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her eyes.
    She turned to look at the rest of herself.
    It was just as they had warned her. She saw the body of a large and mysterious lizard. Leathery, electric blue scales gave way to horizontal silver stripes, all the way into a slender forked tail. The belly of the lizard—
her
belly—was soft gray.
    She was larger than she had been before, and a bit longer—much longer, if you counted the tail. Strange new muscles rippled with every movement she made. Five-inch claws tipped her powerful hind legs.
    And she had
wings
! Two of them, folded neatly along her back. Jennifer moved her elbow, and one unfolded. She wiggled her fingers, and tiny batlike claws at the end of that wing waved back.
    She fainted again.
    ***
    The next time Jennifer woke up, she did not look back at her new lizard body. Instead, she stretched her neck until she could see past the middle row seat. Her mother was in the driver’s seat. Beyond the windshield, the crescent moon was lifting higher into the nighttime sky.
    She began to chew her tongue thoughtfully.
    “Ouch!”
    Of course. Sharper teeth. Jennifer chided herself for the near tongue piercing. Elizabeth turned briefly.
    “You’re awake?”
    Even this first hint of normal conversation made Jennifer seethe with resentment. “What, can’t you see my monster eyes glowing in the dark?”
    Elizabeth turned around again. “Oh, yes. I can now. They’re beautiful. Silver, darling. How do you feel?”
    “I’m a dragon, Mother. I feel like a freak. No, beyond freak. Like a monster.”
    Her mother didn’t reply right away. “You won’t feel like a monster forever.”
    Jennifer hissed. It sounded very dangerous, which only made her angrier. “I feel that way now.”
    No response.
    “Where are we going?”
    “Grandpa Crawford’s place.”
    That made sense. Her father’s father had a quiet, secluded place out on the lake.
    Plus, she liked Grandpa Crawford. Every Christmas, he came downstate with a truckful of presents, mostly books. He always skipped the ritual “how big you’ve grown” speech. Every summer, she’d visit his farm for a week. She loved relaxing in his enormous sitting room surrounded by crammed bookshelves, and she fondly remembered sitting on his lap as a small girl and hearing the most outrageous stories. Even now, she could picture his twinkling gray eyes …
    “Oh.” It came home to her. “Him, too?”
    “Well, of course. After all, your father…”
    “Where
is
Dad?”
    Her mother nodded to the right side of the minivan. Jennifer looked out the window. Not twenty feet from their car, a dark and winged shadow soared. It kept pace easily with them along the edge of the highway.
    The reptilian head turned toward them, and Jennifer saw the gray lining her father’s silver eyes.
     
----

CHAPTER 4
The
New
Weredragon
    « ^ »
    Crawford Thomas Scales was a man who had made his fortune in unusual agriculture and ranching. His estate sprawled over hundreds of acres, most of it farmland and forested hills surrounding a generous lake. A crumbling stone wall stretched for miles around his property, more of a landmark than a real barrier to trespassers. But Grandpa Crawford didn’t see many of those anyway, since no stranger dared take the first few steps onto his property without a proper escort.
    A single break in the southern edge of the wall allowed for a long, winding gravel driveway. On either side of the driveway, and stretching along the inside of most of the wall, were clusters of strange-looking hives. These hives contained bees of extraordinary size and temper. They never flew beyond the confines of their owner’s property—but they relentlessly attacked any stranger foolish enough to enter. Worse, they appeared impervious to weather, and remained active even through the harsh Minnesota winters.
    Beyond the hives was a strip, a dozen acres thick, of wildflowers. No two blossoms were alike—Jennifer could never figure out how her grandfather grew such diverse