SWNOVELS Chapter Chapter Thirty
ASH! I scream in my mind. I run faster than I have ever ran before back to the front door just as Ash is coming out to me. I didn’t even realize I had spoken with my mind and not my voice.
“Stars above, Sofie. You don’t have to yell when using telepathy. Hell, I didn’t even know you could communicate with me. I thought that I could only read your thoughts.” Ash has his hands set against his temple and in circular motions, is trying to massage away the pain I apparently caused him.
Waving my hands in his face to stop him from speaking further, I interrupt his rambling. “Ash, we have to go back to my house. Something is wrong! Mom sent me a very strange text, just three letters: S.O.S.” I feel nauseous and on the verge of hysteria.
Stepping closer to me, Ash wraps his arms around me in a hug. His warmth calms me, and I fight the tears that want to spill forth. “Let’s do our best to stay calm baby. We will go back right now. I just have to grab my keys and phone from kitchen. Go sit in the car and I’ll be back in just a second.” I nod my head and do as he suggests. As I wait for him to come to the car, I try calling both of my parents’ cell phones. Dad’s phone goes straight to voicemail and mom’s phone just rings and rings. Tears spill forth as I wonder what has happened to them, because obviously something has. They wouldn’t shut off their phones and they wouldn’t ignore my phone calls.
Ash slides into the driver’s seat and backs out of my driveway, speeding to the invisible barrier, he flies through it and we are on the other side in less than a minute. While he drives, I stare at my phone, willing it to ring and silently begging for the same.
I don’t know how Ash manages it but I swear instead of ten minutes we are pulling into the driveway in five! Flinging our doors wide, we both hop out and sprint up the front stairs to the door. As I go to retrieve my keys from my pocket, Ash taps me on the shoulder; “look. The door isn’t locked. Let’s go in quietly but be very careful and aware of your surroundings.” Duh, I’m not dumb! I want to yell this at him, but I know he is just being cautious and is concerned for me.
Pulling the screen door open slowly, I try to do this without it squeaking and feel fairly successful. It didn’t matter how quiet we were though, no one was in the house anyway, not even my parents. “Okay, I’m officially worried now and would like to start panicking!” Scanning just the small portion of the house that I can see from the entry hall, I see that papers have been tossed about, broken lamps lay scattered across the floor, chairs are tipped over, and “what the hell! Who would do this? Why would someone do this and where are my freaking parents?”
Heat swirls in the pit of my stomach and I can feel it as it begins to travel throughout the length of my body. I’m going to lose control of myself and fear what will happen if I stay inside this house. I throw the door open and hear the screen door as it slams against the door frame. Ash had gone upstairs to make sure there wasn’t anyone up there and so he doesn’t yet know what is occurring within me. I scream out in pain, but the pain is brief and before I realize it, I am flying. I have completely transformed myself into the beautiful, majestic creature that everyone has told me that I am.
For a transient moment I feel free. My wings break against the currents of wind that surround my body and I know this is right, this is what I am supposed to be, not that shell that housed my soul, that human being, but this bird of flame and fire. Screeching, I look to the ground and am curious about the humans that are standing below me, looking up at me. Quite unexpectedly I hear a voice inside my mind; Sofia, please come back down. Come back to me. There is something within that human that makes me suddenly what to be back down there... why does that voice have such a pull upon me? Slowly I descend to the ground and as I land, I can feel my body transition back to its human body and then, I feel Ash’s arms envelope me, crushing me to him.
“Oh my God Sofie! Are you okay?” Lori is staring at me stunned at what she has just witnessed. “What happened? How did you shift? I thought it took practice for shifters to be able to transform into their animal counterpart?” I can do nothing but look at her perplexed because I have no idea how I did what I did. I just did...
“Uh, what are you doing here Lori?”
“What? I heard Ash shouting and came running over to see what was wrong only to see you flying in the sky! Like seriously, wow! You were beautiful, I mean you are beautiful anyway, but your animal is absolutely pulchritudinous!”
Ash as finally released me from his death-defying hug but hasn’t let go of me completely. He still has his hand interlocked with mine as though he is afraid if he lets go, I may fly off again. “What happened Sofie? What caused you to transform?” He is looking at me with worry and my heart melts for him just a little more.
“I think a panic attack was taking over but because I couldn’t stop it, it ended up causing other emotions to stir with in me and then before I knew it, I was running outside because I knew I was going to lose control of myself, and I was afraid of setting the house on fire which I guess now that I’m glad I was smart enough to go outdoors.”
