Chapter 69 - Caught Against the Bone [https://cdn.midjourney.com/a9b9c75b-43e3-472b-b1df-da0434e5b13b/0_1.png]

Kennedy jerked free of the guard’s grip. Her soul howled with need. She had to reach the dying child. Slowed by the weight and restriction of her chains, she crawled forward.

Ba’s voice was calm, her eyes on Joe, who was nodding. “Let her try.”

Skin peeled from her knees as she lunged forward before they could change their minds and placed her hands on the volcanically hot child. Unrecognizable as a bear or human, she drew her into her lap. With her arms wound around the slick shape of the girl, she felt where her change was caught on a scar, held by it. Complicated and deep, the damage spider webbed through her small body.

The little girl had made it into her bear shape easily, so Kennedy pulled her back in that direction to stop the bleeding. Before she fully understood what she was about to do, the sides of her body split and she rolled herself into her bear shape, dragging the little girl with her. Whole again, the small bear frantically fought.

Terror burst from the terrified little bear in horrifying cries. Trembling wildly, wide eyed, she swiped out with her claws, catching Kennedy’s hip, ripping her flesh. To keep herself safe, she knocked the girl’s smaller body to the ground and pinned the child under her heavy bear shape until she quieted. Heart like a hummingbird, the little creature panted. The parent’s cries of distress rang through the trees. Ribbons of scent, tangled around them, a hundred strands, disorienting her. Kennedy shook her head, trying to clear the overwhelm of so much information.

Around them, the gathered Shepherds sang. Their voices drowned out the panicked thoughts racing through Kennedy’s mind. Focusing herself, she took a quieting breath. All that mattered was the terrified child. Kennedy lifted her weight from the tiny body under her and the little bear did not bolt. Swirling around them, sparkling with energy and life, the soothing rhythm of the music sank into Kennedy.

The scar tissue within the child needed to be forcibly freed, to get the flexibility that her small body needed to return to human shape. There would be great pain for the child, and then intense relief. A twist had happened in that second change, as bear and body knotted around the scar. Come on, little one. Try this with me. If we die, we die together. She brushed her face against the girl’s trembling shoulder, breathing into her fur to offer comfort and reassurance. If Kennedy didn’t try now, they might drive her away from the child and trap the little bear in a single shape.

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Pouring her energy into her small body, Kennedy used her weight to stretch the girl along her spine, forcing her shoulder up and her hip down. The small bear screamed, as tissue gave way with loud, rending pops. One of the fathers fought free of those holding him and exploded into bear. Distantly, she heard the mother fighting, yelling. A battle raged mere feet for them, but for Kennedy, she and the child were alone together.

Slowly, she opened into the change, guiding the terrified child away from her bear shape, bringing her into a state of becoming, drawing her through, unwinding the twist. Both of their sides split and Kennedy sank her hand into the child’s interior, the hot meat of her tiny body.

Her small heart beat powerfully against the back of Kennedy’s hand as she freed the scar from the front of the child’s spine. With a flash of lightning bright energy, she felt the give as the girl’s tiny body found enough freedom and space to make its way back to her human form. The rest of the transition happened quickly as Kennedy slid her hand free of the child’s body.

Adrenaline pumping, she found herself naked in the grass with a weeping child under her. Kennedy’s clothing lay in tatters around them. Drenched in sweat, she lifted her body off of the girl’s trembling form. When Kennedy tried to draw back further, the little girl grabbed her and clung tightly to her, shuddering as tears streamed down her face. Stroking the girl’s wet hair, Kennedy rocked the child. Offering soothing sounds, she held her protectively.

“Is she whole?” screamed the desperate mother.

Kennedy opened her eyes, startled everyone was still there. Swaying back and forth, she tightened her jaw as Old Joe approached them carefully, as if they were wild animals.

“Shh… It’s all right now. You got her through.”

Kennedy pulled the girl more tightly to her, protectively.

“Did you get her all the way turned round?”

Narrowing her gaze, Kennedy did not answer. When Ba reached out toward the child’s head, Kennedy curled her lips and showed her teeth.

He gentled his voice, speaking so softly she doubted if anyone else could hear him. “I know. I know.” He moved slowly. “I’m not going to hurt her.” Light as a butterfly landing, he touched the child’s head with the back of one knuckle. His touch sent sparkles of light through them both, fizzy as soda pop. She felt Little Bear light up in response as a flood of tiny bubbles of lit up the inside of Kennedy’s belly.

“She’s fine.” The smile he gave her was warm. “And so is he.”

A few feet away from them, Ba waited with her hands drawn into tight fists.

Old Joe told her, “The girl will live.”