No Longer Are We Free

Chapter Twenty Six

Chapter twenty six ~ edited

I shifted and stretched my arms. I unlatched the stall door and opened it, walking out into the aisle.

"Seth," I whispered. "Woah it's weird saying that. Midnight," Midnight put his head over the stall door and looked at me. His ears were pinned back. He was annoyed again.

I rolled my eyes and unlatched the stall door. "Don't pin your ears back at me. I need to tell you something. Now get your horsey ass out of that stall and shift." He walked out with a snort and stood in the middle of the aisle. He didn't shift. I threw my arms in the air. "Fine be that way. It's about Emily - it's so weird saying your actual names..." I trailed off in thought.

Midnight stomped his hoof and snorted. "Right. Um. Before Caleb and I left for the ride, he whispered to me, 'I know what you are' and then when we stopped on the ride, he told me to shift back and we talked. He's a werewolf like you said. Uh... Star and Shadow... They... Um..." Midnight snorted again.

Tears stung my eyes. "Well... They did try to escape. Um. Caleb followed them in his wolf form and they... They're... Midnight, they're dead." Midnight's nostrils flared and his breathing sounded like a racehorse after it ran a race, only more controlled. "I'm sorry." I wrapped my arms around his neck. "I'm so, so sorry."

He shifted. It felt weird, him shifting in my arms. He hugged me after he shifted. There was a gasp but I ignored it and Midnight didn't seem to notice, or he was ignoring it too.

"Do you know what happened?" He asked.

"Caleb said they got shot by rangers. He couldn't go to them in his wolf form or he would have been shot too." I said tearfully.

"They should've been able to get away after a gunshot wound and gotten help. They couldn't have been killed from that." I frowned. He was going into denial. I pulled away a bit and looked up at him.

"Seth. They didn't just shoot them then leave them for dead."

"They put them down, didn't they?" He asked. I bit my lip and nodded. We hugged again and I sighed, rubbing his back.

"You know, when Caleb told me, I broke down and cried like a baby. You're handling this better then I expected. She was your sister after all." I mumbled softly into his shoulder. "We may have spent most of the time arguing, but I'll always be here for you."

He held me tighter. "I know. And I'll always be here for you." I smiled.

"You... Night... Turned... Am I dreaming?" My eyes widened. That sounded like Stacy. Midnight - no Seth - looked up and tensed. We broke apart and I stood next to Seth, both of us now staring at Stacy. Her eyes were wide as well, from shock. I bit my lip and thought of what to do. It wasn't the smartest idea but eh.

I walked up to Stacy and held out my right hand. "Hi, I'm Shimmer. This is Night. The human version. Ever wondered what it would be like if your horse was human? Well, now you can find out. How often do you have strange dreams?" I asked.

"Ne-never." She stuttered, shaking my hand slowly.

"Oh. Well, how long do you have? We have a biiiit of explaining to do."

"We can't-" Seth started.

"Night! We're telling her. It can't hurt, right?" I grumbled, cutting him off.

"Summer. Seriously! We're not supposed to tell humans about us!" He raised his voice. I turned around and glared at him.

"Summer?" Stacy asked.

"It's my actual name. His is Seth, or you can call him Mr Grump." I mumbled, still looking at Seth.

"Oh really? Mr Grump? Do you know why I'm always a grump now? You keep doing these things that frustrate me. But telling humans, I don't even want to begin listing why we shouldn't." Seth said.