“Miss,” Karen pinched the bridge of her nose as she went over this for the fifth time, “Hana and me have to leave class five minutes early. So we can avoid the crowds.”
“Hana and I. Not me.” Mrs Rutherford corrected, her glasses white rectangles reflecting the computer screen before her, “Have you finished your work?”
“No, we can do the rest for homewo-”
“Try to finish in class, Ms Thomson.” The square faced woman looked away, “She is not a new student anymore. She will cope. As will you. Now, sit and work fairly like everyone else.”
Her tone was final, making Karen grit her teeth as she marched back to her desk. Maddie’s blue eyes tracked her from the front where the girl always sat, but she was done listening to that liar. Long haired Irene watched her too, lips whispering, “Not so special now, are you?”
Karen ignored her and perched beside Hana, muttering, “Sorry. She’s forcing us to wait for the bell.”
“Oh. Did you tell her you need it?”
“Wha- no, I’m fine.” Karen hissed, “You need away early, not me.”
“No? I’m helping you.” Hana blinked.
“Wha- why would I need help?”
“Quiet girls.” Mrs Rutherford instructed as Hana shrugged.
“Fine- then neither of us need help.” She forced an agreement, before rocking on her chair and reading the passage again. And again. And again. What were the symbols? Why did anyone care what colour a hat was? The bell rang before she even picked up her pen, and she stuffed everything into her backpack, surveying the class. Maddie met her gaze, packing up as well, no doubt to try and corner her for another bout of crocodile tears.
“Come on, let’s go!” She grabbed Hana’s wrist and bag, and all but dragged her to the door, ducking past Mark as he struggled with a heavy duffel bag.
And into hell.
Elbows, bags and jackets bumped and poked her from every angle as the seething mass of humanity flowed through the school like a particularly confused circulatory system. Flickering fluorescent lights drummed at the inside of her eyeballs and dozens of cutting conversations, whispers of worry and hooting hollers played all about demanding her attention. Anything could be a threat, anything could get close, sink a knife into her flesh again while she was vulnerable and she struggled against the flow, only for a hand to tighten around her wrist and pull.
Hana tugged them into an alcove by a water fountain, one hand on her shoulder, eyes narrow. “You okay?”
“Of course!” she snarled, ran a hand over the back of her head. Short hair ruffled under her fingers, too short to tie back, and tugged her bag open, “I just need a drink.”
“Sure,” Hana waited as she extracted her silver Veil flask. She’d gotten into a routine now, even for something so fantastical as a shapeshifting potion- she only needed three doses a day, and this was thankfully the last before final period.
Before she could drink, however a hand snatched it, and a wall of teenagers surrounded their alcove. At the centre was a gangly, wild looking senior, with crumpled clothes, who held the Veil flask with a sneer, “Well, well, what’s this, eh beasties? Smuggling somethin’ into school?”
“Hey, give it!” Karen lunged forward immediately, only for the leftmost- Grant, with his stout, square frame- to grab her wrists and shove her back.
“Hold it, Thomson. Seb asked a question. We deserve the truth, don’t we?”
“Exactly, this is a place of learning. Little kids come here. We deserve to know what monsters we’re brushing shoulders with,” The right hand purred, a bespeckled boy even shorter than her, “What is it? The green kind?”
“No, brown,” The shaggy one, Seb, wrinkled his nose in disgust at the open flask, “Christ, you drink this shit?”
“Nah, I shove it down moron’s throats!” Karen writhed, lashing a foot out to crunch against Grant’s knee, “Let go you dumb ape!”
“Ape?” He grunted with pain, and tightened his grasp around her wrists, “So, so Irene was right? You’re one of them?”
“Technically all humans are apes, Grant, don’t take it personally,” The smaller teen added.
“Nah. He should. This brat’s been looking down on us, preying on humanity for how long? I say we let the school see what you really are. Shouldn’t take long,” Seb shut the flask and stuffed it into his pocket, “Honesty’s the best policy after all.”
“Get off me!” She snarled and shuddered. It was too cramped, too close- how much worse would the crowd be in her true skin?
