Chapter 7

I watched Jamie as she sat there after finishing her tale, quiet and turned away slightly so I wouldn't see the tears her recollections had caused. She had suffered terribly at the hands of circumstance and prejudice against her form. She had come to see herself as something less than human as an animal but it wasn't true If only I could make her see that.

I reached out and gently took her hand and stroked the soft palm, she looked at me with tears dripping from her armoured face.

"Jamie, you are a very special person. To have survived all that and remained sane is astounding," I took her hand in both of mine, "Despite what others have tried to make you believe, you are not an animal or worthless. You are wonderful, funny, beautiful, sensitive and above all you deserve a happy life."

"But I'm a monster I ... I've Killed!" she sobbed.

"Only by accident or to survive, you didn't mean to hurt anyone. You may or may not have killed your father but I don't think you are to blame for what happened."

S he shrank back away trying to hide herself. I gently gripped her chin and turned her face towards me.

"You are not a monster!" I said and then gave her a kiss, "Come back to the world with me. It will be difficult but I will be there with you every step of the way."

"No I ... I can't," she said softly, "they'll lock me in a cage!"

"They won't," I said gently, "For one I wouldn't let anyone even try. For another they don't lock up people."

"I'm not a person I'm an animal!"

"It's the same thing, no matter how much people would like to think we are different we are all animals. Sometimes smarter than others sometimes just as stupid and driven by our nature. And some of the worst, most animal like of us are not the hybrids, but the pures that hound them and call them less than human. They are wild beasts driven by their fear of something different. You may be different but you are more human than any of those people and I would chose you over them any day."

She looked at me with tears in her eyes and then grabbed me in a fierce hug nearly knocking me down. There were no words after that. We cleared up and retired to the cave for the night. We kissed and held each not needing to say anything.

When I woke I found Jamie had already got up and gone out. When I looked around the cave I found some simple deliberate letters written in the ash es of the dead fire. "LAKE" it said.

I got up, dressed and headed out. The sun was just setting and it was like a fire in the sky, casting long shadows throughout the forest. I picked my way down to the lake to find Jamie perched on a rock watching the water. I took a seat next to her and we sat there in silence for a while just watching the patterns on the water as the setting sun played across the gently rippling surface. The calm water was now and then disturbed by fish or other wildlife.

"I've decided," Jamie said suddenly without turning to look.

I waited, not wanting to rush her. She turned and looked at me, "I've decided to come back with you."

I gently put my arm around her, "I won't lie to you, there will probably be times you 'll regret this decision. I'll be there with you though and together we'll find a way through this."

She leaned her head against my shoulder, put her arm around me. We watched the sun vanish beyond the horizon and the stars come out. Later we prepared a meal of fish, my last can of beans, and berries. While we took care of those basics my mind worked on the problem of getting Jamie back to civilisation. The local area didn't seem hugely anti-MORFS but even so, someone with such an extreme change as Jamie would likely incite a certain amount of fear. She would need a disguise, if only for her own mental well being. She would not want to be seen in the beginning, it would take a while before she was comfortable with strangers seeing her form.

So how best to go about this, maybe going by stages would be the best approach. Step one, get Jamie back to the village. Maybe to the campsite initially, it was close to the forest and I could pitch my tent there away from prying eyes. Then from there I could work on disguising Jamie's more unique characteristics so we could get closer to civilization, maybe stay at the hotel for a short while. Taking Jamie straight to the City would probably overload her with too many people around. She was not used to seeing more than a couple at the time and maybe a short time in the village with its relatively small population would help her acclimatise a bit. It was also familiar to her from her childhood so that might help.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked as I idly stirred the beans not really looking at them.

"I was just thinking about the best way to take you back to civilisation," I said.

"It's a nuisance trying to get something like me back there isn't it. It might be easier if I just stayed," she said unhappily already feeling like she didn't want to go through with her decision.

"Well you know what they say nothing worth doing is ever easy."

She smiled a little, I dished up the beans and we ate our meal.

"I think the best course of action is to go to the campsite on the edge of the forest. I can set up my tent on the outskirts then you can nip in quickly while no-one is looking."

"Okay," she looked uncertain, "What if someone sees me?"

"Well let's see, I'll set the tent up late and then when it gets dark you can sneak out of the forest. You should be fairly safe, then after that you can stay in the tent till I get you a disguise."

We finished our meal and then played some cards. After Jamie won three times she suggested a walk. She lead me confidently through the forest which I could barely see at all. She would pull me out of the way of unseen branches or roots which just looked like everything else around, that is pitch black, even with my eyes adapted to the dark. Jamie herself was a hint of a dark shape where the occasional gleam of light off her armour showed her presence. She moved as silent and sure as a ghost. If she hadn't been clutching my arm I would have thought her a figment of an over-active imagination.

