Chapter 62: Chapter 61 - Nat

Wednesday 30 December — Full Moon

~*Nat’s POV*~

“What time is it?”

My knee was bouncing uncontrollably from nerves, and this was about the fiftieth time I’d asked in the past hour. I was sitting in one of the many corners of the pack house with Bells, Cody, and Murph waiting for the sun to set and the full moon to rise.

“It’s about eight thirty,” Bells said, letting his hand rest on my knee in an attempt to calm it down. “Another fifteen minutes to go.”

“We should probably head outside,” said Murph, looking around at the now emptying room.

Cody jumped to her feet and pulled Murph up. Bells was a little more sedate, lifting me to my feet slowly rather than Cody’s exuberant yank. He wrapped his arms around me, leaned in and whispered in my ear, “There’s nothing to worry about, Nat. Your body will know what to do.”

I let out a strangled breath with a crazed giggle. “Easy for you to say. You know what you’re doing.”

He chuckled before kissing me softly on the lips. “So do you, sweetheart. You just can’t remember. But your body will.”

I grumbled, not believing him for a second. The adrenaline coursing through my body was making me feel jittery, my hands shaking from the nervous energy. I noticed Cody was having a similar reaction as I was; it was almost like our bodies knew that the full moon was arriving, and our bodies were gearing up for the inevitable shift.

Bells and Murph were a lot calmer, though. They’d both been through several full moon shifts, so they knew what to expect. They both assured us that what Cody and I were feeling was completely normal.

Fat lot of good that did when you had no memory of ever doing this before.

“Relax, kid. You’ll be fine.”

I rolled my eyes. “God, you’re just as bad as everyone else, Alex.”

“Then maybe you should trust what we’re all saying, hm?” I could almost hear Alex laughing at me.

I looked around at the hundreds of people that had congregated behind the pack house. I had heard that there were over five hundred people in the Matlock pack and seeing the amount of people milling around in their Matlock robes tonight, I could certainly believe it.

Takeshi had loaned me a plain black cloak to use tonight. It was a little short, coming to rest halfway between my ankles and my knees, where everyone else’s reached the ground, but it did its job. He told me I would get my own Matlock robe once I became a full member of the pack, which he hoped would happen in the next couple of days. Something told me he wanted me to shift at least once before he would complete the initiation process.

The four of us had found ourselves at the very edge of the vast group of people, far enough away from everyone to not attract too much attention, but close enough that we were still part of the group. My eyes scanned the crowd, watching everyone loosen their robes at the neck and kneel on the ground, talking to whoever they were next to.

“… I hope I didn’t leave the kettle on…”

“… Jeremy, stop hitting your sister, so help me…”

“… Damn it, I forgot about that lodgement. My boss is gonna have my head tomorrow…”

“… Well shit, Carol. I thought we said four kids were enough. How the fuck are you pregnant again?!”

“… I told him if he didn’t trim the hedge by this weekend, I was going to call the council on him…”

As I lowered myself to the grass, I concentrated on listening to the snippets of other people’s lives I could hear. It was distracting me from my impending shift, and dare I say, it was entertaining. I wondered why Jeremy was hitting his sister. Was it an unprovoked attack? Or had she started it and was now lording it over him because he got told off? And poor Carol being pregnant a fifth time. I chuckled as I imagined how she was going to answer his question about how she’d become pregnant again. Surely, he already knew, especially after fathering four children previously.

Bells grasped my hand. “You’ve got this, Nat. I’ll be right here.”

I took a deep breath before releasing it slowly. “Thanks, Bells.”

A sudden quiet descended over the crowd as they all raised their faces to the sky. The last rays of the sun were disappearing over the horizon, with only the vibrant pink and orange remnants of an incredible sunset remaining. I looked up to see several stars peeking through the sparse cloud cover, already twinkling their attendance in the night sky. I felt awed by how small the burgeoning night sky made me feel, how vast the universe stretched.

Closing my eyes at the peace I felt, the first pangs of discomfort hit me.

“It’s started, kid. No matter what happens next, I’m here for you. I will never leave you.”

I fell forward as grinding sounds filled the air, but this time I felt them. My bones were rearranging themselves inside me and there was nothing I could do to stop it. Remembering how I had coaxed Skye through her change earlier in the day, I started counting in my head to slow my panting down, my breaths ragged with every inhale and exhale from feeling my bones move.

Snapping noises started ringing out around me as bones began breaking apart and finding their new place in each person’s body. I yelped from the pain before I clenched my jaw shut to avoid screaming. No-one else was yelling out, and I refused to be the exception. The pain ripping through my body was intense; it felt like every single bone in my body was being broken and forcibly put together by unseen hands. It was agony, but I refused to open my mouth. I hunched over my arms and legs, trying desperately to release the tension I was feeling roll through my body.

