CHAPTER 5

                                    

                                          
Winter wakes up in the middle of the night. She turns into her human form fully and take some clothes for herself. Looking at the sleeping girl, she walks out of the room silently. 
Winter decided to continue her search alone. This time, in her human form. After a long walk, she found the sign again. This time, she goes to the left. 
Winter walks further into the woods just like the other day.
(you're wasting your time.) her father speaks again.
"I'm not. please go away." Winter sighs. It's more tiring to walk in her human form she decides to rest a bit. She then hears people walking towards her and she hides behind a big tree.
"we have to find it before anyone does. We'll get a lot of money, dude!" a guys said.
Winter can see that they have some kind of weapons with them. Then, she needs to move fast. She walks a little faster to go deeper into the woods. Going up the hills, she feels some electricity on her body. Winter looks at her hands, moving it open and close.
"huh... I can have my powers here." Winter hides behind another tree and flicks her fingers. A thorn shoots out of her finger. "whoa... what is this place?"
BANG. A bullet hits the tree, startling Winter. she flicks her fingers again and aims it at those guys.
"over there!" one of them said. "looks like we're not the only one wanting the reward."
"this is not enough." Winter moves swiftly between the trees. Maybe the power up there is bigger. she can't be too obvious though. "alright. Here goes nothing."
Winter flicks her fingers and a burning thorn fly towards them, making a little explosion once it hit's them. She does that over and over, it burns their clothes.
"let's get out of here." They then runs away out of Winter's sight.
"that's easy." Winter then continues her walk. 
After some time, she can hear streams of water from her right. She walks there and found that she's at the top of a waterfall. The cold air hits her face as well as the water from the heavy stream of water. Winter sits down beside the waterfall. 
"where are you, brother? I miss you." 
To keep herself warm, she forms a fire ball on her hand. It was a weapon of course. She then gathers some branches around her to make a bonfire.
Winter turns back into her dog form and decides to spend the night there.
-
(wake up!)
Winter jerks, waking up immediately. The sun's up and the fire burnt out. she stretched a little and turns back into her human form. 
"I feel so powerful up here." Winter looks up as if talking with her father. 
Shaking it off, she walks back down. She doesn't know where else to go so she follows her feelings. She's sure she's far from the main road. But, she sees an old house. it seems like a farm.
"a farm!" Winter feels so happy. Her brother must've been close. 
"hey! What are you doing here?!" an old man holding a shotgun walks towards Winter.
"I'm... I'm walking." Winter uses her brain fast. "I think I'm lost."
"get away from here!" he shoots his gun upwards.
"okay! Okay." Winter can use her power to fight him but it won't be ideal. "I'm here to find Dan- the white panther."
"why don't you just say so? That thing is causing too much trouble. Look at my herds of sheep." The old man angrily said. "I want you to find that thing immediately. I wanna kill it myself."
"no!" Winter shouts accidentally. "I mean, oh no! that's... sad." 
"that's what I thought." The old man is a little suspicious towards her. "go away from my property."
With that, she found nothing. Again.
-
Winter knocks on Karina's apartment. All dirty and wet from her staying the night at the woods.
"oh, god." Karina hugs her immediately after opening up the door. "I thought you ran away."
"no. I can't find him." Winter walks inside and sits on the floor in front of the couch. 
Karina sits on the couch and Winter leans on her legs. She rubs her head to ease her out.
"I don't know how I can help." Karina sighs. 
"you don't have to. I can feel I'm close." Winter is in the verge of giving up.
"another sighting of the white panther was seen roaming around the Marshall Woods. The villagers are still looking for it and will reward anyone who found it. The reward can be up to $100.000. they planned on dividing the carcasses for even more profit."
Winter stares at the screen, can't believe what she heard. 
"humans are the worse!" Winter stands up and rushes towards the bedroom.
Karina turns off the TV and chases Winter. 
"Winter..." Karina looks at the black dog on her bed. She can hear her whining, curled up into a ball.
Karina joins her on the bed and embraces her while caressing her softly. 
"let's just hope that Daniel found a place to hide while you search for him."
Winter can only scoot closer to Karina, still whining in her warmth.
-
Waking up, Karina sees Winter turns into her human form. Winter is not yet aware of that so she snuggles even more towards Karina. Karina just smiles at her and continues hugging her. she can see that her tail and ears haven't disappeared yet. Karina takes her time feeling the fluffy tail. To her surprise, Winter licks her cheek.
"oh!" Winter opens her eyes, surprised. She then moves back. "I'm sorry I thought..."
"it's okay." Karina chuckles and wipes her wet cheek. "you really need another bath." 
"again? I was doing fine up there just swimming around the lake." Winter covers herself with a blanket.
"you want me to help?" Karina offers.
"n-no." Winter then gets up from the bed and walks out.
Karina can't help but blush. It's normal when Winter is in her dog form but in her human form? What was she thinking? Karina cover's her face in embarrassment.
After some time, Winter walks in with towels around her waist. 
"where's the clothes?" Winter shakes her head, drying her hair.
"I think we need to buy some for you." Karina just thought about that. she can't wear her clothes forever.
"wow... I'm really startingto hate earth."