With a heavy sense of dread, an uneasy Selina quietly left the bedroom, softly closing the door behind her, leaving Clara slumbering peacefully, oblivious of her aunt’s disquiet.
Chapter Twelve
The last thing Clara wanted to do a few hours later was drag her tired brain out of bed to revise. Selina had made a large breakfast and then said she had to go to the village on an errand.
Over lunch, she and Selina discussed the previous night’s events. Through Clara’s retelling from her perspective, Selina was able to confirm her suspicions about Clara’s control over the Gypsies’ dogs. Her aunt reported that there was talk in the village that the Gypsies had set up camp at the back of the woodland and would most likely be there for a few days.
“We should be fine, though,” said Selina. “As long as we stick to the village in the evenings. The Gypsies should stay near their own camp at night, so there’s no reason to worry about bumping into them again.”
Clara reflected on this. She would’ve liked the opportunity to observe the Gypsies with a view to getting a head start on breaking the curse; however, her fear of getting into trouble in animal form outweighed her curiosity, so she reluctantly agreed with her aunt’s suggestion of giving the Gypsies a wide berth. It did remind her, though, that she wanted to get more information from her aunt about the curse and Clara considered how she might broach the subject in such a way that Selina would discuss it with her, having refused to before. She wasn’t able to create an opportunity, however, before nightfall.
That night, under a clear sky and the brightest full moon that Clara had yet seen, she and her aunt went out to the garden and sat quietly on the garden wall for a few minutes. They both reached out with their minds to see if they could sense if the Gypsies, or any other humans, were anywhere close by.
Clara widened her senses in a broad circle and felt a buzz of electricity run through her as the many and varied animals that were out of sight in the woods entered her mind. She narrowed her focus to try and identify particular species. She couldn’t sense any dogs nearby, which suggested that it was unlikely the Gypsies were around. She could sense an intriguing new type of creature, though, one not found near her own home.
“It’s a badger set,” Selina murmured, sensing Clara’s curiosity.
Clara was delighted and focused all her senses on the badger family, sensing at least six individual creatures. Some of them were searching for food and some of them were playing, joyfully, glad to be out of the set for a while.
“If they feel safe enough to play outside then there are not likely to be humans nearby,” Selina murmured. Clara nodded in agreement.
“Well, I don’t know about you Clara, but it all seems quiet out there, what do you think?” Selina asked.
“I think I agree Aunt Selina,” replied Clara.
“Let’s get this show on the road, shall we?” and Selina eased herself off the wall.
They undressed and then, by mutual consent, closed their eyes and transformed. When Clara opened her eyes, she found herself feeling a bit disoriented about being so small and close to the ground. Scrutinising her body, she could tell that the transformation had worked correctly and that she was now the cat that she’d pictured.
“Meow,” she said to the big fat tabby cat that was her aunt. Clara was delighted that the transformation had worked so quickly in this new form. The tabby “Meowed” back with pride.
Walking around the side of the cottage, Clara caught a glimpse of her reflection in one of the windows. She stopped for a moment to admire her sleek and attractive cat self. She had chosen to be like a cat she’d seen on the TV and admired. She had a round face and short thick fur that was a dark grey/blue colour. She’d reasoned that being a dark colour would be harder to spot at night.
Clara had to run down the lane to catch up with Aunt Selina. She felt very light-footed and was aware of an agility not previously felt in any of her other forms. She couldn’t wait to test it out.
She soon discovered that one disadvantage of being small, though, was an inability to travel quickly through long grass. Selina was taking her along one of the side roads into the village, the road was single track, edged on both sides by a narrow verge of long grass next to hedges that bordered fields of sheep and cows. Clara realised why her aunt had chosen this uncomfortable route when the sound of an approaching vehicle made them freeze.
A car roared passed them, the speed and massive size giving Clara the fright of her life. The car was gone in a flash of headlights, leaving behind a very nervous Clara, who spent the rest of the journey hugging the hedgerow, jumping at every noise and frequently glancing over her shoulder. She was relieved when they reached the edge of the village in one piece.
Not far into the village was the village square. On one side of the square was a public house, which was doing a roaring Friday night trade. It was brightly lit, and music and laughter blared out whenever anyone opened the door. Aunt Selina and Clara went along the opposite edge of the square and then Selina jumped up on to a wall and started walking along the top. Clara paused for a moment and then followed her aunt. With her cat agility, the leap up the wall didn’t pose a problem and she felt much more secure now that she was higher up. After they’d been walking along the wall for a while, though, Clara noticed that it was a lot deeper on one side than the other. The drop made her dizzy and all at once, her confidence deserted her. I’m so high up, she thought, her knees turning to jelly. As a human she would’ve been able to reach up with her hand and touch the top of the wall, but, as a cat, it seemed a long, long way to the ground.
