Jason was in John and Nathan's room at the motel watching the last of the movies they had rented. It had been a rather dull afternoon, the weather simply too hot for them to go outside, and no real desire on the part of either of them to go back to the mall. So after playing several games of Bible Trivia and Clue, which Nathan had brought along on their trip, they popped in the last movie, not even bothering to wait for the others to get back to watch it with them. They had asked both Emily and Allison, but they had become engrossed in their mystery novels.

     It wasn't until the movie was nearly over, that they were given another mystery themselves. They heard a knock at the door, which John answered. It was Allison. She looked quite concerned, and her first action was to look about the room, scanning it to see who was there.

     "What's wrong Allison?" John asked.

     "Have any of you seen either Greg or Reverend Brandemas today? They've been gone all day, I haven't seen them once," Allison asked.

     "I haven't seen them," John admitted, "Have either of you guys?"

     "Nope." Nathan shrugged.

     "I saw Greg sitting in bed this morning," Jason replied, "But I haven't seen him since," forgetting the incident with the trashcans earlier that morning.

     "It's getting late, and neither one has returned yet," Allison pointed out.

     John looked at his watch, and saw that it was getting close to 6:30. His eyes went wide, "You're right, I wonder what could have happened to them?" Jason had a thought, they might have turned into dogs, but he refrained from sharing it. Instead he said, not quite knowing what else to say, "Well, we better go and look for them."

     "Somebody should stay here though, in case they come back," Nathan added.

     "I'll stay," Jason volunteered. Then he added, "I don't think you all should stay out later than eight, no sense in anybody else getting lost as well."

     "Good idea," John added. "I suggest the rest of us walk the town in pairs. I'll go with Allison is you'll go with Emily."

     "Fair enough," Nathan nodded, then he picked up the remote, and turned off the movie. Then Nathan, John, Jason, and Allison left the room, and went out into the hall.

     Jason walked over to his room, and opened up the door, "I'll leave my door open, and stay in here. I'll hear if anybody comes up here. Remember, get back by eight if you haven't found them by then. If that's the case, we should tell the authorities, and hopefully they'll know something, for all we know they could be in the hospital."

     John nodded, and while Allison called for Emily, he added, "I think we should pray before we go out, for all our safety."

     They each nodded, and once the two girls returned, they joined hand-to-hand in a circle, and John led them in prayer. It was a short prayer, but each one of them meant what John said. Once that was finished, Jason returned to his room, and the others left the motel to search for Greg and Brandemas.

     Jason paced for a few minutes, his mind running over the possibilities. He tried to remember everything that happened that day, and at the same time try to understand what was going on in Barken. This whole town seemed possessed of some spirit, something he couldn't identify with absolute assurity, but one that didn't seem malign at all. What had Greg said, that he had seen the girl from the book store turn into a dog? If that was true, then why should only that girl turn into a dog, why not everybody here in town? What are the chances that given the amount of dogs here, that only one person would be able to become a dog, and that Greg would just happen to see it. The chances to Jason seemed as likely as that of life only existing on Earth, something he didn't believe at all.

     Then it struck him where Greg was. He would be at the mall, Jason now recalled seeing him head there earlier, staring at that girl, doing something to that girl. If only he remembered this sooner, they could be on their way to finding him, and only having to worry about Brandemas. Should he himself go and get Greg? There was always a chance that Brandemas would return any moment, but it would only take about ten minutes to get to the mall, find Greg, and get back. It was a chance that Jason would take, besides Brandemas would most likely head to his room first and read his devotional before looking for the rest of them.

     As Jason was about to leave, he glanced in the bathroom, and caught sight of his own reflection in the mirror. Stopping he stared at it, and he found himself transfixed, completely held captive to his own gaze. His hand slid from the door, and he stepped into the bathroom, his face drawing nearer and nearer. Stopping at the sink he continued to stare for several minutes, looking his face over, examining every crevice and every nook. Not a single feature that made up his face went unnoticed or unexamined. He felt himself shivering in anticipation of some moment that he knew was coming soon. His whole body was breathing in, taking in more energy by the moment, vibrating in glorious ecstasy as some simple window in Jason's essence was being opened, some pane of glass being shattered.

     Jason not knowing quite sure what he was doing, took off his clothes, as he had the night before, piling them on the toilet seat. He then put his hands on the sink, and stared deeply into his eyes, watching them, feeling them flow inside of him. He felt his skin shimmering all over his body, and he felt his bones melting underneath his skin, and as he saw the color draining from his face. He felt himself pulling upwards towards his face, and his face he felt it drop forward, his teeth sinking back, spreading, elongating, and reshaping themselves. He felt his legs about to give out underneath him, so he let go off the sink, and dropped to the ground onto all fours, a position he felt strangely comfortable in. He felt his head sloping back, and his neck arching upwards, as he felt his hair receding in some places, and growing furiously in others.

