Clan of Redemption (23 page)

“Logan is right, it won’t last
forever and you’ll enjoy being a dog for a while, the way you can
run is amazing.” Thornton said as he took a few steps
back.

"A dog, I'm a dog?" I
screamed.

“Why are my feet fury and why
do I have four legs, please tell me I’m not a dog,” I said as I
looked at my feet closer.

“Yep, you’re a mutt alright,
wow, this is going to be interesting,” Sully said as she bent down
to get closer to me.

Growling “I will bite you if
you continue to call me a mutt,” I said as I growled and showed me
teeth.

I jumped out of the tub and
went over to the mirror on the back of the bathroom door. I was a
dog, a medium length red dog, or reddish brown.

“What are you doing Jayden,
checking yourself out?” Sully laughed.

“Yes I am, if I have to be a
dog for awhile I want to see what I look like. I’m not a bad
looking dog,” I said as I turned to look at Logan, Thornton and
Sully.

I thought about it for a
minute. I could totally freak out, but really what good would that
do.

“So what now?” I
asked.

We’ll we wait and see what
happens, but now you can feel what’s it like in my shoes every
day.

“Great, just what I always
wanted, to be a dog, but you know, I do feel really good, almost
like I have more energy,” I said as I sat down. That’s a weird
feeling, sitting on your butt with a tail behind
you.

“Are we going to have to put
flea treatment on you too?” Sully asked as she bent down to feel my
new body.

“Be nice Sully or I‘ll turn
you into a dog too,” I said as I looked at her.

“You wouldn’t,” Sully said
with a horror on her face.

“I might, don’t push your
luck,” I said as I laughed.

“Well at least you’re
laughing, that’s a good sign,” Thornton said.

“I just thought about
something, what about lunch tomorrow at Grandmother’s. I can’t go
like this,” I said.

“Well you could go like that
and she wouldn’t even know it was you,” Sully said as she laughed,
"And pee all over her house."

I glared at her, but she was
right, no one I know would recognize me.

Let’s not worry about that
right now, I think being a dog is worry enough. Sully and Thornton,
why don’t both of you go and make some dinner and I am going to
take Jayden outside so she can stretch her legs.

“You mean stretch her paws,”
Sully said as she walked away giggling.

“Sully, your pushing your
luck,” I said as I walked to the front door with
Logan.

Thornton came and opened the
front door for us, but he stopped me and just stared into my eyes.
I was almost sure what the look was for, it said “Thank you” and
“I’m sorry” all in the same look. I was glad that I helped him, but
I didn’t know that I would be turned into a dog because of it. I’m
sure that is a way to fix this, I just need to figure out
how.

Logan trotted down the steps
onto the gravel driveway and just starred at the woods around us,
he was so still he looked almost like a statue.

This is the weirdest feeling;
it’s almost like it really isn’t happening. How am I able to walk
on four legs when I only have two in human form?

It’s because you were born for
this, it’s in your blood. Haven’t you ever wondered why you were so
comfortable with animals, or any living thing, or how they were
always around when you were outside?

“I never really thought about
it, but I guess I thought I was just an animal lover and loved the
outdoors,” I said as I took a deep breath. It smells so good out
here, and my senses seem a lot stronger. I can smell flowers that I
can’t even see, and other things, it’s almost
overwhelming.

“Do you smell like this all
the time?” I asked Logan

You get use to it, but you
need to always be aware of it just in case.

“
Jayden, are you ready to see
who’s faster?” Logan said with a chuckle.

“
That’s not fair; I’ve been a dog
for all of 5 minutes,” I said as I realized I could run, I just
didn’t want him to beat me.

“
So we can practice first, just to
give your legs a chance,” Logan said.

“
Ok, first we practice,” I said
knowing that I would try my hardest to beat him. It's what we did
when we were together, always trying to one up the
other.

I knew that I really didn’t need
to practice much, but I wanted to feel out my new legs. If I didn’t
give myself a chance to practice, Logan would take advantage of
that and make sure that I slipped up somewhere. 

I remember a time when we were at
the Lake and Logan wanted to race me after I had won the 50 meters,
he thought that he could take me, seeing that I am just a
girl. 

We agreed to count to three and
go, but Logan started on two and was ahead of me for about 30
seconds. I didn’t crush him that day, but let’s just say that
he would disagree that I won. Logan has always been very
competitive, and he never let up even with us being best
friends. I guess that taught me to be less sensitive and a
little more competitive myself. Sometimes, I let Logan win,
because I don’t want him to be in a mood, which can happen
sometimes when he loses. 

“
Are you ready,
let’s head south through the woods here, and just follow me for
awhile, until you get the feel of your new body,” Logan said
as he starting to run before I had a chance to
respond.

“
Right behind you,” I said as I
cursed him out under my breath.

“
You don’t know much about dogs,
do you? Logan asked me.

“
Not really, why? “ I
asked.

“
Dogs have great hearing,
Jayden. Remember that,” he said
as he
sped up through the brush.

There is so much to learn about
animals, but I need to, because shape shifters come in all shapes
and lots of different animals. I wonder if there are any
limits to what we can turn into.

As I was thinking, I realized that
I was running faster than I could as a human. I looked down
and the ground was just zooming by. The wind felt so refreshing; I
felt so free, just running, and not getting tired. It’s like a
self generating body, what I would of wished for this while in
school, especially swimming as my sport of choice.

I looked up and saw the back end of
Logan dart around a tree, but couldn’t see past him.

