Nine Lives

11 • Jack

The wolf's claw runs down my arm, drawing a thin red line. I want to cry, run out. Be anywhere but here. If only I could close my eyes, wake up somewhere entirely different. I'd be with Alice, her hands in mine, cherry blossoms would rain over us, falling in her hair. She'd stare up through the branches at the sun, which would be hidden behind grey clouds. I would reach over, pick the blossoms out of her hair, and gently lay them on the ground.

My daydream evaporates when the she-wolf's claws bury in even deeper. I cry out, hoping someone might hear me.

"Where is she?!" the wolf shakes me violently, her cold eyes gazing with hatred. I won't tell her. What if she tries to kill Alice? She'd do it with one swipe of a paw.

I smile.

The creature's deadly gaze turns wide with surprise and fear as she bangs into a table of flowers after my foot connected with her stomach. Glass vases rain down on her head, shattering and spraying everywhere. I grab the yellow roses and race out, with only one place in mind: Alice's house.

✯✯✯✯✯

The only thing standing between me, Alice, and safety, is an iron fence. Too high to jump, barbed at the top. I'm dead.

I slink against the gates, staring into the lane lined by trees, not as beautiful as Alice's cherry blossoms of course. The angry, enraged animal jogs closer, taking its time to murder me, as I've just led it straight to its victim. How idiotic am I?

I wonder what it feels like to die. Is it bright? Or dark? Scary or peaceful? How could death be peaceful when you're being torn to shreds though? Maybe death is quick. Perhaps I can go on to live a better life up in heaven with the Angels, watch over my mama and Alice. Just let the world take its course without me. I'd watch the cherry blossoms bloom, and the roses I was going to give to Alice die in my hands. Wilt away into nothingness and be caught in the breeze, travel to a new place, never be claimed by Alice.

Sitting there, I remember our conversation:

In case I don't see you again, I told her.

Why wouldn't you see me again? she whispered.

You never know where life may take you, I replied. Now it seems life as taking me on a road straight to death. One wrong turn. Maybe it wasn't meant to be. Maybe it's all Alice's fault . . . The thought creeps into my head like the ivy climbing over the school wall. Weaving and twisting higher and higher, making its way through cracks and nooks, growing bigger and bigger until you have to believe it. But it's not her fault, is it? If she hadn't come to the town, I wouldn't know her, or about Shifters. I never would've gazed into her pretty little green eyes and instantaneously fallen in love. Wouldn't have walked into the flower shop, ready to ask her to the dance.

The truth is though, sure it is her fault, but, I would rather have meet her and shared one single beautiful kiss under the cherry blossoms, than have been blind and never known that beautiful girl at all.

"Ready to meet your mak--" the wolf's words are cut off by a furry mess leaping upon it. An animal, a small black cat, wrestles the wolf, slashing its face and skin.

"Alice!" I call in unison with another voice. A man, tall, with grey hair stands in the gateway. He jumps forwards, changing. No, Shifting, I realize. The tiny black cat backs away from the angered wolf, letting a full grown black leopard take over. The man. He's a Shifter too. What if our whole little town of Cusseta is full of them? Just waiting for the right moment to let their animalistic side takeover and attack, poised for the kill.

The leopard lunges, clawing away. Its bone white claw hovers above the wolf's chest, threatening to drop any second.

"Why are you here?" he demands, voice thick with an accent.

"I-I--" the wolf stutters. "Please sir, let me go. I was never goin' do any harm to her . . . I was just--"

It pushes away, running into the foggy road.

"Jack!" Alice calls, now a human. She rests her hand on my upper arm, sending chills through me. "Are you okay?"

Weakly, I bend on my knee, pulling out the crumpled yellow roses. "Alice Lyanne, will you go to the dance with me?"

She smiles, trying to push away the tears that well up in her eye. "Of course!" Her arms wrap around my neck, squeezing tighter than she seems capable of. My heart flutters. She said yes.

"Both of you, inside." The leopard walks over, Shifting back to human form. His gaze is grey and cold, not evil like the wolf, but protective and stern. "Now."

We step into the white living room, heads low. The man, which I assume is her father, commands us to sit on a leather couch.

"Alice. How many times have I told you--"

"Father, I cannot take it anymore. I wanna be like normal girls, girls that can fall in love and kiss and hug out of affection. I can't do that!" Alice screams, crying.

"You're not a normal girl Alice!" he shouts back.

Feeling awkward, I stand. "I'll best be on my way now--"

"No, I ain't done with you yet," Alice's father pushes me into the sofa. He lowers his voice, "Alice, I cannot strain to you enough how dangerous it is to love a human. They lure you into their gaudy trap, then break your heart,mind at what cost? Your human life!" I look over to Alice for an explanation. "Now, I need someway to get these mem'ries outta his head . . ." The man mutters.

"Papa, he knows. I-I already told him," Alice admits. She turns to me, were inches apart; her warm breath, which smells heavily of spearmint, blows on me when she speaks. "Jack. Shifters can't love. We feel it, we know it, but we can't do it."

"Like, you're physically and mentally incapable of being able to love?" I ask.

"No. We can . . . But we can't. It's complicated. If a Shifter kisses a human, and loves them deeply, they lose their human lives. Shift into their other form permanently. But the first thing I should explain, is that I have nine lives." Now I'm really confused. I say, "Nine lives? Like that cat myth?"

"It ain't a myth Jack, I was born with it. So was my father. Most cat-Shifters are. If I die, reach an old age, get killed, I just come back. And I can do it nine times," she explains. "But I'm on my sixth life. I can only die twice more, before my time is up." I look at her intently, wanting to kiss her again, just tell her how I feel even. Love her. But apparently it's too dangerous. She'd never be human again.

I see her worried frown and smile reassuringly. "Well then, I guess I have to keep you safe."