the search (part 4)

Later that night Shifty had left the castle once her parents had gone into their room and fallen asleep, they were heavy sleepers so it would be quite easy to do this. She had counted the time while watching the sunrise go up and then the sunset go down until it was time.

"Quin, please open up? I could use some of your help with something..."

Shifty had reached a small house that wasn't that far from the castle, anyone who was friends or anything like that with the royal family could live in the castle or extremely close to it.

It felt like several hours passed before finally, she heard the door began to creak and she watched as a figure stepped out. She yawned before saying, "Oh, Hey Storm..."

"What do you need?"

"Well first, can I please come inside Quinny? It's kind of cold out here."

She agreed as she opened the door a little wider and watched as Storm shape-shifted into a small white cat and ran onto the couch. She smiled a little as she followed her lead and sat next to Shifty on it.

"So, can you please explain to me what's going on now? It's the middle of the night..."

Shifty thought for a minute as she shape-shifted back to normal and took out a small picture from her shirt pocket. "You remember my little sister?"

She nodded while remaining silent while she only listened to her, though she did motion for her to keep going after she nodded. Jeez, what could have happened now? Was it her parents?

Shifty sighed as she then tried her best to explain the whole thing, "Well let's just say...um...my parents are just terrible Quinny and I think you know how they are with Her, to keep it short she kind of ran away."

"Wait, what??"

She nodded and then continued, "That's why I came here for you, No one else was ever going to help me but I knew you would at least try to."

Shifty sighed as she looked back at Quin who just had a strange look on her face and remained silent. It almost looked like she was frozen in place. This was probably just a really bad idea to come...

"Sorry to bother you, Quin, I think I'll just leave now and try to find her myself" She quickly got off of the couch and began to speed-walk to the door.

She had managed to get a few steps outside as the wind began to howl loudly until Quin grabbed her hand and then pulled her back inside. "Wait no, of course, I'll help you!"

Storm smiled as she gave her a small kiss on the cheek then the two of them began to walk outside as the wind howled louder and it got colder.

"Where do you think she could be, any ideas?"

She simply shook her head before saying, "No clue she could honestly be anywhere by now...I just hope that she isn't hurt or worse..."

They walked through the city for what seemed like hours while remaining silent until a sudden burst of laughter started coming from Quin.

Storm had quickly shape-shifted into a cat on accident as the hair on her back raised up a bit while almost hissing. "What? What's so funny??"

Quin had been about to explain that to her until she had turned into the cat, which seemed to make her start laughing even more. She even did a few little snorts and it almost sounded like she was a pig.

"Quin, what is it?" Shifty just became a tad bit confused as she shifted out of the cat form again. I'm not gonna go and try to read her mind, she's my girl-friend for crying out loud...

She had to stand and wait for what seemed to about ten or so minutes until she had calmed herself down. Shifty rolled her eyes a little bit and then asked her, "So are you finally going to tell me?"

Quin wiped her eyes before sitting up with a goofy grin, she cleared her throat before asking, "Do you remember how your father and mother reacted to us?"

As the two of them entered the castle Shifty's mother, Scarlett, and her father, Sean were waiting for them in the living room of the castle. "Ah Shifty, who's your little friend?" Scarlett had asked.

Quin smiled and nudged Storm who then cleared her throat and spoke, "Mother, Father, This is my girl-friend, Quin, we have been dating for about a month."

Sean seemed a little surprised and did not speak, though Scarlett almost seemed to squeal in excitement before saying "Oh my, yes! it finally happened!"

Scarlett seemed to squeal yet again with happiness before bringing the two of them into a hug. "I always thought that you were like this but I wasn't entirely sure, but now we know!"

Sean chuckled lightly as he then suggested, "Why don't we get you both married? I'm sure you'd both like that."

Shifty jumped a bit startled as she faintly blushed and shape-shifted into a small dog covering herself behind Quin. She awkwardly laughed before saying, "Father we're only fifteen and the age to marry is eighteen...I think."

Quin agreed with her and then added, "We've also only been dating for a month, that's not enough time and yes your right about the ages."

Scarlett squeezed the two of them a bit tighter as she smiled at the two, it didn't seem like she was going to let them go anytime soon. "That's alright, you can both take your time."

Shifty smiled a small bit as she thought about that time, it had been a strange but lovely time. "Man, I can't believe either of them were actually happy about something."

"I think that was the only time that they were happy and excited about anything, they've just been really emotionless or something for the rest of the time."

Storm nodded and then added, "Otherwise I think they would have been fine and happy with Aura, even if she didn't have powers like me..."

The two of them remained silent for a few more minutes until they started to reach a large rusty gate at the edge of the town. "Well, where are we going?"

"To the other kingdom, I think she might be there..."

Storm sighed as she looked to the side before going through the gate, there was something like a small lake or a pond next to them. Quin stood next to her as they watched the ripples in the water.

They could almost clearly see the reflection of the moon in the small bit of water, it looked beautiful. "Don't worry Aura, I'm coming for you..."