Chapter 61: Chapter 60 - Nat

Wednesday 30 December — Full Moon

~*Nat’s POV*~

As the naked woman went to Cody, I ran over to Skye, glaring at her parents as I went past.

I dropped to my knees next to her and started talking. I didn’t touch her but tried saying everything I thought she might need to hear under the circumstances. Her eyes locked onto mine as she screamed from the pain.

“It’s okay, Skye. Breathe through it,” I coached her. “It’ll be over soon; you just need to breathe.”

She panted from the pain, but nodded, her features shifting subtly before my eyes.

“Watch me, Skye. Breathe with me.” I placed a hand on my chest and made it very obvious how long I was inhaling for, using my fingers to count to five, so she could have something to focus on. I then let out my breath for the same count of five. “Come on, Skye. Breathe.”

She drew a ragged breath in with me, and let it out, her face elongating slowly as she started the shift properly, but kept her eyes on me, almost pleading with me to help her.

“Good, Skye. Good.” I coached her the best I could, even though I had no idea what I was doing. Why the hell wasn’t one of her parents doing this for her? “Keep breathing. You’re doing great.”

The wet squelching sound began, softly at first, then louder, when her body jerked.

“Great, Skye. You’re almost through it. Just a few more minutes, I promise.”

She screamed once more when her body spasmed again, her head flying back from the pain.

“Come on, Skye. You’re doing great.” I looked around for her parents, only to see her mother burrowing her head into her father’s shoulder; both parents holding their hands over their ears. I glared at them. They should be here, helping their daughter through her first shift; not at the other end of the courtyard shying away from her pain.

I noticed Jackie and Takeshi standing off to Skye’s parent’s sides. Jackie looked stoic, his arms crossed in front of him, but otherwise not moving, not even to help his daughter, who was writhing in obvious pain next to Auden and the naked woman.

Takeshi was watching me with curiosity. Flinging my eyes at Skye’s parents again, I tried to point out to Takeshi what I thought they should be doing, but he just shook his head sadly. I growled in frustration before I returned my focus to Skye.

A shimmering began appearing in front of me, marking Skye’s final stage before she became her wolf. “Almost there, Skye. Just one last stage,” I said, still doing my best to coach her through it. She groaned with the pain as the squelching continued, her back arching as she tried to allow her body to do what it needed to do. She was on her hands and knees now, panting along with me as I counted her through her breathing.

Skye threw her head back and screamed, a blood-curdling yell that went on and on as the shimmering grew brighter and brighter. I scrambled back from her to give her space. This was the last stage; any moment now, she was going to transform.

The bright light exploded around Skye, and I could barely make out her body growing larger. “Come on, Skye. You’re nearly there!” I shouted, pounding the grass in front of me in time with my breathing count. “You’re so close!”

Finally, the glow receded and where Skye once writhed, a beautiful brown wolf now stood, panting to get her bearings. She was still incredibly thin, but she was magnificent. Her eyes were a gorgeous copper colour, and they were trained on me.

I gave her the biggest grin I could muster. “You did it, Skye! You made it through!” She took a tentative step forward towards me, then loped haphazardly the last couple of metres before colliding with me, sending me flying onto my back, her tongue lolling out the side of her mouth.

I laughed as she stood over me, playfully yipping. I reached up and scratched the thick fur on her neck and she leaned down and nuzzled me in the shoulder with affection. “You did good, Skye. Real good,” I murmured into her ear. She snuffled, then dragged her tongue along my cheek, from my chin to my hairline, making me laugh again.

“Hi Kit,” a female voice off to the side of me said cautiously. I looked over to see Skye’s mother standing with her husband a few feet away from where I lay.

“Kit? Is that her name?” I asked as I got up. Skye nudged my hand gently, like she wanted me to scratch her more behind the ears. I absently did so as I waited for someone to answer me.

“Yes, Kit is Skye’s wolf’s name,” her father eventually told me. He seemed incredibly nervous for some reason.