     He could feel an almost collective sigh come from every fibre and every cell of his being, and he himself felt somehow more at ease. Blinking, he realized that he was still on all fours, and that their was something funny about the way the room appeared. It took him only a few seconds to realize it, there was absolutely no color! He was color-blind! Leaning down, he looked towards the floor, and saw not as he expected hands, but big grey paws, the paws of a dog! He blinked again, not believing what he was seeing, "I'm a dog!", he thought to himself.

     He put his front paws on the edge of the sink, and looked into the mirror again. He had a little trouble distinguishing the figure he saw, as his stereoscopic vision as a dog was not as good, but he soon realized just what kind of a dog he turned into. He was... a Husky? " A Husky?", he thought to himself, " I'm probably bigger as a Husky than as I am a human.", he thought, laughing to himself.

     Dropping back down to the floor, he mulled over what just happened. He had turned into a dog, something he had tried to do last night, but was unable to, and something that he had never even considered doing before coming here to Barken. There had to be something about Barken, that turned people into dogs, but why him and not say Nathan who was an avid dog person? There had to be some way to find the answers to his questions, but he didn't know quite who to ask, or in fact, how to ask them, he was a dog after all.

     Jason then jumped back up to the sink and looked at himself once again. He looked handsome as a dog. He would love to own a dog that looked so handsome, instead, he was one! However, another thought occurred to him, he was in the desert. A Husky was made for snow, not sand, and here he had a thick coat of fur, that was already, well, shedding. He dropped back down from the sink, and wandered back into his room, then jumped up onto his bed, and laid down. He laid there for a few minutes, his eyes ever straying to the open door leading out into the world. He felt building in him a desire to go out, and run along the streets, to feel his body move, to feel his muscles flex; he needed to run! He tried with every fibre of good common sense to stay put, but after a time the temptation was too much, and out the door he went, silently padding his way along the hallway, down the stairs, and out the front door of the motel. Once in the street, he ran off, feeling the wind in his fur, and the scents of the town flowing into his nose; glorious.

     The others returned promptly at eight o'clock, neither of them successful in finding either Greg or Brandemas. They each solemnly marched into the lobby, where Mrs. Brumfield was cleaning off the tables. She smiled, and said hello to them, and they returned the gesture, but they had more important business on their minds. They trudged upstairs, and made straight for Jason's room. John pushed the door open wide saying, "Well, Jason, we didn't find a bloomin thing, nope nothing." It dawned on him that Jason wasn't here. "Jason?"

     "What is it, John?" Allison asked him, her calm face hiding her anxiety.

     "Jason's gone," John said, as he began walking through the room, looking in each corner and crevice, even going so far as to look under the beds.

     Nathan looked in the bathroom, seeing nothing turned away, but then did a double-take and looked back in there. "Hey guys, check this out," Nathan called over to the others. Pointing to the toilet seat he said, "Looks like Jason has declothed himself."

     "Where would he go without any clothes? You think people wouldn't do this sort of stuff?" John said mostly to himself.

     Nathan kneeled down, and swiped his hand across the floor. Looking at it, he saw the shedded fur. He looked back at the clothes, rubbing the fur between his fingers, thinking.

     "What do you got there, Nathan?", John asked.

     "Dog fur," Nathan said rather placidly.

     "Dog fur?" Emily asked, peering in the bathroom now herself.

     "I think there's some on this bed here too," Allison called out, standing beside the right-most bed. Nathan and the others got up, and headed over to where Allison was standing. Nathan compared it to the fur he'd picked up in the bathroom. Staring at it for a few seconds, he declared, "Same breed, and most likely same dog. The fur seems to be too thick though for most breeds, looks like it would be a dog more suited to harsher climes."

     "Well why would a dog be in Jason and Greg's room?", John asked.

     Nathan had a guess, but it seemed to far fetched to be possible, so he refrained from mentioning it. Instead he simply said, "I don't know. Maybe Mrs. Brumfield knows something. Let's ask her."

     The four of them went downstairs again, and to their relief, Mrs. Brumfield was still cleaning tables. "Mrs. Brumfield?", John asked.

     "Yes, boys and girls, what may I do for you?", Mrs. Brumfield stopped what she was doing and smiled warmly at them.

     "Have you seen Jason? He seems to have let his room wide open?" John asked.

     "Oh yes indeed, he left here just over an hour ago, he seemed to be pretty intent on where he was going so I didn't ask."

     "Without any clothes on?"

     Mrs. Brumfield was taken aback by the question, but she smiled again and said, "I daresay I couldn't tell if he had any or not, what with that large coat he was wearing."

     The four looked at each other, why would Jason have a coat? "Were in the desert, why would Jason have put on a coat?", John asked for them.

     "Well," she began, "I thought it was too large myself, but I can't help people's preferences in what they wear in or out my motel now can I?"

     Seeing that they weren't getting anywhere, John asked, "Have you seen either Greg or Rev. Brandemas?"

     "Not since yesterday," she replied, a look of concern crossing her face.

     "Well, if you see them, tell them to come right up to our rooms, as we are worried sick about them," John said, turning back to head upstairs to their rooms.

     "I will, and I'll see you all again in the morning," she smiled up after them as they left. The four of them looked to each other, each feeling that something terrible was happening, and all of them wondering if they were to be next...