The Raven Saga Box Set

Chapter 24

“Oh, God, Lilly. Are you seeing someone else?”

“No, of course not,” I whispered in response, though not convincingly enough for him. If only I could just tell him the truth.

Suspicion got the better of him, and he pushed open the front door and walked in, “So who is he, Lilly? Is it someone I know? Someone from school?”

I repeated over and over again that there was nobody else, but he just didn't believe me. He walked into the living room, and when he saw two plates and two glasses, he knew, for sure, that I certainly wasn't on my own.

“Oliver, please don't do this. Of course, I'm not seeing anybody else. You're the only one,” I sobbed.

“Then why all the secrecy, Lilly? Why have you been avoiding me for the past month or so?”

Again I was speechless, there was nothing I could say.

When I heard the front door slam, I knew that Sammy had made a run for it.

Oliver followed, and I was terrified that he would see him. I tried to grab him, but I wasn't quick enough.

I followed hot on his heels and knew that he had seen the man leaving the house.

“Who are you?” shouted Oliver.

I watched in horror as Sammy turned slowly and the realisation hit Oliver smack in the face.

“But you're... you're a murderer. You're Sammy Morton. Oh my God, what the...? Wings?” he said. Something clicked within Oliver then, and I could see that he was going to try to catch him.

“No, just let him go, Oliver,” I yelled as loud as I could, running faster than I'd ever ran before, chasing after them. The two men that meant the world to me. It was then that something extraordinary happened to me.

As I ran, I could feel a dramatic change within me. A fierce pain shot through my entire body, stopping me dead in my tracks. I screamed out in agony and at the same time noticed that Oliver had stopped abruptly and turned to see why I had yelped so loudly. For a moment, Oliver became the least of my problems as I felt my body trying to shut itself down. It was trying to black out. I fought the feeling to lose consciousness and remained awake throughout the process in which my body began to radically change beyond all recognition.

I had been wondering when this would happen but had not prepared myself for the fact that it might happen during the most inopportune time. Why, oh why did it have to happen while Oliver was there?

The ferocity of the pain continued to attack my every pore, and I felt as though I wanted to die, and although it felt like this change took a long time, I knew deep down that it had almost been instantaneous.

I knew then that I was no longer the innocent young fourteen-year-old girl that had been chasing after Sammy and Oliver in the forest. And as I looked down, I saw the full extent of my new self. I saw that in place of my long pale arms and legs were four limbs of a completely different nature. Long, lean, incredibly strong and covered in soft black fur, I knew that my change into a feline was complete. Judging from my size, I realised that I wasn't your average house cat but a much larger animal. To my horror, it dawned on me that I had become one of the most fierce feline creatures in the region. I had morphed into a black mountain lion, and I will never forget the look of absolute terror on Oliver's face at the sight of me. It would haunt me forever.

I had no idea what to do. For some reason, I had not questioned Rose enough about the physical changes that happen during a transformation, and we had certainly never discussed what I should do when it did occur.

After witnessing Sammy fly off into the distance, Oliver had then seen me become something terrifying, especially in his eyes. I watched as the utter shock of it all caused him to collapse right in front of my eyes.

Terrified that the shock had killed him, I rushed to his side and put my head above his mouth. I could feel his breath, and his heartbeat was strong yet incredibly fast – I could hear and almost feel the rhythmic beating without even touching him. I dared not touch him in case he suddenly awoke. That would be an even greater shock, I was sure of it.

I came to the conclusion that he had most likely fainted. He needed to be taken back to the house but, being on four legs, I knew I couldn't do it myself. I had no choice but to call out to Sammy and hope that he was merely hiding and had not flown too far away.

Forgetting that I couldn't call out his name, I tried to make some kind of noise to get his attention. It was difficult, but I managed a deep howl. He returned almost immediately, landing just a few metres away from us. I could just see his face, and I knew that he was not afraid of what I had become. He had witnessed his own girlfriend change into a cat, albeit briefly, and so the sight of me changing wasn't something that caused too much concern.

As if reading my mind, he approached quickly, bending down to pick up the still unconscious Oliver. He walked as fast as he could back to the house, while at the same time I rushed off into the distance, heading towards the one person I knew would be able to help me in these strange circumstances. I ran as fast as my hind legs would propel me, trying to keep myself hidden, until I reached Rose's house.

I let out another howl as soon as I arrived, causing all of the other cats in the vicinity to howl back. Rose appeared quickly in the doorway, a look of concern across her face.

