AN/ Hi, I'm back:)
I can't believe how much support this story has got and the number of readers just keep rising. A special thanks to J and K Forever, TheSevenJewels, AnAross3000, stikenotes, Elevate24, Hgirl loves you, DarkHeartRocker13, Anialoveskick, kickinfan321, StripedFuzzySocks, PurplePenguin13MI, Charlize samonte and Urfavgirl for your amazing reviews on the last chapter:)
Now it's time for that little twist... I really hope that you all gonna like it. I'm not sure though...
DISCLAIMER: I don not own Kickin' it. Only the plot and my OCs
Chapter 7
What the Feathers Happened to Me?
Sounds…In the distance I could hear sounds of someone moving. I wasn't alone, although the darkness made me feel isolated from the world. Needles and pins pricked my limbs merciless as the circulation had begun to set back. I moaned, the sound leaving my throat more as a whimper though as I forced my eyes opened. But the light was too bright and I quickly closed them again. Slowly my memory started to awaken and I remembered what had happened. I remembered the box, the screams, the look on Claire's face the moment before I'd passed out…
Claire…Claire! Oh my god! I'd fainted right in front of her, leaving me extremely vulnerable. My eyes fluttered opened for a second time. This time they stayed opened, taking in my surroundings. I wasn't in my room anymore. I was to my surprise lying on my stomach looking down at the ground. Wind brushed against my face. Somehow I'd ended up outside. Beneath me were leaves. Giant leaves. Some of them even bigger than me… How could that be possible? Looking around me I noticed that the leaves weren't the only things big. The trees reaching towards the sky were huge. I must be dreaming…
"Glad to see that you're finally awake." I quickly turned around by the sound of the familiar voice, surprised of how easy it was for me to get up on my feet and do an 180 degree turn. My eyes landed on something blue that took up most of my view. I let my gaze wander over the object until it found the big bun of red hair that decorated the head of my aunt. She was just like the rest of the world enormous, reaching at least ten times above my height, and that's when she was sitting on the ground…
My eyes nearly bulged out of their orbits and I couldn't help but scream out loud. My voice came out high pitched and much weaker than normally, making me confused.
"Calm down, Kimberly." Claire said, reaching out her giant hand towards me. I screamed again and attempted to run. But my short legs wouldn't carry me any far before her hand wrapt itself around me, pinning my limbs against my body. "It's okay," she reassured. I wasn't convinced though, being in the middle of a panic attack I struggled to get free. She brought me up towards her face, "Kimberly, just let me explain." I panted as I stopped moving temporarily, trying to catch my breath. "I know you must be upset and confused." Claire said soothingly. "Trust me, I would be too if I'd woken up as a bird."
Wait, what?! A bird?! Now I really panicked, starting to struggle and scream hysterically. The sounds that were leaving my throat were pathetic though. I just couldn't make them loud enough for anyone to hear. Claire tightened her grip around me, afraid that I would escape otherwise.
"Kimberly you have to listen to me, please. We don't have much time." I ignored her as I had only one thing on my mind. Escape. I wanted to escape her hand holding me, escape the body I was trapped in. I wanted to escape the nightmare I'd woken up to.
Somewhere in my struggles I came to realize that if I really was a bird then I would have a beak… Using the only weapon I possessed I started pecking on her knuckles frantically. "Kimberly auch...! Stop that! Aouch!" By reflex she tightened her hand around my body even more, to a point where I found it hard to breathe. I stopped pecking on her, being too occupied to gasp for air. When Claire noticed me almost choking she quickly released me enough for the oxygen to reach my lungs once again.
"I'm sorry…" she mumbled. Exhausted, I looked up at her. Her face got serious. "Listen Kimberly. If you ever want to return to your own body again you have to calm down and listen to me." That kind of got my attention. 'If you ever want to return to your own body' she'd said. That meant that there was a possibility I'd stay like this forever! What would mum say? And what about my friends, and school? What about my life?
I felt an urge to cry but held it back, even though I'm not sure that I had to. I don't think I would've been able to cry as a bird anyway.