“Uh, shouldn’t you be running? Seb? Grant?” Hana spoke up for the first time, huddled in the corner, her eyes wide and more expressive than Karen had ever seen.
“Wha- almost forgot about you. I get why that filthy goat-boy was with you now- and to think, I stood up for you? Classic mystic trick, throwing him under the bus to frame me!” Seb leaned in, eyes slightly bloodshot, “And why, exactly, should I be running?”
“Without the disguise, she’ll kill you.” Hana whispered back, then frowned, “But… hmm, guess it’s less painful if you stand still.”
More students pressed in, trying to make sense of the fight, to hear Hana’s words, to ogle at the scene. Too many, too loud, Karen grimaced, her heart thundering. She wouldn’t be able to not hit someone if she changed- was she changing already? No, but… maybe… maybe Hana’s approach had merit.
She screwed her eyes shut, trying to refute tears and focus on her fury. On the hunt. She was meant to be better than this. They weren’t armed, they weren’t even fully grown bipeds, they shouldn’t be able to trouble her. It was unacceptable, ridiculous, pathetic, she ought to be above them!
Her eyes burned as she pushed against the Veil, fraying the weave of magic. Emotion always seemed to break it, even Diana’s Veil, but there was a delay between her eyes becoming the glorious avian gold and the rest of her body. So she forced a twisted smile as they fluttered open, taking in every pore of Grant’s greasy face, the stinging halos of fluorescent light, and purred, “Kill them? No, I’ll have some fun first, let them run a little.”
“GAAAAARGH!” Grant recoiled, flinging her back as she faked convulsions and slammed into the wall. “Seb- give her the potio- Seb!”
“Don’t be a goddamn coward, Grant!” The ringleader produced the flask, and slammed it in her midriff, before following it up with a vicious kick. “That one’s for Mrs Owens! AND THAT’S FOR SAMUEL!”
His boot took her legs out from under her as Karen blinked, the horrible radiance of the fluorescent lighting stabbing into her eyes and swimming with stars. “Who?”
“For your victims!” Rainbow moisture played around his eyes as Seb drew his leg back for another kick.
Then a heavy shoulder barged into him and the senior hit the floor.
“Whoops,” Caleb snorted, his huge frame looming over the trio, barely hiding a smile, “Sorry mate- trying to get to class. You guys are kinda a blockage, I think Mr Thorne’s coming.”
“Caleb?! Dude, serious, you still stick up for her? Still fancy some inhuman freak!?” Grant growled, squaring off with the bigger teen whose cheeks reddened.
Yet all around students were whispering, starting to move and she saw Seb scramble upright, eyes flickering around the corridor nervously. Then he sniffed, spat and threw the flask at her, the metal clattering hard against the drinking fountain. “Leave him, Grant, he ain’t worth it and there’s places to be.”
The spark of potential violence lingered for another second. Karen felt it, her fingers cracked as she tensed. He was a fool to turn his back to a griffin- a single pounce was all she’d need.
Except Caleb blocked her view, kneeling down to offer her flask back. “H-here, sorry, I know it’s your b-business, not mine.”
She unscrewed it and drank hurriedly, eyes burning as the colours and detail faded, then winced as he turned away.
“Caleb,” Karen lifted her voice and looked to the floor, “Thanks. That was better than my idea.”
“I was trying to bluff, Karen.” Hana whispered at her side, “Don’t kill people.”
“I was trying to bluff too! Just… better bluff.”
“Very c-convincing. Everyone thinks you’re a m-maniac.” Caleb stuttered, looking over her cautiously.
“And? They won’t try dumb shit like that if they’re scared.” She growled, “Where’s Mr Thorne?”
“Dunno. Probably c-class? We should go there.” Caleb swallowed and turned, breaking the flow of students like an icebreaker through bergs.
Karen followed with wide eyes- had he been lying to scare the bipeds off? Could Caleb even lie? Hana seemed to smile at her expression so she hid it and followed them to Maths, to find most of the class already seated and Emily at the front.
“- from seven till nine is the plan, Halloween night, bring as many folk as you want, we want it to be awesome!” She was cheering, “We’ll have campfires, songs, music, a spooky trail, costumes, everything!”