I approached her, not knowing how to tell her what had happened, but she knew something wasn't right. As she peered down at me fearlessly, I bowed my head and looked to the ground, trying hard to think of a way to let her know that it was me. But I needn't have worried, for she knew immediately who I was.

“So it has happened, Lilly,” she said softly, and I nodded, “I knew you would become a special beast. A black mountain lion, eh? Excellent,” she chuckled.

Rose then stepped right up to me and bent down, so our faces were parallel to each other. She looked deep into my eyes and sensed the urgency.

I watched as she made the immediate decision to change too, “for speed,” she had whispered while still in human form. I nodded and then watched as the old lady morphed into a creature of grace, beauty and speed – all in a matter of seconds, completely silently except for the ripping of her clothes. It appeared that her change had happened painlessly.

It was only when she had become a smaller cat than me that we could communicate effectively. Although we were unable to physically speak to each other, we were able to read each other's minds. I explained to her exactly what had happened, and I listened intently as she responded, telling me that we needed to get to Oliver immediately.

She sprang into action, leaping quickly and effortlessly down through the tall trees in the direction of my home. I followed as quickly as I could, noticing that we were using a different route to that which I had become accustomed. An easier route for beasts that could move the way we could, fitting through gaps within the trees that I would have struggled with in my human form.

I had little time to dwell on the change that had happened to me, but I did notice a few things. My senses were like nothing I'd ever experienced before. Not only could I smell things I would never have even noticed, but my eyesight and hearing were also second to none too. But I couldn't think about that. I needed to think about Oliver. What had I done? We would never be the same again. He would hate me and wouldn't even want to lay his eyes on me, probably for the rest of his life.

I knew there was nothing I could do to change his feelings for me. I just hoped that he would be able to keep our secret. That was even more important than anything else now.

As I followed behind Rose, my mind strayed again, and I couldn't help but notice how gracefully she moved. Graceful in human form, graceful in feline form – she was a true beauty.

Minutes later, as we arrived at home, I wondered how I would change back. I had no idea how I had changed in the first place, so I didn't know what to do. I watched as Rose didn't even give it a second thought. Well practised in the art, I watched as the cat grew larger, the fur giving way to pale skin and the whiskers disappearing from her face, her claws becoming long slender fingers. I was about to discover an unfortunate side effect of the change, though, as she stood up proudly, I saw that she was completely n***d.

She looked down at me and smiled, “It's something you'll have to get used to, I'm afraid,” she said.

“I've had many years to come to terms with it,” and then she opened the front door and tiptoed in quietly. I skulked in behind her, watching her as she opened a cupboard that I hadn't even noticed before and pulled out a pair of black trousers, a grey sweater and a pair of black pumps, which she hastily dressed with.

“I'll explain later,” she whispered.

Sammy appeared then, recognising Rose's dulcet tones.

“He's still out cold,” he whispered, “I didn't want to try and wake him in case he freaked out again. I think he's okay, though.”

Rose nodded and told us to stay out of the room. She didn't want him to wake up and see us before he saw anyone else. She asked Sammy to call Gabriel immediately.

After he had done so, he came over to me and gently put his hand on the back of my neck, “Don't worry, Lilly. I'm sure everything will be all right.”

I let out a sigh and sat down on the cold stone floor, wishing I could morph back into human form. I wanted to speak to Sammy so badly but I couldn't. There was no way he could understand me, so I just curled up on the floor, waiting. Waiting for something to happen.

We heard Rose's voice from Gabriel's bedroom, where Sammy had lay Oliver down until he came to. Although we couldn't hear what she was saying, we could tell that she was reasoning with him. Occasionally, his voice could be heard too – but he never shouted. There was no anger there, which was at least something to soothe my worrying head.

It wasn't much later when I heard the sounds of an engine roaring up the driveway. Gabriel was home. I leapt up, not sure what to do with myself, but before I could do anything, Gabriel was at the door, opening it.

As he rushed in, he gasped at the sight of me with Sammy.

Speechless for a second, he suddenly gushed, “Lilly?”

I nodded and rushed to his side, brushing my head against his legs gently. I was afraid he might be angry, but he looked so proud, and he smiled at me warmly for a moment until Sammy filled him in on the evening's events.

“Oliver?” he said, “Where is he?”

“Rose is with him now. They're in your room.”

He patted me on the head and told us both to just stay in the living room out of the way until he had spoken to him.

I was desperate to see Oliver for myself. I was desperate to speak to him and plead forgiveness for keeping this from him. But the sight of me wouldn't help my case.

I watched as the door shut slowly behind Gabriel and waited patiently, not able to do anything but pace up and down the living room floor.