Chapter 15

KIRA:
“Okay, Alexia,” I start to say as I take my clothes off, “if this doesn’t go well like the last time, I won’t be trying it again. I am in no option to be sacrificing my body for something that will not eventually work out,”
‘Do away with the negativity. I’m sure things will be different this time around,’ Alexia responds with confidence. And I am eager to know if the confidence would match with the end result.
“I’ll believe you said that,” and I take the last piece of clothing off of me to reveal my complete nudity.
Here I am again in the woods with the mindset of trying the transformation once more after failing in the first attempt.
As usual, I am alone around here. This is what gives me the confidence to be able to do anything without the thought that I would be interrupted by anyone. Or so I thought.
After my clothes have been successfully tucked in the tree hole, I bend to the ground because I am now ready to undergo the transformation. But no lies I am totally nervous about the outcome.
“So am I going to count or will you?” I ask Alexia as I place my hands on the ground in a crawling position. I could feel my heart thumping against my chest because of how much I put into this.
‘Do we need to?’
Instantly I frown. “Yeah, do we need to do this?” I rebuff in a way and then start to get up from the ground.
‘What are you doing?’
“What does it look like I’m doing?” I shoot back a question at her.
‘You’re not about to stand up, are you?’
“Of course not,” my response is entirely sarcastic. And if she gets the memo, she would know it was a way to tell her that I was not going through this without her adhering to my request.
‘But what’s the big deal about counting down or not?’
“For me, it is a big deal. I need to be mentally prepared for the outcome of what we are about to do,” I roll my eyes when I say that.
‘It’s not like it’s what you did during the first trial,’
“And it’s because I had no idea that I had signed myself up for a disaster class,” without her telling me she would do what I want, I go back to the ground in the crawling position. “So are you doing it or not? Because I’m ready to walk out of here this instant if you do not agree to it,”
‘We’ll count,’ she grumpily replies and I nod, a smile almost making its way to my face because I just succeeded in making her agree to me. She should know that it would not be easy to deal with a stubborn one like me.
‘Are you ready?’ she asks.
I close my eyes and then exhale what I did not inhale. “I am ready,” is what I tell her when I open my eyes which I shut close immediately after.
I start to go through the same excruciating experience again. The cracking, bone-breaking, and so on. It all happened at once and I try my best not to scream out loud... yet.
I realize that I am able to withstand the pain much better than the last time. This is why I still haven’t gotten my lungs making a melody of pain in the woods.
And suddenly, when I feel that I cannot take it anymore, I decide to let out that scream to tell the present condition I am in. But never would I gave expected something else instead of a scream of pain.
A growl. Yes, that is what I produced from my lungs when I tried to scream. And not just any growl. It is the type similar to the growls produced by wolfs which is what we are trying to achieve here.
“Is that it? Are we close?” excitement is laced in my voice as I question Alexia about the state of things after hearing myself growl as if I had just effected the transformation. But for a moment there I thought I would not be able to use my voice to speak again. Luckily it didn’t result in that.
‘I am not so sure but I think we might be making progress,’
“Let’s do it again!”
And then we are on the second attempt for today to shift into a wolf for the first time in my existence. But it was so unsuccessful but my eagerness coupled with my excitement makes me push on for the third trial for today which I instantly regret because I am certainly in no position to handle the pain any longer.
“It’s not worth it!” I yell as I collapse to the ground weary and still in pain from trying and trying all over again. I guess I should learn my body limit before attempting such suicidal moves. “Why isn’t it happening? Did the growl happen to be a fluke or something?”
‘I believe that you producing such sound in the middle of a transformation means your body is starting to embrace the new change you are ongoing. But it seems we might have to wait a little more before we get a result. At least it’s good news that you are starting to adapt to the situation,’
The sun flashes into my eye globes as I stare directly into it. All of a sudden it decided to come out after seeming like it wouldn’t all day. Although this one seems like a peek. Which means it would go away in no time.
“Is this how it is for others? Do they have to try a couple of times before they can achieve this?” my curiosity brings me to ask that.
‘No, it is not the same as the others. It is because they are already mature enough when they finally get theirs. Normally this shouldn’t be the time that you get yours but the moon goddess knows what is best for you. It’s a good thing that we got the first reaction today,’
“Urrgh,” I sigh as I continue to stare directly into the sun which has started to fade away. A sudden chill breeze goes through my akin and gives me a tingling sensation which makes me want to stay here all day and relax butt naked under nature.
Well, I can’t because I have got things to do at home. And mother would kill me if I arrive home late tonight. She made me promise not to do such tonight and I have no choice but to agree with her if I am going to have a roof over my head tonight.
So I stand up to my feet and the dust off the particles on my body. When I am set to go, I put my hand into the hole to pick out the clothing and that is when I feel a chill in my spine.
It is an unexplainable feeling that has me stopping right in my tracks. More like I have been frozen in time because the sudden change in the atmosphere has me wondering what is wrong.
“Is something on, Alexia?” I whisper as I ask my wolf who made a reacting sound the moment I felt that chill. And the crazy thing now is that I cannot bring myself to look around because I now have a feeling that something or someone was right behind me.
‘Whatever you do, Kira, don’t try to look back,’ Alexia suddenly tells me. And with the tone of her voice, I can tell that she is trying to be wary. But wary of what? I wish I understand what is going on here.
“Why?” I demand to know.
‘Because it’s for your own good,’
I find myself nodding at that as I try not to freak out. Although I am freaking out at the moment on the inside, I just have to try as much as possible not to allow that to overwhelm me in this situation. That is easier said than done because I am totally not in control of my emotions anymore.
“What do I do?” I proceed to ask for the way forward out of this.
Alexia takes her time before responding to my question, ‘Take your clothes as slowly as possible. I want you to act like you are not on the move or something,’ before I can respond to that, she adds, ‘And control your heartbeat, dammit! You sound like you are about to be beheaded,’
I gulp down an invisible lump in my throat because she has no idea that she just made matters worse for me by mentioning such a thing. She sure doesn’t like to go easy, does she?
I do as instructed and begin to take my clothes out of the hole in the slowest motion I have ever taken in years. Not even when I was trying to hide away from the warriors of the Night Blaze pack when I intruded into their territory.
My clothes are firmly in my hands and I await the next instruction from Alexia. But I cannot seem to control my heartbeat as she instructed because the rate at which I am being drained of energy by whatever source around here is putting me at an edge. I just have to hope I make it out of here in one piece.
‘Now listen to me, I don't know what is around here. Neither do I wish to know. But my hyper senses have picked up something that tells me we might be in big trouble. So if you want to save your skin as well as every of your being, you will do what I am about to tell you,’
I do not bother to dwell on it too long before asking, “What might that be?”
‘Run!’
Before the words could even be processed, I find my legs doing as told as I start to find a way to save my skin from impending doom. And what makes me believe that it is indeed trouble is when my senses pick the sound of movement on my tail.