Karen and Hana slipped past to the back, where the neat orderly teacher stood. Caleb was already speaking in hush tones, but the teacher focussed on them with a sigh.
“Ms Thomson, Ms Tully. Mr Mathess was telling me about your issue.”
“Issue? It was nothing to do with me! Those morons picked the fight!” She scowled.
“Apparently you threatened to hunt them down?”
“I… was just trying to scare them off. They took my potion- if I didn’t get it back, it would have been… a big problem.”
“I see. Then why don’t you simply take two doses to school, Karen?”
“Because it lasts two hours. If I had it every hour, I’d waste half of it- you’re the maths teacher, I’m trying to be efficient.” She argued.
“Good but not what I meant. Carry a backup container. I know that the nurses office has a flask of this… magic potion,” He sighed, “Check if it’s a kind you can use in an emergency. Understood?”
“Yes. What about those idiots? Grant and… Seb and some little nerd?”
“This isn’t the first warning they’ve received. I’ll deal with Sebastian and the others.” He stood, looking to where Emily was now discussing the merits of various brands of marshmallow, “Now, are you quite finished advertising, Emily!?”
The rest of geometry was boring as ever, though she lingered behind and matched Hana’s stride once class ended, even as the girl left school and turned towards the lake road and RASA. Even so she was quiet for five minutes until they left Ranelk’s boundaries, her inquisitive glance spelling out her question.
“Yeah, I live in town, but apparently I’m too scary to unveil near people,” She grunted, “And I need to blow off some steam.”
“Ah. Hard week?”
“He punched me in the gut and kicked my hind legs, it was a hard hour!” She pointed out.
“Yes. But you’ve been angry all wee- oooh!”
Hana stumbled as two tan hands suddenly wrapped around her eyes, and a waif of a teenager all but jumped on her back. “Guess whooooooo!”
“Get off her!” Karen lunged to grab the youth.
“It’s fine,” Hana smiled genuinely, “It’s just a pleasant idiot.”
“Wrong answer!” The kid, maybe fourteen or fifteen, released her grasp, arms wide and dramatic, “TA-DA!”
“As I said,” Hana murmured, “Karen, meet Fei. She thinks she’s my little sister. She’s not.”
“Oh come on- family’s not about blood, it’s about the sooooul!” Fei gave a whirling curtsy, before matching their pace, “Yo, Katie, want a lil sis? Oh, wait, no, first, wanna play a game?”
“Uh, you’re about twelve years too late- and I don’t even know…” She leaned forwards and gave a tentative poke, but the girl didn’t dissolve into red mist. “...what you are?”
“Me neither- that’s the game, twenty questions, figure out the species. You in?” Fei poked back mischievously.
“Do I have a choice?” Karen switched to walk with Hana as a shield between them, but it was going to be a long while before she could fly. “Fine. Are you an animal, mineral or vegetable?”
“Animal. Try to stick to yes or no questions though, like; Are you a class B?”
“B? Oh right, biped? No. Are you a class B?”
“Yep.” Fei preened, “This isn’t going to be very exciting if you mimic my questions. Hmm, you’re a fighter- do you have four legs?”
Her lips twitched and she nodded, she hadn’t asked about limbs after all. “Yup. True. Do you have scales?”
“Yeah. Are you bigger than a dog?”
“How big a dog?”
“Uh, a Labrador?”
“Yeah. That’s two questions by the way.”
“Eh? Fine but you used one of yours then.”
“Whatever, got a tail?”
“Of course. You?”
“Duh. Does your balance ever get mixed up without it?”
“You have that too?” Fei giggled, “I mean, that’s not… yeah, yeah, all the time, I don’t get how A’s manage!”
“A’s? Oh, bipeds?”
“No, humans. Plenty of creatures are bipeds, don’t lump us all with humans.” Fei instructed, then pouted, “Oh. I gave you something, that counts as a question! Are you a mammal?”
“Uh… debatably,” Karen decided, “Do you have hair?”
“Yes,” She flicked black locks over her shoulder smugly, “Are you a hybrid? Part and part?”
