Page 30 of Darkened Wings
“And what?” Suspicion had moved from her eyes to her tone. “You just sound like you’re up to something.”
I sniffed, pretending to be insulted. “Well, if you want to sit here stuffing cookies into your mouth until dinnertime, we can do that, too. I just thought we should get some fresh air and maybe shift.”
“S-shift?” Suspicion blended to horror. “And what? Show off our damaged selves to our fellow students? Give them something to laugh at?”
I might mention here that Astra had gotten excused from activities like PE that required shifting. Instead of penalizing those who made fun of her, they allowed her to penalize herself. Her bird must have been desperate to get out. And so was mine. “I haven’t shifted since I got here. Even at flight practice, they allow me to sit on the sidelines in my regular clothes because why bother making me attempt to do what I can’t.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard that.” She shrugged. “They don’t do well with different.”
“I know.” I inhaled deeply and let it out. “But we are friends, and I know we won’t laugh at each other. Astra, I think my raven wants to meet your bird.”
“Really? Because no other raven ever has.”
“She does. She’s not an asshole like the rest of them.” Blatant but true. Not everyone was outwardly awful, but those who were tended to stand out, and nobody had leapt to either of our defense that I could see, except for a few faculty, and that was their job. One most of the others seemed to forget. “I want to see her, Astra. And my raven may not fly, but she does need to get out from time to time.”
“They’ll laugh.”
“Remember I said let’s find somewhere private? We can head into the woods. Avoid the main trails and we should be fine.”
I thought she was going to refuse, but she closed her eyes and a variety of emotions rippled over her face before she opened them again. “She wants to meet your raven, too. Outside of my immediate family, she’s never felt that way before, and she’s even a little distant with my mother and grandmother. Okay. Let’s go.”
It was indeed a beautiful fall day. The temperature was in the low sixties, the leaves were at their peak of beauty, most still clinging to the trees but some releasing their hold as the breeze kicked up and carried them through the air like tiny magic carpets. Before we were to the tree line, I was more cheerful. A little worried about what it would be like to shift in front of someone new, but I’d never had a better friend than Astra. She wouldn’t laugh at our inability to fly.
Turned out, we didn’t have to worry about encountering anyone at all in the woods. I’d expected to find some students or maybe faculty or staff on a Sunday hike, but if they were, we never saw them. We followed the main trails at first then, just in case, branched off onto a smaller one that was overgrown enough it didn’t seem that anyone had been on it in a while.
Then, under a canopy that would prevent anyone overhead from spying on us, we stopped. Faced each other. I held out my hand and took hers. “Friends for life, right? No judging no matter what?”
She squeezed my fingers in hers. “For life and beyond. I can’t wait to see your raven.”
“And be sure to fly, okay? Don’t hold back on my account.” I let her hand drop and reached for the hem of my hoodie. “Let’s do this thing.”
We were undressed in a moment. No big since not only did shifters do that in front of each other all the time, my roomie and I had changed lots of times in our room without caring at all. Nudity was far less intimate than what came after. “On the count of three?” I said.
Astra nodded. “One.”
“Two.”
And then together, “Three.”
And we did it. We weren’t watching each other, of course, because when shifting, we were entirely within our body, a reason why it was dangerous to do unless you were sure you were safe and not about to be attacked by anyone. It didn’t take long, but we were helpless while transforming.
I would never understand how my regular-human-size-and-weight body could transform into a raven only slightly larger than those who were actual members of the bird kingdom, but apparently different physics applied for shifters. And those physics left me perched on my raven claws under the wide-spreading oak tree, staring at the most extraordinary creature I’d ever seen.
She’s beautiful.
She’s our friend,my raven replied.
Stunning and kind.
I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t this magnificent creature who stood before me, as if allowing me to take her in before moving at all. The general size and shape of a raven, with a regular raven beak, but nothing else about her matched me or any of our kind. Nor was she a common parrot green.
My best friend boasted feathers in every color of the rainbow from reds and oranges all the way to indigo. She wore hues I didn’t know existed in the bird kingdom or maybe anywhere on earth. I bobbed my head at her in encouragement, and she fanned her wings, the span extraordinary for a bird her size.
Wings that worked. I swallowed envy and let myself share the admiration my raven was enjoying. For a moment, I thought she wouldn’t fly, that she might feel bad for me or not want to show off, but then she gave a flap of those beautiful rainbow wings and lifted into the air. Once she was aloft, the tree canopy was no longer going to hide her because she needed to really stretch her wings, I was sure, and I hop-stepped out into the nearby clearing to watch her antics.
Astra soared up into the blue sky then dove down almost to the ground before taking off again and again. She emanated a joy I’d never seen in her before, and I mentally cursed those who made her feel like she had to hide her light. My raven croaked and hopped again, in agreement. Astra flew off to the west and came back then did the same toward the east, but this time, she landed and did a fast shift.
I followed, worried that she’d seen someone or something that made her change so suddenly. When I was in my skin again, I darted under the tree and dressed, something she was already doing. It was a bit cool for naked with no feathers to protect us. But once I tied my shoes and straightened, I studied her face. “Astra, what’s wrong?”
