“Relax,” he said. “They’ll never know I’m there. As far as anyone thinks, a bird is just a dumb bird. As long as I cover up my colored tail feathers with some dirt, they’ll tune me right out.”
“Won’t that interfere with your ability to fly?”
“I’m not a normal bird, remember? Even in our alternate form, we’re stronger.”
“I don’t know, Jayce. If you see something happening to me, can you resist shifting in order to help me? Or are you just going to peck someone to death?”
He chuckled. “I can do either or both. Just don’t ask me to watch someone hurt you and do nothing.”
She shot to her feet and walked to the door. “That’s what I thought.” Opening the front door, she said, “It’s time you went home—to Boston.”
“Fuck,” he muttered under his breath. But he had to leave without a fight. The woman had enough to deal with until he could come back to her with a solution.
* * *
Jayce flew back to Boston without the help of an airplane. He had to call a family meeting right away. The trip took him about an hour and a half, and he was exhausted when he landed on his parents’ roof. He shifted and then opened the attic skylight and slipped inside. They kept a pile of clean clothing in a trunk for just this kind of emergency.
At last he was dressed and took the stairs two at a time, locating his mother in the living room. “How fast can we get everybody here?”
“What’s going on, dear?” Gabriella asked.
“It’s better if I tell everyone at once.”
His father ambled into the room. “Hey, Jayce. I thought you went on vacation. Aren’t you supposed to be in New York City?”
“I was, but something came up. I need to call a family meeting as soon as possible. Can you get everybody here right away?”
“I think we can reach everyone but Ryan. Let me start the phone tree and see what happens.” Antonio left the room, and Jayce imagined he was using the old kitchen wall phone. His father must have seen many changes in his seventy-five years, and maybe that’s why he resisted some of them.
“Mom? You knew I was going to New York to see a girl, right?”
Mama Fierro smiled. “I thought it was something like that. Is she okay? Are you? Is everything between the two of you all right?”
Jayce chuckled. “She’s fine, I’m fine, and everything between us is fine, but not everything is fine.”
Gabriella Fierro shook her head. “I don’t pretend to understand, but I imagine you’re going to tell us what that means.”
“Yes, when everyone’s together.”
His father came back into the living room and sat on the sofa. “Miguel and Sandra are calling the others. They’ll be here in a few minutes. Now what’s all this about?” He patted the spot next to him, and Mrs. Fierro sat next to her husband.
“I’d really rather just tell you all at the same time. It’s a long story, and I don’t want to go through it again and again.”
Confusion etched his father’s forehead. “Okay. What can you tell us that won’t need repeating?”
Jayce paced the length of the living room and back. “Well, there’s good news and bad news. The good news is I found a special woman, and she knows what I am. She’s not freaked out, but she needs my help, and I don’t know how to help her.”
His mother gasped. “She knows you’re a phoenix? Already?”
“Yeah. She has her own secret, but it isn’t mine to tell.”
“She’ll fit right in,” Gabriella said, smiling.
“It sounds like you’re getting distracted from what you really should be doing, Jayce,” his father said.
“What on earth are you talking about, dear?” Gabriella asked. “Did you hear what he said about finding aspecialwoman? What could be more important than that?”
“Oh, I don’t know…maybe learning to lead this family? I still want to move to a warmer climate one of these days.”
