Shapeshifters

26

AS SOON AS Dustfly and I returned from talking with Tawny, we couldn't have been expected to fall asleep then. The excitement that we were going home was enough to keep us up. Home. It was strange for me to think of the idea, after all the time I'd spent in the human world. Instead of trying, we started planning our entrance.

We incorporated the fact that we had wings. I sketched what I remembered five pines looking like from above, and a view of the rock and the surrounding trees, from ground level. Dustfly had remembered that there was one tree on each side of the rock, a detail I had forgotten. 

Once we had basic sketches down, we started our battle plan. At the top of each we labeled them "Operation NP" for "Operation Neverpack". Dustfly's idea. I handed the pictures over to Dustfly and allowed him to give me his ideas of how we show ourselves. Once I tweaked them a little, we thought they were good. 

"Think these will work?" Dustfly asked.

"I think so," I replied. "We will need to get out to practice."

"Practice what?" Petunia inquired from behind us.

Dustfly and I both froze. After stealing a quick glance at him, I turned around and put on a fake smile.

"Our laser tag plan," I responded. 

Dustfly turned around. "Yeah," He was a little uncertain. "We are so going to beat you next time." He was playing along thankfully.

Petunia laughed. "So, did you draw up the arena or something."

Dustfly and I looked at each other then replied in unison, "Or something."

Petunia stole a glance behind us and asked, "Are you going paint balling sometime soon?"

Dustfly looked confused. Doggone it. While I answered, "Yes, sometime next week."

"I'm leaving town on Monday," Petunia declared. "I don't really have a choice."

"You leave a lot," mentioned Dustfly. "Where do you go?"

"Hiking," She responded. "A group of friends and I are training for a race coming up."

"I didn't know you hiked," I told her. 

"I got dragged into it," She admitted. 

"Okay," I accepted it, but didn't fully believe it. For I didn't think she had other friends, other than Sunny and me. Maybe she's changed. I thought.

"Well, I gotta jet," She confessed. "Nice to see you."

Dustfly and I both said our goodbyes then once she left, Dustfly stated, "You should change your locks. That could've ended badly."

"I know," I confessed. "But if I did, she would get suspicious of me. Confront me and possibly bombard me with questions about why she can't get in and you can." Dustfly opened his mouth to speak but I held my hand up. "You haven't seen her mad, it's not a pretty sight. I've seen and heard more fights between her and Sunny than I dare to count, or remember. Even though I couldn't hear half of the words, I could tell that things always got heated."

He was quiet for a minute. Pondering. He was trying to connect the dots, but gave up and turned back to "Operation NP".

You okay? I asked him.

I will be once we get back.

I know, I sympathized. I want to be home again too.

"There's something I need to tell you," Dustfly voiced. I nodded my consent. "Try not to get agitated but, I get the feeling that we won't be accepted back into Sunpack."

I processed what he said. "W-why?" I demanded.

"We are supposed to change all the packs," He explained softly. "If we choose to stay with Sunpack, the other packs might feel that, if in a fight, we would side with our home pack." He allowed me to mull over this before continuing, "I wasn't going to tell you until I had a sure idea that we would be getting back."

I nodded but said nothing. I didn't trust my mouth to form the right words. I turned away from him and went to my room. Closing the door, I sank to the floor behind it and cried. 

I didn't know why I was crying. I was unsure of how long I had been crying until I heard a knock and Dustfly asked if he could come in. Of course, I opened the door enough for him to come in. 

When he saw me on the floor in a heap, he picked me up and carried me downstairs. Dustfly wrapped me in a blanket then proceeded to make me some hot chocolate. Upon his return, he handed me the mug and wrapped me in his arms. I apologized again and again, honestly believing that I had no idea why I was like this.

It wasn't until he took the mug from me that I knew why I had been crying. I was crying for many reasons. Lying to Petunia, lying to Sunny, being cursed, being left to piece together things on my own. I couldn't take much more. The thought of finally being able to go home was...overwhelming. 

We sat there, just Dustfly and me, until well into the night. He never once moved or told me he had to go. I don't remember falling asleep, but I vaguely remember him telling me that he was moving back in.