Emily (5 page)

Emily woke just before dawn and slowly untangled herself from the men. It amused her to see both the girl cats lying on top of Vladimir; they had missed him too. The boy cats had tucked themselves around her and Eric for heat. Emily went to the walk-in wardrobe and threw on a pair of old jeans and a T-shirt before heading quietly downstairs to begin the day. It was Emily
’s duty to put on the coffee and the smell would entice the men out of bed to make breakfast while Emily fed the animals. This was her favourite time of day, saying good morning to each one of her motley crew on the farm, and often Applejacks would join her on her circuit. Eric and Vladimir would feed the cats before making breakfast, the cats made sure they were fed first.

Applejacks
was waiting for her by the back door. All the gates on the farm had special latches that Applejacks could use and he came and went as he pleased. There were two windows in the house that he could open if he wanted Emily’s company and Eric had moved the TV to a position so that Applejacks could watch. This had come about after Applejacks had made it known that he liked to watch car racing. This still astonished the trio, especially at the intensity of Applejacks when a race was on.

When Emily had asked why he liked it, all Applejacks would say was,
‘It’s fast.’

Kissing his muzzle, Emily said a soundless good
morning, her communication with Applejacks was rarely vocal now.

‘
So, this is the new one who caused so much trouble yesterday
,’ Applejacks observed. He wanted to smell the dog but knew better than to do so without Emily’s introduction.

Rumour was still sitting on the quilt and Emily knew she had not moved off it all night; freedom would take a while to sink in. Reaching out to Rumour, Emily invited the bitch to follow them around the farm. They would take it slow as it would take weeks to build the muscles in her body. Rumour
’s tail wagged with happiness. The night had been so strange and she had not been able to sleep with all the new sounds and smells. Limping slightly, she slowly hopped down the few steps of the house. Applejacks touched Rumour’s nose with his muzzle to say hello while Emily reassured Rumour that Applejacks was her friend. Rumour stayed close to Emily, after having been in a cage for three of her four years she did not remember what it was like to walk around. Projecting to the bitch, Emily reassured her that she would get used to her freedom, it would just take some practice.

Emily stopped in her tracks. A wave of excitement came over her; suddenly she knew what to say to Vladimir to make him stay. After feeding the animals she returned to the farmhouse and Rumour flopped on the quilt, the exercise had made her tired and she slipped into a natural sleep. Applejacks had decided to go to the bottom field as it had a big old fig tree and a large dam. The day was looking to become hot and this was the coolest spot on the farm, he would see if the old donkey wanted to come with him.

Entering the kitchen, Emily could see a bowl of yogurt with nuts and berries waiting for her and a large mug of coffee. The men had eaten and were in the shower. She could hear Eric laughing and was glad that he had repaired his relationship with Vladimir, the argument on the phone had been especially bitter. After breakfast, Emily had a quick shower and asked the men to join her in the large barn just half a kilometre from the farmhouse. The men could tell that Emily was up to something as she shot a request to Applejacks to join them as well.

The barn was almost empty and had big doors that opened and shut with a remote system, they were much too heavy to manually move and the barn had been built the previous summer. Emily had had it fitted out to double as an emergency centre for animals as the region was prone to bush fires. The large space was insulated and air-conditioned and had a small separate room with a large glass window that David could use as an operating room; so far they had not needed to use it for an emergency.

After the group had gathered, Emily turned to Eric and asked, ‘Why did you turn yesterday, that was the first time without a full moon wasn’t it?’

Eric was quick with his response,
‘You were in danger, I had to protect you. I didn’t think, it just happened.’ Turning to Vladimir Emily asked the same question.

Vladimir took longer to answer.
‘I think it was because Eric had turned. I knew he had saved you but we have always turned together.’

‘
Was it different from the moon change?’ she asked them.

They were silent then Vladimir responded,
‘I remember everything clearly from when I turned yesterday.’

Eric added,
‘I remember everything as well and I was different, less aggressive, more in control.’

‘How did you feel about me, would you have hurt me?’ Emily was leading them with her questions.

‘
No!’ both men replied quickly.

‘
But,’ Vladimir added, ‘we aren’t able to control ourselves like that during a full moon.’

‘
How do you know?’ Emily shot back. ‘Have you ever tried?’ Emily delicately reached out to the men, she wanted to gauge their emotions. Eric was getting excited, he could see where she was going. But Vladimir was the opposite. He was aggravated and unsure what Emily was asking of him. Emily decided it was time to tell them her plan.

‘
You need to practise being around me in wolf form. I believe that if you are wolves often enough, you’ll be able to control yourself during a full moon.’

Eric spoke, turning to Vladimir,
‘We need to give this a try, Vlad. I hate living like this.’ Changing the subject to give himself more time to think about Emily’s plan, Vladimir threw a question at her.

‘
What about your trick of teleporting Rumour to the cage? How did you do that and why did you get so tired? And how did Applejacks heal you?’

Now it was Emily
’s turn to pause. ‘I think I’ve done this twice before. Years ago when my parents died in a car crash, I was found in a field 50 metres away from the car. Then I think it happened again when I first met Applejacks as I don’t remember us swimming across the river, I think I teleported Applejacks and myself out of the river.’

Applejacks projected to Emily,
‘
And you still owe me apples from that day
.’ Emily smiled, she loved his humour, and reached out to pat his muzzle.

