It was well past noon but she hadn’t eaten. Eating meant moving, and moving meant being awake.
Of course, she was awake already- she‘d woken the instant she heard an engine in the driveway, voices in the hall. The griffin lay curled up, vivid eyes closed peacefully, but her muscles were tensed and her heart thrummed like a war drum. If violence came, she was ready.
Her tail twitched when the door slipped open on oil hinges, but the heavy, precise gait was familiar.
“Hey kiddo, you awake?” Pa rumbled, squatting down beside her next, “Have you seen your little brother by any chance? He wasn’t in his bed this mornin’. Again.”
Karen crept her head forward, butting it off his hand with as little movement as possible.
“Don’t act innocent. Budge your wing, you’re well late for breakfast and there’s OAR men lookin’ for you.”
She shifted, curiously, and peeked under her wing. Ollie’s small form lay against her stomach in his pyjamas, but his breathing was slow and alert.
Pa sighed and his four callused fingers ran the length of her back, then found that hollow near the base of her neck and scritched in there. “Come on, you ain’t ostriches, no buryin’ your heads. I’m goin’ to make bacon and sausages, and if you’re not around to eat it, then I’ll eat what I can and give the rest to a dog.”
Ollie pushed her wing aside with a snort and a childish pout. Karen matched it, adding an avian growl of “South.”
“Well then, better move. Get changed and give me a hand, Ollie.” Pa offered more gently, as the boy ran his fingers over her dark feathers, “Give your sister some privacy, she needs Veil to talk.”
Ollie pouted wordlessly, but stroked her wing, neatened a few feathers, and followed their father out without a word.
He hadn’t spoken since Halloween.
* * * * *
Karen met their stares levelly, and returned them in kind, tossing her black hair over her shoulders as she coiled on the couch as if this was the most normal thing in the world.
Doctor Morris certainly looked normal. The man could scarcely be plainer if he tried- grey neat hair and boring glasses framed a weary face, with a clipboard on his laps and a coffee steaming as his side. The other OAR agent was unfamiliar- a muscular man in his twenties, with short brown hair and minor burn scars that had eradicated eyebrows from an otherwise handsome face. Whatever fire he faced must have gotten inside too, for his voice was low and rasping.
“So, did something else go wrong, or is there a reason why you’re a naga, Karen?”
She clasped her hands on the dark scales of her sinuous tail, and bore sharp teeth as she shrugged. “Drank the wrong veil. Who’re you?”
“Agent Kirk, with OAR. We’re here to investigate the incident on Halloween.” He crossed his arms and leaned back on the other couch. Mom and Pa had taken the kitchen to deal with Ollie, their low voices and tempting scents of cooked bacon wafting through the ajar doorway.
“And to deliver your check-up.” Doctor Morris added crisply, “Therefore I’d appreciate you be honest with us, Miss Thomson. Why do you have Naga Veil?”
“It was a present from Diana.” She crossed her own arms and slouched back, feeling long stomachs growl, “Can’t use it for school, so sometimes I have it at home.”
“Because you resemble your old self?” Kirk prompted, glancing at a family photo on the wall.
“A little.”
“A little.” Morris agreed. “What other Veil have you been taking?”
“Mostly human. Finished your crap off, then Diana’s. She gave me some spares- Naga and Satyr, but being a herbivore is awful- hooves and horns, just yuck. And I had one dose from Logan, was meant to be the old me, but just failed.”
“And you dislike Veil? Apparently you haven’t used any in two days?” He leaned forwards as if pitying her, “Are you well?”
“I’m fine,” Karen felt her claws scratch over the leather as she forced a smile, “Just a little tired. No point wasting a dose if I’m napping.”
“Fair enough, gotta have comfy PJs, right?” Kirk rasped. “On topic, heard you’ve transformed partially before. Happen often?”
“Partially?” Karen frowned, and focussed, “Oh, you mean like this?”
With an effort of will, focus on her hunger, on the tension that wouldn’t go away, her eyes and fingertips burned, and the world suddenly became dimmer, yet more vivid. New colours shone across their bodies as Morris startled, and Kirk shot up, one hand on his hip and interposed between them.
