Silent Heroes: Wildcat

Chapter 8: The Cat's out of the Bag

The question caused more laughs to echo through my head.  One voice was high and feminine, the other deep and booming.  No expression registered on either of the cats face, but their eyes seemed to glitter with amusement.

Come with us, Eve, the female said.  We'll explain everything.  But your animal form needs a little space.  It needs a chance to run and feel free.  Otherwise, it'll just overwhelm you again.

I didn't really understand what she meant by this.  Then again, I understood almost nothing about what was happening to me, so this wasn't exactly a new sensation.

Where are we going? I asked suspiciously.

The female simply crouched her front legs and leapt past me, heading deeper into the moonlit forest.  The male was right on her heels, his easy, fluid movements somewhat at odds with his huge, hulking appearance.

Hey, wait a second! I yelled, but the two creatures didn't pay me any attention.

I stood frozen there for a second or two, staring after them.  At that moment, I found myself remembering every warning my mother had ever given me about talking to people I didn't know.  Every school assembly about the dangers of going anywhere with a stranger.  And these had to be two of the weirdest strangers I had ever met.

But, they also had answers.  Something I was in desperate need of at the moment.  Besides, if they had wanted to hurt me, they could have easily done it while the male had me pinned helplessly to the ground.

So, I twisted my body in a neat one-hundred-and-eighty-degree turn and bounded after them.

For the first little while we just ran in complete silence through the trees, picking up speed as we went.  Now that my reckless energy had faded and I was firmly back in control of my actions, I was able to appreciate the almost ethereal beauty of the woods.  Everything took on a silvery glow under the full moon.  My new sleek, streamlined body effortlessly swallowed up the ground.  My paws struck the forest floor without a trace of detectable noise.  The other two wildcats were like ghosts or apparitions, running along side me.

The female was right about one thing: this felt great.  The animal inside of me was growing calmer with each moment, changing from a wild, angry beast into a contented housecat.  I almost felt like it was purring.

The ground slopped upwards.  Huge grey rocks sprouted at random angles from the earth.  We dove into them like an obstacle course placed there purely for our amusement.  We launched ourselves from one rock to the next, crisscrossing back and forth and passing each other in midair.

Okay, the female—Deanna, that was her name—said after a good twenty minutes of running.  Let's start with what you do know.

I can turn into a big cat, I said.  We didn't slow our pace.  And, apparently, so can both of you.  This is the extent of my knowledge.

Another thought-laugh echoed through my mind.  That's about the gist of it.  Our kind have always existed, Eve.  For as long as there have been humans, there have been people like us.

People like us?

Humans who can shift into animal form.

Hearing her say these exact words suddenly made me realize how utterly insane this was.  Okay, I'm dreaming or something, aren't I?  I'm hallucinating.  I'm going crazy.

I assure you, Eve, you are not going crazy.

This is impossible.  All of this... none of it can be real.

So we're all having the same hallucination then, are we?

I said nothing in response.  All those questions I had wanted to ask and now I couldn't remember a single one of them.

Eve, Deanna said.  Have you never heard of werewolves?

Werewolves? I said incredulously.

Yes, humans who can turn into-

I know what werewolves are!  And neither of you look much like wolves to me!

The male laughed again.

Wolf shifters have a bad habit of drawing attention to themselves, Deanna said, by way of an explanation.  They're a bunch of show-offs.  They've always been that way.  That's why they're more high-profile than the rest of us.

Shane made a noise that closely resembled a snort.  I wouldn't talk about the wolf-shifters drawing attention to themselves if I were you, sis.

Deanna ignored him.  That isn't to say the rest of us have been completely invisible.  Some legends out of Africa and Asia talk about people who can transform into leopards or tigers.  The Greeks have stories about people who can turn into dogs.  Native-American legends describe people known as "skin-walkers" who can change into any animal at will.  Fortunately, no regular person has ever put two and two together and realized that all these stories stem from the same basic source.

My head was spinning, struggling to absorb all this. You're telling me there's people out there who can turn into wolves and cats and dogs and... any animal they want?

Wolves... cats... dogs, Deanna confirmed, then continued. Horses... birds... dolphins... elephants... bears.  I've yet to see people taking the shape of reptiles or fish, and no shifter I know of can take more than one form.  But, we're out there, Eve.  More than you can imagine.  More than you could ever count.

I could hardly comprehend what I was hearing.  Everything this... creature said was so fantastic and unbelievable.  My brain kept telling me that it couldn't possibly be real, but it sure felt real.  There was no evidence to suggest that it was a dream or a hallucination.  Aside from the fact that that I was currently in the form of a big cat, having a mind-to-mind conversation with someone who claimed to be a shape-shifter.

I realized rather suddenly that we had stopped running.  The two cats were standing there, facing me, patterns of moonlight and shadow playing across their bodies.

Okay, Eve, Deanna said.  Don't freak out.  All right?

Freak out about wh-?

A huge gust of wind tore through the forest.  Branches snapped and swayed as if caught in a hurricane.  Leaves tore loose and drifted to the ground.  Bits of debris all along the forest floor leapt and twirled through the air.

I jumped back in surprise and shut my eyes against the wind.  When I opened them, the two cats had been replaced with a young man and woman.

The woman was tall and curvy.  Her hair was bleach blonde and, when I looked closely, I could see hints of the mosaic pattern that had decorated her fur.   Her eyes were the same pure, crystal blue that had appeared so dramatic in her cat form.

Though Deanna was tall, Shane stood at least a head above her.  He was probably one of the biggest people I had ever seen, broad-shouldered and bulging with muscles from his calves right up to his neck.  His face was obscured by a thick, russet-coloured beard that matched his mane almost exactly, with the hair on his head falling a shade or two lighter.  His tawny eyes seemed to belong far more on the massive lion he had just been than on the human male standing in front of me.

Yup, I thought, speaking entirely to myself this time.  I'm definitely going insane.