A True Soul

After Faux had finished her patch work, I quickly left the house and wandered outside. But I didn’t see Dax. The yoga matts, stereo, and CD’s had all been picked up; as if this morning never happened.

I looked at my arm; Faux had just placed a gauze bandage around the part she re-sewed. It barely stung. Why was Dax making such a big deal out of this? I was fine! I walked around to the corner of the house, and saw the profile of his face. He was sitting in the rose garden with his hands covering the back of his neck. His straight dark hair hung over his eyes.

I power walked to get o him fast, but I didn’t want to look completely idiotic by braking out into a run.

I slowed when I went through the archway. “Hey.”

“Hey.” He repeated my own words back at me.

I sat next to him, but he continued to stare at the ground. “Listen, I know you feel bad, but don’t. It’s not your fault at all. I know you were just trying to help me by pushing me.”

He let a small smile spread on his face, but it faded almost before I had been sure I’d seen it. “I’m sorry I pushed your training. I called the twins for a reason; it was their job to train you, not mine. It’s my fault that got you hurt.”

“It was an accident that’s all.”

“Girly, I’ve hurt a lot of people in my life. I just never wanted one of them to be you. Look, I know I can be an ass and I speak my mind more often then I should. It’s a personal flaw I need to work on. How do I explain this, girly?” Dax ran his fingers through his hair. I think it was an unconscious action he did. “I was supposed to make things easier for you, not more difficult.”

“How are you making things more difficult?” I turned to look at him, really look at him. It was almost as if his scares disappeared. I could see past them. His eyes were dark and consuming; it was as if I could lose my soul in them.

“It’s hard to explain. You don’t remember me, but we met a long time ago, before your mother died. I knew your mother extremely well. You see, girly, my parents weren’t always there. I knew my father cared about us, but his job took him away from the home, and my mom had better things to do than be a mom. So your mother was the one who took me away from all that. When I was left all alone, she was there. She made sure I was taken care of. She made sure I didn’t lose who I was,” he paused, “Your mom made the bad things in life disappear. Ember made this world a better place.”

I looked away from him. I had learned so many things so quickly. Learning about my mother, who she was, what she was, and the influence she had on others affected me the most. But it was so hard to believe that I had met Dax before. “She was like another mom to you?”

“Yeah, in all the ways that mattered. Sure Faux’s mom took me in when my parents died. Candice, that’s her name, she took me in and treated me like her own. But your mom was something special and unique. Not the kind of girl you come across very often,” his expressed finally softened a bit, “So, I was overly irate when you came along, girly.”

“What?” I raised my voice at him. “You were angry because I was born? I didn’t realize you were that much of a selfish jerk,” I teased.

He softly chuckled, “I thought I wouldn’t be able to spend time with her anymore. I thought you were going to take her away from me. Ember loved you so much that it was hard for me to hate you.” He stood in front of me. I had to tilt my head to see his face.

“Is that why you’re here? Because you feel you owe my mom?” I asked him.

He held out his hand, I took it as I stood, but he let go and it fell back to my side. “That’s one of the reasons I came back, but not the only one. Why I’m here now is more complicated.”

“And do you plan on explaining why it is so complicated?”

“Not a chance, girly.”

I just shook my head, “I don’t know what to think about you most of the time.”

“That’s ok.” He lift his hand and placed it gently on my cheek, “You may be your father’s daughter in so many ways, but every day that passes you’re becoming more and more like your mother. Never change, Angie.” He turned and walked out of the rose garden.

“Hey! Where are you going now?” I called after him.

“I’ll be back. I just have to meet someone. I promise I’ll be back!” He called back at me. Dax stopped. “Somehow I’ll make up for today.” He turned away from me again.

“Don’t you go easy on me now! I’m not gonna go easy on you!” I cup my hands over my mouth to yell at him. He just waved the back of his hand at me and got into Faux’s car, which was parked in back of his, and drove out of the drive way.

When I got back inside, everyone starred at me.

“Since when do you have a smile on your face after talking with Dax?” Faux said, teasing me.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” I hadn’t been able hide the smile. “Oh, he took off with your car by the way.”

“And did he, perchance, say where he was going with it?” Faux asked in an annoyed tone.

“No, just that he was going to meet someone.”

