(Discontinued) The multi-hybrid

Chapter 52

Storm's POV

It was a bad idea, but I took my necklace off.  The clasp came undone easily.  Like the first time my necklace came off after my forms surfaced, I felt my energy drain from me and come back.  The ears and tail I had out went away.  I took a breath.  Carefully, I held my necklace charm up to the indent on the pillar.  It fit in perfectly.  Nothing happened that I could see.  I put my necklace back on.  I let my normal ears and tail come back out.  Guess it didn't do anything.

I went to the room I used when I stayed here the first time.  Sly had told me I could use it while I stayed here.  I grabbed a hoodie, slipping it on, and turned into my shadow wolf.  I jumped into a shadow, using it to get down to the street without someone seeing me.  I did still have my dagger on me, so it wasn't like I was leaving myself vulnerable to attacks.  But nobody who tried would even need to worry about the dagger.  I knew how to defend myself, that is thanks to Sky and the Skyarmy.

I snuck into an alleyway, changing back.  I left my hoodie down, putting my ears and tail away.  Where did you go?  I walked out, trying to find a scent trail.  It would be so much easier if I could be in one of my forms.  But it would draw too much attention otherwise.  This world didn't believe in hybrids, and it was better that it stayed like that.  I did find the trail I needed eventually.  What kind of plans were you making by hanging out around here, Jake?  You have to know it's dangerous.  You'd be stupid not to know that.

I followed the trail as closely as I could without trying to look suspicious.  I followed Jake's trail back to his hotel.  I went in, almost immediately drawing the attention of who must have been the manager or something.  The guy stopped me from going too far inside.  “I'm very sorry, ma'am.  The guests here have told me you caused a scene before and I can not allow you back in with a clear conscience.”  He said sternly.  He clearly wasn't sorry either.  I took a breath.  Okay, fine.  We'll do this the hard way then.  “I understand.”  I said, walking away slowly.

I ducked into another alleyway, changing into my shadow fox form.  If they wouldn't let me in the front door, I'll just have to find another way in.  I jumped into the shadow of the building.  Now there was one problem.  There weren't many shadows going all the way up the building.  A door opened nearby.  I leaped back out of the shadows, following one of the people.  Before they saw me, I changed into my normal wolf.  The girl looked at me after a moment.  “Awe, look at you.”  She said, putting the bag she had down.  I made myself whine, putting my ears down.

I looked close enough to a dog to pass for one in this form.  I just had to make sure my wings didn't come out.  The girl looked around a bit, bending down to my level.  “Where's your owner girl?”  She asked softly, petting the top of my head.  I yipped softly.  The girl picked up my necklace charm lightly, turning it over.  “No name or address…”  She said to herself.  The girl sighed.  I licked her hand gently, making her smile.  “I guess I can take you back in with me.  Until I find someone looking for you at least.”  She muttered.

The girl ran her hand down my back carefully.  She laughed a bit.  “Come on girl.  I'll sneak you in.”  She told me.  I got up, following her.  This was too easy.  I did feel a little bad for acting like this.  But I had to know why Jacob insisted on coming to The Hall.  He only risked getting himself hurt doing that.  I went in the open door, following the girl to another door.  She opened it, closing the door behind us.

“Casey, what are you doing?  You know we can't have pets.  We're lucky enough they let us stay here.”  A guy exclaimed.  The girl patted my head again softly.  “She's lost, Kim.  You know I can't leave an animal outside like that.”  She replied, sitting next to me.  Casey ran her hands over my ears.  I yipped softly again.  “Besides, look how cute she is.  She's been really quiet too.”  Casey added.  Kim sighed, moving to crouch in front of me.  He held his hand out slowly.  His hand was shaking.

He was scared of me… I tilted my head forward, sniffing his hand carefully.  He flinched back.  I took a small step forward, licking his hand gently.  Kim sighed, running his hand over my ears slowly.  It did feel good.  Kim chuckled a bit, standing back up.  “I guess she can stay.  But you have to find her owner.”  He accepted.  Casey squeaked a bit, hugging him.  “Thanks, bro.”  She said gratefully.  Casey led me to a back room, putting a blanket and pillow on the floor after a moment.

“Hope this is okay for a while girl.”  She told me softly.  Now I feel bad.  These two were just barely surviving yet they still wanted to take in what they thought was a lost dog.  Casey left the room, closing the door behind her.  There goes that way out.  The lights in the room were on too, restricting the shadows to places I couldn't do much with.  Looks like I might have to play the lost dog for a while longer.  Hopefully, The Few don't start searching the city for me yet.

(small time skip)

It's been a few days since Casey and Kim found me and let me stay with them.  A few days since Jess left for Asgard.  A few days since I left The Hall to look for Jacob… And a few days since I've been able to change my forms.  Kim and Casey have been taking turns watching me.  If Casey had to leave, Kim watched me and vice versa.  I was bored, and I needed to change back or I might change without warning. If I could somehow just get them to leave me for a few minutes, I could change into my human form for a little.  But I could wait.

Right now, Kim is gone.  Casey was reading some books across the room.  Kim and Casey worked in the hotel, but they don't have anywhere else to go.  So the manager allowed them to stay here, in one of the rooms that never got booked.  At least they weren't out in the streets.  These two were good people.  Kind, caring, helpful, and willing to do any kind of work to stay afloat.  Maybe I could find a way to help them… The kind of work they did wasn't fair to them.  They already had it hard enough.  I ducked into the bedroom and listened outside of the room before changing back and closing the door quietly.

I sighed, sitting back on the floor.  It felt so weird staying in a form for so long.  I let my normal wolf ears and tail stay out.  I felt good to be back in my half-human form.  Maybe that was one of the things I should have been practicing with Sky and the others.  Seeing how long I could hold my forms before they changed on their own.  That would be helpful to know right about now.  I stretched a little bit to try relaxing.  Though I kept my guard up in case Kim came back or Casey decided to come look for me.

Casey had taken to calling me Flora.  Having decided that I needed a name.  It wasn't that bad of a name either.  But I had noticed Casey liked reading.  She was always reading something.  I'd even seen her writing stuff down for stories.  Though she ended up throwing a lot of her ideas away.  The few I'd been able to read were good.  She had good ideas but needed a little bit of help on how to write out what the characters were doing and how they looked.  Actually, she wrote a lot in the bedroom.