"Raven!"
I jerked and almost fell off the branch. I felt like one of those cats in those funny cats videos who wake-up because they're falling off something and end up digging their claws into whatever we're falling off of.
I glanced down and was prepared to pounce on whoever scared the black out of my fur.
Zoey was standing under the tree peering up at me and Stark was nearby.
I could feel a chew out coming on.
"Hey, we've being looking for you forever."
I blinked. I glanced up at the sky and saw the moon was high in the sky. I guess I've slept for more than a few hours.
I sat up and stretched. "Sorry. I couldn't sleep so I came out here." I hopped down beside her.
My back paws started throbbing. I had assumed once I woke-up still as a panther that it was dream, but now. ..how could only my back paws hurt? I mean, did I really change back to Upwalker form just to dance? Oh and to get blessed by the children of nature too.
It probably was a really, really vivid dream.
I blame the ghost.
Oh fudge nuggets! I almost forgot about creepy purple eyes. I'm starting to wonder who he is. First he showed up in a dream and then…I guess I see him in another? I'm still unsure if it was a dream or not. Logic was on the side of both arguments. How else could my back paws hurt?
Stark sighed so I'm sure I'm safe for a chew out.
Wait, why does Stark chew me out? Zoey's the one he's protecting. Shouldn't he chew her out about being reckless?
I frowned and sniffed. "Why do you smell different?"
She blinked. "What do you mean?"
"Both you and Stark smell different…and you both sort of smell the same." I said tilting my head.
Zoey blushed fiercely and Stark awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck.
"Do I even want to know?" I asked dryly.
"We Imprinted." Zoey said.
"Oh." No wonder they smell similar. Their bloods are mixed now.
"Come on." Zoey said. "There's a big brunch waiting for us."
I yawned and stretched. "Fine, let's go." I shook my fur. I needed a bath. I wonder if I could draw my own bath. I wasn't too sure about bathing myself with my tongue. I know where I've been and I really don't want that stuff on my tongue.
"So what is for brunch?" I asked.
"I smelled a lot of good stuff. I started drooling right then and there." Zoey said.
I frowned. She sounded weird. Was something wrong?
As we walked back toward the castle I studied them. Zoey and Stark looked like they were trying to keep a secret.
What was going on? Was there some sort of emergency? But why would they be trying not to smile? I felt like I was thinking too hard about it or stressing out about nothing. They both are kinda of weird. It was probably them being their goofy selves.
I bounded up the steps and stood at the top waiting for them.
"It must be nice having four legs." Stark said.
"The balance is amazing." I said. "So, where is this brunch?"
"Follow us." Zoey said.
I followed them down the halls. I couldn't smell anything, but I knew these walls were good at keeping smells in the rooms they emit from.
Zoey and Stark stopped in front of a couple of large doors. I tilted my head. This didn't look like the dining hall doors. But I guess this castle is rather large so it probably had more than one dining hall.
Stark pushed the door open and swept his arm down as he bowed. "Ladies."
I looked around. "I see one lady." I nodded at Zoey.
Stark rolled his eyes. "Fine. After you kitty cat."
I walked into the dark room. Why was it dark? Stark shut the door behind us with a sharp click.
There was a sudden flash of light and loud noise. I jumped and pressed myself to the ground with my ears folded back and my eyes wide.
I swear I've never seen something so strange. Warriors clad in leather and plaid kilts threw confetti, rainbow confetti, into the air while yelling surprise. I think it was more surprising to see Darius and Aphrodite throwing confetti too.
There was a huge cake with Raven written on it in black icing and a stack of presents sitting next to a computer. I could see Jack, Damian, Shaunee, and Erin smooshed into the screen, waving and screaming. Stevie Rae pushed her way through holding up Snap, who looked up absolutely thrilled at being held up in front of a web cam. They turned the camera so Grandma Redbird could wave hi and say happy birthday.
Oh Gods! They threw me a fucking surprise party!
I whirled around and glared at Stark and Zoey as they slithered into the room towards the others.
"You guys are DEAD! D-E-A-D! DEAD!" I said.
"Come on Ray." Stark said grinning. "It's just a party."
"It's a frickin' surprise party!" I snapped.
"Well, yeah." Zoey said. "We didn't find out about your birthday until a couple of days ago and then we figured that we would throw you a surprise party."
"We also figured you would hide if we told you." Stark said.
He was darn right I would! The first inkling of a party and I would have been gone, never seen again until Zoey was ready to leave.
"Come on Ray." Jack called from the computer. "We had to mail in your gift."
