Shifting Life

42. Witchcraft

Jacklyn ran fast. Her hooves thundered on the pavement. She passed a group of loud, unsteady drunks on the way home from clubbing. Nobody made a comment or pointed at her. Cars simply stopped without honking. It was San Francisco. A great black horse running around with a white dog in its muzzle was no big deal. You saw stranger things on the streets on a daily basis.

After running for a long time, Jacklyn turned into quiet side street. She'd glanced backward. Nothing. She still wasn't sure she'd lost the smoke creatures, but Toby was fidgeting so much she stopped and let him down on the ground.

He shifted into the form of a snow monkey easy as breathing.

Toby jumped up and grabbed on to her mane. He climbed her like a tree and straddled her back. She felt his short legs and limber toes dig into her sides. Clever dog. Toby was ready to ride.

Jacklyn was over it. She felt tired. She felt confused.

Suddenly she recognized the area. Jacklyn knew where to go. Fifteen minutes later Jacklyn shook the snow monkey off her back. She'd had it with the monkey pulling her mane.

Toby melted into dog form. The streak of blood along his side had dried and darkened, but she could still smell it.

Jacklyn shifted back into human form. She was too big a horse to pass through the narrow path between the two old houses fronting the abandoned Russian sauna.

She and Matt had left the gate unlocked on purpose. In case they needed to get out of sight fast when they returned.

Jacklyn felt a stab at her heart thinking about him, a sharp icy needle of worry.

Where was Matt?

She followed the path to the back. Jacklyn felt the cold of the light November rain on her skin.

The sauna was nothing but a dark mound under the tall trees, but a beam of moonlight helped her find the old padlock.

Matt had locked it.

Jacklyn swallowed the aching lump in her throat. She tore the rusty lock open.

When she opened the door, five pairs of cats' eyes glared at them for intruding. Toby ignored them and walked inside. The cats must have read Toby's shifting powers. They fell back.

Jacklyn followed Toby inside.

The cats retreated further into the pitch dark sauna, but they meowed it was just temporary. They'd be back.

Jacklyn remembered a rolled up blanket among the stuff from Veronica's cars' trunk. She patted around until she found it.

She curled up in a corner with Toby in her lap. She wrapped the blanket around them, her limbs numb and exhausted. They both shivered.

Jacklyn couldn't tell how long they stayed there, huddling together for a warmth neither of them could produce. An eternity later she felt less cold, but the trembling didn't stop.

Jacklyn was so tired, it hurt to move. She longed to sleep, but knew she couldn't.

She was waiting for Matt.

"You saved me," she said to Toby.

He tilted his head and met her gaze in the dark.

Horsey sense was pretty good with interpretation.

You saved me first, Toby meant.

Jacklyn shook her head.

"There's more to it," she whispered. "Veronica told me to grab you and get out for your sake, but you shouldn't have warned me in the first place. You're with her. So, thank you."