Clan of Redemption (22 page)

“You don’t have to feel sorry
for me, I don’t need people’s sympathy,” he said with anger in his
voice.

“I feel sorry that you have
missed out on years of life living in solitude like this. No one
deserves this kind of punishment, no matter what they’ve done,” I
said as I got a tear in my eye thinking about my Mother and what
was done to her when she spoke up.

I started to wonder what
Thornton looked like under all that fur, and my chest started to
warm up like it did when I saved Logan and when that car attacked
us. I looked at my arm and it started to glow a very soft
white.

“What is happening?” I said as
I got scared at the feeling and what I was seeing.

Before Thornton could answer,
the fur around his hand started to disappear and I saw skin, it
only took a few minutes, but his face started to change, it went
from big and animal like to a human man’s face. I looked at his
legs and they too started to change back to human
form.

“Thornton, look what’s
happening,” I said as I couldn’t believe what I was
seeing.

“Jayden, you’re changing me
back,” Thornton said as he turned around.

He was human again, no more
fur, no more animal features, just a man. His height had only
shortened by a few inches and his face, well, he reminded me of a
teacher I had in high school. The bone structure in his face was
very defined, with high cheek bones and a very long
nose.

“Umm, Thornton, I am really
glad that you are back, but you’re naked. Are there any clothes
here?” I asked trying not to look at him too much.

“I think there is, upstairs in
one of the bedrooms, I’m going to go look, I’ll be right back,” he
said with much excitement. He ran from the room.

“Ok, I think I’m going to lay
back down, I feel a little tired.” I went over and sat on the
couch. Being tired is getting really old, why do I feel so tired
all the time.

Jayden, are you
ok.

“Logan, is that you?” I asked
as I looked around for him.

Yes it’s me, we aren’t far
from the house, I felt you fading, are you ok?

“Yes, I’m fine. I’ll see you
when you get here,” I said as I closed my eyes for just a
minute.

Why didn’t my mother want to
be in this life, was it because of an arranged marriage. Had she
already met Dad, or was love that important to her. These are
questions that are running through my mind, but I will probably not
ever be able to find out the answers. If she would have lived
longer, would she have told me about her life and what I might be
in for, or was she hoping to shield me from this life completely. I
miss her so much, I really need her in my life right now and I wish
that I could just talk to her.

*********

A tongue was licking my face.
I hate the smell of his dog breath. Wet dog breath,
gross.

“Logan, I’m ok, I was just
resting my eyes. You don’t have to lick my face, I know you care
about me, but that is really disgusting,” I said as I wiped the
slobber off my face.

I was just saying hi, sorry if
I am disgusting to you.

“Logan, please don’t be mad,
I’m just not feeling well, and I feel very hot,” I said as I
realized that I was sweating.

Jayden, what’s going on, you
are sweating all over and I smell something in the air. Did
something happen while I was gone, where’s
Thornton?

“Thornton’s upstairs trying to
find something to wear,” I said as I realized it was getting harder
to talk.

Something to wear, he’s has
fur, what would he need to put clothes on for……oh, did you….did he
talk about his curse….Jayden, did you touch him while you were
feeling bad?

“Of course I touched him, you
should have heard how he was feeling, how could I not touch him,” I
said as my vision started to get blurry.

Sully walked into the house
with bags of groceries in her hands and a smile that soon turned to
a frown on her face.

“Hey Jayden, I got you some of
those pink ball things that have cream in the middle, I wasn’t sure
what else you really like so we pretty much got one of everything,”
Sully said as she put the bags down.

Sully, go get some towels out
of the closet in the hall, wet them down with cold water, bring
them and put them on Jayden’s forehead, then I need you to see if
there is any ice in the freezer, if there is put it in the tube and
fill the tube with cold water.

“Logan, what’s up, is Jayden
not feeling well again?” Sully asked as she just stood
there.

GO, NOW
Sully….please!

Logan yelled in my head as
loud as he did in Sully’s, that didn’t feel any
better.

“Logan, what’s happening to
me, I’ve felt tired before, but this….this is different,” I said as
I started to drift off.

Jayden, you need to stay
awake, I do not want you doing this from a sleep
stage.

“Do what?” I said as my head
started to pound like it’s never pounded before.

Thornton, you need to come
down here quick, bring something to use as tie downs if you can
find it, I don’t think we have much time.

“I already felt it, I’m on my
way down now,” Thornton said as he came jumping down the stairs in
his newly acquired human legs. One’s I bet that he hasn’t seen in
many moons.

“Here are the towels Logan,”
Sully said as she tried to hand the towels to
Logan.

Sully, I need you to stop
freaking out, I can’t help her in this form, you need to put those
towels on her head before her brain fries up.

“Her brain fries up, do you
mean that she could die,” Sully said as she finally realized what
it might be like to lose her best friend.

Yes, she could die, she isn’t
ready to do this yet, but she took Thornton’s form from him and now
we have to help her ease into the change or she will die, now put
those towels on her and go get the COLD bath water
ready.

“Do you want to tie her down
first or let her get in the tub?” Thornton said as she took the
extra towels and started to put them on her body.

