The Winds of Change

Dreams Brought the Truth

There is a lot of info in this chapter so bear with me. Vote, Fan, comment!!! I love comments I know a bunch of people read on phone and ipods but please try to leave a comment :D.

As the day went on, I continually told myself that I needed to distance myself from Ash, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. It hadn't even been a full 24 hours and yet the retard grew on me. In that one day, I had more fun than I could remember having in years. We goofed off in detention so much that I forgot to call my mom, which I didn't realize till I got out of detention, when I knew had no way of getting home because mom was at work. Since I was still wary of Ash, there was no way in heaven that I was going to let him know where I lived. So I walked home, but since I find such a comfort in the woods, I decided I was going to take a "short cut" that turned out not to be so short. I was glad I had worn my rubber boots or else my feet would have been pretty cold trekking through the forest snow in a pair of converse. I was keeping myself occupied by debating on whether or not I was going to let myself befriend Ash permanently. After several minutes of arguing with myself I finally decided that only time could tell and that I was probably just over reacting. So I let my mind flit from thought to thought as I headed in what I believed was the right direction. When I realized that what bit of sky was peeking between the trees was orange I stopped and took notice of my current situation. I simply had no clue where I was.

"Well this sucks monkey butt." I said to nobody in particular. I was smart enough to realize that since it was getting dark I would be better off staying where I was and waiting for daybreak before trying to find my way home. I took a survey of my surroundings and was pleased to find a tree that I would easily be able to get into. I grabbed the branch closest to me and pulled myself up into the tree. Once I got a good ten feet up, I started looking for a place to sleep. After climbing another five feet, I found my bed for the night. It was where three large branches came together, bent back and twined together to continue their way reaching up for the beautiful night sky that floated above me. Honestly, I couldn't have picked a better night to be lost in the woods. As sleep claimed me I had one last thought, let it be different. Let me tell you, boy was it different.

My paws were pounding on the forest floor. My breath ragged in my chest, burning my lungs. My heart was hammering in my ears. I perked my ears back trying to use my keen senses to locate my pursuers but I could hear nothing but my blood rushing in my ears and my heart beating on like a war drum. My outer wolf could hear nothing. I turned my head and instead of seeing my attackers smiling at me there was an owl was in their place coaxing me to slow down and stop running. I soon found myself obeying and my tired paws skid to a stop. I don't know what caused me to trust it but for some reason the owl just felt so familiar to me as if I had known it all my life.

"Baillie Alexandria Kirk, you have more power than most shifters can barely comprehend. You have special abilities, special even among our kind and you don't even know that they exist. I need you to shift to your human form or that of an owl so you can communicate with me effectively." It was easy to say that I was startled when I heard a man’s deep voice resound in my head.

"What's wrong? Have you never shifted before?" he asked when apparently I didn't shift. I barked in reply. “Okay then, this is what you do. First, you need to envision what form you are going to take next. Then, you need to think of something symbolic of that form, for example if " you wanted to change into a house cat the easiest thing to do would be to use a memory, something as simple as watching a cat walk across someone’s yard. Easy enough, right, now change."

I was a little skeptic with the thought that this bird was a little bird brained but none the less I did as he instructed. I used the image that greeted me every morning when I woke up as I looked in the mirror to see what toll the dream took upon my body the previous night. With the sound of bones popping back into their rightful place and my muscles, tendons and joints screaming in protest I soon discovered myself in my human body and was overjoyed that I squealed in delight. I turned around to see if I was going to gain any praise from the owl, no instead I saw a tall man, about 6' 2 with shaggy brown hair with electric blue eyes. He opened his mouth to say something but before he could make a sound I cut him off.