Raven Saga 01 - Raven

both heard a noise from indoors.
    It dawned on Oliver that I was not alone. He knew I was hiding something and I had no explanation. I was mortified.
    “Oh God, Lilly. Are you seeing someone else?”
    “No, of course not,” I whispered in response, though not convincingly enough for him. If only I could just tell him the truth.
    Suspicion got the better of him and he pushed open the front door and walked in, “So who is he, Lilly? Is it someone I know? Someone from school?”
    I repeated over and over again that there was nobody else but he just didn't believe me. He walked into the living room and when he saw two plates and two glasses, he knew, for sure, that I certainly wasn't on my own.
    “Oliver, please don't do this. Of course I'm not seeing anybody else. You're the only one,” I sobbed.
    “Then why all the secrecy, Lilly? Why have you been avoiding me for the past month or so?”
    Again I was speechless, there was nothing I could say.
    When I heard the front door slam, I knew that Sammy had made a run for it.
    Oliver followed and I was terrified that he would see him. I tried to grab him but I wasn't quick enough.
    I followed hot on his heels and knew that he had seen the man leaving the house.
    “Who are you?” shouted Oliver.
    I watched in horror as Sammy turned slowly and the realisation hit Oliver smack in the face.
    “But you're... you're a murderer. You're Sammy Morton. Oh my God, what the...? Wings?,” he said. Something clicked within Oliver then and I could see that he was going to try to catch him.
    “No, just let him go Oliver,” I yelled as loud as I could, running faster than I'd ever ran before, chasing after them. The two men that meant the world to me. It was then that something extraordinary happened to me.
    As I ran, I could feel a dramatic change within me. A fierce pain shot through my entire body, stopping me dead in my tracks. I screamed out in agony and at the same time noticed that Oliver had stopped abruptly and turned to see why I had yelped so loudly. For a moment, Oliver became the least of my problems as I felt my body trying to shut itself down. It was trying to black out. I fought the feeling to lose consciousness and remained awake throughout the process in which my body began to radically change beyond all recognition.
    I had been wondering when this would happen but had not prepared myself for the fact that it might happen during the most inopportune time. Why, oh why did it have to happen while Oliver was there?
    The ferocity of the pain continued to attack my every pore and I felt as though I wanted to die, and although it felt like this change took a long time, I knew deep down that it had almost been instantaneous.
    I knew then that I was no longer the innocent young fourteen-year-old girl that had been chasing after Sammy and Oliver in the forest. And as I looked down, I saw the full extent of my new self. I saw that in place of my long pale arms and legs were four limbs of a completely different nature. Long, lean, incredibly strong and covered in soft black fur, I knew that my change into a feline was complete. Judging from my size, I realised that I wasn't your average house cat but a much larger animal. To my horror, it dawned on me that I had become one of the most fierce feline creatures in the region. I had morphed into a black mountain lion and I will never forget the look of absolute terror on Oliver's face at the sight of me. It would haunt me forever.
    I had no idea what to do. For some reason I had not questioned Rose enough about the physical changes that happen during a transformation and we had certainly never discussed what I should do when it did occur.
    After witnessing Sammy fly off into the distance, Oliver had then seen me become something terrifying, especially in his eyes. I watched as the utter shock of it all caused him to collapse right in front of my eyes.
    Terrified that the shock had killed him, I rushed to his side and put my head above his mouth. I could feel his breath and his heartbeat was strong yet incredibly fast – I could hear and almost feel the rhythmic beating without even touching him. I dared not touch him in case he suddenly awoke. That would be an even greater shock, I was sure of it.
    I came to the conclusion that he had most likely fainted. He needed to be taken back to the house but, being on four legs I knew I couldn't do it myself. I had no choice but to call out to Sammy and hope that he was merely hiding