#14 – Aleda Liddle

Aleda is a young feline shape-shifter (a were-cat).  She is the youngest daughter of a long and illustrious line of American Short-Hair Shifters, specifically the Liddle branch, which settled in the area long before other pioneers came to Michigan.  She’s only seven years old when she runs away from home during a bitter family feud over the theft and inheritance rights of a powerful heirloom, in order to escape the stress of the situation.  She discovers the world is a harsh and strange place, having only known the security of a small sheltered shape-shifting community on the remote shores of Lake Michigan.

She is desperate to get home and in her search she meets Matilda Madison who not only helps her find her way home, but also solves the mystery of who took the heirloom and who it really belongs to.  After that she and Matilda become best friends, despite the six-year age difference.  Aleda helps Matilda navigate through the world of magic that’s hidden in plain sight all around.

Aleda, or Ally as she’s known to her friends, is small, even for her age, but she is very brave and loyal.  She is endlessly curious and is always asking questions and trying new things that are sometimes dangerous, but luckily her friends tend to save her from herself.  She can be both impulsive and impetuous.  Even in her human form she tends to hiss and growl when she gets angry, and if she’s angry or scared her hair puffs up like a cat’s tail does. Also in human form she is very agile and dexterous, able to jump, climb, and contort like a cat.  She also likes shiny things and always wears the black necklace/collar her mother gave after she ran away and came home again.

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