Page 78 of Shaped to Be Yours

I focused on the hawk, launching itself from the branch it had been resting on to soar overhead, high above the trees and dissipating smoke. Fire department sirens, and police, and ambulances, were all so loud in the background, mixing with the shouts from people, but I blocked it all out and focused on flying.

“Jason!” Ricky gasped. A happy, amazed gasp, which I would never tire of hearing from him whenever he saw me become something new.

I flapped upward to join the hawk above the trees. My arms had literally become wings, all of me like some giant, humanoid bird, and the thought that I could do this normally and just fly whenever I wanted now almost distracted me.

The war zone beneath me helped keep me focused. I was glad I couldn’t see the wolves anywhere. I just hoped he’d listened to me and was keeping his mate and pups safe. No one deserved to lose family in these woods.

Most of the people were indeed near the lake, and while much of it was brawls no worse than shoving matches, it still looked like a powder keg surrounded by sparks. The entire town had shown up for this. I even saw McDickhole arguing among others, fighting openly with police and guards and agents from the facility.

Like Whitmore! He was doing his best to rein people in, but it was chaotic enough that no one noticed… when McDickhole’s daughter got elbowed into the lake!

“Shit! Straight through this way!” I called down to Ricky and Dad. “A little girl just fell into the water! I’m going! Catch up with me!” And because I had wings, I soared over the insanity to land as close as I could to the edge where she had fallen in.

The storm was passing, but with the remaining wind and rain, and all those sirens, no one could hear the little girl shouting, as she tried to hang onto something, and only managed to catch herself on a root. She was keeping her head above water just barely.

“Hang on!” I shifted human as I landed. I didn’t know if I could get her while in bird form. I wasn’t used to it enough yet, and if she got spooked and let go of the root, she’d get swept away. I didn’t know if I trusted myself to swim effectively either. Could I turn into a fish person like Kai?

“Hey, snake-man!”

Bina.

She noticed the little girl and came running up to me. I didn’t know where she’d come from, but given everyone else was here now, Kai and his folks must be nearby too.

“If you get into the water and I hang onto your arm to keep you from being swept away, can you get her?” I asked.

“Not to flex, but that current is nothing for a kappa.” Bina was already shrugging off her jacket and getting ready to hop off theledge into the lake. It was no wonder she’d made human friends so quickly. She fit right in.

“We’re coming!” I called to the girl, who was clearly close to losing her grip.

“Esther!” I finally heard from McDickhole, but I didn’t have time for him to notice how badly he’d neglected the very daughter he pretended this nonsense was about.

I let my lower half return to my leshy form and sent winding branches into the ground to anchor me like roots, the way I’d seen my grandma and the others do it. Then I summoned my leshy arms, sending winding vines forward to twist around Bina as we clasped forearms. If worse came to worst, maybe I could grab Esther with my vines too, but I’d only chance it if I had to.

“Someone’s in the water!”

“Where’s the fire department!”

Yeah,noweveryone was noticing.

Bina leapt in, and despite herflex, the current strained our hold on each other enough that I grunted and fought to keep my roots secure and my vines tight without cutting off circulation to her arm. It was like a maelstrom in the lake, even as the storm quieted, and finally, the surrounding opponents of arguing sides all realized what was happening.

“Bina!” I heard from the scientists as they raced over too.

And Kai, who, even though I was dug into the dirt, grabbed hold of me to help keep me upright. Bina strained to get close enough so Esther wouldn’t have far to reach, stretching me extra taut too between her and Kai. Even with the storm and the sirens getting closer, everything fell into a hush.

Except for Esther.

“I… I can’t!”

“Yes, you can!” Bina assured her. “I got you, fam! I will not let go. And if you slip, I will dive in after you.”

Esther looked at Bina, an eighteen-year-old monster she didn’t know, and I saw the moment when she completely trusted her. She let go of the root with one hand, using the other for leverage to launch herself closer to Bina, and their hands connected.

Bina pulled. I pulled. Kai pulled. And with one final yank and topple backward, we got Bina and Esther back up on the bank.

“Esther!” McDickhole rushed to his daughter’s side, while Kai and Bina’s parents rushed to them. I hadn’t expected Dad and Ricky to have already reached me, but they came out of the woods too, just as I was summoning my branches and vines to return to feet and fingers. It helped that I could do this without losing my clothes anymore.

Dad was still in leshy form, which caught a lot of the townspeople’s attention, but they’d seen me half like that too and seemed to understand.

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