Um... there is something I should probably tell you..." said Kayla. "See, when Tara messed with that cure, she... actually put some kind of enhancer in there, so..." Long pause. "Look, I'm just going to give it to you straight. If you end up changing completely, the cure isn't going to work. Even worse, you'll never change back... you'll remain sheepdogs for the rest of your lives. I'm going to go as fast as I can to make sure that that doesn't happen, but in case I don't make it... I just thought you should know that. Okay, bye!"

"Wait, WHAT?" yelled Marissa, but Kayla had already hung up. "What do you mean we won't be able to change back?"

"WHAT?" cried Candice, her face twisted in discomfort. One look behind her immediately informed Marissa why, as there was already an uncomfortable-looking bulge forming in the back of her pants. Sure enough, her pants were torn apart as the bulge broke through, forming into a shaggy tail just like Marissa's. "Mom, what the hell is going on? Who was that? Are... are we really never going to charrrrraaarrr..." She gasped loudly, putting a hand over her mouth. "Did... did I just..."

"Honey... I'm so sorry..." said Marissa, bending down to talk to her daughter. "I didn't want to tell you, because I was hoping that I could prevent it... but basically, you're under the curse too, now that you're 22. So... I tried buying a potion from a witch, hoping to cure the both of us, but something apparently went wrong and... now she's making a new potion to bring over here, but if we fully change before she gets here, we'll stay this way forever!" Her position was quickly becoming more and more comfortable, likely due to the shifting of her leg bones forcing her into a quadrupedal stance. The same thing was happening to Candice, as her legs seemed to be shrinking into her body as well, making it impossible to stand up again.

Tears were starting to form in Candice's eyes. "I... might stay like this forever?" she said. She looked down at her hands, which were already growing dark claws the match the ones on her feet. Her fingers were also shrinking, becoming less mobile and merging together. "I... I can't stay like this! What about my friends? What about my future? What about my life?"

"I'm sorry, Candice..." said Marissa, watching the same thing happen to her own hands. "But... at least we'll be changing together, right? I mean, it's not that bad... it can actually feel kind of liberating at times..." Her clothes were already starting to feel more and more uncomfortable, thanks to all the fur underneath them. With a sigh, Marissa carefully maneuvered her shorter limbs out of her shirt and pants, quickly slipping out of them. This left her mostly naked, but she didn't care; after all, her entire body was already covered in fur.

Candice, on the other hand, did care. "NO!" she cried, trying to cover her eyes and scoot away from her mother. But as she did, her own shorter limbs were starting to cause her own clothes to fall off her body. "Don't try to make me feel better about this! This is YOUR fault! I'm going to loose everything I have, just because yoooouurrr.... Rrraaarrr..."

"I'm sorry... I really am..." Marissa could only watch in sorrow as Candice's ability to speak slowly slipped away, her voice turning into simple growls and barks. She watched as fur began sprouting on her cheeks, becoming wet with the tears flowing from her eyes. Her nose began darkening and growing larger, as her hair began shrinking back into her head. It was almost over now. In a matter of seconds, Marissa was going to lose her only daughter to the curse she had tried so hard to prevent. If only she had been more careful... if only-

DING DONG! DING DONG! Marissa's growing ears quickly perked up. "I'll get it!" yelled Dave, running over to the door. He quickly opened it, revealing Kayla holding another bottle. "Are you Kayla?" he asked, causing her to nod in response. "Oh, thank God. You made it just in time. They're in the kitchen. Hurry!"

"Give it to her first!" yelled Marissa as soon as Kayla entered the kitchen. "She's almost completely chaaarrrr..." Already, Marissa was beginning to lose her ability to speak as well. The fur was quickly spreading across her face as well, but it no longer mattered. As long as she had the cure, she would be fine!

"Quick! Open your mouth!" yelled Kayla, bending down towards Candice. As soon as Candice's mouth was open, Kayla immediately opened up the bottle, pouring the contents into her mouth. As soon as that was done, she turned to Marissa, who's mouth was already open, and poured the contents into her mouth as well. The changes were almost immediate: fur began disappearing, paws turned back into hands and feet, tails disappeared... within seconds, the two of them were simply lying on the floor, completely human once again.

"Well... it looks like my work here is done," said Kayla, standing up. "Anyway, I should probably head back home. If you need anything else, don't hesitate to call me, okay?" With that, she turned and walked out the door, leaving the three family members standing together, speechless.