"How can you see so well in this pitch black. Do you have some really good night vision or something?" I asked her.

"Not vision as such, I sort of feel all the living things, they give off a luminous glow all around me. The trees or the bugs and beasties in the ground, they all shine," she replied.

Eventually we reached some open ground where the moon and the stars gave enough light to see and I was no longer in constant danger of injuring myself on unseen obstacles. It gave me a chance to appreciate her a little. She seemed so at home here in the forest at least at this moment. I wondered if I was making a big mistake bringing her back to the big bad world with me. Still I remembered how lonely she was and knew that despite the pain and culture shock this move would bring her I had made the right choice.

We went swimming together. I noticed that Jamie rarely went out further than standing depth, I wondered if her armour made her too heavy to float. I got cold quite quickly, lacking her amazing armour but it was nice to be out under the stars like that. Afterwards we sat in front of the fire drying off and keeping each other warm. We went to bed early knowing that if the plan was to succeed we needed to be at the campsite early enough not to raise too many suspicions but late enough so that we could pass through the forest undetected. We decided to go separately, I would set off first to get to the campsite in good time and set up the tent. Jamie would follow later when the forest was dark enough to hide her and would meet me at the campsite.

I worried about the plan but it seemed the most sensible thing to do. I made sure I had some way of ensuring Jamie could identify my tent so she could sneak in. We turned in for the night, both nervous about what tomorrow would bring.

We woke up far too early, well for us anyway, it was maybe early afternoon. Jamie pulled a fairly battered looking little backpack from somewhere, perhaps her original backpack from when she first came here. She stuffed a few precious belongings into it including Pinky bear, then she rolled up the new sleeping bag I had left her last time I was there. She nodded that she was ready to go when the time came. I gave her a hug and promised to see her soon and then I set off alone.

I made good time back to the village having made the walk a couple of times I knew it reasonably well and could shave some time off my previous trips. By early evening I made it to the campsite. I paid for a spot, my previous rental period having expired, then made my way to the closest point I could get to the forest setting up as far away from the other tents as possible. I made a fire and then sat to wait for Jamie. The anticipation was killing me, I made some tea to pass the time. Several cups later it was getting quite late and I was worried. I was just wondering if maybe she had decided to stay in the cave when there was a rustle in the bushes at the edge of the forest. I could make out two black eyes watching me from the foliage. I looked about for anyone paying attention but the few people still up were busy tending their fires or some such so I waved to Jamie to come over. She was like a dark flash her shiny black armour glinting as she shot across the gap from the forest and into the tent. I extinguished the fire and then went in to join her.

She hugged me fiercely when I got inside obviously pleased to see me. I was just as relieved to see her again and hugged her back. We soon settled down in our sleeping bags to rest. We didn't turn on any lamps or light wary of her shape casting peculiar shadows on the material of the tent. Both of us were worn out from the emotional trials of the day and lack of sleep we got the previous night so we were out for the count quickly.

The morning sun woke me, it's one thing about tents they transmit the light quite effectively. I find that this makes it difficult to sleep in the day time. Jamie was still dead to the world, I wondered if her plating meant she was less susceptible to the light. I shook her gently she snorted, rolled over and then went back to sleep.

"Jamie ... Jamie," I gave her another shake and tried again, "Jamie!"

She opened her eyes slightly, "What is it," she said sleepily.

"I'm going to go out and try to find you a suitable disguise. Don't leave the tent, if anyone gets nosy pull the sleeping bag over you and pretend to be asleep."

She nodded slightly closed her eyes and began snoring gently. I guess her nocturnal habits made it hard for her to be up at this time.

I headed out, zipping up the tent flap tightly behind me. I stopped by the shower block and had a quick clean up and then made my way into the village. It was a small place with very few shops but it did have some places that sold generic clothing as well as outfits that catered more to the hiker end of the market. I picked up a long raincoat and a stretchy tracksuit. I grabbed a wide brimmed hat, a scarf, some woolen gloves, some hiking socks, a pair of white trainers, and then a pair of sunglasses. She would look a little like Claude Raynes in the Invisible Man but it was the best I could do. I booked a double room at the hotel I stayed in before, then took my purchases back to the campsite. Jamie had woken up in my absence and nearly skewered me with her tail when I came back.

"Where did you go?!" she said frantically, "I woke up and you were gone!"

"I'm sorry I woke you to tell you I'm going out, I guess you were still half asleep," I said comforting her.

"I was scared you'd left me here and that I'd be found and locked away."

