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Oh wait, no, I’ve shrunk. Somehow.
Hailey Whitmore steps past the witches and crouches down next to me. “Let me show you how it’s done.”
She quickly shucks her clothes before shifting into her parrot, then she walks purposefully toward the cliff, gives me a long stare and hops off the edge. A few seconds later, she flies up over us, hovering overhead. She nods her beak at me, and I step toward the cliff.
“No.” Keenan drops to the ground on his knees, his face a map of desperation and hope. “You can practice flying later. I can’t…” He falters, his eyes shining with unshed tears. “I can’t lose you again.”
“She has to,” Rachel says softly, kneeling next to us. “You remember what it was like to shift for the first time. Nature took over and told you what to do. Trust her phoenix to keep her safe, the same as my fox keeps me safe and your wolf keeps you safe.”
I reach up with my sharp black beak, nuzzling Keenan’s face. Let me go. I have to do this.
He struggles within himself, with the desire to hold me tight and never let me go, but he does, releasing me and standing.
I hop to the edge of the cliff, look down, then do as the natural order guides, and jump.
“Screeeeeeeech!” I scream as I hurtle toward the ground, tumbling head over feathers as I fall. When does instinct kick in? When do I fly?
A huge shadow moves underneath me, its wings stretched wide. “Pinky!” I shout, but of course it comes out in another harsh screech. How are shifters without a mating bond supposed to talk to each other?
She wiggles her wings again and I follow her guidance, stretching mine out and pushing them against the wind. For a moment, I go up before continuing to fall. I push again, then again, until I get my flapping wings under control.
In no time, I’m soaring next to Pinky. I laugh and shout as Hailey joins us, her smaller parrot flapping hard to keep up with us.
Something inside me glows with energy, igniting the fire that skims along my wings and body. It gives me courage, makes me bold. I stretch my wings as far as they’ll go, tilting them this way and that, experimenting with turning directions.
I laugh, the sound coming out in a high-pitched shriek. I’ve never felt so good in my life, so free!
A howl punctures the night and I recognize it as Keenan.
I shout his name, but of course it comes out in an ear shattering screech. Pinky and Hailey flutter in the air next to me. Pinky dips her head in the direction of the howling and I realize she’s telling me to go to him.
I take off like a shot, listening to instinct and tucking my feet against my body to give me better airspeed. My vision is so much better in my phoenix body that I’m able to spot him even though he’s still a long way off.
I dive for him, soaring through the night, tilting past trees, snapping branches with my mighty body… OOMPH! I hit a too-thick branch and come to a full stop, tumbling through the tree toward the ground where I land on my back, winded, staring up at the dark canopy overhead.
I might need a few more shifter lessons.
When I blink, Keenan’s wolf is standing over top of me, his big furry white body glowing in the moonlight. I reach out to wrap my arms around his neck, but my wings don’t reach. Instead, the tips brush his chest and when I try to curl my fingers into his fur, I smack him in the snout.
I crawl to my feet wobbling as I take a tentative step. Flying is much easier than walking in this form. I need to turn to human if I want to touch Keenan, and right now we can both use a great big hug. I feel the shock and despair in his brain at my death. He needs the reassurance of my human body.
Now, if I can only figure out how to make her emerge.
I walk in a circle, thinking human thoughts, picturing legs bursting from my feathered butt, but nothing happens. Keenan rolls over in the brush, his chest heaving, his feet waving in the air. I narrow my eyes at him. Is he laughing?
I peck him in the side.
Sobering, he rolls onto his paws. You need to reach for your humanity, he instructs, showing me in his mind as he transforms from wolf to human. He makes it look easy, so I follow suit, picturing human Vanessa in my head and reaching for her.
I lift a hand and see a wing. Nope.
“Shit,” he mutters. “We need to find Mags and ask her how this transforming business works. We might be out of our league.”
Sighing, I sit, my butt hitting the ground, my legs sticking straight out. Exhaustion creeps up on me. It was hours ago that I went to my first movie premier, which was bombed. Then I died and came back as a phoenix. It’s been a long night.
Looking up at the sky, I realize it’s not night anymore. Dawn’s rays are creeping over the trees, chasing away the shadows.
Keenan, I think there’s a reason I’m not shifting back to human. At his blank look, I continue, I’m not the only one in here. I can feel the others, all of them. Delilah, Brenna, Sadie, and Gem. Vanessa is Vanessa, but I’m… all of them.
