Housepets: Curse of the Werenut
Chapter One
It was a dark night, and the silver moon peeked through the
clouds, providing only the meanest amount of light for Peanut and Grape
Sandwich as they made their way home from the movie theater. They had begged for their parents to allow
them to attend the midnight screening of Pridelands 3, and though Peanut had
not been disappointed, Grape was in a sour mood.
"Oh, come on, Grape!" the dog said, shaking his cat friend
by the shoulders. "This was the best one yet!"
"No way," Grape retorted, shrugging her friend away. "They totally ruined it! The producers turned the whole thing into
nothing but a great big cash grab."
"That's not true!" Peanut insisted. "I loved how they made the Hyena King's mask
look so much like it did in the book!"
As the two friends bickered, they were entirely unaware that
they were being watched from high above.
Hovering in the air, hidden amongst the dark clouds, was the gryphon,
Pete. To his right was his friend and
nemesis, Dragon.
"Why did you bring me all the way out here at this time of
night?" Dragon asked obviously irritated.
"Oh come on," Pete snorted.
"We both know you don't need to sleep any more than I do. Besides, I wanted you to be here for the
turning point in our game!"
"Ha!" Dragon laughed derisively. "I'd love to see what you have in mind. You're so far behind me at this point, you'll
have to cheat to catch up with me!" She
eyed the gryphon suspiciously, "You haven't decided to cheat, have you?"
"Cheat is such a STRONG word," Pete shrugged, rolling his
eyes. "I prefer to say that I invented a
new set of rules without your permission."
"Pete, what have you done?" Dragon demanded.
"Behold!" Pete declared, pointing towards the cat and dog
far below them. "Behold, and see the end
of your reign of terror!" With a wicked
cackle, he reached out and plucked a strand of silver moonlight from the sky.
"Pete, you can't possibly mean..." Dragon stammered, eyes wide
with horror. "You can't!"
"All I'm doing, my dear Lady Lizard, is awakening a long
dormant power within your poochy little lover!"
"It's forbidden!" Dragon roared, stretching to her full
length to surround Pete, but the gryphon merely dropped a few feet, and with a
triumphant laugh, he cast the beam of moonlight at Peanut, who was still
blissfully unaware of what was going on above him.
"I'll admit, the final battle LOOKED pretty cool," Grape
conceded, "but it was nothing like how it happened in the book."
"I think you're just mad that Res didn't name a character
after you," Peanut said, grinning slyly.
Suddenly, the area around them lit up, and Peanut was
knocked off of his feet with a yelp of pain.
"Peanut!" Grape yelled, running to where her friend lay face
down on the ground. He wasn't moving,
and there was a black spot on his back where the fur had been burned. "Peanut, are you okay?"
The pup did not respond, but Grape took a small amount of
comfort in seeing that his chest was still rising and falling steadily. He had been knocked unconscious, but it
seemed he was still all right. Tears of
worry running down her face, Grape gingerly took Peanut's prone form in her
arms and picked him up. Being a puppy,
he was lighter than a full grown dog, but Grape still had a hard time moving
him. A soft moan escaped his lips as she
accidentally jostled him.
"Don't worry, Peanut!" Grape said to him. "You're going to
be okay."
As the cat tried to reassure her unconscious friend, Pete
grinned smugly at Dragon.
"You are a horrible creature, Pete!" Dragon hissed. "How could you do that to him?"
"I don't know about you," Pete shot back, "but I don't want
to be locked in a mortal body for a lifetime.
I've made my move, whether you approve of it or not." He spread his arms defiantly, "What are you
going to do about it?"
Dragon's eyes narrowed dangerously, "You forget that I have
connections in Babylon Garden. I'll go
to Tarot and see what she can do to help that poor dog."
Pete's grin only widened, "Are you sure you want to put
Peanut anywhere near his girlfriend right now?
After all..." he turned and looked up at the moon, "the full moon is
tomorrow night."