Turning back to the men she said,
‘So it looks like we all need to train then.’ Vladimir laughed, Emily had trapped him, he knew he couldn’t say no to her. Eric was smiling now and Applejacks was snorting. The mood between them had become playful.

‘
Where should we start?’ Eric asked.

‘
Try to turn,’ Emily replied. Both men removed their clothes and Emily marvelled at how beautiful their bodies were. After concentrating for a few minutes nothing happened, and then Emily had an idea.

‘
Eric, you were in motion when you changed, try that.’ The men began to jog around the large space and suddenly Eric morphed into his cream wolf. Vladimir, who had been jogging behind Eric, flowed into his grey wolf at the same time. They continued to lope around the barn, finally coming to a stop a few metres from where Emily and Applejacks were standing. Emily had prepared Applejacks for the change but she was still amazed at how calm he was.

‘
I like them better as men,’ he informed Emily, ‘they smell different but the same.’

Emily wasn
’t surprised. Applejacks had always had a highly developed sense of smell for a horse.

Eric came up to Emily, pushing his head into her arms. She caressed his ears and ran her hands down his back along his well-developed muscles. Vladimir was more guarded approaching Emily. He was as serious a wolf as he was a human.

Emily probed their minds and asked, ‘
Do you understand me?
’

Both wolves projected back,
‘
Yes
,’ but it was not in words.

‘
Who am I?
’ Emily asked.

Vladimir was first to reply and she heard him clearly in her head say,
‘
My Emily
.’

Eric echoed,
‘
Emily
.’ This time they had both said her name perfectly. Pointing to Applejacks, Emily asked them who he was. Again they both replied, ‘
Applejacks
,’ and again the words were perfectly formed. Emily was excited. She knew that with practise they would both remember the human language in their wolf form. She requested that the pair change back and watched closely as they morphed back into human shape.

Eric was excited, almost high with exhilaration.
‘God that was great!’

Vladimir was more reserved with his reaction but added,
‘I was in total control.’

‘
Let’s do it again,’ said Eric, and they morphed back into wolves. Eric was now in a playful mood as he loped around the room testing his body by jumping then changing direction and mock fighting with Vladimir.

Vladimir too tested his body with a number of manoeuvres. His wolf form was bigger than Eric
’s and very strong, but Eric was faster, quicker in his movements. Either wolf could have taken down an elephant.

‘
Let’s try talking
,’ Emily thought, and the pair both circled Emily and Applejacks before coming to a stop close to her. ‘
Vladimir
,’ Emily thought to him, ‘
raise your right paw
.’ Vladimir instantly raised it. To Eric, Emily requested ‘
Roll over
.’

‘
Roll over?
’ Eric replied, sounding a little indignant. Slowly he dropped to the ground and rolled his body over.

‘
Ask me something,
’ Emily requested to the pair. She wanted to see if they could form a sentence.

‘
Emily, sit down
,’ Vladimir said. The words were perfectly formed and she could hear his accent in her head. Sitting on the ground, Emily looked at Eric who had an intense look on his wolf’s face.

Slowly he formed the words
‘
Emily, scratch my head
.’ Laughing, Emily scratched Eric’s head. Instead of asking the men to change back into their man shape, Emily waited to see if they could make the change by themselves. But when, after ten minutes neither of the pair had changed back, Emily asked them to become men, which they did instantly.

‘
Why did you not change back as men?’ she asked.

They both paused for a long moment and then Vladimir replied,
‘It didn’t occur to me to change back.’

Eric nodded and added,
‘I didn’t want to.’ This shocked Emily. She had sensed a peace from both of them that was stronger than when they were in their human shape.

‘
Do you want to change back into a wolf?’ Emily asked tentatively. Both men paused again; it felt good and natural to be a wolf.

Vladimir finally replied,
‘I do not have the need or desire to change back into a wolf right now,’ and Eric murmured in agreement. The relief was evident on Emily’s face and Vladimir reached out to her pulling her into his arms.

‘
Now it’s your turn Emily. See if you can move something with your mind.’

Looking around for something small to move, Emily picked up one of Eric
’s boots.

‘
Be careful with that boot Em, I want it back,’ Eric teased, both men had pulled their pants back on.

Feeling nervous, Emily laid the boot in front of her and placed a hand on Applejacks
’ shoulder. She concentrated on the boot and within a second it was gone. In the quiet of the large barn they all heard a small popping sound.

‘
Where did you send it?’ Eric asked in awe with what had just happened.

‘
I sent it to the other room,’ Emily replied, hoping that it had made it.

So the four walked over and opened up the door and there, in the middle of the room, was the boot. Eric picked it up; it was cold. He passed it to
Emily, she too was surprised at how cold it was.

‘
I wonder why?’ Emily mused.

‘
It is cold in between. I remember from that time when we came out of the river,’ Applejacks thought to the group.

‘
Yes, I remember now,’ Emily said out loud. ‘I thought I was cold from the water and I was so tired before I touched you. I don’t feel tired now.’

‘
Try moving the boot again without touching Applejacks,’ Eric suggested.

Vladimir was against the idea, remembering how Emily had collapsed the day before.
‘We need to know more about your ability before you try another experiment.’

‘
I don’t think there’s a manual where we can look this up,’ Emily softly teased. Vladimir was always very protective of her. ‘I’ll get Applejacks to stand right beside me. He can touch me straight away if I begin to feel weak. I want to try moving the boot again.’