Lori looks back and forth between Ash and I, confusion written all over her face. “But why did you have a panic attack? I feel like I’m missing an important puzzle piece here.”
Looking at her for a second it dawns on me, she doesn’t know about my parents. “I received the strangest text from mom. It simply said; ’S.O.S’, which she has never sent to me before. So, Ash and I came back to the house because they hadn’t arrived at The Nest yet and we go inside to see the entire house has been ransacked! Before we even left The Nest, I had tried to call them both. Dad’s phone went straight to voicemail and mom’s just kept ringing and ringing. So, for obvious reasons, I sort of lost it and started to freak out, hence the panic attack and transformation.”
“You didn’t happen to notice anything strange going on over here, did you?” Ash looks to Lori hopeful that she may be offer some insight as to what might be going on.
“No. I just got home from work about ten minutes ago. Everything seemed quiet but normal. I had assumed you all were at The Nest. The next thing I know, I can hear Ash out here shouting Sofia’s name and I came out as quickly as I could to see what was going on.” My shoulders sag and I sort of slump against Ash, my energy spent from the unexpected transformation and no idea what has happened to my parents, has hit me suddenly and exhaustion racks my body.
Ash scoops me up and cradles me to his chest like one would do with a baby. I hear him tell Lori to grab the door and then I feel him carry me back into the house. He places me ever so gently upon the couch in the living room and places blanket over me. My eyes are becoming too heavy to keep open and as I give up trying to keep them open and begin to drift into sleep, I hear him say to Lori; “I don’t want to stay in this house for very long. Will you sit with her while I grab my phone and try to get a hold of Charlie? As soon as I’m done talking to her, we will get Sofie into the car and go back to The Nest where I know she will be safe. And then maybe... we can figure out what has happened to her parents.” Blackness takes hold of me, and I hear nothing after that.
Sometime later I start to come to. I know I’m lying on a couch, but it doesn’t feel like my couch. A moan escapes my lips and I wince at the light in the room as I open my eyes, a headache is surging through my head and I want to cry out in pain because of it, but I’m afraid to make any more sounds in case they are the cause of this stupid headache. Struggling, I try to get into a sitting position and can’t. My limbs feel like Jell-O, and they shake and wobble when I try to put weight upon them.
Giving up on any attempts to use my arms or any other body parts for that matter, I allow my head to fall back against the extremely soft pillow that I had been resting on. I hear Lori’s voice before I feel her touch upon; “guys! She’s awake. Hey Sofie, how are you feeling? You had us worried for a moment until we realized your body was too tired to maintain function after that shift of yours earlier.”
Tossing my arm over my face to cover my eyes I grunt; “ugh, does anyone have any Ibuprofen or anything for a headache? My head is killing me.” I can hear people moving around me, but I hurt too much to see who is in the room.
“Here you go little bird.” I feel Charlie slip her arm under my head and then she eases me up slowly into a sitting position so that I am able to take the medicine. My arms are still too weak to lift so keeping her arm resting against my back, Charlie helps me to sip a glass of water, so it is easier to swallow the tasteless pills.
“Thank you,” I whisper and offer her a meek smile. At the foot of the couch, I can see Lori hovering and I glance around for Ash. “Ash? Where’s Ash?”
“Don’t worry,” Lori chuckles, he’s here, he just ran to the bathroom. He should be back in a second.” I nod my head. Finally, my muscles cooperate with me, and I am able to push myself fully into a sitting position. My head still hurts but not near as much as it had.
“Um, so, where am I anyway?” I look around the room, the setting unfamiliar to my eyes.
“We are at your home within The Nest, dearie.” Charlie smiles but it lacks the happiness I usually feel coming from her. “You are full of surprises, aren’t you my sweet one?” She has my hand in hers and is patting it as she says this to me.
This causes me to grin sheepishly. “What’s life without a few surprises, right?” Charlie titters at my statement and I hear Lori snickering as well. However, before anything further can be said, Ash saunters in the room. We three girls go silent, and I think this makes Ash feel like we had been talking about him. We look at each other, that is, me, Lori and Charlie and then we burst out in a fit of laughter. The look on Ash’s face is priceless, somewhere in between a deer caught in headlights and a little child wanting to know what the joke is. Just adorable!
“Would anyone care to tell me what in the world you lot are laughing about?”
“Nope, not really,” Lori pipes up. I grin at her and then look back to Ash. It was nice not to worry about anything for a couple of minutes but with Ash back in the room, reality came crashing down on me. My parents are missing, and I have no idea what we should do to find them.