“Of course. Why would he feel the need to explain himself?” Faux rolled her eyes.

“Anyway, Angie, we need to discuss your training. How do you want to continue? If you would just prefer to stop, we can find other ways of protecting you,” Spencer said from the armchair he was sitting in.

“What? No, you’re not quitting on me now. That’s not what I want at all!” I turned to stare at all of them. “This is just the begging. I’m not about to back down now, so neither should any of you.” I turned my arm so that the stitches faced them. “See this? This will just keep happen to me, to all of you, if I don’t learn how to protect myself. I was lucky to get away with stitches. I could have lost my life, but I didn’t, and I don’t plan on it. But I need your help to make sure that Cain doesn’t kill me or anyone else.”

“We’re just trying to make sure this is what you really want,” my father said.

“Dad, I need to be able to defend myself,” I responded.

“Keep that attitude and you can do this, no problem.” Sadie beamed and crossed her legs.

I turned to Faux. I knew I needed her support; she had become my mentor and my close friend. If I was going to be able to keep my head in this game I needed her to be there every step of the way.

“Your mother would be proud.” I radiated with excitement at her words, but she held her hands up towards me. “However, you’re taking the rest of the day off. We’ll continue tomorrow.”

Later that night I heard a car pulled into the drive way, “Well about time he got back with my car. He better have filled the gas tank.” Faux said to no one in particular.

Sadie and Spencer had already left for the night; they had gone back to Freddie’s.

I could heard the garage door open. The fridge in the garage opened and closed a few seconds later. Dax came in through the laundry room and walked through the kitchen towards us.

“Was being gone all day your way of making up for earlier?” I said sarcastically at Dax, which caused him to jump a little.

“Sorry, guys, I hadn’t played on being gone that long,” He turned and looked at the clock, it was 11:30 at night. He had been gone day.

“How’s my car?” Faux asked, and turned back to the television. I hadn’t been paying attention to what she was watching.

“It’s still in one piece, and I filled the tank. You’re welcome,” He said, as he tossed Faux her keys and he sank in one of the chairs. He shut his eyes and quickly dozed off.

It was extremely chilly outside the next morning; I didn’t remember mid-October being this cold… I pulled on a thicker jacket, my old boots, and some gloves; today was going to be interesting to say the least.

“You know we don’t have to do this outside, today,” Faux said, looking at me while I crossed the lawn to the spot she was sitting at, her tail twitching behind her.

“And if we don’t I won’t learn anything, and I’ll still be helpless on my own.” For the time being it was only Faux and me outside.

“Aren’t the rest of them coming?” I asked, shivering.

“I’m sure Sadie and Spencer are on their way, Dax is probably still sleeping. Would you prefer waiting inside till they get here?” she asked me.

“No. You can help me get started, can’t you?”

“Of course.” It looked as if she was smiling. “You ready?” She crouched and I braced myself.

She sprinted forward, and jumped in the air; I wasn’t sure how to defend myself against something so small. I didn’t want to hurt her. But she was unbelievably fast. I tried to catch her as she jumped towards my body; it didn’t work out that way.

She landed with a thud on my upper chest and bounced off. Faux landed so hard that I had to take a couple steps back. It took a few seconds to get my breath back.

“You ok?” She was back on the ground, looking at me with her head cocked to the side.

I cleared my throat, “Yep, good to go. Let’s try again.”

“Don’t try to catch me this time, it won’t work. Try to block me. Knock me out of the way like you did when Dax came at you,” she said as I braced myself for another attack.

This time I did not hold my hands out to catch her. Instead of successfully blocking her attack, my hand closed around the fur on her back. She twisted around, grabbing my face with her front paws and drug her claws into my skin.

I yelped as Faux jumped from my face, to my head and back to the ground.

“That hurt…” I placed my fingers against my face, when I pulled them away I noticed a small amount of blood.

“I’m sorry I hurt you, really I am, but I did not appreciate my fur being grabbed like that. Are you sure you don’t want to go inside?” she asked me.

“I’m not a child. I’ve handled much worse in the past few weeks. Keep it up.” I whipped my face on the back of my glove and notice it had mostly stopped bleeding already. “Let’s go again.”

She got two or three good pounces in, with me awkwardly blocking them before Sadie and Spencer pulled in to join us.