Realising her niece had stopped; Selina turned back and meowed at her. Clara looked at her aunt, who seemed a long way away, and found she couldn’t move. She was frozen with fear. Selina meowed again and Clara felt her aunt nudging her mentally. Her aunt seemed to be suggesting that Clara should trust her cat instincts and let go of her fear. That’s easier said than done, she thought fretfully. But she couldn’t persuade her legs to move. She was stuck. She couldn’t go forwards or backwards and, whenever she looked down at the ground, she became lightheaded and saw spots in front of her eyes. She closed them tightly. Then Clara heard a sound coming from behind her. Footsteps. Someone was walking along the pathway next to the wall. Someone with a nasty cough.
The fear of falling to the ground and injuring herself warred inside Clara with the fear of being caught by a stranger. After a few moments, with the footsteps getting ever closer behind her, the fear of being caught won out and Clara found herself running along the wall towards Selina. At the end of the wall, her aunt jumped deftly to the ground and squeezed underneath a parked car. Not even considering the implications of jumping such a height, Clara quickly followed suit.
Under the car Clara lay, quivering, snuggled up against her aunt for comfort. The coughing man soon walked past and continued on his journey without pause. After a while Clara’s quivering stopped.
Once Selina sensed that Clara had regained some self-assurance she stood up and started moving again. They explored doorways and windows and flowerpots and bins and, eventually, she brought Clara to the base of a tree. In front of Clara’s watchful eyes, Selina started to climb the tree. When she’d climbed part of the way up, she glanced back at Clara and meowed at her, clearly inviting her to come on up.
Clara moved back a few steps on the pavement and then took a running jump at the tree. She seemed to be doing well for a while, but then her momentum started to slacken and one of her back paws slipped. She found herself hanging on to a branch about fifteen feet up, with only the claws of her front two paws stopping her from falling to the hard, unforgiving pavement. Clara meowed desperately to her aunt for help. Selina, who was a few branches higher in the tree, meowed back, and again Clara felt the mental nudge that was her aunt soothing her nerves and telling her to trust her instincts.
Clara took a deep breath, her front claws had a good grip on the tree, and she slowly felt around with her hind legs f
or a strong foothold. Eventually one of her back paws made contact with the tree trunk and she hauled herself up onto the branch. Realising that her niece had taken about as much adventure as she could handle for one night, Selina came back down and joined Clara on the branch. They lay together for some time, companionably observing the comings and goings of the pub, noting the occasional person walking their dog for the last time that day. Clara found herself getting curious as to what was causing rustling sounds in the grass behind the tree, but her fear of falling off the branch dissuaded her from investigating too closely.
Sometime later, when the pub had closed and was all in darkness, Selina thought it’d be best to start making their way back home. She stood and stepped over Clara to get to the trunk of the tree. She then turned to make sure Clara was watching before descending lightly, and in a graceful manner, down to the ground. She then called up to Clara.
Clara rose unsteadily to her feet and tentatively made her way to the trunk. She’d watched the way Selina had descended from the tree and it seemed easy enough. She hopped shakily down to the next branch, and then down to the next, gaining a little confidence with each descent, until she came to the bit of the tree where the branches ended and there was about six feet of bare trunk between her and the ground. Clara took a deep breath, put her faith in the cat’s instincts and took off.
She was briefly aware of her claws on the trunk of the tree and then of the ground rapidly approaching. Eyes wide in fear, she saw her legs stretch out in front of her and she landed with a thud. A little shaken, but not hurt.
Selina rubbed up against her niece in approval and they trotted back out of the village towards the cottage. At this late hour there was no more traffic on the road, but Selina kept close to the verge, just in case.
On their return to the cottage garden, Selina and Clara sat on the wall for a few minutes once more to make sure that they were alone, apart from wild animals close by, before changing back into their human forms and wearily climbing the stairs to bed.
***
The following morning, with bright sunshine washing over them, Selina told Clara how proud she was of the progress that she’d been making.
“When I learnt about our gift,” Selina said. “I was a dog for months before I was able to try another animal. And I didn’t shape-shift from one animal to another for about a year. You’ve done both of those things in only a couple of months. Also, I pushed you hard last night to use your instincts and you overcame your fear and succeeded in doing so admirably. You’re doing so well.”
“Who taught you about your gift?” Clara asked, curiously.
“My father’s sister, my Aunt Phoebe taught me,” replied Selina. “She never married, and she lived with us, so that made things a whole lot easier. She was mentored by her aunt who also had the gift.”
“I remember you telling me that your aunt was obsessed with the curse,” said Clara, innocently. “What did she find out about it?”
Selina screwed up her eyes and regarded her niece. Clara blinked innocently back at Selina, pretending she wasn’t really interested in the curse, she was just making conversation. But Selina saw through Clara’s ploy, easily.
“She didn’t find out anything,” Selina snapped. “That’s why I know that it’s a hopeless waste of time trying to break the curse. It made her miserable, and it broke her heart in the end.”
Clara was a little taken aback at the intensity of Selina’s response, but she was not to be deterred. She knew that she wouldn’t get another chance to discuss the curse with her aunt during this visit and she wasn’t, therefore, going to waste the opportunity.
“But what was she doing to find out about it for all those years?”
A look of anger passed across her aunt’s face and Clara thought she was going to lose her temper. However, the moment passed, and Selina merely sighed.
