The Last Day of June

Chapter Seven: Late Arrival

The first thought I had was, 'Who's this?'

In the few weeks that I'd been here nothing much had happened besides my increasing desire to bolt outdoors. Axel had been visiting, though he grew more worried every time I saw him. Kace would go to his classes, always careful to lock the doors and seal off any potential escape routes I could've taken.

Then this girl showed up.

She was dressed fashionably but conservatively. Her brown hair was in a high pony-tail and small earring glittered from her ears. I estimated that in my human form she'd be shorter than I but she emitted an attitude that made up for the difference. She was dragging a suitcase behind her and stood confidently. She clearly expected to be let in, and she was.

Kace seemed elated to see her, gesturing the foreign girl in. Judging from her outfit and looks, she was about the same age as Kace.

"Hey, Selene," Kace said, pulling her into a hug. "Haven't seen you in a while."

"What," she teased, patting his cheek affectionately. "You think I wouldn't come and visit my own fiance?"

What?

I looked at Kace's left hand and, sure enough, there was a simple band that matched Selene's. Engaged at this young? Interesting.

Bailey and Sage scratched at the glass wall where they were kept. Kace finally noticed, breaking through their happy bubble and leading Selene over. True to her personality, Selene beamed and immediately began pampering the two dogs. 

I didn't know if it's just me, but I felt like Bailey acted more like a shepherd dog than human, though we were supposed to be half and half. Maybe it was the way she had been raised.

I sat back in the shadows, content to observed with sharp eyes. My cast still prevented me from going in many higher areas, but according to Kace and his notes, I would be free of the cast in a few more days. I no longer felt the sharp, sore pain from before but the splint still weighed me down.

Selene pecked Kace on the cheek and went to move her belongings into the guest room. He watched her go then resumed in taking care of Bailey and Sage. Then he went looking for me.

This was becoming a daily task, me hiding away from his poking and prodding and him enduring my scratching and hissing.

I don't want to, I growled when he saw me peering from behind the couch. Leave me alone. I've healed enough already.

Of course, he couldn't understand and if he did wouldn't have cared. 

I grumbled, feeling too big for my skin. It had been ages since I'd shifted into a human and I was feeling the effects. Sooner or later I'd have to when Kace and Selene left the apartment.

A few days ago I'd asked Bailey when she found the time to shift.

Bailey had hesitated. "It's been so long. I've never really tried to go back to human form."

"Why don't you try then?" I had pressed. I certainly couldn't in the present. I had a cast on and couldn't do much about it.

"Because I've forgotten how. I don't know how to anymore." She'd looked at me with sad eyes then and I had been shocked and regretted my questioning. 

Didn't know how to anymore? The first words that had come to mind were that she wasn't even a Half-Life anymore. That was the name for out kind apparently, supplied by the very one whom I was thinking of.

Half-Life. Half of a life spent as an animal, the other as a human. Never belonging to either of those groups. Freak. Monster. Mystery. Friend. Half-Life. My list of names kept growing.

I returned to the present, ignoring the skin-crawling feeling of being poked by metallic instruments. I hated vets. Nothing against Kace, of course, he had probably saved my life, but vets sucked.

They were always trying to cage me and Axel or ship us off to the shelters. I know they were just doing their jobs and everything, but some of them...yeesh. You wonder if they're not getting paid enough or something. Yeah, there were the super nice ones, the mediocre ones, and then the ones who lived to make your life miserable.

Kace finally let me go and I scampered out of his grasp as fast as I could. I could not wait until this cast came off and I could escape back to my life with Axel.

Anyway, Selene settled in as if she'd been here all her life and then proceeded to drag Kace away to go see the movies. Once her overwhelming happy aura was gone, I sneaked into the restroom by forcing open the door.

Finally free to shape shift, I grew to my normal human size and looked in the mirror. In contrast to what I'd been expecting, I looked better than when I was on the streets, though there were bags in my eyes. That was probably from the fact that I kept staying up at night to look for escape routes and patrol the very small space I'd been given.

I still had a cast on my leg and had to lean my weight on my other foot, but the animal cast had morphed into a splint for a human. It still hurt to walk and I looked for a place to rest while I waited for Kace and Selene to be back.

I sat on the edge of my tub and nearly jumped when Bailey and Sage nosed their way in. I felt slightly worried that I had shifted when Bailey couldn't but my fears were unfounded as Bailey just plodded up to me with a carefree grin.

"So this is what you look like as a human!" She exclaimed, nosing around the pockets of my hoodie. "Got any treats? Or better, human food?"

Pulling out the sleeves apologetically, I shrugged. "Sorry, nothing on me right now. Most of my belongings were ripped apart."

Sage waddled up to me on his still developing puppy legs. "I can shift too!" He paused and shut his eyes in concentration then plopped himself down in defeat. "I can't do it very well yet."

I looked at Bailey questioningly.

"I've been teaching him how to, but he can only practice when the Master's away. He's got to learn sometime, I don't want him to accidentally do it or something." She said.

Understandable.

We chatted for a while, getting to know one another better. It was great to stretch my legs -- err, one leg -- after so long in Bengal cat form. 

I never brought the subject of Axel up to them though. They knew of his existence, but I knew he wouldn't like it if information about him was passed around. He'd say it would only tie me down, something we couldn't afford since we moved around so much.

A faint click sounded from the main room. I shifted quickly, setting my paws on the floor and trying to act natural when Kace peeked in the room questioningly.

"What are you all doing in here?" He chuckled and shooed us out. "Bailey, Sage, and uh..." He checked my collar again. For a self-proclaimed vet he had a horrible memory sometimes. "Lily! Time for dinner."

Oh great, dinner.

Kace set down a portable animal cage down near the door and said to Selene, "Tomorrow I'm taking Lily to the clinic to check up on her. I might have missed something and I want them to check her out for adoption too."

That made me lose my appetite fast. There was no way I was going back there, with or without Kace or even Axel.

After a dry and unappealing meal, I went up to the window and started my nightly vigil for a certain black cat. I waited and waited, until the time of our usual meeting, ten o'clock, had passed. Then I waited for another two hours.

But he never came.

(Side Note:...)