“Looks like you’re doing well!” Spencer called out to me.

Sadie came closer to inspect my face. “Got hurt already, did you?” She laughed. “I’m sure you’ll live.”

“Thanks… really appreciate it.” I said, with sarcasm coating my words.

“Did you do some stretches this morning?” Spencer asked.

“Yes, before I came outside.”

“Good, let’s work on moving your body to avoid an attack,” he said. “When someone goes after you, twist your body to maneuver away from them. Make sure to move your feet as well. This will help you not to lose balance, until you’re more aware of how your body reacts under attack.”

Spencer came at me again in slow motion and I moved like he showed me. He moved faster, so my reaction time had to be faster.

“Ok, you’re ready to take things up a level or two,” Sadie said and laid her jacket and boots to the side.

“Um… What are you doing?” I asked.

“You really need to get more comfortable with the human body,” she responded as she laid her clothes in a pile until she was in a shirt and underwear. And in one swift movement the clothes landed away from her now wolf body, on the ground. “See, didn’t even see anything.” She smiled at me.

“Another thing, embrace your animal side. I know it’s still kind of new to you. But you are half animal; let that part of you kick in. You have a natural defensive part of your brain that will help you. Let it. You’ll do fine just remember what you are,” Spencer said and backed away from me.

The golden wolf in front of me lowered her head, bared her teeth and growled. I started to sweat. My hands were hot inside my gloves and my legs were shaking. My mind went blank, as she bolted for me.

In that moment, my natural instincts must of have taken over. I twist my body and dodged, she came at me again. I leaned my body backward, my hands hit the cold dirt and I pushed myself off the ground. My body tingled, it was an exhilarating feeling. My adrenaline had kicked in high gear. I began to automatically move. If I didn’t dodge quick enough and got hit, but I picked myself up. The thing was, I knew Sadie was going easy on me. If this was a real fight, the predator would be in it for blood. He would want to kill me with every fiber of his existence. Sadie did not. However, if I let her hit me with full force I would definitely be in pain. She was fast and forceful, and put a fierce effect into everything she was throwing at me. I was undeniably going to have buries the next day. But it would all be worth it when the time came for me to face Cain head on.

“Good to see you’re doing your jobs,” a voice said from behind me. I jumped as I was caught off guard, and fell when Sadie collided with me.

“Nice going Dax! She was doing a great!” Faux yelled out from where she was sitting.

“Oh, so it’s my fault she fell again. Go ahead, blame me,” Dax slurred.

“Of course we’re doing our jobs! Bloody hell, what did you expect?” Sadie jumped and growled at him.

Bloody Hell? Where were the wolf twins from? They didn’t exactly sound British.

“Hey, guys, calm down. Let’s take a break, nice of you to finally join us Dax,” Spencer said as he stepped next to his sister.

“It wouldn’t be the same without me here now would it?” He mocked them.

Faux rolled her eyes at him, but that’s all the acknowledgement she allowed him.

“Alright, girly, back to it.” Dax’s look was intense, but I wasn’t deterred.

After a couple hours, I was exhausted. I had taken off my jacket and gloves, and laid on the ground trying to catch my breath.

“What’d you say we call it a day and get lunch?” Spencer didn’t even look like he’d broken a sweat. Dax sat with his face twist from trying not to comment.

“Lunch would be great.” Faux held out her hand and helped me stand.

My father had already finished cooking by the time we got inside. “I know it’s lunch time, but I felt like making breakfast. Hopefully you guys like it. There banana, blueberry, and regular pancakes. And a couple different types of omelets, bacon, and some scrambled eggs.”

“Awesome! Looks great dad.” My mouth watered, and my stomach growled.

“Thank you Julian, but you really didn’t have to. I’m sure we would have managed.” Faux thanked my father.

“You mean you would’ve had Dax cook? I’d rather spend the day not vomiting. Food poising really isn’t on the list of things I need.” My father joked and playfully pushed Dax on the arm.

“He has a point you know.” Spencer smirked, Sadie hadn’t tried to stifle her laughter.

“That’s really appreciated, I managed fine on my own, thanks,” Dax muttered with a mouth full of omelet.

“If you say so,” Faux teased.

