Change (The Shape Shifter Series) (22 page)

Faol came to her and knelt down. “I can take it from here,” she said gently and nodded towards a small group.

Sofia glanced at them and got up, sighing. She walked straight to her dad and put her arm around his waist. “Is this a secret club or can I join you?” she asked and smiled.

“Very funny,” Baz said and hugged her. “Tiamhaidh just counted thirty-six shape shifters in our pack. The others followed Gunward, and that makes me a little nervous.”

Sofia sighed. “So most of the pack left. Maybe it's better this way.”

Baz looked at her sharply. “Better? How can you say that? Gunward has the biggest pack in the area, and so he's entitled to command the other packs if he wants to. Heck, he can even set up his own elders’ council. So tell me, mo nighean, how is this better?”

Sofia smiled wickedly. “Well, first of all you can always call the original elders who left to come back here, and second, you have the strongest ones in your pack. Besides, I don't think Gunward will try anything stupid. Not for a while, anyway. So try to relax. My bet is that you have at least a couple of decades before he troubles you.”

Baz shook his head and eyed the others
warily.

Sofia put a finger on his lips. “Do you trust these people?” she asked. He nodded. “Good. Then stop worrying. You'll only get some grey hair if you do. Now, what can you do to help your granddaughter?”

Baz turned and looked at Marie, who lay contentedly on the floor. She had turned on her back and Faol was rubbing her tummy. “Nothing, I'm afraid. I talked with the others, and if she chooses not to change there's nothing we can do.”

“So you're saying she'll be a wolf for the rest of her life?”

Baz grinned. “Maybe not that long, but for now at least.”

“Thanks for nothing.” Sofia snorted and turned dramatically. “Tiamhaidh, come with me.”

“Yes, mathair,” Tiamhaidh said sheepishly and followed her.

Sofia went back to Marie and shooed her mom away. “Now, concentrate,” she said to Tiamhaidh. “I want you to go into her mind.” She grabbed Marie's head with both hands and stared into her eyes.

Tiamhaidh looked confused. He glanced nervously around, but no one came to his rescue.

“Stop that,” Sofia ordered and he knelt down. “Think of her as a human. The way she looks in your eyes.”

“But―” Tiamhaidh resisted.

“No! She has to do this,” Sofia said both aloud and mentally.

Marie's eyes looked terrified. What was her mom trying to do? Didn't she get that she wanted to stay as a wolf? She growled quietly and Tiamhaidh moved closer.

“I can't do it,” he said and pressed his head onto Marie's back. “She doesn't want to change. Why can't you believe that?”

Sofia looked at him sharply. “I didn't ask you. I command you as your pack leader.”

“Don't do this,” he begged, but she was merciless.

“Do it! And you.” She drilled her eyes into Marie. “You need to see yourself as a human. Search your soul and feel it. Be it. You were not born as a wolf, so this must be done.” She closed her eyes and pressed her thumbs on Marie's temples. “Do it now,” she commanded quietly. “'cause if you don't, soon you won't remember what it’s like to be human.”

A tear fell from Marie's eye. Why was Mom doing this? Didn't she see that she was happier this way? A strange pulse of power rushed into her veins. She could feel her mother's handprint in it and she knew she could no longer resist. Sighing, she imagined herself as a human. She pictured the most precious moments she’d had with Tiamhaidh. She saw herself digging her toes into the sand and laughing. Felt the sun as it touched her skin and the wind as it blew through her hair. She could hear her father's laughter, and the thought of never talking to or hugging him again made her feel sick.

Her body started to convulse. But not like a seizure. She could feel her bones moving and it hurt a bit.

“
Don't resist,”
Mom's voice spoke in her mind.
“Just let it happen.”

She tried to relax, but she couldn't. It was hard to breathe and she howled in pain. Her lungs were burning and her heart beat like a rabbit’s. She extended her legs and curled into a ball. Extended again and felt the
fur disappear. I must look like modeling clay, she thought dizzily and panted hard. A wolf and a human fought inside her and she could feel herself slowly changing as the human won. “No!” she screamed, but it didn’t help. She was slowly changing and there was nothing she could do to stop it. She brushed her hair desperately with her changing fingers and kicked the ground. Her body twitched hard a couple of times and then she lay still. She was human again and as naked as she had been the day she was born.

