NOT THE PUPPY I USED TO BE

22 FEBRUARY, MONDAY, CONTINUED

Deep inside the castle, the sound of battle became just a murmur. I found the kitchen - just like the washing house, the kitchen had really old walls, it even had a large black boiler with a blue fire in it, but the counters and ovens and hobs and vents were all state of the art - and even fancier than the stuff Ki had equipped our alpha house with. Like the washing house, the kitchen was empty too, and it looked like someone was baking bread because there was bread lined up on the counter on one side, but the counter on the other still had dough resting in large trays. This was the usual scene in our packhouse kitchen on Saturday nights. Unfortunately, I had no sense of smell to appreciate it. I checked the ovens for them, and managed to pull out a few loaves. They looked singed, but like I said, I couldn't smell it.

After my good deed (of saving bread), I did my best to turn off their ovens for them. As thanks, I helped myself to a loaf of bread. Fresh bread didn't taste like much when I couldn't smell it, but it was a little sweet and the texture was perfect. I was pretty hungry.

By the time I dusted off the last crumbs, I had wandered out of the maze of empty narrow corridors and found myself on plush carpets. It was dark, but I could see the dark shapes of flowers and vases and framed pictures on the wall, heavy drawn curtains, and dark chandeliers hanging like ghosts on the ceiling, and all the fancy stuff that looked like part of Henry's packhouse - but in various shades of dark.

I guess that's why "servants were like mice, running in the walls of their master's castles".

The landing widened to a row of identical doors, each spaced evenly apart.

{Trap} Boo warned.

Good. Now I wouldn't need to check behind every door. I made my way to the door somewhere off centered. Sigh, after all the effort to not stand out, Heller made the novice mistake of marking the right door with a trap. To his credit though, the trap was rather cleverly hidden. I wouldn't have found it if Boo had not warned me.

It was just against the door frame so a passerby wouldn't have walked into it. You had to really try to step through the door - or at least reached out your hand for the knob to turn it. Right there, was a metallic device - I could only see a credit card sized metal side slotted between the door and the frame. On closer inspection, the rest of the door had the same credit sized metal card slotted around it.

That was really the only thing different about this door. I checked the door next to it, and it was normal. Then I went back to the trap. How should I do this? I didn't even know what this trap would do. I looked around, but found nothing else suspicious above or under me.

I had nothing except the clothes on me. I plucked out a rose from a conveniently nearby vase. I wasn't aiming for the rose, I randomly picked and was surprised by the weight and size of the flower. It was like the size of a full teacup - and roughly the same weight too. The stem was as thick as my index finger, but it was still somewhat weighed down. I stuck the rose head first at the door.

A bright flash of light silently zapped across the door in four sections. The rose was shredded into pieces.

Nice. I should ask Heller for something like this.

No, wait... it would be an awful mess to clean if someone actually walked into it.

Anyway, there was no way I could avoid any of the four sections where the metal plates were slotted. I couldn't jump or ducked. And I definitely couldn't reach out for the knob without my hand being pulverized into ribbons. Was that like a laser? Magic? The rose on the ground was neatly cut into tiny strips.

Maybe we could use it in the kitchen to shred lettuce and vegetables for the fancy stuff Ki liked to cook.

I walked back to the next door and checked it again, just in case. Then carefully, I reached out and turned the knob. The door opened and I stepped safely into the next room. This room looked like a sitting room, but the walls were surrounded by books. I could go out the windows... oh! How convenient! There was a balcony just outside! I went over to the sliding doors and realized, opps... this was the "front" of the building that I first came to.

Wait, all the time, and all I did was come back to where I started?

Okay, never mind, focus. I needed to get to the next room. So near, yet so far. I went back to the wall of books separating us. If it were just a normal wall, I would have broken through it, but I was taught from a young age to be careful with books - particularly ancient lycan hand-painted books, which these books were. Heller had quite a collection. Then again, maybe these books weren't ancient at all. Maybe these were the number on bestseller here. I wouldn't know.

And then I had a brilliant idea. I let my hair kraken, and using it like the metal whips that they were, I shot them out and grabbed at the center shelf and pulled it hard. If I could just pull off the shelf, it would fall over the books (thus protecting them) while exposing the wall for me to get through. And no, don't ask how I planned to break through possibly stone walls. One step at a time.

To my utter surprise (and delight), it worked. the heavy old bookcase came crashing down like an old tree. What didn't exactly work was the way the books didn't fall neatly with the shelf, a lot of it started falling off way before the shelf did, so the shelf just landed on top of a book pile. Here's hoping those books weren't mint collector items, huh?

The other surprise was that there was no wall between the rooms. The bookcase had come down so readily not because it had to bow to my awesome strength, but because it was a secret entrance to the next room. Now that I had ripped it apart, I could see the gears and the gaps in the floors and the real wall where the bookcase would turn for someone to step through.

