Chapter 4: revealing ourselves

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Chapter 4

Revealing ourselves

 

 

 

 

 

     We arrived to the den. A dense area of tall oaks that left almost no way through but the exits we mad, and a clearing in the middle of them all, the branches intertwined in the top to form a suitable sort of roof that was very weather resistant. Although our winter den was elsewhere for when the leaves all crash to the ground and leave it exposed.

     “Here we are!” Rikku exclaimed. “This is your home?” he said, “don’t you have like a cabin or hut or something?” “No, why would we need any of those?” Oakami said. “Wait, so you little dudes are telling me that you live alone with no adults or supervision out here in the middle of the forest with no house or anything like that?” he said in hysteria, “ha! Come on, what’s really up with you guys being here?” he asked. “What do you mean by that?” Shadow said. “We live here, no help, end of story, no strings attached.”

     “Ok, whatever. As long as it’s a ’shelter’ then it’s fine. I’ve been in worse places before.” Bruce said. “Wait, worse?” Nikita started, “ so your saying our home is bad? It’s perfectly fine! We’ve lived here for years! Why don’t you just leave us alone about it!” she yelled. He was in a state of awe.

     “Wow, tough for a little person now aren’t ya?” he said to her. That was a big mistake. Her eyes lit up with the fire of her anger. She hated being called little or small and anything like short. Yet she was at a small stature, she hated being told it. Honestly, he probably should have ran.

     She walked up to him, stared him dead in his eyes, and just yelled. “Don’t you ever call me short! I’m tough, so don’t try me!” “Jeez! Alright, calm down. It’s ok little girl.” He said little again. Here we go.

     “Oh! This coming from you who was stupid enough to not bring extra fuel for your bike! You leather head, antihypochondriac, freak of the city!” she yelled. I didn’t think I had ever heard the word “antihypochondriac before. “You think you’re so tough? Then prove it you little insecure rat!” he yelled back.

     We all sat down to watch this. It was quite amusing to see them argue. We weren’t going to step in and separate them until she attacked, it was too interesting. “Fine then you gel wearing boot kicking city slicker! Name your challenge!” Nikita yelled. “Alright then you lonely munchkin! I’ll race you on foot to the river!” he yelled. That was the worst insult yet. The worst I’m sire she had ever heard. I was surprised she hadn’t attacked him yet.

     “Fine then you chain slinging motor head! You want a race? You got it! Kalkan!” she yelled, “get over her and referee this. I want it to be official when I put his sorry a*s to shame!” “Heh, don’t you mean when you get the dust in your face from when I win by the mile? Pathetic mutt! Lets go!” he said. Kalkan rushed over and drew a start line with his left foot and stood at the end of it.

     Now, Bruce hadn’t known what we were and that his mutt insult was actually a very huge thing to poor Nikita. She almost looked to lunge, but she stood firm at the line with her foot dug slightly into the dry dirt. He was ready, and by the looks of it, so was she. They were ready at the start line.

“Ready!” Kalkan said with an arm raised into the air, “ set!” he yelled, an we all sprinted forward except him and the two racers so we could keep up and see how it went, “go!” he yelled, and they both just shot off over the line.

     He was taller than her and a bit more muscular, but he was shorter and leaner, and I’m pretty sure in a bit better physical condition. This really wasn’t much different then inside the pack with Nikita; she likes to be rude and always starting something with someone somewhere.

     Nikita kept up with him pretty well at first, at least that’s how it seemed. The river was a mile away, so it would be a short race and she would really have to go to get him. I wondered how long she’d last as I ran next to them.

It was a tight lined race, all the way till about halfway through. By that mark, Nikita started to slip back a little and fall behind him! She gathered every bit of her strength and had a burst that sent her ahead. She slipped back a little again and was just barely ahead of him.

     He on the other hand, looked like he was doing superb and like he had just had a good nights sleep. He wasn’t tired at all and ran just as fast as when he originally started. His grin showed a smirk of attitude and he probably thought he had her beat as she slipped back again a little more.

     She was determined not to lose to the likes of him. The look of power showed on her reddening face as it glisten with the sweat of resolution to her problem of speed. She suddenly wisped into a white wolf as her form was while she was only inches behind him. Instantly she gained ground on him and sped ahead.

     His mouth was gaped at the site of what he though he just saw, he saw her change in an almost full site with no cover on it! Non the less, he ran faster and shut his mouth. His arms flailed more rapidly and he did manage to come up on her ever so slightly. He never missed a beat even in his stunned state. He was still struggling to keep up now.

     The finish line was just up ahead and he still wasn’t even next to her. You could see the clear waters going by and from the looks of their speeds, that was only seconds away even despite the length still to go. He slipped up a bit and almost stumbled. It put him only a little further back, but when last second came, it was juts even to make him lose.

     She crossed the finish line and wisped back into her human form in triumph. She jumped up and down with a smile as every one circled her, just as excited, to congratulate her. Everyone except me.

     Bruce was near the circle stomping and cursing and throwing a fit that he lost. He looked like a mad little puppy that didn’t get his way. “No! No! No! You cheated you rodent! No one said you could do that! What the hell was that? And how did you do it?” he said. That’s why I didn’t congratulate her. She had shown him something that no one should have known other than ourselves. I didn’t know if that was a good thing or not. It most likely wasn’t.