“Uh-huh. Are you a naga?”
“Oh, wow, guessing already? No, nope. I guess I’d better match you- are you a hippogriff?”
“What’s that?”
“It’s like… giant eagle front, horse back, wings, can fly. I’m assuming not given your… disgust.”
“Part eagle part horse? What?” Karen scoffed, “That’s like… half-herbivore half-carnivore? How do they exist?”
“Magic,” Hana gave her a look, “You do know omnivores exist, right?”
“Of course! But that’s different, they’re not… front predator back prey! What, don’t laugh!” She sniffed, “Shut up. Fei! Question! Are you a… gorgon?”
“They don’t have tails.”
“They’ve got like fifty little snakes.”
“Only the heads, they don’t- as far as I know- have fifty little tails growing out their armpits or something. Oh, maybe? Do you know any?”
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
“I don’t think Olive’d tell me. Are you a… nymph?”
“You don’t know much about mystics do you? Isolated community. No. Do you have wings?”
“Yup. And no, don’t know many. A kappa?”
“Ooooh, close. Are you a gryphon?”
“No, I’m a griffin.”
“That’s what I said. Grye-phone.”
“Grif-f- fine, you win, you got it right. What are you?”
The girl pumped her wrist, kicked her leg up and glanced at a watch on her ankle, “You’ll see! Give me five minutes! Can we fly together?”
“Do I look like a donkey? No, I don’t carry people.”
Hana smirked and Fei laughed, clear and warm before forcing a disappointed pout, “Oh damn, guess I’ll never fly.”
“Use a plane or a parachute, sorry.” Karen shrugged, and kept on walking as the pair- or mainly Fei, chattered about her day.
They were most of the way along the road when she stopped, yet instead of running into bushes she kicked off her shoes and socks and stood still. “Alright, ready for the grand unveiling?”
“If we’re not it doesn’t make a difference,” Hana commented, earning a rue smile before the teenager began to shudder.
Her teeth clenched, sharpening into white fangs as the blood seemed to flow to the surface all across Fei’s body. Olive skin turned peach, then almost crimson as the change swept over her, and sure enough the skin of her exposed legs cracked, splintered and turned to rings of scales. Her toes on the path wriggled and writhed as one receded entirely, and the others stretched out into narrow talons.
Karen stared with difficulty. For as many times as she’d used Veil, she’d never seen a change from the outside- she always gave people privacy, up till this crazy show-off. The process was positively nauseating- skin bubbled as muscles moved beneath the surface, scar-like lines wove across Fei’s body, and her arms….
Her arms flowed out into great odd paddles. Like dough rolled out into pizzas, her fingers ran together and stretched horribly, joints creaking and popping audibly even from several metres away, and then across them dark points began to stab outwards. One, then a dozen, then a hundred enveloped her red arms as two nubs emerged at the corners of each, and the rest was overcome entirely by feathers.
“Aaaaaaand VOILLA!” Fei span, another long tuft of black feathers peeking out from her lower back, and landed with her wing-arms outstretched, a surprisingly strong gust tousling Karen’s hair. “Behold, a Tengu!”
“Whaaat...” Karen gaped, rubbed her eyes and clasped her hands, “That is so ridiculous!”
“Ridiculously awesome! I can fly by myself, no rides needed!”
“EXACTLY! You can fly and TALK and you have FINGERS!” Karen found herself yelling, even with a smile on her face, “That’s… so awesome it’s unfair!”
Her red face brightened at her words, and dark gold eyes flicked to Hana, “Oh my god, I made a griffin jealous!”
“I am not jealous!”
“Look out, Fei, she’s strong,” Hana warned, still walking down the path unconcerned.
“Ooooh, you can’t talk as a griffin, that’s fair- honestly, my fingers ain’t that useful. My feet are better.”
“I can talk! Sort of- just, most people can’t understand. Anyway, I’m the best in the sky around here- you’ll see once this wears off. Give it like ten minutes.” Karen ordered, crossing her arms.
“Bring it o- oh, ten minutes?” Fei poured, “Fine, I’ll find you then! Hana, my bag! I’m going up!”