"Kimberly, listen please." She said again. I looked her in the eyes. She didn't seem as scary anymore and being in the vulnerable position that I was I realized that I didn't have much choice but to do as she said. In fact I started to feel like she was my only hope and I almost felt safe around her…
"This is probably very confusing for you but please try to understand." She started. "I don't know how much you've already found out and I'm afraid that I don't have enough time to tell you everything now…" She got silent for a brief moment as if to decide where to begin. "The box…" she said. "I don't know how you got it, especially since I've been trying to keep you away from it…" Now I was really confused. She knew about the box already? Before I had a chance to ask anything about it, she continued. "…anyway…The box was made long ago, back in 1788 to be exact…" She added the last part quietly as if she was only trying to remind herself.
"From the beginning it wasn't anything special. However a woman called…" She stopped herself taking a look around to make sure that we were alone, before she whispered "…Evelyn got it somehow… Evelyn lived alone in the forest known today as Willow Grove. She was obsessed with dark magic and the thought about eternal youth." I felt my stomach starting to twist itself at the mention of dark magic and I quickly made the connection between Evelyn and the deaths of the nine teenagers. Evelyn was the witch in the story. All my doubts of the existence of witches and magic were gone... I was a freaking bird for crying out loud, and the thought about me having gotten in contact with the evil witch in the story sent shivers down my back. This was bad… this was really bad…
"One dark night she set her plan into motion. After years of work with the darkest of magic she had finally found a way to become immortal. But of course something that violates the rules of nature like that will have a price, and a terrible that is…" I swallowed, having a hunch where this was going. "She needed nine young souls to complete the spell. It took her days to 'collect' them all, but she managed without getting caught." The sound of a car passing by reached us and I realized I wasn't far from home. We were just sitting in the outskirts of our neighbourhood and if I'd just made it out from the bushes we were hiding in I would've been able to see our house. The car that had passed seemed to have gotten Claire on edge.
"There's not much time…"She mumbled before rambling on, talking fast. "Evelyn took their lives one by one that night and with each soul sacrificed she grew more powerful. However something went wrong and to save herself she uttered a curse letting her soul survive in a small and seemingly innocent object…the box you found." Claire nodded towards me.
Suddenly guilt and regret washed over me. Why did I have to snoop around in stuff that clearly were none of my business? Look where my nosiness had brought me. Somehow Claire must've seen the way I hung my head in remorse, because she said,
"Don't blame yourself, Kimberly. It's not really your fault. The prophecy had foreseen it. Evelyn had already cursed your fate." That was scary. Had my life been cursed, by a witch? I found that hard to believe, however the fact that I was in a bird's body was convincing enough that magic existed and therefore what Claire was telling me must be true. "It was meant for you to open that box, even though I tried to stop it from happening… Anyway, when you opened it you let loose Evelyn's soul. But in order for it to work properly in this world it needed a body…your body." I almost felt sick. Evelyn took my body? Was she at this moment walking around like me in my own house?
I pushed the thought away, forcing myself to listen to the rest of what Claire had to say.
"Of course both of your souls couldn't fit in the body. So you were thrown out. However your soul is connected to your body in a way that hers is not, which means that she can't fully use the body unless your soul is destroyed." This was all so unreal. Not only was I a bird, Evelyn had returned. The dark witch from the story had returned and she wanted me dead… "She had intentions of killing you right away and I think she still thinks that she actually did. A soul can't stay long in this world without a body." Claire continued, explaining this as if it was the most natural thing in the world. "Evelyn hadn't planned on anyone like me being there. I quickly took care of you and sent you into the first living thing that I saw passing by outside the window… A sparrow." She got quiet, giving me time to let all the information sink in. However this was all too much for me to take in. So many questions were running through my head, and the one that I was most urgent to ask was; 'what do I do?'
"Tsiip…tsip-a-tik…" I pressed out the sounds through my small beak.
"Sorry Kimberly, but I can't understand you." Claire said, an apologetic smile on her face. "I'm not a sparrow…" Frantically I tried to get the words out, but no matter how hard I tried all that would escape my beak were tweets…I felt the panic coming back. What if I would never be able to say anything ever again?! I began to hyperventilate, as the world around me went all fuzzy. This couldn't be happening. I needed my speech.
"Kimberly," I could hear Claire say. Her voice was weak as if it came from a far distance. "Kimberly!" Suddenly everything started to jump and I quickly got back to reality leaving my thoughts behind for a moment. Realizing that it weren't the things around me that moved, but me as Claire shook me vigorously I let out a shriek. Claire stopped shaking her hand and looked at me as I tried to focus on her through the dizziness I was feeling.
