Naga (Day 4)

Woman: Swift Creek Photos
Snake: KTS Photography

Chloe was becoming concerned.  It seemed that every few days, she’d end up as something else for several hours.  So far, sunset had brought relief from any change but would that always be the case.  There was no telling what the next change would be nor was there any guarantee it would take place in private.  Her husband’s work wasn’t going all that well either.  Some of the glyphs didn’t seem to want to translate even with the help of the university super-computer.  With his sabbatical fast running out, he was becoming somewhat desperate.  Chloe’s changes, though frightening in one sense and interesting in another, were secondary.  He was afraid he’d not get his next pay grade and that would cause problems for them in the future. Chloe understood but remained worried.  When several days passed without any changes, she began to wonder whether the whole supernatural episode was finished.  She’d not had any of the strange cold winds in a while.  

Amongst the many creatures they had on their acreage were a number of rather exotic pets.  Chloe realized that the snake, Snoot, hadn’t been fed in nearly a week.  Though she could go a couple of weeks in a pinch, she really did need feed weekly.  Chloe didn’t mind the task and went out to the garage for a frozen mouse.  It didn’t take too long for her to thaw it and warm it up slightly.  The snake wouldn’t touch cold critters but warm dead ones were fine.She carried the mouse up to the critter cupboard (as they called the bedroom where Snoot and a few other creatures lived.  Snoot responded to Chloe’s presence as she always did by hissing slightly and rattling her tail.  She was a green snake and not a rattler but, somehow, she’d picked up the tail movements even if it didn’t make much more than a rustle against the terrarium’s contents.

“Hey there, Snoot,” Chloe called out.  “Dinner time!”

Of course, Snoot really couldn’t hear all that well but she did respond to the vibration of the lid to her enclosure being moved.  Chloe placed the mouse in front of her using a long pair of tweezers.  Just before Snoot could take the mouse, the cold wind blew through the house.

“Oh no,” groaned Chloe.  “What this time?”

She looked about but nothing seemed changed.  Snoot had swallowed the mouse whole.  Chloe reached inside to stroke the silky scales of the snake and, as she did so, her world twisted.  She found herself inside the terrarium which seemed to have multiplied in size manyfold.  She twisted her head back and shrieked.  From just below her breasts, she had grown scales that slowly changed colour from her own skin tone to the green of the snake.  She no longer had hips, just an immensely long body: a green snake just like Snoot but much bigger.  Chloe paused.  Maybe she’d been shrunk instead of everything having grown.  She looked about for Snoot but couldn’t find her anywhere.  She had a very bad feeling … just like her and Stardancer, she had been merged with Snoot.  Looking about, she realized she was definitely in Snoot’s enclosure and not some magically enlarged terrarium.  Just then Stefan burst into the room.

“I’ve translated another few glyphs,” he exulted.  “One is most definitely snake …”

Then he paused.  He knew Chloe had gone to feed her snake but where was she?  A slight hiss and a quiet voice told him that Chloe had been transformed yet again.