Echo's Quest

Part of my NaNoWriMo Novel (still in progress ;)




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Echo’s Quest

~Krystal Annaliese Walsh

Prologue~

The night was dark and misty as a tall, slender woman ran through the streets, hugging a tiny infant close to her chest.  Ahead the bright gold dome, and the tall cross of the church loomed in the darkness, sparkling slightly through the mist in the moonlight. She slipped through the door of the church, hurrying down the dark aisle all the way up to the altar where she bowed gracefully, making the Sign of the Cross. Then, looking around quickly, she stepped up the steps and crouched behind the altar. She laid the infant on the ground behind the altar and, slipping a small silver notebook, and a handwritten note inside the blankets, she wrapped the baby up warmly.

“Shhh…my darling…you will be safe here, and mommy will be back soon.”  The woman sighed, oh how she hoped it would be true. The child looked back at her with the smallest smile, as if assuring her mother that’d she’d be fine, then her eyes closed and she fell asleep. With a final kiss on her baby’s forehead, the woman slipped back out into the night.

Chapter 1 ~

    The bell rang, abruptly breaking my concentration as I looked up from my essay. I glanced at my watch. Wow it was 2:30 already! It seemed just moments ago I had dived into the fascinating subject of the over-population theory. I quickly sorted my papers and stashed them in my bag as I mentally checked things off my list of homework. Four pages of my economics essay done as well as my chapter of Literary Analysis reading….So that just leaves the plot graph and the last page of the essay to do at home….not bad.

I waved to a couple people as I walked down the hallway, though most of my good friends weren’t in summer school. At 17 I was younger than nearly everyone else in my 12^th grade classes so I was a bit of a loner, the wacky 17 year old who absolutely loved school so much she was doing extra summer school classes to graduate early. My friend Connor hadn’t been in school that day and I wondered why.  Maybe he’s sick, I thought to myself.

   Outside it was warm and pleasant and I decided to walk along the beach on my way back home. Once on the beach I took off my shoes and knee-high socks and walked along the warm sand, picking up heart shaped rocks along the water’s edge to add to my collection at home. I stopped to look at a tiny pink Sea Star on one rock, but nearly got wet as a slightly larger wave splashed against the other side of the rock. I absolutely hate water, it’s so wet and disgusting and powerful, so I just stayed on the rocks after that. Jumping from one to the other and letting the cool ocean breeze blow against my face. After a while though, I got tired of the wind messing up my hair, so I climbed up the wooden stairs, and ran across the street to my house.

   I love my house, its huge and all made of stone with big wooden doors and lovely iron gates and green lawns and stepping-stones. Its like a little castle out of a book, but a modern one. After hosing off my sandy feet outside, I went to my room and dropping my bag and shoes on the floor, I jumped onto my big squishy bed. Another fun day of AP classes at school was over. I yawned, now time for my homework. I leaned over the edge of my bed to grab my books out of my bag, but just then my iPhone rang with the very familiar Justin Bieber ringtone that was my best friend Tori.

I clambered up the spiral staircase to my loft, and answered.  

 “Hey girl! How’s Germany?”

“Sophie!” Tori squealed in delight, “Oh it’s great! I’m loving it! There’s so much to see here!”

I laughed, Tori was always so excited about everything it was adorable. “That’s good!”

“So what’s up with you chica? Who have you been hanging out with while I’m gone?”

I bit my lower lip with a girlish giggle, “Ummm well I’ve been trying to focus on acing all my summer classes, but Connor and I hang out a lot…”

“Oooooh Connor…”

I could hear the teasing tone in Tori’s voice and blushed. “Hey we just study together! That’s all!”

“Ha! You could ace your classes in your sleep with out any help at all, you freaking genius!” Tori was laughing at me now, “That’s just a bunch of excuses to hang out with the hottest guy at our school Sillyhead!”

“He’s helped me a ton in Science…” I said, trying to pretend like I wasn’t losing this argument.

I could almost see Tori roll her eyes at me as she answered.

“Okay okay so maybe you did need a tiny bit of help in science, I still think you’d be cute together…”

“Oh shut up!” I retorted and we both burst out laughing.

We talked for another fifteen minutes or so until Tori had to go then I sat in my bean bag chair up in my loft, thinking about what Tori had said as I finished my homework.

    I did like Connor, even if I did deny it, and at times I could have sworn he liked me too. But then, we’d been friends for almost a year already, and he still hadn’t said anything. I was beginning to wonder if all his sweet gestures and teasing weren’t just the normal gentlemanly way he acted to all his friends. His calm, cool attitude was impossible to read. I sighed as I pressed down too hard and the lead of my mechanical pencil broke. Boys are so confusing! I thought, wondering if I’d ever know Connor’s true feelings for me.

§

    A few days later I was busily re-arranging my closet, as it was the beginning of summer and I still hadn’t put away my winter clothes yet. It doesn’t really get very cold here, even in winter, since we live in California right on the beach, but it does get stormy, and often my family will go and vacation to the snow, so I still have lots of winter clothes. Winter has always been my favorite season. I love the cold and the wind and the storms, they seem to echo the thoughts of my very soul. My mother just thinks I am nuts. With a sigh I turned back to my closet, I hated to put away all my favorite winter outfits, but it was just silly to leave them out when it was close to eighty degrees outside.

  

     My UGG’s, and tall boots I shoved away in the shoes cubbies in the back of my walk in closet, and all my long coats and sweaters also followed the shoes to be hung up in the back of my closet. All my scarves, hats, gloves, leg warmers, and other winter clothes I folded up and put in a large plastic bin which I also shoved into the back of my closet, being careful not to cover up the Narnia mural I had painted on the wall of my “Wardrobe” as I liked to call my closet.  Then I pulled out all my cute t-shirts, short skirts and shorts and arranged them by color. Then came my shoes. Brightly colored Converse, high-heeled sandals for special occasions, and of course the ever-comfortable flats and flip-flops.

  

     Finally satisfied with the perfectly organized clothes, I flopped down on my back on the warm wooden floor and stared at the memorizing shadows swaying peacefully across the opposite wall from the trees outside my window. Suddenly another shadow popped up, rudely interrupting the pattern of the leaves. It was almost as if….someone was peeking into my window. I sat up abruptly and stared hard at my window. There was no one there, but when I glanced back at the wall, the shadow was gone.

I frowned for a minute, trying to decide if I should panic or not, but then I figured it was probably just a bird. All the same I climbed up to my loft, and out onto my balcony staring intently into the trees. However the only thing I saw was a beautiful hawk sunning itself on the top of a tree. I ran to get my book and sat for the next half hour sprawled out in the sun, reading.

~

       I shoved the last few dresses to the side, and sighed. Nothing.

“Anything in your row, mom?” I called over the rack.

“No, nothing you’d like.” came the reply.

Our annual church youth group party was in a week, and my mom and I were shopping for a nice summer dress for me to wear. This store had nothing even remotely close to what I wanted, so we headed out to the car to drive down the street to another store. As we neared the car, I spotted something moving on the other side. I looked hard. It was a shadow, creeping stealthily towards the back of the car. I caught my breath, as it slowly peered around the back, black eyes glaring at me.

I froze, then my mom laughed.

“Aww Sophie it’s a stray dog!”

And it was. A scraggly dark brown dog, with mottled gray streak through the fur down its back, and dark black paws.

“Mom!” I groaned,  “No, not another dog! You have one at home already that spends all its time terrorizing my cats!” My mom gave me an exasperated look, then turned back and took a step towards the dog. However it took off running as soon as it saw us. With a relieved sigh I hopped into the car and we drove off.

     At the other store we soon found the perfect dress. It was silky underneath with a crinkled, sheer fabric over top that shimmered like blue ice crystals. After purchasing it, along with a new skirt for mom, we headed through the revolving glass doors back into the parking lot. With the glare of the sun in my face I wasn’t really paying attention to where I was going until I almost tripped.

