Sam was on his morning jog up the street near his university, sprinting past groups of girls and the occasional student on a bicycle.

Every block or so he would glance at his new sports watch, the kind that told him the exact distance he had ran, and how many calories he had burned. All those Raman noodles weren't going to burn off by themselves.

It was at one of these stops that he was not looking, when one of those students on a bicycle tried to swerve around him. Not surprisingly, the guy had nearly knocked sam over with his bike, sending him flailing into the wall of the nearest storefront.

"Stupid hipster, ride your bike somewhere else!" He yelled, but the man in the beanie didn't even glance back. Muttering the most foul curses he could think of under his breath, he slowly got to his feet from where his face had met the wall.

Brushing off his athletic shorts, he examined the wall with which his face had become acquainted just seconds ago.

The slightly shabby, one story building was sitting between a Starbucks and a bagel shop, but what struck him the most was the front display.

Towers of musty old books stacked up 4 feet high were placed haphazardly behind the smudged glass, looking to all the world more like what one would expect to find in one's attic than in a small town that sported a full 3 Barnes and Nobles.

Nevertheless, sam was intrigued, this was the kind of place he could spend hours pouring through old books. A literature student, especially one like himself, would never pass up the chance to grab some discount books. Without further hesitation, he stepped into the small shop.

Immediately upon entering, he was hit with the smell of paper and dust, causing him to sneeze. The brass bells tied to the door clanged together, announcing his arrival, but no shopkeeper or salesman appeared. Maybe they were taking a coffee break somewhere.

Looking around, the store seemed bigger than it had looked from the outside, like the inside was a few feet wider than the outside. As if that was possible, Sam thought.

Despite the incredible poor organization or just sheer laziness of the owner, most of the books appeared to be in very good shape, most still had undamaged covers and un-yellowed pages, as if they had come from a museum. In fact, all the books in the store looked to be incredibly old, with leatherbound covers and handmade pages made these unique.

"H-hello?" He called into the shop, but there was no answer from among the waist high stacks of literature.

"Anyone here...?" He asked again, but still found no answer.

His fingers itched to pick up one of the books, and with no one around, he was free to explore.

He opened the top book on the nearest stack, only to squint at the page. The rough-edged paper was covered in astrological charts, depicting phases of the moon, tides, and star movements. The whole book was full of them, carefully inked out by hand hundreds of years ago.

Sam felt criminal just for touching such an old book with his bare hands, he knew how fragile these old books could be, and the last thing he needed would be to pay for damaging one of them.

He glanced quickly at the white handwritten price sticker stuck the the back, and felt his heart sink to the tune of $753 dollars. His first car had cost less than that.

He glanced up, feeling like he was being watched by some silent matron, but still found himself alone. Where was the store owner?

He continued to the back, careful not to tip the precarious stacks that covered most of the floor space, following a labyrinthine path that snaked through the piles with no particular reason.

The trail lead him to the back of the store, covered by a tacky bead curtain instead of a door, that hid the off limits section from the rest of the store. There had to be someone here, right?

Pushing apart the red wooden beads, he had expected to see someone seated at an old computer, sipping tea, or some kind of thing like that.

Nope. There was no desk, no computer, nor any person sipping tea. The room was not very large, with a shorter ceiling and a bit of floor space, but it was not the room itself that had made sam stop.

The back room was lit only by tall candles, stuck in candelabras around the room. Both floor and ceiling were covered in strange, occult symbols that reminded sam of a horror movie he had seen once.

But what had caught his eye was the small table he had seen in the back of the room. It was arranged like some kind of shrine, with a small frame over it covered with velvet on the back, around it random objects were scattered like they had been dumped there by accident.

Bones, animal teeth, feathers, and a dozen other things sam had never seen before, in messy, unorganized piles, this was definitely the work of the store owner. Under the velvet curtains was a book.

A very big, thick, old book. It looked like it was even older than the books in the front room, bound in thick leather like the others, and had a very large padlock built into the covers, as to keep it safe from prying eyes.

Despite the lock, Sam's prying eyes were free to gaze over the pages, as the careless shopkeeper had left the book open on the table. Sam's eyes grew wide as he pulled the book closer, what was it about?

His enthusiasm dropped like a rock when he realized he couldn't read a single word.
"What the heck?" Sam said, studying the pages. "It's all gibberish!" Sam sighed. So much for finding out about this old book.

He scratched his head. It wasn't greek, or Latin or any other language he could recognize. What the heck was it, sam thought.

"Aenean massa. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, donec quam felis, pretium quis, sem. Nulla consequat massa quis enim?" Sam read from a random page. "Jeez, so much for reading it."

Sam turned around sharply, heading out the door when he suddenly felt strange. Grabbing the wall for support, he clutched his now churning stomach.

Afraid he would be sick in the small room, he tried to pull himself out of the doorway, but found himself unable to, like his body was attached to a rope that went no further than the bead curtain.

Still struggling, his legs felt like they had been paralyzed, feet refusing to lift off the wooden floor like they had been glued there.

"What. the. heck. is. going. on?" Sam asked from between gritted teeth. A strange feeling, like his feet being caressed, made him look down, only to see them encased in a completely unnatural purple light.

