The Truth about Griffin

Chapter 12

     Sharifa gently handed Griffin the club. "Use this to steady yourself. It will be easier for me to fight that way."

      "But, what will you fight-"

     "It'll be ok." Sharifa placed her hands on his for a moment before turning to face the crowd again. "NOW!! LET"S DO THIS!"

     I watched with a mixture of amazment and horror as Sharifa transformed before my eyes. Griffin's blood has almost made her visible, which made her change nearly as clear as if she had still been a normal girl. She got down on all fours and fur bgan to sprout between her shoulder blades and along her spine. Soon her entire body was covered in blood soaked fur. Her ears grew pointed and large as her face elongated into a dog-ish snout. A large tail sprung form her tailbone as sharp, large claws grew from her fingernails. Before I knew what had happened, Sharifa was gone and a bloody, invisble wolf was standing in front of us. It turned towards us and I coud've sworn that it smiled at us. Then she rolled in the grass, rubbing of most of the blood. When she stood up, the wolf, was almost completely invisible.

     Sharifa, for I assumed that it was still her, dived into the heart of the mob. She growled, barked, and snapped her jaws, but as I watched I noticed that she never made contact with any of the townspeople. After a few moments the wolf changed. This time Sharifa turned into a giant cat; I though it might have been a tiger, but without being able to see its marking it was mostly guess work. She snarled and growled and the people began to flee.

     When we were alone in the clearing, with the exception of Almer who was still unconsious, the tiger prowled back towards us. Griffin braced himself, but stood his ground. Before she reached us, Sharifa transformed once more, back into her human form. Griffin smiled and, throwing cation to the wind, threw is arms around her in both alleviation and amazement. She smiled in relief and hugged him back. Tears streamed down both of thier cheeks and they sunk to the ground, still holding each other. I rubbed up agaisnt them, purring with pure joy. I just let myself lean against them and the three of us sat there, as tears of joy and fear silently fell.

     After a few minutes if this, Griffin leaned back to look at Sharifa. "What was that?"

     Sharifa didn't look at him, instead she remained resting her chin on his shoulder. "I- I didn't want you to know." She sighed and pulled away. "My father and mother were genetic scientist. When they couldn't have a baby they started testing with different animal DNA to see if it would help. When I was born they learned that all the DNA had mixed with theirs and I could shapeshift. I learned to control and hide it." She looked away. "Until now, that is."

     Griffin turned her face back towards him. "Well, you were amazing."