Karen just laughed, "You'll get used to it, trust me. Eventually you'll come to expect healing like that."
"If you say so, I'll believe you, but right now it's blowing my mind."
"It's a big thing to get used to."
"I have another question for you, if it's not too personal."
"What is it, Dear?"
"Where can I find soaps and shampoos that aren't so heavily perfumed that taking a shower runs me out of my own bathroom? I used to think the ones I had were lightly scented but I can't stand to be in the same room with them long enough to take a shower anymore."
"We have a pack member who makes organic soaps and shampoos, unscented and very lightly scented, just for the pack. Remind me before you leave and I'll give you her card. She makes things more heavily scented for normal humans too, so someone seeing her products at your apartment won't raise any difficult questions. And they make great gifts if there's anyone among your family or friends are into that kind of thing."
"Thanks, I'd really appreciate it. I didn't know who else to ask."
"No problem, Dear. It's totally understandable. Most of us are raised in this world, and know what to expect when our first shift comes. You've been thrust into it with no warning, we expect you to have questions and we want to help you to adjust in any way we can. Now, Bill has asked me to work with you on shielding this afternoon, how do you feel about that?"
"If that's what he says I need, I'll do it, though I don't really understand why."
"Well, there are a lot of reasons to learn to shield well, but I'll just go over some of the most important ones."
"Okay," I continued eating my pie and ice cream as I listened.
"You, as a telepath, have experienced firsthand how overwhelming it can be to hear other's thoughts without trying to, shielding can stop that. It can also prevent other telepaths from reading your mind; unless you let them, you can also limit what you let them see should you choose to let them in."
"That makes sense."
"It also prevents those with talents that allow them to, from being able to borrow your powers or your strength without your permission. Basically, good shielding is like any security measure, you want to be able to shut the door and have some privacy."
"Okay, I'm following you so far," I said. I was starting to understand why Bill wanted me to learn this.
"Now, I'll be honest with you. You can't expect instant results, it will probably take several sessions, and lots of practice to learn to shield well." I nodded, indicating that I understood, and she continued, "So today we are going to start with the basics and I promise not to work you as hard as Bill did. Learning shielding itself can be tedious and exhausting but unless you progress particularly quickly, I don't anticipate doing much of that today."
"Then what will be doing today?" I asked. While she spoke I’d finished my pie and ice cream, I carried my plate around the bar so I could put it into the sink before turning back to face Karen.
"Well, every good shield, like any good building, needs a firm foundation. So today we're going to work on building your foundation. So that something doesn't come along and shake your world and destroy all your shielding in the process."
"Okay..." I said, not quite following her shake the world metaphor but wanting to move on.
"So what we are going to start with today is meditation. Have you ever done any meditating?"
"Nope." I shook my head. "Not unless you count a couple of yoga classes."
"Actually, yoga experience will help more than you’d think, you'll see once we get started. Our main goal at this stage is to center ourselves and concentrate on our core of energy. Let's move into the living room where we can be comfortable while we work."
"I think I can do that." I smiled as I followed her into the other room. We each sat on opposite ends of her large sofa facing each other with our legs folded lotus style, and got to work.
We spent a couple of hours working on meditation and focusing on our core of energy before I’d made enough progress that Karen decided it was time to advance to the next stage and I made my first efforts at shielding.
"I want you to picture a wall surrounding you, make sure it's completely surrounding you, top and bottom too. Like a large bubble." She instructed, "You can make your wall out of anything you like. It can be water, stone, metal, air, whatever you are most comfortable with. You can make it look like anything you want it to, as long as it totally encapsulates you." She was quiet for a while as I worked on building my shields around me and making them look just the way I wanted. I sat with my eyes closed while I pictured my shields in my mind, when Karen spoke again it startled me a little.
"Alright, I want you to get up, and move around, stretch out, work the muscles that I'm sure are stiff and sore from sitting still for so long," She directed me, "That bubble you are picturing, those are your shields. You are going to need to practice this at least a couple times a day, sit down and center yourself, focus on your shields and concentrate on them. With lots of practice your shields will eventually become second nature. They’ll exist without you having to think about them, and your centering and focusing will reinforce and strengthen them. There is no such thing as shields too strong. Once your shields are second nature, and always up, all you have to do to drop them is to picture them gone, or picture a window opening in them to only let in a small amount of what's out there, whether you've been concentrating on holding them or not," She continued, "Shielding is not particularly difficult, but it does take practice and work. If you fail to do your reinforcing, over time your shields will weaken and things will start to get through them."
I didn't really understand it all, but she promised that I would catch on with time and practice. It was about four o'clock when we called it a day, and I told Karen that I had something I wanted to do the next day but I’d be back on Wednesday as Bill had instructed me earlier. I stopped and picked up some take out on my way home, and after eating I took a long relaxing bubble bath. I took my PCD with me and read my latest book while I relaxed.
Chapter 6
On Tuesday morning I called Brandon, hoping he wasn’t sleeping as I listened to the ringing on the other end of the line. On about the third ring I heard him pickup.