As my aching body was still putting up with the snapping and grinding, I heard squelching sounds around me. Everyone was entering their final stages while I was still in the first two.

“Don’t fight it, kid. Let your body do what it needs to.”

“Alex, I can’t…” I panted, losing track of my breathing technique. “It hurts…”

“Yes, you can, Nat. Breathe through it, just like what you did with Skye.”

I forced my right hand into a fist to thump the grass in front of me, counting a five-beat. My breathing became heavier, each inhale being dragged kicking and screaming into my lungs, every exhale hissing out through my teeth. Or fangs? It felt like my teeth had elongated.

I arched my back up to the sky and felt my body grow. My muscles contorted around my new bone structure, the wet squelching now coming from my own body. The fist that was thumping the ground became a white paw in front of my eyes, still stamping the ground to keep the beat for my breathing. I looked up as the bright light from everyone’s final stage began fading, just as mine was beginning.

Raising my head to the skies above, I couldn’t stop a howl from erupting from my lungs as a burst of rainbow light exploded from me. Rays of coloured light punched outward, far brighter than any of the shimmering white light I’d seen from other shiftings. Purple, red, blue, yellow… every colour of the rainbow and then some rotated around me like I was some kind of disco ball on speed.

Finally, the lights retracted, and I was left heaving from exertion in my wolf form.

“You did it, kid. You shifted. Well done.”

I let out a relieved laugh, but it came out as a snuffle. Looking at the ground, I took a tentative step forward, seeing if I could get my bearings.

“Let me take the lead for now, Nat. I know how to drive this form.”

I felt Alex take over as I took another step, then laid down on the grass. It was the most peculiar feeling; looking through my eyes, Alex’s eyes, it was like I was taking part in a movie. Someone else was in control, but I could still see, hear, touch, taste, feel everything going on around me. It was incredible.

I felt my ears twitch, as I realised all the wolves had gone quiet and were staring at me.

“Um, Alex? Why is everyone looking at us?”

“It’s because you’re different, kid.”

I took stock of who was immediately around me. Roux was to my right, her huge red form sitting on her haunches, studying me, her head tilting to one side in curiosity. I assumed it was Murph’s wolf standing behind her; I hadn’t met him, but judging by his curly light brown fur and the strip of white that ran from his chin over his face and down the centre of his back and into his tail, I was confident that my assumption was correct. Unlike Roux, though, Murph was standing at attention, his ears flicking nervously as his eyes ran over my form.

I felt my head tilt at his anxious expression. “How am I different, Alex?”

I knew Bells had been to my left, so I turned my head to the left, looking for Wyatt. His enormous black form was right where I expected him to be, but while I thought he would be excited to see my wolf form, he was now stepping back from me.

His ears were pressed back, his eyes narrowed, and he was snarling at me.

“Alex, why is Wyatt snarling at me?” I was utterly confused. As I widened my field of vision, I noticed several more wolves snarling at me. Everyone was keeping their eyes on me, and there was so much agitation in the air, I felt like a bomb was about to go off.

“Alex, why is EVERYONE snarling at me?!” I got up and took a step backwards, away from the crowd, my head lowered to appear smaller. Everyone’s eyes followed me as I moved, but only Roux’s were peaceful.

An incredibly large black wolf came stalking through the pack. He towered over everyone by at least a full head and was headed straight for me.

“Um, Alex…? A little help here? Please?!”

“Relax, that’s Kairu, Takeshi’s wolf. He won’t hurt you.”

“But what about everyone else?!”

Kairu slowed down as he neared me and paused in front of me. I raised my head slowly to meet his eyes and was alarmed to find that I was almost the same size as him. I met his eyes, then dipped my head again in submission to him. He stepped forward and nuzzled my neck slowly, his snout digging into my neck. I froze as I wondered if this was the last thing I would feel before he ripped my throat out. He lifted his snout from me, then laid his head on my neck, almost like he was giving me a hug.

“Alex, you might want to find a quiet spot to lie low for the night. I’ll send Roux with you now, and I’ll come find you later.” Takeshi’s voice sounded clear in my head.

Wait. I could hear Takeshi’s voice in our wolf forms? It had always been Alex who could hear other people’s wolves; it had never been me. Why could I suddenly hear Takeshi now?

“Thanks Takeshi, Kairu. We’ll be waiting. Nat, we need to get out of here. Now.”

