The wind swept through the gnarled, old branches of my favorite tree. The one in our family’s front yard, right near the end corner of our lot. In the springtime, it bloomed with beautiful colors, and in the fall the orange leaves fell to the ground to leave what it looked like now in the winter: black branches. They were my favorite phase of the tree.

I was sitting there at the base of that tree when Abnes and Morris approached me, a fearsome look in their faces. I hadn’t been to church in a few days, feeling like I was coming down with a cold. They were here to reprimand me, I knew.

“Noella!” They called. “Noella, you have been charged with acts of witchcraft and sorcery!”

Inside, I smiled. On the outside, I cowered.

“Sirs?” I responded, setting my book aside to stand and bow.

“Stay back!” They screeched, holding their holy book in front of them as if it could repel me. “Court testimony has shown that you have been mixing forbidden potions. You’ve been seen late in the woods, wearing unholy garb.”

My heart pattered with excitement. I had been doing those things … knowing they would see me. I wanted them here, right by my favorite tree when I showed them who I truly was.

“Sirs,” I whispered, feigning sadness, disbelief. Their faces showed that they felt they had the upper hand, assuming they would lure me to the courthouse to sit and rot in a filthy cell. Not me, not Noella …

It started with my neck. Within seconds, it stretched to grow a foot long, which propelled a forked tongue from my lips. Abnes and Morris attempted to flee, but I cast my hand before me to lock them in place. My hair fell from my scalp, replaced with reddish horns. My feet tore from their skin, taking the form of hooves instead. I grew a tail from my backbone, and that tail flicked on the frost-packed pavement of the lawn. The most exciting thing to me, though, were my teeth. Sharpened, they crept from my mouth in the hundreds, curling over my lips. I raised my mouth to bite, one hooved foot in front of the other.

Abnes and Morris would make a good dinner, but I had the whole town for my seconds …