by K. N. Knight
And then I caught the scent of a rat. Eww, not my favorite food. But my animal was undeterred. Any flesh was tasty right now. I went on and on as the earth got damper and damper, until at last I sighted its little brown body. Not a rat—a water rat. And right ahead of it was the lake.
I broke out of the canopy of trees and stopped dead. It was beautiful. The trees that edged it were alive and had all turned fiery gold, and the forest opened up to the sky, which was pale blue with small white clouds. The water of the lake was so still it reflected the sky, also appearing a pale blue.
I gave a little gasp, an idea coming to me. I bounded to the edge of the lake and stepped in, walking slowly until I was six feet from the shore. The bottom was pebbles and stayed shallow and perfectly clear. I waited until the surface had stilled again and then I peered into it.
I yapped in surprise. The animal staring back at me did look an awful lot like a Fox. Except that my paws were white, my ears didn’t have black tips, and my chest only had a small patch of white. And everyone knows that foxes don’t howl. There was a loud splashing behind me, and I turned my head to be greeted by the sight of Rael and Zain bounding into the lake as joyously as kids in a swimming pool. Taking giant leaps through the water, they splashed up on either side of me, soaking me through. And, as if I wasn’t wet enough already, they shook themselves vigorously, water droplets flying from their thick hides.
They each looked at me expectantly, soft growls of encouragement rising from their throats. When I didn’t respond, they kept going, into the deeper water at the center of the lake. They both swam well, but Rael was the more agile. And then he disappeared, right under the water, and stayed down until he finally surfaced on the opposite bank. Interesting, I thought.
They were obviously having a lot of fun, but I had no urge to join them, mesmerized as I was by my own reflection in the water. It wasn’t every day you got to see your true form for the first time, yet having no idea what you were. I’d often wondered what I’d turn out to be, hoping it was something big and fearsome, while praying it wouldn’t be a reptile or a rodent. And my prayers had been answered, just not quite in the way I’d expected.
At last the guys got sick of trying to drown each other and swam back to me. I was wise to them this time and retreated from the water and hid behind a tree until they were done shaking themselves dry. For a moment, I felt like I was just hanging out, enjoying a couple of my friends have fun, and then I remembered: they were still my captors, and I was still about to return with them to a weird concrete building in the middle of an anonymous forest.
I took off fast, retracing our steps from earlier. I wanted to test myself, see if I could outrun them. But it was no use; they were soon loping at my shoulder effortlessly. And then Rael swiped at me with his big paw. I yelped, more in surprise than pain and skidded to a stop. I saw from the gleam in his eyes that he was only playing and, annoyed, I snapped at his muzzle. Then I whipped around as something nudged me just behind my ear. It was Zain’s long, brown muzzle. So I snapped at him, too, one of my sharp canines grazing his nose. Then Rael cuffed me again and I lashed out.
This went on for a while. I was going for blood, but they seemed to find it amusing, and by the end of it, I was having fun, too. By the time the white building came into view again, I was out of breath, and my body thrummed with the simple pleasure of play fighting. I went over to Rael’s shirt, snatched it up, and took it behind a tree to shift. But as I regained my human form, small, vulnerable, and in the presence of my captors, wearing only a white shirt to conceal my nakedness, I went on high alert again.
“Where are we?” I demanded as the guys approached me in their human forms.
“About five miles due north of where we picked you up,” Rael said.
“And this building?”
“We found it a few days ago, abandoned as you can see, and figured it would be a good place to speak to you.”
“Speak to me,” I echoed with a snort, and I dropped my gaze and stalked inside the building.
Chapter 4
Oran wasn’t inside the building, which I now saw comprised a single room with a basic kitchen and a small structure tacked onto the outside that I took to be a bathroom. It had most likely been a basic home to someone who worked in the forestry industry before the fires. Either that or a miserably-constructed weekend bolt-hole. There was a thin mattress on the floor, in addition to the one on the bed where I’d been lying earlier. Suddenly heavy with weariness, I trudged over to the bed, which was made from an old metal frame with some kind of base. The khaki sheet on top of the mattress so looked inviting that it took me another second to register that my boots were on the floor and my bag was sitting at the foot of the bed. Thank goodness.
I snatched them up eagerly and pulled the toggle of the bag open before rooting through for some more clothes. I found one of my few pairs of panties—black cotton boy shorts, worn but still comfortable—and pulled them on. Right away, I felt a little less vulnerable. There was also a pair of black leggings in there somewhere. I located them near the bottom, unrolled them, and put them on, too. I started looking for a clean shirt, but it was all too much. With a yawn, I collapsed onto the mattress, laying my head on the surprisingly soft pillow, and passed out.
I was beyond exhausted, but I dozed fitfully, not trusting my captors enough to fall into a real sleep. After an hour, or maybe two, I was drifting, half in a dream when there was a loud exclamation of excitement. I jolted wide-awake. Was that Rael’s voice? The light in the room was now dim, signifying that evening was on its way, and I was alone, although the door at the rear was wide open. I swung myself out of bed and stepped into my boots before lacing them quickly, then I sprinted across the room and out the door.