Sam realized what was going on, but the panic that had plagued him earlier had vanished, replaced with a hazy view of what was happening.

The light settled around his legs was brighter now, but Sam was still unable to move either foot. His jogging shoes suddenly felt very tight around his feet, like they had shrunk a size, making Sam feel like he was being squeezed slowly.

The tightness had gotten worse, and Sam could see now how tight his shoes were. He tried to bend down, to untie his laces, but a sudden ripping noise stopped.

"No, no, no, no! Those were expensive!" Sam yelled, as he watched his $200 investments rip apart at multiple seams.

Parts of his white socks peaked through the ruined shoes, as the top part was steadily ripping away from the rubber soles.
The feeling in his feet was almost painful, and he was relieved, as angry as it made him, to watch the tops finally rip away, he could see his socks.

His socks, apparently, were doing just about as well as his shoes had been, large circular rips in the fabric revealed...fur? Was that what it was, Sam asked himself. He was not sure, but he couldn't see them very well.

Beyond the toes, black claws had emerged, ripping through the cotton like paper, exposing more black fur.

Sam cried out in surprise as he felt his feet suddenly seize up painfully, and watched, in horror, as they began to reshape, bending in half as his stance switched onto the balls of his feet, the rest arching upwards with a series of cracks and pops.

The event had completely shredded his socks, showing Sam his feet were covered in the short, black fur.

The purple light had now moved up his legs, and he could feel them begin to itch, as the black fur climbed up his legs, eventually overtaking his athletic shorts, where he could feel the fur continue.

The light stopped at about his waist, before Sam felt a sharp jab to his spine. Hands feeling the area where the sudden pain had come from, he felt a small nub just above his shorts.

In his hands, the small nub began to lengthen, longer and longer. A few seconds it was possible to hold his long black tail in his hands, his hands stroking it down its length. Letting go, the new tail reached partially down his leg, where it hung. Sam watches in awe as it suddenly twitched, and it took Sam another few seconds to master the controls to move it, but once he did, he felt like he had been born with it.

As the fur moved, so did the light, now encompassing his torso, as the fur continued, never changing speed or color it reached his shoulders, and began to cover his arms and hands.

Sam watched as more black claws emerged from his fingers, incredibly sharp and obsidian black, Sam suddenly felt a twitch in his fingers, and his new claws retracted back into them. It took him a second to find the necessary muscles and tendons that activated the claws, and pushed them in and out, experimenting with the feeling.

The light now encompassed his head, ears became pointed and black, where they slid up his head to poke out of his hair.

Sam felt his nose twitch, and felt his skull stretch a few inches outward, teeth becoming sharp and longer. Long, black whiskers poked out from his face, and Sam thought it was all over.

Everything went black, making Sam frantically put his hands to his eyes, brushing apart the bangs that had obscured his vision. Bangs? Since when was his hair that long?

Sam visibly blushed, as his body began to slim down, his waist pinching in and his shoulders moved closer together. His hips widened, stretching his running shorts outward to accommodate his growing hips. His thighs became thicker and wider, and his face became visibly feminine. His eyes widened as he suddenly as he felt an uncomfortable and powerful squeezing between his legs, like someone was slowly compressing his two best friends.

With a shaking paw, she searched her boxers for her now absent member. A claw entered the large, open slit, causing Sam to suddenly and involuntarily spasm, and a cry of unexpected pleasure.

Sam suddenly felt a building pressure in her furred chest, a panicked look on her face, as she felt her chest began to push outward, nipples growing and stiffening, the flesh beneath them pushed out, continuing to grow rapidly, stretching his shirt to its limit. Her other paw began to slowly rub the growing mounds, the other paw still in her boxers.

There was a sudden clamour on the front of the store, as brass bells clanged together merrily, announcing the arrival of someone new.

Sam looked around frantically, trying to find somewhere in which to hide, but she found none, and she could hear someone approaching.

The bead curtain was pulled apart, but instead of the sudden scream Sam had expected, the person remained calm.

"Well, well, well, " The newcomer said, looking up and down Sam's body. "Looks like someone was a naughty kitty and read the book out loud." She said, smiling.

The woman was dressed in a long black dress, and was holding a white plastic shopping bag in one hand. With long, obnoxiously purple hair, she looked to Sam to be about twenty, maybe older, he couldn't quite put a finger on her age.

She walked slowly up to Sam, stretching out a hand to stroke her black furred chin. Sam tried to pull back, but found himself unable to move his body.

"You know, that's what happens to nosy mortals when they try to read my book, you know, it was very rude to snoop back here."

The woman walked over to where the book lay, and read the page that Sam had opened it to. A smile formed on her lips.

Sam opened her mouth to say somthing but the woman interrupted her.
"It looks like this spell was irreversible, and even it was, I don't think I'd want to change you back, kitty."

Her hand scratched Sam behind her black ears, causing her to emit a soft purring deep in her throat.

"I've been in need of a familiar since I opened my new bookstore, and you look like you could use a new home. Do you like books?"

"I suppose you wouldn't mind teaching me how to read how to read that book would you?" Sam asked.