“Ahhh!” I tried to catch my balance and accidentally stepped on a furry paw.

“Its that dog again!” My mom exclaimed, as it let out a yelp.

“See if you can catch its collar!”

“Shhh it’s okay puppy…” I leaned towards it, but it barred its teeth and snapped, and I stepped quickly backwards.

Mom frowned as I ran hastily towards the car.

“That dog is not friendly Mom, let’s go!”

With a last look at the dog, we got into the car and drove home.

§

      Step forward…punch…spin around….punch….step back….side kick.. I practiced a complex sequence as I warmed up for Karate. Crouch…step forward….karate chop….block…block….side kick….step back. I finally paused for breath as I finished poised in a ready stance.

“Perfect!” my teacher Mrs. Black commented with a smile.

I smiled back, only slightly out of breath, “Thanks. What would you like me to do now?”

Mrs. Black looked around a moment, “Could you work with Talia and Nick? Do some sparring, help them out a bit?”

“Sure thing!”

I grinned, this was going to be fun. Talia and Nick were siblings, and were currently red belts, just two levels below me. They were very friendly and also quite funny.

We sparred and practiced blocks for another hour, until Mrs. Black called all the students back into the middle of the floor.

“Okay everyone, you know the routine, 30 push ups if you’re below red belt, 50 push ups for red belts and higher. Ready….and…..Go!”

Having done this for years, ever since I started Karate it didn’t take me long to finish my 50 push ups, then I sat back on my knees to watch everyone else. Some people were slowly and steadily doing one push up after another, but some of the younger boys were trying to race each other, only to collapse with exhaustion halfway through. I giggled a little at that, then glanced out the large floor-to-ceiling window on my right. The trees swayed peacefully in the warm breeze outside, creating pretty shadows dancing across the floor, and the backs of the other students as they did their push ups. Then I frowned as I caught a glimpse of something under the tree, Omigosh its that stray dog again! Why does it keep following me! …Heh…I have a dog stalker..I chuckled to myself, then was distracted as my teacher signaled for everyone to stand up and bow as class ended.

   After we were done, I grabbed my bag from the cubbies and went to the bathroom to change. I quickly changed out of my karate uniform and back into my short jean skirt, blue tank top with lacey straps and lime green Converse. I leaned towards the mirror, rubbing an annoying eyelash that was poking my eye, then checked my iPhone. 1 New Text Message.

It was from Connor, Hey wanna study @ our fav coffee shop @ 5:30?

I glanced at my watch, which read 5:21. And fortunately I still had all my books in my car. I quickly typed back, Sure! just got out of karate…be there in 5. :)

Walking out to my car, I looked for the stray dog again, but didn’t see him anywhere. I sat down, turned up my music and drove a few blocks away to For the Love of Coffee, a cute little coffee shop owned by a very charming French family that had known my family since I was a little baby. I grabbed my book bag from the back of the car and walked up the walkway, pausing to text my mom outside the door. Studying with Connor, be back in a couple hours. Luv u :)

Connor was waiting for me inside the nice air-conditioned shop, sitting at a table in the far corner, his laptop open and an iced coffee in his hand.

“Hey Sophie!”

“Hey! Be right back, I’m going to get a smoothie.” I smiled and dropped my bag on the table then hurried over to the counter.

    “Bonjour Louisa!”

Louisa was the second oldest daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Borduois, the owners of the shop. She was only a few years older than me and had a darling new 3-month-old baby.

   “Ahh Sophia! How are you?” Louisa smiled pleasantly as she tapped the screen of the iPad on the counter. “What can I get for you today dear?”  

I just loved Louisa’s accent and I always had a hard time not copying it when I spoke to her. “I’ll have a Mango-Strawberry smoothie…Thanks. And I’m doing great! How’s the adorable little Liam?”

Lousia typed into the iPad, “That’s $2.61.”

I handed her the money and she moved to make my drink.

 “Liam is doing very good, he’s home with his daddy right now…you should see those two! They are so incredibly silly! I use up all my camera taking videos” Louisa gave me a dimpled smile, as I laughed.

“Aww that’s so cute!”

Louisa handed me my drink and leaned over the counter to speak in a soft voice, “Enjoy studying with that very handsome friend of yours!”

She laughed as I blushed, then I thanked her and walked back to the table where Connor was sitting.

“What were you two girls giggling about over there?” Connor asked curiously.

“uuh…Nothing.” I suddenly became very interested in the straw in my Smoothie.

Connor snickered quietly, “Hmm…sure….You’re totally blushing!”

I choked as I swallowed an extra large gulp of Smoothie then tried to give Connor a flippant glare. “Oh shut up! You’ve been sitting here in the nice air conditioning the whole time! Its hot outside so of course my face is red!”

“Yes…you do look hot.” Connor said a little too innocently.

"Hmmm you know suddenly that window seat looks really comfortable." I commented, turning to walk towards the bench a few seats behind Connor, but he reached out and firmly grabbed my arm.

"Oh stop it I'm messing with you, C'mon!"

I rolled my eyes with as much Cali-girl attitude as I could, but couldn't help laughing as Connor did it right back. He scooted over and I sat down beside him.

"So...Economics test is Friday, should we quiz each other on that?" Connor was all business now.

"hmm?" I answered back, not really paying attention as I eyed the delicious looking Tiramisu sitting hardly touched on a plate next to Connor’s computer.

Connor followed my gaze and laughed, shoving the plate over to me, "Help yourself! But I'm quizzing you while you eat it."

I gave a mock sigh, "If you must, shoot me."

§

    I sat down on the short brick fence at the entrance of the high school to wait for Connor who was helping our Economics teacher put away a projector. It had been a good day, our tests in the morning went fairly easily thanks to all the studying Connor and I had done the day before, then after a fun pool party with our classmates, we had come back to school this evening for a special presentation by our economics teacher and a guest speaker. Now it was 9:30 at night and I sat outside, enjoying the cool breeze and staring up at the tiny storm clouds that were just beginning to drift across the dark night sky. 

     I thought about the first time I’d met Connor, last year when he’d transferred to our school. Connor Mahoney, a year older than me and tall, dirty blond, and tan, the typical “California Dude” that all the girls chased after. I thought he was cute too, but I had no interest in being part of the popular group, so I’d pretty much just ignored him. Until I got paired up with him in science class, where I’d discovered how incredibly smart he was, and not at all the stuck up, girl crazy teenage guy like I had thought. We became pretty close friends after that.

   

         I smoothed the short plaid skirt of my uniform, and straightened my red tie, biting my perfect nails impatiently. I normally loved the dark, but for some reason it was making me a little nervous now and I wouldn’t mind a some masculine protection, even if I was a karate black belt. Finally Connor came outside, and we set off to walk back to our houses, only a block apart. We chatted about school and other not so important things and Connor dramatically described he and his friend’s experience with their rather failed homemade raft, at the beach near our house a few days ago.

      We were halfway down the street next to the one I lived on, and just passing the park before we noticed we were being followed. Just the slightest rustling sound and I knew. Connor knew too, I could tell by his face. He pulled me over more into the shadows, and began walking faster. We were walking so close I could feel him tensing up, as if ready to pounce on something.

    Suddenly something brushed my leg and I let out a panicked squeak, instinctively clutching Connor’s arm. Then I recognized it, “Ugh! Why does that stupid dog keep following me!” I let go of Connor’s arm, a little less scared now that I saw what it was, but then Connor grabbed me and pulled me behind him, keeping himself between me and the dog.

“Leave her alone Raoul.” Connor’s voice sounded different as he said this, deeper, more gravely and powerful. But there was no time to wonder about this or the fact that Connor knew the dog’s name, for we were no longer alone in the alley.

