Set The World on Fire

I managed to get a few more belly rubs and a half of a cracker before Paul opened the back door and let me out of the restaurant. I waved bye to him and then let the mouse take over. She was the best one at playing hide and go seek, might as well let her have some fun.

"Do you think the bitch is ever going to come out?" demanded one of the males as I approached the ten wolves at the far end of the darkened alley. It was already 10 pm, and the only light around was a fading streetlight a few doors down.

Even the diner was dark, a way to let any potential customers know that we were closed for the day.

"Yeah, I have to be up early for school tomorrow," grumbled another one, stamping his feet from side to side. Humans did it when they wanted to warm up, but as a wolf, he was supposed to always be warm.

"Shut up!" hissed one of the males in charge. I think he was the alpha from the first table I had served. Man, could these people ever hold a grudge. "We have to teach her a lesson."

The other nine men shut their mouths and turned their attention back to the alleyway.

"Could she have gone out the front?" asked one of them quietly. There was a barrage of swear words as the wolves rushed around the front to see if that was the case.

Considering that I was watching them from the shadows, not even six inches away from them, I could only laugh at their antics. Mice were everywhere in the city, and so most of the predators and prey shifters went nose blind to our scent.

Then again, I was talking like there were a crap ton of mice shifters out there when so far, I was the only one I knew.

Oh sure, I had to have parents. I mean, there was no other way around it. Everyone and everything had parents.

But my earliest memory was of waking up in a nest of insulation in the attic of our town's library. I must have only been a few days old at that time, and I remember the hunger and thirst.

I don't know how I lived those weeks before Paul had found me. I remember making my way down through the walls and to the small staff kitchen, which smelled absolutely heavenly.

Managing to get my paws on a bit of crumbs, I stuffed them into my cheeks and wobbled away as fast as my little legs could carry me. Mind you, I tired out really quickly, and so I tried to find a good place to hide as I ate my contraband.

That was when Paul had found me.

He picked me up and took me home, and life had been pretty perfect since.

I laughed to myself as I ran down the streets, no longer caring about the wolves or anything other than enjoying the taste of freedom.

The first time I had shifted was a shock to everyone, let me tell you.

But here I was. Eighteen years old, no degree, no formal education, but already a multi-millionaire. No one knows that, of course, other than Paul.

I remember when I had sold my first patent. Paul had to act as the face of the patient since I was only about twelve at the time. But it was a tiny pill that managed to suppress a female's heat. That one was still bringing in a ridiculous amount of money since every other one on the market was nothing but a knockoff of my creation.

What could I say? I was a vivacious reader, and while I slept like 12 hours of the day, I did it in short bursts. That gave me a lot of time to research things, and the fact that I was a mouse meant that I could get into every building in the country without anyone noticing.

My mind was always a whirlwind of information or questions that I was desperate to know the answers to. And everything I did was to make my life and Paul's life better. I had tried to give him money; I felt bad for all the things that he had given me over the years.

He had taken me in when even my own parents didn't want to, bought me everything I needed as both a mouse and a girl, and took care of me when I struggled to take care of myself.

But no, he insisted on having me save every last penny that I had made. And so, I started to work in the diner, the dream that he and his late wife had envisioned but one she never lived to see.

I didn't tell him that I owned the building. I knew that his pride couldn't take that. So, every month when he paid rent, I simply slipped it into another account in his name for when he needed it.

That man was more patient, kind, and caring than any other shifter or human in the world. And I wanted to protect him.

He was the first one to call me Adaline. I guess he got the name from a woman who could never die. We watched the movie together one snowy night, and I could only shake my head.

Then again, I kind of like the name, Adaline. It seemed more exotic than my looks suggested. I had thick, long brown hair and bright green eyes. My features were small, and so was I… but that was more than fine with me.

Like my animal counterpart, I enjoyed blending into the background more than I probably should.

Paul would laugh every time I said that, assuring me that there was no way I blended into the background as well as I thought I did.

"Adaline, my Adaline," he would tell me as he stroked my fur. "You are destined to set the world on fire."

I would always shake my head at his words, not believing for a second. How was I, a tiny mouse, supposed to set the world on fire?