I didn’t know what I expected to see, but it wasn’t the three of them in their human forms, gathered around an old tree stump. On top of the stump was sitting a large antique-looking book, splayed open. Books weren’t part of my nomadic lifestyle these days since I had to carry all of my possessions with me, and I missed them badly. I picked up the wonderful old-book scent of leather and good-quality paper, and my fingers itched to touch it, but I forced myself to stay back, listening.
“It’s right here, I think,” Rael said, his finger pointing to something on the aged paper. There was barely restrained excitement in his tone, which made me take another step closer. Now I saw that the book was actually laid on a stack of other, equally antique books. They carry books around with them? That’s very unusual.
“In very rare instances,” Rael read in his smooth, resonant voice, “a shifter that takes its true form will not form an affinity with any of the four earthly elements, but with a fifth—the element of ether. The signs of this are a shifter possessing an unusual ability prior to taking on the true form, and—” his voice became louder and deeper as his excitement increased. “Its true form being a very rare species!” His head turned from Oran to Zain and back again. “That’s it. She’s no ordinary animal, is she?”
“So, what is this ether?” Oran demanded, sounding less bored than usual.
“It’s a very special element, it says,” Rael read. “A shifter with the affinity of ether creates the space that other elements occupy.” He paused, as if thinking that over.
“What the hell does that mean?” I whispered to myself, shivers running through me.
All three of them spun to face me.
Rael ran his eyes over me. “Hey there, sleepyhead,” he said, his expression of intense fascination softening.
“What does it mean?” I repeated, approaching and gazing at the book. It was written by hand in an ornate script with ink so old it had faded to brown. The pages were matte and slightly crumpled as if they’d gotten damp at some point, and there were hand-drawn, brightly colored illustrations on both the open pages. Without thinking, I reached out and fingered the paper. It felt crepey. I’d never actually touched an antique book before. I thought you were supposed to wear cotton glo
ves—back in the days when there was still a future to protect, anyways.
“I think it means something like the other elements are naturally drawn to ether,” Rael explained.
“So an ether-elemental shifter is like a center, or point of cohesion, for the other four elements?” I said, and I clapped my hand over my mouth as I realized the significance of my words.
The water, earth, and air elemental shifters stared at me expectantly.
“But you wanted me because you thought I was a fire sign, and now you’re excited that I’m a—a different kind of sign?” I stuttered.
Rael’s eyes burned me, pure bottle green, and I could practically hear the cogs of his mind turning. He was a very smart guy. Fiercely intelligent, as my mom used to say when she thought a lot of someone’s brains. He turned to Oran. “I’ve got a new plan. I think it might be possible to use Ranger’s unique affinity to lure a dragon from the sky. And if we can reason with it, perhaps we can use it to bring balance both to our group and maybe, eventually, the whole world.”
“Wait—what?” I interrupted, my voice going high.
“Since the Phoenix didn’t regenerate, it has clearly perished for the final time, so a new Phoenix must be born,” Rael said, returning to the text in the book. “Some people believe the Phoenix is the offspring of one or two dragons. Maybe you, with your ability to draw other elements to yourself, could become the mate of the dragon and produce the new Phoenix.”
I exploded into laughter. “You have got to be kidding me! First you kidnapped me, and now you think you’re all going to be my pimps? Oh, that’s funny!”
Clutching my stomach, I laughed until I was all laughed out from a combination of general trauma, shock, and near hysteria.
When I was done, I leaned forward, spent, hands braced on knees and gasping for breath. The three of them remained silent for long enough that it became ominous. At last, I looked up. They were busy exchanging meaningful glances yet again.
“Anyway, what if you’re wrong about my species?” I demanded. “I mean, maybe I’m just a funny-looking fox. Have you thought about that?”
“You know you’re not a fox, Ranger,” Zain said in a soft voice. “We both saw the way you looked at your reflection in the lake. You’re something special, and you know that.”
My cheeks warmed. If there was something I liked less than looking in the mirror, it was having someone else see me do it. And I’d thought the guys were too busy playing like five-year-olds to notice me checking myself out.
“And I’m pretty sure I know what you are,” Rael said. He’d returned to the book and was leafing through it rapidly. “Here!” His voice was full of triumph. “A desert wolf. An extremely rare species. Only found in Ethiopia, in pure animal form, of course.
“Let me see that.” I slid between Oran and Zain, pushing them sideways in my zeal to look at the page. There was a drawing of an animal, a canine, which I admitted did look quite a lot like the reflection I’d seen in the water. I snorted. “Nope, that’s not me,” I insisted. But as the words left my lips, I knew it was me. Ethiopian wolf, my true form whispered to me, and it swelled beneath my skin, suffusing me with warmth. “Why would I be an animal that’s only found far, far away from here?”
Rael raised one of his dark, well-shaped eyebrows. “That’s a very good question and maybe one that you’d be better placed to answer than me.”
“My mom never told me anything about my father,” I said flatly. Zain laid a huge hand on my arm, and gave a soft rumble, full of sympathy. I should’ve pulled my arm away, but I didn’t. I let his hand rest there because, in that moment, it felt nice to be touched by another live being.