    I sensed it, rather then saw it as a gang of hooded figures, dressed all in black, rushed us from behind. The one who seemed to be the leader, tried to grab my arms and pin them back, but a quick karate chop to his shoulder, followed by my favorite powerful side-kick in his chest, sent him sprawling on the asphalt rather dazed by the pain. I blocked the kick aimed at my back, as another boy tried to catch me off guard, then knocked him out with a punch at his head before he could cause anymore trouble.

    I turned just in time to see Connor send his burly assailant rolling into the gutter, as two smaller boys took off back the way they came, scared by the fate of their tougher gang members. Good, I thought, that only leaves two more guys. I glanced at Connor and he nodded. I was grateful that he accepted me as an equal, able to defend myself rather then trying to treat me like a helpless damsel in distress.                      

      Connor and I both turned to face the two remaining guys. One of them was Caucasian and the other was African-American, his dark skin freakishly black in the dim lighting. Suddenly though, they both changed. Their bodies blurred, then became furry, as they became two vicious, snarling black dogs, their teeth bared as they stared hard at me. Then, they pounced.

“Sophie!” Connor yelled.

     Utterly defenseless against these savage looking animals, I gave a piercing shriek, only to be cut off as my back hit the ground hard, knocking the air out of me. One of the dogs was on top of me now, his claws digging into my shoulders as his teeth closed in around my throat. I could feel his teeth starting to dig into my neck. I screamed, even as black dots swam before my eyes from terror and lack of air.

Chapter 2 ~

    Suddenly over my head, another larger, furry brown streak launched itself into the dog, knocking it off of me and slamming it into the ground where it lay still.

Still barely able to breath, I rolled on my side and watched, as the second dog, and the animal, which was apparently a mountain lion, circled around each other. Finally the dog attacked, trying to grab hold of the mountain lion’s neck, the mountain lion however batted it out of the air with a swipe of its paw, leaving the dog with three bleeding gashes in its shoulder. The dog snarled in fury, but then backed away, nosing its dazed companion to its feet. Then turning back to the mountain lion he snarled again, louder, in a growl that sounded eerily almost like words; “We’ll be back, Searcher!” Then the two dogs limped swiftly away, disappearing through the bushes in the park.

    All the other members of the gang were gone now too. Suddenly I remembered Connor; Where was he?! Panicked I sat up and dizzily looked all around me. He was nowhere in sight. I was all alone with the mountain lion, who after licking its lips and staring after the two dogs til they were out of sight, now turned and stared at me. It ran towards me and then pounced. I was too exhausted to move, and even if I could have, there was no way I could defend myself against this huge cat. I closed my eyes, sure I was going to die. A moment later I felt something touch my face. But not fur or claws, but a human hand. I opened my eyes, and Connor was kneeling in front of me. I was so shocked I just stared at him for at least a full minute before I realized he was talking to me.

  

  “Sophia! Answer me please! Are you okay?”

“Uh, yeah…I mean…I think so..” I stammered, my shaking hands reaching up to feel my neck where the dog had bitten me. Connor quickly pulled my hands away, his gentle fingers examining my neck, his face full of concern.

“Hmm…doesn’t look too bad, just barely broke the skin, though you’ll probably have some bruises for a while.” Connor said, looking relieved. I only nodded, bursting with questions.

“Yes thanks to the mountain lion….Where did it go? It was here just a moment ago…and it was…..” I trailed off as Connor was smiling slightly.

“I DID see it!” I said, “….and the dogs…what are they? How did they do that? What are they!?”

I must have been more scared then I realized, because I didn’t even notice I was crying until Connor brushed the tears off my cheeks with the back of his hand before answering me.

“The mountain lion…well actually a Cougar or Puma is the more correct term, though I prefer Cougar personally,” Connor winked, then continued, “But anyways that was me. And, we…the dogs and I…are Morphlings.”

I just gave him a blank stare.

“ But come on, we’re not at all safe here, we need to get out of here. Now.”  Connor was back to his normal, calm, cool, collected self, and he pulled me to my feet. As hard as I tried to stop myself, I was still shaking, and Connor, noticing this, slipped his arm securely around my waist.

“Are you walking me to my house then?” I asked, trying to sound calmer than I felt.

   “Nope. Not safe…the Lupa Maf- the dogs I mean, know where you live.”

“The dogs? …Why would that matter? How do they know where I live? And how do you know that they know that for that matter?

 

 “They have been following you, everywhere, not just here. And I know that because I was following them, when I noticed them stalking you.”

“You’ve been following me?!” I looked up in surprise at Connor, rather suspicious now.

“What the heck is going on?!” I demanded, accusingly.

    “Sophia, I’m sorry, I had to! It’s my job to protect you! I’ll explain, I promise, calm down girly..”

   But I’d had enough. Scared and shivering, all I wanted to do was go home.

“Not funny Connor! It was bad enough already and now you’re just trying to scare me more with your stupid jokes? Well I’m not falling for it! I’ve had it. I’m going home!” I yelled, tears falling freely down my face.

Connor grabbed my arm tightly to keep me from running, and when I tried to get away I couldn’t, he was too strong for me. However, a well-placed karate chop to the pressure points at his collarbone, and in spite of himself he jerked back, effectively loosening his grip. I hit just hard enough to cause instant sharp pain, but I knew I could have broken the bone if I tried.

“Damn it Sophie!” Connor growled, trying to grab my other arm. But I had already wrenched myself free and ran.

    When I got to my house, I ran straight to my room, slammed the door behind me and locked it, thankful that my parents were out on a date. I grabbed my PJ’s and ran into the bathroom. A pale, scared face with mascara streaks running down it stared back at me in my huge mirror. My normally perfect black hair was in total disarray, hanging messily over my shoulders and down past my waist.

     I turned on the shower and stepped into the warm water, wincing as it hit the tooth marks on my neck, and the broken skin on my shoulders where the dog’s unusually sharp claws had penetrated through my shirt into my skin. The water mixed with the tears on my face and I cried until I could not cry a bit more.

    Then I turned off the shower, dried off and put on my short Pajama shorts and snow leopard print tank top. Then, crawling into my bed, I closed my eyes, falling asleep almost immediately. Images drifted into my subconscious mind of the two boys blurring and turning into dogs, which grew larger….and larger…then closed in on me.

      I woke up abruptly, rubbing my eyes vigorously. It was completely impossible for people to turn into animals I assured myself. Ugh…. I thought. I was so dizzy and scared my mind was just going crazy. I rolled over and curled up like a scared baby animal in a nest of blankets and fell asleep with my large fluffy black and white cat, Rio, purring sympathetically as he lay curled up against my back.

§

      I woke up the next morning to the annoying vibrating of my phone from a text message. I rolled over and sleepily grabbed my phone off the bookshelf over my head, then pulled it back under the warm covers to read. 5 New Text Messages.

I scrolled down the touch screen, Connor, Mom, Mom, Connor and…. I paused to wipe off the screen which was getting fogged up by my warm breath. And the last one…Connor.

I deleted all the ones from Connor without even reading them, and opened the two from my mom.

Mom -(01/02) G’morning honey! I have a meeting this morning so I won’t be home when you wake up. There’s a coffee cake I made on the

(02/02) counter. Help yourself and have a good day at school!

I couldn’t help smiling, my mom always used perfect grammar even when she texted.

I re-read her text before I answered, then panicked. School! I had school today! I had completely forgotten! I glanced at the clock. 7:56AM. I breathed a sigh of relief, Summer school didn’t start until 9:00. I texted my mom back as I hopped out of bed and walked into my walk-in closet.

Me -Thnx for the coffee cake mum :)

As I pressed send, a new message from Connor popped up and opened automatically.

Connor - SOPHIA! Answer me or I’ll come to your house!!!!! Are you okay? Why aren’t you speaking to me?

I sighed, and considered ignoring this text too, but then decided it would be far easier to reply, as I really didn’t want Connor showing up at my house right now.

Me -I’m fine. No thanks to you! Now leave me alone! I have to get ready for school.