"Hello?" Came his voice over the device.
"Hey Brandon, what are your plans for today?" I asked.
"Not much, just enjoying my time off. I didn't really have any plans."
"I took the week off, do you wanna go do something?"
"How about we go for a Run?" He suggested.
"Um…" I hesitated, running isn't one of my favorite activities, or at least it never has been. "I'm not all that into running Brandon, you know that."
I heard him laugh softly, "I don't mean going running Nick, I mean go for a Run."
"I'm missing the distinction." I said, confused.
"A run is what we call it when we shift forms and run, play, or even hunt in our animal forms."
"Hunt? Why on earth would we want to hunt?" My confusion was swift to become distaste. I don't really mind the concept of hunting for food, but I have a hard time with the skinning and butchering of it.
"For the skill of it, some times for the fun of it. There's a thrill to running down your prey that you just don't have anywhere else. Plus, it's good to know how to do it, should you someday need it for some reason."
"But do you... eat it... raw?" My disgust at the idea was clear in my voice.
"You can, but you don't have to. It isn't as bad as you might think. As a wolf it's just natural."
"If you say so," I said, willing to take him at his word, "I'm okay with going for a run, but can we skip the hunting part?"
"Sure, if that's what you want. You know where the Hot Well Dunes hot tub is?" He asked.
"Of course. What person who went to high school around here doesn't?"
"Let's meet out there. In say? An hour? And don't forget to bring something to eat if you don't want to hunt." He re
minded me.
"That works, I'll meet you there." I thought the rural location would be a good place for a pair of wolves to run around in broad daylight without being seen. I stopped by the grocery store on my way out east of town and grabbed several pieces of fruit. As I was headed to the drinks aisle I noticed cans of meal replacement shake on a shelf and grabbed a few, I guessed that between the two, that should be enough for today’s outing.
I made it out to where we’d agreed to meet with ten minutes to spare in the hour Brandon had set. I parked in the small lot before I got out of my car and walked around, looking over the area while I waited for Brandon. As I looked around the place I noticed that few things had changed in the years since I had last been out here. I remembered the parties out here had been a blast. I wondered for a moment if the teenagers still party out here or if they've moved on because the cops have discovered it? But that was mainly a nighttime entertainment and the place was empty in the light of day. I didn't even see the usual evidence of the nocturnal activity, so area probably become known as a party spot and the kids had found somewhere new.
It wasn't long before I spotted the dust that Brandon's car was throwing up and I wandered over toward the cement in-ground hot tub that had been built here before I was born, in an attempt to avoid the worst of the dust Brandon’s car had kicked up as he pulled up. The tub was in good shape for being more than thirty years old; the water was always warm, without being too hot. It was crystal clear from being continuously fed from an artesian spring nearby, and overflowed into a cooler pool downstream, and in the process, cleaning out any debris that might fall into the water.
After Brandon parked and the dust started to settle, I headed back toward both vehicles to speak to him.
"Hey, how're you doing?" he asked, unfolding his body from the small car.
"Pretty good, Bill recommended that I take the week off work, possibly next too. We'll see how long it takes me to get used to my new strengths and skills."
"And how're you doing with that?"
"Pretty well I think, I spent yesterday morning working with Bill on my telepathy, and during the afternoon Karen worked on teaching me shielding. Bill said I just have to practice; I pretty much have the basics down. But I think shielding is going to take more work, it's not as instinctual for me as the telepathy."
"Understandable..." he said, nodding. “I've had a bit of practice with shielding so that I can stay out of people's minds unless I want to. I have a talent kind of like yours, only I don't hear things, I see them. Not thoughts, it's more that I can see through their eyes."
"Oh wow, that sounds more than a little creepy and I'd want to learn how to control that too. That would be about as much fun as hearing random bits of information out of people's heads."
"You hit the nail on the head with that one. You ready to run?"
"Sure, let me get around to the other side of my car to change and then I'll meet you down by the tub when I'm done." I heard him chuckle at my desire for some privacy to shift, but I ignored him.
I walked around to the driver’s side of my car and opened the rear door before I started slipping my sandals off, I pulled off my shorts and tank top, folding them neatly and setting them inside the rear door on the seat. I set my shoes in the floorboard and then locked and closed the door before I bent into position and shifted.
As the skin tingling sensation of shifting subsided I moved and stretched my wolf body. Though I’d shifted once since I discovered what I am, I hadn't been extremely active and now I felt the urge to move and work my muscles. I was also discovering how much stronger my sense of smell was in this form and what a distraction the myriad of scents around me could be. I could smell the sand and the acrid scent of the creosote bushes that grew so well in the area, as well as the gasoline, oil and exhaust scents that surrounded the two cars.
I padded the short distance from the cars to the tub where Brandon was waiting for me and I discovered that the water had a strong mineral scent to it as well, it wasn't an unpleasant odor, just unfamiliar. I moved further downstream and took a drink from the edge of the cool pond before turning back to Brandon.
*Are you ready?* I asked him mentally.
*As ever.* I heard his voice in my head as clearly as if he had spoken out loud.