"Yeah, and overnight mailing is expensive." Shaunee added.
"It's only opening a few gifts." A familiar voice said. I looked over and saw Dominic standing with the other Warriors. "It's not that bad."
"They kidnapped you too?" I asked.
"When Zoey was getting your cake I saw the name and figured it might have been you and she ended up inviting me." He said rubbing the back of his head. "You never mentioned that your birthday was coming up."
"I forgot." I said.
The kits came racing out of nowhere and started climbing onto me.
"There are loud people here! And yummies!" They said in unison.
"You guys do not need sugar." I said.
"Open my first Ray!" Jack cried out.
"Actually from all of us here!" Stevie Rae said. "Jack just wrapped it."
Aphrodite rolled her eyes. She looked like she was having a hard time trying not to enjoy herself.
"Aphrodite paid for it, so she helped." Shaunee said almost smirking.
I took a deep breath. Might as get it over with so I can get on with non-birthday party related things.
Aphrodite tossed a nice looking gift at me. It was small, but covered with an oversized bow that looked like it ate the box.
I sighed and called light to help out.
Blue hued light curled around the box causing rainbows to shine from the wrapping paper. It neatly sliced off the bow and tore off the wrapping paper. Snowleaf pounced on the bow as Silver Queen attacked the fluttering wrapping paper.
I lifted the top off the box.
I frowned. It was a key. An old bronze, treasure chest type of key.
Jack giggled from the computer.
"Um, thanks?" I asked. Did they get me a car or something? It didn't look like a car key. Was there a treasure chest at home waiting for me?
"We'll show you when you get back." Damian said. "It's a surprise."
I sighed. "I don't know how many more surprises I can take." I muttered.
Zoey grabbed one that wasn't covered in sparkles, but dark blue paper with a moonlight colored ribbon.
"From me and Stark." She said with a shrug.
I ripped off the paper and lifted off the top to find.
OMG! It's a Kindle!
"And we already uploaded all your books you had at home." Stark said.
"I'm done. This is prefect. You guys can have the rest." I said. I bet because of the big buttons I might be able to read while I'm still stuck like this. Finally! I can read!
I did put it aside to tear through my other gifts. Grandma Redbird had made me a beautiful dream catcher inside of a large beaded bag. Sgiach and Seoras, a maybe on his contribution, gave me a bracelet of silver Celtic knots. The present itself had been wrapped into midnight blue plaid so I guess I got a bonus gift.
There was a surprise gift from Lenobia, I didn't realize I mean enough to receive a gift from her. I peered at the computer monitor, but didn't see her.
"Lenobia's busy, but she says happy birthday." Erin said.
I was very care unwrapping this gift.
Zoey gasped.
It was beautiful. It was made out of…some pretty, delicate metal or crystal. I thought was a jewelry box, but I pushed the lid open and soft tinkling music came out.
"Oh wow." I curled up with my paws tucked under my chest. I started purring without realizing it and the kits purred too.
"Come on." Zoey pulled on my collar gently. "You need to blow out your candles and make a wish."
I rolled my eyes. I shut the lid and padded over to the table. They didn't sing happy birthday, but I did blow out the candles.
My wish? That I would be safe for as long as possible and whatever was lurking in the future wouldn't come into my world until I was ready.
XOXOXOXOXOX
The party continued on as normal, well, as normal as a panther playing with her cake than eating it. The guys in Tulsa also had their own cake that even had Happy Birthday Raven on it. I gave the kits a bit of frosting and they had more fun playing in it than eating it.
"Hey."
My ears twitched at the warm breath in my ear. Dominic stood by me.
"Come on, I want to show you something." And he causally started walking out.
Everyone was chatting, not paying attention to me anymore now that I made my wish and opened my gifts, so I carefully snuck out and began padding beside Dominic.
"Where are we going?" I asked.
"You'll see." He said grinning. He started fast walking.
I grinned slyly and began trotting.
Once we were out of the castle Dominic took off at a sprint. I took off after him. I bounded around him because I was faster with the whole four legs thing.
Our steps thundered across the bridge.
"Am I seeing it yet?" I asked.
"Not yet." He said.
He led me through the woods toward the beach we had chatted on before.
"I saw them here before. I really hope they show up tonight?"
I frowned. "Who?"
He just grinned.
"Do I need to sit onto your head until you tell me?" I threatened. I flicked my tail.
"You can, but I don't think it'll help." He said sitting down. He pointed out toward the horizon.
I looked over and gasped.
"Dolphins!" I said watching one of them leaping into the air.