I read over the text. I felt a little unfair, there was no way I would have been able to fight off that gang by myself, but I was still so mad. Why would he try to pull a prank like that on me? Why would he try to scare me more when I’d just almost gotten killed! Boys were so stupid! Definitely one thing I could live without. I pressed the send button and hurried to get my school uniform on.

  

   During the lunch break at school Connor came over to me as I sat studying by myself under a tree.

“Hey Sophie.”

I barley looked up, “Hmm.”

“Okay I can tell you are mad at me…” Connor sat down in the grass in front of me.

When I offered no explanation, he continued, “Well? What is it? What are you mad about?”

I looked up then, cocking my head to the side slightly as a stared coolly at him.

“What I want to know is WHY you would go and make a dumb joke about the whole attack last night, trying to scare me more after I just almost died!?” I glared at Connor, waiting for an apology.

     Connor left out a deflated sigh as he looked at the ground.

“Sophia I wasn’t joking, or trying to scare you. Everything I said was true...” Connor looked up at my face now, his eyes staring into mine, ever so seriously.

“I know it all sounds crazy but I can explain it to you!”

I honestly couldn’t believe the nerve of him! Trying to keep up the joke ever after he knew I was mad at him? This had gone way too far.

“Sophie?”

I ignored him as I got up.

“Sophia Adrianne Callahan! Would you please stop being such a girl and just listen to me?” Connor yelled after me, but I was already halfway across the field.

§

     Over the next week at school I kept away from Connor as much as I could, speaking to him no more than necessary. I would often catch him watching me and every time he caught my eye, he would give me a sad, pleading look. A couple times I almost returned the smile, but then I stopped myself and looked back to what I’d been doing at the time.

  All the same, I couldn’t help noticing that Connor was looking increasingly tired each day. One day he came to school with two of his fingers and his hand bandaged and I couldn’t keep myself from wondering what had happened to him.

§

    Saturday was the Youth Group Party. I’d been looking forward to it all month and I was determined it would be perfect. Well, except for the whole not speaking to Connor thing. That definitely threatened to make things awkward. No, don’t think about him! I scolded myself, and went back to focusing on my hair, yelping as I accidently burned my finger as I curled my hair around the hot curling iron.

     I didn’t curl my hair often, as it was so incredibly long, but this was a party so I took the time to do it. When I finally finished my hair, over an hour later, I clipped it back on the side with a silver clip set with ice blue Swarovski crystals that perfectly matched my eyes and my dress. My nails were already French dipped with white tips, so I just added tiny silver flowers and my thumbs then blew on them until they dried.

    Mascara and eyeliner made my eyes look even brighter blue, and my red lip-gloss added a nice contrast. If only I could do something about my pale skin. I made a face in the mirror. No matter what I did my skin was always so white my mom called me her “glow in the dark baby”. I stuck my tongue out in the mirror again, before going to my closet and pulling my dress off its hanger. I slipped it over my head, and tied the halter strap ribbons securely around my neck, shivering as the cold fabric touched my skin. The shiny ruffles of my dress swirled around just above my knees as I turned around in front of the full-length mirror. I loved it. Blue had always been my favorite color, that and red. I searched frantically around the room for my bright red high heels, before I remembered I had put them on my bathroom counter. I grabbed them and my purse and burst out laughing as my little gray kitten, Yum-yum, pounced after the strap of my purse.

“Oh my thilly wittle Yum-yum!” I scooped her up and tossed her gently on my bed, where she immediately began attack my pillow.

     I walked barefoot down the hall into the kitchen where my dad was making himself Spanish Rice for dinner.

“Oooh! Miss Callahan you look quite lovely today!” He said raising his eyebrows in exaggerated amazement.

I giggled. “Thanks Daddy..”

“Do you want me to give you a ride over to the party?” Dad asked.

“Well…I’d love that but Ellie already said she’d pick me up…” I said apologetically.

“Oh no its completely fine.” My dad grinned back, “I’m sure you two have lots to talk about.”

After giving my dad a hug goodbye I walked outside to sit on the front curb to wait for Ellie. I hadn’t seen her in several weeks, as she’d just gotten back from a summer camp. Ellie was 18, and a good friend of mine for the past 5 years. We’d met in 7^th grade.

   A few minutes later Ellie drove up and I climbed into the passenger seat.

“Wow Ellie! You look stunning!” I said, admiring her bright red dress and the yellow flower in Ellie’s blond hair.

Ellie just laughed, “So do you girly! But I hear you’ve got lots to tell me? What’s been going on while I’ve been away?”

   I explained to her briefly what had happened the other night, about being attack by a gang, and Connor being a jerk lately.

“Wows….That’s intense. Did you tell your parents about that?” Ellie looked concerned.

“Um…Not yet….” I bit my lip nervously.

“You need to honey, that’d pretty serious. I don’t want something happening to you!”

    I just nodded, and was a little relived when one of me and Ellie’s favorite songs came on the radio and we both started singing it until we arrived at the church hall.

   There were already lots of people there, most of whom I knew, and some that I didn’t.

We soon were mobbed by more of our friends, and we walked inside to join the party.

§

A few hours later I walked out of the main room and down the hall, exhausted by all the games and looking for some peace and quiet. It had been worse than I thought when I saw Connor. He looked so incredibly dashing tonight, and I was having a hard time not staring at him. No matter where I went he always seemed to be somewhere nearby. It only got worse as all my friends wanted to know what was wrong, and why we weren’t speaking, and on top off all that, this strange guy I didn’t know kept following me and trying to talk to me. He seemed nice enough, and was fairly good looking in a dark and handsome sort of way, but there was something about him that I just didn’t like.

I slid down the wall to sit on the cold tile floor, and pulled out my phone to look through my pictures.

“Hey, is something wrong?”

I looked up at the sound of a voice and groaned inwardly, it was the same guy that had been following me around all evening.

Forcing a smile I answered him, “Nope, I’m fine, just a little tired so I’m taking a breather from all the craziness inside.”

The guy raised his eyebrows and offered me his hand. “Want to take a walk outside? Maybe you’ll feel better?”

Before I could protest he pulled me to my feet. Annoyed though I was, I figured it would be easier just to go along with it than refuse at this point. Besides, I was a black belt, I could defend myself if this kid decided to try anything. In high heels I was at least as tall, if not taller than him.

     We walked down the hallway towards the outside door, but at the end of hall the guy suddenly grabbed my arm, twisting it in a painful lock behind my back. I reacted instantly, aiming with my free arm to hit him in the head, but he kicked my foot out from under me, and with the wobbly high heels I was wearing I collapsed, feeling searing pain shoot up my arm as he twisted it still tighter.

    He half carried, half dragged me down the last door on the left, then kicking it open, he through me on the ground. I rolled over the instant I hit the floor, ready to defend myself, but instead of attacking me again, the guy merely gave me an ugly sneer as he closed the door softly and locked it. My brain in panic mode I scrambled to my feet, kicking off my high heels.

     My arm was throbbing more and more painfully every second and I hugged it to my chest fighting back the tears as I looked around. I was locked in some sort of supply closet, there where papers, and other office and cleaning supplies all around me. But there was no other possible way out except the door. I tried it. It was solid wood, and locked fast.

    I sat huddled on the floor wondering what would happen now. I wished, not for the first time, that Connor and I were still friends. He never would have let me wander off on my own. But there was no chance of him rescuing me now. He probably wouldn’t even notice I was gone. Without thinking I slammed my fist against the shelf next to me in frustration, then let out a scream at the pain. I bit my lip until it bled, but the pain only worsened. I screamed twice more, but realized there was almost no chance of anyone hearing me. With all the noise all the teenagers were making at the party there was no way to hear someone screaming on the other side of the building.

Suddenly I smelled smoke and jumped to my feet. Before my eyes the room was filling with thick smoke, and I was trapped.

