Change

6

LATER THAT EVENING, alone in my small apartment, I felt lost. The shock was starting to wear off and I wandered through the place on auto pilot, not really thinking about what I was doing. I took a long shower, cleaning off the grime from the trail. Though I couldn’t see anything, I felt like I was covered in sweat and dust. The hot water helped to clear my mind. 

It was while I was shaving my legs in the shower that I noticed the pinkish marks I’d shown Bill just a couple of hours earlier, all that had been left from the snake bite at the time, had disappeared. My skin no longer bore any trace of the event that had changed my life forever. I had mixed feelings about that, a part of me thought there should be a physical mark left after such a life-altering event, but another part was just glad not to be reminded of it every time I saw the scar. 

I went to bed early, completely exhausted. I quickly fell asleep, but my sleep was restless. I dreamt of snakes, wolves, and snakes that turned into wolves and spoke to me. I woke several times trying to escape the disturbing dreams. More than once I could have sworn I heard something, things that I knew I couldn’t possibly be hearing. Voices, conversations in the apartments surrounding mine, footsteps in the gravel that surrounded my building two floors below my apartment. 

Each time something woke me, I would hold still and listen closely for a moment, trying to hear the sound again but hearing nothing. It was like the sounds kept disappearing. I told myself I was imagining things and after a while I just ignored whatever had woken me and rolled over and went back to sleep. 

Despite having gotten into bed early, I ended up sleeping late the next morning. The restless night left me groggy. I got up and started moving around late that morning, but I wasn’t really thinking about what I was doing. I was planning to meet my friend, Isabel, for lunch and then together we were going to go shopping. I wanted to look for some new boots to go with the shorts I planned to wear dancing that evening. My mind was on my plans for the day and what shops I wanted to check for the boots I had in mind as they might be difficult to find in the area.

Absently, I reached into the cabinet and grabbed a glass, I was filling it with water in the sink when it shattered in my hand, splashing water and glass all over the sink and leaving a small shard of glass embedded in my palm at the base of my thumb. All thoughts of shopping gone, I gingerly pulled the tiny piece glass free and dropped it into the sink with the rest of the pieces. I stuck my hand under faucet and used the still running water to wash the excess blood away from the cut so I could see exactly how bad it was.

I wondered briefly if this was something that I could deal with myself or if I needed to call someone for help. What I could see of the wound told me the cut wasn’t large, but it appeared to be deep and it was bleeding quite a bit, though not spurting. I decided to try applying pressure to the wound and see if the bleeding stopped. If it didn’t after a few minutes, then I’d call someone. I pulled a clean napkin from the drawer next to the sink and wet it so I could check the wound, without pulling any forming scab away, and covered the cut. I pressed my hands tightly together. Using my elbow, I slid one of the chairs away from my small dining table and sat down and waited. 

After two or three minutes, I gingerly lifted the corner of the cloth off my palm. Turning my hand until the light hit it, I about fell out of my seat when I realized that not only had the bleeding stopped, but there was no longer any sign of the cut. Unable to believe what I was seeing, I went to the sink, washed the quickly drying blood from my hands, and checked again. Sure enough, there was no sign at all where the glass had cut me. I went into my bedroom where I had plugged in my PCD when I unpacked my backpack the night before and called Bill. 

I heard the line ringing on the other end and hoped he would answer. A wave of relief washed over me when I heard the deep rumbling, “Hello?” on the other end. My knees sagged and I sat on the edge of my bed.

“Bill? It’s Nickie.” I heard a slight tremble in my own voice

“Hello, Nickie. How are you doing this morning?”

“Honestly, I’m a little freaked out right now.”

“Oh? What’s happened?” 

“I accidentally broke a glass this morning, apparently I just squeezed it too hard.”

“I should have warned you about that, I hope you weren’t hurt.”

“Well, that’s kind of the thing. I was, but I’m not.” I was on the verge of rambling but I managed to keep from blurting out everything running through my mind.

“All right… care to elaborate?” His voice was calm but concerned.

I took a deep breath and let it out, trying to calm myself. 

I recounted the accident, telling him how I had treated the wound, then continuing with, “Like it had never happened. I might have thought I had imagined it, except there was still blood all over my hand and on the cloth. Am I losing my mind?”

“Not at all, small wounds heal quickly for most of us, but for it to be gone that quickly, it could mean you’ll be a fast healer, which can be both good and bad.”

“What do you mean?” 

“Well, I mean that it’ll take a lot to hurt you seriously, which is good. But it can also put the secret of the Kitsune at risk. If a human sees a wound or injury and then hours or days later it’s gone, the secret could get out. Which, I’m sure you realize, wouldn’t be good.” 

“I see... is there someone I should see about this?” 

“No, just continue as usual, but try to remember not to handle breakable things for a few days. Have you noticed anything else?”

“I would swear I was hearing things last night, it woke me several times, but I thought it was just my imagination...”

“What kind of things?”

“People talking inside my neighbor’s apartments, the gravel in the courtyard crunching underfoot, but my apartment is on the third floor. There is no way I could actually be hearing those things.”

“You probably were hearing them. Your hearing is starting to adjust. Eventually, your hearing will be much closer to a wolf’s hearing than a human’s. 

“I didn’t even think about your living in an apartment. You’re now discovering why few of the Kindred live in apartments if they can help it. It’s difficult to keep from hearing things you’d prefer not to hear. 

“You broke the glass because it appears that you’re gaining strength already as well. Kindred tend to be much stronger than the average person. It will take some adjustment but you’ll get used to it. I’d suggest you take some time off work, a week or two would probably do. At least until you get used to your strength and hearing. You don’t want to call attention to yourself by breaking things or commenting on conversations you shouldn’t be able to hear.”

“I don’t really see any other option, so I guess I’ll go in first thing Monday morning and ask for some time off. We don’t have anything big on the schedule for the next week or two so it shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Good, if you get the time, come on over here when you leave the office and we’ll talk about how things are going. If you can’t get the time, just call and let me know.”

“Will do. Thanks for answering all my ditsy newbie questions.”

“Not a problem. I’m really glad you’re handling this so well.”

“Well, what are my options? Go crazy? Have a nervous breakdown?” I laughed.

“Pretty much.”

“No thanks. Not my style. Oh, I was gonna ask. Should the snake bite have healed completely already?”

“You mean to a scar?”

“No, not even a scar. It’s totally gone.”

“Hmm, it’s a little faster than I expected, but not unheard of.”

“Nothing’s wrong then?”

“No. Not with the healing, or anything else that I’m aware of. Just be careful handling breakable objects for a while until you learn to control your growing strength.”

“I will. I guess I’ll talk to you later then. Bye.” 

“Bye,” Bill said. I hit the end button to disconnect the call before I set down my PCD and went to clean up the mess I’d left in the sink.