“
Logan, wait up, we haven’t
started racing yet, have we?” I said as I tried to run
faster.

If I could only see where he was, I
don’t like not knowing where I’m going.

“
I can see you.” I called out to
him, even though I wasn’t sure exactly where he was. When we would
compete in swimming, I couldn’t ever let him know that he was
winning, or that I wasn’t sure of the distance between
us.

I could see him coming through
some bushes and into an open field, but I’m not close to where he’s
at.

As I’m running, it feels like my
feet aren’t even touching the ground. I’ve never been flying, but I
would imagine that it feels this way. I tried to focus on my
running but I couldn’t see anything but the green foliage flying
past me.

The feeling starting to make me
nauseas, the more it seemed like I was flying the more my stomach
felt upset. The ground started getting farther and farther from me
and the clouds started to get closer, but how could this be, I’m
supposed to be running, not flying. Is this what it feels like to
fly?

“
Jayden, where are you? I know I
can run faster than you, but man your being a slow poke,” he said
as I could see him in the field, he was walking back the way he
came, waiting for me.

“
Logan, you wouldn’t believe me if
I told you,” I said as I realized that I was flying, but I wasn’t
in my dog form. Did I morph into another form? I couldn’t see any
legs or paws. I decided that I would follow Logan, he might have
some answers.

I watched Logan pick up speed
running back through the forest trying to find me, but if I’m up
here, he wouldn’t find me.

“
Logan it’s alright, I’m fine,” I
said, knowing that he was getting really worked up. I didn’t want
him to panic. I decided to try and fly down towards Logan, to be as
close as possible to Logan. I didn’t want anything to happen to my
animal form, seeing that it is my actually body, just in the shape
of a dog. As I started to dive, I got scared, this feeling of
almost falling.

I realized that I enjoyed being up
here, I felt like I had the upper hand, like there was something
that I could do that Logan couldn’t. I think I’m still a little
upset with Logan for not telling me about what was happing, and
letting me believe that he was dead. Just thinking about when I
thought he was dead, brought pure anger into my mind. How could he
think that not telling me was better? Did he understand how sad I
was, how empty, to never see my best friend again.

“
Jayden, you need to control your
thoughts more, you letting your private feelings slip out into the
air. I can feel how angry you are, or were. What is making you feel
this right now, and how come I can’t find you?” he said as he was
darting back and forth trying to find my animal form, if there was
one left.

“
Logan, look up?” I said not
really wanting to tell him where I was, it was nice keeping
something from him.

Logan looked up but didn’t seem to
see me.

“
Ok, I’m looking, what would I be
looking up into the sky, it’s not like you’re a bird,” he said as
he continued the search in the woods.

He finally came across my canine
form.

“
Jayden, can you hear me? Logan
said as he nudged me with his muzzle.

“
Yes, Logan I can hear you, it’s
ok...”I started to tell him when a loud noise came from the right
of where my body was.

I didn’t like not being next to
Logan when there’s trouble around, something about him always put
me at ease.

“
Jayden, someone’s out here with
us, you need to wake up!” Logan said as I heard a small growl come
from him.

“
Logan, I am awake, I’m just not
in my body right now,” I said as I tried to see beyond where Logan
was, to see if I could see what was making the noise.

I had always thought that birds had
great vision, but it was like having a built in zoom lens. I could
see all around Logan and didn’t seem to see anything, but it was
awkward having to turn my head to see certain things, I miss having
both my eyes closer together.

“
Jayden, you might be able to talk
to me, but your just laying on the ground,” he said as I could feel
his anger like it was mine.

“
Logan, calm down, look up into
the tree, on the branch closest to the ground,” I said as I started
to feel a little out of control.

“
Ok, I’m looking, but I don’t see
anything except a falcon,” he said.

“
Cool, I’m a falcon, wow, I
wouldn’t have guessed that,” I said as I tried to picture in my
head what a falcon looks like.

“
What do you mean, you’re in the
body of that falcon, Jayden, get back down here and into your body,
this isn’t funny anymore. I have no control over what happens to
your body if something happens to me. How did you get into that
falcon’s body? You know what, I don’t care how it happened, but you
need to fix it. I can smell something coming, and I need you,” he
said as I could see the anger in his eyes.

“
Logan, I thought that’s what you
were here for, protection. Hasn’t that been your purpose since you
were born, to protect me, not ordering me around?” I asked as I
realized that probably wasn’t the wisest thing to say to him right
now, but my anger was coming out and I couldn't stop it.

“
Jayden, don’t push my limits, you
have never seen me really angry, and if you get hurt, you will see
me get very angry,” he said.

“
Ok, ok, don’t get your boxers in
a bunch, let me try to figure this out. Do you have any
suggestions?” I asked.

“
You’re asking me for suggestions;
you’ve got to be kidding me. Are you saying that you don’t know how
to get back? Well that’s just great, how am I supposed to take care
of her when she continues to change her appearance and she can’t
even control it?” he asked himself.

“
Are you talking to yourself?” I
laughed.

“
Yes I am,” he said as he started
to pace.

I was about to respond with a
comment that would probably have gotten me into more trouble when
we both heard a rustling noise coming from the bush that was just a
few feet from Logan and my dog form.

“
I don’t understand why that
didn’t work, I mixed the right stuff, what could I have forgotten,
or maybe it could be…..no that would only work if I mixed that with
gogona root,” a voice said as it came out of the bushes.