Chapter 3 ~

     Connor stood at the very edge of the room, trying to avoid everyone. As usual girls came up, giggling and flirting, but he just politely ignored them until they all ran off to go torture some other poor unfortunate guy. He sighed with frustration, just when he’d begun to have some hope that Sophie might actually have some interest in him, this happened.

      He’d always thought she’d had no romantic interest in guys, and it looked like he was right. The super smart girl also had no interest in people who tried to play dumb jokes on her. Oh, if only he knew how to explain to her it was all real, he wasn’t joking, and he was only trying to protect her. He hadn’t expected the dogs to attack her directly, not yet at least, and it was a more dangerous turn of events.        

      Sophie wasn’t safe here, and since he had no way of getting her away from here at the moment, short of kidnapping, Connor had been spending all his time guarding her. Every night, a huge mountain lion crept into the bushes across the street from the Callahan’s house, watching. Twice he’d nabbed a dog trying to slink around the house in the dark, and one time he got his left front paw badly cut from it.

    Connor flexed his still bandaged fingers. He’d come to the party just as a precaution, not expecting much to happen, except sharp feelings of regret as an absolutely stunning looking Sophia walked in, pointedly ignoring him. But then when Raoul, the leader of the Morphling gang in the town had showed up, and started following Sophie everywhere, it had changed things a bit.

       Connor was determined not to let Sophie out of his sight, and he looked up to where he had last seen her. She wasn’t there now though, and Connor quickly scanned the room. She wasn’t there. Worried now, Connor quickly crossed the room in a few long strides, and looked around again, hoping he had just missed her the first time. But his sharp cat eyes didn’t see her anywhere.

   Sensing someone behind him, Connor turned around abruptly to meet the slyly grinning face of Raoul.

Warning bells were going off in Connor’s head now, and he quickly grabbed the smaller guy by the collar of his dress shirt and dragged him down the hall and outside where they wouldn’t be over heard.

“Where is Sophie?” Connor demanded, slamming Raoul against the wall.

“What? Your pretty Sophia has gone missing? Why so concerned? I thought she wasn’t speaking to you anymore….you poor thing.” Raoul smiled, mocking and sarcastic.

Connor pulled Raoul’s collar even tighter in his grip. “I don’t find it funny Raoul. What have you been doing with Sophia?”

Raoul laughed ever so softly, “Wouldn’t you like to know…..Searcher….you’ve done such a wonderful job I must say, just letting her slip right through your fingers. Hmm?”

Connor couldn’t control his rage any longer, and he punched Raoul squarely in the face, then again in the stomach. The other boy let out a groan and doubled over.

“WHERE IS SOPHIE?” Connor snarled, pulling Raoul’s head up to look at him.

“Oh, I think she may have gone for a little walk down the street….the poor girl was hot and tired and just wanted a little breath of fresh air…that’s all.” Raoul managed another half-hearted laugh, then he morphed into his dog form, making it nearly impossible for Connor to maintain his grip and with a snarl he bounded out of sight.

    

      Connor considered following him, but immediately decided Sophie was more important as she was possibly walking into grave danger. He didn’t doubt she could defend herself, but he also knew she had no idea just what she was dealing with. Connor took off down the street to find her.

     Twenty minutes later Connor had run in a large loop all the way around the church neighborhood and had seen absolutely no sign of Sophie. Something was definitely not right here. Had the dogs come and gotten her already?

Suddenly Connor’s phone vibrated and he jumped, his nerves already on edge with worry about Sophie.

    He pulled it out of his pocket, cursing steadily under his breath. It was a text from Ellie, who he knew only slightly from parties with his school class. He wasn’t even sure why he had her number, then he vaguely remembered Sophie texting him from Ellie’s phone when hers had died one time. He clicked open and read the text.

Ellie – CONNOR WHERE ARE YOU? IS SOPHIE WITH YOU?!

No, something definitely was not right, Connor bit his lip and quickly typed back.

Me – No she’s not. Haven’t even talked to her today. Why? What’s wrong?!?!?!?!?!

A moment later his phone vibrated with a reply.

Ellie – Fire. Everyone’s been evacuated from the building and we can’t find Sophie anywhere?!?! Where are you?! Help us find her!!!!

“Damn it!” Connor said aloud, already starting to run back towards the school. Raoul had tricked him. Sophie hadn’t walked anywhere. She was still inside the building somewhere, and about to be killed in the fire. Connor had no doubt about that.

Me – I’ll be there in a second. KEEP LOOKING. She’s probably still inside.

Connor quickly pressed send, already starting to run, then he morphed mid-stride and broke into the powerful ground-eating running stride of his huge cougar form.

§

   In the shadow’s outside the church, Connor paused to morph back into his human form, then he ran again. Searching for Ellie in the crowd of people huddled in the parking lot outside of the Church. Finally he spotted her, hugging her scared fourteen-year-old sister, Lydia.

“Ellie! Ellie!”

Ellie looked up and glanced all around her before she finally saw Connor running towards her.

“Have you found her yet?” Connor asked quickly, not even bothering to say who he was talking about as they both knew.

Ellie looked anxious. “No, I haven’t seen her anywhere! No one has, except….”

“Except what?” Connor prompted.

“Lydia thought she might have seen Sophie walk out the door with the one guy that kept following her…I don’t know who he is…sorry”

Connor grimaced, “Oh I know he is all right, and he’s probably the one who started all this.”

“Then where’s Sophie?” Ellie was almost yelling now in her anxiety over her friend.

“Probably in the building still, not able to get out…..I’m gonna go find her…Stay here.”

Connor already was running towards the building.

“Wait I’m coming to!” Ellie said, and shoving her little sister into the arms of another friend, she hurried after Connor.

Connor hurried towards the fire trucks and caught the attention of one of the firefighters.

“M’am!?”

The female firefighter that Connor was addressing turned around and raised her eyebrows, drinking out of a mug.

“Yes?”

“My friend is still in there!”

The firefighter actually laughed, “Kid, there is no one in there, I checked myself, we got everyone out. I had all the rooms checked, unless this friend of yours was hiding in a closet.”

Connor didn’t even bother with politeness as he responded sarcastically. “And what if she is?”

“Oh please.” The lady rolled her eyes, making Connor furious.

“You’re a firefighter! You’re supposed to care about the lives of people!! Not just stand here drinking coffee! You…lazy-”

The woman cut him off, “That’s enough now. Fires are dangerous without kids playing pranks, please leave now.” Her voice was firm as she pointed to the group of teens huddled on the other side of the parking lot.

Connor couldn’t believe the attitude of this lady, but he knew it would be pretty useless to argue, so he turned away, pretending like he was going back to join the group, but when the lady looked away again, he slipped into the shadows and walked closer to the building to survey the situation.

     One side of the church hall had lots of black smoke billowing out of it but he didn’t see any flames. That was good. The other side was completely untouched still. Connor hurried towards that side, away from all the firefighters. He made it all the way to the side door and was just slipping inside when he realized Ellie was following him.

“Ellie! What are you doing? It’s not safe! Go back!!!” Connor hissed, grabbing her by the arm.

Ellie firmly planted her feet, refusing to budge. “No!”

Connor opened his mouth to argue, but then noticed a firefighter running towards them.

“Hey you!! Don’t go in there! Its not safe!” The guy yelled.

Connor was stuck, he knew if he tried to get Ellie to go back, they would just both get caught and Sophie would never get out alive, so he let go of Ellie, and ran inside with her on his heels.

“We have to be really quick...” Connor muttered to Ellie, through his coat, which he was holding over his mouth and nose.

Ellie answered, also holding her scarf over he face.  “Where do you think she’ll be?”

Connor didn’t answer, as he hurried down the hallway, crouching to avoid most of the smoke, which wasn’t too terribly thick in this side of the building yet.

Further along though, both he and Ellie started coughing. Connor crouched even lower, and pulled Ellie along with him until they came to the main room. Trying to find their way through the dark was difficult, and there was lots of tripping, and toe stubbing as they made their way through the remains of the hastily abandoned party decorations.

