Shifters (Feline english version)

Chapter 9-1

I don't know how long I was unconscious. When I regained consciousness, I found myself in a bed in some kind of infirmary. The medicine aftertaste and the weightlessness feeling in my head told me I had been drugged. Unless it was the different tubes that seemed to come out of my body and lead to two IV bags that gave me a tip-off. One of them had to contain a very powerful painkiller, because I felt almost nothing and had a somewhat disturbing feeling of floating. Which, given the bandages on my arms, must have been a good thing. I leaned cautiously against the headboard and looked around me, stunned to find Jude sitting in an uncomfortable looking chair at my bedside.

- 'What are you doing here?'

My voice was hoarse but reflected my surprise.

- 'Where are we? What am I doing here and... what exactly happened?' I asked again, tired of waiting for him to answer me.

- 'We are back in Nemain. You are in our dispensary...'

- 'Nemain?'

What was it now? I thought, realizing that, in my surprise, I had just cut off his speech very rudely, but... we were past that now.

- 'It's the name of this place, but we only use it among ourselves. I'm sorry, I tend to forget that you don't know much.'

The small contrite smile that came to moderate his sharp words succeeded in preventing me from getting on my high horses, before my curiosity took over.

- 'What does that mean?'

- 'Believe me, you don't want to know!' he replied with a little bitter laughter. 'Besides, as you don't know our culture, it wouldn't mean much to you.'

When he saw that I was about to reply, he stopped me with a soothing gesture.

- 'When this whole crisis is over, I will take the time and explain it to you. But this is neither the time nor the place.'

The fatigue and weariness that I saw on his features convinced me to leave it there, at least for the time being, which I hastened to let him know.

- 'Perhaps you can explain what happened, now that I know where we are?'

- 'You were sedated to ease your pain and help your body recover. Your body couldn't regenerate everything on its own, you had too many serious internal injuries from the explosion.'

- 'I guess the first theory was the right one?' I winced when the needle in my arm came back to my good memory.

Not to mention the effort I had to make to straighten up a bit, which left me breathless and shaky.

- 'Yes,' he said with a gentle smile. 'Although it does seem that your metabolism is slower than a real metamorph. The good news is, you're completely healed.'

- 'And the bad news?' I interrupted him. 'Because I suspect that if you started with the good one...'

- 'The bad ones, actually. Your burns and arm lacerations were quite severe and took so long to close that you will probably have scars. In addition, we had to keep you unconscious for two days and the trail we were following must have faded or even disappeared altogether. Not to mention, and this is the most serious matter, that we have a new disappearance.'

I was speechless for a moment. I was first appalled by the scars. Then it became clear that this was nothing compared to the other two news. Two days of my life had gone up in smoke! As I realised what this meant, a knot formed in my belly... Cassie!

- 'Where are my things?' I asked feverishly as I tried to get up.

- 'Your clothes were no longer salvageable. They ended up in the garbage.'

It was then that I realized that I was only wearing a black T-shirt that reached my knees.

- 'I need my phone.'

- 'It's there, but it's almost out of battery,' he said as he handed it to me. 'Can you tell me what you're so worried about all of a sudden?'

Not bothering to reply, I rushed to my voicemail, praying that it would be full of worried messages from my roommate. But nothing, except for two angry messages from my boss, the second one creeped me out. It confirmed that I wasn't the only one who had missed work for three days: Cassie was also missing. The knot in my stomach kept getting bigger and bigger and I nevertheless dialed her phone number and our landline, but to no avail. I felt the anxiety turn into panic when I realized that Cassie had indeed disappeared. And more importantly, the day that this whole thing started. Uncontrollable shivers began to shake my body while I sat on the bed, holding my phone with an inert hand, which eventually slipped and fell to the ground in a dull noise. Jude got up, approached me and lifted my face up to look me in the eyes.

- 'Are you gonna tell me what's wrong or do I have to force it out of you?'

The spark of anxiety in his eyes and the tone of his voice made me realize that my behaviour was unsettling him.

- 'It's my roommate... She's missing. And I think ever more that... it may be related to your problems.'

- 'What makes you think that?' he asked surprised.

I told him what happened the night Cassie disappeared, that constant feeling of being observed. Afterwards, I deduced that it must have been Hannah spying on me that night. Maybe I was wrong...

- 'That's one possibility. But why go after your roommate if not to blackmail you? It doesn't make sense. Unless she's also a supernatural creature?'

- 'No,' I replied out of reflex. 'Although now... I'm not sure of anything anymore,' I sighed. 'I have to find her.'