Song: Must Have been the wind By Alec Benjamin (Acoustic guitar cover by Emilio Trucchio)

Max walked to the canyon carelessly. She walked with a pep in her step and stopped just in time before the ground suddenly dropped into it. 

Jasper Nevada, a beautiful place with dry ground. 

Max soon found a way down, after she looked around to double-check no one was following her. She then climbed her way down. She got scared briefly as a rock that was her foot anchor fell. Soon, Max was down. She looked around curiously at the Roman-like structures that were built a long time ago. 

"Time for that project." She said as she snapped a picture with her phone. She got her history binder and a piece of paper out of her camouflage backpack. The backpack was beat up and withered, even one of the little pocket's zipper was broken. 

Max set them down, then began to pat her pockets for a pen or pencil only to realize she didn't pack one. "GOD DAMNIT!" She cursed as she then looked up to the night sky. Max sighed, she didn't feel like going home. 

Around this time, her aunt was cranky and would yell. Aunt Jane was a sweet gal but at night she was cranky but not abusive. Still, Max didn't feel like dealing with it tonight. 

Max just decided to put the school stuff away in her backpack. Instead, she zipped it up and began to snap pictures of the architecture so she could write it down into an essay later. 

She put her phone away to conserve battery when she was finished. "I guess I could practice my jaguar." Max said with a small shrug. 

Somehow, some gene enabled her to transform a jaguar-like creature. She noticed it was a Jaguar after inspecting the spots. For a few weeks, she called it a leopard. And you may ask does her aunt and cousin know about this? Yes and no.

Aunt Jane didn't, and her cousin did. Her cousin knew because he could do a monkey, the two were still investigating why this was happening to them. At the moment, her cousin was shipped overseas to Africa. 

Aunt Jane had begged him not to go scared he would end up dead. Jane had lost a lot in her life, just like Max. It's one of the reasons, Jane was the first of few to volunteer to take her niece in and give her a nice home. 

Max knew she was lucky to have such a family when foster children have abusive but she can't help wish for her parents to be here. 

Max heard a twig snapped. Instantly, she felt jaguar ears on top of her head instead of her normal human ears at the side of her head. 

She stared into the darkness unsettlingly, trying to identify the figure but even her jaguar-like eyes couldn't identify the creature. She shrugged carelessly. 

Max soon felt the familiar fur across her body. She took off her hoodie and tied it around her waist in a knot that only she could easily undo. 

She looked at the brown fur, Max knew jaguars were usually golden but for some reason this jaguar fur. Which at one time made her wonder if this was even a known animal, sometimes she is still skeptical. 

Max observed the pattern that at first made her head spin. She began to walk forward, trying to seem cool even though no one was around, but Max tripped over her backpack and nearly fell face-first into old steps of the crumbled structure. 

Max suddenly felt something foreign come out from behind her and balance her. She instantly looked back to try and discover what it was only to see a fluffy jaguar tail.

 "Well.... That's new." Max said as she tried to swish it from side to side but it seemed to have a mind of it's own. She turned back to the front of her and ran at inhuman speed at the structure. 

She listened to her instincts that told her to jump left or right, run or walk. Suddenly she felt a tug in her chest that said up. Max listened and leaped to the top of a pillar. She began to chill there. 

The jaguar fur going away along with the tail. Max relaxed as she looked up at the stars. She decided to give Jane a call. Max grabbed her phone out of her pocket and unlocked it. She then went through her contacts. 

Only two contacts were there, Max knew nobody else expect for her Aunt and cousin. She sighed softly and pressed Jane's name. She pressed The phone to her ear and stretched, praying that she didn't fall of the pillar.

She heard the phone ring only for a second before she heard Jane's hard voice. Imagine a woman with glass in her throat trying to speak, Jane sounded strained almost as if one word could get her to choke on her own tongue. 

"MAX!" Max jumped, now it did sound strained but damn could that woman scream. 

"Yeah?" Max asked 

"Where are you?"

"I'm hanging out at the park." Max lied to Jane everyday 

"Why are you calling?" Jane asked warily 

"Because it might be awhile before I come back to the house and I didn't want you to worry." Max explained softly and she heard Jane sighed in relief "Well thank you for your consideration, dinner's in the fridge when you do come home." Jane stated before hanging up.

Max yawned as she closed her eyes and hummed in relaxation.

She opened one eye and saw a bright blue eye staring down at her. Max screamed out of fear, but the scream sounded inhuman. 

It was a jaguar yowl, and next thing Max knew she was falling off of the pillar. Suddenly everything went black.