6- sneaking

"Then, the only way to keep the cars going is to turn them into Aura cards?" Aura asked. Harriss nodded.

"That's right, your magic will even itself out when all the cards are turned to Aura cards. Until then, if they run out of magic, hibernating or not, they're just pieces of paper. But if you go around changing them with no reason and run out of magic mid way, they could go berserk. Just make sure you've got the energy though. I can't see why there would be a problem then. But…" Harriss looked out the window at the full moon outside. "But, make sure Kero doesn't know. He could get mad if you started changing them for no reason cause' it's dangerous for you if it goes wrong. But I think you need to and you can. It's for your pack of 53 after all, that should be reason enough with you. But you could be in deep- a bad spot if you do more than one or two a day, that's what's so dangerous about it."

Aura grabbed her staff in her teeth and tossed Freeze into the air, reciting the changing spell.

"Card of stars, abandon the form you've held and reform anew. I, Aura your master, order you to reform to a new base. Aura cards." She growled.

Freeze whistled and flopped onto the leaves, then wriggled into the sand and slipped into the lake again. Aura bent down and scraped the back of her claws over the smooth icy surface.

"Don't tell Kero." She whispered, turning to fly back home before the sun rose.

Aura fluttered into the room and hopped into bed, curling up and pulling up the covers. The clock read 6:35. She closed her eyes, drifting into a catnap. She would have to get up for school in only half an hour.

"D'arvit" she muttered as she curled up.

"Wake up, you have school to day." Kero said, prodding the napping mass of covers and fur. Aura groaned and rolled over, digging her claws into the sheets as the yellow lump tried to drag them off the bed.

"Just once, once, could you get up without putting me through this morning routine?" He whined, dragging both blankets and his master onto the floor.

Aura growled tiredly and spluttered into an annoyed hiss before rolling onto her paws and shaking herself. She gave a huge yawn, and then plodded over to the pile of cloths under her desk, rummaging around for something somewhat clean and putting it on.

"I hate school." She muttered as she brushed out her human hair and tucked her ears under it. Her tail curled around her waist and Kero landed curled up over her shoulders.

Aura rubbed her eyes and tried to focus on the teacher as he droned on about atoms of particles or whatever it was they were supposed to be learning. She laid her head on the desk and crossed her arms over her eyes, trying not to fall asleep and slip into her hybrid form. 'Dang it I'm tired. What the heck is wrong?' She wondered to herself as she felt Kero tapping her back to full consciousness with his tail tip.

As the bell rang Aura bolted to the empty bathroom. She pulled out her key tiredly and flipped through the card book, selecting Mirror.

"Hey, Aura, what do you think you're doing?" Kero asked as she tossed Mirror up.

"I'm tired, I'm sending in a substitute student. Besides, it's a substitute teacher for sixth hour anyway. I'm gonna go find a tree and sleep in it for a few hours." She growled, tapping her nose to Mirror. Mirror touched down onto the floor in Aura's form.

"Aura, wait, wait! No! If you send in a substitute student you won't be learning! No, Sorry Mirror. Hey, Aura are you listening! No, you're not leaving school. You're not listening!" Kero hissed as she closed the door and snuck out the entrance of the school as Mirror went to her next hour.

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Aura, I can't believe you ditched when I was telling you not to! Wait, no I can believe it. Aura, You can't skip school anytime you feel like it. Are you listening?" Kero badgered as Aura walked sleepily into the woods.

"Kero, give it a rest. I'm tired and Mirror likes school. I learned all this years ago, I've been through most of high school a whole bunch of times in my life by now. I know all this. Enough of it anyway." She yawned; as she began to scale the tall tree she often played her flute in.

Kero floated off her shoulder and glared at her as she curled up in the hollow and fell asleep.

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Aura stood on a sloped rock overlooking a woodland that stretched pas the horizon. The pined waved in a breeze. Aura raised her nose into the air and sniffed at the scents.

There were trees, her pack and human. She smelled blood on the wind too. She could smell metal and she could hear vague cries of pain.

"What? What…" She trailed off, unable to form even a full thought in this strange wood. She saw the sun moving through the sky overhead, and the smell of blood mingled with the sound of tears. It all felt a little familiar, but very vague.

"Where… when…" She tried to focus, but thoughts seemed to slip past as only distant feelings. There were screams and yowls and screeches and howls and a cry of rage and pain she couldn't identify even though it sounded familiar.

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Aura opened her eyes in the fading sunlight. She uncurled and slid out onto a branch, shaking off a distant feeling she couldn't think of.

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Aura slid into the room and wagged her tail at Mirror in greeting before crawling into her bed to catch a few more hours of sleep.