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No, not another Elemental. I don't know who this one is. Ulean's words drifted over me, cool and calm. No sense of danger.
And then I remembered what Chatter had said. The owl's been looking for you, by the way . . . He asks for you, every day. I'd help, but I'm just . . . don't count on me. I'm useless. But soon, you must find the owl. If the Shadow Hunters find it, they'll kill it. They hate owls.
If the Indigo Court hated the owls, then I'd probably like them.
Pulled, not knowing why but only knowing I must follow, I made my way over to an oak, tall and barren against the winter sky, and jumped, catching hold of a lower limb. I swung myself up into the branches, and began to climb, following the whisper of current that led me on. I wasn't afraid of heights--I'd been running across building tops since I was twelve.
And then, I caught sight of it: a pendant, hanging from one of the branches. It was a milky white moonstone, set in silver on a black ribbon. The owl tattoos banding my arms set up a fuss and I jerked. I was used to my wolf talking to me, but the owls had never spoken--they'd always been silent before.
Slowly, I reached for the pendant. It resonated in my hand, setting up a keening, and the owl feather in my pocket began to vibrate so loud that I yanked it out, staring at the quivering plume. As I watched, it began to smoke, then burst into flames and with a shout I dropped it, watching as the fire quickly snuffed out on its way to the ground.
What the hell is going on, Ulean?
I cannot tell you. This is a journey you must travel, without aid of my vision. But I am here if you need me.
The pendant began to glow brightly as I held it to my chest. There was no aura of menace about it, no threat. Nervous, yet feeling for all the world that this was the right thing to do, I slid the ribbon over my head and, hesitating just an instant, let the gem come to rest against my breasts.
As it hung against my body, a cool breeze began to emanate from the gem. I clasped it in my hand, closing my eyes, trying to focus on the energy. The gem throbbed in my hand and I heard a faint noise, like the rustle of wings.
I slid deep into the pulsating beat that now echoed throughout my body. A faint music rose on the wind, the echo of an acoustic guitar, the driving rhythm of the drum . . . it crawled through me, resonated around me, flooded me from the inside out like paint rippling down a wall.
I'll meet you in the forest. In the half light between daylight and dusk, we will meet. But first, you must spread your wings and fly, child.
That wasn't Ulean.
In a daze, I climbed higher, listening to the strange voice crooning to me on the wind. Ulean began to howl, shrieking in some tongue I could not recognize, a cry of joy and feral pleasure, and her mania buoyed me up.
Higher I climbed, until I reached a branch a good forty feet off the ground. I edged out on it, shaking the snow off to the ground as I stared at the darkening sky and began to shed my clothing. I dropped my jacket and shirt, watching them plummet to the ground, then without thinking, shimmied out of my jeans and panties, and they, too, fell away to the bottom of the tree.
Shivering, I crouched naked on the branch, holding on to nearby limbs for balance. The clouds parted then, a thin sliver to show the brilliant moon shining through. Below, the mist was rising, rolling along the ground, seeping up the trunk like a blanket of soothing smoke.
Under the cloak of cloud and stars, I gazed up at the heavens, unable to think, unable to put words to my thoughts. The necklace beat a staccato tattoo on my soul, the music swirled around me, notes flooding the wind, and the call was too strong. I couldn't ignore it, couldn't shake it off. Inhaling a sharp breath, not knowing just what I was doing or why, I let go of the branch and went into free fall, heading toward the ground.
As I whistled through the air, something began to shift, and my body twisted inside out. A blink of an eye, and I was gliding silently on the currents, wingtips wide, zebra stripes of black and white. I opened my beak and let out a call, and the screech echoed through my body, raspy and shrill and enough to scare the hell out of every rat and mouse that might be hiding in the yard.
Then it hit me--I was aloft--in flight--gliding through the yard toward the woodland. But the ravine and the forest glowed with a light I'd never seen before, and I veered to my right, avoiding the tree line. There was something in there, something nasty that set traps for owls like me, and I wanted no part of it.
I sailed effortlessly, turning on a wing to glide back toward the house, seeing everything from a vastly different perspective but still retaining my sense of self. In fact, I felt far clearer than I ever had. The necklace still dangled around my throat and I knew that if I wasn't wearing it, I'd shift back into my human form again.
Sweeping over the house, I spiraled, circling around, then coming to land on the bough of the oak. There, near me, the great horned owl perched on the limb, talons gripping the bark. His eyes were whirling as he watched me. I could swear that I saw a tenderness in them, a welcoming home, and I let out another shriek and he answered.
He leapt off the tree, gliding low through the mist, and I followed. We flew in tandem, turning, twisting, spiraling aloft through the fog bank, then swept up again and across the face of the moon, as the true meaning of freedom flooded through my body. Nothing else mattered. Nothing else could mar the expansiveness of the world.
For sheer joy, I did a barrel roll and headed toward the ground, pulling up just in time. The horned owl followed me and we danced our dance. At one point, I saw Kaylin standing on the porch, my clothes in his arms, as he watched us cartwheeling on the wind.
Ulean, are you here with me? I'm flying!
You are, my child. You are coming home to your true nature.
What do you mean?
There is time enough for that. We will talk later. For now, explore your new freedom, child of the wind. And she laughed and her currents carried us forward as she rode the slipstream with us.
We passed through a host of spirits gliding through the yard and they dove to all sides, looking terrified as we shattered their composure.
Can they see us?
The other owl answered. Yes, ghosts and owls are closely aligned. We are the creatures of dark magic. We ride in the wake of the Bean Sidhe. We bring tidings from the dead. Ghosts and spirits are part of our heritage.
