Not Quite Dead

Chapter Thirteen - Not Quite Unchanged

Dawn

My skin felt. 

No, literally, I felt something, a sensation, something.  My skin was feeling.  I could touch my hair, my skin, my dress (which I really had no idea how it got on; it might've just always been there without me noticing), and I could feel them.  Slightly, but I could still feel them. 

What was happening to me?

I floated to the Alexanders' bathroom and sped to the mirror. 

My glow.  What was happening to my glow?  It was fading, and I almost looked--

I almost looked like a mortal. 

My hair, it was starting to look more like Samantha's.  My dress had a sort of gold color to it, and I had no idea what was going on. 

"Hey, Dawnie -- Woah, Dawnie." Avery appeared beside me, looking just as shocked as me.  "You look human.  If you weren't floating, and if you still didn't have a bit of a glow, I'd say you were, like, human!"

I nodded vigorously in agreement.  It wasn't that being a human was bad to us spirits.  I mean, we just got out of being mortal, of the capability of being physically hurt.  So was I turning into a human?  I couldn't be.  I looked at Avery with wide eyes, and I wished now more than ever that I could talk. 

"Maybe you should talk to the Kyler kid and his crazy old lady," Avery suggested.  "That lady's probably so old that she knows everything."  I had to admit that, as flighty and everything that Avery was, she really gave some good advice.  Plus, she gave a pretty accurate description of Mimi. 

I really needed to shout out in frustration.  Kyler was very helpful by finding Mimi for me, but Mimi couldn't understand anything I was at least trying to act out. 

"Speak up, child," she said to me.  Did she really, really, REALLY expect me to talk, to say anything?  She knew I was an In-between.  Mimi should know that I can't speak, much less speak up.  I was already perpetually upset with her because she always took Kyler away and was no fun.  Now, she expected me to say things.  People should understand my anger.  This lady was crazy.  Like cray-cray crazy, as I'd heard Samantha say once.  "I can't hear you, child."

"Mimi, I'll take care of this one.  You go watch the children," a lady with a kind voice said.  When Mimi left, she turned to me.  "I'm Catherine Williams."

I'd heard of Catherine before.  She looked young, but she was one of the oldest spirits in North America.  It was rumored that Catherine was part of a society of spirits that helped new spirits.  Well, those rumors were clarified.  From what I gathered, Mimi was part of it. 

"And I know that you," she continued, "are miss Dawn Davis.  We've been keeping tabs on you."

My expression must've said what because Catherine laughed and explained herself.  "We keep tabs on all spirits, darks, angels, and In-betweens alike.  That way, we can help when we need to."

That was assuring.  I hoped they could help me with my Kindred Spirit and help-I'm-looking-like-a-mortal complexes. 

"Now, I understand that you have found your Kindred Soul, Dawn," said Catherine.  I nodded like a madwoman.  Mimi should have been able to at least understand that.  "And I'm sure you've heard of people disappearing after they've found their Kindred Spirit or Soul.  I also see that you're going through the Changing."

What the crap was the Changing?  I really needed to stop using Artemis's word. 

Catherine seemed to revel in my confusion; she laughed again.  "Spirits go through the Changing a short while after they've found their Kindred Spirits or Souls.  Just think of it as the universe's way of 'giving back'.  Dawn, you're Changing back into a human so you can be with Mr. Artemis Alexander."

If I hadn't been floating, I would have fallen, because I had no idea that this could happen to spirits.  At least it explained why the spirits were disappearing. 

"Why do you look sad, Dawn?  You can be human again, you'll be able to talk again.  And get this: you'll be able to see spirits; you'll be able to see the beings you once were," she said.  Catherine made a good point.  I did want to talk again, and it would be nice to speak to Artemis face-to-face. 

"Judging by the way you look now, you should complete the Changing in about four days.  There is a committee of people who used to be spirits.  They're everywhere, and they will help you deal with mortal things."

So, this meant I wouldn't be passing onto the afterlife.  Not yet, anyway.  Artemis and I would become spirits again, and we'd probably pass onto the afterlife shortly after.  Life was going to be okay. 

"We probably should both go our separate ways now," said Catherine. 

I nodded.  It would be kind of sad leaving the spirit life.  No more flying, no more phasing through walls, no more going into technology, no more going into people, etc.  I wondered how I'd do. 

I'd be fine.  I'd be with Artemis. 

I returned to the house, and flew straight to Artemis's room.  I wanted to spend as much time with him as I could before the Changing completed.

It was almost humorous how only months ago, Artemis and I had hated each other's guts.  I couldn't stand him, and he couldn't stand me.  Now that we've admitted our feelings to ourselves and each other, it's just happy all the time. 

We love each other, I guess.  We're soul mates, Kindred Souls. 

"Hey, you," he said, smiling when he noticed my presence.  It was around ten o'clock at night, and I couldn't believe Artemis was still awake.  "I told Seraphina, you know, about all this," he said.  He didn't have to specify that "this" was "all this spirit business." 

I was fine with Seraphina knowing. She was a smart girl, and I knew she wouldn't do anything stupid with her newfound knowledge.  I felt happy that Artemis could call her his sister.  I had a feeling he felt the same. 

"She's totally cool with it.  She really wants to meet you, but, you know..."  He trailed off. 

I wanted to tell him so badly about the Changing.  How I'd be human again, and how we'd be together, and I'd be totally, physically, all there. 

We can do that soon enough, Artemis, I thought.