*Which way are we gonna head?*
*Over the dunes is boring, it's just endless hills of sand. Let's see if we can unearth a rabbit, chasing one will be fun.* He thought as he started toward the brushy area to one side of the clearing.
I followed his lead, watching carefully how he moved with ease in and around the brush we were now headed deep into. I didn't notice the sagebrush until he brushed up against it, as the much stronger odor of creosote seemed to overpower the mild scent until we were right on top of it and that surprised me. I pushed my way through the long branches of the bush, ducked under the thorny arms of the occasional mesquite and carefully avoided the frequent patches of cactus. It didn't take long for Brandon to startle a jackrabbit in to running from him, and the chase was on.
I was at a dead run, dodging back and forth after the small animal. I found that chasing the small animal was more fun that I’d thought it would be. We leapt over the smaller obstacles as we chased the smaller creature that easily darted under and through much smaller holes than we could manage. Before long the two of us were working together without thought, working different sides of the chase, running parallel to the animal but on either side instead of together. The small animal would turn one way and catch sight of one of us, turn and dart in another direction, only to spot the other and dart back toward the first. After we had run several hundred yards Brandon suddenly sprinted forward into the rabbit's path and caught it. With a sharp snap of his jaws, he broke the small animal's neck.
I really didn’t want to watch him eat the small animal, so in order to avoid seeing the whole thing I turned and started back toward where we parked as he settled down to enjoy his snack. I was in no hurry so I made the trip slowly, taking time to investigate all the scents that caught my interest along the way. I was about halfway through the trip back when I caught a scent I couldn't identify.
I called out through the mental channel we had been using all morning.
*Brandon, can you hear me?*
*Yeah, I'm not far behind you. Didn't take me long to finish him off.*
*Come up here and tell me what this scent is, please,* I asked. *I can't place it,* I heard the padding of his feet on the ground as he walked up behind me.
*Where is it?* He wanted to know.
*Right here. What is that scent?* I was eager to know as he bent down to sniff the spot I had indicated.
*Ahh.. That's javelina. You don't see them much during the day, but watch out for them around dawn and dusk. They're mean little shits.*
*I've seen them before, I know what they are. But we're bigger than they are, wouldn't they be afraid of us?*
*No more so than they're afraid of humans. Your best bet if you run across them is to just keep your distance and leave them be, they're almost never alone, and they're wicked fast too.*
*I'll remember that* I said, continuing my exploration while we worked our way toward the cars.
Once we arrived at the parking area where we began I could sense that Brandon was ready to shift. And that he was going to do it right in front of me! I wished there was a way I could keep him from shifting until I could get to the other side of my car. I really had no desire to see him like that. I quickly loped around to the other side of my car so that I had a little privacy to shift myself. Once I got where I wanted to be, I shifted into human form as quickly as I could before placing my thumb on the small panel on the driver’s door to unlock the car. I opened the rear door and dressed in the clothes I had stacked on the seat earlier. I was just slipping my sandals onto my feet on as Brandon came around the side of the car.
"Hey! Why'd you do that?" He demanded indignantly.
"Do what?" I asked, confused.<
br />
"Keep me from shifting."
"How could I have done that, I have no clue how shifting works. How on earth could I have done anything to stop it?"
"Well you did something. I was going to shift and it was like I was being restricted, like someone was holding me in wolf form. Then you walked around the car and out of sight and suddenly I could shift. It had to be you. You're the only other person out here."
"Well, I didn't stop you on purpose. I wished you would wait until I was out of sight but I had no clue I was actually keeping you from shifting."
"Hmmm…I guess it might be possible that your desire for me not to shift in front of you kept me from shifting if you are developing that Talent. The only person in the pack that I know of who can do that is our Harmonia, so I'm not exactly sure how it works either."
"I'm supposed to meet her tomorrow, I think. Bill said that was the first time that everyone's schedules made it possible."
"Good. Be sure and let them know what you did here."
"I will, I'll tell Bill when I see him in the morning." I said, pulling on my watch. I glanced down at the face and I was surprised to find that we had been out for several hours. I sat down on the rear seat of the car where the door was still open, and reached around behind me and grabbed the cloth bag full of stuff I’d picked up at the grocery store. I pulled out one of the shakes and shook it for a minute before popping the seal and draining it in one long drink.
"You want one?" I offered the other to Brandon as he stood in front of me, watching me.
"No, thanks. I had the rabbit, remember? But those are a really good idea, they might not keep well in the car during the heat of the summer, but they'll work the rest of the year. Plus they're full of lot of good nutrients."
"That's what I thought when I saw them in the grocery store. Quick, easy calories and they aren't totally nasty, like those protein bars, either."
I pulled an apple out of the bag and offered it to Brandon, he accepted this offer and said "Thanks." He polished the skin against the front of his shirt before taking a large bite. I pulled a second apple from the bag and bit into it myself. The crisp flesh squirted juice into my mouth with every bite. It was one of the best apples I could remember eating in years. We ended up pulling out a short time later and parted ways.
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