Change

2

Once I started moving it only took me a few minutes to get used to the way my new body moved, to get the hang of walking on four legs instead of two. After that first few minutes of fumbling around and tripping over my own feet, the trip seemed much faster than I thought it should be. I admit, I found moving on four feet through the brush and over boulders much easier than hiking on two, but I tried not to think about it. I was going to have to wait for answers, and freaking out in the meantime would do me no good. When we reached the parking lot, Brandon went around to the driver’s side of the car and unlocked the doors. I followed him, not willing to let the only person who knew what was happening to me out of my sight.  

“I’m glad we brought my car instead of yours,” Brandon opened the rear door and motioned me into the back seat. “Hop in, I’ll be right back.” He moved away from the still open door and toward the rear of the vehicle. 

If I’m in the car, he won’t be going anywhere without me. It’s not like he’s going to walk all the way back to town. I reasoned with myself as I hopped up into the backseat, turned a small circle on my feet, and then sat down to wait for his return. It was only a couple of moments later when he appeared in the doorway, slid into the car, and sat down on the bench seat next to me. He was silent for several seconds, his expressive golden-brown eyes focusing on the stack of folded clothes in his lap as if he didn’t know where to start. 

Brandon cleared his throat as he turned to face me. “Okay, here are some clothes. Don’t worry, they’re clean. I need you to listen closely and try to do exactly as I tell you. All right?” He met my gaze. By now, I knew better than to try speaking so I just nodded my head once, maintaining eye contact. “You’re going to need to concentrate, picture your body, not as it is now but your human body. Focus on that image. You need to will yourself back into that body, to want to be like that enough will make your body shift. Do you understand?” I nodded again, unsure I could do what he was asking, but really, what other choice did I have? “I’m going to leave these here for you. I’ll get out and close the door, then I’ll turn my back and wait. You’ll need to knock on the window, or open the door when you’re dressed, then we’ll talk, okay?”

Not seeing any other option, I nodded. He slid off the seat and out the still open door before turning around and setting the stack of clothes on the seat where he had been. He looked at me again briefly before he closed the car door and turned away. Through the window, I saw him lean against the side of the car as though he were patiently waiting for someone to walk out of the desert in front of him. He pulled his PCD from the front pocket of his jeans and it looked like he was making a call, but the enclosed car muffled his voice enough that I couldn’t hear what he was saying. 

I felt a little lost, Can I really be me again just by doing what he said, by thinking about and wanting to be me again? 

I sat for a moment, wondering how this could possibly work. Has Brandon ever lied to you? Would he ever do anything to hurt you? I trusted Brandon and if he said I could do this, then I could, I just had to do as he had instructed. 

Several deep breaths later, I’d relaxed some of the tension from my body. I closed my eyes and concentrated on clearing all the outside thoughts. I pictured my body just as I had seen it this morning in the mirror. I started at the floor and worked my way up. I could see my feet standing on the tan carpet of my bedroom floor, the teal nail polish I had applied to my toe nails earlier in the week. I worked my way up, picturing the round bones on the outsides of my ankles and the muscles in my calves, and there was the small scar just below my left knee from a fall off my bike as a child. I could see my thick, muscular thighs that I’d hated as a teenager, but didn’t mind so much now. I continued up the rounded shape of my rear sloping up to my smaller, but not quite slender waist, and up farther, past the generous curves of my breasts to my face. 

I concentrated on my round face, the large green eyes that dominate it. I pictured in my mind my full lips and auburn hair, curling gently as it had settled around my shoulders while I brushed it out before pulling it up. I thought of how badly I wanted to be back in that body. When the tingling sensation all over my skin started again, it surprised me and I almost lost the mental picture of myself, but I managed to ignore it and continued to wish myself back into my body, to concentrate on how badly I wanted to be me again. The tingling intensified until it was almost stinging, and I felt my muscles begin to stretch and my bones start to shift and grind against each other. 

After what seemed to be several minutes, the uncomfortable sensations started to fade. They slowed to a stop, no more bones shifting, or muscles popping, and even the tingling faded until I felt normal once again. 

I opened my eyes and anxiously looked down at myself, half afraid of what I would see. I was sitting naked but human in the back seat of the car. I scrambled to put on the too large clothes Brandon had left for me; worn, soft sweat pants and a matching top, but no shoes. If he had any, they probably wouldn’t have fit anyway. I leaned across the car and knocked on the window to let him know I was decent. He looked relieved when he turned and popped open the door. 

“Climb up into the front. Let me grab something and then we’ll talk.” He closed the door again before heading for the back of the car. 

