Inkeiniar
CHAPTER TWO: WHEREVER I MAY ROAM
I need to get to England as quickly as possible, so I called my boss and told him that my distant family in England was having a reunion and that I needed to be there. Luckily he bought the bullshit story and I was free for as long as I needed – I had one of those jobs where you could take as many days off as you wanted thanks to an overload of workers.
But was I going to be able to get a boarding pass to England for today?
I almost literally flew down the stairs and into the computer chair. It may be 2292, but I like old-fashioned things. I looked up the first flight to England. The next one left in two hours. I heard my ticket/boarding pass arrive from the mail drop above the door and ran up the stairs to catch it, then ran up the rest of the stairs.
I was completely packed in about 45 minutes. I sighed and looked at my huge bag in triumph. I leaned down and pressed a small button on the handle, then stood back. The huge bag shrunk and turned into a backpack. Hey, it's the future; the bags are bottomless when they need to be. I threw a few extra things into the bag on my way to the door and called to Dagger. Slinging the bag over my shoulder, I opened the door and headed out with Dagger at my heels. I closed and locked the door, set the alarm, and set the DNA scanner to prompt anyone—anyone—trying to come into the house. Turning to look at the hovercar in the driveway. I decided driving would take too long. It had been a while since my last Transformation; this neighborhood was littered with people who didn't like anything out of the ordinary and they would surely notice a large wolf wandering around. I didn't go out into the neighborhood either because of my ears and tail. But my mind was made up. I had to do it.
Luckily there is a thick grove of trees in my yard filled with a lot of underbrush. I set my bag down on the ground and leapt into the underbrush. Then the Transformation began. I stripped off all my clothes and set them in a pile, then closed my eyes. To Transform I had to visualize myself in my wolf form, then say a few words in Latin.
"Confite confessus tui specialis procul sibimet," I whispered in a firm tone, opening my eyes at the last word. My eyes had become those of a wolf. After a brief moment of pain that seemed like a lifetime I stood up. But not on two legs; on four. I was now a large silver wolf with black on the backs of my ears, some black on my sides, back and tail, and black paws. Picking up my clothes in my muzzle, I walked out of the trees and toward my bag. I put my clothes into the bag, then, with some difficulty, slung it over my back—stepping into one strap, launching it over my back by tossing my body, then stepping through the other strap.
I couldn't use the main road; someone would notice such a large wolf wandering around with a backpack on. There was a forest path behind the house, but that led the wrong way. I'd just have to take my chances with the forest. I trotted over to the back fence and leapt over it with ease. I hoped this would work…
A howl unlike any other escaped my throat and flowed into the air around me. It was different than any other howl I'd ever made and to add to the tension of the moment, I'd never tried this before; only heard of it being done.
You see, on a rare occasion a Wolfia will be born with special powers. At one point during my travels in the Rockies I had had a dream. A dream of a Wolf goddess appearing to me and whispering something about a special destiny to be fulfilled by the Chosen One, and that Chosen One had the rarest of all Wolfia powers. Nothing more, though… don't look at me like that; it's true. Oh well, it was just a dream.
Back to what I was doing. I had heard of some Wolfia being able to teleport to wherever they wish by making a certain howl. I did not know what that howl sounded like because each Telehowl was different. I continued my howl, thinking of the airport. The wind rushed at me for only a second, then stopped… and I opened me eyes.
There, in front of me, was the airport. I had done it. I could Telehowl.
Luckily no one happened to notice the large wolf that had just appeared in the empty lower level of the parking lot. Only a few cars were down here, all abandoned. But I couldn't take any chances. I ran for the elevator, entered, then closed it. Quickly I threw the bag off my back and Transformed back into my other form. I finished putting my clothes back on when the door opened on my floor. Slinging the bag over my back and throwing my hood up, I hurried to my flight deck.
I'm not one to draw attention to myself, but many people looked up at the hooded 21-year-old female running up to the flight deck as the doors opened for boarding. I handed the lady my ticket and boarded the plane.
About 15 minutes later the captain spoke over the intercom. Seeing as everyone's seated and ready to go and have been for about 5 minutes now, it's about time. "Flight 2266 to England will be leaving momentarily." He meant our plane, of course. I was suddenly very tired, so I took my music player out. The music players of the future have no headphones. Instead they have speaker settings for mute, private, or crowd listening. Headphones were thugy, anyway.
I leaned against the window of the plane and watched the wings unfurl—the planes were built more like birds now for faster flights. Soon, my eyes closed and I fell asleep.