New world, new life, new me.I keep repeating the words like a mantra, like one of the weird motivational messages that Madame has plastered all over her office walls, the same ones I stared at for what felt like hours in a near-catatonic state as she explained what had happened to me. The ‘changes to my body’ I was experiencing now that I was powerless. Like I needed her to explain the great big fucking hole that’s opened up inside me.
Now that I’m powerless. Powerless and alone. More alone than I think I’ve ever been in my life before.
Buuut I’m not thinking about that.
Maybe I should have accepted Echo’s offer to stay a few days. She seems nice enough, chatty and cheerful. Maybe she could have done all the talking and I could slink around in the background. She could have taken the burden of working out what the hell to say to people about who I am and why I’ve suddenly showed up here with a week’s worth of clothing and a brand new phone but no other belongings.
I stride on, cursing the way my legs are already straining from walking a few hundred yards.
I’m weak. Weaker than I can ever remember being before, but I guess being kept in a cage will do…
… nope. Not thinking about it.
I just wish my traitorous brain would agree with me on that.
The village is in sight. Small stone buildings with gray tiled roofs, chimneys smoking even though the air doesn’t feel all that cold. There’s a subtle scent of baking bread and wood smoke and something else that’s faintly sweet. It smells good. Homey. Safe.
I keep walking.
It’s not until I’m only a couple hundred yards away that I feel the first pinch in my gut. It’s like cramps, but they’re pinching my legs, my gut, my chest.
Keep walking. Another few steps before I stumble to a halt. The cramps worsen until I can barely breathe through them. And then the pain starts. It’s explosive, debilitating. I feel like my bones have grown red hot and are now trying to burn their way through my flesh.
Hands on my knees, I pant, barely able to take a full breath in.
Letting out a stifled cry as the pain ebbs and then comes at me again with a vengeance. I’m not sure I want anyone to see me like this, but I don’t know what the hell is happening.
Panic clutches at my chest.
I’m frightened. Something weird is happening to me.
I take another step closer to the village. Maybe someone there can help me, can fix whatever is wrong, or can knock me out so I don’t have to feelthis.
Another wave of pain goes through me and I hear a weird crackling, which it takes a second to realize is comingfrom me,frominsidemy body, inside my skin.
Something cracks and my body crumples. My bones are breaking, snapping and twisting and my flesh is burning and I cry out for real this time. It’s too much. Too painful. I’m blinded by it, I can’t hear or sense a thing outside of my body as it rebels against me.
I collapse down onto the ground, my face in the dirt. I’m still panting, but at least the pain has stopped.
I feel… strange. Like my limbs aren’t quite attached to my body, but also as though my brain isn’t connected to the rest of me.
I’m hot and I can smelleverything. I can smell the washing drying on the line upwind, I can smell baked pies and leather and dirty water and grass and it’s overwhelming. I try to stand up. I need to run, to get away from this village with its bombardment of scents. I need to get back to the forest where it’s safe. But when I try to stand, my legs don’t work quite right. I stay on all four, my claws sinking into the earth below me.
Hold on… claws?
Since when do I have claws?
And big fuzzy paws… and furry arms. Four legs. An enhanced sense of smell.
There’s a presence inside my head too, unfamiliar and curious. It nudges its snout against my consciousness, asking,who are you? What are you?
I wish I knew.
I remember Andrew’s voice a few days before I got out of the basement.
“You’ll never escape me, my precious gem. You’re mine.”
But I have escaped him, haven’t I?