I stepped through feeling quite foolish about tearing apart a perfectly good and cool hidden door and was surprised again - three in a row! Adelina was standing in front of her mother, a bow in hand, the arrow anchored and pointing directly at me. I raised my hands, "Hey, its me, Adelina. Don't shoot."

Adelina relaxed her hold on the bow, but she did not lower it, "What are you doing here?"

"I dream traveled here so I thought I'd ask your dad what's taking him so long to come for fluffy." I shrugged, "If he doesn't come take him back soon, I might decide to keep him."

"My son? Are you the goddess my mate told me about?" Heller's mate stepped out from behind Adelina.

"She isn't the goddess." Adelina said, "And look at the trouble she brought!"

"It wasn't me!" I flared my innocence, "Heller said he was careless all on his own!"

"Humph." Adelina said, refusing to put down the bow, "Why are you wearing my clothes?"

"Why are your clothes all pink?" I never imagined Adelina to be that kind of girl.

Adelina looked confused, she narrowed her eyes, they glowed a little brighter to see in the darkness, "Why are they pink?"

Now her bow was lowered.

Her mum had other concerns though, "Adel, that's no way to speak to your brother's savior."

"Yeah! Plus, I'm here to protect you too!" I added.

"How is my son?" The mother asked.

How should I answer that?

"He has exams this week." I told her, and quickly added so she would not have to suffer more worry than she already had, "But don't worry, Fluffy likes to study."

"Study?" The mother looked lost.

"He goes to high school with me right now." I said, "That's where kids go to learn stuff from teachers..."

"We know what a school is." Adelina informed my dryly.

"Oh." I had always thought the Colored Mountain was too cool for school. Why would anyone go to school if there were grand masters to learn from and exciting adventures to discovery oneself from?

"What kind of boy has my son grown up to be?" The mother asked again.

"Urm..." I tried to think of the right way to explain it, "Fluffy is special. He doesn't really know how to talk normally..."

The mother's face fell.

"Uh... but he's getting better at it everyday! He's always smiling, and has good friends. He is serious and sensitive, and likes to read..." I tried to reassure her.

"He sounds like a nerd." Adelina muttered under her breath.

"Ah no!" I don't know why, but it felt important that Fluffy's little sister didn't think he was a nerd, "The girls all say he's very good looking. And a lot of girls in school like him. He's also strong and fast and fun to run with."

"Do you like him?" Adelina narrowed her eyes at me.

"Of course I like him!" And then I realized what she meant, "Oh! No! I mean, not like that. My mate is hotter."

Suddenly, the mother laughed, it was a gentle laugh which made me think of spring flowers. I don't know why. Was that her wolf power? To laugh like spring flowers?

"Thank you, young alpha." There were tears in her eyes, "It seems I would never see him again, but I'm glad he can be happy where he is."

I shook my head, "You're going to see him. Don't worry!"

And seriously don't cry! When Fluffy's mother cried, it made me think of the rain in spring.

Suddenly an explosion went off - but this time, it was right in front of the balcony, the windows shattered. Adelina screamed. My hair moved with lighting speed, picking up and throwing the heavy coffee table straight at whatever had leaped out of the explosion towards us. I was like an octopus or something. Even while throwing the table, the rest of my hair shielded the ladies and myself.

Then my hair flung the sofa - even before the dust could settle. I mean, you see it on TV all the time right? The bad guy would walk out of the explosion, but the good guys would all just stand there squinting into the cloud of debris.

After the sofa, I threw the armchair. I kind of got why they didn't throw things blindly into the fray - its not like I could actually aim at anything. But I had a lucky sense of direction. The armchair incited a lycan swear word, one that I recognized because Bell liked to use it too. I recognized the voice, Tori! And even better - I knew where he was. I ran out of large items, so I threw a pillow.

"Oooofff!" Tori grunted.

Bullseye! I hit his face.

Next thing I knew, a bullet whizzed past my head. S***. I gave away my position too.

"Get to the next room." I told Adelina and her mum.

WTH - Adelina had a bow! But she was just standing there.

"GO!" I yelled, my hair flared. More bullets whizzed out of the cloud, from the direction, I could tell Touru was darting to a new position every time he shot.

Adelina's mum grabbed her by the arm and dragged her away.

This was the difference between the good fighter with experience, and a good fighter without experience. Adelina's posture with the bow had been perfect. Coach Emerson would have approved. Once upon a time, I had been just like that - well, not with the perfect archery pose, but I was training to fight since a pup, but I didn't have the experience.

Once upon a time was just a few months ago.

But now, I've shifted, I've fought... I'm not the same puppy I used to be.