by K.E. Rodgers
Chapter 5-
The world smelled different when she was in this form. The humans tried so hard to disguise the smell of her world, closeting themselves in their stale and temperate environments.
Kasa breathed deeply. This was the natural world, the smell of dying leaves and dirt, the scent of little critters buried in the soil or hiding in the trees. She would miss this when she had to return to school and to her disguise as a normal human woman.
Even though this was the city and not her native hunting grounds in the southern wilderness of Florida, there were plenty of marsh lands and forests here in the northern part of the state. Kasa had traveled along the St. John’s River with her father as girl, watching the men in the river boats fishing. It had been so quiet out there, restful and safe. There was too much congestion with the humans at home, drawing ever closer to her people, and many of her kind died from their carelessness.
Tonight, however, she wasn’t in the forests. Kasa roamed the city streets not caring that she was an animal; she loved her animal. She wasn’t a large cat, but still she had to be careful not to be too noticeable. It was dark enough and late enough now that she could skirt down narrow alleyways and tromp past the windows of late night bars and restaurants without making a fuss or scaring the humans. If they happened to catch a glimpse of her furry backside, they likely would past it off as something else. This was a haunted city after all. The night was full of otherworldly beings.