25legs. Your eyes migrate to the sides of your head. Through the dragon eyes, the colors of the Legoland look washed out. Then— Movement! <More Howlers!> you yell in thought-speak. <They’re coming down the stairs!> “Hhhhhrrroooowwwwrrrr!” Jake roars as he leaps. Rachel barrels ahead on all fours. Then one of the Howlers lets loose. “KEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-row.” Cassie howls in pain. Jake misses his leap and falls in a tangle on the steps. Rachel trips and falls, landing on top of Jake. Tobias falls out of the air. Ax is reeling, running. You hear…nothing. Yes! The dragon’s hearing is somehow insensitive to the Howlers’ most powerful weapon. The Howlers are circling the others. You have to attack! The dragon’s mind resists. The dragon wants to find someplace and hide. Find someplace and wait until the prey draws near…. “KEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-row.” Marco swings a fist, hitting a Howler on his arm and spinning the creature sideways. The Howler twirls around on his weird waist and brings up a weapon. F-t-t-t-t-t-t! He fires! A dozen steel darts, tiny triangles, whiz through the air. A bloody hole appears in Marco’s back. He drops like a load of bricks. Cassie recovers enough to bound into action. The

26Is the Howler even hurt? You can’t tell. Yet the dragon mind is satisfied, ready to rest. The dragon knows these Howlers will die. Your bite contains a poison. The Howlers will grow weak in a few days’ time. A few days? You don’t have that long! One of the Howlers draws his flechette gun. He shoots triangular steel darts at you. You are killed before you can morph out. Go back to page 21 and try again.

Your neck gets bigger and bigger. You lower yourself down on all fours as an enormous tail begins to stretch out from the base of your spine. ERG! ERG! ERG! ERG! The tail spurts out in bursts. One foot! Two feet! Three feet! Four feet! FWAAPP! Ax and the Howler are already fighting. Tobias hurtles down on the Howler from above, talons outstretched. You hear a clatter as the Howler drops a weapon. The sound is strange, distorted. Your ears have shriveled up and disappeared. Cassie is fully wolf now. She runs forward, teeth bared. Marco lumbers forward on gorilla