Sofia pressed her ear to her chest. “No heartbeat!” she shouted and hit Marie's chest. She pressed her ear close again and shook her head. “Nothing.”

“Did we lose her?” Tiamhaidh asked, horrified.

“Don't be stupid,” Sofia snapped. “I have to start mouth-to-mouth with her.” She blew lightly into Marie's mouth and with every breath she blew a piece of her own energy with it. Nothing happened. She cursed quietly. “Tiamhaidh, I need you to hold her,” she said and jumped up. “Adam, will you stand behind me?”

Adam moved fast and nodded. He knew what Sofia was trying to do but decided to stay quiet.

“Fine. If I don't survive, will you tell her how much I loved her?” Sofia whispered and hardened herself.

“Mom!” Clarissa cried. “What are you doing?”

“Something that has never been done before but needs to be done now. So cross your fingers and pray for us.”

Before Clarissa could stop her, Sofia raised her hands and moved them slowly from side to side. It looked like she was doing t’ai chi or something. Slowly, she gathered all the energy around her and then pulled it all towards Marie. Marie's chest lifted sharply but she still wasn't breathing. Sofia did it again. Still nothing. She knew she was running out of time. If she couldn't get Marie to breathe she would lose her. She concentrated and opened her soul. She dragged the slightest pieces of energy out of her and sent them towards her daughter. Marie's chest lifted lifelessly and Sofia felt hopeless. But when she looked at her closely she saw her take a deep breath. And then she took another and coughed and started to breathe again.

She opened her eyes and looked around, confused. “What happened? Where's Mom?”

Tiamhaidh hugged her tight, but she pushed him away. He turned and looked at Sofia, who lay unconscious in Adam's arms.

“Mom?” Marie shrieked miserably.

“She's alive,” Adam said and held her protectively against his chest. “I can feel her breathing.”

Clarissa ran to Marie and grabbed her in her arms. “Don’t move. You’re still too weak, so just stay still and let them handle Mom.”

Marie nodded and Clarissa helped her to sit. They both stared at Sofia, who looked dead in Adam’s arms. But he had said she was alive, so they had to believe him.

Marie coughed and Clarissa looked at her. “You all right?”

Marie smiled weakly and Clarissa punched her lightly. “Don't you ever scare me like that again, okay?”

“Okay,” Marie whispered and touched her sister’s hair.

Clarissa put her hand on Marie’s. “Shame on you, sis. I really thought you were dead.” She buried her face in Marie's hair and sobbed hard.

Tiamhaidh moved quietly away and wiped his eyes, too. Everyone gathered around the girls, babbling and fussing like mother hens, but Tiamhaidh moved next to Adam. “Will she be all right?” he asked, worried.

Adam sighed. “I don't know. I can feel her life energy, but her soul is beyond my reach.”

“Shoot!” Tiamhaidh snapped and made a nervous gesture with his hand. “We should put her there,” he said, pointing to a pile of furs.

“Sure.” Adam nodded and lifted her onto it. “She saved Marie, you know.”

“I know,” Tiamhaidh said and brushed a hair away from her face. “I can't believe she sacrificed herself, though.”

“She's a mom,” Adam said dryly and held her hand. “I wouldn't expect anything less from her.”

“But still.” Tiamhaidh sighed and glanced at Marie. “What if we lose her?”

Adam looked awkwardly at him. “Stop whining, brother. She knew what she was doing, and I know what I'll do next. Give me your hand.”

Tiamhaidh gave him his hand reluctantly.

Adam shook his head and snorted. He grabbed Tiamhaidh's hand roughly and pressed it against Sofia's forehead. Then he pressed his own hand above her heart and concentrated. “She gave a lot of her energy to Marie, so all we need is to give something back to her.”

