Swaying. Hope could feel herself swaying back and forth. She was being carried on someone's back. Who had found her she wondered. Where they friendly or no?
Hope was curious to find out. She opened her eyes and saw the ground swaying beneath her. But she saw it in great detail.
Every last tiny little flaw was picked out in bright detail. She could count the number of stones in each crack they passed. But it was also way too bright. It hurt, giving her a massive headache.
She clamped her eyes shut and dug her nails into the skin of her transportation, trying to block of the pain.
The person carrying her cried out in pain and dropped her, his hand flying to his chest where she'd hurt him. Blood dripped down. She had more strength that she'd thought.
Hope looked up at the person she'd unintentionally hurt. It was one of the Stolls. "I'm sorry," she apologized quickly, her voice sounding as lout as a roar. She clamped her hands over her ears. There was too much noise. How could the others stand it. And the smells, yuck!
Hope thought she might vomit. Her stomach twisted and turned and her brain pulsed with pain. It was too much. Just too much. Why wouldn't it go away!
she sealed her eyes shut, her hands over her ears, her face tucked into her shirt as she curled into a ball.
It hurt. But the pain didn't stop there. Her bones began to ache. Her back felt like something was growing out of it. Her teeth felt heavier longer.
She began to sweat from fear. She knew what happening. She used to have dreams about it as a kid, before Mr. Brunner made them go away.
She was turning into the monster from her nightmares.
She was sprouting the wings of a demon and the tail of a panther. Her teeth were turning to fangs. Her bones becoming hard and steely. Her nails were curling into claws and her senses her mutating into a beasts. Her pupils thinned to slits and her tongue spit down the middle.
She screamed with pain and anguish. She didn't want to be monster. She didn't want to be in pain. She just wanted to be human with her Papa.
She screamed out for her Papa as the pain threatened to make her black out. The last thing she saw was Mr. Brunner's face again. This time he seemed to be chanting something.

---

When Hope woke up the second time, she was back at her home. She was lying on one of the couches in the down stairs study. Or commons, as her friends preferred to call it.
The only people around were her Father and Mr. Brunner. She didn't seem to be in much pain anymore, either.
Her senses her stronger than normal, yes, but not painfully so and she could still feel the weight of heavier more solid bones. But she didn't have as prominent of claws.
She pressed her fingers to her teeth, they were less prominent too. She turned her head, no demon wings. Yes on the tail though.
She looked at it closer. It wasn't a panther's tail like she'd originally thought. It was thin and covered in course short black fur, but it ended with a large tuft of longer fur.
It moved silently with her curiosity. Her traced her ears, wow, they had a slight point to them.
She sighed. That sure as hell wasn't a dream then.
She looked at her Father. He was been in a conversation with Mr. Brunner but he kept calling him Chiron.
A small, elegant, dagger sat on the table between them. They hadn't noticed Hope.
She cleared her throat.
The two older men looked at her.
"I think you owe me and explanation."

Notes

had to fix the typos

You know the drill

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--Kim