- 'It seems they were right to believe in you,' he whispered softly in my ear. 'Welcome to the freak show, Christina.'

His last remark, tinged with bitterness and irony, confused me. That and the fact that he suddenly dropped me before moving a few steps away. I stabilized as best I could and turned around, while I opened my eyes gently and raised them on the man in front of me.

Well, he couldn't go unnoticed, so to speak. He was 6 feet tall, had completely dark clothes, long black hair and a look that was anything but friendly. The latter contrasted so much with the soft voice that had whispered in my ear that I hesitated for a moment.

- 'What exactly happened just now?' I asked him, careful not to stare at him with my mouth open, for apart from his impressive looks, I could not take my eyes off the oversized bow that was sticking out from his back.

Who was he? A new kind of Robin Hood?

- 'You have given free rein to your empathy. I helped you to relax the control you had over your perceptions. Which officially makes you a shapeshifter. Now that doubt is no longer allowed, I suppose congratulations are in order?' he said in a low, sinister voice.

- 'From your tone, it doesn't seem like a good thing...' I asked, a little confused by his behaviour.

Instead of answering me, he gave me a semblance of a tight smile with a shrug. This whole situation was really starting to annoy me. I was about to express my thoughts to him when Charles chose this particular moment to return to the meadow. From the look on his face, it had gone exactly as he had hoped.

- 'Very well. Now that you have access to your perceptions, you will be able to move on to practice,' he said as he threw something blue and shapeless at me that turned out to be a woman's sweater, once I grabbed it in mid-flight.

- 'Soak up the smell and follow the trail. Jude will accompany you.'

A disgruntled growl signaled me that Jude was Robin Hood's irascible clone to my left.

- 'Not even a "please"? I am disappointed,' I ironically said. 'Are you always this nice or are you making a special effort just for me?'

An amused exclamation reached me, coming from my recalcitrant sidekick. I had at least managed to entertain him, that's a start. As usual, Charles didn't even bother to answer and left the glade, not to mention giving me a nasty look in the process. Ultimately, I began to regret less and less that he did not take me in. My ideal of a perfect and loving family was quickly disappearing.

I was drawn from my melancholic thoughts by an impatient snap of the tongue. Although his attitude disconcerted and annoyed me tremendously, he was right on one point: the sooner I get started, the sooner I can wash my hands of this crazy business.

I stood there for a moment, frozen like an idiot, the sweater in my hands without knowing very well what to do with it. Was I supposed to detect emotions? What did they expect me to do, sniff it out? I wasn't a damn dog! Jude, visibly annoyed at waiting around, leaned against a tree and looked at me with a mocking and amused look.

- 'So, is this happening or what?'

I decided not to acknowledge his sarcastic tone and just glared at him. At least that was my intention, but it must not have had the desired effect, because he laughed. Furious, I turned my back on him. There was no way I was going to ask him for help, my pride would not allow me to do so.

So I tried to clear my mind, closed my eyes and, for lack of a better idea, carried the sweater to my nose. I breathed slowly and deeply, trying to analyze and dissect all the smells that came to me. The most striking was a smell of spicy citrus fruits, rather pleasant. Probably a perfume. As well as a sour note, which I don't know why, certainly confirmed to me that this sweater belonged to a woman.

Strangely enough, I didn't detect any animal odours. But this sweater was supposed to belong to a metamorph? Unless it's a test? Very possible, with this manipulative Charles, nevertheless I decided to continue. A kind of cold and viscous sensation emanated from the garment, not really a smell... rather a sensation and it was it that made my heart go wild and multiplied my senses.

I threw the sweater on the ground and quickly followed the freshly discovered trail. Nothing else mattered anymore. My senses recorded what was happening around me, without it crippling my tracking. I felt that someone was following me, but I knew confusedly that I didn't have to fear him. I ran through the forest, apparently without a clear purpose, for what seemed to me to be hours, when the feeling became more present, almost overwhelming. I suddenly stopped and looked around in a circular way.

I was in a dead end. A granite wall covered with climbing plants was facing me and thorny bushes associated with poisonous sumac almost impenetrable closed both sides. Not surprisingly, I saw Jude leaning nonchalantly against a tree behind me. An amused glow in his dark eyes and seemingly not affected by our racing in the woods! While I was all dishevelled, scratched and struggling to regain normal breathing. No doubt about it: I had to start working out and buy sneakers.

- 'Well, well, well! Did Scooby-Doo sniff out a trail?' he teased me, looking me from head to toe with a mocking smile.

- 'Don't call me that!' I cringed, glaring at him.

My bad temper urged me to hit him hard to find out what he was really made of, but my instinct, or my new senses, compelled me to finish what I had started and find the source of that strange sensation.

I took it upon myself and turned away, before heading towards where the track seemed to lead. I found myself in front of a granite wall. I stopped, stunned, until I felt a weak breeze coming from the cliff. Without further thinking, I spread the vines to discover, without any real surprise, an opening behind them. I rushed into it, eager to find the target of my hunt.

It was a cave, large enough that I couldn't see the depths of it and very dimly lit. It took me a few seconds to get used to the darkness.

When I reopened my eyes, what I saw knocked my breath away. I knew what was in front of me, but my brain refused to accept it. Probably a defense mechanism to preserve my already damaged mental health. My whole body began to shake as my legs went weak and I fell to the ground.

I think that's when I started screaming.