“I’ve got it.” Hana looped the other backpack on her shoulder. “Seeya Fei.”
“Great, see ya soon Katie!” Fei cheered, bent her legs, and abruptly just burst into the sky as if on a geyser.
“It’s Karen!” She snarled back, watching incredulously as the winged human didn’t just fall back down, but did indeed manage to remain aloft and swoop off over the trees. “Oh it is so on.”
“She’s like that. You get used to her.” Hana warned, “Please be nice.”
“I will be- I just need to stretch my wings a bit. Calm down. She’s cool. I’ve never heard of Tengu before.”
“There’s not many on this continent- is that where you go to fly?” She paused as they reached a branching road, the one that led to Logan’s lodge and the clearings beyond.
“Yeah, just to change, I know there’s enough canopy clearance there. Not everyone can do a vertical take off like that.” Karen turned, then gave a quick wave, “See you tomorrow!”
“See you then!” Hana agreed, and carried on the other route while she warily followed the road up.
She hadn’t heard from Logan since Monday, he’d called to mention staying with Exi but that ultimately he and the dragons would be staying in Ranelk. Even so, she knew he wanted to keep clear of Matt, but when the big lodge came into view, there was no sign of the car nor dragons, and her curiosity was irresistible.
Karen marched up close to the door, and chapped three times, risking a small shout.
“Hey, Logan? You here? You still remember everything?”
The skinny teen opened the door, an eyebrow raised, an apron covering him and hand on his hip, “Yeah- didn’t I tell you not to swing by?”
“Car’s gone. Do you remember everything?”
“Yes. Yes. He… he’s given up on making me forget more as long as… yeah, he’s a memory altering mage who took your memories of Maddie. For which you are apparently blaming her?”
“She said I could trust Matt. If she hadn’t tricked me the-”
“Then the literal adults in the room would have forced it on you. And probably gotten bitten or scratched by a little psychopath, but same end result.” Logan growled. “Look… she came and spoke to me too. She’s worried about you.”
“Then she shouldn’t have lied to me. Simple.”
“She can’t… urgh, I do not have the energy for this conversation. I’ll be at school tomorrow onwards. Can you thank your Dad for me? He… helped put things into perspective for us. And you get mates rates on Veil for life.”
It felt a relief to drop the topic, and she acquiesced, “Sure. No to your Veil though- Diana’s hurts less. No offence.”
“Some taken- but I might have an alternative. Soon…ish. Matt opened up the whole collection to me.” Logan almost bounced on the spot, his voice regaining a mote of its old lustre, “Including that tome I noticed the other day- there’s a potion inside meant to restore one’s original form!”
“For real?”
“Totally! I mean… Matt’s a hoarder, he’s not made it himself, but I think once we get some blood again I can try and put it together- it’ll take a while though. Issue is that someone ate all our dragon blood, and we need to wait for them to safely replenish it for their own health.”
“Excuse me, that was you two maniacs slinging blood around like some water gun fight. I just cleaned it up.” She crossed her arms, “Could I try some more? Maybe that’s the solution.”
He sucked a breath in through his teeth, rubbing his hair, “I’d rather try the potion, it ought to be far more efficient than giving you half a litre of blood. It’s expensive stuff.”
“It tasted better than any potion though.” She giggled at his flinch, “I’m joking, I’m not going to hunt the dragons.”
“Please don’t, I don’t want you getting more injured.”
“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that insinuation.”
“As usual.”
“Right. Well I’ll look forward to it. And… if you need to talk about this, I can’t always talk but I can listen.” She motioned to the cabin, looking messier than ever inside, “If you need to stay over agai-”
“Karen. I’ve got five different standing invitations. And… way too many big conversations the past couple of days. I’d rather just focus on other people for a bit. But, appreciated.”
“Okay, I need to go change- stay safe!” She ordered, and ran off.
A little too slowly.
She knew the route to the clearing perfectly by this point, but she’d dawdled too long, talked too much.
