The Hunt for Freedom

Chapter Twenty Four

    Fear swept among our ranks. My people needed a competent leader, and I wasn't sure I was up to the task. How I wish my Grandfather would swoop in and take over. No, that wasn't true. If I ever wanted to earn respect from my Pride, it would be in times of crisis. I just needed to channel my inner feline strength. It was time for Kaya, my panther, to make herself known. If the goddesses felt I was born to be a leader it was time I called on them for help.

I need to remember what Grandfather always said, "Just do what comes next." I took a deep breath and steadied myself. "Ok, we need to speed up our time table. There is no need to wait till just after midnight. Let's get all the players here in under an hour. Bring the shapeshifters. Someone find Dalya. But most of all bring me Penny!"

Everyone arrived within the hour. I split everyone into their groups and assigned each group a leader who would report back to me. I had Farsi, Charlie, and Abe with me at command central.

We coordinated with each other, and came up with a plan. Dalya would send drones into the region. This would serve as a distraction for the shapeshifters to wander in as wolves, bobcats, and a bear. Penny would invisibly fly in when the time was right and find our soldiers. What could go wrong?

Our plan was put together and contingencies were planned for. I tried to be patient when every part of me just wanted to hurry up. I know my impatience was due to my youth, and I fought against it. Hadn't Grandfather also taught patience above all things?

We kept running into the same problem. No matter how successful we were at our mission we had no fool proof plan for getting everyone out if they were too weak to shift.

It was Abe who came up with the idea to try out Penny's invisibility on others. We gathered as she tried to throw her invisibility over Abe like a cloak, he grew dim but didn't disappear totally. She was able to make him translucent, almost dream-like, but it took so much of her concentration that she lost the ability to fly.

I can feel there is more in me, I need more time to learn to use it. I'm sorry, I never had any reason to try this before." She said regrettably.

The shifters were getting restless too, a lot of them were young and impatient to get started. One of the youngest shifted into his bobcat form and was running around the room scattering papers everywhere.

"Someone open the damn door," Abe yelled, now back to his vibrant, sexy self. "It looks like a clown circus in here!"

As the door was opened, the bobcat turned mid-stride to race out and ran straight into Penny who was trying to make something smaller disappear. The coffee pot never changed as Penny toppled over, but the bobcat completely disappeared!

We could hear the whoosh as he ran past us and out the door, but there was no visual and no scent on him. Around the room, looks of wonderment were being exchanged. Penny didn't even realize what had happened as she was trying to regain her feet.

"Can any of you call him back? I turned to the other shifters. "We need to know more...does that work if he is in human form? How long does it last?"

All our answers just ran out the door.

"That is my little brother, Caleb." A tall girl with beautiful blond ringlet curls said. "He is afraid you are all mad at him for making a mess. He wants to help and is sorry." She turned to me. "He is just fourteen, he is just learning to control his cat."

With a few nods in the right direction, the more magical werecats had the room back in order. I turned to the girl and smiled.

"Please tell him we are not mad, we need him more than ever. We are more than willing to work with his youthfulness."