I mean, dolphins were some of the smartest creatures on Earth. I really wondered how they thought.
Dominic chuckled.
I waded into the water thinking that it might be easier to communicate with them if I was in the water. It did turn out to be a good idea because almost immediately the dolphins swam up to me clicking and whistling.
So I sat in almost freezing water, purring because I'm a dork, as they nudged me.
They were wicked smart. They seemed to know intuitively that they communicate with me telepathically and began showing me pictures of the deep sea. I felt like I was getting lost in their memories. Who knew that watching them hunting fish was so interesting.
"Raven!"
I jerked. I was shivering and I felt frozen. I had no idea how long I had been like this why I was in dolphin memories.
"Are you okay?" He asked. "You haven't moved for a while."
"It feels like it." I mumbled.
He grabbed me under my pits and dragged me back to the sand after realizing I wasn't going to move on my own.
"Sorry. They knew, they knew a lot better than any other animal I've meant how to communicate with me." I said through chattering teeth. "I forgot that I was in the water."
"God Ray."
Warmth flooded through me. He called me Ray. Tee-hee.
What is wrong with me? I'm a panther right now. I mean, how could this work out, at least right now?
"Can you stay out of trouble for five seconds?" He asked.
"Normally." I began licking the salt water off my fur. After a couple of strokes, I gave-up because it was so disgusting and I remembered that ingesting salt water could slowly kill you.
He sighed. He looked at me with really soft eyes. "You know, I'm getting really concerned about leaving you to your own defenses."
I puffed up. "I can take care of myself!"
He smiled. "Yeah, I know."
The way he said it made me feel uncomfortable that I had gotten upset with him about being concerned about me.
"But," He said. "you will need help someday."
"Yeah, I know." I said. I wasn't sure if he knew about Damascus or if he was making assumptions because of my species (was a half-breed a species?) I would be targeted by evils.
His lips tilted up into a soft smile and he stroked my head. I immediately started purring. I curled up next to him and he kept stroking me.
"When are you leaving?" He asked after a dozen or so strokes.
"I don't know." I lifted my head and looked at him. "Why?"
He shrugged. "Thought I might tag along."
"No." I said.
He looked at me with a slightly hurt expression. "Ray,"
"One, it can't work out right now and two, you shouldn't uproot yourself to chase me." I said.
"I'm chasing you. I want to…" He paused and sighed and rubbed his face. "I want you safe." He looked at me waiting for my reaction like he was afraid that he might scare me. My paws tingled in a nice way.
"Why?" I asked.
He sighed. "Do I really need to spell it out for you?"
"Dominic," I said. "I'm a panther. How…how can you like me?"
I felt like I just accused him of being shallow because he didn't know what my boobies look like or my face. I mean, yeah he likes me for my personality, but I do feel like there should be some physical attraction and I know I'm going to be more than a bit concerned if he was physically attracted to me right now in this state.
He shrugged. "Your eyes. I swear to the Goddess I've met you before."
I shrugged. "I died in my first life and I'm reincarnated. Maybe this isn't my second life." God! Two lives are confusing enough, how many more have I had?
"Maybe we met in the Goddess's meadow." He whispered.
Where did I hang out when I was dead? Did I grow-up in the spirit world? (That sounded really weird now that I thought about it.) I looked at Dominic. I didn't sense anything too familiar about him, there was something, a little bit maybe. Maybe he just remembers better or something.
"And the whole thing about uprooting myself to follow you isn't a problem either." He said. "I was thinking it was about time for me to head out on my way."
I sighed.
"I'm going to follow you anyway." He threatened with a silly grin. "At least I won't chew you out too terribly bad when you run off to do your own thing."
"You say that now, but what about after the first time I run into danger?" I asked.
He rubbed my ears. "We'll cross that bridge when we get there."
My stomach fluttered again. Maybe I should be concerned that I was physically attracted to him in this form. But I didn't want him to kiss me. Okay, I did, but not right now and not right after I change back. He probably wouldn't be coming with me to that visit. I still wasn't sure if I was going to be clothed or not and I wasn't ready for him to see me completely naked.
Since it being my birthday and all I did think about what my future might hold, which I had no idea, and what I thought would have happened. I would be getting ready for college, I probably still wouldn't have a man, and everything would pleasantly mundane.
What the hell did I do to get that screwed up?
XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXXO
Sorry it took me so long. XP this had quite a bit more sap than I was originally planning and fun stuff keeping popping up and begging me to partake in funniness and not work on this sorta of boring chapter.
So if you don't know the drill by now, sorry!
TO GLORY!