Later that day my father told me that he had decided it would be better for me to spend more time away from school. There was an online program I could sure to stay caught up. He was getting more and more worried about my safety. The next few days the training continued. I learned a few offensive attacks, and I spared against Faux, Spencer, and Sadie. Dax came to watch and gave his blunt opinion now and then, but didn’t to try to fight against me. I assumed he was afraid he was going to hurt me again.

On the fourth day of training in the cold weather, Freddie came to check on the process of my stitches.

I sat in the kitchen chair as my father and Freddie used a lamp to illuminate the stitches.

“Well, kid, you’re healing really well, in fact those stitches can come out tomorrow.” Freddie rubbed his chin and looked at me.

“What? You’re joking right, aren’t people supposed to have stitches for a couple weeks before removing them?” I was really shocked and confused.

“You’re not just a person, kid; you’re much more than that. How old do you think I am?” He looked at me with a serious face.

“Um… I don’t know, thirty three or thirty five maybe?” Again I didn’t feel right answering that question.

“If I was a normal person, you’d be close, but I’m fifty nine years old.”

I believed my mouth fell open at this. Freddie and my father began to laugh at me.

“You see, Natural Born s heal faster than humans, they also have an average lifespan of about one hundred and fifty years of age. If I remember correctly the oldest recorded Natural Born was two hundred and two when he died.” He smiled at me.

“That’s- that’s incredible…” I was amazed. Dax had told me about the aging process before, but I know I could see it. A sudden realization hit me. “So, that means mom died really young uh?”

Julian gaze drifted off before returning to me. “It’s ok Angie, I know she’d be really proud of you. You’re an amazing daughter.” My father beamed at me.

Freddie picked his bag from the floor and sat it on his lap, “So I’ll see you tomorrow, after lunch kid?”

“Sounds good, thank you so much!” IT was thrilling to have healed so quickly, even after that little set back on the first day of training.

Training was easier that morning, it only lasted a little over half an hour before my father wanted to me to focus on school work instead. Sadie and Spencer said they had errands to do, and Faux said it was time to check on her apartment to make sure things were still in one piece, but that she’d be back before the end of the day tomorrow.

The day passed by fairly quickly, and soon Freddie arrived to remove my stitches the next morning. But as excited as I was for them to be taken out, it was really an anticlimactic procedure. Freddie planted himself next to me, made a few snips, and it was over; the whole removal process took only a minute or two. I stared at my arm, I’d have a scare, but it’d fade over time. I’d always know where the bite mark was and what it signified.

“There you go, kiddo, you’re all set.” Freddie turned to head out. “Victor and I’ll keep watching for anything suspicious. If we find out where Cain and his lot are again, we’ll let you know. Don’t worry, you’ll be protected. Let me know if I can be of anymore service to you.”

“We really appreciate your help. If it wasn’t for your medical expertise, we’d be in a lot rougher shape. Just keep your eyes open. I know you’re doing all you can to look for Cain. Please let us know if you find out anything new,” my father thanked Freddie.

“Thank you. Really you’ve done so much. I feel bad that people have to risk their lives for me. I’m sorry you’ve been put in this position,” I said to him.

He nodded and smiled a little, “I’m just trying to make up for past mistakes. I’ve done a lot of bad in this life time, not always knowingly, but this is how I want to redeem myself.”

“Everyone makes mistakes Freddie, no one’s perfect.” I didn’t want him to feel bad, I couldn’t see how Freddie could be anything but a good and helpful person.

He locked eyes with my father, they had their own conversation in those few seconds before my father spoke, “The past is there for a reason, you’re much wiser than I am. You’ve already done more than enough to redeem yourself, Freddie.” Julian had known what Freddie was talking about, but I hadn’t pressed the issue.

It was still dark out, the next morning, when Faux waltzed through the door to my temporary room. “Wakey, wakey! You have special day of training planned for this lovely morning!” She sounded as content and excited as ever. Why did she have to keep waking me up in such a peppy voice? This was a special kind of evil.

I groaned into my pillow and slowly lifted myself out of bed, leaning up on my good arm, “And when did you decide to come back?”

“Oh, I got back last night as I promised. You were already passed out and drooling.” Faux smiled at me.