“That’s enough- give us warning before you do that!”
“What’s wrong?” She bore her fangs in a not-smile. First they interrupted her rest, and now they bossed her around in her own territory? It was only right for intruders to be wary. “It’s just my eyes. Though I can do more if you want?”
“No, Miss Thomson, that is not necessary.” Morris peered around his guard, “Can you explain this ability without the demonstration?”
“Sure. I just focus on breaking the Veil, and it breaks. That cheap junk you gave me was so weak I did it accidentally. But with this, it takes a bit of effort.” She mused, “I just need to focus on my instincts, griffin-like thoughts.”
“Such as?”
“Uh… flying. Sleeping. Stuff like that.”
Morris clicked his pen as Kirk sat, “Hunting?”
Karen squirmed, “No. Why would I? If I want food- hey, Mom is it ready?!”
“Yes, of course. Interview first, then eat, you can’t talk and gobble.” The woman called from the kitchen and glanced through, “Karen, the eyes again? Really?”
“Whaaaat? They asked!”
“Mmmhmm?” Mom tutted to the agents, “Just shout on me if she’s misbehaving.”
“Of course, Mrs Thomson. Thankyou.” Doctor Morris nodded as she walked away. “So, you break Veil often?”
“Sometimes. There’s no harm, is there? Mages do it, and it’s better than waiting ten minutes to fly.” Karen grunted.
“Apparently not. And you resumed your original human form, once, yes?”
“Yeah. For twenty minutes.”
“And what of this Tohaken Veil? What happened there?”
Karen squirmed, glancing down, “It failed.”
“How? Kid, we need some information- it doesn’t have to be too detailed, but we need something.” Kirk growled.
“It… original meant young, not… true form. I got stuck and lost as a little cub for two hours.” She muttered, folding her arms.
“A griffin cub. I see.” Dr Morris looked to her, “Are you alright? Do you need a break?”
“No- I’m fine. What else?”
The Doctor scribbled some notes, whispered something to his colleague, before Kirk pulled out a folder of his own.
“Alright, that’s the checkup- now we wanted to ask you about the thing you called the Bad Egg, Karen. We’ve been referring to it as X-19, or the Siren, are you alright to talk about it?”
“Yes. It’s fine.” She insisted, “What’s Class X?”
“Unique entities that don’t appear to belong to species. They’ve been termed as fey, djinni, spirits, ghosts, but we’re approaching this study on a case by case basis.” Morris explained, “Can you go over your encounter with X-19 again?”
“Sure.” She explained the tale again- her encounter with it in the woods, in the sky, and how Irene had seemed tied to it on Halloween.
The man’s brow narrowed, “So. It didn’t attempt any physical assault until after you attacked it? Just verbal?”
“N- I mean, kinda? It’s not just words! It’s like it’s in your head, pulling at your thoughts, using people’s voices, trying to get you lost in fog! It probably did this to me.”
“With pigeons?” Kirk smirked, “They scared you?”
“Use your ears, egghead- like I said, there were thousands of little beaks and talons trying to cut us. And I was veiled. Once I broke the veil, I scared them off. But it went for those other morons too, panicked them with voices in the middle of dark woods. Oh, and it’s always foggy near it, I think that’s a power it has.”
Morris transcribed her words, “I see. And do you have any experience of what began the fire? At the bonfire party?”
“Not them- I didn’t even get to go to it. I ran into some dumb bipeds from school- Irene Brown, Grant Parr, some big guy called Sebastian, and Jamie. Freshman or younger? Anyway, Irene tried to summon it to wreck the party because they’re mystic hating morons.” She chewed her lips, “It looked like Sebastian had gas or fireworks, so the fire was probably him, Irene, or the Bad Egg.”
“So you say. Why not the others?”
“I was with Grant the whole time, and Jamie only disappeared for a couple of minutes- oh yeah, there was some giant spider there too! Like, nearly my size, it caught him in a web before I cut him loose.” She fumed.
