Chapter 28: Chapter Twenty-Eight--A Visit From An Angel

I wasn’t in the lake anymore. I blinked against the brightness that made my head ache, until it finally backed off.

“You’ve always been light sensitive. It triggers your migraines faster than any stress could.”

Half-blinded, my heartbeat erratically inside my chest. I knew that voice well as I had my own.

I had to blink several times to rid myself of the scotches over my vision. My yard came into view, but it wasn’t quite the same. I’d missed the green thumb gene my grandma and mother had possessed. I was lucky if I hadn’t killed dandelions—which I greatly loved watching in summer.

“You can’t be here,” I said.

“No. You can’t be here, with me. It isn’t supposed to happen this way.”

I turned my head.

Grandma lounged on our back porch of the old, downtrodden Victorian we’d owned since the late 1960s. Two icy glasses of her infamous lemonade sat on the wicker table between us.

I couldn’t escape the sensation we were currently mid-conversation. Although for the life of me, I hadn’t recalled the first part.

“My beloved child, there is only one answer to your question,” grandma said softly, in that elegant manner that was uniquely hers.

Warm hazel eyes watched my face.

My brow rose high. “What was the question?”

“The same one you asked me last night. The same one you will no doubt ask me tomorrow.”

I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt my time here was highly limited. So much I wanted to say, with no clue how to start.

“And that is?”

She patted my hand, then surveyed her well-maintained garden, and the black, green eyed house cat that batted a bee. “You must go to him. I understand all of this is new to you. But have I not told you that your destiny was always meant for greatness? I have seen it myself, in my mediations.”

“Who is he?”

She nodded at the house cat. Did we own one? “You know who he is, Kat. When you met him, you instantly recognized him as yours. He felt the same. You merely couldn’t relate at first, being human and all. Even my teachings weren’t enough to prepare you for a wild animal.”

I ignored the last part. “Prepare me for what?”

“Greatness.” She smiled kindly. “Leadership. To achieve more than you ever thought possible. And leave behind the past, once and for all.”

I’d looked away for a second. When I looked back, the housecat had quadrupled in size. His muzzle widened. The torso thickened. Intelligence and adoration shone in my direction.

“Leading who?” I murmured.

The constantly enlarging feline padded across the yard, and up the stairs. He sat on his hindquarters, then cocked his head and swatted a fly.

A thrill of familiarity shot me.

“Of his people. A pioneer in his way of life. You will inject a new era into that of his people, Katrina.” Grandma sipped her lemonade. The way she said my name tugged at my heartstrings. “Be a dear, Kalvyn, and get me my photo album.”

The cat purred. He began to change again. Horrific noises preceded the twisting and conforming of limbs. His eyes changed, muzzle shortened, and his shoulders widened. I screamed, though grandma didn’t bat an eyelash.

A human like man knelt in front of us. Quite naked. His gaze never left mine, so filled with emotion I was left speechless.

“Of course.”

His voice! I loved the sound of it, even though my panicked state

“Are you alright?” I said shakily.

He stood, a study of hard muscle. He walked to the table that hadn’t been there a moment before, collecting a well-used photo album. “Why wouldn’t I be, Katrina? Do you think I am not used to the shift after all these years?”

I winced, then glanced at grandma. She shouldn’t be looking at naked men! Yet, her unfaltering serenity calmed my frazzled nerves. Kalvyn the cat man handed her the album, then lowered himself to the porch to sit and lean against my feet. I petted his hair. This felt normal. Right. Why?

“Now, my beloved granddaughter. Do you remember this picture?” She held out the page.

I nodded. The two of us on the couch, her smiling, me frowning. I hadn’t smiled much back then.

“Do you want to know why you were always so miserable?”

Without prodding, I knew not to mention the obvious reasons. She’d taught me, and failed, to keep the past in the past, where it belongs. Only to look toward the future, which she claimed to see in her “visions” and “meditation.”

“I was unhappy.”

“Obviously,” she said. “You weren’t meant for the life society shoved in your face. Your heart knew that from the very beginning. Do you remember the dreams you used to have?”

“The nightmares about…”

“No, not about the past,” she mimicked my thoughts. “The other ones. In the forest. With the animals. The face that haunted you. You were happy in those dreams, because you were free.”

I scrunched my nose. “But they were only dreams.”

“Were they? Look at his face,” she said, and I did. “Study it. Those eyes that haunt you now, why do you think that is?”

Kalvyn smiled at me with a mixture of innocence and masculinity, a heady concept. He had looked very familiar. He rubbed against my knees.

“You knew all along that there someone out there for you, waiting.”

“For what?”

“To be ready, of course. To be claimed. To be one. Your gifts, what makes you special, told you that no matter how bad life got, a new horizon was waiting for you.”

My heart fluttered. I touched his face, ignoring the hazy edges of the yard that crawled toward us. Urgency infused me. I had mere seconds left with my grandmother. And I couldn’t look away from him.

“How bad life got,” I repeated.

Why had life been bad? Yes, mom went away. Yes, dad died. But that was a long time ago. What happened more recently though? The haziness sped up. I searched Kalvyn’s face, amenity pressing against my ribs.

“It’s all right, Katrina,” he said. “To remember. I am here for you, as I always will be. Nothing can harm you now.”