“You’re so funny.” I wiped my face and glared at her. “So what’s the plan for today?” It was too early for any short of enthusiasm.

“You’ll be doing your training as an animal, whatever one you choose,” she explained to me, “So I’ll leave the room and you can come out whenever you’re ready…” She glanced back at me as she left.

“Ok… How do I do this?” I mumbled to myself as I stood and shrugged my clothes off onto the floor.

I let out a deep breath and tried to picture something, anything that might help me train… Goose bumps crawled along my skin from getting cold. “Awesome… I did this once before, I can do it again.” I squeezed my eyes shut to the point of hurting, and tried to concentrate. I failed again. Ten minutes passed of me trying different ways to change forms, but nothing ever happen. Finally I put my clothes back on and went outside.

“Sorry, I can’t… I don’t know why, but I can’t change,” I said feeling more than a little disgruntled. Spencer and Sadie tried to give me reassuring looks, and Faux walked towards me.

“Do you want me to go in there with you?” Faux asked, in a supporting voice, but she had no idea how embarrassed I’d be with her there watching. Maybe Sadie was right, maybe I did need to get more comfortable with the human body.

“Wait, I have an idea, the academy provided the students with those jumpsuits. They’re designed to help students get more comfortable changing in front of others,” Sadie said. “I still have mine, would you like to try and see if that’d help?” Even though she was trying to be supportive it felt like I was being treated like a small child, which I didn’t appreciate in the least.

However, despite feeling belittle, what choice did I have? I couldn’t figure out how to change by myself again and I didn’t know what else to do. Unfortunately, I still had my doubts that this jumpsuit thing would be of any use, I hoped I was wrong. “Sure I guess, I don’t see how it would impede the minimal progress I’ve made anyways. But why do you still carrying this jumpsuit around with you?”

She cocked her head at me and smirked, “That my friend, is a complicated and interesting story that I will save for another time. However, if you’ll follow me, we’ll see if it’ll do the trick.”

I followed her back inside the house. Sadie proceeded to grab her purse, if one could call it a purse. It had blue and orange patterns overlapped it. One side of the bag had a zipper with huge pocket; on the other side there was a smaller zipper and another pocket on the top of it. She unzipped the middle of the bag to reveal even more zippers and pockets. That tote bag made my head spin just looking at it. How did she find anything in there? It was like Hermione’s bag magical bag, it had way more space than was apparent at first glance.

After digging for a few minutes and opening several other hidden compartments, she finally found what she was looking for. The apparent gray jumpsuit was folded in a square shape. She grabbed one side of the square and flung it outwards, which revealed a something much like a wet suit, only made of cloth.

“Ok, so it might be a little long for you, it’s one of my old ones, but it should work,” Sadie said, and flipped the jumpsuit around, “So, here on the back is a material that will hold together, much like magnets, but will release easily once you’ve made the change. Zippers and Velcro didn’t work too well with fur and feathers, and buttons just spanned off. Here you feel it.”

I grabbed the jumpsuit. Along either side of the opening was about a half inch were there was a soft, almost, clay like substance underneath the gray cloth. When I put them together, they stayed. It was like magnets, the way the sides were attracted to one another.

“When you get this on, just come outside. It’s getting colder, so the sooner you change the warmer you’ll be. Unless you turn into a snake, or some other reptile, but you won’t be a happy camper,” Sadie informed me.

“I’ll take that into consideration…” I said jokingly. I pulled the jumpsuit back open. “I’ll just be right out.”

I walked upstairs into the bathroom. Once again I undressed and slipped the suit on. Sadie was right, I’d better change fast, this thing would not keep me warm for very long. I walked downstairs and put on my slippers, as stupid as I looked, there was no way in hell I would’ve walked outside with bare feet.

As soon as I opened the door and the cold air hit me, I was shivering. My whole body was shaking and freezing in the short distance it took me to get to the others.

“Angie if you can’t change out here in a short time we’ll have to go back in. I don’t want you to get sick,” Faux said with a concerned look.

I just nodded. I took a deep breath and let it out, and closed my eyes once again.

“Ok, Ang, I want you to picture just one animal in your mind. Concentrate on that one animal. See yourself as that animal. Now, picture yourself changing and becoming that animal. Keep concentrating, you can do this,” Faux said as she tried to coach me through the changing process. She’d kept her words precise and consistent.