I took another two steps back and watched as Roux rose from her seated position and came over to me, much to Murph’s displeasure. He nipped at her heels as she passed him, but she bared her teeth at him in response; much like a growl, but no sound came forth.

Takeshi turned around in front of me and stood tall. I could see everyone’s eyes glowing as they watched him; then several of them, including Wyatt, focused on me again. Kairu snarled to get everyone’s attention back on himself and got into attack position, his front paws spread apart, his head down and his teeth bared.

“Now, Nat. NOW.” Alex sounded calm but determined.

I turned around and ran for my life, with Roux hot on my heels.

~~~

I ran until I couldn’t run anymore. Roux had directed me to a far-flung edge of the Matlock pack lands, somewhere southwest of the township of Matlock. We came across a creek with a small rocky waterfall. I stopped to take a drink from the water at the base of the falls where the water was calm and stopped to stare at my reflection in the water.

I was covered in white fur, which wasn’t that surprising. There were several white wolves in the Matlock pack and, from what I could gather, a wolf’s fur colour was linked to their hair colour when they were human. Considering I was a very pale blonde, it made sense that I would be a white wolf.

What was surprising was the way my fur shimmered in the moonlight. It was almost iridescent when it shifted in the breeze, catching the light from the moon, and reflecting it back in a multitude of different shining colours. I tilted my head one way, then the next, watching the fur change its glow depending on how the light hit it. It was mesmerising.

Roux came up beside me and nudged me with her snout.

“Damn Alex, you can run!” Cody’s voice came through my mind loud and clear, almost breathless with exhilaration.

“Cody?!” How was this possible?

“Hey Nat.” I could almost hear Cody’s laugh in her voice. “Surprise!”

“How?”

“I only lost my voice, not my mind link abilities. I can still talk to you this way.” Roux lay down next to me, her head resting against my front leg.

“Okay, but how am I doing this?” I was so utterly confused.

“You have the ability to talk to other wolves when you’re touching them, Nat, regardless of whether or not you’re a pack member,” Alex explained. “It’s part of what makes you special.”

“But why now? I couldn’t do it before.” I huffed and collapsed next to the creek. Roux rolled into me. “I think I’m due some explanations, Alex. What the fuck happened back there?”

Alex sighed. “You can talk to wolves now because you’ve shifted.”

“But everyone’s told me I’ve shifted at least once before. Why is now different?”

“Your memory loss was blocking it. It’s been blocking a lot of things. It’s STILL blocking a lot of things.” Alex sounded resigned. “I’d hoped that your shifting would unlock your memory, but it hasn’t.”

I frowned. It always came back to my bloody memory loss. It was infuriating. “That doesn’t explain what happened back at the pack house. Why did everyone go quiet?”

Roux’s head popped up. “I can answer that one. When you shifted, you didn’t go through the same shimmering effect that everyone else did. Instead of white light, you emitted rainbow light. It drew everyone’s attention to you.”

“Why on earth would I be emitting rainbow light instead of white light?” That made no sense. I was just like everyone else.

“You’re a Rainbow Serpent, Nat,” said Alex. “Just like Cody is a Bunyip. You’re both special.”

“I’m a what-now?” I could feel a headache coming on.

“A Rainbow Serpent. You have influence over water. Rainbow Serpents are closely related to Bunyips, which is probably why you and Cody get along so well.”

“You’re incredibly rare, Nat. Even rarer than Bunyips.”

I looked up from my position at the bottom of the falls to see Nahi standing at the top in the middle of the creek. She lowered herself into the water and reappeared half a second later at the bottom of the falls, right in front of my paws. She stepped out of the water elegantly and took a seat on a fallen log.

“Clever move bringing her here, Roux. Well done.”

Roux stood up and paced across to Nahi. She nudged her snout against Nahi’s bare knee and sat next to her, facing me. Nahi scratched the top of Roux’s head between her ears, and Roux’s tongue lolled out in happiness.

“Have you told her everything yet, Alex?”

“Not yet. Would you like to do the honours, sister?”

Nahi inclined her head. She paused for a moment; her brow furrowed in thought. “Your rainbow light drew everyone’s attention to you. But it wasn’t what made everyone react the way they did.”

An image of Bells snarling at me came to mind.

Nahi nodded. “They fear what they do not understand, Nat.” She tilted her head as she contemplated her next words carefully. “Alex has already told you that Rainbow Serpents are related to Bunyips. What Alex didn’t mention is there’s a much closer relationship between Alex and I.”

I sat up on my haunches to concentrate on what she was saying.

Nahi rose gracefully from her seat and walked over to me. She kneeled in front of me and put her hands on either side of my snout and watched me carefully.

“Alex is my brother.”