Order of the Glaring

Part 9

Part 9

I followed Kato, Elise, and Drae into a large, natural, green meadow. I almost let out a small gasp at the sight of it. It was beautiful, filled with wild flowers and grasses. There was even a tent, which from the looks of it, was the trio's home. In front of the tent was a small fire pit, complete with sticks to hang pots on. A little creek ran along the side of the sunny place.

As I stood there in awe, Drae took the time to drag a half-eaten hare carcass into the trees. I wasn't too bothered by this; I had never had a problem with dead things. It was something that was just always part of my life. Part of my chores was to clean up the dead birds and mice our house-cats killed. Death is easy to deal with, at least most death is. Drae padded back to us.

"Is that today's catch Drae?" Elise asked an amused look in her eyes. "Yep. Caught it early this morning. Stupid thing woke me up. It nearly pranced right across my paws. I didn't even get a good chase out of it." He explained bitterly.

"Drae prefers to sleep in his second form. Says it feels more natural." Kato informed me. "And I believe you owe me 15 bucks" "No way!" Elise said. "He went hunting AND he caught a hare HENCE, I won the bet.”

 "He didn't go hunting for it, it came to him! Hence, I won the first-"

"They do this constantly" Drae explained privately as he came and sat by my side. "They may not seem like it now, but they love it. It's their only fun really; it gives them something else to focus on. A kind of stress relief for them. What we do takes its toll."

I sat onto the soft grass. "Well what do you do to 'relive stress'?"

"I hunt. It brings me out of my own head." he replied honestly. "So do you want to watch a shift now, or wait for them to be done, cuz this could last for hours." I glanced back to the arguing pair. It did seem as if this dispute was going to take a while to resolve. I sighed. I was so out of my comfort zone here. I felt like a madwoman, following strangers into the woods, talking to animals. Maybe I was mad. With a heave I stood up.

"Sure, better sooner than later right."

 Drae led me to a smaller, more private part of the clearing. I was nervous, I mean who wouldn't be. I had given up my fragile grasp on denial by now. Either this was real, or I really was a madwoman, but I didn't like the insanity option. No one wants to be insane.

"What really happens with this whole shift thing? Do you just concentrate and 'whoosh' human?" I asked, making little finger motions for 'whoosh' to indicate a little magical shimmer. If a cougar could roll their eyes, that's what Drae did.

"You read too much Twilight. We do have to think of the change, fix the image of the animal in our minds, and then the shift begins. Now the physical shift in itself is hard to explain, so I'm just going to show you. But brace yourself, it can be... disturbing."

Drae then closed his eyes. I stood watching. His tail was the first to go, slurped back into his body like a wet noodle. Then I heard dull snaps as his hind legs broke from beneath him, shifting into place under his skin, his ears flattening against his skull. Then his paws shaped into furry fingers and toes, complete with human finger and toe nails, as his neck and shoulders broke and moved into their positions. His spin cracked as he stood, the fur covering his body slowly being sucked back in. His face seemed to shatter, eyes bulging as they returned to human, mouth shortening. Finally his nose moved into its proper shape and place, and the last of his fur sucked up. I blushed and looked at my boots, as he was left wearing only tight black bicycle shorts that left little to the imagination. He turned, reached behind a small shrub, and pulled on a pair of loose jeans.

 "Sorry" he said, breaking the awkward silence. "When we shift we can only shift tight clothes with us."8 "No... It’s umm fine I get it" I stuttered, trying not to sound like a weirdo and failing horribly. I was still focused on what had just happened. "Does the shifting hurt?" "No. You don't really feel anything. It's this weird type of feeling, like you’re out of your body and should feel it, only you can't." he explained. Well that’s a relief. My eyes then drifted to his chest, and I snapped them up as soon as I realized what my subconscious was doing.

"Soooooo when can I try?" I asked excitedly.

"Soon Gina, soon." he answered with a laugh. We both walked over to the tent, where Kato and Elise (to my surprise) had stopped bickering and made a small fire. Over the fire was a small pot with stew (rabbit maybe) brewing. Overall my little trip with Drae must have taken about ten maybe fifteen minutes. Kato and Elise were already helping themselves.

 "Want some?" Elise asked me. "Or are you a vegan-vegetarian-thing person?" I laughed at her bluntness.

 "Nope, I love meat. Sure I'll have a bowl" I said, suddenly aware that all I had eaten that day was an eggo and half a latte. The stew was surprisingly good, but that may have been the hunger talking. "So what happens now?" I asked when I was done.

"Well we'll start to teach you what we can, get you to shift, and teach you what you need to survive. Then you can decide to either join up with other shifters or teams like ours or live in the human world." Kato explained. "You'll have to meet us here every day for training."

"Kato will teach you some basics on Changelings, Drae will teach you the basics on shifting, and I will teach you to hunt and fight." Elise explained.

 "Sweet, of course I'll have to ask my mom-" I started to say bitterly.

"Kitten, you can't tell your family what's going on." Elise interrupted.

"Why not, if it's a family thing then aren't they Changelings too?" I asked, confused.

"In a family like yours, who have been away from Changeling life, only one or two members have the ability to change. The rest don't even know about their heritage."

 "So I have to keep it a secret?" I asked, a small smile playing on my lips.  "I can do that."

"That's what I thought you would say." Drae commented with a grin. "Now I'll walk you home, we don't want your parents to start to wonder where you are."