“Jamie too? We’d heard you’d helped two kids evacuate, but one was a gorgon- young Eda? She was very thankful to you.”
Karen lashed her tail, “What? She wasted time. If she hadn’t drank naga veil, I might’ve… been able to help others. Why would she even want to be a naga- she’s already half snake!”
“Well, like he said, she was very thankful. And we’ll ask about the spider.” Doctor Morris glanced up warily, “Do you want to break? Are you feeling alright?”
“I told you I’m fine!” She snapped, then curled her tail close. It was all too late anyway. She’d been too late, whatever the Bad Egg had done. “I just want food. Can we finish quickly?”
“Well, I can try, but the last matter is quite delicate.” Morris clicked his pen, twirled it, and leaned forward. “Are you aware that there was a casualty of the incident?”
Her stomach roiled.
“Yes.” She sighed, a long hissing breath.
“Do you have any idea about what happened to Caleb Mathess, Karen?” Kirk stared at her, eyes intense.
“Probably the Bad Eg- the X… what, 19? From what I saw he had a lot of scratches.”
“Correct. Though they don’t resemble assault by creatures like pigeons. He also, apparently, mentioned a griffin before succumbing to the injuries.”
Karen blinked. They were looking at her, though the wariness felt different now. Threatening.
“You think I killed him?”
“We don’t believe that,” Doctor Morris raised a hand, “However, given your previous incidents, there may be some suspicion towards yo-”
“Previous incidents?” She scoffed, “What, you mean when he stabbed me with a stapler? Bullshit, you think I’d kill someone with a dozen little scratches? I’m not a cub- look at the sheep, if I killed someone, they’d be ripped open or their back would be broken!”
“Calm. Down!” Kirk snapped, “Believe it or not, kid, the world isn’t out to get you. The Doctor here is looking for evidence to help alleviate suspicion, and you going off like that does no favours. What sheep are you on about?”
“The… the ones when I transformed.” Karen folded her arms, “My instincts go for quick kills. Not lots of scratches. It wasn’t me. It was the Bad Egg.”
“Right. Hopefully we’ll be able to prove that. Do you know where you were when Mr Mathess was found at 21:37?”
“Flying. Searching for Ollie. I got Grant and Jamie to the road, looked around, then went flying. Spotted someone, it was the dumb gorgon, took her back, went flying. Stumbled into one other kid, dunno who but he could walk so I pointed him the way and flew to search.”
“You were searching that whole time with your magic eagle eyes and never spotted him?” Kirk probed.
“Her vision excels in daylight, not at night,” Morris explained, “You raise a good point about your talons too Karen. Do you have a scratching post we could use to show your handiwork?”
“Yeah. I’ve got a log. Ask Pa.” She grumbled, “Can you go now?”
“Yes. That will do. Our condolences,” Doctor Morris stood with a nod, “We will get in contact if we learn anything new, otherwise we will see you again in early December.”
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
“Yes. Don’t do anything rash.” Kirk growled as they began to leave, but lingered a second, giving her a pointed look, “You hear me kid?”
“Huh?”
“Don’t go hunting X-19. It’s not in your skillset, it’s not in mine. Leave it to the mages.”
“And if it comes for me?”
“Run away and tell Exi.”
* * * * *
They left her to enjoy lunch after that, a great deal of bacon, lorne and even offal that her naga stomachs could handle without complaint. It was hardly dignified, but only Ollie was around to see as the men from OAR spoke to Mom and Pa. Their low tones about her lasted an hour before they finally left, taking her scratch covered log away with them.
Pa opted to take her out to fly, and to find a replacement though, hoping that the fresh air might do them good. He did have a point- now that she was up and awake, she could hardly stay indoors for long, and so she struggled and coiled her naga form into the back seat, while Ollie sat in the front and the engine rumbled and roared, vibrating under her belly scales. It was far from pleasant, she was almost seasick as they drove up, out of town, away from suspicious eyes and fearful bipeds, past the camp and higher up into the forested slopes.
