Shape-Shifter's Promise

Chapter 14

 We ran as fast as we could until we came to a clearing. The clearing was a medium sized uneven semi-circle. The front was a hill that dropped off like a cliff. I created a little shelter. I put it into the bottom of a huge Angel Oak tree I had created at the edge of the clearing, it was tall enough, wide enough and just plain big enough for all of us as we are now, Siobhan and I as our ancient selves and Seth and Percy. It was like a four story house without the levels. There was a stairway formed out of the bark that winded up the inside of the trunk and up to a huge flat circular area just as large as the first opening. The trunk now had a huge cave-like opening at the base of the trunk. In the circular area at the top of the tree I put a soft bed of leaves in the middle. Siobhan, Percy, and I went upstairs to lay Seth on the bed. When he was safely asleep on the bed I shed some baseball sized tears over his injured body. Percy had removed his shirt so I could get to his stomach injury. The bruise was huge and he had a cut lip with a bruise that covered his right jaw line and traced up to the entire half of his right eye. I noticed a miniature cut on the bruised corner of his eye. I shed a tear that covered the right side of his face and the cuts healed and the bruise slowly faded away. He still had a little bruise on his face and his stomach was fully healed. The tears did very little, they replaced the bones and healed them but he would be sore for a while. Percy wrapped his arm and leg in some bandages I created and laid a crutch off to the side. Percy gathered some wood and I lit the fire. I gave myself the fire breathing abilities of the Hisslicai and gave a quick puff in the direction of the pile of wood. The flames flickered in the same colors from the time I lit the bunch of trees on fire as a Hisslicai. Siobhan and I curled around the edges of the platform and watched the flames flicker and listened to the sounds of the forest. Percy had fallen asleep on the leaf bed I created and was breathing deeply. Siobhan and I were laying like we were two animals circling each other in a fight. Our tails were both touching the floor but still touched. We still had plenty of space between our heads as we silently fell asleep. We stayed there for the next few days while Seth slept as if he were in a coma. Siobhan and I took turns following the road into town making sure no one found us. We stayed on the platform for three days until on the fourth day it began to rain. After the first few drops I moved everyone to the cave-like bottom of the tree. I'd changed the bedding for the boys into a large king sized mattress. I shifted back to normal and went to stand on the edge of the drop off. The wind blew my hair off to the right as I stood there with my arms crossed. I looked out into the sea of lights.

I sighed. “It's beautiful, I'll miss it.”

“It is beautiful,” I heard someone say.

I spun around and gasped. Seth had awaken and came to stand my my side. I hugged him and he kissed me with a laugh.

“I know for a fact that it's beautiful but never in comparison to you. I know you must go back, and I'm going with you.” he said.

“No. You can't.” I said returning to my previous position, but I stared at the ground to my right.

“I can handle myself. Don't worry. But if you think I can't handle myself, then change me.” he said.

I spun to face him.

“Your out of your mind! I painful, and you would be out for at least a day.” I told him.

“I can take it. Please?” He begged.

He used a face I couldn't deny. I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose.

“Come on. Let's go wake them.” I said and we went to wake Siobhan and Percy.

“What is it?” She asked as I pulled them up the stairs to the platform above.

“We're going to change them.” I said flatly.