Chapter 10

It has now been a month since my odd power developed. Lately I've been carrying around my hero costume in my satchel, just in case there was some kind of emergency where I'm needed. Fortunately, there hasn't been one, until today. It happened at the end of health class, just after everyone was dismissed.

I was packing up my things when I noticed Mr. Cashol wasn't looking too good. He was standing at his desk, packing away a massive stack of paper he has to go through, making his face-and strangely every other body part's skin that was visible-turned very pale. Then he started rummaging through his briefcase wildly, as he started to panic.

Where is it?

Don't tell me I've forgotten it at home.

No, please no.

"Mr. Cashol, are you okay?".

He looked up at me and instantly I could tell that something was wrong. His face had turned almost a paper white colour and beads of sweat was collecting on his forehead. After a few wary moments, the teacher crashed to his knees, behind his desk.

"CASHOL!" I yelled, rushing to his aid.

I got down on my knees and placed my hands on the teacher's right shoulder and the underside of his left forearm. I could feel his body trembling.

"Vanessa, you've got to get out of here before it's too late" he rasped.

"What do you mean? I can't leave you here lying on the ground; I need to call 9-1-1 to get you the help you need" I said, giving him a worried look.

I pulled my phone out of my back jean pocket and was about to dial 911 when Mr. Cashol puts his hand on top of the screen and lowered my arm down.

"I don't need medical attention Vanessa; I need a cure".

After he said that, I noticed that his size was starting to increase and his human features were vanishing, with albino snake characteristics taking their places.

As he continued to transform, I pulled out my hero costume from my satchel and changed into it behind an island lab counter. After I finished, I came back out and looked where I saw Mr. Cashol sprawled out, but he wasn't there anymore. Taking his place, was the albino anaconda snake. I swallowed hard as I looked up at the towering snake, staring down at me with its red glistening eyes.

"Oh boy" I murmured under my breath.

Next thing I knew, I was flung out of the science classroom and smoothly slid into another classroom across the hall. After I got up to my feet, I brushed myself off and tried to think of an animal that would-can-defect a large snake.

What about a Komodo dragon?

No, I won't be able to use that, they have toxins in their saliva. But I can use an American crocodile.

I just have to avoid being constricted to death.

I quickly shapeshifted into a fifthteen foot long American crocodile and adjusted my height to seven feet tall, so when I'm on all four legs I can fit through the doorway. After crawling through the doorway (and accidently cracked some of the walls), I faced the vicious snake. It slithered out of my health science classroom and reared up, towering more than six feet above me.

I lunged at the serpent's throat, pushing myself onto my hind legs to fully clamp my jaws around it. I dragged the snake down with me and I began to thrash it around, thinking that maybe Cashol will lose consciousness and transform back. Unfortunately, my plan wasn't very effective because as I jerked my thick, scaly neck and head around in multiple directions, the albino snake wrapped its body around mine.

I could feel all its powerful muscles starting to squeeze, getting tighter around my body, every few seconds. Within minutes I stopped thrashing my head and loosened my jaw on its neck, creating small gaps every here and there to gulp on air. I was losing the battle and the snake knew it, staring at me with its unblinkable devil red eyes. Soon I'll be fighting for air.

But what if I make the creature release me completely?

As the serpent sent another wave of constriction, I clearly pictured a giant Asian clawed otter in my head and quickly became one, easily slipping out of the snake's grasp. I made a run for it down the hallway, sprinting for my life as the albino snake pursed.

I made a sharp right turn towards the English hallway, before descending down two flights of stairs on my next right turn. Then I dashed past student services and out the front school doors, just glancing behind me to see if I was still being followed closely. Luckily, I maneuvered swiftly enough to lose it.