"Diane, is it the first time you take the plane ?" asked Mina

I nod when I see the plane. It isn't very big.

"So I'll leave you the seat close to the window !" she said

The idea to see the sky, the clouds and even the earth from that high makes my heart beats.

"Sometimes, they are holes in the air and it scares me a little," continues Mina
"Holes in the air ?"
"We have the feeling that the plane is falling, but everything is fine !"
"Don't worry," says Shawn to reassure me.

Wolf gives me an amused look.

"Oh, Diane, I'll protect you !" he said, imitating Shawn's voice. "Thanks, my sheep," he continues with a more acute voice. "Protect me, Shawn, my love !"
"Nasty wolf !" I whistle. "Stop imitating me !"
"Ew !" he grumbles.
"Diane would never say this," corrects him Shawn. "She would put me back at my place with a usual 'it's OK, I can manage alone'. You don't really know her, poor Wolfgang."
"Pfff, is you say so. It's true that you know her 'in details', Mister-I-make-disturbing-dreams."
"Stop with that ! I'm a hunter, I'm used to hide my thoughts so that wolves like you don't have access to them."
"Oh really ?" asks Wolf mockingly. "You don't dream of Diane ?"
"Yes, every night," admits Shawn looking at me in the eyes. "But you won't have any vision on my heart."

I look away from the grey eyes. My heart beats hard.

The plane is divided in two rows of seats. There is four seats on each side. I sit close to the window, ignoring the two boys who are giving each other killer looks. Nobody will ruin my first flight, my long-awaited exist of the village. Well, that's what I though until Mina sits beside me like the pink tornado that she is.

"BFF dear ! I will take selfies of the two of us to immortalize our first flight !"
"She's so cute !" comments the assistant, a hand on the heart, before sitting in her seat behind us with Thomas, the recruiter.
"No need to, Mina !"
"Diane !" sights Mimi. "We can see that you didn't have friends often, right ?"
"What does it do to you ?"
"My BFF, I'll always be here for you, so trust me ! I decided that we will be friends, so believe me because I'm as stubborn as small !"
"Why do you want to be my friend that much ? Nothing is forcing you."
"It's my wish, Diane. And also," she whispers so that no one can hear us, "it's the promise I made to Red."
"To..."
"Chut !" she whispers with a finger on her pink lips. "One day, I'll explain, but not here !"

I stare the mouse in her new frilly dress. She is suddenly so serious, which doesn't look like her and it surprises me so much that I nod in silence.

"And to seal our new friendship, I promise you to leave Shawn to you. But please, don't break his heart ! Shawn is very important to me. He's the only one who lets me be myself without judging me. I really love him, like if he was my brother. OK ?"
"Your brother ?"
"Yes, so since we're officially friends..." she gets closer to me, holds her phone at arm-length and take a picture of the two of us, "this is our new wallpaper. I'll send it to your phone.
"I don't have a phone !"
"Now you do !"

She puts a phone in my hand.

"A silver one for you and one with a pink case for me ! I configured them for us. If you have a problem, press on 1, it's my favourite number !"

The plane suddenly rises. Mina is holding my hand, she says it's a ritual but I think that it makes her happy to be with me. Does this kind of girl really exist ? That nice and frank, I mean. I know she has an annoying side, but I have to admit that she relaxes the atmosphere.

The flights attendants are making signs to show us the emergency exits, I look distractedly. There is a steward cat that is ogling on Mina and I think she doesn't notice it from her seat because she sticks on me every time he passes close to us.

The recruiter is silently reading his newspaper, Lisbeth is typing texts on her computer, Shawn is sitting next to Mina and Wolf is beside him.

Two flight attendants, a hen and a bonobo, giggle every time they pass beside the boys. Wolf openly hit on them. He looks so used to seducing women. Wolf told me he was a barman in the real world. Does he have a girlfriend ? What kind of girl would go out with an idiot like him ? Oh, and I don't care !

Shawn doesn't even notice the neckline of the flight attendant who is offering him something to drink. He puts his vest on Mina's shoulders who ended up sleeping on my shoulder. He watches over her just like he watched over me before being a hunter. In fact, the sheep takes care of everyone. It's in his nature to be so kind. He smiles at me and I smile back. Unconsciously, I stare at his lips and my mind is slightly clouded.

I still want to kiss him.

"Perverse !" says a voice in my head.

My eyes look at Wolf.

"Stop sending your voice in my thoughts, nasty wold !" I reply mentally. "I will kill you ! Don't take me for a fragile girl ! I won't stay passive !

I hear is laugh in my mind.

"Are you always aggressive, young lady ?"
"I'm not a naive riding hood and I am not a Granny who will let herself be eaten ! The tales that are told in the Big North, you can forget them ! here, the riding hoods are sly and the Grannies powerful, our hunters violate and the wolves always end up the heart crushed !"
"Oh, young lady ! Are you really going to crush my predator's heart ?"
"Everything is possible ! Stop reading in my mind and talking to me like this."
"I don't do anything, Diane, You're the one talking to me. It's rare for a villager to have this ease to speak to a wolf. Very rare. Have you been a telepath for a long time ?"
"What ? No ! You're the one talking to me."
"No, Diane. We have to be two to have a conversation. The answers that you say, you're doing it alone."

My breath blocks. I didn't open my mouth to reply to Wolf, and I'm not a telepath. So, what am I doing ?

I clench my fists on my knees. Is it a gift that I didn't know about ?

I feel that Wolf is trying to answer me again, but I just blocked my mind on the effect of surprise and panic. I only hear my jerky breath. I'm scared ! A little amount of people have this gift ! A little amount ! There is the master wolves, some hunters and... maybe the Grannies ?

The recruiter asked me if I had other gifts than being able to see the animal auras of people. Is that one one of them ? Will I discover other ?

I suddenly stand up and leave my seat. Direction the bathroom. I have to isolate myself immediately. Suddenly, my legs are shirking under me. I scream and fall in someone's arms.

"It's an air hole, everything is fine. We are going in a turbulence zone."

I look up. Thomas and and his golden eyes look at my panicked face. He looks at me with an interrogative look. I don't know anything about him. I can't distinguish his aura. He's not a fox, neither a polar bear, neither a bird. So what ?

"Why aren't you at your seat ?"
"I needed to walk," I reply. "And you ?"
"Same."

His red highlights swipe his forehead. I stare at him without restrain. Shawn is beautiful and sexy, Wolf has a wild and mysterious side, but him... he's magnetic.

His hands on my waist slowly release me and he smiles in an enigmatic way and goes back to his seat in silence.

Thomas, the recruiter... who really is he ?