Shifter's Destiny

Lost Then Found

Devree looked around her at the long, narrow street, flanked on both sides by tall, old buildings, looking as if they were once covered in color, but were now mostly brown and tan. She had a dark hood pulled over her hair so she could blend in better in the night. Of course, she could always shift into something less conspicuous, but it hurt to shift sometimes, and she had to really focus to hold it for as long as she would need it, so she stuck to the mortal tactics of blending in. She thought about her friends back at home and what they must be thinking. She had been thinking about them a lot lately, but she had to focus. She couldn't dwell on that right now. Her black Labrador Retriever, Ruger, stopped by her leg, looking up at her with his rich brown eyes, nearly identically colored to hers, or at least that day. Changing her eye color was easy, and that day she felt like brown. She looked away and turned her focus back to the great hill before her, which had her destination at the very top. She had followed a lead of who her parents were and why she was the way she is to here, and all she could think about wasn't how she might finally know, but how much she was hoping this wasn't a trap. She walked right up to the edge of the mound of dirt and grass and stopped. It was just steep enough that Ruger wouldn't be able to come with her, not this time. She bent down to whisper in his ear.

"Ruger, I need you to stay here. It's too steep for you to come."

Ruger plopped down and lay there, looking up at her as if expecting something.

"Good boy. Now stay."

She rose back up and looked up at the great expanse before her, and, farther up, at the dark, foreboding building. She took a deep breath and started the climb. It was slow and treacherous, and all she could think about was how glad she was that she had told Ruger to wait for her down at the bottom. She reached the top and looked around. The building was tall and grey, surrounded on all sides by a barbed wire fence. There was no way she could get in, at least not as a human. She sighed and shifted into a raven, wincing as she did so. She had to focus hard to keep her human mind as she spiraled up and around the fortress, perching on the seal of an open window. She dropped in, shifting back to herself as she did so. She stood and picked raven feathers out of her hair as she looked around her. She was in some sort of room. To her right there was a great bed, and to her left, there was a door, leading presumably to a closet of some sort. Straight ahead, there was a large, wooden door that looked as if it should lead to a hallway or corridor or something. (She never was able to figure out the difference.) She walked over to it as soundlessly as she could, wincing at every creek in the floor. She turned the knob, and miraculously, the door swung open soundlessly and with ease. The hall behind was dark, but she could hear far away voices and could see a faint light to her right, so she decided the safest way would be to the left, away from the people. She found it odd that the outside of this great building would be built like a fortress, whilst the inside be designed like a medieval castle. She pushed that thought aside and focused on staying quiet. She creped her way along the hall, trying to decide which room would lead to a library. Then, she heard shouting behind her.

"Hey, you!" A gruff voice exclaimed. "Stop!"

She couldn't understand why he had said that, as if expecting her to comply. Was he stupid? Well, in any case, if he had thought that, he was very mistaken. In fact, she turned the other way and ran. She turned a few corners, not bothering to keep track, more worried about getting away, before flinging open a door. It creaked on its hinges, unlike the last one, which made her think that perhaps this one was older, or maybe less used. She shut it behind her as quickly as she could, and, leaning against it to keep it shut, she noticed a large, wooden beam to go across it, like on those really old doors. She laid it across the two meatal hooks and jumped back as something pounded against the other side of the door. She gasped, trying to catch her breath, and turned her head around, trying to see in the dark room. She couldn't see anything, but on a table beside her, she managed to make out a candle of some sort. She pulled out a box of matches form her pocket, which she always kept with her, along with duct tape and a pocketknife. She lit a match, and using that, lit the candle. She put the match out and lifted the candle in her hand. She squinted in the dim light, and gasped. She was standing in the middle of a library, just the room she needed. If the records she needed were anywhere in the house, it would likely be here. She took a step into the library and sighed again, this time in exasperation. She never has liked libraries, or books for that matter. Even though she had always thought that she had a good imagination, she was never able to figure out the appeal of reading. She hoped she didn't have to go through all of these books, because there were a lot. She walked up and down the sections and found one shelf that was completely full of files marked with her last name. She ran her fingers along them and saw tiny little dates in the corners. She grabbed the files from her parents' birth to the most recent one, last year. She stuffed them into her bag just as she heard the door banging open and footsteps running in. She looked over her shoulder and saw dark shapes moving towards her. She dropped the candle and ran towards the window on the far side. When she tried to open it, however, it wouldn't budge. She shifted only slightly so that she had ram's horns on her head, and she ran towards it with her head down with all her might. The glass shattered on impact, and for a moment, she was freefalling. She shifted as fast as she could back into a bird and flew back to where she left Ruger. She dropped down and shifted back into her human form next to him.

"Ruger, we have to go. Now."

She ran as fast as she could towards a cave she had seen while she was flying above. It was mostly hidden by ivy, so it should do as a temporary hideout. When she and Ruger reached it, she parted the ivy so he could go first, then went in. A searchlight fell over the outside, temporarily blinding her, but it passed without seeing them. As soon as it was dark again, she dug in her bag and pulled out her flashlight. She shined it around, and realized it wasn't so much of a cave as a tunnel. The back of it had an opening to a dark passageway. She hesitated for a moment, but when she heard voices behind her, coming closer, she decided to take the risk and see where the tunnel lead her. She ran down as quietly and swiftly as she could, Ruger on her heals. It opened up suddenly to a large, cavernous room. She decided that this was a good of a place as any to hid for a while. She sat down against a wall and pulled out the files...