I could feel myself almost there. My body tingled, I’d have a quick hot flash, or get even colder, but nothing happened. I tried again. Nothing. I grabbed my arms and hugged myself. I shook horribly.

Faux took a step towards me, but retreated suddenly with a horrified expression on her.

I turned around. He dove at me, growling, all of his teeth exposed. He snapped at my ankles and jumped towards my face. My body reacted before I realized he wasn’t truly going to hurt me. I changed.

But it wasn’t my mother I thought of this time. For some reason I thought of the forest, and how at one point in time it offered me some form of protection, however small it might have been.

My body flipped over backwards in an attempt to get away and face my opponent directly. One black paw hit the ground, followed by another one, the back two landed quickly after. My bushy tail twitched side to side. From my peripheral vision I could see the white tip moving back and forth. I saw Dax, my pretend attacker, smiling at me about a yard away; his tail eagerly wagging.

“Woohoo! So it did help a little,” Sadie said. Spencer crossed his arms, perfectly content to watch how things would played out.

“You enjoyed that a little too much,” I taunted Dax.

“Whatever, foxy,” he smirked.

“Foxy?”

“Well, that’s what you are, a fox. Although, turning into a lion would have been much more intimidating, girly. I still have about 40 or so pounds on you. So this shouldn’t be much of a fight, at least not until you’re quicker on your feet,” Dax mocked me.

He leapt towards me. I jumped out of the way, lowered my head, and let out a small growl. It was the first time Dax had even attempted to spare against me since my stitches had been ripped open. It was almost like he was enjoying himself.

It was my turn to try and attack him. I could feel the cold grass beneath my feet as they thudded hard against the ground. The distance between me and Dax was closing in quickly, but he was just standing there with his tail wagging. I flew at him, but he swiftly moved to the side. And I landed hard on my paws, a tingling sensation crawled through my legs.

“See, what’d I say? You’re going to have to be faster,” Dax said, with no hint of rudeness at all for once.

I ran faster, the cold air pierced my lungs. He moved to dodge again, but I managed to collide into his shoulder. He fell and rolled on the ground, and I lost my balance, doing a face plant.

“Nice!” Spencer said laughing, I could see his breath. Sadie was bent over, laughing so hard. Faux simply shook her head at us. At least the audience was entertained.

I moved to stand, but Dax pounced on me, pinning me at my shoulders. “Gotcha, girly.” He was smiling! Dax was having fun!

I growled, leapt, and head butted his chin in the process. He yelped and playfully snarled back at me again. Dax took off running, looking back as if he wanted me to catch him. Challenge accepted. I bounded after him. I was getting faster, but still not quite as quick as he was. The cold wasn’t bothering me as much anymore. I was actually panting.

I ran harder, but that fox body wasn’t fast enough to keep pace with Dax’s husky form. Maybe if I’d had more experience I’d be able to match his stride, but I needed something more powerful. I jumped into the air. I knew I could change, I’d done it twice before. I concentrated on knowing what it felt like, knowing how my bones moved. I felt it, I knew what was happening before the others realized it. In a split second I landed on top of Dax, restraining him, now have several hundred pounds difference between the two of us.

“That’s a little more intimidating… girly, but… I can’t… really breath,” Dax grunted.

“Oh! I’m sorry!” I moved the lion paws off him. I noticed in the sun light that my fur had a little bite more of a red tint to it than most lions had.

Dax took this moment to catch me off guard and rammed into my shoulder. I staggered a little, but reminded on my feet. “Now you’re the one who’s gonna have to do better than that!” I laughed at him.

“It looks like she’s got the upper had Dax,” Faux called out at us.

“You’re in trouble now!” Sadie taunted him.

I roared. The noise pierced threw the air. A flock of birds flew in the air and landed in some neighboring trees. A large black raven perched herself on a close by branch. She nodded at me, and I swear I could see the movement of antlers between the trees, but it quickly vanished.

“You better get ready Dax,” Spencer said.

I crouched and sprang towards Dax again. He was no match for the speed of a lion. He fell again, taken aback that I was actually winning for once. “Why don’t you pick on someone your own size?” he yelled at me, a little frustrated, but mostly in good fun.