     They were beginning to see bits of flames through the door on the far side now, and there was water pouring into the room from the fire hoses. Suddenly there was a crash from the hallway they had just been in and they heard the firefighter who had been chasing them yelling as he looked for them. Without thinking the both stood up suddenly and ran. They made it about three feet, when Ellie slipped in the water on the tile floor and grabbing Connor’s arm as she fell, she pulled him down too.

     She gave a piercing shriek of pain as her arm hit the side of a table hard. Fortunately Connor had instinctively rolled as he fell, and had avoided landing on top of her. Ellie tried to get back to her feet, but was too hasty and she slipped again, this time hitting the hard tile floor and hearing a loud snapping sound as she landed on her arm again.

“Ellie! Are you okay?” Connor was kneeling beside her now, pulling her up, his face tense.

Ellie only whimpered back, biting her lip as tears fell down her cheeks.

Suddenly the firefighter burst into the room, “What are you kids doing in here? This is exactly why we don’t want you in here! It’s dangerous!”

Ellie looked up defiantly in spite of her pain, “My friend is in here somewhere! We asked the lady by the trucks but she refused to even check for her!”

Ellie let out another choked sobbed, “And we are gonna find my friend and you can’t stop us!”

The firefighter didn’t answer this, though he muttered something not so very nice about his fire chief as he knelt down to see Ellie’s arm, feeling it as she winced in pain.

“Its very likely broken….and we need to get you out of here young lady before something worse happens.” Both Ellie and Connor looked like they were about to sock the guy as he continued, “You, young man, I want you to escort this lady out the way you came,” –the firefighter handed Connor a heavy duty flashlight- “And I will look for your friend, okay?”

Connor hesitated a moment, but then saw Ellie about to protest, and he quickly took the flashlight.

“Alright.” He said shortly, rubbing his watering eyes. It was all from the smoke of course. He gently helped Ellie to her feet and started leading her away before she could object.

“Any ideas where your friend would be?” the firefighter asked.

Connor paused, looking back into the flames growing up the wall. “Somewhere locked up. Where she couldn’t get out. Your Chief I believe you said she was? She said she checked everywhere but the closets. So maybe there?”

“Okay….” The fireman nodded, “Now get out!”

Connor obeyed, but couldn’t help looking back one last time as the fireman disappeared into the flames.

§

    After Connor had brought a crying and shaking Ellie back outside, and left her in the care of the paramedics, he went back to stand close as he could to the burning building. The fire was almost under control now, but the fireman still hadn’t come back out of the building, and Connor was getting more and more worried. It was killing him just standing here, while Sophie was still inside there.

Finally, after what seemed like hours, the fireman came back out the side entrance, carrying a girl’s limp body. Connor didn’t even bother trying to act composed as he ran across the grass.

“Is she all right?” He asked breathlessly, looking fearfully at Sophie’s ashen face and closed eyes.

“Yeah she should be fine, she was lucky….you were right about her being locked in a closet, but it was pretty air tight so there wasn’t too much smoke in there, and the flames were only just burning through the door when I found her.”

Connor reached out and took Sophie’s cold hand as the fireman continued.

“She opened her eyes just a bit when I picked her up, though she’s out cold now. Here you can take her,” The fireman gently transferred the girl’s dead weight into Connor’s arms, and he cradled her protectively.

“Take her over to the paramedics, they’ll fix her up. Though I must say if I find the scoundrel that locked her in there, I might kill him myself!” The fireman continued muttering incoherently under his breath as he began pulling off his soaking and filthy suit.

Connor smiled over so slightly, “Thanks…thanks for saving her.”

“What? Oh no problem! It’s mah job.” said the fireman, grinning. “Now if you excuse me I need to go talk to my boss who said she got everyone out!”

As the fireman walked away, Connor carefully shifted Sophie’s body into a slightly more comfortable position as he carried her over the where the paramedics were administering to people on the front lawn of the church. The tall slender girl weighed hardly anything as held her tightly, her head thrown back and her arms hanging limply over his. She was completely soaked, her once pretty blue dress now clung to her skin, and her hair was dripping.

        A friendly looking young man came over immediately when he saw the unconscious girl, and after Connor had sat down in the grass, still holding Sophie, the two of them wrapped her warmly in blankets. Few words were spoken as the young medic checked her vital signs, then slipped an oxygen mask over her nose and mouth.

“She doesn’t look too bad….” the paramedic said, when he was done, “Do you want to leave her with me or stay with her?”

There is no way in a million years I’m letting her out of my sight again, Connor thought to himself. Out loud he answered, “Oh, I’ll stay with her til she wakes up.”

“Mmky…” the young man said, “the oxygen will just help her start breathing more normally again then she should be fine. She’ll probably wake up in 10 or 20 minutes, but don’t let her take the mask off until I get the chance to check her.” The young man gave a reassuring smile, then went back to the medical truck to type information into their computers.

       Connor settled back, and leaning against the base of a palm tree, he pulled Sophie closer to him, being careful not to disturb the oxygen mask on her face as her wet head rested peacefully against his chest.

     He blinked rapidly, angry at himself. He was supposed to protect her; it was his job! And yet already she'd almost gotten killed twice. Connor quickly rubbed his fist across his eyes.

     If it weren't for the fireman she would be dead. He should have watched her more carefully at the party, and none of this would have happened. Sophie wouldn’t be laying here with an oxygen mask, and Ellie wouldn’t have gotten hurt. He gently took one of Sophie’s cold hands in his.

“Connor…?”

Connor turned at the sound of a voice, and turned to see Ellie edging over to sit next to him, her arm in a sling with a bag of ice. She must have been sitting nearby, but he had been too preoccupied with Sophie to notice Ellie until now.

“Hey is your arm feeling any better?” He asked.

“Well, right now it just feels really numb and cold, but I guess that’d an improvement on feeling excruciatingly painful.” Ellie answered ruefully.

“Hmm..” Connor said, feeling awkward.

“Hey I’m sorry about what happened in there…” Ellie whispered contritely, “I just got in your way…and I’m sorry…”

“Oh its alright, I’m just glad you’re okay.” Connor assured her, “I know you were just as worried about her as I was…and honestly I don’t know if I would have been able to get her out by myself anyway…so it all worked out.”  

Ellie just sighed, looking at her still unconscious friend.

Connor began stroking Sophie’s hand abstractedly with his thumb and the two of them just sat there in silence for the next several minutes, with Connor feeling more and more awkward by the second. Just when he felt like he had to break the silence or he’d explode, he suddenly felt Sophie stir slightly.

        He felt her long fingernails dig into his palm ever so slightly, as her fingers slowly curled and uncurled like a kitten flexing its claws in its sleep. Then her eyes fluttered open. She just stared for a moment, blinking uncomprehendingly, then pulling her hand free from Connor’s, she reached up the mask on her face.

“No, you need to leave it on for now.” Connor gently pulled her hand away from her face.

     He half expected her to fight back, after all, just two hours ago she was still mad and refusing to speak to him. But to his relief, she only gave a tiny whimper then leaned her head against his chest once again and her eyes closed slightly.

A moment later, the young medic came over, having seen them talking. “Did she wake up?”

“Um..she did, but then she fell back asleep I think…” But just as Connor said this, Sophie’s eyes blinked open again.

After checking her, the medic said she had recovered enough for now, and took the mask off. As soon as he’d done this however, Sophie turned away, burying her face in Conner’s jacket as she wrapped her arms tightly around his stomach.

     Feeling cold, scared and sick to her stomach, she didn’t really care who it was that held her, even if it was Connor. She was still mad at him, yes, but right now that didn’t matter as he pulled her close to him, and rubbed her back comfortingly.

Sophie vaguely heard the paramedic telling Connor to try getting her to drink something. Possibly some Sprite or 7’Up to help calm her stomach. That sounded really good right now, Sophie though.