The burning situation hit her halfway along the path, knocking the teenager to the ground as her body began to warp. Twisting fingers fumbled with her clothes, saving her shoes, jacket and top from damage before her talons rendered any further attempts dangerous and her tail split the skirt entirely.
The changes had barely stopped when she heard footsteps through the undergrowth, and twisted upright to see two figures striding up- one stout and bouncy, the other tall and heavy laden and both familiar.
“-just this way, I’m thinking we could get a banner overhead and a bonfire right in the centre, maybe some logs around it like old fashioned camping, you know?” Emily was chattering, her school bag slung over the other’s shoulder in addition to a heavy duffel bag.
Mark was more aware however, his feet stopped moving as his eyes rested on the griffin ahead, eyebrows almost vanishing beneath dark fringe. “Ah, Ems? We’ve got company.”
“Mm? OH!” She squeaked almost painfully high and bowed abruptly, white teeth exposed, “Hiii! Oh wow, you think that’s the flying thing? Look at his wings!”
Karen snorted at the pronoun, but stretched her wings a little to better showcase them. Emily was completely fearless of mystics, Mark sensible, so she gingerly reached for her shoes and coat to try and bundle them up with monstrous talons.
“The flying thing looked humanoid- and red? Not this. Are those clothes?” He gauged.
“He must have just changed- hey, want a hand?” Emily strode up and rested on her laurels, extending one arm.
“Ems. Careful.”
Karen struggled with the zip of her bag a moment, then grudgingly kicked it over. Her classmate opened it with ease, folded the clothes poorly only to pause at the jacket. “Wait. Hold on. Mark is this familiar?”
He glanced at it with intense scrutiny, set his jaw, then shrugged, “No? Why?”
“Thomson wears this, but then- hold the flipping phone, are you Thomson?!”
Karen inhaled deeply, rolled her eyes and gave a grudging nod.
“Oh my god, it’s no wonder you eat so much!” Emily exclaimed, earning a growl of rebuke.
“Ems, not wise- Are you sure? I thought Karen was human? I mean she’s lived here for ages, we’d know if she flew around like that.”
“Well, she was hiding wasn’t she? Oh gee, that’s awesome, can I fly on you?”
Karen shook her head and pushed the bag closer pointedly, chirping “South” for noone but herself.
“Right, fine.” Emily stowed the jacket poorly and zipped it shut, “You could’ve told me though. Do you know how far the clearing is?”
“And could you give me a hand with this?” Mark grunted, heaving the duffel bag in both arms.
The griffin gave him a flat look, nodded barely to Emily and plucked up only her bag before prancing forwards. Her shoulder still twinged a little, but with every day this body hurt less, her wings felt relieved to be out, and the excitement of flight filled her as ever. The duo followed along- the path had few forks- and breathed a sigh of relief as they reached the glade she knew so well. Karen bounded off to the side and shoved her belongings high in a tree, before stretching her muscles lightly, letting them breathe and groan.
“See, told you it’s perfect- is your stuff meant to be there Thomson?” Ems called as Mark all but collapsed behind her, “Yeah? Oh sweet, can you fly like Scevola?”
“North-north,” She decided would work for the word better, gathered her legs and pounced forwards, balled her muscles and shoved off a second time, spreading her wings a massive flap.
It still took her the third leap to take off successfully, thanks to the twinge in her foreleg, but that was about average. Her momentum swept her up over the treetops and with enormous loud beats of wings and a dramatic triumphant scream she ascended towards the slate grey sky. Wind coiled around her form, blustering her left, yet the griffin’s feathers adjusted the course, and swept her around to ride the breeze upwards instead.
Lesser birds and winged vermin fled the canopy at her wake, one flock of pigeons a veritable cloud that she swooped over, before circling back towards the great mess of the camp. Every time she saw it from above it seemed to grow strange, and more complex. There was an actual building site at one end that looked to be building a permanent structure, mystics crowded the streets and she saw a seemingly immobile hot dog truck with a cue building outside it.
Then, fluttering up from the caravans came a red blur, skin etched with Red-Two spirals, dark wings tinged with Teavalin tear shapes and a wide grin.
