Then, one night, I woke up at night like I routinely did so and ran down the stairs. I was just about to run to the front door to leave my house and go to the sunrise cliff, when someone flicked a switch and the lights came on. Behind me, I heard someone say,

"Not so fast, Layla."

I turned round, startled, and saw it was Dean who had said it. Both my foster parents, Dean and Kate Rivers, were there beside the lightswitch. They did not look happy. Kate told me,

"Layla, we know you have been leaving this house at this precise time for quite some time. We are quite suspicious and know that the excuses you give us are lies. We know you are hiding something and are fed up with this behaviour. We want to know the truth!"

I tried to open the front door but it was locked. I looked around to see if they key was in its usual place. It wasn't there!

Dean informed me,

"I have the key here." Dangling the key on his finger before putting it in his trouser pocket.

Kate told me,

"Layla, we want to know the truth. Please!"

I sighed and tried to think of what to tell them. Finally, I decided to tell them the truth but mask the transformation bits, to keep my transformative identity hidden.

I began to tell Kate and Dean,

"Okay, Kate and Dean, take a deep breath. This will be difficult to believe. Right, I used to live in a different world to this one, its name was Srrin. However, a war began in that world and I had to leave. When I went to the wizard to come here by portal, he told me to go to this citys orphanage and go home with you. So I did. But then, after a few months, I had this sudden urge at night to get out of this house and run away to a mountain. I cannot tell you what happened on the mountain. Then, when I returned home, I went back to bed and slept. This happens every night and I cannot control it. My secret that I cannot tell you originates from Srrin, which is why I am not an ordinary girl."

Kate and Dean rivers looked like they were quite annoyed with me.

"Layla, this is no time to tell fairy stories like that! We are being serious here, what is going on? We want to hear nothing but the truth Layla!"

At that point I got angry. I had been honest and they still didn't believe me! Now they had offended me as well. As I felt myself get angrier I told them,

"Why don't you believe me?! I gave you nothing but the truth and you rejected it! Srrin is real! That war in Srrin was horrible, dangerous, stressful! I had to live in a warzone! Now I come to a new land full of hope, prospect and peace and all I have seen is mistrust, disbelief and nastiness! Do you know how I feel about that?! No, of course you don't because you think I would lie to you and okay, I have! But its only to protect myself from being ridiculed, laughed at, called a monster! I have endured a lot since coming here you know and you offend me by calling me a liar when I tell the truth!"

I didn't just say it, I yelled and shouted it. My foster parents just looked at me, their mouths open in shock. I looked behind me and saw my arms were growing! I suddenly realised that my strong feelings were causing me to transform! I put my arms behind my back and bolted upstairs as fast as I could. I ran into my room, slammed the door and locked it. Outside, I could hear my foster parents banging on the door. I couldn't let any ordinary humans see me transform. I had to get out somehow before I transformed! I panicked for a bit before I saw my bedroom window. I grabbed my chair and threw it with all my strength at the window. The window shattered into tiny pieces and I got onto the window ledge. I looked down and as I jumped out of my window and landed on the dew-covered grass, I heard Dean and Kate shriek

"Layla!"

I ran for my life. I ran out of my garden, out of the street, out of town as fast as my powers would allow me to. I evetually reached the bottom of the montain and by then, it was too late to go to my mountain cliff. Desperately, I leapt behind a bush and began to fully transform. After fully transforming, I flew to the sunrise mountain cliff and sat down on a boulder. I sat there for several minutes, thinking about what I had done. What would I do now? I couldn't return to Dean and Kate, they wouldn't be happy with me. Besides, they would still not believe my story. Also, I didn't really feel I belonged in human society.

I thought,

"Firstly, I am not a true human. Secondly, my foster parents dont believe me when I tell the truth. I am not normal, so how can I live in a human world? But then I can't return to Srrin either, as I am in danger of being killed by rockets. Even if it was safe in Srrin, I couldn't return anyway - there are no wizards in Atlo!"

I sat down on the boulder and cried out of frustration and sadness, alone. A little while later, I became aware that someone else was watching me. Turning around, I spotted Cat disapeering into a bush. A few minutes later, she came out of the bush in human form. She saw me crying and came over to me.

"What's wrong?" Cat asked me gently.

Sniffling, I answered sadly,

"Cat, I cannot live in human society anymore. I had a row with Kate and Dean, my foster parents, and ran away from home because I was transforming. I cannot return as they keep demanding I tell them 'the truth' - they don't believe me when I actually do tell them the truth. With no place to call home, I cannot live in society."

Cat looked concerned and she told me,

"Well Layla, you may not be able to go home but thankfully someone you know is going through the same thing..."

"Who?" I asked.

"Me." Cat replied. "My pride were also suspicious as to who I had fallen in love with. So I told them nothing but the truth. My pride got angry, they told me I would be punished for breaking pride laws. So I yelled and yowled at them and ran away from them. I don't think I can return either - they would still be angry at me."

"What about your boyfriend Cat?" I asked her.

Cat replied,

"I met a rogue Feliner on my way out of the woods and I was told that my boyfriend, Shadow, was punished in his pack after he told them he'd fallen for me. He was banned from exploring wolf territory, the Wolver equivalent to being grounded."

I asked Cat,

"Well now we both can't go back home, where are we going to go? We have to live somewhere."

Cat was silent for a moment before she gazed at the mountains in the scenery. Cat eventually answered me,

"Layla, we're going to have to live in the wild."