I pointed with my other hand, giddy from the display. “That one’s you.”
He chuckled. “Only sometimes.”
It faded, a unicorn taking its place. Then a dragon, wide mouthed with several red explosions going off in sequence, perfectly timed to illustrate its flame before disappearing.
“How often do you turn?”
“Rarely. It’s a novelty, one ill-suited for a king who spends his time pampered in a palace.”
“Pampered? You?” I chuckled. Raphael might have access to every luxury, but pampered was the furthest thing from him. “More like ill-suited because the maids might swat you with a broom.”
He huffed a laugh. “That might have happened once or twice.”
I slapped a hand over my mouth. “No. Did they know it was you?”
“Thankfully, I was spared that indignity and escaped. I became more careful after that. Until my journey to the Witch Kingdom, I hadn’t taken that shape in more than a dozen years.”
“I think it would be fun,” I said. “Being another creature. Some witches can disguise themselves as animals, but it’s only an illusion. Though there’s shape-changers. They can truly turn into beasts?”
He nodded. “They can. Wolves, panthers, horses. For them, I understand it’s different. A soul split into two forms, each with their own feelings. For me, I’m still me, just with different senses. I retain all my reasoning.”
“Can I see you do it?” I asked impulsively.
He gave me a disbelieving look.
“Sorry. I’m just curious! I didn’t get to look closely when we were in the temple. You don’t have to.”
Raphael shook his head, pulling his hand away and running it through his hair. His eyes were light. “As you wish.”
The transformation was no more than a fraction of a second. One moment, Raphael was sitting beside me. The next, a fuzzy bat was there, flapping its wings.
He moved in loops, the light of the fireworks illuminating his outline. I giggled. The fearsome vampire king, a bat. When I’d learned he could do this, I’d been horrified.
Now, I just thought it was funny. He moved farther from the ledge, and despite my fear of falling, I leaned farther out to see him, kicking my legs in excitement.
I expected Raphael to return after a minute, having satisfied my curiosity, but he began to dive.
“Raphael!” I squealed before I could stop myself. Had he cramped? Were his wings injured? I couldn’t do anything to save him—
But at the last second, he snapped his wings out. Then, a second later, a man stood, feet planted in the sand. The water was only a few feet behind him, tame waves lapping against the shore.
“You scared me!” I yelled down at him. “Jackass.”
He laughed, stretching his arms out the way his wings had been. “There’s nothing to be scared of. Come join me.”
“I’ll break my neck!” It might heal, but it would hurt.
“You can do it,” he assured me. “I just did.”
“I don’t have wings,” I reminded him.
“You can do it.” Even with the eruptions of the fireworks, his voice carried up to my ears. “Trust yourself, Samara. You’re capable of more than you realize.”
I gnawed at my lip, looking back to where I’d left Alphonse tied. “What about the horses?”
“We’ll come back for them,” he assured me. “Jump, Samara.”
I stared at him, at the ground below. I could do several hasty calculations about how far the fall was, about what could happen to me.
