Beep 

Beep 

Be-

The persistent alarm coming from my watch cut off when a white, furry paw slammed down on it, sending me back into my peaceful slumber. If you could call nightmares of my past and a creepy golden persian maine-coon mix peaceful, that is. Any sleep was better than waking up.

Unfortunately, the equally annoying voice of my best friend replaced the sound of my watch beeping, sending me, once again, out of my dreaming.

"Misha? Misha! Misha, I swear if you're sleeping–"

"Okay, okay," I grumbled, rolling over beneath the cat tree I had fallen out of. Yes, I had a perfectly good human bed, but it was located all the way across the room. My lazy butt had instead crashed on the cat tree by the door.

"Get up, Misha, this is important," Ilene ordered in the commanding voice she had received from her mother. Some days I wondered if she got any genetics from her father. Maybe she was just a clone created to maintain her mother's legacy of ordering me around.

Daisy, my tired mind recalled. The strict, yellow-spotted, white cat who always seemed to have something against my existence. Like mother like daughter.

Ilene must have made the assumption I had listened, which I hadn't, and explained the situation, "Slider's River Camp sent out a distress call seven minutes ago. They are not responding to our attempts at making communication."

"And you want me to go investigate?" I half asked and half-finished her explanation. Of course she does. Why else would she waken me at who knows how early it is.

"That would be the wisest course of action," replied Ilene in an unreadable tone.

Communication is out... could be coincidence, I thought, but most likely not.

Slider's River Camp, located on —you guessed it!— Slider's River was about a thirty-minute car drive from the main base. More like a swamp, in my opinion. And yes, you heard right, the buildings were on the river.

Although small, it being so close to the main base meant deep bonds between the members. Manymembers of Slider's River Camp had once served or had family at the main base. A couple of cats who I considered childhood friends lived there.

Having gotten this far through my story, you've probably realized how well I coped staying at a water base.

"Take your sister with you," continued Ilene. "Don't be irrational. Access the situation and report back."

"Yeah, yeah, I got it. Just don't send Echo, kay?"

"No promises," replied Ilene, once again in that annoying unreadable tone."But I will try making contact with Ninja and Marshmallow."

I jumped to my paws as if zapped by a bolt of electricity. For some reason, the idea of the two being on my team excited me. I'd finally have actual teammates other than my sister and best friend. Just like Boss had!

I must have either made some sort of noise or the pause had alerted Ilene of my excitement because she replied, amused, "Well now that you're awake and up, go get Pudding and be on your way."

"Yes ma'am," I replied sarcastically, hoping she could hear the eye roll through my voice. A click sounded, indicating that she had hung up on me. Whether it was before or after the reply, I had no idea.

Clomp, clomp, clomp, my paws thumped across the thick wooden hallway floor, carrying my half asleep body. Pudding had left her door parted, so I just pushed it the rest of the way open to get a good view of her room.

Even drawn closed, the almost transparent ivory curtains on her windows still allowed light to illuminate the room. Plastered to her floral wallpaper were posters and various papers with scribbled notes. Her cracked windows allowed air to sweep through, flipping the pages of the thick, heavy textbooks stacked on her desk and shaking the curtains.

Soft snoring came from her human bed. With my otherworldly grace, I scrambled up the side of it, pulling the blankets off and shaking the mattress enough to awaken my sister. Yep, I was ballet grade graceful.

"Rise and shine," I hollered at the still trying to sleep girl. Her dark chocolate brown hair strayed in every direction creating a spiderweb of tangles. "We've got work to do."

A quiet grumble was the only warning I received before she sent a leg in my direction, sweeping me off the bed. I face-planted into a pile of dirty laundry with a loud umph.

Although at the time I was quite annoyed at her action, I would have done the same in her shoes. After tumbling out of the clothing pile, I prepared to express my annoyance, but unfortunately –or fortunately, depending on how well she would have taken seven pounds of cat on her stomach– Pudding sat up to look at me.

"What kind of work, then?" She asked with a tired frown while rubbing the sleep and stray strands of hair out of her eyes. A line of drool trickled down her mouth, but I made no comment about it or her otherwise unflattering state.

"Something about Slider's River Camp," I explained before quoting Ilene, "Don't be irrational. Access the situation and report back. No fun allowed. Not even a little." Well, the first part was a quote anyway.

Pudding sighed and fell back down on the bed hard enough for the mattress to bounce. A long groan escaped her lips as she pushed back the hair that had flung over her face.

I feel you, sister. Why can't Ilene start calling in bat semi-humans to do the early mornings?

Lost in thought about Ilene's wicked ways, I didn't notice the fluffy white projectile heading my way till I was, once again, laying in Pudding's dirty clothing.

Why is her pillow hard as a brick? How does she even sleep on this thing? And why is this pile of dirty clothing here? The clothes hamper is literally three feet away... My thoughts came to a halt when I thought about the state of my own room. Okay, so she doesn't have anything on me. That's a good thing. I'm always number one.

"So, are we going now, or not?" Pudding asked with a thicker than usual Irish accent due to having just woken up. I removed the pillow from my head and looked up to her feline on the bed.

Pudding's human form was nowhere to be seen. Instead, a chocolate-brown cat with wavy fur and beautiful hazel eyes wiggled her way out from beneath the sheets. Pushing my irritation down, I replied, "I'm ready when you're ready."

"Then throw on your cape."

***

Breathing in the blended odors of moss, mud, and countless other animals mixed with the distinct scent of fish, my sister and I flew just above the calm river. Frogs dove from their lily pad seats into the clear water as we passed, stirring up the dirt floor.

Occasionally a trout or bass would swim beneath us, and I'd have to swallow down the temptation to reach my paw in and snag it. Fish held a special place in my heart —a place strongly connected to my stomach. However, water... water could not be taken lightly.

One moment it was all fun and games splashing it out of the water bowl —even more fun when there was ice floating around in it. But the next moment, the water bowl had toppled over me, spilling its dreaded contents on my head.

Moral of the story: water is evil and strikes when you least expect it.

"Slider's River Camp is just up ahead," Pudding said as we slowed our pace. The river appeared to end before us, but we knew that beyond the mass of vine-covered trees was an even wider river containing the raised camp.

Unlike yours truly -a flying zombie-, Pudding was wide eyed and bushy tailed. She could have blended in with a squirrel any day. Show off, I thought, a tired fog over my mind. It must be wonderful being a morning person.

"So sneak in, take a look, sneak out," I asserted, trying to act awake, "Easy peasy."

"Misha," Pudding warned in a tone somewhere between groaning and growling. She directed a pointed glare in my direction, which, I'll have you know, I took great offense to -even in my tired state.

"What?" I asked as if I didn't know my track record on stealth missions. "Don't worry; I'll be careful this time."

"And quiet?"

I made a loud, childish sigh and affirmed, "And quiet."

------------------

Hello!

L4 here. This chapter needs a little work, but I'm having trouble figuring out exactly where and what. Any help would be appreciated.

Also, since I haven't done them for a couple chapters, question time! If you were a semi-human (shapeshifter) what kind would you be? And for a bonus question: would you rather be a semi-human (powers in animal form) or semi-beast (powers in human form)?

All done! Don't forget to vote!