"Shush now, it's alright I was just getting you a disguise," her body was shaking with fear and anguish. She was so far outside her comfort zone she was on the edge of panic. After a while I calmed her and showed her my purchases explaining the next step as she tried them on. I looked away to spare her embarrassment as she changed her battered shorts for the tracksuit. I had been very close to her with her wearing nothing but those small shorts and she showed no trace of embarrassed but now the thought of taking them off in front of me made her nervous and embarrassed. It was a very human reaction that felt very endearing. Once she had changed into the tracksuit with her tail sticking out the back I helped her into the coat which covered her tail nicely. It gave her a slightly humpbacked look but nothing too bad. Most of the stuff fitted pretty well, I had deliberately gone for things that were more or less one size fits all. The shoes were a little loose but the thick hiking socks compensated.

Soon she was all kitted out and looking a bit strange but definitely not like a hybrid.

"How do I look," asked Jamie nervously fidgeting with her scarf.

"You look fine," I said taking her hand to stop her pulling at her disguise, " Everything will be okay you'll see."

I packed up our stuff and then gently led Jamie outside, she was very twitchy standing out in the open. I quickly packed up the tent took Jamie's hand leading her into the village.

I deposited the tent, sleeping bags, and any other camping kit in my car then took the rest of our things with us. As we approached the village Jamie got more and more nervous, she went from holding my hand to clinging to me and shaking gently. I put my arm around her to reassure her and rubbed her shoulder to calm her as best I could.

We made our way into the village Jamie clinging to me her body jolting every time she saw someone coming our way. I walked her into the town and over to the hotel. Most people simply ignored us, we got a few funny looks but nothing hostile. I already had my key to the room so I took Jamie straight through the lobby and up the stairs to our room. I opened the door and took her inside, putting up the "do not disturb" sign outside before I forgot and then locked the door behind us. The room was a fairly nice hotel room with a large bed, small desk, an armchair, and a reasonably sized TV, a small bathroom branched off from the main room near the door. I gave the room a quick check to make sure no one could see in and then returned to the still shaking Jamie.

I gave her a hug, removed her hat and scarf and then gave her a kiss.

"You were very brave, I'm proud of you," I told her holding her close to still her shakes.

"I was so scared of all those people!" she said quietly.

We hadn't passed that many people, maybe 5 but I guess of late that was more than Jamie would see at any one time.

"It's alright we are safe inside, no-one can see us. Come on why don't we get you ready for bed. You're probably a bit tired after your ordeal. We can watch some TV in bed or something if you'd like to take your mind off it."

She looked at me considering my proposition, "I've not seen TV since I was normal."

"Well you've got plenty to catch up on then, I got you some pyjamas to wear in bed if you'd like to, I know your armour means you don't really need to wear clothes but I thought you might feel more comfortable with them on."

She nodded gently, I got out the pyjamas and handed them to her and she padded off determinedly into the bathroom to change. I put on my own sleep wear and located the remote for the TV while I waited for Jamie to come back. She reappeared a short while later looking very cute in teddy bear pyjamas clutching her beloved Pinky bear.

She regarded the bed suspiciously for a few moments as if it was some sort of trap. She poked it a few times experimentally then she climbed in and sat there bouncing slightly to feel the springs of the mattress. I slipped into bed next to her and she cuddled up against me.

"You really were terribly scared out there weren't you?" I asked. She nodded. "You're a brave person to face your fear like that."

She nodded to the TV, "Can we watch cartoons?"

"Sure whatever you like," I guess she hadn't seen any TV in her years in the forest so her preferred shows were what she remembered from when she was young.

I searched through the channels managing to find one with cartoons for her to watch. She settled down watching the antics of the animated animals with a smile on her face though she didn't last long before she dozed off. It had been a hard day for her so I wasn't surprised. I gently pulled the covers over us, switched off the telly and then tried to get some rest myself. I was very proud of her for taking this first step, if I had been in her position I'm not sure I would have managed it.

I woke reasonably early so I got up and had a shower. When I came back I found Jamie upright in bed watching cartoons.

"I've finished with the bathroom if you want to take a shower," I said forgetting that she normally used a lake to wash in.

She seemed to consider this for a second then jump ed out of bed and went over to the bathroom with an inquisitive look on her face. I wondered if I should show her how it worked but a short while later there was the sound of running water so she seemed to have figured that out. I reminded myself to be careful to let her learn things herself and not belittle her achievements in any way as she was a tough and resourceful young woman. If I did everything for her she might grow to be resentful or possibly dependant on me and I didn't want either of those.

