To Cheat Death

Chapter Seven

I woke when a tentative hand touched my shoulder. Moaning without opening my eyes, I hoped whoever it was would go away and leave me in peace!

Someone giggled. "Come on silly. You've nearly slept the day away."
The voice seemed familiar.
Cracking my eyes to harsh bright light, I reluctantly sat up, rubbing my eyes.

"What?" I said through the fog. The last thing I remember was falling on the cot in despair, and surrendering to the temptation to close my eyes and forget my worries for a while.

"How long have I been sleeping?" I asked, finally looking my awakener in the face.
It was a girl with curly blond hair and an impish face. Her eyes were startlingly blue.

"You fell asleep before dinner, slept through the night, and now it's nearly noon. Alecc said you didn't eat. So I brought you some breakfast."

She held out a mug of milk and when I took that, handed me a plate of homemade rolls slathered with butter and jelly.

My mouth watered and my stomach made its presence loudly known.
I hadn't eaten in weeks. Mostly because it was easier to feed my animals than to find and make human food. So I had avoided staying very long in my human form so I wouldn't get hungry. But I had spent at least the sum of a couple days without food. So I was hungry.

She plopped down beside me and started to talk.
The girl chattered the whole time I ate. I eyed her out of the corner of my eye, as I would do to a skiddish bird. Did she expect anything from me?
She was strange. Is this how people my age are supposed to act?

The books my mother had, covered a wide variety of subjects.
Once she read me some books called science. It was very interesting. She had several about math (which she forced me to read and practice) and even more about made up things. One she called a romance. It was about young people. They had talked a lot. The book had not made sense at all. They were always doing strange things like school and they couldn't shift at all. The book was very boring but I wish I had it now. Then I could look up what happens when they encounter someone they've never met before who acts like your closest friend.

I suppose I could talk back.
Setting aside the empty plate, I looked her square in the face and interrupted her chatter, "Can you read?"

She stoped midsentence, looking as if she forgot there was someone else into the tent.

"Well of course I can read. True, I'm not one of those shifters that lives in the human world and goes to school."
She shuddered at that.
"But everyone here knows how to read. And I can do basic math. But the humans have ridiculous standards. I even heard of this thing called calculus. It's a math based form of torture, meant to break even the most stubborn mind. Why? Did you live with the humans?"

I shook my head. "I lived in the woods. Before-" Unwillingly, my eyes filled with tears.

"Oh you poor thing."
She put her arm around my shoulder as if she were my mother.

I blinked them away.
No crying. I told myself firmly.

"Did your people disappear too?" Now tears shined in her eyes and her voice cracked.

"What? My people didn't disappear. They were killed!"

She slapped her hand over her mouth.
"Opps."

"Your people are disappearing?"

Nodding reluctantly, her chattyness vanished.

She stood up. "My uncle, he's the chief, requests you stay here for the time being. He is taking to the Wolfbane pack about a treaty and with our pack practically on red alert... He just thinks until we get this ironed out, you should stay here until he has time to talk to you. Otherwise I would show you around."

She pulled a small book out of a pocket. "Here I thought you might want something to pass the time."

I smiled, taking the book. She turned and fled.

"I will stay, for a while anyway. Yes, I will rest. For the moment." I said to myself.

"Really? Your gonna let them lock you up indefinitely?" Said snake.

"No you idiot. She said she would stay for a moment." Replied panther.

"I wish you would both shut up." Owls voice sounded impressively like a growl.

"I wish I could eat you." Panther licked her lips.

"I wish I had my bag. How am I going to change into anything without it?" I said, mostly ignoring them.
"I'm going to get more transtionals. But first, I'm going to read."

The title said Sir Gibbie of The Highlands. It was about an orphan boy who couldn't speak or shift.

I read for hours. Losing myself in a way I hadn't since before everything I loved burned.
But still, carefully listening to every suspicious sound outside my tent. It would not do for someone to sneak up planing to murder me.

It became unbearably hot and stifling in the little tent.

Pulling back the tent flap, I welcomed the cool breeze and glanced up at my namesake. The position of the sun said it was a little past three. Perfect.

Glancing around, I saw no one. Just silent tents squeezed all around my own.

"That's odd."

"Yeah, if I were them, I wouldn't leave a stranger unwatched." Falcon said.

"Something is off," I causally walked through the tents to behind the nearest cabin.

"Where are you going?" mouse fearfully squeaked.

"To find out what is."