The Nine Lives of Felicia Miller (30 page)

“They’re hittin’ on somethin’, that’s for sure,” Ruby said. “Never heard them whine quite like that before.”

“Alright then, Ruby. Let’s hit the trail.”

Ruby unleashed the dogs and they took off after the scent.

Wiley looked back at Mandee. She was poised like a dominatrix before the local hunters. Satisfied that she’d at least delay their interference, he took off after Ruby and her hounds.

359

Felicia stopped to rest in a shady clump of brush deep in the woods. She had easily shaken the dogs in the early hours of the hunt, but as the night dragged on she grew weary, while the dogs seemed to get more determined.

The hounds were smarter than she had figured, and their noses were laser precise. They were somewhat confused at first, but soon ignored the misleading tracks she’d planted to follow her fresher scent.

Now they were dangerously close. Close enough for her to see the eyes of the hunter they were leading, even in the darkness. They were not the eyes of an ordinary man. They glistened with the same intensity she saw in her own wild eyes in the mirror.

Predator eyes.

The first faint rays of the sun were starting to glow on the horizon. Felicia needed to make her way back to the mirror, and the timing would be critical. With maybe a minute’s lead on the dogs, she had to get there just before sunrise, as close as she could possibly slice it.

She prayed that the transformation would happen quickly.
What if takes longer this time? I’ve never spent an entire day in cat form before. Will that make it harder to change back?

Something rustled in the brush nearby and she realized she’d lingered too long in one spot. Keeping low she darted through thorn-tangled bushes. Long nettles scratched her. It hurt but she couldn’t slow down.

Alarmed by her sudden movement but deterred by the tangles of thorns, the dogs started barking, and she could tell they were falling behind. The thick brush was working to her advantage. Even with her greater size, she was nimbler than her pursuers.

Now I just have to find my way back to the mirror…

Darting through the woods she suddenly heard voices nearby. Too late to stop she crashed through a shrub into a clearing and found herself face to face with a group of local hunters.

Shit.

They froze as they saw her, stunned to see an actual tiger face-to-face. Cursing them in her head, Felicia turned and ran for cover in the woods. The men started firing and yelling excitedly.

“Goddammit!” shouted Wiley as he heard the volley of gunfire. Realizing they probably spooked the cat.

Felicia moved quickly but stealthily. The woods were too crowded for her comfort. She caught glimpses of hunters through gaps in the thick brush, sweeping the woods with their flashlights.

It’s just like my dream. My nightmare.

“This way,” Ruby beckoned to Wiley as her dogs led her forward. He hurried to follow. The race for the kill was on.

Felicia saw the sky starting to brighten as the first rays of the sun peeked over the edge of the world.

Time is running out. I’m not going to make it!

There was thrashing in the woods all around her.

Felicia paused to think. Her mind was clouded. Animal instinct once again clashed with rational thought.

The barking of a dog just yards away forced her to make a move. Leaping past the canine she tore as fast as she could through the foliage, making one last evasive maneuver to mislead the trackers. She had to buy enough time to get through the transformation without being seen.

She plunged blindly through a massive shrub and skidded to a halt.

Bohannon was waiting, his rifle pointed right at her.

Her eyes went wide. Her brain locked up with a disturbing realization.
I’m dead.

But a roar like thunder startled the hunter and a huge dark shape sprang out of nowhere.
The bear swatted at the hunter’s gun, knocking it from his arms as he fired.

Then the bear fled, with the hunting dogs no longer sure who or what they should be chasing.

Elmo!

Heart racing with renewed hope, Felicia turned and sprinted towards the mirror.

A minute later she laid crouched low, eyes gazing, wet with terror, at their own reflection. She tried to shut out the sounds of the approaching dogs and the voices of the hunters closing in from all sides and to focus only on transforming.

Please God… don’t let it end like this.

The sun slipped suddenly skyward. The woods grew bright… then brighter still as flashlights swept the area, flashing through the dense brush as the hunters moved in toward Felicia from all sides.

But to her relief the familiar spasms finally started. And before anyone stepped into the tiny clearing and discovered her, she saw her human face appear in the mirror.

Thank God.

“What the—?”

Felicia looked up to see Bohannon staring down at her. Then Ruby appeared beside him. Then a local hunter. And another.

In seconds she was surrounded, with two dozen eyes staring down at her prone naked body.

Oh… shit.

Felicia reached for her bag to grab some clothing. But realized it was too late.

359

“I don’t know what to say, I’m flabbergasted.” Laurie Miller shrugged and threw up her hands. “How can you possibly explain being out in the woods without a stitch of clothing on? In the middle of a big hunt? In a place where people have been attacked by wild animals and others are roaming around looking to shoot the first thing that moves?”

“It’s not what you think,” Felicia said meekly, realizing there was zero chance of talking her way out of this one.

“What I think?” her mother responded, sputtering like her head might explode. “I’ll tell you what I think, young lady. I think our beautiful precious daughter is on drugs. That’s what I think. Either that or she’s totally lost her mind.”

“Honey, calm down.” Dear old dad was trying to be the voice of reason. But Felicia knew he could turn on a dime if she couldn’t concoct a reasonably sympathetic excuse for her behavior.

“I smoked some jimsonweed,” Felicia blurted, head bowed in faux regret. “I know it was a dumb thing to do…”

“Jimsonweed?” her father asked, “What is that, some new kind of drug craze? Is that the crap they sell in gas stations I saw on the evening news that turns people into zombies?”