"Listen Kimberly," she tried again. "This is bad I know, but we can fix it. It will be tricky…but we can do it." I felt a little hopeful at that. Maybe this wasn't the end of the world after all… "You have to listen and do as I say though, if you ever want things to go back to normal." I took a deep breath. Okay, I was ready to listen…
"I'm going to release you now, Kimberly," Claire said. "Don't try to run away from me. You are very vulnerable as a bird. Do you understand?" She looked at me with slightly wrinkled eyebrows. I nodded. "Good." She opened her hand slowly. "Now it's time for you to fly."
What?! I looked at her in disbelief as I sat frozen in her palm, my fear of heights paralyzing me.
"C'mon, spread your wings." Claire instructed. Uh-uh, I pressed my wings to my body. "Kimberly," She warned, as I shook my head. "Kimberly, do as I say. Spread you wings." Not gonna happen, I thought.
"Kimberly, haven't we just covered the importance of you listening to me?" She said, slightly annoyed with my stubbornness. When I still didn't make a move, she said; "Fine. Suit yourself. If you don't want to follow my instructions then you'll have to face the consequences. I'll give you one more chance though, because I'm such a nice person. I will count to three." I looked at her, still keeping my wings close to my body as she started counting. "One…two….Three!" With that she quickly pulled away her hand from underneath me. I shrieked when the platform I'd been standing on suddenly disappeared. Panicking I started to flap my wings, believing for a moment that I would fall to the ground from two feet up in the air and die from the impact.
To my surprise I didn't hit the ground. I was actually airborne, although not as gracefully you're used to see birds and after ten seconds of wobbling and uncontrolled flapping I crashed into Claire's chest.
"Good!" She beamed, obviously satisfied with my try that had only been a natural reflex from my near death experience. I was trembling as I felt her pick me up again. "Now, try again." My eyes widened. Wasn't one time bad enough? "Kimberly, do it or I'll drop you from even higher." She threatened. Okay, got it…
Hesitantly I stretched out my wings as I searched Claire's gaze, hoping that she would show mercy and not having me do it again. Unfortunate all she did was to give me an encouraging smile. Great…
Seeming to be the safest way to go I started to do small jumps straight up while flapping my wings. With each try I could stay a little longer in the air. It wasn't so hard after all and pretty soon I didn't have to return back down to Claire's hand. Feeling a little braver I started to fly forward, trying to go in a circle around my aunt. Even though it was hard to control speed, direction and height at the same time and my flying was everything but straight and smooth I managed to do it.
"Great Kimberly, you're doing it. You're flying." Claire smiled. After several more tries, flying back and forth through the bushes I started to get a hang of it. Suddenly Claire jumped to her feet, looking anxiously in the direction of our house.
"Kimberly," She said almost in a whisper. I could tell by the way she spoke that she was worried and I hurried to her side landing at her feet. "I have to go…" She looked down at me. "Now, listen to me carefully. This is so important." I nodded, understanding the seriousness of the situation. "Evelyn doesn't know about me having helped you. She doesn't know about you being a bird and hopefully she still thinks that you're dead and gone. But it's only a matter of time before she notices that she's not fulfilled, her body still belonging to someone else and she will come searching for you." She looked around nervously again as I was starting to feel the fear spread inside me. I was going to be hunted? "Kimberly you must promise me you won't go looking for her." I nodded. Of course I would never try to find the one who wanted to kill me.
"Good," she continued. "That means you are not allowed to have any contact with anyone who might be able to come in contact with her. This of course includes you family and friends. You can not be seen around your home... and don't worry about that. No one will miss you." I could hardly believe what I was hearing. She'd just said that I was no longer to see any of the people that I loved, but I didn't need to worry about that because no one would miss me…! "To everyone, Evelyn will be you. They won't notice the difference because they don't know that a soul transfer is possible. Anne is at this moment helping her daughter as she recovers from fainting in her room, about one hour ago, or so she thinks…" She said, her voice trailing off at the end. The thought of mum taking care of the one who did this to me was very disturbing.
