I didn't let her get far, though. I shifted into a bear, and ran after her, even if she wasn't far away. I stood in front of her, and rose up on my hind legs, until I felt something hit me, and a burning pain in my side came soon after.

I fell down with a groan and turned to find Liam with a proud grin on his face. I looked to where I felt the pain, to find only charred skin and fur. I looked back up towards Liam, who was readying another fireball.

I began to walk away slowly, keeping a wary eye on Liam, who was seconds away from launching it.

"No Liam!" I heard Barry shout. I felt another fireball hit my back, and I ran off into the forest that always seemed to always be nearby. Each step was painful, but I continued on.

Once I was out of sight, I shifted Liam into a brightly colored butterfly, so he couldn't do any more harm, but so he wouldn't get stepped on without being noticed.

I began to search for my hidden base. I had to go deep into the forest, searching desperately for my safe place. I shifted into a bird, and I flew through the hole in the top of the tree, closing it after me.

I staggered into my room, and falling on my bed, and prepared myself to look at my wounds.

I took off my shirt, and lifting my arms sent a sharp pain through my spine. I looked down at my side to find a large patch of charred black skin covered the majority of my side, some blood seeping through the dry cracks. As far as I could see, my back was no better.

I took a deep breath, and went to the small water source I had in my room, a mini well that was underneath the tree, and knelt down and got my shirt wet, and began to dab at the spots, bearing through the bursts of pain coming from them.

Soon the blackest and bloodiest parts were gone, leaving behind the raw, hot skin beneath. I had no means of reaching my back without more pain to follow.

I felt a small tingling in my mind that I hadn't noticed before, and realized that Lizzie was trying to use my Gift. I pushed her back, now finally in control. I laid down on my bed, and winced as more pain shot through my back.

"Chloe?" I heard Barry call to me. I didn't respond, I was in too much pain, and I was getting sleepy.

"Chloe, I know you can hear me. Liam didn't mean what he did. He didn't realize it was you. I need to tell you..."

An aggravating pain coursed through me, and the world spun before it blinked out.

My eyes fluttered open, and I bolted upright and pain went through my body, causing me to collapse back down. What happened?

I came back into realization, and my eyes widened. What was I supposed to do now? I got up slowly, and went to the small exit. I got out, and slowly began walking back to where the group was still hopefully located. I took small steps, being mindful of my wounds. This was going to take a long time to reach the edge of trees.

I worked on shifting in a way that hid the worst of my charred back and side. This was honing my Gift at a level I didn't know before. Changing just a part of me, but it was an illusion. I then made myself invisible so that I could get a shirt from my house.

I came out of the woods, and silently walked to my house undetected. Once I got there, I carefully put on a new shirt. I came back out and walked up to the group who were back to lounging, but Barry was fidgeting with his fingers.

I shifted to a bird, and flew into the air, causing little spurts of pain. When I was sure no one was looking, I made myself visible. I flew down and landed on Barry's shoulder.

I also noticed that Barry had a brightly colored butterfly on his knee. I squawked at it, and Liam seemed to bow his head. I ruffled my feathers and sat down. Barry stroked my back, sending blossoms of pain throughout my small body. I didn't show the pain, but I ruffled my feathers so he would stop.

He took the hint and just pointed to Liam.

"Pineapple." I looked at him and then motion with my head to him, trying to point out Liam was on Barry's knee. I think Barry understood, because he stuck out his hand to Luke, to have him step on. He set him on the ground, and I shifted him back. With a tail.

Barry have me an annoyed look, and I giggled before removing the dog tail.

Liam looked down in shame before walking up to me. He stuck out his hand to me, and I hesitantly stepped on. He walked away out of earshot.

"So you can understand me?" I nodded, "You heard what I told Barry the other night?"

I nodded shyly and Liam sighed. He lowered himself to the ground and crossed his legs, setting me on his knee.

"I'm sorry. I thought that Nicole was being attacked, having said something offensive to a bear. It didn't even cross my mind that it was you. Are you hurt?"

I ruffled my feathers and revealed my injuries to him. His eyes widened, and he reached out to touch them, but I nipped his finger, and he recoiled.