“Are you sure?” Tiamhaidh looked at him suspiciously and pulled his hand away. “What if you're wrong?”

“I'm not,” Adam snarled, annoyed. “She opened herself to me for a second before she did what she did.”

Tiamhaidh still wasn't convinced.

“Great,” Adam snapped. “I saw her energy flow from her to Marie. There. Satisfied?”

Tiamhaidh nodded slowly. “Okay. So you're absolutely sure you know what you're doing?”

Adam made a face at him.

“Fine. I trust you. But God help you if you're wrong.”

“Yeah, yeah. Now, get your ass over here and give me your hand.”

Tiamhaidh shrugged and gave him a wolfish grin. He leaped next to him and punched him playfully before he placed his hand back on Sofia's forehead. “Lead the way.”

Adam rolled his eyes theatrically and pressed his hand softly against Sofia's heart. He could almost see the energy flowing through their hands, and it was no more than ten seconds before she opened her eyes. She tried to sit, but Adam pressed her back down gently. “Nice to see you again,” he grinned wolfishly and kissed her cheek.

“I knew you understood,” Sofia whispered and pressed her hand to his lips. “Thank you. Thank you both.”

Tiamhaidh moved behind her so she could sit and lean on him. “No, thank you. You saved her.”

Sofia managed to smile. “Uh, don't be stupid. All she needed was a little push.”

They all looked at Marie, who sat on the floor like a gypsy princess. Her cheeks were slightly red and her dark curly hair was a total mess. She wasn't naked anymore but wrapped in a simple woolen blanket, and she looked more graceful than ever. She smiled at them and waved.

“What happens next?” Tiamhaidh asked wearily.

“You don't want to know,” Sofia sighed and glanced at Adam.

Something gleamed in Adam's eyes. Something like pain, as he understood what she meant.

“Yes, I do,” Tiamhaidh said, as he sensed something he didn't want to know.

“Well―” Sofia started but didn't have a chance to go on before Marie fell down and started to convulse again. This time, however, it had nothing to do with her change. It was a seizure and it was a bad one.

Sofia got up and rushed to her with shaking legs. “Hang in there,” she yelled as she collapsed next to her. She was only just conscious, but she had to fight now. As weak as she was this was not the time to pass out.
“Marie, can you hear me?”
her mind asked. She didn't get a proper answer. Only a feeling that she had heard her.
“Change back into a wolf!”
Sofia ordered and could feel the confusion in Marie's mind.
“Do it now!”

In a second, Marie turned into a wolf and the convulsing stopped.

Sofia sighed, relieved, and let herself sink into a pleasant blackness.

When Sofia woke she was in bed and a dark-brown wolf was curled up next to her. She heard pieces of a quiet conversation nearby.

“She should stay here.”

“She'll die if she goes home.”

“We can't keep her here. Gunward will be furious and I don't want to experience his rage ever again.”

“Yes. But she's a wolf and she's one of us now.”

Sofia tried to clear her head. She focused her eyes and saw most of the elders standing near.

At the same time Siobhan looked at her and smiled. “Good. You're awake,” she said and stepped closer.

Sofia sat up and glanced in alarm at her. “What's going on here?”

Siobhan waved her hand nonchalantly. “Nothing special. We were just discussing whether Marie should stay here or not.”

“That's weird,” Sofia said and sat up. “
'cause it's none of your business.”

“But it is,” Siobhan insisted. “You can't take a wolf to your home, and even if you could she wouldn't survive in the suburbs.”

“That just proves you know nothing about my life,” Sofia snorted and petted the wolf's fur. “I don't live in the suburbs. I live in the middle of a forest, so it wouldn’t be a problem keeping a wolf there.”

Siobhan sighed.
“She'll die there. Sofia, I know this is hard for you, but she has to stay as a wolf to survive. If she's human she'll have seizures again and they will kill her. And if she's a wolf she will need us. She needs the elders and this place. Can't you understand that?”

Sofia stared at her, stunned.
She couldn't believe her ears. She looked at the others, and they nodded at her, confirming all that Siobhan had said.