"You have to leave Kimberly, and I'm afraid that I can't come with you. I need to stay and keep an eye on her, besides I'm not welcomed to the place you're heading." She picked up a note from her pocket and crouched down. I waited, looking with interest as she unfolded the piece of paper. Once she was done she held it up in front of me. It looked like a map. A map over Seaford. Two buildings were encircled. One of them was our house, and I immediately recognized our neighbourhood. The other circle was drawn on the other side of town. I didn't know those parts as well, but begin born and raised here, they weren't totally unfamiliar. "I need you to go there." Claire pointed at the circle. "It's the home of the one who's gonna be able to help you. It's very important that you get there. Do you understand?" I nodded. Of course I understood.
Claire reached into her pocket once again and pulled out a pretty wrinkled and torn photo of a house. It had two floors and was painted in a light yellow, almost white colour. The front porch had kind of a southern style to it with four fairly big pillars holding up the roof above them. All in all it was a beautiful house.
"This is the house. Go down Water Lily Street and it's the third one to your right. Got it?" I nodded again.
"Good. Now be careful. You're very vulnerable in this state and that's why I want you to fly there as fast as you can. Don't stop on the way and don't come back here. As long as Evelyn's around it's gonna be too dangerous for you to return." I was just sitting there staring at her, still trying to get my head around that this was actually happening. It's hard to believe that just one hour ago I had a completely normal life…
"I gotta go now." Claire picked me up and rose to her feet. "Trust me Kimberly. It'll be alright as long as you follow my instructions." She said, noticing how I'd started to look worried. Her lips formed into an encouraging smile. "Now go!" She said and lifted her hand out for me to get a good start. Hesitantly I spread my wings and jumped…
~~~Wings of Love~~~
Flapping my small wings hysterically I made my way through the town of Seaford. I was starting to get really tired, but I didn't dare to stop moving my wings and glide through the air like the rest of the birds I shared the sky with did, afraid that I might fall if I'd tried.
My scare of heights wasn't helping as I couldn't bring myself to fly any higher than six feet above the ground, making it impossible to take any shortcuts over the rooftops. Luckily for me though, Seaford wasn't that big and I knew it well, so finding the address wasn't a problem.
The problem was the people I had to pass to get there, as I was afraid that someone would notice that the small sparrow flying by was indeed that blond karate chopping girl named Kim.
At a café I saw Kelsey and a few other girls from school. Quickly I turned rather clumsy in the air to avoid them, losing control over my bird body as I did and almost collided into a street lantern.
Of course all my worries about getting seen were totally unnecessary. Most of the people I saw ignored me completely and the ones who actually did see me took me for just an ordinary sparrow.
After almost half an hour in the air I finally reached my destination. I landed on a branch sticking out from a nearby tree. From there I could clearly see the house that Claire had instructed me to find. Panting from the flight I looked down the street. I was in a neighbourhood not too unlike the one I lived in. The properties here were bigger though and to judge by the looks of them they must be owned by some pretty rich people. I let my gaze wander over the place, stopping at the house I was soon to enter. There wasn't anything about it that made it stand out from the rest of the buildings. But I recognized it from the photo and there was no doubt about that this was that house…
There wasn't any car on the driveway and although there was a possibility that it might was parked in the garage, I had a feeling that no one was home. Maybe it was the lack of light and movements within the building, I'm not sure. It just seemed…empty. And the only sign of life was a grey cat sleeping in the chair that stood on the porch, right next to the door.
I sighted. Now what?
I couldn't go back home if Evelyn was still there. Claire had specifically told me so and I had learned the hard way that I'd better listen to her if I don't want bad things to happen…
I realized that my best option would be to just wait until someone showed up. Taking the opportunity to get some well needed rest I made myself as comfortable as possible on the big branch as my mind wandered off. I still didn't know what to do when the person who now seemed to be my only hope would show up. Looking like a bird and having no ability to speak did complicate things a bit… Hopefully whoever was coming would know what this was all about anyway. After all, the curse was over two hundred years old and Claire must've known about it for quite some time. She must've been prepared for something like this to happen and I had to trust her to know what she was doing by sending me here. What else could I do?
The wait wasn't very long until something further down the street caught my attention. A familiar boy with chocolate coloured wavy hair and a slight limp to his walk came into view. In his right hand hung a small plastic bag, which he carelessly let swing around in the air as he made his way down the street. I frowned. Wasn't Jack supposed to be grounded? What was he doing here, in these neighbourhoods?
