Shapeless

Chapter 3

When I woke up again, there was a bowl of broth on the table next to me. Seeing the broth made my stomach rumble. Man, I was hungry. I sat up slowly, careful not to trigger another wave of nausea, and reached for it, eating it slowly at first then faster

When I finished eating, I sat in the bed for a minute and thought. How long had I been asleep? I wanted to see where I was. I needed to know if I was truly safe. But, mostly, I wanted to know who this Carac was. So I stood up slowly. My legs were weak from lack of use but I could handle it. I took the few wobbly steps toward the door.

Outside the door was a short hall that dead ended with a door to the right but to the left the hall kept going. I walked down the hall. It opened into a big open room with a wooden chair and table in the corner. In the center of the room there was a couch and an overstuffed chair. On the chair, just staring at me, lay a brown cat. I walked up to it and lay my hand on its head. It immediately pushed into my hand and started purring.

"I see you have met Snowball." Carac said right behind me. I jumped and spun around. He smirked. "A little jumpy are we?"

I scowled at him,"You would be too if you were almost killed by some crazed soldiers. Snowball? That's what you named your cat? It's brown"

"He was my sister's cat." He replied stiffly.

"Oh. Can I meet her?"

"No," He answered stoically"She died years ago. Got sick"

His sister. Then I thought of my brother and started. "I have to get to my brother. I have to make sure he is okay."

Carlac grabbed my arm to keep me from bolting out the door. "He's fine.

I look at Carac skeptically

"I went out and checked on him"

"And I'm just supposed to believe you? I barely know you."

" Look it's not safe for you out there. Lucifer has told the kingdom that you conspired with the dragon and helped it get into the city undiscovered.

"He knows you are a shapeshifter but he is keeping it to himself. How he knows and why he is keeping it to himself eludes me, but there has to be a reason." He sighed, shook his head, walked to the small window, and looked out. "I was hoping to spare you this a little longer but now is as good a time as any. You are officially an outlaw now. All of the kingdom will be looking for you.You cannot leave until you have fully rested and have been trained thoroughly. The only safe place for you is here." He paused and let that sink in.

No. There had to be some mistake. Why would the king's brother... I stared at the back of his head waiting for him to turn around and tell me he was joking. He didn't. When he did finally turn around the look on his face was serious. He walked out of the room leaving me to the cold facts that were buzzing around my head like angry bees. I flopped down on his overstuffed chair before my legs could give out. Snowball jumped onto my lap and lay down, purring. I started to pet him, and his purring increased tenfold. I almost laughed. This was so normal in a world like this. I heard footsteps behind him and looked to see Carac with two bowls in his hands. He smiled, then handed me a bowl.

"Here. I thought you might be hungry. You haven't eaten anything in 2 days. Well, except for that bowl of broth but that does not count." I accepted the bowl and ate it hastily.

When I finished I asked Carac,"How did you know where to find me?"

He smirked, got up, took the bowl from my hands, and started to leave. I jumped up and followed him. He walked into his kitchen. "I have been watching you most of your life." He replied matter of factly. I gawked at him.