The Legends: The Scrolls of the Black Catkin

Part 4

Pandie stared at the boy in front of her. She wasn't used to people at her so intensely, and this boy was giving her strange looks. Why is he looking at me like that? she thought to herself, Have I still got some dirt on my face? I thought I cleaned that all off in the rest room.

Then, as if to answer her question, she found herself looking at her through his eyes. To him, she was mysterious, beautiful, and looked like a heroine from an ancient myth. I don't look like that, Pandie thought to herself, remembering all the times she'd arrive home from hunting, with dirt on her face, twigs in her hair, and blood on her fingers or claws, depending on whether she was in her human form or her half and half form.

Suddenly she felt something cold and wet nudge her leg. Looking down, she saw a dark brown and tan cocker spaniel sitting beside her.

"Casey," she said without thinking, "is that you?"

No, a voice said flatly in her head, it's Lassie the Wonder Dog

Then Casey cocked her head to one side, and said, Pandz, do you realise yer talking to me, out loud?

Before Pandie could answer Casey, one of the other boys at the table spoke. "So Rizzo," he said, turning to Arizan who was making a tissue man out of one of the napkins on the table, "Are you going to introduce us all Miss Dolittle, her little companion, and her canine friend, or do we have to guess who they are?"

"Sorry Ash," said Arizan, putting down the paper napkin man she'd just finished making, "I almost forgot. This is Pandie, Faline, and..." She looked at Casey. "Casey the dog, I think."

Then she looked at Pandie. "Um, Pandie," she said, with a puzzled look on her face, "I know we only just meet, like, today, but why are you talking to a dog?!"

"Well," Pandie began to say, "because..." But before she could finish what she was saying, an annoyed mental voice interrupted her.

I am not a dog!? Casey's mental voice said to everyone in the group, I'm a dog shifter. Then to prove her point, she began to change. Before long, in front of everyone's eyes, she changed from a small dark brown and tan cocker spaniel, to a short tanned girl with slightly wavy messy shoulder length dark brown hair and mischievous brown eyes, with a spot of mud smudged on her face, and a hole ripped in the left knee of her dark brown suede shifter trousers. "Sorry I'm so late, Pandie," Casey said, as she pulled a small twig out of her hair, "but I had to take a small detour to get here."

"Oh," she continued, her mouth forming into a smile, "is that my ice cream sundae?"

"Yeah," Pandie answered, trying not to laugh, "but don't eat it too quickly, you'll get an..."

Before she could finish, she was shoved onto the bench seat surrounding the table, and pushed along with everyone else on the seat, until Casey had made enough room for herself, and was sitting down, devouring the entire ice cream sundae that Pandie bought for her. Pandie sighed, shook her head, and finished what she had been saying, "... ice cream headache."

Since everyone was staring, amused, at the strange sight of a female dog shifter eating her way through an extra large strawberry sundae, Pandie scanned over the papers that someone in the group had spread over the table. From what she could see, there were papers on different people, and a few papers on different artefacts. One paper looked like it was part of prophecy, she recognised from the stories her father used to tell her when she was little. It was written in an ancient language, but strangely enough, Pandie found herself able to understand it very clearly.

Suddenly, a photo on the table caught her eye. Quickly, she grabbed it and stared at it.

"What's wrong, Pandie?" asked Arizan, looking concerned

"Where'd you guys get this photo, from?"

"That photo?" answered a girl with black hair and green eyes, "It was sent to us, by a friend of ours. His name's 'Jasper'. Do you know him?"

Pandie looked up from staring at the photo. Her eyes were wide and she looked slightly pale. "Yeah," she replied, still looking shocked "he's my father."

"Well, do you know where he is at the moment?"

Pandie nodded her head, slowly. "He's in Little Brook Church cemetery..." she said staring down at the table.

"Can you take us to...?" the dark haired girl began to say, but Pandie suddenly looked up, with a sad look on her face, and continued on.

"..., six feet under."