“Oh my God, our little girl is a drug addict,” her mother sobbed. “I knew it.”

“No, it’s not a drug,” Felicia protested. “Just an old herb that’s been around forever. It was a stupid thing to do, okay? I admit it. It won’t happen again.”

“I should have known.” Her mother was more agitated than Felicia had ever seen her. “Did Crystal put you up to this? I knew we shouldn’t trust that girl. It’s always the quiet ones that turn out to be the worst.”

“Crystal had nothing to do with it! She didn’t know anything about it. I just used her as an excuse to sneak away. Don’t blame anyone but me. I saw the weed growing in the woods one day and knew it would get me high. I just got more than I bargained for.”

“More than you bargained for? You’re lucky you didn’t get killed. There was a bear in the woods that day, in case you didn’t hear the news. And some kind of big wildcat was spotted out there as well. Now they’re thinking the bobcat they killed on the first hunt wasn’t the thing that attacked those poor boys. Those woods are infested with big wild animals.”

“How could you take such a chance?” her father chimed in. “Don’t you realize how dangerous it is to fool around with illegal drugs?”

“I told you it’s not a drug. It’s perfectly legal.”

“So is swallowing broken glass but you wouldn’t do that would you?”

“Don’t give her any ideas,” her mother said curtly. “Who knows what stupid thing she might try next.”

Bitch!
Felicia thought, riled. An involuntary sound rolled from her voicebox. A soft growl that started growing in volume. She saw the puzzled reaction on her father’s face and took a sudden breath to cut off the sound. Then she faked a cough to cover it.

They stared at her peculiarly. Not sure what they just heard. “Maybe we should get professional help,” her father said nervously.

“I don’t need a psychiatrist. It was just a stupid incident. It won’t happen again.”

“We might have no choice here, young lady,” her mother snapped, “It isn’t just our opinion you have to worry about. The whole town is talking. And the Sheriff will be coming over later to discuss this.”

Oh shit.
Felicia remained silent. There was no point in trying to plead her case. With the town gossips yacking, she’d be lucky if her folks didn’t decide to just pack up and move out of town.
Can’t have that. My work’s not finished here.

“Now go to your room and count your blessings. This could have ended in tragedy. You could have been shot or eaten by a bear. Or God knows what else.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Felicia lowered her head and headed up to her room.
I’m a total idiot. I didn’t help Granny. All I did was delay the inevitable. And bring unwanted attention on myself.

359

“Well, you’ll be happy with this news,” Laurie greeted Felicia as she came down for Sunday breakfast. “Your old pal Mrs. Dola turned up alive and well.”

“What?” Felicia felt a burst of sunlight in her soul.

“And just in time, too. They were planning to tear down her house for some new development. She came back just in time.”

Ohmigod. It worked!
Felicia’s plan to delay the demolition and give Granny one last chance had paid off just as she’d planned. Before heading into the woods to transform into a tiger, she had visited Granny’s house to return Granny’s mirror to its place on the wall, glued back together like a jigsaw puzzle.

Granny came back and found it. She was able to transform back—thanks to me.

But what about Elmo?

“Was there a boy with her?”

“Boy? I didn’t hear anything about any boy. Is that why you’ve been hanging out there?”

“I haven’t been hanging out there. And no, he’s not my type. He’s too young to be interested in girls anyway.”

“I don’t know. These days…”

Felicia was relieved when her father joined them.

“Well, it’s nice to see my two favorite girls having a pleasant conversation for a change.”

Laurie handed him a plateful of scrambled eggs and a cup of coffee.

“She’s not off the hook yet,” she said, “But I did talk to Sheriff Sutter and he was very understanding. Especially when I reminded him that he was a father, and should understand how difficult it is to be a parent these days.”

“Good move, honey. If anybody knows about that, it should be Owen Sutter. What with his incorrigible brat.”

“He still wants to have a word with Felicia. So, my dear, I’ll pick you up from school tomorrow and we’ll go straight to his office.”

“Do we have to?”

“Yes, we have to. Maybe next time you’ll think twice before doing something as stupid and dangerous again.”

Maybe,
Felicia thought.

Or maybe next time I just won’t get caught.

359

Felicia strode down the school hallway with her head held high. A soothing tune played in her earpods, but it barely put a dent in the bestial fury blazing in her heart.

She stared boldly at the students who dared to look her way. Eyes glistening at her with amusement quickly darkened, cowed by some intangible power emanating from her.

The gossip-fueled gawkers melted against their lockers, bowing their heads like peasants in awe of a passing queen. Their eyes now matched the beady orbs of the tiny creatures she saw in the woods. Instinctively frightened, with no sure reason why.

Nelson took a step from behind Wally and gazed at Felicia with a mixture of lust and confusion. Rumors of her naked antics in the woods had fueled fresh fantasies in his hormonally overloaded mind, and her sensuous glide through the crowded hallway did nothing to ease his desire.

Wally felt an intangible fear, and with it anger. He wasn’t used to living without mindless self-confidence. He’d spent most of his life feeling invincible. A delinquent demigod. A partying juggernaut, free to exploit anyone in his orbit for his own personal pleasure.

Now this interloping female, who by all reasonable assumption should have been crushed by the abuse he’d orchestrated on her, was defiantly parading around like she owned the school. Worse still, he couldn’t shake the crazy feeling that she was somehow tied in with the animal attacks on him and his pals.