He looked at the ground, "I'm so sorry. I didn't realize how much pain you must be in." I slowly hid the burns once more, and he picked me up, "You can change me to whatever you want, and if you need anything, tell me."

I nodded slightly, and he stood up and walked back to the group. He set me in Barry's lap, and I snuggled closer to him. Liam walked away to relax, and I shifted to an orange cat as I curled up into a ball, trying to find a comfortable position where the burns didn't bother me.

Barry noticed my struggle, "Are you okay?"

I stopped moving and looked up at him. He looked down with concern in his eyes. I purred so he wouldn't know. He wasn't satisfied, though.

"No, you're not. Where are you hurt?" I shyly ducked my head, and pretended to gnaw at my paw.

Barry stared at me expectantly, and I eventually caved in. I closed my eyes and showed him my burns. I opened my eyes slowly as he stared at me with a pained expression. I quickly re-hid the burns, much to Barry's dismay.

I tried to act cute, and swished my tail playfully, earning myself small twitches of pain. He zoned out for a moment, and I felt a tingling, then Barry grimaced.

I tilted my head in confusion, and his face was that of sadness.

"You didn't tell me it hurt that much."

If I could, I paled. I looked over at Lizzie, who also seemed pained. I looked up at Barry once more, who was frantically drawing something. I leaned up to look, but recoiled from a sting of pain. These burns were aggravating, and could have been possibly lethal if I was still human.

Barry grunted painfully and stopped his drawing, zoning out once more. Some pain seemed to dissipate from me, and Barry winced.

"Stop moving. You're just going to hurt yourself more." Barry finished what he was drawing, and blew across the top, creating a first aid kit, and an ice pack.

"Show me your burns." He commanded, and I complied. He put the ice pack over my back as I laid down. The cold helped settle some of the burns, but it still hurt. He opened the first aid kit with a sigh, and procured a roll of bandages.

I remained still as Barry lifted the ice pack and applied a cream to my wounds, and bandaged me up. He placed the ice pack back down, and I let out a sigh of relief.

Suddenly, a full wave of pain came back to me, and I shuddered. Barry stroked my head, and scratched me between the ears. I purred softly, and Barry put on a small smile.

"Well, I guess that you can't shift without ruining your bandages, sorry." I meowed in response. I was fine being a cat for now. But when Barry removed them to change them, I could shift. But for now, I curled up comfortably in Barry's arms and relaxed.

"Wake up, Chloe," Barry whispered, "Let's go home."

I twitched my ears, and lifted my head. Barry gently scooped his hands underneath me, holding me delicately. He walked back, and I was surprised at his grace. When we approached the door, it seemed to open of its own accord, but I soon realized Lizzie was holding it open. How long was I asleep?

Nicole and Liam sat around the table, and when we entered, Lizzie rushed to the kitchen and came back with heaps of food. My eyes widened as Barry sat down, setting me on the table. I sat down and relaxed, and Nicole went to fetch plates and utensils. Lizzie left and came back with a bowl of milk that she set in front of me. I smirked, and began to lazily drink, and Barry rubbed my back paw, refraining from hurting me further.

When everything was on the table, everyone began serving themselves. I decided to stick with the milk, I found that I wasn't too hungry, but maybe I would eat something else later.

The room was pretty much silent, and I couldn't help feeling it was my fault.

"Come on, can we have a little conversation? Nicole, please do something to make this a bit more interesting." I let out a series of different strange cat noises, and Nicole giggled maliciously.

I smirked, and stretched out my front legs carefully. Nicole then began to get up, and came back with an additional cat that was colored in shades of brown, black, and white.

I looked up at her strangely, "Where did you get her?"

She shrugged, "Just called for her. I've told her about you. I thought you might like someone new to be with." I had no idea what she was talking about. Liam and her were new. But I turned my attention to the cat.

She approached slowly, and sat in front of my bowl.

"May I?" She purred sweetly. I nodded, and she set to drinking the sweet drink.

"What is your name?" I asked kindly, I didn't really know what to say. This was the first animal that I was actually interacting with.

