Marco crept over to her and sat down. “May I look at the bird?” he asked Tori.
“Sure,” Tori said, blushing lightly. She wasn’t used to people asking her permission for anything.
Marco leaned in slowly and examined the small bird of prey. Tori noticed Marco was being examined just as thoroughly.
“He’s amazing,” Marco breathed. “He looks like a species of falcon called a Merlin we have in the U.S. — but here? Who knows?” Marco laughed.
“Thank you,” Tori replied.
“Have you named him?”
Tori hadn’t given thought to a name. She looked at the falcon, who cocked his head to gaze up at her. “What kind did you say … Merlin?” Tori asked.
“Yeah, that’s what he looks like to me anyway.”
“Well, I think that’s a perfect name: Merlin,” she declared, still watching the bird. “What do you think, Merlin?”
The newly named falcon let out a peep that sounded approving. Tori giggled. “Okay, Merlin it is!”
Ms. Pap came over then and sat by Sara. Merlin chose that moment to chirp again at Tori and take off, flying to the northeast.
“Oh, I hope I didn’t scare him,” Ms. Pap said. “I just came to check on Sara’s dressing.”
“It’s okay,” Tori answered. “He’s just going off to hunt.”
They looked at her and Jenni asked, “How do you know?”
Tori thought about it and said, “I don’t know, I just do. He’ll be back after he’s had something to eat.” It seemed as natural as breathing. “I sort of got a picture in my head when he left — I don’t know.”
Marco smiled. “That’s fantastic, Tori!”
Tori grinned back. “Yes, it is, isn’t it?” They shared a laugh.
Marco looked into the distance where Merlin had flown. “I hope whatever I’m becoming can communicate with animals like that. That would be a dream come true!”
Tori looked at Marco and saw some of the changes in him. His weren’t as dramatic as many of them, but his ears were definitely coming to a point at the top and his eyes were larger and brighter than before. He was about the same size but leaner, and his facial features were sharper. Though, that could be from all the exercise we’ve had the past week as much as anything, Tori thought. They had all “beefed up” from their exertions and were certainly more fit than when they arrived.
Ms. Pap sat back after checking Sara’s shoulder. “It’s healing incredibly fast,” she pronounced. “I expect we can take the bandages off tomorrow or the next day. Unbelievable.”
Sara pulled her sleeve down and smiled. “Thanks, Ms. Pap.”
Sara was larger and more muscular, but not bulky like a body builder. She was graceful. Her skin had developed a sheen to it as well — metallic almost, like copper. Sara carried her tree branch across her back, held by the straps of her backpack. She looked dangerous and pretty at the same time. It fits her well, Tori thought, even though it was so much different from the girl with glasses and braces she knew before.
Ms. Pap got up slowly. “All right, I’d best see to the others,” she said. Marco helped her up, then left to go find his mother.
“What do you think Ms. Pap’s turning into?” Sara asked after their teacher had gone.
“I don’t know,” Jenni said, “but I’m worried about her. She looks older — so wrinkly — and she’s having a hard time moving around.”
“Yeah,” Sara agreed, “but her skin is really tough, hard almost, not like an old person’s.” She stood up and stretched. “I’m going to go find a place to limber up; my shoulder is really stiff. Anyone want to come?”
“Sure,” Jenni said.
“I’m good,” Tori replied. “Think I’ll just rest and wait for Merlin to get back.”
“Okay, we won’t be long,” Sara said and the two girls walked toward the river.
A little while after sundown, and Sara and Jenni had returned, Merlin landed next to where Tori lay under her jacket, head resting on her pack. He seemed quite satisfied and Tori saw blood and bits of fur on his beak.
“Ugh,” she said, disgusted. “Go wash yourself off.”
Merlin gave her a clipped chirp and took off toward the river. He flew back a couple of minutes later, landed and shook his feathers free of a lot of water.
The three girls shrieked at their surprise shower, then laughed and giggled.
“Oh, thanks a lot!” Tori said to Merlin with laughter. “Think you’re a comedian, huh?”
Merlin turned his head so she could see his clean beak and gave her a “kee-yah” for good measure.
Tori giggled again and lay back down to go to sleep.
* * * *
She dreamed of flying.
Tori rode astride Merlin’s back with her knees hooked at his shoulder joints and arms wrapped around his neck. She felt his joy riding thermals and drifting, wings outstretched, with the breezes. She felt the thrill of diving headlong to the ground in pursuit of a meal.
He showed her all these things and more.
The life she could have, would have, once she completed her transformation.
Tori had never felt more alive.
12
Marco walked along side his mother the next morning, deep in thought.
“Peso for your thoughts,” she said.
Marco glanced at his mother. “It’s a penny, Mom, not a peso.”
“I know, but a peso is worth a little more,” she said with a wink. “What’s on your mind, Marco?”
Marco sighed. “What do you suppose Dad is doing right now?”
It was his mother’s turn to sigh. “Probably reading the paper and complaining about how much money the Yankees are spending on players this season.” She chuckled a moment, then stopped. “I miss them too.”