I returned my attention to Kit. I brought my hands up to the underside of her neck and scratched under her jaw as I dropped my face down level with hers. “Hello Kit. It’s so nice to meet you.”

She yipped and licked me again, much to my amusement.

I giggled and wiped my now slobbered cheek on her snout. “Enough of that, you rascal.”

Kit huffed, but her tongue lolled out of her mouth again in an adorably goofy way.

“I have to go check on Roux. If you’ll excuse me?” I gave Kit one last scratch behind the ears before I turned away from her to look around the courtyard for Roux and Auden.

An enormous red wolf stood in the middle of the courtyard, her copper eyes blazing in the sunlight. She was bigger than Kit by about half, her red fur rustling softly in the slight breeze that was drifting through the enclosure.

I heard Kit whine behind me as I walked over to Roux, Auden standing next to her proudly. “Oh my God, Roux. You’re magnificent.” I stared at her in wonder as I reached out to her. She leaned her head into my outstretched hand and nudged it softly. Just as I had done with Kit, I knelt in front of her and scratched Roux under the chin, then ran my hands through her soft red fur.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be with you through your change,” I whispered in her ear sadly as I hugged her around her neck. Roux rested her head against my shoulder before prodding it with her snout.

“Roux knows what you were doing. She and Cody understand.”

“Thanks Alex.” I smiled, then started scratching Roux’s ears with vigour. Just like Kit, her tongue lolled out of one side of her mouth before she licked me.

“Aw, come on Roux. Kit already gave me a bath.” I wiped my wet face over her neck as she silently shook, then nudged me once more with affection.

“Okay, girls. Time to shift back,” Takeshi’s voice carried through the courtyard. “Your body knows what it’s doing now.”

The young kookaburra flew from its perch in the tree and landed on Roux’s head. I looked at it quizzically, wondering what it was doing. It really was the most peculiar bird, acting with absolutely no fear whatsoever.

Over Roux’s shoulder, I saw Auden glare at the naked woman who had returned to the depths of the shadows she had been in when I had talked to her. I narrowed my eyes at the interaction. Auden obviously knew the woman, but clearly didn’t like her very much.

I got up and turned around to step away from Roux to allow her to shift back, only to come face to face with Kit.

“Uh, hi, Kit.” I looked over her shoulder to see her parents once more had drifted away from their daughter. “What’s up?”

She nudged my hand with her snout.

“She wants you to talk her through the shift back.”

I frowned. “She knows I don’t know what I’m doing, right?”

Alex laughed. “She does. But she trusts you more than she trusts her parents at this point.”

Well, I couldn’t really fault her on that logic. I couldn’t believe that her parents had left her to shift for the first time on her own. How incredibly cruel of them to do that to their own daughter.

“Okay, then.” I looked at her and scratched her ears again. “Let’s go back to where we originally were, yeah?”

She snuffled in happiness and circled me as I walked over to where her ceremonial robe now lay. I sat down cross-legged and looked at Kit, almost dancing in excitement in front of me. I laughed at her antics. “You want to settle down for me there, Kit?”

She rubbed against me once more before she sat down on her haunches in front of me, looking at me expectantly.

“From what I’ve seen, it’s the same process as before, but in reverse,” I said to Kit, who flicked her ears at my words. “That means the shimmering is first. Can you start that for me?”

Kit tilted her head at me in concentration, then laid her head on her front paws. The shimmering effect started slowly, before enveloping her body entirely.

“That’s perfect, Kit,” I said enthusiastically. As the effect grew, the more encouragement I gave her, until it started to fade, and the wet squelching sounds began. “That’s right! Come on, you’re doing great!”

The process went much quicker than her first shift. Skye’s features returned almost immediately once the shimmering effect had disappeared entirely. Once the snapping sounds began, I started counting my breathing again, tapping my hand against the grass to keep a steady rhythm for Skye to focus on. Finally, the grinding noises took over, with Skye panting from the effort.