She paused from her drinking to respond, "Jessie. Nice to meet you, Chloe. That is an amazing Gift. So you perhaps want to go in private? I feel sorta self-conscious with Nicole listening in." She set a teasing glare at Nicole, who blushed. I nodded, and began to walk to the edge of the table to jump off, and I felt hands grab me.

I screeched at the sudden contact, and Barry set me down on the ground carefully while Jessie landed beside me. I began to walk towards my room, an Jessie padded beside me.

When we made it into my room, Jessie went to the cat jungle gym that Barry had moved into my room. I went and sat in my cat bed. She began climbing a rope and I watched her in amusement.

"What did you want to talk about?" I yawned.

"Well, I don't know. I just hate it when Nicole listens in," Then her ears perked up, "Oh! Can I ask you something?"

"Shoot."

She dropped from the rope and came over to me, "Well, uh, what is it like to be human? I would ask Nicole, but she hasn't really experienced what it's like to be well... a cat in addition." I nodded.

"Well, two things. First, I find it more fun to be a cat or other animals, it just is new, being on all fours. But I might be a little biased. It also depends on the animal, being a bird is much different than a fish under the water. They are all different sensations, I find that animals are more fun, but you might think that being a human is more fun. You get what I mean?" I responded.

She nodded, "And the second thing?"

I smiled, "Do you want to try being human?"

Her eyes widened, and she nearly bounced off the walls, "YES! You can really do that?"

I nodded, but I wasn't quite sure. I had never done it before, but I doubted it would be any different than shifting someone else.

Jessie smiled excitedly, "Wow. Well, okay."

"Just, back up a little bit, and once you shift, I have some shorts and shirts in that drawer." She moved over to the drawer, and I shifted her into a human, which I have to admit, was strangely hard. But, she was able to get dressed, as I turned around and laid on the ground as I walked up to her.

"Thank goodness those drawers were on the bottom. I don't think I can stand up." I giggled, and walked onto her stomach, curling up.

"Well, you'll be able to eventually."

She looked at me with a frown, "I can't understand you. Could you perhaps shift to talk to me?"

In response, I nipped at the bandages, and Jessie sighed.

"Hey Lizzie? Can I talk to Barry?" I asked.

"Sure! One sec!"

"What is it?" Barry asked worriedly.

"Well," I asked shyly, "Can I shift? Just into a human?"

He huffed, "Fine. But I am going to bandage you up again, but you will shift back into an animal. It limits your movements so you don't hurt yourself more, and plus, you look so cute."

"Thank you." I smiled with a slight blush and stepped off of Jessie. I shifted, bandages falling at my sides, and hauled her into a sitting position.

"Do you want to try standing?" I asked tentatively.

"Yeah, but aren't you hurt? You shouldn't be doing this."

"Nonsense. I'm fine. Now come on." I heaved her up, and she leaned into me for stability. She now had shoulder length straight brown hair, and amber eyes with flecks of gold. She had put on a loose orange top with dark blue shorts, along with anything else needed.

Jessie straightened, and began to let go of me as she was able to support her own weight. I let her go, but I was ready to catch her. She took a small step forward, and she smiled when she didn't fall. She then began walking around the room, but there wasn't enough room to run.

A large smile spread across my face, and she stopped and looked over at me.

"This is so much fun!" Then her face brightened even more, "Can we surprise Nicole!?"

I laughed, "YES. That would be amazing."

I discussed with her what should be done to make sure that no one got hurt. Not that I thought anyone would be.

When we were finished, I shifted her back into a cat, and picked her up. The pain was receding, but I knew that it would take a couple days for my injuries to heal.

I walked out into the kitchen, and conversation paused as I sat next to Barry. I let go of Jessie, and she walked across the table to Nicole. She leapt up onto Nicole's shoulders, and wrapped her paws around her neck. Then, she jumped off onto the ground and went behind Nicole's chair. Nicole didn't pay it any heed, and I shifted Jessie into a human, or now that I thought of it, gnome.

Jessie took hold on the back of the chair, and leaned it back, and Nicole gripped the sides for dear life. Jessie looked down at Nicole with a smirk, and Nicole's eyes widened. She looked at me, and I shrugged.

"Hi," Jessie smiled, "What's new?"