     Nikita hesitated as the question. “What was what?” she said innocently. “That thing you did back there! You changed into a wolf and them back to a kid!” he said, even more in awe from explaining what he saw. The amazement and disbelief showed in his voice.

     We all glanced at each other with worry, uncertainty, and discontent. “You did change didn’t you!” he said pointing a finger at her. We all split aside to she was alone in-between the two sides of us. Only she could answer him, she may have been found out, but there’s no reason to have us exposed too. What would she tell him though?

     “Are you feeling ok?” she said as a decoy. “Just answer the dam question!” he yelled with impatience. Apparently mind games weren’t going to help her now. “Yes…..” she whispered as she tilted her down. “Oh my God! Can you show me it again?” he asked. She looked over to Spirit for her answer. “He already knows Nikita. You might as well show him them.  Go ahead, it’s all right.” she said to her. Nikita nodded.

     She raised her arms up and her head and then switched into her white wolf form with the blue luminescent light that covers us as we shifted. She stood there on four paws now and looked up at him. Then she raised her head and howled into the twilight skies. We all squirmed, trying to resist doing the same. Then she switched back into human form in the same manner as before.

     “How did you do that?” he asked politely. “I don’t really know. I just think of my form and it seems to happen by my will that way. We were born this way.” she said. She immediately gasped and clasped both hands over her mouth with a look of mistake. She had just screwed up even bigger than before. She said “we”. She gave us all away instead of only herself. Our secret was revealed to this unknown stranger.

     “You mean you all can do this thing!?!” he said. “Yes, we can.” Zorah said politely and softly. She turned back and nodded at us and we all changed into our different forms in front of him. He knew much already, we may as well have shown him.

     From nine humans standing before him to nine wolves staring at him, we showed him something that day that never should have been seen. Our mother always warned us of this while she was alive: “now children, the biggest mistake we can ever make is to show others that are not like us what we are. There are so many bad people in this world. If you tell, the ones who do not understand it may hurt you or kill you. And the ones who like it, may take you away and never bring you back, they will keep you some where small and confined where many others will look and point and laugh at you. Remember children, never ever show anyone what you are besides me and each other.” I will always remember her words.

     He was amazed to the point of near fainting. “Oh man! I can’t wait to tell my crew about you guys!” he said happily. “No!” I yelled quickly, “you can’t tell anybody about this. No one can ever find out about us. Promise us you wont! We don’t know what would happen if any others knew…..” I guess I was the only one who remembered mothers’ wise words.

     He pondered it a moment. His face twisted into the shape of his thoughts as he did. It was almost as if we could read his face to see what he was thinking. “Alright you guys, its all good with me. I wont say a thing, I promise. It‘s safe with me.” he said. He even called us “guys” instead of “kids” this time. That was a huge respect jump for us.

     “Right then,” Rikku said happily, “come back to the den with us, its dinner time.” She smiled as she spoke. She was always so happy all the time. Although why shouldn’t she have been? She was smart, caring, kind, in good shape, and just beautiful, the best looking of us all unfortunately. That made Nikita jealous sometimes, although Topaz looked up to her.

     Anyways, we were all starved; it had been a very long and tiresome day, some more than others. None of us had really eaten that day, we just didn’t have time. There was just too much going on really.

     We all walked home chatting with Bruce on the way. He was nice enough to ask our names and about us. He was seemingly very kind, but I still had my suspicions and doubts.  I thought everyone else had taken to him to easily and quickly. I thought they would be smarter than to do that. It reminded me of more of our mothers’ lectures: “never trust a strangers my children. You must wait to see how they really are inside before you know if they are able to be trusted. Humans are very unpredictable and some are evil. Do not trust easily, it is worth waiting to see.” I think I was the only one who use to listen to her, and the only one who remember her. I had never really seen another human before…..

     We had to catch something to eat; after all, we couldn’t just go pick it up. We always did have to hunt. It was a little rough trying to catch the extra food, but it was ok. He was our guest after all. We were lucky enough to catch deer and a rabbit. Just enough to sustain all ten of us.

     It was growing dark and we did not plan on being out that night. We readied up for the night back at our den and set up our nest like beds. “Thanks dudes. I figure my crew will be around in a few days. I told’em that if I wasn’t back in two days to come lookin’ for me, so.” Bruce said as we all lay down. “It’s ok. Were just tired now.” Zorah said. “Ok, night you guys.” he said, and then we all snuggled in and drifted off one by one.

     I lay awake though in the cool nights breeze. I stared up through a hole in the canopy to the dark blue skies at the glowing stars. It was a cooler night and the breeze eased through the trees making a low-pitched whistle noise. It felt nice though, that was my favorite kind of night, the cool and dark ones.

     I just lay there in thought. I could here the rest of my brothers and sisters breathing as they dreamt away. I was sure they were all happy now that the hype of sensing dangers were gone. I wasn’t too tired, so I still lay awake a while longer. The night was still new and there was time enough left to rest.

     I basically just layed there and thought about our mother. That say and all its events kind of made me think of her. All her lessons and what she would have done if she was there. I missed her. I never really knew our father. Poachers found him and killed him out of fear while our mother was still carrying us inside her. But enough of that, I thought, I don’t want to think of the sad times. It was different now; we had a new person I guess we could call a friend. I hoped at least. Like I have said, he seemed very kind, but I still didn’t trust him yet, maybe soon, but not now. I did so fall asleep soon after, the tiredness of me caught up and I was out for the while, happily in my den with my brothers and sisters.