The two stared at each other, neither sure what to say now.

“I…” Jacob tried to say first. “How sure are you, about being human?”

The monster lifted three of her tails. The first one was sticking straight up. The next two were looping around, each forming a circle.

In other words, the monster was one-hundred percent sure she used to be human.

“Wait, I thought you said you didn’t remember where you came from?”

The monster shook her head.

“But I asked you if you knew where you came from?” the monster shook her head again.

Jacob tried to remember what exactly he said before feeling an unwelcome sensation in his gut.

“You were saying ‘no, I know where I came from’ when I asked you last night,” he droned as the Monster gave him a happy nod. “You’re one of those people who love being difficult aren’t you?”

The monster just nodded even harder.

“I see how it is,” he allowed his anger to fade. “So do you remember your name then?”

The monster nodded even harder now, her tails wagging like crazy. Jacob looked at the overjoyed monster in front of him and choose his words carefully.

“But… how are you going to tell me what it is?”

Both the nodding and the wagging stopped.

The monster sat down, looking down at the floor while letting out a pathetic whine.

“Hey, calm down, I’m sure we can think of a way for you to tell me your name,” he looked around the kitchen for something he could use… “And I think I have an idea.”

He walked over to the small stack of papers his mother used to leave him messages. Right next to it was a pen, just ready and waiting. He grabbed both a paper and the pen and walked back to the monster.

“I know your tails are good enough to open a door and hold a racquet, but what about a pen?” he held the pen out for her. She stood still, entranced by the writing instrument in front of her. Carefully, she snaked one of her tails toward it, carefully wrapping around it.

She lifted it gently so the tip was pointing downwards. Jacob moved one of the chairs and placed the paper on it, turning it into a makeshift desk.

The monster turned and shifted a bit so she could both write on the paper and also see what she was doing. Jacob watched as the pen was lowered and hit the paper. It moved slowly across the white surface, leaving behind shaky, but readable lines.

After what felt like an hour, the Monster lifted her tail and pen off the paper. Jacob leaned forward and read the word left behind.

“EVE,” he spoke, somehow feeling as though he had pronounced all three of the capital letters the monster had used to write what was apparently her name. “That’s it… That’s your name, isn’t it?”

Eve nodded, looking like she was barely able to stand still.

He flinched back as she suddenly exploded into motion, wagging her tail, nodding, and wiggling her shoulders.

“Been a while since someone called you that, huh?” he asked as she grabbed the pen again and got back to writing.

By the time their question and answer session was done, Jacob had a good idea of who Eve was and how she had gotten in her current situation.

For starters, she considered herself a normal girl, only a year older than him to boot. She wasn’t a native of Oakwood, instead being from its sister town on the other end of the forest, a small town named Willowood. She got into an argument with her parents and had run away into the woods. She had been planning to go back, when the ‘fireworks’ he’d heard about happened. She claimed to have seen something fall out of the sky, and the next thing she knew, she was no longer human.

She had spent the next few months going around the forest, living off edible plants and wild animals. She had also taken a policy of avoiding people after someone had spotted her and tried to shoot her.

A sensible but still depressing decision if you asked Jacob.

Her contact with him was the first positive human interaction she’d had since she ran away from home. She had also gotten across how much she appreciated the chance to enjoy human comforts like cooked food and showers again.

“So now what?” he asked.

Eve simply looked at him and gave a simple shrug. Jacob shrugged back as the two walked back into the living room. The pair sat on the couch and looked at the TV which still hadn’t been connected to any sort of cable or satellite. He glanced down before remembering one last thing he wanted to ask her.

“Eve, can you shapeshift?” he asked as her ears perked up. “You managed to fit under the couch with no trouble, and you’re way too big for that.”

She walked in front of him and laid on the ground. Before his eyes, she started to flatten into the ground. She didn’t become two dimensional, not even close. But it was more than enough to fit under the couch.

“Nice, can you do anything else?”

She got to her feet and looked at each of her shoulders before closing her eyes and starting to tremble. A bulb of flesh appeared on each of her shoulders, slowly growing out into a pair of tentacles. He watched enraptured, as they grew to full size and small orbs started expanding at the ends. The pair of orbs came forward and split open. Two green, human eyes looked back at him.

“Oh, that’s cool,” he said as the eyes backed away and looked around the room from the top of the tentacles. Eve preened under the praise before attempting to walk around to further show off. Instead of a dignified walk, she stumbled and started falling over.

He rushed off the couch and helped steady her before she fell into something he had no way of replacing. He looked at the dull eyes on her face, and then to the dizzy looking eyes at the end of the tentacles.

“Is having the two extra eyes messing up your balance?” he asked before she did her typical ‘look away and try not to be embarrassed’ thing he was starting to get used to. “Hey, don’t feel too bad, most people can only handle two eyes. You were already managing double that.”

She nodded simply as the green eyes closed and the tentacles retracted into her body.

“Still, I have to ask. Are those green eyes what you had back in your human form?” he asked her, who gave a simple nod. “How much further can your shapeshifting go?”