“You’re almost there, Skye. That’s it.”

With one final groan, Skye finished her shift back to human form. She kneeled in front of me on all fours, huffing from the exertion she’d put her body through. She looked up at me, her eyes as big as saucers.

“You did it, Skye,” I whispered with a grin. “You’re back.”

She leaped at me much like Kit had done when she’d first appeared, throwing me back onto the ground, wrapping me in a bear hug.

“Thank you! Thank you so much!” She started crying into my shoulder. “I wouldn’t have been able to get through it without you.”

“It’s okay, Skye. You did great.” I patted her on her back. “Let’s get you in your robe now, though, yeah?”

She scrambled off me. “Oh, Goddess! I’m so sorry!” She darted for her cloak, wrapping it around herself guiltily. She stared at the ground to avoid my eyes.

“Don’t be,” I laughed as I got up. “It’s all good. Just didn’t want you getting cold, is all.”

Her cheeks turned pink, but she raised her head to stand tall in front of me. “Your name is Nat, right?”

I grinned. “Yeah. It’s nice to meet you, Skye.” I gave her an awkward little wave.

She stepped forward and hugged me again, the top of her head barely reaching my collarbone. “Thank you, Nat,” she murmured against me.

“You’re very welcome, Skye.”

She let me go, and cast her eyes around the courtyard for her parents. They were still standing where they had retreated to, both looking anxiously towards us. Skye sighed, her shoulders slumping at the sight of them, then walked over.

I let them have their moment and turned around to find Roux or Cody. I had been so preoccupied with Skye that I hadn’t thought about how Cody was doing, or even if she had shifted back yet or not.

Roux was still standing there, watching me curiously. Auden was talking to her, but Roux was paying her no heed at all. The kookaburra was still sitting on top of Roux’s head, looking remarkably well settled. Auden would occasionally glare at it, then at the naked woman, but her focus always returned to Roux.

Jackie was still standing next to Takeshi, his arms crossed. He didn’t look at all worried about Roux’s delayed shift back into Cody. I got the impression that he was only at this ceremony to be courteous. He didn’t care at all about Cody, but he seemed to care about appearances, and this was one that he obviously felt he couldn’t skip out on.

I frowned as Skye caught my attention as she was being bustled out of the courtyard by her parents. Her father had hold of her upper arm, and Skye was battling to get out of his hold. Her mother caught sight of the naked woman and flinched, moving her family as far away from her as they could get as they passed. The strange woman paid no attention to them, preferring to keep her eyes on Roux and Auden.

I crossed the courtyard and stood in front of Roux. “What’s the matter, Roux? Where’s Cody?”

Roux let out a puff of air through her nostrils.

I looked at Auden with a raised eyebrow. “Is everything okay?”

“Yeah, I think Roux is just being stubborn is all,” Auden said, shrugging.

I ran my hand through Roux’s fur, then leaned into her ear. “Your Mum’s getting anxious, Roux,” I whispered. “You want to hand control back to Cody now, please?”

Roux leaned her head against me, the kookaburra shuffling along to keep its balance. Maybe Roux didn’t want to shift while the bird was still sitting on her head? The idea seemed ridiculous, but I held my hand out to it. It was more to shoo it from Roux’s head than anything else, but it hopped up and landed on my fingers.

I blinked hard as I brought my hand back from Roux’s head; the kookaburra balancing against the movement. What the hell? This was a wild bird. It had no reason to be so tame around humans, especially at such a young age.

I stepped back from Roux, the bird still clinging to my hand as I crooked my elbow slightly. Roux took one look at the bird, nodded once, then started her shift back to Cody, the bright light filling the courtyard.

I went to stand over near Auden. The kookaburra hopped up my arm and came to a rest on my shoulder. I looked at Auden with wide eyes. “Wild birds don’t do this, do they?”

