Eevee crouched in the undergrowth, watching the stalking big feline. It was stalking her. She did not think of how she had changed since she and Alecyn had arrived here. It had seemed natural, as though she had woken from a dream. The other place where she had been born was the dream. Now she was awake. It had not happened all at once. She had awoken slowly and had sensed the same awakening in Alecyn. But Alecyn was still clinging to the dream, denying the reality of the waking world. It was up to Eevee to help her see. She was fully awake now but still learning to flex her new muscles. She could remember a time in the dream when her awareness had been limited to her body. Now, she discovered places she could go where her body could not. She had run many paths since awakening.

She felt Alecyn calling to her again from the other place, where her spirit ran unencumbered by the physical form. But she had no time to find her. She had come close the last time when Alecyn had been talking with that being whose spirit shone like a beacon. But Alecyn had disappeared before she could make contact. She had learned much, though, from the Shining One that night.

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The creature had come close enough. She reached out along the Spirit Road. Unencumbered by the senses of her body, she was aware of the world as it really was. She could see the Kajani, too, in its true form. Its mind was a raging torrent of senses, instincts, overwhelming hatred, and bloodlust. She slowed it, soothed it, feeling it still under her ghostly touch. She imprinted a memory on Kajani’s mind without knowing how she had done it. A memory of playing with a mouse that danced on the end of a string as she batted it with her paws. The Kajani settled to the ground, muscles going slack, eyes closing. The mind beneath her touch quelled. She had used the same trick to lay a false scent trail in the hunters’ minds. She needed to help the humans and did it by instinct. Now, the skill was there in her mind, unlocked. She did not question these changes in herself. This world was where she was. And once she had found her own human, she would be content.

She stretched, yawned, and then resumed her run through the woods northwards, leaving the hunter dreaming behind her.