When they finally pulled over, Karen all but lunged from the car, slamming onto the dirt of the layby with a grunt.
“Urgh, why did I need to ride that thing out here?!”
“To avoid drama. Don’t exaggerate, Karen, it wasn’t that bad.” Pa got out the front, alongside Ollie who threw her a blanket. “Besides, don’t you want to show us what you’ve learned?”
“Could’ve done that at home. But I can fly back, right?”
“I don’ think that’s a good idea kiddo, the Mathesses are still pretty upset and you might spook ‘em.”
“But Paaaaa- I didn’t bring any Veil! You don’t want me clogging up the entire back, do you?” She pleaded, “My wing’d be over the driver’s seat, it might cause an accident!”
“Someday we’re goin’ to figure out how to handle you and the car.” Pa grunted, “Promise me?”
“Fine, as long as it’s not today.” Karen pouted, then pulled the blanket over herself to change. She barely had to blink before she felt her hungers rising- joy to fly, eagerness to be outside, away from bipeds, away from death and gloom, hunger to spill blood and ren-
Just hunger. The thought was all she could manage as her form buckled, and writhed under the blanket, skin prickling as her skeleton seized and twitched. Her tail pulled back, flesh running within to barrel out her chest and body instead, as two great limbs burst from her spine. The little flippers of her hips swelled and flexed as bones and claws pushed outwards, forming strong paws and her hands lost their webs in favour of dark scales and long talons. Yet soon the burning faded and her coat settled, and the griffin shrugged off the blanket.
“Alright? That was quiet, ready to show off?” Pa smirked, leaning on the front of the car.
“No. Time.” She chirped, running her beak quickly across her coat, straightening feathers in her wings.
“It doesn’t need to be that formal kiddo- noone’s gonna notice if you’ve got fluff outta place.”
She merely rolled her eyes and finished preparing, letting Ollie run his hands along the ends of her wings soothingly. But he straightened those feathers out too, comforting and close, and she butted him before bounding down the road and turning.
“NOW. I. NORTH!” She cried, ensuring their eyes were on her, even if they couldn’t see just how radiant her coat was. Then she curled her hind legs, and leapt forwards, brought her wings up and down for the second bounce. She barely scraped the ground on her third lunge, and swept up over the car in a screeching rush as she broke gravity’s snare and swept upwards.
It didn’t hurt any more. The injuries she’d earned and weathered, the scars at her wings and legs had sealed and now the powerful muscles surged without complaint, throwing her up and up, higher and higher as precise instincts realigned feathers and twisted her tail to steer.
Of course, it was vital to steer- while she might be best higher than the peaks of the valley, her kin’s eyes wouldn’t handle that, and so she banked around a couple of hundred metres above the layby to swoop and circle. The wind washed her fatigue away mud in a river, stripping away the guilt and worry. Results were what mattered- her brother and family were safe.
Anyone dead was irrelevant. Weak. Not worth dwelling on.
Instead she focussed on her best- on twisting her spine to loop backwards, whirling through the air in tight turns and sharp drops. There was nothing faster than a dive, but she kept that for the end, building up through a performance of rolls and circuits, quick banks where her wings caught the air itself like sails, and then a rapid ascent magnitudes higher where smaller beasts could not go.
Her sire took that as her leave, turned his attention from the sky and towards the forest floor. So Karen elected not to screech on her descent. Instead she simply folded her wings, angled down, and silently dropped like a bullet, aimed at her fathers head. The air whistled around her, her heart thundered with glee, and a few dozen metres off target she spread her wings with a boom, and swept above his skull by mere feet with a glorious scream. The shock- or perhaps the force of her passing- sent Pa sprawling with a curse she’d never heard him use before, and she chuckled to herself as she swept above the trees and away.
Given time he’d doubtless appreciate the demonstration of her control and precision. But right now she’d certainly get lectured by a biped if she landed, so instead Karen flew outwards and upwards, surveying the valley from above with glee.
