Page 6 of Catastrophe

Clawdia hissed and dug her claws painfully into my shoulder.

“A dragon? He turned into a dragon?” I asked, confused why that would break his bond with Clawdia.

“He is of Fafnir’s line. It was only a matter of time.”

I eyed her suspiciously. “You did this to him?”

“What?” She scoffed. “I did nothing to him. I saw him turn. He cornered Karin. I think he killed her.”

Clawdia hissed again and hopped down from my back, landing harshly on a board and instantly set off, searching for something among the wreckage.

“Clawdia, be careful.” I called after her, my heart lurching as she crawled through the wreckage, her fur getting filthier and her tail getting matted as she darted between boards and jumped over glass, presumably looking for Karin.

“Do you know why she hissed?” Elizabeth asked in a low voice.

“We, the shadow and I, found her passed out on Karin’s sofa last night.” I watched Elizabeth’s blank expression for a moment before saying, “I have not known Charlie long, but he is a good male. He wouldn’t hurt someone unless they did something to him first.”

“Perhaps that was true when he was human.”

“Drakorians aren’t intrinsically evil people. They are like Mestoclocan people. They have two souls and two bodies. They shift into an animal, but that animal follows its nature.”

She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. “What are you saying?”

“You believe he has changed into something evil, but Charlie, in any form, is still Charlie.”

Her jaw was tense as she spat, “He attacked me.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“You think I provoked him?” Her voice was almost a screech, and I winced.

From the rubble, Clawdia growled and interrupted any further conversation. Clambering over the broken boards, I followed her path to reach her and saw a pale hand peeking out from under a board. The lack of blood lines had already confirmed no other survivors were here.

She’d found a body.

I picked Clawdia up and tried to brush the filth out of her fur while Elizabeth sighed behind me. “That must be Karin.”

“She’s dead.”

Clawdia hissed and hopped out of my arms and back onto the board, covering the body.

I shouted, “Clawdia, what are you doing?”

I tried to stop her, but she continued to avoid my arms as she danced across the board and then jumped, repetitively, while she growled and hissed, her fur on ends.

The kind and respectful person I knew Clawdia to be didn’t align with the feline that jumped on a body. Either Karin had done something deserving of this behavior, or Clawdia was desperately trying to tell me something.

“Do you want me to pick up the board?”

She hissed at me, and I took a step back, allowing her to do as she wished.

“That guess is incorrect,” Elizabeth remarked dryly as she watched Clawdia. Her gaze met mine, and she asked, “She can’t turn?”

“Not so far.”

“What happened?”

I rubbed my eyes since the sunlight was bothering them and sighed. “The shadow possessing me, Kaatu, wanted to heal the portal to Ombra because his world was dying without the connection to all the dimensions. It was his last chance to save his trapped people and realm. He didn’t trust me or our situation enough to prioritize his people and realm, so he possessed me and waited for the right opportunity to take Zaide or Clawdia so he could heal the portal.”

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