The Shifters: Katrina

My mind ran at a thousand miles a minute, but I was only focused on one thing.

I had to get out.

I'd been found out. Exposed. Lost all control. I didn't want power limiters, I didn't want to be tied up like I was right now.

I felt like a freak compared to my friends. My friends I had finally gotten.

Instead of answering, I began to tug at my ropes. The pressure was gone. But the alien strategies, intelligences, the cold, calculated mindset -- it all led to this.

I needed to get out. I needed something familiar.

I needed home.

"Katrina," Coraline snapped. "Do you understand me?"

Sonya stood with Tyree, the others of that friend group, and even my fellow water shifter friends. Max and Sam were nowhere to be seen. Shae stepped forward, her eyes watery.

"Just calm down. In that form, you should have telepathy that can reach any other shifter. Just try, Katrina."

They think I'm afraid of myself. Think I'm too weak to figure this out.

I began to yank and tug and do everything I could to set myself free. Shifters panicked and yelled, trying to subdue me. My tail's spikes cut through its rope, getting freed. It flicked back and forth, keeping anyone behind me away from my behind. I slapped the thick appendage into the ropes on my back legs, hitting them until they frayed or sliced in half. Soon it was just my front legs, and I struggled harder. Shifters used their elements, trying to press me into the ground and stop my movement. There was panic all around, and I nearly gave up until I felt the sharp teeth inside my mouth. I nipped at the ropes, and soon I was free.

Get away from me!

The thought hit the other shifters, their eyes widening.

"Katrina, calm down!" Kami snapped. She came into my view, looking livid. "You've gone off the rails. Control yourself!"

I don't want to, I thought. I need to get out of here.

With that, they began to jump at me. Shifters in either form crowding onto my legs and wings. They were like flies, which I shook off easily. I experimentally flapped my wings, my front feet lifting off the ground like a horse rearing up.

"Katrina, stop!" Coraline yelled. Slowly, I let myself fall back to the ground. I was tired, but my adrenaline kept me up.

Forgetting what was going on, I tried to form words, but they only came out as puffs of sparks.

Why? I asked her, though the thought hit everyone around us.

"Please, just calm down. We can help you."

I don't want your help, I told her, I want my family.

I flapped my wings once more, and ever so slowly climbed into the air. Everything felt powerful, my movements, my senses, my water and fire themselves. I was agile and strong, a mystical creature in the flesh.

Soon, I was high up in the air, staring down at the tiny people below me.

"Wait!"

I looked back down. It was Shae, standing where I had just been.

"Please."

A tear ran down the side of her face.

"Come back."

There was a moment of silence while I processed her words.

Without a response, I turned, and began the rough process of flying out of Iluita.

And as flying gradually got easier, the entire thing becoming natural, I realised one thing.

I was crying.

End of Part One.