Auden pressed her lips together and looked over at the naked woman. “No. Not usually.” Her voice sounded somewhat annoyed, but I had no idea why.

“Do you know her?” I asked, tilting my head at the woman still standing in the shadows.

“Yes.”

I sighed impatiently. “Does she have a name?”

“Yes.”

I stared at Auden incredulously. Why was she being so reticent about these simple questions?

Roux finished her transformation back to Cody, who knelt to grab her cloak that was still sitting on the ground in front of her.

Auden gasped, her hand going to her collarbone. Her head bent forward, her chin touching the back of her hand.

Jackie doubled over, grunting in pain. He also put a hand to the same spot that Auden had before he fell to his knees. Takeshi took a step back from him, then looked at the naked woman, who had taken a step forward.

Auden looked up at Cody, glaring at her in pain. “What did you do?” She fell to her knees, then put her free hand out in front of her to stop her from keeling over entirely. “What did you do?!”

I dropped to my knees next to Auden and looked up at Cody in confusion. She stood in front of her mother, a look of sadness on her face. The kookaburra jumped off my shoulder and landed on Cody’s.

The naked woman came to stand next to Cody and took her hand. The white markings I had seen on the woman earlier erupted to life again, but this time they also appeared on Cody. Where lines and dots both appeared on the woman, only lines wound their way around Cody’s skin.

“NO!” Auden screamed, before collapsing on the ground unconscious.

I put my hand out to Auden, but Takeshi hauled me back. “It’s okay, Nat.”

I struggled against him. “No! Auden’s—”

“She’s fine,” the naked woman said. “They’re both fine.”

“How do you know that?” Still, I struggled against Takeshi’s hold on me to get back to Auden. “Who are you?”

“My name is Nahi,” she said. “And this was Cody’s gift to her mother.”

I stared at Cody. “What?!”

Cody looked at Nahi and nodded before turning away. She headed over to where her belongings still sat, presumably to look for her phone.

“Cody sacrificed her voice so that the fated mate bond between her parents would be broken,” Nahi explained, kneeling next to Auden, and carefully rolling her over.

I looked at Takeshi, who still had hold of me to find that he had closed his eyes. “Oh, Cody…”

Cody returned to us, her phone in her hand. She was busily typing away, then looked up at us when it began speaking. “It was the only way. Now she can live her best life, away from him.” She turned to glare at Jackie.

Nahi pulled Auden’s shirt collar from her neck. The white bite mark on her neck was fading away before our very eyes. “They’ll both be unconscious until the moon sets tomorrow morning,” she said, running her thumb slowly across Auden’s forehead. As she did, the tension in Auden’s face eased and she looked just like she was asleep.

I stared at Cody. “You gave up your voice?” A tear ran down my cheek. “But you love to talk…”

Cody smiled at me, then started typing on her phone again. “I love my Mum more. Plus, it’s only until I find my fated mate. It’s not forever.”

We watched Nahi go over to Jackie, roll him over, and check his mark. We could all see it fading from where we stood, but Nahi didn’t run her thumb over his forehead like she had Auden’s. His face remained contorted in pain.

I guess that wasn’t part of the deal.

I pressed my fingers to my temples. “Okay, so let me get this straight. You made a deal with this woman—”

“Nahi,” supplied Takeshi quietly.

“Nahi,” I repeated. “So you could split your parents up.” I looked at Cody, who nodded. “How is Nahi able to do that? I thought the fated mate bond was forever. And why were you glowing like her before?” I rubbed my fingers in circles to relieve the headache I knew would emerge any minute.

“I’m a Bunyip,” Nahi said, returning to our little group.

“What?” I rubbed my temples harder as I stared at her.

“Like a mystic.” She sighed when she saw my blank face. “A witch?”

I removed one of my hands and clicked my fingers and pointed to her as an indication of my finally understanding, then returned my hand to my head.