After a quick trip back to the writing desk, it was clear he’d had finally found a question Eve had no answer for.

As the two sat across from each other in the kitchen, Jacob suddenly realized how hungry he was. He glanced at her and figured she was probably just as hungry as he was.

“Want me to make something to eat with the breakfast my mom left me?” he asked only to be received by a fanged smile and frantic nodding.

A quick use of the frying pan and microwave later, two plates of food were on the table.

She looked at the plate’s position, then at him, giving the boy a questioning gaze. He noticed the look and gave her a shrug.

“Making you eat on the floor already felt a little messed up before I knew you were human. If I did it now I’d feel like a complete scumbag.”

Stolen novel; please report.

Eve ducked down and dug her head into his stomach. For some reason, he felt as though she’d be crying if she could.

However, as the two took their place, a problem quickly arose.

“Can you use utensils?” Jacob asked as he looked at the two pairs of forks and knives in his hands. He looked at the plate on the table and felt his face heat up a little. “In my rush to be polite, I may have overlooked some minor details.”

She gave him a snickering laugh before separating her tails and using two to motion for him to place the fork and knife on the table.

Jacob did as told and set them down before sitting down to eat, watch, and maybe help if the need arose.

As it turned out, the need did not arise, even if it was a close thing at a few points. Eve struggled to maneuver the fork and knife with her tails at first, but a few careful and experimental stabs and cuts to the food let her slowly figure it out. Considering she hadn’t used either tool in months, and that she had done so with much more useful hands, it was an impressive sight.

Or at least Jacob thought so. And since he was the only human to ever see her attempt the task, his opinion probably counted for a lot.

Soon enough, the food was eaten, everything was clean, and Jacob was standing in the backyard with Eve as she got ready to head back out into the forest before his parents arrived.

“You ready to head back out there?” he asked as her gave him a solemn nod. “Good luck out there, try not to get shot at by anyone,” he said, only half joking.

She reared back before waving her tails around and dashing off in the forest. As she ran through the woods, the now tired scents and sounds of nature filling her mind, she found herself almost unable to wait to return to Jacob’s house again.

As for Jacob, he sat on the couch, making himself comfortable as someone knocked on the door.

A short while later, the TV was blaring music into his face as the baseball game played out in front of him.

The TV guy had finally shown up. He’d worked his magic and when he was done, the first thing Jacob did was turn the TV on and find something to watch. While he wasn’t the biggest baseball fan in the world, his little league days made sure of that, he could still enjoy watching other people play it.

They were in the fourth inning when his father got home.

“TV guy finally got here,” Jacob said the second his father walked into the living room. The older man looked at the ongoing game and gave a quick smile.

“Well, it was about time,” he sat next to his son. “How’s the game gone so far?”

He got into a quick explanation of the game, weaving the story together as his father went to go grab his lunch from the fridge. By the time it was heated up and ready to eat, both father and son were sitting at the table, watching TV from there.

“It’s nice living so close to work,” he commented as the game went to commercial. “I’d never be able to make it back home for lunch at my old job.”

“You’ve got that right,” his son agreed. “You’re also going to be leaving later and getting home earlier too, don’t forget that part.”

“One of the many reasons we moved out here,” his father admitted before eating the last bite of his lunch. He glanced across the table to the empty spot in front of his son. “You sure you don’t want to eat lunch?”

“I’m sure, Dad,” he rolled his eyes. “I ate breakfast way too late. I’ll eat lunch in a while.”

His father just hummed before setting the fork and knife on the now empty plate.

“Just make sure you get your sleep back in order before school starts up,” he advised. “Summer break is fun, but school’s going to sneak up on you before you know it. You don’t want to be used to waking up so late by then.”

Jacob felt a chill as the concept of school wormed into his head, and not for the typical reasons it would for someone his age.

If he was stuck in school, how was he supposed to see Eve when she came to visit at night? Most amazing thing he had ever seen aside, he would have to do something about her before the school year started back up.

Jacob’s father, not aware of the real reason why his son looked so worried, let out a quick chuckle before his eyes fell on his watch.

“Oh, I have to get back to work soon,” he rushed to his feet and started heading upstairs to brush his teeth. He stopped halfway before turning back to his son. “Jacob, could you do me a favor and wash all that stuff?”

Jacob just gave him a quick nod while picking up his father’s things to wash them.

“Thanks,” he said before heading back upstairs. By the time he walked back down, everything was clean and he was back on the couch watching the game.

“You want me to record this for you for when you get home?” he asked his father as he grabbed a few more things on his way to the door.

“Go for it,” he said back as he opened the door and headed out.

Jacob set the game to record and then waited for the sound of his father’s car starting up. As the distant rumbling got even further away, he jumped to his feet and started pacing the room.

“Plan one,” he said aloud, hopping that hearing his words would help him figure something out. “Tell Mom and Dad about Eve and hope they don’t freak out about the fact their son has been letting a nightmare dog monster into their house.”

He stopped in place as the sound of the announcer yelling that a player was out filled the air.

