Storm

Chosen

I cannot get that scent out of my head. Oranges and caramel? Those aren’t a combination I would normally get worked up about, or even enjoy. I wish I could talk to Katria; she would be able to explain it to me. Until my birthday I can only communicate with her when she wants to come to my dreams, and she rarely does.

I stare at the ceiling in my bedroom at my father’s apartment. It feels oddly like home, the walls a light purple, just like my room back in the human town. I missed it, and I missed my friends, I don’t know when I’ll talk to them again.

My mind keeps wandering back to that scent. I’m too focused on it, I need to go to sleep. I settle into the pillows; I cannot get comfortable no matter what I do. I close my eyes and will myself to sleep.

*I reach out and try and touch him, my hand slides through him. He’s looking at me but looking through me. He’s beautiful, I can tell he’s my Chosen. The scent of oranges is overwhelming. I turn around and see her, caramel hits me like a wave. She’s reaching out for us, like she’s trapped and trying to break through to us. I have to save her; I realize that’s what he’s trying to do too. She is our Chosen.*

I wake up drenched in sweat, it’s midnight. My body is on fire, I feel like my skin is ripping apart. I must have screamed because my father bursts into my room, still wearing sleep on his face. Van follows behind with a baseball bat.

Storm, stay calm, this is going to hurt, but it’s necessary.

Katria, why, why now.

Our Chosen needs us sooner than expected, coming to the territory forced us to shift sooner.

“She’s shifting, we need to get her outside.” My father yells at Van. “It’s going to be a rough one.”

Van and my father grab me and carry me through the house. I can’t move, I can’t speak, but I can see. I see how casually Van and my father are talking, they’re acting as if this is normal. There is no way this can be normal; this is beyond the amount of pain anybody should be able to live through.

“Storm, can you hear me?” Anari asks calmly, “I know these hurts, it’ll hurt the first time shifting and shifting back. Don’t fight it, let your body do what it’s meant to do.” Her voice is calming, almost like a sedative. I relax slightly, as much as I can. I really do not have any control over my body anymore.

I’m fading in and out of consciousness, I feel like I’m going to throw up, I feel like I’m going to die. My bones are exploding, my skin is stretching, I’m not going to make it through this. This is hell.

“She wasn’t supposed to shift until her birthday, this is early.” Van is talking to everybody and nobody. He sounds panicked, I wish I could tell him about my dream, about what Katria said. “Dad what is going on?” He’s pleading for an explanation.

“Her Chosen is in danger, that’s the only reason a shifter would experience a change early. She needs to get through this.” Anari explains, she sounds like she knows from experience.

Everything stills, I feel my paws on the ground, they feel heavy, my body is covered in fur. A calm comes over me before all senses hit me in over-drive. I can smell everything, I can hear streams in the distance, I can feel the heat coming from my breath. Nothing feels right and everything feels right.

Let’s run.

That’s all I need to take off, I avoid the trees effortlessly, I run through the forest with ease. I hear wolves approaching.

It’s just your dad and brother, Anari stayed back to clean up.

Someone else is here.

I smell oranges and the notes of caramel.

Chosen.

Katria and I are in sync, we have to get to him, we change directions, running faster than we had before. A snarl escapes me as we pass my dad and brother. They stop dead in their tracks, they have a sense of understanding in their eye.

I reach the clearing near the apartment building, I shift back, not wanting to be a wolf when I meet my Chosen. I’m running, not fully aware of my surroundings, knowing I have to get to him.

I see him, the man from my dream, standing next to Anari. His eyes lock on mine and my world stops, we both whisper “Chosen.”