I was enjoying myself. Taking pride in the brief moment that I had won. I wasn’t trying to hurt him, but I also wasn’t sure that I had complete control of this dangerous body, so it’d probably be better if I was his size.

This was the easiest change I’d made yet. While I still had to concentrate, it felt like my body already knew what I wanted, and just eased into the new form. I was bigger than the fox, but overwhelmingly smaller than the lion. These paws were white, as were my legs, chest, stomach, and tip of my tail. There was a white strip going from my nose to the top of my forehead, the rest of my face and head was a dark red color. My back, the outside of my legs from the knees up, and the majority of my tail were also this color as well.

“Is this better? Does it make things even now that I’m a husky too?” I asked Dax.

He looked completely and utterly shocked, like this was the last thing he expected me to change into. He eyes were huge as they looked into my sliver ones.

“Angie has a point Dax, that does make things more even,” Spencer teased.

“See it’s getting easier, isn’t it?” Faux seemed proud.

Maybe it really was getting easier. I was really pleased with myself. I could do this, I just had to have confidence in my ability to change, and know what I really wanted to become.

“Go on, let’s see what you can do now, girly.”

Again we were playing cat and mouse, one trying to catch the other, attacking and dodging, dodging and attacking.

After a good amount of time between Dax and I trying to out maneuver one another, Faux joined in.

“Two against one isn’t fair!” I whimpered. Faux got me from the back and Dax attack me from the front. My father had gotten home from work on a quick brake and was thoroughly entertain by the show we were providing.

After a few minutes of dodging attacks by both of them I flopped over, curled my tail round my body and covered my eyes with my paws.

“Oh, Angie, come on. Don’t be like that,” My father said. He acted like it wasn’t a big deal that I was in animal form. He wasn’t bothered one bit.

I stood and shook myself off. “Ok, dad, I’ll tag you in and you can have a go at this.”

“You’re doing really well so far, I promise!” Faux said to me.”

“Here, I’ll help you out.” Clothes went quickly flying in the air as Spencer changed. Thankfully it was all in a fast, fluid motion and no one was flashed anything.

Now I had a large black wolf on my team, maybe we’d have the upper hand.

However, Spencer went after Faux, which left Dax and I head to head once again. I was tired. We had been training for a good four hours; time had gone by really quickly. Within a minute, Dax had me pinned to the ground, both of us panting.

“Ok, you officially win, how about we take a break?”

He rolled off the side and collapsed his body on the ground causing dried leaves to fly in the air. I rolled over and stretched my legs.

“Oh come on, I just started and now you wanna quit on me?” Spencer nudged me, playing.

“You may have just started, but I’ve been out here since dawn. It’s nap time.” It may have been cold out, but I was still panting. My body felt really warm with all the fur.

“Have about we just go inside and I’ll order pizza?”

I walked back inside, into my temporary room, and closed the door. My body was exhausted and hastily changed back into human form. I put on a tank top, a blue v neck sweater and faded jeans.

“You looked like you’re about ready to pass out,” Sadie said turning her attention to me.

“I feel like it too,” I said as I flopped into the chair closet to my door.

“We can be done for the day, but you should know you were amazing out there. You have come so far and should be able to defend off an attacker,” Faux said with pride in my ability. I gave a short nod to acknowledge her, I couldn’t manage anything else.

“You have accomplished everything we could have hoped for and more,” Spencer said getting his opinion in as well.

“You’re not leaving right away are you? My training isn’t over yet, is it?” I asked the twins and Faux. I had been nervous that they were going to leave me on my own.

“No,” Spencer smiled, “We’re not leaving yet. There’s still more training to go through, and you’re still in a lot of danger.” The last part hadn’t made me feel better.

“No need to worry, I’m not going anywhere.” Faux reassured.

I nodded, but there was something that still concerned me, “What about Dax? Will he stay?”

“Yes, of course, he’s not going anywhere. I promise,” Faux told me. Even though I believed her, it would have been more comforting if it had come from Dax himself.

I looked around, “Where is Dax anyways?”

“He went to take a shower I believe, he looked pretty worn out too. I doubt he’s had a work out like that in a while.” This seemed to amuse Faux.

I smiled. I was just happy he was still here. I felt more at ease than I had in a long time.