Shai Soi

Chapter 3

     We marched through the house. My tail whapped into the hardest things it could on our way to the basement.

“The basement is the den?”

“No, it's bigger than the basement.”

“Bigger than the basement? How could that be? The basement is like a WWII bunker. How come I've never seen the den?”

“Because it wasn't time.”

“Thanks. That so helps.”

The Den turned out to be nothing but a brick wall. Other than my old tricycle and a box labeled “Holiday” it was bare.

“Hon, move the bike.” The outline of a door was imprinted on the brick. The hinges squealed, and the door swung inward.

The room inside flickered with the light from a dozen bare fluorescent lights. The area that I could see had a fluffy scratched up couch, an equally damaged carpet, and the edge of a clothing wrack.

“Ok-a-ay, so it's a room.”

“Go on in and see what you think!” My momma suggested.

“Uh, the door's tiny. How am I supposed to get in?” The door was in fact no more than two feet tall.

My parents shared an excited look. Dad replied, “Give it a wiff and see what happens.”

Thanks, dad.

For a businessman, he wasn't doing too well with getting to the point.

Oh well, no reason to argue.

I couldn't even fit my slim shoulders through the entrance. My tail banged against the wall, getting excited. My face burned with embarrassment. Maybe my parents were just making fun of me. Maybe after a few minutes of fun they'd take me somewhere to cut the tail off instead of making me squeeze between a stupid opening.

“Have you sniffed yet?” called my dad.

“Sure,” I shouted back. My shoulders were jammed in the wall. “It smells musty! And…” I coughed. “There's old meat in here! I'm going to die from fungus inhalation! ACHOO! What's that? It's like…”

But as my nose became accustom to the Den's smells, the more it seemed to become pleasant and strangly familiar. The musty odor transformed into the hot soil of a savanna. The lightbulbs brightened and blurred resembling the sun. The carpet's shredded threads were more like lumpy stalks of dry grass. The hanging meat smelled delicious after such a long day.

"How do you feel, sweetheart?" Momma asked.

I hadn't realized I'd gotten in the room.

"Comfortable. Wow, what is this place?" Dad smiled and placed a hand on my shoulder.

In the back of my mind I thought, How did they even get in here?

"It's great isn't it? Like we said, this is the Hunter family den. This is where we council in times of Pride crisis."

"And where Shai soi first practice their changing." Momma pat the sofa cushion beside her.

"And what does that mean?"

"It means, my little cub, that you're growing up." The old nickname surprised me. My dad hasn't used 'cub' in, like, seven years. "And I'm not talking about, uh, girl growing up. That happens to everyone-"

"Dad! I'm not having The Talk with you."

"Right, well, like I was saying. There's something that makes our family special."

I scooted up on the cushion in anticipation. "And what's that?"

They let the moment build. The tension escalated until I was near bursting. My foot tapped almost as fast as my mother's had.

I was seven years old again. My mind swirled with absurd possibilities.

Were my parents spies? Or undercover agents? What if we were all superheros! And the tail was a regular side effect of getting those powers? If so, what powers?  Flying would be cool or super speed. I've always wanted to be on the track team. Oh, I really wanted super powers. Not the tail.

"What? What's special about this family?" I blurted.

"We're... Shai soi!" My parents said together.

I rolled my eyes. "And that means?"

Please be code for spy. Please be code for spy...

"We're Shai soi," Momma repeated. "Shape-shifters."