“Sophie…are you okay? Do you want to get up?” I heard Connor speaking softly, “Or do you want me to carry you?”

I was slowly drifting into a soft sleepy darkness.

“I think she feel asleep again….that guy said she probably would.” Ellie said to someone over my head.

I felt myself being gently picked up off the ground, then I drifted off into welcome oblivion.

Chapter 4 ~

    

I opened my eyes, and blinked several time until everything looked a little less blurry. I was laying on something soft, and was wrapped up warmly in several blankets. I stared straight up at vents in the ceiling.

Oh duh…I’m in a car…laying on the back seat…but why?

I rubbed my eyes with my hand, Ugh!  Why couldn’t I think straight? I felt so shaky.

I rolled over slightly so I could see into the front. There was a man in a Police uniform driving as Connor leaned tiredly against the passenger side window, his eyes barely open.

    

I just lay there, trying to force my fuzzy mind to think. Where were we going? What had happened? The last thing I remembered was….oh what was it? I was at the party....I walked out….that boy he….grabbed me and locked me in a room…..everything after that was a blur. No matter how hard I tried to remember I couldn’t remember anything but flashes of things.

I should ask Connor what happened…. I though to myself.

I glanced at Connor; his eyes were closed now. He looked so tired, with dark circles under his eyes as he rested his head on his bandaged hand. Just looking at him made me sleepy. My eyelids slowly closed.

§

   “Sophie…” a voice called softly.

I smiled softly, it was so warm and cozy, I felt too comfortable to open my eyes.  Voices were talking over my head.

“She’s still asleep….should I just pick her up?”

I curled up even tighter, pulling my knees up, not wanting to be picked up. I just wanted to sleep.

Someone was gently pulling my arm out of the blanket. I tired to pull away, but I couldn’t and after struggling for a moment I opened my eyes.

“Hey you’re awake…” Connor asked with a smile, though he still looked exhausted. “Are you feeling better?”

“Yeah…I guess. Where is this?” I asked sleepily, trying to sit up.

“Torrance Beach.”

We were about thirty minutes from my house, at a beach, at almost midnight. This wasn’t normal…

“Why?” I noticed the Policeman staring at me now. “And who is he?”

Connor looked uncomfortable, but the Policeman came over and introduced himself as Morrison.

“We’re taking you somewhere safe.” He said.

I was slightly panicking now, and the unsure look on Connor’s normally calm face was only helping to make me more scared.

“You’re kidnapping me?” I said, my voice coming out in a high-pitched squeak.

“No its not like that Soph-” Connor was cut off by Morrison.

“More or less. Yes. We’re kidnapping you, but its for your own safety.  Now get going!”

Before I could protest, Connor lifted me down from the seat and set me on the ground. I was still feeling slightly dizzy and unsteady, and I clung to his arm, feeling tiny standing next to him. Even though I was fairly tall, Connor towered over me at 6’3”. I couldn’t remember what had happened to my shoes, but I was barefoot now, standing in the rocks by the edge of the road. What where we doing here?

Connor and Morrison exchanged a few more words, as I looked blurrily around at the pretty light sparkling on the dark ocean water, not really paying attention. Then Morrison drove off, leaving Connor and I alone on the beach.

      Jumping down the three-foot wall onto the beach sand, Connor reached up to help me down. But I, becoming more and more annoyed with Connor by the second, tried to jump down myself, grabbing into the rock wall to steady myself. Sharp pain shot up my wrist and arm and I stumbled, falling awkwardly into Connor’s arms.

Oh snap, I thought, vaguely recalling the guy twisting my wrist painfully as he dragged me into the closet. It must have gotten sprained...

Connor sighed, “Sophie I know you’re still mad and don’t feel good right now, but can you just let me help you?”

“Fine.” I muttered, really seeing no other choice at the moment, though I was very glad it was too dark for Connor to see my red face.

Taking my arm gently but firmly, to steady me, Connor lead the way down the beach towards the huge cliff rock that jutted into the water at the end of the beach. Neither of us spoke.

   Finally when reached the rock Connor let go of me and started searching for something along its surface as I watched him. The rock here was black and shiny, its wet surface sparkling slightly through the darkness. Connor now held two fingers to a flat spot in the rock, and as I watched in amazement, the rock began to glow and the surface seemed to be moving.

I stared in fascination; it was so pretty. Then I began to feel the strangest sensation, like the rock was alive. I felt air blowing around me as the rock shimmered and became brighter. I started to take a step closer to Connor, just for safety, then I remembered I was still mad at him and stepped back again. This was getting really creepy though and I was starting to get a little scared.

“Connor….what’s it doing?”

“Don’t worry, its completely fine. It won’t hurt you.” Connor answered without even looking at me.

Suddenly the air became stronger, like it was trying to drag me in. I gave a terrified shriek and instinctively grabbed onto Connor’s arm. I shut my eyes tightly as everything swirled into dizzy blackness. It’s like being sucked into a tornado, I thought vaguely. I’d always wondered what that would feel like. I squeezed Connor’s arm even tighter in spite of my sprained wrist, still keeping my eyes shut.

§

“Sophie…you can open your eyes now…” Connor spoke next to me, and I slowly opened my eyes. I gasped. We were standing in the most beautiful place I’d ever seen.

We were standing in soft green grass beside a waterfall. Everywhere around us were perfect green plants. Ferns, tall trees, vines, moss. Everything glowed with dazzling rays of sunlight filtering through the trees. It was like the pictures that I had set as my computer desktop at home, except this was real, and much more beautiful.

“Pretty isn’t it?” Connor’s voice broke through my dreamy daze.

“Yeah…” I breathed. Then I realized I was still squeezing his arm, and I let go, leaving ten tiny red crescent marks in his skin from my long fingernails. “Sorry…” I said, embarrassed.

Connor grinned slightly, rubbing his arm. “It’s okay, it’s a little freaky the first couple times you travel like that.”

“What was that? And…what…where is this place?” I asked, momentarily forgetting my anger with Connor in my curiosity.

 “Um well we just call this the Interlocua, it means the in between place. It’s kinda like the crossroads of the Ianuas, our reintegration transportation system.” Connor said.

I blinked, “The….what system?”

“Ianuas…The Gate. It’s a Matter reintegration system.”

“Uh….Okay.” My mind was still too exhausted to try and understand that so I changed the subject.

“It’s so beautiful….can you just like…stay here?’

Connor shrugged, “Well, I mean, you could…but there is literally nothing to eat here, and no matter how far you walk, you’re always within sight of the waterfall. It’s almost like a giant treadmill.”

“Oh…okay…that’s weird.” This really was a strange place, I though to myself. Why was I here anyway? I turned to face Connor again.

“Connor, what is going on? Why are we here? Why has all this….stuff…been happening?”

§

Connor took a deep breath and sat down in the grass, gesturing for me to sit down as well.

“And I want the truth…don’t you dare lie to me!” I added, glaring as I sat down beside him.

“Alright, alright! I’ll try to explain…and I never lied to you. Everything I said was true.” Connor said wryly.

“As to what as been happening, well basically you have a whole gang of canine Morphlings trying to kill you.”

“Morphlings? I’ve never heard of them before.” I distractedly raked my fingers through the soft grass, my other arm beginning to throb painfully once more.

“Shape changers. We can turn from Human to Animal.” Connor explained. “And we try not to let humans find out about us most of the time. If we did, they’d be showing us off like a freak show and do laboratory studies on us and all that garbage.”

I made a face, I was still having a hard time believing the whole “Morphlings” thing, but then again so many weird things had been happening lately. I mean I had just gotten here through a glowing rock. So maybe, just maybe, this whole Morphling thing might be real.

“But why? Why do they want me dead? Why do they care about a human?” I asked.

Connor actually gave a surprised laugh then, leaving me completely confused and very annoyed.

I glowered at him. “What is so funny?!”

“You ARE a Morphling silly!” Connor thunked me gently on the head with his knuckles. “I just though you’d have guessed that already, that’s all.”

