Lucy squealed, reaching up and planting a kiss on Glenn's cheek. "Right away, boss!" she said, leaping from his coat and onto the ground. In mid air, her body shivered and shook off her human form. As her paws hit the grass, she looked up at Glenn. With a bark, she bounced up in the air and broke into a run. The wind rippled against her fur as she loped along the cemetery. Then, almost as suddenly, she stopped. Her ears flicked forward and her whiskers rustled. She snuffled against the grass, looking for something unfamiliar and strange. Nothing yet but a vague sound from the distance caught her ear.
She turned to Glenn, eyes dark and focused. With a loud, long whine, she called to him. Without waiting she began to bound towards the town square. Lucy slipped around the tombstones and leapt over patches of crab grass and dead flowers. As she drew closer, the smells of food and people enveloped her nose. Her whiskers flicked as she tried to decipher what was who. If she learned anything it was that people attracted more people and eventually a human would show up, stinking of mortality and mundanity.
Lucy slowed to a cautious stalk, avoiding feet and crying mourners. She slipped beneath a table, catching glimpses of conversation. Everyone was talking about the mayor or the food or what needed to be put on the tables. Nothing of interest. She crept beneath, unseen, until she caught a scent she had never come across before. She recognized Arturo and Rosa. Arturo, especially, frightened her. He smelled too wolfish for her comfort. Rosa's scent, however, was unmistakable. Her work with potions gave her a constant herbal smell, earthy and fresh.
She bolted towards the shops to get a closer look. Most took no notice of her but the new smell was unpredictable. There could be danger hiding within. Lucy stayed close to the walls of the shops, stalking slowly towards Arturo and Rosa. She saw them talking to others, hidden within a car. Her ears flicked. It had to humans but were they the right humans? Glenn would want to be sure. She couldn't disappoint him. What she needed were clothes. Humans were notoriously obsessed with clothes. She was just lucky she was near home.
Lucy bolted back towards the townhouse. She had moved in with her grandmother to perfect her craft. The older her grandmother got, the more she needed protection from man-made walls. A nasty scar from a fight with another animal had left her with a limp. But the townhouse was usually empty. It was more of a facade than a home. As she went inside, she shivered back to human form and headed to her home. It was a mess and a strange mockery of human life. Dishes were stacked clean in the bathtub. A couch sat in the kitchen, tucked against the fridge. The living room had no furniture apart from countless pillows and a makeshift pillow fort. Lucy started sniffing through her clothes. Nothing quite matched each other but it mattered little to her. She slipped into a galaxy leggings, a neon tulle skirt and an oversized t-shirt, tied in a small knot at the end. She slipped on some sneakers and headed back to the town square.
Not one for subtly, she approached the car much the same way a bull would charge towards a matador's cape. She pressed her face against the back window and spotted a boy her own age, or at least appeared that way. Age was relative in this town. In the front seat were two people, a man and a woman. They smelled related. Always a little unsure of how to deal with humans, she started to yell, "Are you staying here?" as if hearing were a magic ability.