“She spent the vast majority of her life trying to find something that doesn’t exist,” Selina said, shaking her head wearily. “She found an oblique reference, in a letter written by one of our ancestors, that talked about your Great Aunt Clara having potentially written about her life in some diaries. Aunt Phoebe reasoned that the diaries would detail the curse itself, and Clara’s own investigations into breaking it, but it was all nonsense. There’s no way that any of us would risk writing down things about shape-shifting where anyone could read them. And even if Clara had been irresponsible enough to do so, it was a hundred and sixty years ago. The diaries could never have survived to this day. They’d either have been discovered and deliberately destroyed to protect the secret, or they would’ve disintegrated on their own over this length of time.” Selina looked sadly at Clara, “I tried to reason with Aunt Phoebe, but she wouldn’t listen, she kept on searching for the diaries, dead end after dead end, until one day she was too poorly to continue. It broke her heart that she couldn’t break the curse for me – for us.” Selina was silent for a moment before tutting and shaking her head, again.
Clara watched her aunt closely. Selina seemed genuinely upset, and Clara was a little sorry that she’d brought the subject up. On the other hand, when Selina had talked about the diaries, Clara’s heart had skipped. She couldn’t believe that a person would spend their whole life trying to find something that didn’t exist. Was it possible that the diaries did exist and that they held the key to breaking the curse? How could Clara get to see the letter that referred to the diaries? She was sure her aunt wouldn’t show it to her willingly.
“Where did she live?” Clara asked. “Where was the village that Great Aunt Clara was cursed?”
“Why she lived here,” replied Selina in surprise. “Did I not mention that?”
“No,” replied Clara. “Here in the village, or here in this house?”
“In the village,” replied her aunt, jerking her head in that direction. “This house wasn’t built at the time. She lived in the hall, what’s now the village hall, but at the time it was the home of the village Business Manager. That’s who her father was. There was a Lord and Lady who lived in the big estate house, and our family served them and lived in the village. A couple of generations back the Lord donated the hall to the village and what was left of our relatives moved into this cottage. It was left to me by my parents,” her aunt shrugged.
Clara nodded. So, if the diaries existed at all, she thought. They’d most likely be in the village hall somewhere. At least it was a place to start.
“My aunt told me that she’d searched the hall from top to bottom on many occasions and didn’t find anything,” said Selina, as if she could read Clara’s mind.
“Hmm,” said Clara noncommittally.
“Now, young lady, time for you to get some revision done,” said Selina. “And I’ll go to the village and leave you in peace.”
For a while after her aunt had left, Clara mulled over their discussion. She couldn’t understand her aunt’s acceptance that there was no way to break the curse. She was sure that there must be a way and learning about Phoebe and the diaries had cemented Clara’s determination to find it.
In addition to the village hall, Clara decided it’d be worth spending a bit of time nosing around the cottage to see if she could find anything Phoebe had left behind. After all Phoebe had lived in the cottage. There must be evidence of her years of searching somewhere. Clara realised that she wouldn’t be able to do it in front of her aunt, though. It would have to be done in secret. And she was going home tomorrow, so she wouldn’t have much of a chance to do any investigating on this visit.
Instead of revising, Clara spent the hour that her aunt was out of the cottage investigating. Going through drawers in the kitchen and living room and rummaging in dusty store cupboards. She felt a little guilty about snooping through her aunt’s personal belongings, But, thought Clara resentfully, it’s Selina’s own fault for keeping secrets that I have a right to know.
Her initial search was a bust. She didn’t find anything pertinent to her earlier conversation with
her aunt so, disappointed; she pulled her schoolbooks out and was pretending to revise when Selina returned a few minutes later.
On the third night of the full moon, Clara decided to go back to being the faithful sheep dog. After the adventures of the previous two nights, she took comfort in the familiarity of her dog form.
In bed, later that night, Clara found she was unable to sleep as her mind turned over everything, she’d learnt that day. She was excited by the possibilities presented by the diaries and wondered how she could use her special gifts to find them. She fell asleep developing a plan of action to do just that.
Chapter Thirteen
Aunt Selina let Clara sleep in on Sunday morning. Clara woke late, and felt energised by her lie in. After a hearty breakfast, she packed her things away and then she and her aunt went for a walk. It was refreshing to get out during the day and Clara enjoyed listening to the bird song and seeing the lambs playing in the fields. All too soon it was time for Clara to catch her train home and start the next school term.
Over the next two weeks, Sinead and Clara compared notes on what answers they’d put for various exam questions during their daily walks home. To Clara’s discomfort, Sinead also told her what her friend Sarah had put for her answers. It seemed that, because Clara had been spending so much time either revising or at her aunt’s house, Sinead had been spending more time with a classmate of hers, called Sarah. Sinead seemed to hold Sarah in high regard as she thought that Sarah’s answers were most likely to be the correct ones, particularly, it seemed to Clara, when Sarah’s answers differed from Clara’s. As the days went by Clara became more and more depressed. I can’t blame Sinead, she thought sadly, After all, I’m the one who’s distracted. Still, they’d been best friends since infant school and Clara felt the loss of their closeness keenly. She decided to make more of an effort to spend time with Sinead, to repair their ailing friendship.
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