Fading Spots

Leah's dreams were horrible that night.

She dreamed about when she was a kid, when she still had her parents. How disappointed her father was because she wasn't a shapeshifting bird, like her parents. She woke with the memories fresh on her mind.

"A cheetah? She can shift into a cheetah? Not a hawk, not an eagle, but a lousy freaking cheetah?"
That was her dad's voice, sharp with disappointment. The only memories she had of him were fuzzy, and all they were about was his disappointment.
"Cheetahs aren't useful to the People," her father hissed. "Birds are. I'd be happy if she was a blue jay, for crying out loud. I'd be happy if she was a hummingbird. But not a cheetah."
"Dear, a cheetah's good. She'll be fast, she'll be a spy. She'll be the only cheetah in the People. Come on. This is good." Leah's mother always had tried to make things up for him.

Leah remembered the day that she had refused to join the People. Her mother was pulling at her shirt, growling impatiently, "Come on."
Leah shook her head. She was fourteen at this time. "I won't go. I hate the People. They kill humans. I hate them, I hate them, I hate them!"
Her mother looked shocked. "But you are part of the People. It's in your blood. Your father won't see you, won't speak to you until you're an official member. Don't you want to make Daddy proud?"
"I hate my father. He left when I was three because I was a cheetah, instead of a precious hawk like you or an eagle like him." Leah tore herself free, shifted, and ran as a cheetah.

Next was when she had gotten excepted into Elizabeth's gang. She had been petrified. She was only fifteen at the time.
"Look," Elizabeth was saying. "The first person to bring me back the SCG wins."
Leah still didn't know what SCG stood for. She just ran as fast as she could, got something, brought it back. She remembered how happy Elizabeth had been, jumping up and down like a child, taking Leah to meet the other members of the gang, Mist and Sparrow, the two witch sisters, and Sara, the startlingly beautiful member. Leah had been surprised by Sara's beauty, even though she was a vampire.

Leah mentally shoved the memories into a small, dark corner of her brain. She was going on a top-secret mission. She ran outside, her hair flowing out behind her, and met Elizabeth and Mist standing by the meeting place.
Leah was surprised that Sara, usually the earliest riser, wasn't already out here. "Where's Sara?" she asked.
Sparrow came running. Suddenly she was beside Leah, her eyes huge and scared. "Where's Sara?" she echoed.
Mist and Elizabeth both sighed at once.
"Sara's the reason we're on this mission," Elizabeth murmured. "She's been taken by the People."