“Bunyips are able to break the fated mate bond,” Nahi explained. “Among other things…”

“Okay, so what about the markings?” I headed for the nearest bench. I needed to sit down as I had a sneaking suspicion my legs were going to give way soon.

“White markings appear on Bunyips.” Nahi watched Cody move to sit next to me.

“You’re a Bunyip, Cody?” Takeshi asked. He was taking all this a lot easier than I was.

Cody nodded. She patted my knee with one hand and started typing with the other. “Are you okay?”

I nodded. “It’s just a lot to take in.”

She grinned.

I looked at the kookaburra, who was still sitting on Cody’s shoulder. “What’s with the bird?”

Cody typed. “Her name is Yamparti. She’s my familiar.”

“She’s not just some random wild bird, then?”

Cody’s grin widened, and she nudged me with her shoulder. “No.”

A squawk sounded from one of the trees in the courtyard. The magpie that I had seen earlier swooped down and landed on Nahi’s dreadlocks.

“And this is Gidja,” Nahi said, pointing to the bird on her head. “She’s my familiar. She was there when Cody and Auden found you.”

Takeshi chuckled. “Eyes everywhere,” he muttered, shaking his head. Gidja jumped off Nahi’s head and landed on Takeshi’s shoulder. He stroked her chest before he looked down at me and shrugged, a grin playing at the corners of his lips. “You’ll get used to all of this.”

My eyes boggled at him. I wasn’t sure I could get used to any of what was being said.

Nahi came forward to sit on my other side. She picked up my hand, her body lighting up with her markings again.

Takeshi knelt in front of me, eyeing me carefully. “How are you doing, Nat?”

I chuckled a little manically. “I just learned that my best friend lights up like a Christmas tree because she’s a witch, as well as a werewolf. Under the circumstances, I think I’m doing okay.”

Takeshi tilted his head to the side. “Hm…”

Cody’s familiar, Yamparti, hopped over from Cody to sit on my shoulder. A feeling of peace came over me, calming me down. My eyes widened. “What the—”

“That feeling’s from Yamparti,” Nahi said, her hand still on mine. “Gidja can do the same thing. You’ll find your own soon.”

Cody grinned at me, looking pointedly at the hand that Nahi held.

I glanced down and gasped, my eyes going wide in alarm. Wrapping around my wrist and up under my long sleeve were pale blue lines. I grabbed my sleeve and tugged it up to see how far they extended. “What the fuck?”

“Cody’s not the only one who can light up like a Christmas tree,” Takeshi said, smiling at me, before turning his attention to Nahi. “But I assume because of the colouring, Nat’s not a Bunyip?”

“No,” said Nahi. “Nat is something different.” She traced a finger up one of the lines on my arm.

“Did this happen before?” I stared at Nahi. “When you were touching me before?”

She nodded. “That’s why everyone gasped.”

“Nahi, there were people here who hadn’t seen you before,” Takeshi said, chuckling. “I’m pretty sure the sight of a naked woman with a magpie on her head suddenly glowing was what made everyone gasp first.”

Nahi smiled and reached a hand out to drift over Takeshi’s cheek in affection, before returning her attention to me. “Your markings come from a slightly different source. You’re related to Bunyips, but you’re not one specifically.”

“Then what?” My eyes pleaded with her for answers.

“I can’t tell you everything,” Nahi began. “Alex will fill in the gaps for you. But I can say—”

“NO.”

Nahi tilted her head at me, staring into my eyes. Or was it through my eyes? “Alex, she has a right to know.”

Takeshi and Cody looked at each other in confusion. A confusion I felt mirrored on my own face.

“She will know. But not yet.”

“Alex, please. I’ve waited so long for answers, and the one person who is willing to give them to me is sitting in front of me, but you’re not letting her talk. Why?” I begged Alex for an explanation. Any explanation.

“You will shift tonight. These questions will be answered then.”

“Alex, please…”

“You’ve waited this long. What’s a few more hours? Have patience, kid.”