Brown autumn leaves covered the trees now, the lake echoed the grey sky, and Ranelk town seemed to writhe with business as ever. Yet it was not all the same- the black swathe of ashen forest was clear to see from above, a couple of miles across turned to cinders and rubble by the vermin’s flames.
Men worked to clear the site, loading up trucks with the shredded wreckage already, and she veered slightly closer. They did not have the look of firemen, but instead wore hardhats and gaudy fluorescent vests, with diggers and construction vehicles parked nearby. Maybe the RASA camp of mystics had ran out of space already, and the cleared forest ground could be used to host more mystics?
Her wings bore her over there, above Logan’s cabin, where the former caravan park was well and truly full. Temporary homes, caravans, tents and all sorts were jumbled together chaotically, with all manner of bipeds and the occasional Class C like her moving amongst them, chatting and worked hard. They were all obedient to gravity though, and the few faces that turned up to her were wary and suspicious.
Not that Karen cared. Instead she occupied herself practising for the afternoon, away from bipeds, away from anyone, just owning the sky and enjoying the wind. She’d rise and dive, swooping down mere inches from the lake’s surface, and then spin around to watch the wide ripples ebb across the water. She killed half a dozen pigeons in the air, cutting the vermin with her talons and dropping the bodies. She found a cliff and jumped off it five times, exuberant to take off without any run up!
It felt good. Better than school, better than any ridiculous funeral. Yet it was tiring, and so she landed atop the cliff eventually, wings spread and panting steam as her dark coat soaked up the sun's rays. She never really got cold as a griffin, which was a hopeful sign with winter on the way.
Eventually a creak of broken branches interrupted her recuperation, and Karen glanced over, only to freeze.
Curt amber eyes watched her from the trees, above a long hooked beak. The quadrupedal shape was familiar, with heavy hind paws, narrow talons and a flicking tail. Though it was ostentatious beyond belief- he other griffin was bedecked with striking ultraviolet patterns, red two, limmerose and teavalin weaving in speckled stripes across a tawny red coat, lining the vast wings, and the two tufted ears that twitched atop his head.
The other griffin considered her momentarily, then sat and set to straightening his feathers, as if she didn’t exist. Karen almost snorted at the hubris- he was more peacock than griffin. But his presence was disturbing. No, she shouldn’t panic, just because someone might have died to a griffin. Days ago.
“You. Hunt. Boy. Query?” She squawked in Avian, turning to stand, her own muscles tensing. He was about her size, though the relaxed pose and close held wings made it difficult to gauge precisely. Not that it mattered.
The other griffin spared her a casual glance, brilliant eyes flicking in her direction as if she was barely worthy of attention. Then he stood and screeched, loud and sharp, a quick fast sound then a couple of chirps.
What? Karen cocked her head, trying to run through her knowledge of Avian- something about Wing? She’d never actually heard anyone but herself and Diana use it, and this griffin must clearly have messed up pronunciation something terrible.
“Query?”
He gave her a flat look as if this communication issue was somehow her fault. Then gave another scream- harsh and loud- and stepped forwards, wings rising-
Karen darted back and leapt off the edge, her own wings catching her quickly and rushing away. That was too close, the mystic was a suspicious stranger and the timing… had Ollie seen him? Was that why he was so quiet? Or was it just a coincidence?
After all, Caleb’s wounds had been many shallow scratches. It didn’t add up.
At least he didn’t fly after her. The sky was her domain.
* * * * *
The daylight was fading when she returned home. She came at it from above, several hundred metres beyond the street lights as they flickered on and blinded bipeds to the dark. She dove down straight for the back garden, booming out her wings a little late so she landed, staggered and sprawled on the grass.
“Karen?” Her Mom peered out the back door, and recoiled slightly, “Dear, don’t scare me like that. Wipe your feet before you come in-- you’ve got friends looking for you.”
“Query?” She chirped, scrubbed her talons on a mat and slithered inside.
“Yes, a little better- keep it down though, we got Ollie to his own bedroom. Don’t keep them here long.” Mom instructed, clearing away plates, “Go get changed. Don’t give me that look, you can’t have guests like that. You can eat later!”
