Transformed [W&W Book 1]

Chapter 24

Theresa nodded slowly; the movement felt unfamiliar. Daphne whipped her up in a hug and held her too tightly.

It jarred her bones but she supposed she did not care. She felt bad that Daphne was so upset. She had known Daphne would worry but a clean break was best.

Would have been best, would it not have been?

She had not meant to come back. She wondered how she had returned.

Then it hit her, Wildwood had probably found her.

Why had she not thought of that? She realized he would have been able to find her wherever she went by his spells. No one was hiding his trace.

She could not even explain to them why she had decided to leave. She sighed.

"She's safe now, Lady Daphne. Here, let me take her," Wildwood said, attempting to remove her from Daphne's iron clutch.

Theresa could tell her sister did not want to let go. She supposed the suffocating hug was the punishment for leaving the first place.

"I would like to speak with her."

Daphne reluctantly handed Theresa to Wildwood. In a different mood, Theresa would probably have been irritated at being passed around like an object, but she really did not care right then. Let them expend the energy packing her about.

Wildwood carried her out of the room and then through the halls and up to his study. He set her down on her habitual chair and went and sat in his own behind his desk.

"I don't know where to begin."

Theresa shrugged. Her back was itchy. She had probably been bitten by an insect while she roamed in the wilds. She gave it a good scratch.

"I will apologize. I should not have been so short with you the day that your aunt came to Wildwood looking for you. Your behavior was reckless, but I've no doubt you had your reasons. I hope you will consider my position in the future. Of course, I do wish to assist you, but I have other duties and responsibilities to maintain."

Theresa nodded. She supposed that was fair. She could appreciate his dedication to the people who relied on him.

"Would you be interested to know what happened here during the week you were gone?" he asked her.

Theresa sat up in surprise.

Week? She had been in the forest for an entire week?

It was hard to believe that so much time had slipped away from her without her knowing. It was unnerving and frightening, even though she had actually intended to slip away forever.

Wildwood seemed to understand her reaction. "When we found you in the forest, you were oddly unresponsive. Were you even aware of what you were doing?"

Theresa shook her head. Wildwood's brow furrowed slightly.

"Is it as if there are cat thoughts influencing your mind?"

Theresa considered. It was a fair description she supposed, although it was perhaps more as if her mind had also become a cat's mind.

She waggled her head up and down, suddenly noticing how natural her cat's body had become. It felt like the body was really her own.

It was comforting to truly feel at home in her skin again even though she knew the realization should feel horrible.

Should she not be horrified that memories of her human form were becoming something like a murky dream?

"I've read that it is as if there is an animal in your mind. Were you thinking as a cat the entire time that you were gone?"

Theresa supposed so. The memory of the time between when she left and returned to her mind was almost curiously blank. She half nodded. She thought that she might have been aware at the time yet she had almost no recall of things that had happened.