As I climbed between the front seats and settled into the passenger’s seat, I heard the trunk open and close again before Brandon came back around and got into the driver’s seat beside me. He handed me a couple of protein bars. “Eat up.” 

I looked at the bars he had put into my hands and scrunched up my face in distaste. 

“Those things are nasty,” I said. He didn’t say anything but took one back and opened the packaging, I could suddenly smell the bar inside and I realized I was starving. Before I knew it, they were both gone. When I realized I had just eaten both bars in under a minute, I was embarrassed at having inhaled the food, and with little memory of what kind of manners I might have shown in doing so. It must have shown on my face because Brandon chuckled.

“Don’t worry about it, Nick. I know how hungry shifting can make you, especially when you’re healing at the same time, that’s why I grabbed them. They aren’t going to be enough, but they’re all I have. They’ll take the edge off and hopefully hold you until we can get you something better to eat.”

“What’s going on? What do you mean you know how hungry shifting can make you? I’ve figured out what you mean by shifting, but how? How is it possible? And how can I be healing so fast? I noticed when I got dressed that the wound from the snake bite is healing, but it’s not possible! Am I hallucinating from the venom?”

“Been saving all your questions up, huh?” Brandon looked at me, laughing softly again, his smile showing the deep dimples in his cheeks. “No, you aren’t hallucinating. You really did change shapes. The process of shifting most likely pushed the venom from your body, and at the same time, healed the worst of the damage it had done.”

“You’ve lost your mind and I’m hallucinating, or better yet, it’s all just a nightmare and I’ll wake up and it will be Friday morning.”

“Do your dreams ever hurt like the snake bite did? Mine don’t. You’re not hallucinating or having a nightmare, Nickie.”

“But it can’t be true - I must be going crazy…”

“Nope, not crazy, just Kitsune,” he said, interrupting my ranting.

“Kitsune?” I’d never heard the word before.

“Yep, Kitsune. We’re a species of shape shifters.”

“There’s an entire species of people who turn into dogs?”

“We’re not dogs, we’re wolves. But that’s not exactly what the Kitsune are. There are several different animal forms that different Kitsune can shift into, though, generally it’s limited to only one animal form per person. There are bears, cougars, fox, and wolves. You’re a wolf, I’m a wolf, and there’s an entire pack of wolves in Gila Valley.” 

“An entire pack of wolves around here? Now you’re the one who’s dreaming. I’ve never seen a real wolf before, at least not until I was one, and I’ve lived here all my life.” 

“Not real wolves, Nickie, Kitsune wolves. There’s a difference. Though, you should know, the accepted phrase is natural wolves, not real, because we’re just as real as they are.” 

“Okay, not real wolves, natural wolves. How can there be an entire pack in the valley and nobody knows about it?”

“There are a lot of people who know about us, our pack members, but very, very few outside the pack. Our secret is well kept.”

“How did I become… Kitsune? Is that what you call it? I’ve never been bitten by a wolf, and I’m sure it’s not something I would forget.”

Brandon rolled his eyes. “There’s only one way to be Kitsune, you’re born one. Kitsune can only be born, there is no other way to become one of us. The biting thing is pure myth, Hollywood and fantasy novels.”

“News flash, Brandon, so are werewolves,” I couldn’t help but point out.

“Point,” he conceded. “You’re going to find that some movies and fantasy novels aren’t as make-believe as you thought. I know it’s hard to believe, but I’m not lying to you. I wouldn’t do that and you know it,” he said calmly and I shifted in my seat, feeling guilty I had suspected him of doing just that. 

“You’re sure? I mean about the whole wolf thing?” I looked out the passenger window to avoid looking at him.

“Absolutely certain. Look, do you mind if we head back into town while we talk? While you were shifting, I called the Anikitos, our pack leader, and he’s expecting us. I’d prefer not to be late and risk angering him.”

“Do I have to?” The thought of meeting the leader of the local wolf pack made me nervous. I tried to think of everything I had ever read about werewolf packs and their leaders and nothing I was coming up with was reassuring.  

“Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. He’ll have a lot more answers for you that I don’t have. I may have been raised as one of us, but I’m still young, and honestly, not all that high in the pack. There’s a lot I just don’t know.”

“Okay, but you have to promise not to leave me alone. I don’t want you to just drop me off at some stranger’s house. I’m uncomfortable enough with everything that’s happening as it is without being told what to believe by someone I don’t even know.” 

“I promise you, I won’t leave you alone with the Anikitos unless you want me to, all right? You may decide after meeting him that you don’t want me around.”

“I can’t see why but if you say so, I’ll take your word for it. You’ve done nothing but help me this afternoon. Thank you for that,” I said. 

Brandon started the car and pulled out on to the highway leading back toward town.