“And as we know, spirit animals often have no geographical connections at all,” Rael said. They operate on deeper, universal levels, based on spiritual compatibility. The characteristics of the Ethiopian wolf include being highly social and forming well-established hierarchies.”
I gave another, very unladylike snort. “Well, that’s decided. That’s not me. I’m alone. I have been for a long time. And I’m very happy that way.” And then I flinched because the wolf inside me gave a little whimper. She didn’t want to be alone. She wanted a pack. And the realization stopped the breath in my throat, like I’d been punched in the diaphragm. I inhaled hard, dragging air into my lungs.
Zain patted me on the back in soothing circles. “Just breathe,” he murmured. “That’s it. This is all a big shock, I know. You’ll be fine in a moment.”
“So I’m a desert wolf—apparently,” I said, once I’d recovered myself. “But I’m not about to be baby-maker for a brand-new Phoenix. Which, by the way, is about the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. Apart from anything else, I don’t think I even want to have kids.” If I was being honest, kids were something I’d never thought about. Who thought about the future these days in this broken world? “I can see you’ve been enjoying yourself, cooking up these theories from your book, Rael. But that’s all they are. I’ve been patient with you guys, especially considering the way you kidnapped me, but I don’t want any part of this.”
I turned on my heel and walked back to the building slowly, listening hard to figure out whether they were following me. I crossed the room, went over to the bed, and grabbed my bag. I pulled out one of my own shirts, stripped off Zain’s shirt with a flicker of regret and put my own shirt on. Then, as an afterthought, I stuffed Zain’s shirt into the bag, picking up the scent of pine and cedar bark. It was their fault that my bra, panties, jeans, and shirt had gotten shredded when I shifted earlier. That was the only reason why I was keeping something of his.
I slung my bag over my shoulder and stalked across the room and out of the door. They had all turned to face me and I fully expected them to block my way, but they let me go, arms folded, expressions inscrutable. I went around the right side of the building, assuming there must be a path out of the forest on the opposite side. I was right. I picked up the smell of horses before I saw them tied to two trees beside the old-fashioned wagon that had brought me here.
They whickered as I approached and I paused to stroke their velvety noses. They were well cared for, I noted, observing their glossy hides and bright eyes. One was a bay and the other was dappled gray. I used to love horses when I was a kid. I got the passion from mom who took me riding sometimes. The urge to take one of them was overwhelming. I imagined traveling with it day after day, giving my aching feet a break. Having something to speak to would help me feel a little less alone. But they had no saddles, and I’d never even tried riding bareback.
With a sigh, I gave them a last stroke goodbye and passed beyond the wagon. Ahead was a broad dirt and gravel track that curved into more forest land. This would take me back to civilization. I started walking, my feet already complaining at being back in my battered old boots again.
The road undulated in sweeping curves among dense, yellowing foliage, the sky dull and thickly clouded now. Dusk wasn’t very far off, and there was little chance I’d get back to the town—or any town—before nightfall. It was okay, though. Shifting had suddenly gotten a lot easier, and my stomach was full, which was something new and different. Grains and vegetables never fully satisfied the gnawing hunger that lingered after every meal. My legs were heavy, though, and the uphills took a lot out of them. Just one more bend, I kept telling myself, then I’ll find a place to bed down for the night. At least my three captors weren’t following me. I kept straining my ears for any sound on the road behind me, but all was quiet.
I started whistling to myself as I often did to keep myself company as I hauled myself up a steep uphill bend, and as I turned the corner, there was Zain. Hands on hips, biceps bulging in his black T-shirt with the torn-off sleeves, he leaned against a tree watching me with something like sorrow. A little out of breath, I stopped at the first tree I came to and leaned against it, too, glaring back at him.
I had no idea how he’d gotten there ahead of me, but I didn’t care enough to ask.
He looked so earnest that I hesitated to burst his bubble. What had Rael been getting him into? “That’s hardly any improvement on the last plan I heard, you know that?” I said. “It’s built on nothing but conjecture, supposition, and a whole bunch of mumbo-jumbo from some crazy old book that Rael’s been dragging around with him. I mean, where did he get the book from anyway?”
Zain flashed a small smile. “You’re right in thinking the book belongs to Rael. When he was a child, his grandfather told him about a secret bunker in the middle of a forest up north, which contained things he’d want to have in his possession if things in the world ‘ever got bad’. His grandfather had already died by the time the fires came, but Rael knew right away that this was what he’d been referring to. He spent months looking for the bunker, guided by memories of his grandfather’s directions, and at last he found it. I think he was expecting weapons or tools, but instead, the bunker contained six books, containing the history of shifters, and prophecies for the future.”
I shook my head slowly. “But who was his grandfather? And where did the books come from in the first place?”
“He was a very talented scholar, who had close links with mystics and visionaries. The books are a written record of an oral history of shifter life, which has been passed on from one generation to the next for thousands of years. Rael says his grandfather would have examined them extensively before putting his trust in them as documents to be relied upon in the future.”
