Broken [In Revision 2023]

Chapter 11 - New Cycle

"No! No...no...no," Caleb hadn't realised he was actually saying the words until he heard them. His own voice alien to his ears after months of living as a horse. He had become aware of the energy surrounding him as the moon raised up to its highest point in the night's sky. Fighting it had been futile, he had known from the start that there was no denying the order to return to human form.

He remembered what the girl had said earlier about Jake, that spending too long around the horses could make him forget what he really was. Was that true, he wasn't exactly human either, so where did he belong?

Someone in the house stirred, the hallway light set a dim glow in the kitchen. Caleb panicked, he dived through the fence and pelted towards the barn. Jake had left the door open in case the weather turned severe.

Caleb didn't stop running until he collapsed in a heap in one of the disused stalls. The straw was stale and dusty, it tickled his nose but he was too scared to sneeze. His heart hammered in his chest, making him feel light headed.

Jake rushed to the kitchen window and scanned the paddocks for the horses. His heart dropped into his mismatched boots. Sunny was missing. He rushed to the door and stuck his head out to check the gate.

He cursed loudly into the night air, startling the two remaining horses who were dozing under the shelter. Slamming the back door he grabbed his phone and called his niece. "Sunny's gone, someone's taken him or let him loose, I heard them yell and I can't see him anywhere." He shrugged his jacket on and let himself out of the house, he hung up, unsure whether she fully understood him or not and ran to the barn.

Turning on all the lights he grabbed two headcollars and brought both the horses in from the fields. He was halfway through tacking them up when Maddy arrived, sleepy-eyed with her hair in a messy bun.

"You can't rope off of Moonie, he's an event horse not some old cow pony," her tiredness did little for her temper. She snatched the reins from her uncle and secured her helmet. "You take Dezi."

"I won't be able to get close enough, she doesn't like him." Jake grabbed his dusty helmet from the peg and with great disgust secured the moulding strap under his chin.

"Then you had better hope you can still rope good, I know you were never much for the western classes but grandma always said you had your dad's arm."

Jake said nothing and swung himself aboard the small horse from the ground. Dezi took a few steps forward to maintain her balance, she wasn't used to being mounted from the ground, or the heavy weight of a man. He patted her neck and tightened the girth, not bothering to alter the stirrups before encouraging her to a brisk walk.

"I'll check the hill track, if they let him out that side then there should be a good trail to follow, the ground is really soft at the moment." A quick thought had her turn Moonie in a sharp circle, she grabbed the head torch off the shelf and secured it over her helmet. If she wanted to find hoof prints she needed to be able to see them.

"I'll take this side and go down the driveway, I'll check the pastures on the way back up and then take the eastern trail down to Micky's ranch, there are a lot of mares down there he might have taken an interest in." Jake pressed his legs against Dezi's sides, urging her into a punchy trot and then a smooth canter. Time was of the essence, he needed to keep that horse away from prying eyes. Unless of course they already knew.

Caleb had plastered his hand over his mouth to muffle the sounds of his breathing. They were too close for comfort. He closed his eyes and desperately tried to call back his equine form. All he achieved was a headache.

The cold breeze stung against his bare flesh, he looked at himself for a moment and was astonished. He had always been a weedy guy, thin and weak looking, but now for the first time in his life, he had some visible muscles. Not enough to be a bodybuilder, but enough that he finally felt masculine.

He remembered that he needed to find clothes and he needed to escape. There was little in the barn to cover himself with, he paused anxiously at the door, to check the coast was clear. Seeing no one he made a mad dash towards the house.

The kitchen door banged behind him, he dropped to the floor as if he had been shot. It took a few minutes for him to realise he was indeed still alive. He picked himself up and cautiously looked around the house.

The office had been constructed to hold a large volume of trophies and ribbons, most of which had been removed to allow dust to accumulate on the shelves. An old computer sat unused on the desk, the keyboard lost under a sea of paperwork.

Caleb hurried into a bedroom. The clothing was scattered about the floor, nothing appeared to have been washed in a while, everything carried the heavy mix of sweat and horses. He was worried about the fit, Jake was at least a foot and a half taller than him and although middle-age had made him a little softer around the middle, Jake wasn't as large as Caleb's new frame.

"Borrowing not stealing," Caleb muttered to himself as he struggled to pull the jeans up over his muscled thighs. He repeated the mantra as waves of guilt washed over him with increasing intensity.

As he pulled a shirt over his head he could hear hooves approaching. He ducked down under the window and waited. He let out a long sigh of relief as the hooves kept on going, fading as the horse got further away.

The drawer beside him was stuffed with socks, Caleb was overjoyed to find that these smelt strongly of nothing more than laundry detergent. Feeling greedy he took two pairs to cover his icy cold feet.

He found a pair of beaten up boots by a pile of ripped clothes, they looked too small to be Jakes, but they fit Caleb just fine. Glad to finally look the part, Caleb cautiously let himself out of the house.

Following the line of the building, tucking himself into the darkest shadows, he made his way towards the trails. He jogged up the hill and tracked right, using the moonlight to map a safe path towards the trees.

"Shh..." Someone whispered.

Caleb stopped walking. Wide-eyed, he searched the darkness for the source of the noise. His chest tightened making it hard for him to catch his breath. A twig snapped to his left. Without thinking he dived right and headed deeper into the trees.

Something hard and heavy slammed into him. He was thrown to the ground without the chance to protect himself, blood exploded from his nose as his face found an exposed tree root. He could hear them cackling with laughter.

"Long time no see," a silhouetted figure used his foot to flip Caleb over onto his back, allowing Caleb to see his features, "I've been looking for you."

"Uncle Adam?" Caleb choked, he spat a mouthful of blood onto the forest floor.

"Do you have any idea what you have done?" He crouched down so he could continue to administer his intimidating glare, "Your sister got stuck, she couldn't shift back for a month because you ruined the ceremony by walking out. You're pathetic." He stood up and turned his back on his nephew.

Arms locked around Caleb's and started to drag him behind his uncle, he tried to refuse, but their vice-like grip gave him little choice but to follow.

"Where are you taking me?" Caleb said, looking around for some indication of their intentions.

"Home." Adam smiled at him, "Your parents would like a word with you. Since you abandoned your sister they had to cancel their plans and come all the way out here to try and calm her down. She was a mess, poor girl, and it was all your fault." He nodded to his son, Connor,  who had a firm grip on Caleb.

Caleb thought he caught sight of a large bird sitting in one of the trees. The next thing he knew something hard collided with the back of his head and the forest turned black.