“What about your eyes? What can you see?”
Cassie opens her eyes again and looks up into the rustling leaves.
“It’s the same,” she says. “I can see details, then suddenly, I can’t.”
“Have you ever felt strange or sick for no reason?” I ask. “Kind of hot and itchy, like you had a fever, but you weren’t actually sick?”
“Sometimes,” she says, cocking her head to the side. “I have really big dreams.”
“How big?” I ask, holding my hands a few inches apart. “This big?” I ask, widening my hands again. “Or this big?”
“This big!” she says, giggling as she flings her hands apart. “It’s exciting… I’m running and running. It’s night, but it looks bright, like daytime.”
She’s dreaming of her first shift!
While she talks and listens to the forest around her, I can sense a great power within her, something turning over in its slumber, huge and powerful but not quite ready to wake.
What are we going to do? We have to tell her sometime.
“Rhys?” she asks suddenly. “Are you, like, my dad?”
My heart freezes in my chest as icy panic washes through my veins.
Yes! I’m your dad!
“I mean, we live with you… And you take care of me. Like a dad?”
“Yes, sweetie,” I answer. “Like a dad.”
She nods, a little frown crossing her angelic features.
“The other kids… they’re fun to play with,” she says, and I can see her struggling to find the words to express herself.
For a three-year-old, she communicates so well. She’s smart as well as strong.
“Go on, honey,” I say.
“It’s more fun than kids back in the city,” she says. “Everyone is so fast and strong. They keep up with me.”
“That’s because you’re special,” I reply, not knowing how much to tell her. “And all these other kids are special, too.”
“You mean, not normal?” she asks with a grin.
“Definitely not,” I laugh, tickling her.
After some tickles, Cassie runs away towards the park, inviting me to chase her again. I go after her slowly enough to let her get ahead, but not so far that I’d be out of range if she needed me.
There’s no way Sadie told her about shifters, but what can I really say to a three-year-old? Would she understand? She didn’t have a lot of time to really understand normal people, anyway.
I chuckle to myself again as I think aboutnormaland how ambiguous the word really is.
I can sense power inside her. It’s not usual for kids to shift before five years old, but we need to talk to her about this—soon. I don’t want it to happen when she isn’t ready, and she’ll need to get used to it before she sees anyone else shift, too.
I slowly chase Cassie back to the main area of the park, where we’ll be meeting Sadie after she finishes work. I get Cassie and myself cold drinks from a nearby stall, and she collapses against me, catching her breath as we both cool down.
All I want to do is tell her everything, but if that’s not what Sadie wants, I can’t do it. This situation sucks, and that’s all there is to it, but I know one thing for sure—I can’t let Cassie walk out of my life.
Before my thoughts can get too tangled again, I catch Sadie’s scent and look towards the front gates so I can watch her approach. As she comes around the corner onto the path, a breeze teases around her, lifting her brown hair and tossing the long, pale-pink skirt around her legs.