During the night I'd had an idea for how I could improve her disguise a little, it would mean going out and I wasn't sure if she was ready for that so soon. I got dressed and waited for her to finish her shower. A short while later she padded out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel, her hair now lacking the few twigs she always seemed to have in the forest. I handed her a brush from my bag of bits I had bought her.

"Here you go. I'm going to go out to get some more bits and bobs, do you want to stay here?" I asked.

She took the brush and began running it through her hair, "I'll stay," she said.

"OK I'll leave the sign on the door so no one will bother you but just in case if you lock the door behind me no one can come in. I'll knock on the door when I get back then you can check the peephole on the door and if it isn't me you can just pretend to be asleep or something," I said.

"What's a peephole?"

"Here I'll show you. You see this little thing here, it lets you see who is outside the door if you put your eye up to it. That way you can see if you want to let the person in or not."

"I don't need that I can tell who's outside the door anyway. Don't be too long or I'll get worried."

"I'll be as quick as I can."

I headed out and heard the lock engage behind me. I headed over to the local shops and went into the chemists. They had more or less what I was looking for a variety of make-up. I got some odd looks for my rag tag assortment of different items but the cashier didn't say anything. I headed back to the hotel via a bakery where I picked up a few pastries for breakfast. I knocked on the door and after a short wait Jamie let me back it.

"I got you some breakfast, I didn't know what you'd like so I got a selection of things," I said handing her the bag.

She delicately picked up a fruit pastry and began to eat it with much relish, I had one of the more generic Danish pastries. She sat back on the bed to watch her cartoons I took a seat in the small armchair and watched her. She finished her pastry and sat watching the TV for a bit before she noticed me watching her.

"What?" she asked, "Do I have some crumbs on my face?"

"No," I said, "I just like watching you."

She smiled and hid her face a little as if embarrassed but still pleased. While she was in a good mood I figured it was time to try coaxing her outside again.

"I got some things so we can go out and take a walk," I said.

She stared at me suddenly still, "What things."

"Here let me show you," I grabbed the bag of make-up I had gotten. I showed her the skin coloured foundation I had gotten her and various paints and pigments that would mask her armour.

She looked a little doubtful so I offered to apply some of the stuff so we could see how well it worked. Then if she was happy we could take a walk in the sunshine. She still didn't seem convinced but allowed me to try applying the make-up.

Her armour not being skin made it tough for the make-up to spread properly, it didn't adhere quite right. After some experimentation with the various kinds I had purchased I found a cream that covered her black armour properly. It took a while to apply it, I was no expert and there was a lot of area to cover but by the time I was done Jamie looked much more normal. You could still make out the plates if you were close enough but I had done my best to obscure them as much as possible. As a result you couldn't really tell from any reasonable distance, it did look like she had quite heavy make-up on but you couldn't see her normal skin colour.

I had made sure that Jamie couldn't see herself till I was done and once I was happy with my work I led her by the hand into the bathroom. Her expression was one of pure shock, she stared at her now more normal looking face with her mouth and eyes wide open.

She tried to say something but it took several attempts to get the words out, "I look like a real girl," she said.

I gently put my arms around her, "You are a real girl sweetie, I just made you look less different. So how about that walk?"

She nodded slightly raising her hand to touch her face, "Careful," I cautioned, "you'll rub off your disguise. You really need something a bit more durable than this foundation, maybe something that will set. I'll have to look for something a bit more suitable but for now this will do."

She followed me out of the bathroom and we sorted out an outfit for her to wear, we still had to cover most of her but this time it was less like the invisible man layers of covering up. Dressed in a long coat with a high collar and a pair of sunglasses to hide her eyes, Jamie looked quite normal her long blonde hair flowing about her like a brilliant golden wave. She looked hesitantly at me so I smiled and offered her my arm.

"It's going to be fine," I said, she grabbed my arm tightly and I gently led her to the door.

We made our way outside, the corridor and stairs were empty of people and it wasn't until we reached the lobby that we encountered someone.

"Good morning," the girl on the desk said brightly. Jamie grabbed onto me tighter, fearful of being found out.

"Morning," I replied cheerfully trying not to grimace at Jamie's iron grip crushing my arm.

The woman smiled at us and then went back to whatever she was doing. We walked past the desk and out through front door into the morning sunshine. Jamie clung to me like I was a life preserver and she was adrift at sea. If she gripped any tighter I was sure she would do serious damage.

"Relax, no one sees anything strange," I said putting my arm around her.

She relaxed a little and we walked down the street, I didn't want to go too far. This was traumatic enough for Jamie and I wanted to take things slow, give her time to get on her feet. I took her to a small park I had seen, it had a pleasant grassy area where kids could play as well as some flower beds and even a small lake with ducks to feed. I took Jamie on a walk round the lake, every time someone passed us she would tense but they would just wish us good day and pass us by with barely a second glance.