It seemed only fair to have guests however she deemed fit in her own house, but it was her Mom’s house more. Even so, she peeked into the lounge on the way past to see Emily sitting cheerfully on the couch clicking away on her phone. That did brighten her mood, Emily was always cheerful, and she’d probably be as down as anyone after her Halloween party went so badly wrong. That did deserve a conversation, so she slunk into the garage, only to notice several problems
The lights were on.
Her nest of blankets was askew.
And Logan was crouched over it, caught red handed with several old photos and a metal ball in his grasp.
“Aaah, Karen, wait, don’t overreact!” The mage winced and stumbled back.
That was a useless request. She reacted with perfect restraint, bludgeoning him with a wing, tripping him with her tail, and was sitting with her talons on his chest in two seconds flat. Logan at least had the good sense not to resist, and bore her furious growls with a tired smile, dropping the plundered trinkets. “Ooouch. You should not be that fast.”
“South. Mage. Boy. South.”
“I have no idea what that means, but I assume it’s an insult. Look, I’m sorry, I know this was rude, but I was right. So, I can either help you, or you can hold a grudge?”
Karen narrowed her eyes. He’d shrunk her, made her vulnerable for attack, and now trespassed into her den with greedy fingers. And he claimed to be right?
“I’ve dropped it- that was everything, you know I can’t outrun you.” Logan sighed, lifting a hand, “So either we can do this telepathically if you’re tired, or you can Veil and talk? Your choice.”
One veil was enough for a day, but she wasn’t going to let him reach into her mind after trespassing into her den! And besides, Emily was here too, and she deserved some thanks. She was a proper guest. The griffin stepped back.
“Aaaah, right. Thankyou. See, look, empty hands,” He wiggled long fingers, then stood with a smile and escaped, clicking the door shut behind him. Karen rolled her eyes and poked her treasures back to the nest, before grudgingly taking the Veil. Again her body burned and remoulded itself, again she was left pained and gasping on the floor, dull and weak and plain. The short hair felt strange to her fingers after a couple days without, but she ignored it and pulled on a flannel shirt and jeans, before marching into the lounge.
A huge hug greeted her from Emily as the big girl whirled around, long black dreads flying behind her, “FINALLY! Thomson, do you have any idea how long we waited!”
“Get off- and shut up, my brother’s trying to sleep!” She kicked free and perched on the arm of a couch, “You doing alright? After halloween?”
“Uh, no. Nope, definitely not!” Emily gave a bitter smile, eyes wet, “But hey, who is? I noticed you weren’t at the service earlier, so I thought I’d swing by. And so did Tohaken.”
She just said it like that. Karen scoffed at her, head shaking, “You’re insane.”
“Who’s not?” The other girl shrugged and slouched on the other end of the sofa, where Doctor Morris had sat a few hours earlier. “Noone’s got their nonsense together. Especially not now, times are WILD! You’re a griffin!”
“Yeah. I noticed.” She raised a finger to her lips.
“Yeah- fine, sorry- but you never told me, how did that happen Thomson? Like did you get hit by lightning, or...”
“Something like that, apparently.” Logan spoke up.
“You figured something out?” Karen prompted.
Mages seemed to like to be prompted. He stood tall, hands behind his back like Colombo cracking a mystery wide open. “That metal ball. How did you get it Karen?”
“Found it.” She nodded to Emily, “Uh, the day we saw Scevola. When he transformed, it threw that at me. Thought it was a bullet.”
“Hit you in the head” Emily whistled.
“A bullet? Nowhere near.” Logan smirked, “See, Dragon Blood is magical. The wyrmlings near my place provide a bit to help us craft Veil and spells, which is fine, doesn’t need to go far and there’s not much. But Scevola generates litres of blood continuously, he’s so old he may as well be a magical nuclear reactor, and even extracting it, there’s too much to easily transport or sell. So instead, his pet mage condenses the Dragon Blood into small tokens of super concentrated energy. She calls them Miracle Stones- that’s what hit you.”
“So that hit her, and she turned into a griffin?”