"Um... is everyone okay?" asked Dave, walking up to the two of them. "Everything's good now, right?"

"I... think so," said Marissa, standing up. "....Are you okay, Candice?"

"I..." Slowly, Candice began standing up, still breathing heavily from the stress. "...Yes," she finally said, glaring at her mother. "I'm okay now."

Relief washed over Marissa's face. "Oh, Candice..." she said, immediately opening her arms up to hug her.

But Candice immediately stepped back. "That doesn't mean I'm not still pissed at you, though," she said. "Now, I'm going to go upstairs and try to think up some kind of excuse to tell my friends why I didn't make it to the theater. I'll come back down when I'm ready for all the other birthday stuff... though that might not be for a while." With a huff, she turned and walked up the stairs, leaving Marissa and Dave standing by themselves.

"Well... at least she's okay..." said Dave, noticing Marissa's defeated expression. "Hey, cheer up, okay? I know she's mad at you, but she'll get over it. You're both still human, and you're both going to stay that way. And that's what really matters, right?"

"Well... I guess so..." Marissa lowered her head once again. "I just... I just wish I could have kept the whole thing from her. It would have been way better that way..."

"Well, there's nothing that you can do about it now," said Dave. "Now come on, let's go watch some TV while we wait for Candice to come back down. I don't think it'll be that long, to be honest."

Marissa simply sighed. "...Okay," she said, walking into the family room with Dave. The birthday obviously didn't go according to plan, she realized, but that didn't really matter in the end. What mattered was that the curse was gone, and both she and her daughter were free to live their lives normally. All she could do now was hope that Candice eventually reached the same conclusion...

........................................................................................................................................................................................................................

"Oh.. hey, Mom!" yelled Candice, walking in the front door. "Um... a couple of my friends wanted to come over for a little bit, just to hang out." She opened the door further, allowing her two friends to come in after her. "Is that okay with you?"

"Of course!" said Marissa, smiling. "You three can head right upstairs!" As she watched the three of them climb the stairs, she sighed to herself. It had been a few months since the whole sheepdog incident, and she still wasn't sure if Candice had fully forgiven her... but she didn't want to think about that too much. It was over, and now she just had to move on with her life; after all, she would never have to worry about it again.

"Alright," she said, grabbing a cup of coffee and bringing it to her own friend, Shannon, who had come over for a visit. "Now, where were we?" she asked. "You were talking about how your son just started college, right?"

"Yeah... I'm kinda worried about him, though," she said. "I mean, this is his first time being off on his own for so long, so..." She suddenly frowned. "Hold on, give me a second." She bent down, taking her shoes and socks off and scratching her feet. "Sorry, my feet are really itchy all of a sudden. I'm not sure why..."

Before Marissa could react, though, she suddenly heard her phone ring. "Sorry, one second," she said, getting up to answer the phone. "Hello?"

"Marissa, it's Kayla," said the voice on the other end frantically. "Listen. I don't have much time, so I'll make this quick. I was walking down the street past Tara's house, and I saw her sitting on her front porch. She looked really angry, and she was muttering something to herself, so I tried to get closer so that I could hear what she was saying. And, well... it sounded like she was talking about you."

Marissa's eyes widened. "What?" she said. "What do you mean? What did she say?"

"Hold on... let me try to remember," said Kayla. "Something like... 'That stupid witch. She thinks she can mess with me by curing those two? Well, I'll show her! I'll show all of them! I'll curse all of their friends, too! We'll see how they like that! They'll never be able to cure so many people!'"

Marissa stood there, perplexed. "Curse... all of our friends?" she said. "What does she mean by-"

A scream from behind her interrupted her. When she turned around, she saw Shannon staring down at her feet, looking horrified. As soon as Marissa saw them, she could see why: her feet were slowly becoming covered in white fur, and her toenails were quickly sprouting out into black claws. "W-what's happening to me?" she cried. "Why is this happening?"

"Mom! Mom!" The sound of her daughter yelling from behind her immediately diverted Marissa's attention. "S-something's happening to Lizzie and Suzy!" cried Candice "We were upstairs, and they began taking their socks off and itching their feet... and suddenly, their toes just started merging together! And then pads started forming under their feet! They're super freaked out, and I don't know what to do! I thought you said we were done with all this transformation nonsense! What the hell is going on?"

"Um..." Slowly, Marissa returned the phone to her ear. "I'm... going to have to call you back, Kayla," she said, before hanging up with a sigh. It seemed that she wasn't quite done with the curse yet after all...