“What the…fudge?! You’ve got to be kidding me?!” I nearly yelled. This was all too much. “What on EARTH makes you think I’m a Morphling?”

Connor just looked thoughtfully at me for a moment before answering, “I can sense other Morphlings…its like…an aura about them. See, I’m a Searcher. Basically, my job is to find lost ones, then keep an eye out for them; keep them safe until they’re eighteen, then bring them to be trained.” Connor had a pained look on his face,  “I’m afraid I haven’t done a very good job of that though.”

“Hey…you kept me from dying twice…I wouldn’t say that’s too bad…” I said grudgingly.

Connor shrugged, obviously not consoled. “I coulda done better. Anyways…Morphlings can sense the presence of other Morphlings, just like the dogs could sense you.”

I glanced skeptically at him, wondering if he was messing with me again, but his brown eyes met mine, unwaveringly honest. There was something about Connor that was different from everyone else at school….something making me gravitate towards him even when I was trying to ignore him. Is that what he’s talking about?

    “Your mannerisms are a dead giveaway too though,” Connor continued,  “you act like a cat; quiet, sly, always watchful and alert...stalker-ish…..you smell like a cat to.”

“Hey!!”

Connor just grinned mischievously as I glared at him.

“I was kidding, chill girly. You always smell nice. Result of another common characteristic of cats....Being neat freaks.”

In spite of myself, I grinned. That at least was true. I was a neat freak and so was Connor from what I’d see of his homework and locker at school.

“Hmmm” I was rather amazed he could tell so much about me, guys are usually the unobservant ones.

       

     “Also, anger management problems...don't think I never knew why you do Tae Kwon Do and fencing. Your parents were smart to get you into those.”

     

    “Omigosh! Who told you that?” I demanded, looking up, startled.

“No one, I have the same problem. It’s a cat thing.” Connor smiled at me, “We better get go-“

I cut him off, “Wait!” It was slowly dawning on me what he was saying.  “You think I’M a CAT?!”

    “Yes….well….I can tell you the exact species of almost any morphling, but quite honestly I don't know what you are. I've tried to figure you out but you're not like anything I've ever seen…More beautiful too I might add.” Connor winked, and I felt my cheeks flush.

“I DO know you’re a cat though, something powerful…I don’t know what kind….I have a feeling the dogs know more than I do unfortunately…” Connor grimaced, “Anyways, enough questions, we've got to get going.” 

I stood up quickly.  This was just nuts.  “No! No no no! There is no way in a million years! Okay, maybe this whole Morphling thing is real but I am NOT a Morphling! I think I would know if I was part cat!!”

Connor looked taken aback at my sudden outburst, but after a moment he just slowly shrugged, “Okay then…I guess we’ll find out, won’t we?” He offered me his hand to help me up, but I ignored it and got up myself.

Connor gave a sad sigh as he turned away and immediately I felt a sharp stab of guilt. Why am I being so mean? Arghhh you’re such a jerk Sophie!  I mentally berated myself as I walked closer to him to apologize.

“Connor….oh whoa what’s that?”  I promptly forgot my apology in my curiosity.

     Connor had pressed his fingers onto a smooth rock sitting right on the edge of the water. It glowed for a moment, then turned into a perfectly smooth surface, with what locked like a touch-screen keyboard in the rock, though the keys had strange letters on them that I had never seen before. Connor typed something into it.

 “What does that say?” I asked, peering over his shoulder.

 “Dewdrop, California. Puma Concolor Castrum. Which basically just translates as cougar headquarters, but we like to use Latin for formal names. We were going to wait til you were eighteen to bring you here, but given that you have an entire Lupa Mafia gang after you, we decided to bring you here now.”

“We?” I asked.

“You’ll see,” was Connor’s only answer.

I just nodded, distracted for now the water in the waterfall was glowing and shimmering like the rock on the beach had. Connor stepped right down into the water, then offered me his hand to step in.

  “B-but….I HATE water!!” I stammered, backing away from the now terrifying-looking water as if it were a real live thing trying to grab me.

      Connor actually rolled his eyes at me in exasperation.

“Would you stop being SUCH a cat! I hate it to, but we’re not going anywhere unless you get in.”

Before I could protest again, Connor picked me up like I was a tiny child and set me down in the water, as I gave a horrified squeak. He then took a firm grip on my arm, and in spite of my violent struggles to get free, he pulled me under the pounding waterfall, before I could even take a breath.

Chapter 5 ~

        I opened my eyes, fully expecting to be drowning under water, but instead I was sitting on the ground under a tree, and for the second time that day, squeezing Connor’s arm as hard as I could. Embarrassed, I quickly let go, leaving new red marks on his arm.

“Sorry!” I said, my face turning red.

“S’okay” Connor grinned, getting to his feet then pulling me up as well.

I looked around. We were in a huge field, with a few groves of trees, and lots of log cabins, and the sun just beginning to rise.

“It’s morning already?” I was surprised; it had been only a little past midnight when we walked through the black rocks at the beach back home.

     “6 A.M. to be exact, The Gate can travel instantaneously, but as that tends to make you pass out, we normally travel at a much slower rate of Matter Reintegration, which takes approximately the same amount of time as driving there, though it seems instantaneous to the ones traveling.”  Connor explained.

Suddenly there was a loud screech from a falcon overhead, making me jump.

“That’d be Iris.” Connor said, waving.

The Falcon swooped low, then just before it hit the ground it morphed gracefully into a small slender teenage girl, about my age, wearing a bow and arrows on her back.

“Hey there! I’m Iris.” The girl said, smiling in a very friendly manner at me, “And you must be the mysterious beauty queen cat that Hunter’s always talking about when he visits occasionally.” I just stared awkwardly as Iris gave Connor a laughing, wicked grin as his face turned red.

Connor talks about me? I wondered, my stomach suddenly feeling a little fluttery.

“Oh shut up Iris, you’re just jealous.” He answered with a teasing smirk, recovering quickly from his embarrassment.

“Well I’ll leave you two girly-girls to get acquainted while I go report to my Dad.” And in an instant he turned into his cat form and was off before us girls could torture him further.

I gave a confused little laugh, then turned to my new friend, “So why do you call him Hunter?”

    “Oh all Morphlings have a human name and a nickname. When we’re around humans we always use our real names, but when its just us Morphlings around, we call each other by our nicknames…or True names…depends on whether you were raised a human or Morphling. We’ve always called him Hunter, ‘cause after his father, who’s Commander General of the entire American territory, Connor’s one of the best hunter-warrior’s here!”

“Whoa, he never told me that!” I exclaimed.

“Of course not, he’s way to modest. He’s like the seventh in command after our Commander-in-chief or something…and you’d never know it! His dad’s second in command.” Iris rolled her eyes, and I giggled. 

“What’s your real name Iris?”  

 “My real name is Paige, but around here everyone calls me Iris, after the Greek goddess of messengers, since I’m kinda the messenger girl around here.”

“Aww, Paige, what a pretty name!”

Iris gave me a dimpled smile, “Thanks! Yours is to, Sophia right?”

I nodded, thoughtfully, “I wonder what my nickname will be…”

“Oh you’ll get one soon enough, come one! I’ll give you a tour of camp!”

§

       Outside the cabin that was Capt. Mahoney’s office, Connor waited impatiently for his dad to finish his phone call. He needed to give a report of all that had happened recently, especially with the unusual attacks, and Sophie being an unusually powerful, though un-known Morphling.

    Connor kicked at the wood chips under his feet, agitated, and accidentally half morphed into cat form before he realized what he was doing. He forced himself to take a deep breath and control his emotions, though he still angry with himself, and was really not looking forward to this. Though his Dad was a very kind and humorous man, he was also a strict captain and expected the very best of all his officers. And children.

     Finally he heard his Dad close his conversation and hang up the phone, and with a long sigh, Connor opened the door and walked in.