Of course the answer to that was pretty obvious. He must live here somewhere. I inwardly groaned as I realized that he came from an upper class family. That actually explained a lot of his way of seeing himself as bigger and better than anyone else…
I followed him with my gaze as he walked, finding it pretty cool actually to be able to spy on him without risking him ever knowing about it. As he got closer I could see the plastic bag he was holding more clearly. It wasn't the same he'd picked up earlier at the dojo. This one came from the drugstore… Was he on medication? Maybe… To judge by the way that he walked, he clearly had pain in his leg. Or maybe the meds were for someone else, Mr Brewer for instance. Either way, medicines could be important so that probably made an excuse for him to go outside even though he was grounded…
Jack came to a halt in front of the house that were located right next to the one I was waiting at. Great, I thought. Jack lives next door to the only person who could help me return to my own body…
Something happened then that I did not expect though. After just standing there looking bitterly at the building, Jack suddenly jumped in the air, spinning around to get as much speed and power as he could before he flung his leg out, aiming a forceful kick at the mailbox. It all happened so quick I barely saw him move before the mailbox was sent through the air, landing almost twenty feet away from its post that still was stuck in the ground…
A flash of pain showed in Jack's face as the move must've hurt his already sore leg. I looked at him shocked over his action. Why the heck did he do that?!
Jack glared at the house once more and started to walk again, his limping a little worse than before. He made his way passed the tree I was sitting in and turned, leaving the pavement and heading straight for the light yellow house. My eyes widened as I watched him shove his hand down his pocket, pulling out a key. You have got to be kidding me...
Jack was the one I'd been waiting for? Was that spoiled, cocky and obnoxious jerk the one to help me break the spell?
At first I thought about leaving. I mean, this had to be a mistake. But then again Claire had told me to go here…
I found myself unable to move, weighing my options and just staring at Jack who'd reached the porch. When I came to think of it, I didn't really know the boy I was looking at. Sure, I saw him almost everyday in school or at the dojo and I witnessed his stupid actions numerous times, the latest being the demolition of his neighbour's mailbox...
But maybe… Maybe there was more to him… Maybe he knew about all of this. After all, his dad was a member of a witchcraft fighting organisation. It would only make sense that he knew about magic and of course that must've been the reason why Claire had been so interested in him before.
Feeling brighter, believing for a moment that I was on the right track I totally forgot how much I disliked the boy and I spread my wings. Just when I was about to jump from the branch I froze. Jack had spotted the cat lying on the chair next to the door and he didn't seem happy about it.
"Shoo!" He exclaimed as he grabbed the back of the chair, shaking it violently. "Get away from there you filthy hair bag!" The cat woke up startled and threw itself away from the chair, taking of running in fear. Hm… Jack didn't seem have much of a heart for animals, which could be a problem considering I was a bird…
On a second thought, I was going back to Claire. She must've mixed this house up with another one… or there had to be another way to solve this. There had to. I refused to sink so low that I would have to ask Jack for help even if he was the one -which he was not.-
Shaking my head a little discouraged over the turn things had taken I gave the brunette one last glance as he entered the house.
~~~Wings of Love~~~
I'd found it easier to fly on my way back. Maybe it was because of all the disappointment and anger I felt that distracted me from what I was doing or maybe it was because I started to get used to my small bird body…
Seeing our house I felt safe again. Claire and mum would be around there somewhere and surely one of them must know what to do. I entered our yard, flying around the house in the hopes of finding Claire out in the garden by the old oak tree. No one was out though and I started to check all the windows, trying to locate where they might be. As I fled passed the kitchen window I noticed someone moving in there. I landed on the window ledge, shocked at what I saw.
Sitting by the table was a blond fifteen year old girl. She was talking to my mum who poured up a glass of water and handed it to her. I would've recognized that girl from anywhere because that girl was me. The fact that someone else possessed my body and I was forced to watch it from outside hit me hard. The situation seemed so hopeless. What was I going to do?
Suddenly a hand wrapped itself around me from behind, scaring the heck out of me.
"Kimberly, What are you doing here?!" A voice hissed angrily.
That's all for now guys. I hope I didn't scare you away with Kim suddenly being a bird. Things will get interesting from here, I promise, and I really hope that you'll continue to read because I would love to tell you the rest of this story:)
Please leave a review to let me know what you think. There'll be a small sneak peek of the next chapter for you if you do;)
See ya!
/MJ