She moved like water now, flowing over the rocks, like she was made for this rocky terrain. And as I had the thought, it occurred to me she had lived in these caves for years. How many? No one really knew, but she knew this ground better than she probably knew her own face.
I stumbled again and screamed as I felt her nails scrap against my neck. I thought I was free, breeching the cave entry way, but then my hair was yanked back and I nearly fell.
“No, you’re mine. So warm. It’s my turn to be free. To be alive.” She wrapped my hair tighter in her fist and dragged me back into the cave.
I panicked. My head felt like it was bleeding, but still she pulled. I could feel my feet losing purchase and I slipped back an inch. “Let me go.”
“No.” She grinned now. Her skin had plumped up enough that her lips now covered her teeth. She was actually quite beautiful. Her dark black eyes were now golden brown, and her hair was a shiny, tangled mess of black curls. “I’ve served my penance. It’s now your turn.”
“I didn’t break any rules.” I pulled away and my hands shifted. I felt my claws drop, and I wanted to dance, because it was the first time it had happened without fighting for the shift for months.
“You are here without your shell. Broke the rules. The shell is first.” I screamed again, swinging my claws, severing my hair, and releasing me from her clutches. She floundered without the tension from my hair and she fell back, still clutching the handful of my dark curls. “No!”
I didn’t waste time; I didn’t even look back as soon as I was free. I ran. I ran faster than I ever had before, putting as much distance between myself and the caves as possible. Once I crested the hill, I started to recognize the land, the start of my father’s pack lands. Just as I passed the pack house, I froze at the savage howl behind me.
My body wanted to freeze, but I knew if I did, I would be screwed. So I kept running. The further I ran into the forest, the more confused I felt. I didn’t know which way to go. So I did the only thing I could have. “Toya! Wendy! I need you.” I called out again, and this time I felt a pull to my right.
I pivoted, and I ran for my life.
I ran until I felt another tug. Every time I worried I was heading in the wrong direction, or I would hear a howl behind me, I would get another tug and I would head straight towards it. Soon, the world melted away, as it did on the way towards Aurora. The edges of my vision wavered. But through the entire time, the lost woman, the lost soul followed, desperate to find my body first.
I was terrified. What if she got to my body first?
What if I was left to wander this plane, to wither and moan while she walks around in my body like it is a suit to wear, a part to play? I shivered as I thought about what she looked like before she absorbed my life, my vitality. How could anyone live like that?
But then the thought hit me: it wasn’t living. It was almost the exact opposite. Stuck waiting until you find an empty shell to take over like some kind of living hermit crab. But instead of just finding a new home, you become a new person. A new face, body, entire life. And do you get new wolves? These thoughts circled my brain as I ran.
Would Nix and Megan have a new person, a new soul to bond with while I was cast away? Or are they also cast out and her wolf takes over? If she takes over my body, am I losing just my life, or all three of our lives?
Panic tried to claw at my throat and I stumbled as I fell. Her manic laughter was closer than I thought as I scrambled back to my feet. I felt her nails scrape down my arm, cutting into my skin as I took off.
“So close. Run, little wolf. If I catch you, you’re dead.” Her threat was real. I felt it in my very center. I weaved through the land, passing streets, and unfamiliar buildings. I didn’t notice on the way there, but heading back, it felt like I was moving slower, and I was able to catch things as I moved past.
A couple kissing on a park bench. An old man shivering in the cold air while he walked his dog. Humans living their everyday lives, as I ran past, a spectator to their lives, desperately trying to save my own. I thought that the wanderer behind me might get distracted as we passed some many living things, people living their lives. But she was zeroed in on my retreating back.
She was focused on me, the only chance of life she has, and nothing was going to distract her.
“Come girl, give in. Look at these souls living their sad lives. It’s tiresome, isn’t it? I can see that you're tired. You're sad. So just give in. Give it to me.” Her calls were like a siren song. She wasn’t wrong. I was tired. With everything going on in my life, I was tired. As I thought about stopping, I felt my feet falter again. But then I heard them.
Wendy and Toya.
“Come on Amy. Come back.” Wendy begged as I felt her hand on my own.
“You have to make it back. You can’t give up. Think of your mom, your dad. Us.” Toya grabbed my other hand and I felt her tight fingers intertwine with my own.
I looked down at my empty hands and somehow I knew they had slipped their hands into mine in the apartment. And somehow, their thoughts, their need, their souls reached mine when I needed them the most.
I ran faster, pushing myself to the limit to reach them. To reclaim my body, my life, my destiny. The lost soul behind me screamed.
“No!” she howled again, and I could feel her need nipping at my heels. “Your life is mine.” I felt her claws drag down my back and I screamed, but I kept moving.
“You're wrong.” I called back, turning at the next pulse in my chest.
I saw my apartment in the distance and I nearly wept. I headed for the door but instead of taking the elevator; I jumped. I slammed my claws into the outside of the building, doing my best to scale it. The woman’s panicked pants behind me. “Please.” She begged me. “It’s my time.”
“You lost your shell.” I screamed. “You can’t have mine.”
“No.” She screamed after me as I lept over the railing to my place. I pushed through the walls, finding Toya and Wendy holding on to my hands. Their worried gazes on my pale face. “Your shell.” She screamed as she pushed through the wall. I dove. It was the only thing I could do. I heard her scream and felt her hair on my arms as she lept past me.
