Luna's Daughter (1st Edit Done)

Chapter 23

Aliyah Staton

Tadeo had been reading to me for the last hour or so; even though he had a hard time with most of the words in the book he chose it was still relaxing just listening to him. It was nice having him around because he treated me like I was still normal. He talked to me but never expected responses; it was like he was just patiently waiting for me to one day wake up. I too wished that one day that would happen, but it's hard not to lose hope when all you see is darkness all the time.

I heard the door open and Tadeo closed the book, he said goodbye and I heard him skip out the door. It was almost like I could feel Amaro's presence as soon as he entered the room; it was nice to have a feeling other than numbness. Then I felt the warmth of his hand wrap around mine; oh, that was a nice feeling too, I almost forgot what that felt like.

"Hi," he said through mind link once Tadeo was out of the room.

"Hi," I replied, internally smiling, it was nice to be able to talk back to someone.

"I talked to our dads and they think that the fact we can talk via mind link is a good sign," Amaro said back and I felt his warmth soak into my hand.

"That's good," I said back.

We talked for the next few hours before we both fell asleep. The next day we were joined by my father and Amaro's father; they wanted to start some exercises now that they knew I could hear them. We worked all day on focusing my mind on healing and moving my body parts. I couldn't believe how exhausting it was for not even moving; it was like my brain was just stretched to the limit. After many failed attempts at anything happening I managed to make my pinky flinch; the room erupted in applause and they finally let me rest.

The next day I was left alone to exercise with Amaro, it seemed much more relaxing with him. He didn't push me as hard as our fathers did and when he could tell I was feeling exhausted he would let me take a break.

"How are you doing Ali? If I push you too hard just let me know, ok?" Amaro said as we took another break, we had been working for four hours now.

"No I'm ok. It's actually a lot better working with just you; it's easier for me to concentrate," I said back.

I felt Amaro place his hand on mine again, the feeling was a lot different than it was just a few days ago; now I could feel the whole shape of the hand as it rested on mine. I wished so much that I could just hold his hand back, but I know my hand wouldn't do as I willed it too. I heard the door to the bedroom burst open and two sets of footsteps enter.

"We have an idea that we think might work," I heard my father say.

"What is it?" Amaro asked.

"Well I think... We think," he corrected himself, "you should give her more blood," my father said.

"Do you think that will help?" Amaro asked.

"It should promote her healing," I heard Anaru speak for the first time.

"Well let's do it then," Amaro said as he let go of my hand and I heard the chair squeak when he stood up.

"Wait, what do you mean give me blood? Why do I need blood?" I asked Amaro through mind link; I waited for an answer but after about thirty seconds I got impatient.

"HELLO!" I yelled again through mind link.

"Jesus Ali, that was fucking loud," Amaro said out loud instead of through our link. I laughed a little, how was I suppose to know if would come through as loud as I said it in my head? I'm new to this.

"What's going on? What's wrong with Ali?" I heard my father's voice ask full of worry.

"Nothing's wrong Mr. Staton, she just wanted to know why we were giving her blood and when I didn't answer right away she screamed at me," Amaro said annoyed.

"Yeah that sounds like Ali," my dad said, I could almost hear the smile on his face as he spoke the words.

"Well, is anyone going to answer me?" I asked again through the link.

"It will help you heal Ali," Amaro said again speaking out loud but sounding more annoyed this time.

"Help me heal, how will it help me heal?" I asked confused now. If blood could pull people out of a vegetative state then I'm sure it would be done all the time by doctors. I think they have all gone crazy.

"Ali just trust me," Amaro said back in mind link now. Agh, it sucked that he could just chose when to talk to me out loud or in mind link; it pissed me off because I didn't have that option.

"That's what you always say to me when you don't want to answer a question. Well I'm just not going to accept it this time. Tell me the truth!" I demanded, I heard a growl echo in the back of my mind; almost as if it was matching the anger I felt.

"You really don't have an option but to accept it at this point Ali," Amaro said back all 'matter of fact' like causing my anger to boil over the edge.

I can't even describe the level of anger I was at. If you take me being angry at Amaro for avoiding my questions and on top of that add the fact that I am a freaking vegetable lying in a bed completely helpless, I can't see anything, and the only person that can hear me is being an ass; then you would get close to knowing how angry I was. More than anything I just wanted to jump out of that bed and strangle Amaro for being a jerk at such a sensitive time.

That's when everything started to change around me. The voices became hushed before fading out completely and feeling started to come back to all my limbs. There was a flash of bright light then my whole body started shaking. There was so much pain it was like my body was ripping itself apart; I cried out in pain and was surprised when I could hear my own voice.

"Don't fight it Ali, just let it happen," I could hear Amaro's voice, but he sounded nervous.

What the hell is going on? How was I not suppose to fight this, it's so painful. There was so much pain that I thought I couldn't take it anymore, I thought for sure that I would have to pass out soon; then my bones started to break. The pain went shooting through each and every limb as they broke in pieces and began to rearrange themselves; my screams of pain echoed throughout the room.

I could faintly hear people talking but couldn't concentrate on what they were saying through the pain. It went on for what felt like minutes with my bones breaking, my flesh was being ripped away, hair was growing across my body. The weirdest part is I didn't open my eyes the whole time the pain was just too much, yet somehow I knew what was happening; I knew I was turning into some type of animal, I just didn't know what.

When the pain finally stopped and the room fell silent I opened my eyes. I found that I was standing on all fours still on the bed looking out at the three men that stood in front of me. I took in each of their expressions; my father looked terrified, Anaru looked surprised, and Amaro looked, well he looked happy. What the hell, why did they all have so different of emotions showing on their faces.

I stared at them and no one said anything I went to ask why but instead of talking out came a growl. Shit, I had already forgotten I changed into an animal of some sort; that would explain why my dad looked terrified. I looked down to see that I now had four bright white paws and bright white fur sticking out everywhere.

"Free," a voice came from the back of my mind. What was that?

Before I had time to answer my own question my legs started moving on their own and my body took off out the door. I jumped on the door leading outside and managed to pull the handle down and open it, then took off into the woods. I watched as the trees flew by me at an incredible rate, I wondered how I was even dodging them; what was making me move, because I felt like I had no control over my body at all. I saw a flash of black out of the corner of my eye before my body was slammed hard to the ground knocking the breath out of me.