“Yeah. No, are you sure?” Karen furrowed her brows, “I changed like, a week later. Why the delay?”
“Because you were soaking up extra magic, little by little. I think. Enough to completely rewrite your body- and back! You’ve been sleeping on top of this Miracle Stone for how long?”
“About a month.”
“Doesn’t sound comfy.” Emily mused.
“It is too- until he tore my nest apart at least.”
“Tohaken- you can’t mess with a girl’s bed, that’s creepy!”
“We’re talking about super powerful magic and this is what you focus on?” Logan winced.
“Yes!” The dark skinned girl insisted, “You don’t mess with people’s privacy. What were you doing?”
“Trying to find the stone, what else? Look, last time I stayed over here, I sensed there was some powerful magic in this place. But I couldn’t find it because Karen is really really territorial. I thought, while she wasn’t in, it was a good time to find out why there was some giant magical presence in her room- and I found it.”
“He stayed over with you before?” Emily smirked at her.
“In the spare room, his house had issues.” Karen kicked her lightly, “Look, anyway- now we know that metal stone thing’s magic, what does that do? Why did I change? Does it answer any questions?”
“Well, I think that explains a bit- how you were able to break Veils, how you were able to return to your old face for a bit. You’ve got enough magic to shapeshift a bit because you’ve been drawing on it without noticing.” Logan went on, “Try now. Try picturing your human form, breaking that, just now.”
“No- no, hold on, I just sat through transforming again today, I’m not wasting this!” Karen growled, “That still doesn’t explain everything. Sure, I got some magic filtering into me- but that still doesn’t explain why I’m a griffin! Is it just… like Diana says, the best form for me?”
“Well...” Logan raised a finger knowingly, “Yeah. I don’t know. Maybe it is a predisposition? Maybe the Bad Egg thing did it? Though… you don’t seem like its style.”
“Damn right I don’t.”
“Yeah. So if not that, given your… attitudes, your instincts, I think it’s something in you, somehow.” The mage slumped on the other chair, “Sorry, that’s still all I’ve got.”
“More than OAR. They came here earlier, were no help, apparently I’m a suspect or dangerous,” She hissed.
“A suspect?” Emily blinked, then her face fell, “Oh. No, nooo, that’s dumb! You and Caleb were… I mean… are you okay?”
“Yes. I’m fine, why does everyone keep asking!” Karen snapped and stood up, “So what do I do? Just think of the old me?”
“Yeah, but I can maybe work with the stone, make it easier to try and work with- oh, no, you’re just trying this immediately? Sure then, fine, let’s stick to improv, what could go wrong?” Logan sighed as she closed her eyes.
It felt absurdly simple. Had her old face been this close the whole time, just a matter of the right focus, the right concentration to achieve it? She tensed, body locking as she tried to will her flesh to break the veil, to become sharp and slender, dark and tawny and her once more! Not a hunter, not a beast, but straight as an arrow and efficient for the sky and the beams and the trampoline.
She almost heard broken glass as pain suddenly surged, every inch of her skin prickled as if needles swept over her. Feathers and fur roiled beneath her pores, ready to flood out, ready to return to a monster- no, that wasn’t her! Instead she felt hair tickled her shoulders, her clothes drape more loosely around her, and her friends gasp.
Then her back hit the ceiling and she winced, squealed and toppled over, wings flapping through the torn remains of her shirt. She landed hard on her tail and hissed in pain, “Freaking stupid half baked magic!”
Except the words came out as words, and she blinked to see Logan and Emily staring down at her, though coloured with ultra violet. Human legs and arms stretched out in front of her, with round little toes and hooked sharp nailed fingers.
“Yeaaah. Good first try, but I think you need to focus on not having wings or a tail," Emily suggested, breaking into giggles as Karen took in the full size griffin wings that weighed on her back, each larger than her own entire body.
“It’s progress though. We’ll figure it out.” Logan reached, and offered her a hand to help stand up. Karen glowered at it, struggled a moment, then grudgingly took his arm and pulled him down.