“Woooooow!” Fei whooped as she swooped past, and spiralled back, piercing the air gracefully with long slow flaps of her little wings. “Not bad! Race you to the lake?”
She was already pointed in that direction, the little scamp, but Karen loosed a competitive shriek and span around, meeting the wind head on. That was problematic, gliding ought to be quick and easy down the forested slopes towards the waters edge, but the wind would slow the movement and so she needed to work that way instead. Fei seemed to manage it however, her wings were held straight, a long tuft of feathers at her back helping guide her, and she even rolled over in the air and hovered a moment, grinning back at the griffin.
“Well? Come on then, I thought you could fly!” the harpy taunted, earning another screech back.
“SOUTH!” Karen fumed, shut her wings and let herself fall for a moment, before snapping them back open to ride the momentum. Tree tops covered in pine needles rushed past beneath her, the grey lake up ahead and she streamlined as much as possible, holding the form until the tengu dropped down beyond the treeline.
The griffin landed on the beach within a minute, taking a wide arc to come to a running stop on the pebbles, tiny stones scattering everywhere, her head held high and wings stretched wide. Fei laughed eagerly at the sight and half swooped, half hopped over, a joyful rictus revealing sharp teeth.
“Damn, you’re bigger than expected! Where's the rest of your family? Are there many griffins?”
Karen considered the question and shook her head, jabbed a knuckle to her sternum then lifted one talon.
“Only you? Oh no, I’m sorry, I’m the only Tengu around here too,” Fei suddenly reached out and stretched wings around her neck in an embrace. Karen almost lashed out, the scent was strange and feathers small, but then the words hit her. Was the girl an orphan like Logan? Either way it was best to be gentle, she easily lifted the biped with just a motion of her leg, and extricated herself with a wary growl.
“Oh, sorry, I know that could be painful to tal… or not talk about? Anyway, wanna race again?”
Karen nodded sharply and bounced a talon upwards before gathering her legs.
“Right- where to? Just… up?”
Exactly, she decided, and pounced across the stones before any more one sided questions could be levelled. She’d have to teach others some Avian, Tengu seemed bird-like enough that it should be compulsory.
With a third leap she lifted herself up, and took to riding the winds again, flapping her wings harder and harder, higher and higher, from the ground zero that was the lake beach. Fei fluttered after her, the taunting smile absent this time as she gave a flurry of effort, then would abruptly burst upwards as she caught an updraft. She seemed to find them easier than the griffin, but her wings were smaller and Karen gave a triumphant whistle as she overtook her once more.
“H-how are you so fast? You’re enormous!” Fei gasped.
“North wings!” She gave the screech, whistle and chirp for the words, revelling in the confused “what” that came beneath her.
The world there dwindled too, trees covering the roads and paths of the forests, the mountains becoming peers as the heavy screen of the low clouds approached. Karen flapped all the harder for that, this was the lowest she had ever seen the clouds, they looked almost close enough to touch.
Yet it was still a surprise when touch them she did.
One moment her vision was clear and untarnished. The next it was blurred, cool fog sweeping over her claws and eyes as dew gathered on her coat. It eddied and rippled like currents with each wing beat, and she circled a moment, delighting in the details of the swirling mist.
“Ka-ah-ren? You here?” Fei gasped as she came, her wings clearing a surprisingly broad space around her, and the girl’s young face lit up as their eyes connected. “Phew, you okay?”
She gave a nod as she spiralled overhead, redoubling her efforts-what lay beyond this? Above the clouds?
“Higher? Serio-uh-us-ly?” The tengu faltered, her clothes damp, skin wet with condensation, breath steaming.
She wasn’t made for this, Karen realised. She had no real coat, only feathers for flight and guidance, her lungs weren’t made for the thinning air, her talons were not made to hunt.
While the griffin, even as she cycled heavy breaths and felt muscles ache in her wings, felt like she’d barely gone for a run. Yes, higher still, she decided and screamed as she ascended higher, fighting her way blindly through the clouds. No, not blindly, there was no view of the terrain but the wind was perfectly visible here, its currents illustrated to her immaculately vision by shifting strands of silver.
