Leopard Moon Read Free Page A

straight back down the hall and then turn left."
    Kess did as she was instructed and turned into another bedroom. This one was smaller than the first room, but after getting a good look, Kess didn’t care. The window at the back of the room showed her a view of trees and the back yard. This was the room she’d be taking. A fireplace sat on the outer wall flanked by windows on either side that looked out on the wooded back of the house. A rocker sat in front of it. A chest of drawers sat against the wall across from the bed.
    "Closet is here," Anita said, holding open the door for Kess to peer into, "but the real gem is back here." She closed the bedroom door and opened another one that it had been hidden to reveal the bathroom. It was floored in white and black tile, but Kess only saw the white claw foot bathtub. It had been fitted with a shower head and circular shower curtain so it could function as one, but why would you want it to? This was the kind of tub that you could drown in if you relaxed too much. The sink and toilet were tucked close to an eave.
    "This one--I’ll take this one. It’s great." Kess smiled a tired smile. This was much better than she’d been hoping for and light years better than the last place she’d lived.
     
    ************
     
    The sun was setting by the time Kess had finished getting everything settled with Anita and brought her bags up the stairs. Anita had offered to help, but then the phone rang, relieving Kess of the need to politely refuse. The conversation and companionship in the last two hours was more than Kess had in the last three months--outside of work anyway--and it was going to take some effort to get used to it.
    She dropped her duffel bag and backpack at the foot of the bed. Eyeing the bed, Kess stretched all five foot nine inches of herself, thinking nothing would be so nice as dropping down onto that mattress and letting sleep have its way with her. But sleep would have to wait a bit longer. First came something that was now a ritual when she settled someplace new. She never knew when she’d have to leave in a hurry and by means other than the front door.
    Peeling off her jacket, she threw it on the rocking chair. Her shoes followed. She opened up the window at the farthest corner of the room that overlooked the back of the house. She stuck her head out to get a better look at both the trees nearby and the back wall of the house itself. The wind whipped her hair in her face and the temperature was taking a nosedive now that the sun was behind the mountains, but she ignored it. She groped her way out onto the sill, and craned her neck to find a thick enough branch among the foliage in the tree branches that grew near the house.
    Holding on to the side of the window with one hand, she swung out a bit more, gazing at the perimeter to see if anyone was watching. There were no lights on at the back of the house. She knew that her pupils had grown to an abnormal size, catching any stray light they could so she could see clearly in the growing twilight.
    Kess took a deep breath to steady herself. It had been weeks since she'd changed, and she was nervous. She didn't like letting even a small part of her animal self come through, and definitely not in a place where she might be discovered. She took another careful look around. Satisfied that there was no one to see her, Kess focused her attention inward, calling up the cat side of herself that slept dormant beneath her human skin.
    Her fingers and toes began to morph, growing shorter, stubbier and lightly furred. Knife-sharp claws popped out of the skin between her finger and toes, making clicking noises against the sill. With one last look around, Kess leaped lightly to a thick branch a good ten feet away, latching onto it with clawed hands and feet. She scrabbled to the trunk and held still until the branches stopped shaking, then looked out through the needles. No one was there to see her.
    She carefully made her way down the