I think we can do both,
doesn’t the tub in that bathroom have legs on it?

“Yes it does, I see where
you’re going with this, and I’ll go tie this down on the legs so
we’re ready for her, I’ll be right back.” Thornton said as she
stumbled on the way down the hall.

I guess when you haven’t
walked on just two legs for a while it might be a little
awkward.

Sully came running out of the
bathroom and fell next to the couch where I was
laying.

“Jayden, can you walk?” she
asked me.

I didn’t respond, I couldn’t
even open my eyes. I think I heard what she said, but it was like a
muffled sound from a distance.

Sully, you need to help
Thornton pick her up and carry her into the bathroom and put her in
the tub.

“Are you sure that water won’t
freeze her brain, it really cold?” Sully said as she took one of
the towels and wiped the sweat from my face.

Anything is better than her
burning alive.

Thornton came into the living
room and walked straight over to me and picked me up with one
swoop. It was like he was still in animal form and had all that
strength, but I didn’t mind, I just wanted the pain to go away. I
was starting to ache all over, and the pounding in my brain was
getting worse.

Thornton carried me into the
bathroom and placed me into the tub like I was a fragile egg that
would break.

I screamed out in pain as my
body hit the water. It felt like knives dancing along my skin. It
helped me come back to reality for a minute, but only a
minute.

“Logan, what is happening to
me, I feel like my skin is ripping and my head is going to
explode?” I said.

"Make it stop, please!" I
begged.

Jayden, I’m not totally sure,
but I think that when you touched Thornton you took away his curse
and brought it into yourself.

“Oh my god, I didn’t even
notice that you’re human again,” Sully said as she took a step back
from Thornton.

“I was human before you twit,
just part animal too,” Thornton said as he gave Sully a look like
she was the stupidest girl he had even met.

Jayden, your people are shape
shifters, and I think that is what is going to happen to you, but
you aren’t ready, if you can, you need to try to hold this back. Do
whatever you can to make this not happen now.

“I can’t stop it, I can barley
talk to you right now,” I said as I tried to open my eyes and
focus. The ice bath was helping but not much.

“Jayden, its Thornton, please
just give it back to me, if anything happened to you, I wouldn’t be
able to forgive myself. I was living with my curse, but if you die,
our existence is in jeopardy.” Thornton said as he bent down to rub
my face.

Thornton, she wouldn’t know
how to give this back to you, please tie her down, now before it’s
too late and she rips herself apart.

“Logan, what is happening,
this is really starting to freak me out, maybe we should call for
an ambulance. She doesn’t look well,” Sully said as she just stared
at me.

Sully, I know this is a lot to
take in with such a small amount of time to absorb it, but what you
are going to see will be shocking, if you want to be of any help,
try to stay calm. The more freaked out you get the worse this will
be on her. She is going to feed off everyone’s energy here and if
you can’t chill, I will have to ask you to leave.

Sully didn’t say anything; she
just stared at me with blank eyes.

SULLY, are you listening to
me?

“Yes, yes I heard you. I will
try to stay freaking calm, but don’t tell me to leave, because you
don’t want me to go commando on your ass,” Sully said as she glared
at Logan.

Ok, ok, let’s talk her through
this, Thornton and Sully you both need to tie her arms and legs
down.

Before they had a chance to
grab my arms and legs something started to happen, and it happened
so fast that it took me by surprise.

Sully tried to grab my left
leg and she couldn’t, Thornton tried to grab my left arm and he
couldn’t. It was like they were hitting a wall about three inches
from me.

Grab her arms and
legs!

“Logan we can’t, she put up
some short of shield around herself.” Thornton said as he tried one
more time to get past the shield. He rammed himself towards me and
hit the shield hard, it threw him back a few feet and he landed on
his butt.

“I don’t think we are getting
past that, she’s going to have to do this by herself. Should I
contact her grandfather?” Thornton asked.

No, it too risky, someone else
might hear you. We’ll just have to wait this one
out.

“Something is happening
Logan,” Sully said as she stood with a look of shock on her
face.

Small sparkling lights started
to appear around my body and just like a cloud I started to float
into the air. The light started to move faster and faster around my
body, almost naturally my body started to change from human to some
sort of animal.

“Logan….what….is….
happening....to…. me?” I asked as I tried to open my
eyes.

Try not to talk, you took in
Thornton’s curse into yourself, it was a very big thing that you
did and now your body is transforming into it.

Before I could respond, the
lights around my body exploded, and I with them.

It was a few minutes before I
could talk, I felt like my body had just been run over and drug
through the mud. I could tell I was still in the tub, but I felt
much better. Almost completely better.

“That was weird, I’m still
alive though and I feel ok, other than having my body feel like it
just was ripped apart,” I said as I realized I was in the
tub.

“Jayden, you are alive and you
did make it through it, but I would say that your body was ripped
apart,” Sully said as she put her hand over her
mouth.

“What do you mean?” I said as
I looked around for Logan.

This isn’t permanent Jayden,
it’s just until you can figure out how to turn yourself
back.

“What are you talking about I
feel fine,” I said as I tried to stand up and look down at my
feet.