I took a seat to by the lake, Jamie sat by me a bundle of nerves. I stroked her hand to calm her.

"Do you want to go back?" I asked, I didn't want to push her too hard.

"Frankie and I came to feed the ducks here," she said quietly.

"You miss her a lot don't you."

"Yes."

"We could try and find her, she might still be a local here."

Jamie shook her head, "She wouldn't want to see me like this." Tears rolled down her cheeks cutting furrows into the make-up.

"Hey now, there's no need to get upset. She might surprise you, from what you told me she wasn't scared of you, she saw that you were still her sister. She left you the note and even her favourite toy, I'm sure she'd like to see you again."

"But that was before I killed Daddy!" she sobbed, " She must not have known then but by now she'll have realised that I was the one who killed him. She'll hate me."

"There, there, no need to cry, come on let's get you back to the room. It's been too much excitement too soon. We can go watch some cartoons or play some cards. Would you like that."

She nodded, the tears were wearing away the make -up, leaving dark streaks where her armour showed through.

I gave her a hug and rocked her gently till she calmed down, "OK let's give you a little touch up first." I got out the little make-up kit I had brought along for just this sort of emergency and repaired her face. I gave her a reassuring squeeze then took her back to the hotel room.

The cleaning people had been in while we were out so that was one less thing to worry about. I cleaned the make-up off of Jamie's face, the armour made the job pretty easy. I gave her a kiss on the forehead and held her close, she relaxed into my arms and some of the tension she had worked up on the walk bleed out of her.

As w e sat on the bed watching her cartoons she clung to me for comfort and I gently stroked her hair.

After a while cartoons became a bit too much for me so I read a book on my eCom. Sometime later I realised that she had fallen asleep on my lap. I let her sleep, she'd had a hard day. Maybe taking her to this village, to her childhood home hadn't been a good idea. It was full of painful reminders of her past and perhaps that would inhibit any progress she might make in re-entering society here.

She woke sometime later stretching her body almost like a cat, except cat's tails were less terrifying than that when they stretched.

She looked around sleepily and said, "I'm hungry."

I checked my watch, it was lunch time, "You want to order some room service for lunch?"

"Room service?" she asked. I guess she had never come across the concept in her time before living in the forest.

"The hotel can make us food and bring it to the room. There is a menu of things they do over there on the table."

She bounced off the bed and grabbed the menu then laid back down on her stomach, the menu held out in front of her.

"Wow there's lots of stuff."

I pointed out to her which of the items she could have for lunch. She was a little put out that she couldn't have pancakes for lunch but they were only on the breakfast menu. I promised her pancakes for breakfast the next day which made her smile.

She picked out fish and chips and I chose a steak and ale pie. I ordered the food and when they turned up to deliver Jamie hid in the bathroom. Once the delivery people were gone we ate our lunch with Jamie watching some more of her cartoons. When we were done with lunch Jamie was getting a little bored with cartoons so we played some cards instead, yet again Jamie beat me hands down. As the day wore on I wondered about taking Jamie out for an evening walk but figured maybe it would be too much for one day, better to take things easy. We played until it started to get late and I ordered us some dinner then found a film on the hotel's movie service that we could watch. It was a fairly old comedy but not something Jamie had seen before. She took to it quite well laughing along while we ate our dinner in bed. As it got later Jamie snuggled up to me and fell asleep before the film had even finished.

Come next morning I woke up early, Jamie was still on forest time I guess and not used to waking in the day. I ordered her a stack of pancakes and gently woke her with a kiss. She was overjoyed with her breakfast treat and wolfed down a big stack of pancakes with lemon juice and sugar.

Riding that high it was easier to get her to agree to a morning walk. She had her shower and then put on her disguise. We wandered the streets of the village taking in the pleasant country air. Jamie was still fairly nervous being out and about but she didn't cling to me quite so hard and was able to relax more and enjoy being outside.

We were walking along with no particular destination in mind when I felt Jamie pull tighter against me. There was no one else around so I was initially confused as to what had upset her. But then she began leading me along moving with purpose. She turned down a street and then took a side street. I let her lead me along, she obviously had some destination in mind and was intent on getting there. She stopped in front of a nondescript two story house with a walled garden. A large tree sprung up in the garden giving the relatively large area some shade. You could just make out a battered tree house in the branches.

"This was my house," said Jamie in a quiet voice.

I put my arm around her and hugged her tight. She looked up at the old house that obviously held many happy memories and some very sad ones too. She reciprocated the hug and we stood there for a short while holding each other.