The Twins • Book One • Rewritten

Chapter 15- I Did It!

Author's Note: I hope you like my story! Feel free to voice your opinion, ask any questions and point out any mistakes I make.

August 22nd 2016

Ivy's POV

Nerves fill me as we walk into the backyard after breakfast. Everyone wanted to come out and see me shift, but I think Nia knew I'd be too nervous for that, so she only invited shifters to come watch and give support. Which is why Sophia and Wolf are now standing next to Saber as Nia tries to teach me how to shift.

"Ivy, you need to stay calm. Relax your breathing, take deep breaths. Straighten out your posture and picture a cat, any cat in your mind. Then, slowly imagine each part of your body changing to be the same as the cat that you are picturing." I follow Nia's instructions as I picture a leopard in my head, but I don't feel any different. After a while, I open my eyes and look down to see I haven't changed.

"It didn't work. Maybe I don't have the shifting gene." I say nonchalantly and shrug, trying to hide my disappointment. Nia snorts, responding,

"You seriously think it'd work on the first try? That's ridiculous. Come on, try again and only focus on the cat you're trying to become. Push all of the other thoughts away so you're only thinking about that cat." I sigh, closing my eyes and trying again.

And again.

And again.

Until I get so frustrated that all I can concentrate on is my failure.

"Ivy," Wolf walks to me, giving me some advice to help me shift, "you're not shifting because you're questioning your ability to. You can't focus on the possibility of failure, you might fail every time you do something but that shouldn't stop you. If it helps, focus wholly on something else then shift your focus to the cat, and only the cat." Wolf nods to Nia, who nods back, then walks away to stand next to Saber again.

I go through the process, but I try Wolf's method out. I focus wholly on him, then shift my focus to the cat. I fight to keep the focus only on the cat and not wander to other things, like failure or Wolf.

Suddenly, pain shoots through my entire body as I start to feel my bones snap and move around. My eyes stay tightly shut. I cry out and fall to the floor as all of my muscles and pieces of tissue rip apart, moving around my body and changing the layout of everything that makes it up. I scream out in agony as the process continues, unable to hold it back.

Until, the pain isn't there anymore.

The excruciating pain that was shooting through my whole body has now lessened to a measly ache everywhere. As I open my eyes, I collapse to the ground, surprising myself when I feel four legs under me instead of two. Nia is grinning widely at me because of my success. I exuberantly shout,

"I did it! I actually did it!" But instead of my voice, a couple roars exit my mouth. Nia chuckles slightly at my surprise. She goes into the forest and comes out moments later as a leopard herself.

"You're a cat now, we don't communicate with voices. We meow, growl, roar, hiss and maybe even purr, but we don't speak," She meows with happiness in her voice, "Also, good job. I knew you'd do it eventually. Don't worry about it though, it takes everyone a long time on their first shift. The first one is always the most painful but the more you shift, the less painful it becomes until you can shift into a cat quickly and painlessly."

"Cool! So how do you shift back into a human?" I ask.

"It's the same thing, just focus on your human self and you should shift back." Nia answers. I try it out, focusing only on the human me, and I soon feel the pain that indicates my body is changing again. As I cry out, I hear Nia roar in alarm and Saber commands,