“I felt the shame of unleashing the Beast only until I was washed in a flood of righteousness. The guilt evaporated, sizzled, then vanished like water on a hot skillet as my body shifted. I always expected pain, and the few times this had happened before, I’d been surprised: nothing but goodness, like I’d had an injection that made me somehow better in my Beastliness. My spine arched and stretched, my legs and arms lengthened, my fingers shortened. My jaw grew long and narrow, my ears pointed. My backpack straps were now comfortable, conformed to my new body. As I stepped out of my cheap black China-doll shoes, I felt elegant, sleek, graceful. The wind ruffled my fur.”