The Reaction

“Freya is everything okay?”

“I’m not sure yet, Gin. Give me more time to alert you here, and I will let you know.” Then she shut down but didn’t leave. She just stayed there without saying anything.

We walk into the cafe and look around the place. My skin is feeling all weird and tingle. I can’t explain it. But Freya is roaring in my head and it is starting to hurt. I grab Jon’s arm and he looks at me and goes ghost white.

“Sable, I have to get Ginger out of here to the small woods behind the cafe. Stay here and order her something heavy. She is going to need it. I will explain when we get back,” Jon said as he rushed Ginger out the door.

Jon and I are in the woods and I’m freaking out.

“Ginger I need you to breathe. It seems that you are about to shift.”

“Let your panther lead the way. Just picture what she looks like and let it happen, but you'll get undressed so you won’t tear your clothes and have something to wear once you turn back.”

I do what I’m told and start to undress. I scream in pain and I hear Freya telling me she is sorry for the pain but it should only hurt the first time. While Jon is telling me to breathe and just try to relax. I am trying to do what both are telling me. Then I am on the ground panting for breath when I go to stand up and I realize I am on four legs.

“You are lovely as a person but you are beautiful as a panther,” Jon stated

All I could do was roar at him and he had me walk around for a little while so I could get used to this form. It felt weird at first but it became second nature after a while. I stayed like that for a half an hour. Then I changed back into my human half. It was easier to change back then when I changed for the first time.

“That was painful.”

“The first time is always the worst. It will get easier the more you do it.”

“Yeah, that is what Freya said to me as well.”

“Who is Freya?”

“Freya is my panther and she is feisty.”

“When did you realize that you had her?”

“She came to me in a dream and told me that she had been with me now for a few months but I was ignoring her but I thought I was going crazy. In the dream, I was told for some reason the binding spell stopped working and I don’t need to do the spell that Mom thought I would have to do.”

“Well that’s a good thing then we can start your trying. Let’s head back, I’m sure you're hungry.”

We both walked back to the cafe without another word to each other. I saw my Mom and Nigel sitting in a booth with food waiting for all of us. They were already eating and looked up at me when I got close to the table. I sat next to Nigel and pulled the food Mom said was mine to me and started eating. We all finished up and started to walk towards the train station and that is when Freya got a whiff of something that she didn’t like.

“Gin there is something that smells off. I am unsure where it is coming from, but I can tell it’s near the station.” Freya was telling me

“Jon, Freya was telling me she smells something off and it’s coming from the train station. She is going nuts in my head.”

He looked at me and took a big whiff of the air. Then he smelled what Freaya smelled, and she let out a growl, but only we four heard him.

“I can smell it too. All of you stay near each other. I’m going to sneak around and check things out. You guys act like nothing is happening and head for the ticket booth and check in if it is ready for you to board then get on the train.”

“What about you?”

“I will catch up when it is safe and I am sure your guys are not being followed.”

He took off one way while we continued to go just like we were. Freya stayed on alert, and Mom and Nigel were on guard. We kept our eyes open, and I listened for anything out of the ordinary. We made it to the ticket booth and checked in, and we turned to get on the train because they said we could board. I looked to my left and saw someone watching us, but I couldn’t tell who it was. It was like they were cloaking themselves.

“Freya do you think the cloking person is what we smelled?”

“That is what I was thinking as well.”

Jon came in the room that we were all in and said he couldn’t find anything outthere. Which was funny because Freya and I did the minute we got close to the train.

“Jon, that is strange. Freya and I seen someone the minute we got close to the train. They were cloking themselves and they didn’t want to be known to everyone but they made sure that Freya and I seen them.”

“I wish you would have said something sooner, but I get that you are still learning all of this.”

Next thing we felt was the train moving. We all started to get comfortable while we had another five hours to go before we are home.