Karen rode them upwards, felt moisture weigh heavily on her back, her tail was downright damp, the air almost freezing around her.
And breached the heavens.
Sunlight burned her eyes in sudden clarity as she entered a world of white and blue. Mountains, spiralling pillars and arches of clouds stretched beneath an azure sky twinkling with distant stars. The farthest reaches were tinted dusky violet by the lowering sun, brighter and bolder than she’d ever seen, and she relished how it glittered off her slick colourful wings in her peripheral vision. She was the highest in the world, there was no sign of birds here, let alone-
No, there, she picked out the winged humanoid silhouette through the clouds, rising quickly and gracefully, trailing fabric.
Five wings carried a humanoid grey figure.
The Bad Egg from the woods looked worse than ever to avian eyes. Its rotten skin was streaked with tiny scars like bite-marks on a corpse, and the ends of what few digits it possessed were black and heavy with ice from at the altitude. Its wings were a patchwork travesty, feathers sticking in every direction without any semblance of grooming, and barely flapped as it turned, its single orange eye tracking her.
“
Its voice, weak and crooning like an ancient deathbed, pierced her mind without a movement of its desiccated jaw.
“SOUTH WING LOW PREY KILL!” She used every negative sound in her repertoire before resorting to a simple primal roar, like thunder in the clouds. There was no better way to express her frustration, her fury- if anything was to blame for her change, anything had made her feel like nothing, it was this.
And she wasn’t nothing. She was great and strong, smart and fast and completely magnificent.
“
It barely seemed to realise it was being hunted, as her talons and beak slammed into the brittle monster in a cloud of icy feathers and warm blood.
“
It didn’t matter, her rage was unsatisfied and her stomach was empty, so she flew them down. Her massive wings tore through the air in reckless thunderous flaps, smashing two with a strong enough beat to break their rotten little bones while her talons grabbed a third and tore it apart. The fourth and fifth were higher, gaining altitude but not quickly enough and the griffin followed their trail of loose feathers, over flew them and killed one with a bite, stunned another with a flick of her tail when it thought it had ducked behind her. That sent it off course, enough to curl back around and mow down it, the sixth and seventh in a frenzy.
Blood and gore splattered her damp hide as she spiralled in the air. There had been thirteen in total. If one got away would it survive?
Above- nothing but empty sky.
Below- there, an eddy in the clouds, a tiny disturbance not in line with that of the winds. The griffin folded her wings and dove after it in a heartbeat, shooting through the sky with a piercing whine. Water gathered and splashed off her eyes with the momentum, she punched through the cloud like a dart and only cracked her wings open as a winged silhouette entered her vision below.
She hit it like meteor, splattered blood across her talons and swung them up to her beak to snip apart the little creature, before dropping the verminous carcass.
Only a stunned, breathless gasp brought her attention back to Fei, the Tengu struggling to fly at this altitude, breathless and damp.
“Uh… h… hey? You like killing pigeons?” She gasped, setting her wings, golden eyes wide and nervous.
“South-wings.” She chirped, aware of how useless it was, and shook her head, before pointing one talon to the ground.
“Hmm? Uh, yeah? Can we go down?” Fei breathed, only for the griffin to drop before she’d finished shouting. She simply closed her wings and leaned forwards, tumbling out of the heavens, feeling a weight lifted from her shoulders. She was a success- the old Karen had only managed to kill one of that horror’s pigeon-parts, however they worked.
The air warmed as she dove, mountains and woody slopes rearing up around her vision, the slate grey lake rushing as if to embrace her.
Yet it didn’t. She refused to let it.
Fifty metres above the water she unfurled her pinions gracefully, giving Fei a perfect view of her patterns from above, and curved fluidly to level and spiral out. She got enough of an angle to see the Tengu dropping behind her, arms forward like a superhero, a serene look of joy and wonder on her face.
Then her wing BOOM-ed open, she cackled like a maniac and swept overhead and towards RASA. The griffin chirped and gave chase, making sure to keep her bloody talons clutched tight to her belly. She would clean them well later, you had to get your claws dirty to get work done. And killing that rotten nightmare was certainly a success.