“Might work as a last resort,” he finally admitted before going back to pacing.

“Plan two, find some place for Eve so she can have something better than just wandering the forest. Maybe make her a shack in the woods… Now how do I do that?” he asked as he looked down at two hands which had never made anything bigger than a gingerbread house on Christmas.

“Maybe I can ask Ryan and Ellie about the shack I found them all in that first day…” he said even as he found himself hesitant to involve other people. “No, I’m sure I can do this on my own.”

He set that one aside and paced one last time.

“Plan three,” he forced himself to say even as the words filled his mouth with a vile taste. “Abandon Eve and wish her the best.”

He imagined himself closing the door in her face and leaving her out in the night. He didn’t like it; he didn’t want it.

“Plan two it is,” he finally decided as he looked outside into the backyard. He slid the door open and pushed the bushes aside to reveal the hole which led to the forest beyond. He crouched and walked through, finally doing something he should have done much earlier.

Take a good look around the area outside his fence.

The area was pretty flat, and despite his naming it ‘the forest beyond’ the area right outside his fence was somewhat sparse. If he wanted to clear a rectangular area around the hole, all he would really have to do was remove a few trees and even out some dirt. Between his athletic skills and Eve’s everything, it shouldn’t be too hard.

No, the tricky part would be finding stuff to build with. And he supposed transporting all the stuff here would also be a bit tricky. And he had already realized he didn’t have any experience building anything like this.

“Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself,” he said as the problems began to mount. “Maybe Eve already has a place somewhere in the forest and all I have to do is bring her some stuff from home so she can live a bit more comfortably.”

Night fell, Jacob waited, and then learned Eve did not in fact, have a place in the forest.

“Well that makes things tricky, doesn’t it?” he asked as he sat on the porch, Eve lying right next to him. She gave him a questioning look and soon he found himself telling her about his worries. That when summer vacation ended, he would be in a much worse position to help her out like he was now. He also told her about his crazy plan to make her a house somewhere so she could enjoy some human comforts while he was stuck in school.

“Sounds like a crazy idea, huh?” he asked, expecting her to start laughing at him again. Instead she jumped in place before leaning forward and wagging her tails. “I take it you like the plan?”

The frantic nodding and tail wagging was all the answer he needed.

The pair walked back through the hole, Jacob explaining his findings from earlier in the day. Eve nodded along with his words, even wrapping her tails around one of the skinny trees and giving it a light pull.

It was enough to nearly topple the tree over. The pair looked at each other and came to the quick and silent conclusion that step one of the plan was more than possible.

“Now what are we going to do about the rest of the plan?” he asked as the pair headed back through the hole and onto the porch. She pawed at his shoulder before taking one of her tails and mimed writing something with a pen. Seeing where she was going, Jacob went back inside and grabbed a pen and paper.

He watched as she wrote on the paper, her words getting neater and faster with practice. Any outside observer would notice her tail writing skills were a work in progress, but it was readable and for Jacob, that was what mattered at the moment.

“Blueprints?” he read off the paper. “Yeah, I guess we should get those first…” He trailed off as yet another problem appeared before him. “You have any idea how to make a blueprint?”

Eve froze before shaking her head.

“Looks like we’re back at square one,” he placed the paper down. “I don’t think we’re going to be able to do anything about this today. Anything else you want to do?”

She grabbed the pen again and looked at the paper carefully, weighing her options. She looked inside the house and saw something she had not seen for a long time.

“Movie?” Jacob read off the paper before glancing at the TV. “I guess you haven’t seen any since all this started. Alright, what do you want to watch?”

A few more rounds of paper and pen later, and he had a basic idea of what she wanted. Mostly because Eve didn’t want to watch any movie in particular, but just wanted to experience watching a movie while eating popcorn and lying on a couch.

In short, she just wanted a normal movie night.

Jacob scrolled through all the movies he had on demand, thankful his parents were deep sleepers.

“What about this one?” he asked as he came across one which looked kind of interesting. “You want to watch?”

She gave him a frantic nod as the pair both started to smell the popcorn from the kitchen. He walked over, opening the microwave and releasing a wave of buttery smell which filled the room. Despite the late hour, Jacob found himself hungry. Eve, on the other hand, was almost drooling at the smell.

The pair sat on the couch, bowl of popcorn in front of them as the movie started.

From what he’d read of the description, he’d been expecting a pretty standard high fantasy movie.

Two hours later, the movie was off and both of them were fighting back tears of laughter.

“I can’t believe in ended like that,” Jacob said, wheezing. “I hope they make a second one because that was great.”

Eve just laughed harder, the mental image of two warriors chanting ‘one of us’ over and over again to the panicking princess who’d just accidently burned down the inn playing in her head again. The fact that she had joined their band of adventures at the end only made it funnier.

“Well, time to clean all this up,” he announced as she hastily looked away. A tactic which had no effect on Jacob, who just looked at her before pointing to the many popped kernels on the floor.

It took a bit of convincing, but soon enough Eve was learning she could, in fact, use a broom with her tails.