Chapter 13: Proof

Sia and Izzie awoke to Twinkle's rapid and breathless baying. Sia sat upright instantly, looking around with crazed eyes. Izzie jumped down to the floor and growled sleepily. They both relaxed when they saw Twinkle's white fur and silver eyes. "What's the problem Twinkle." Sia ran her hand through her curly hair.

"There is a human at the edge of Viridi Forest! He keeps on saying things. Since we can only understand you, we were hoping you'd translate, since your magic."

Sia nodded grimly. She morphed into her wolf, and all 3 of them ran out, as Faber was on Twinkle's back, he didn't have to run. Izzie and Sia ran as fast as they could, Twinkle slowing down enough for them to keep up. Then they found the human. The rest of the Howl Moon pack was already cornering him and growling. It was a small boy of about 5 or 6 years old with long straight dirty blond hair. He had such long bangs that it covered his whole forehead. The boy had kind brown eyes, but they looked scared as his back was against a tree trunk. He was wearing a thin blue coat and white pants with brown velcro sandals.

"Mommy!" The boy cried, but not loud enough. Sia, with her wolf senses, could hear his mother screaming.

"Matthew! Matthew." She wailed. Sia gasped and she turned back to human behind a  tree, so the boy, Matthew, wouldn't freak out. Sia marched out and stood in front of Matthew, fists on her hips.

"You all should be ashamed of your selves!" Sia said to the pack. "This is a scared little boy, and his mother in despair looking for him in our forest. And you scare Matthew even more by growling! Do you want to know how it feels like to be on the other side of that snarling snout?" Sia had so much fury that she forgot, and she morphed into a wolf in front of Matthew. Sia stood in the same predator-about-to-pounce position the rest of the pack was in, and belted out her most vicious and loudest growl and snarl to the pack. Even she sounded dangerous to herself!

All of the pack wolves backed up, tail between their legs. Shiver flinched, but snarled at Sia. Sia stepped closer to Shiver and bared her teeth, letting out a super deep and low growl. Shiver snarled and stepped closer to Sia. Sia shape shifted into a wolves' natural enemy, the mountain lion. Her mountain lion form had green eyes with flecks of gold. It was a rare deep brown colored coat, with a lighter shade of red mixed into that color on her legs and tail. Her claws were super sharp. Shiver finally whimpered and fled. Ajax just sat where he was and watched. But Sia was on super animal form. She couldn't control her instincts and she turned to look at Ajax. She let an inaudible growl ripple through her, as her muscles were tense and knotted, ready to pounce.

"Sia, we don't have time for this. Look at the boy. He is scared, like you said." Ajax knew how to get to her.

Sia changed back to human and smiled kindly. She shot Ajax a stern glare so that he didn't follow her. Sia took Matthew by the elbow and led him towards the sound of his mother. "So Matthew, what happened?" Sia asked as they walked.

"We were walking past Viridi Forest and I wanted to see what it looked like so I climbed through a hole in the fence. Then I got lost." Matthew tried to say, though he couldn't exactly say it as his 2 baby front teeth weren't there.

"We are going to your mommy now. So what did you see?" Sia tried to be patient and kept a tight smile on her lips.

"I saw you! You were amazing! You changed to a...a wolf then a cat, a big cat, not like Mittens, my cat at home." Matthew said with wide eyes.

Sia chuckled. She was just about to say something when they heard his mother scream Matthew's name again. "Mommy!" Matthew shouted back and a wide grin rippled through his face. Sia and the boy ran together and found a woman that had the same features as Matthew. She wore a red sweater and a black sleeveless shirt. Matthew's mother had jeans on and white sandals, with a wide brimmed tan hat to keep from getting sun burned.

"My baby!" The woman sobbed in relief and wiped away her tears. They ran to each other and hugged until the mother saw Sia standing uncomfortably, shifting her weight between each foot. The woman unwrapped her arms from her son and stepped towards Sia.

"Hi, my name is Jade Miller. Nice to meet you. Um, but you look like Rachel McGanoff. Excuse me for saying so." The mother asked as Jade and Sia shook hands.

"No, I used to be Rachel. but I decided to change my name to Sia. Nice to meet you too." Sia said casually.

Jade took a step back with wide eyes. "But, you're all over the news! Every where, everyone, knows who you are! The news stations, policemen, even the FBI and the CIA say you are magic and evil. You're a threat to society!" Jade sputtered.

"No, Mommy! Sia is very nice. A a lot of wolves attacked me! Sia changed to a cat and scared them away!" Matthew ran up to Jade and nodded eagerly.

"What?" Jade asked. 

So Sia explained. "The Howl Moon pack, sorry, a wolf pack was snarling and growling and cornered your sweet little boy, who, by the way, looks like you a lot." Jade nodded, very pleased to hear that Matthew looked like her. "Anyway, I stood in front of Matthew before they pounced on him. I changed into a wolf, then a mountain lion, to scare them away. With my animal senses I heard your yelling, so I changed back to human and led Matthew to you." Sia said.

"Then everyone is wrong about you! Thank you so much for saving my son. Since you're going to have no way of knowing what's happening in the real world, I'll come here and keep you posted. It is the least I can do after saving my Matthew." Jade pinched Matthew's cheeks lovingly. "And, I will tell everyone what you did! I will speak to my friends, and even strangers, so that you have people on your side." Jade looked exhausted, Sia noticed. 

Sia pointed to the ground and 3 perfectly square rocks that was flat on the top jutted out of the ground. "Let's sit." Sia suggested. Sia sat cross legged on one, and Matthew and Jade followed her example. "It would help if you had a recording of me to show your friends and maybe the television news people, because almost everyone watches the news." Sia pondered aloud. "Or else you would have no proof."

"Of course." Jade agreed. Jade rummaged through her purse and took out her smart phone. She tapped the screen a couple of times and announced, "It is recording." Then Sia, Jade, and even Matthew helped in explaining the story. Sia told the story straight from when she was born and adopted, all the way up to the point where Jade and Matthew were in the forest. Matthew explained the part about being attacked and Sia leading him back to his "mommy". Finally Jade explained right up to the present.

Jade had put the phone on camera mode, so it didn't just record their voices, but now she had visual proof. When they were done, Jade and Matthew packed up and said goodbye to Sia. Then they disappeared through the hole they came.