Marco’s family had always been close. He had an older sister in high school, and a younger brother in fifth grade. Weekday mornings were always a rush to get everyone ready for the day. Saturdays were the best. They would all get up and help make breakfast: sausage and eggs with diced peppers, and homemade sopapillas with butter and honey. Marco’s mouth watered at the thought. His mom made the best sopapillas.
“Do you think we’ll ever get back?” Marco asked her.
“I don’t know,” she said with a catch in her throat. Marco saw a tear run down her cheek.
“I’m sorry, Mom. I didn’t mean to make you upset.”
She wiped away the tear, only to have more fall. “It’s all right. We’re all scared and worried.” She sniffed and took a long breath. “I just hope whoever we’re going to see in this Seren-place can help us.”
They walked on in silence. The sun shone brightly in a cloudless sky.
Marco thought about the changes happening in him and everyone else. Crank had said Marco was becoming Elvorstrastenai. Marco felt deep down Crank was right, but what it actually meant, Marco had no idea. Whatever he was, he just hoped he’d be able to work with animals. He’d wanted to be a veterinarian for as long as he could remember.
He smiled as he recalled watching the small falcon swoop down from the sky to Tori’s arm the day before. What a rush that must have been! Tori was getting smaller all the time. Marco assumed she’d eventually be small enough to ride Merlin like the little fellow Crank had talked to their first day out.
Marco studied his mother while they walked. Her hair had certainly become lighter — it was almost red — much changed from the jet black of before. Her skin was lighter as well; she almost glowed with her own light. Her eyes had an extra shine to them too. Crank couldn’t guess what she was becoming.
Others had Marco worried. Todd, Kim, and Will were becoming more, well, beastly, each day. Kim was huge and threatened to burst out of her clothes at any moment. Luckily, several others were shrinking at the same time so some garment swapping had taken place. Todd’s arms and legs were longer and his facial features were all more pronounced. Will was obviously becoming one of the Gobinstratstorai that had attacked th
em before. Attitudes were becoming equally beastly. Marco wondered how long they’d be able to travel together without fights breaking out.
Alisha and her pals didn’t talk to anyone but themselves. Zoe had joined their ranks to make it a quartet. Maggie was likely turning into one of the Faerstrastenai, like Tori. Lori and Zoe were more difficult to figure. Though, now that he thought about it, Marco noticed similarities between Zoe and his mother. Alisha was certainly changing, but it only seemed to make her more of what she was before: beautiful, stuck up, and manipulative. Marco didn’t know what to make of it and just tried to stay away from them.
Denny was becoming one of Crank’s people, which made sense to Marco considering Denny’s love of machines. The twins, Nate and Ethan, were shrinking rapidly, along with Vic, Rachael, and Faith, likely all turning into Faerstrastenai. And Carrie looked to be Elvorstrastenai like Marco himself.
Charles, Bonnie, and Matt had stayed the same size, but were having coloration changes that had stumped Crank. Mr. Kain had some Elvorstrastenai features, like the pointed ears, but Marco felt he was something slightly different.
No one knew what had become of Brandon, but Marco was glad he had chosen to stay away. Marco shuddered remembering the sound Brandon’s spike had made when it had pierced Sara’s shoulder.
Fortunately, Sara had recovered quickly. Amazingly so. Marco thought of her as some sort of Amazon woman. Crank didn’t know what she was and hadn’t understood the term ‘Amazon’ when Marco had mentioned it a couple of days before. It certainly fit, in Marco’s mind, considering her physique and the fighting ability she had displayed.
Saddest of all to Marco, was watching Ms. Pap wither before their eyes. She was in good spirits, but her skin was getting more wrinkled and her arms and legs were gnarled and difficult for her to use. She was determined to soldier on, wanting to reach help, and hopefully answers, but it was becoming harder for her with each passing day.
Possibly the strangest of all of them, however, was Jenni. She had shown no changes whatsoever. None. Marco could tell she was getting self-conscious about it, and he noticed jealousy rising in some of his classmates.
Marco wiped sweat off his brow with the sleeve of his shirt. He checked his mother, still striding beside him. She was focused on their path, such as it was, and not bothered by the heat in the least. He smiled and asked, “Hot enough for you?”
She turned to him and frowned slightly. “What?” She noticed the sweat on his face. “Are you okay?” She stopped abruptly and felt his forehead. “Do you have a fever?”
Marco laughed and moved her hand away. “No, Mom, I’m fine. It’s just hot out here.”
“Really? I hadn’t noticed.”
* * * *
By the time they camped that evening, they could see the edges of an enormous forest in the distance. The river they followed headed straight into the heart of it. Crank called it the Lodir’naie and thought they would reach the edge some time in the afternoon of the next day.
“We will have to ask permission to pass through,” Crank said when they sat down to eat. “But I don’t think we will have any trouble.”
“Permission from who?” Jenni asked.
“The guardians of the Lodir’naie. Faerstrastenai mostly, though there may be others. I don’t really know.”
“Where will we go from there?” Marco asked him.
“We’ll keep following this river, which eventually empties into the Baer’naie river. Then we follow it south to Seren’naie.”
Marco’s mother looked to Crank. “Do you know how long it will take?”
He shook his head. “I have never been this far from home. I know the Lodir’naie is vast and we will have to travel through a good portion of it to reach Seren’naie. I don’t know how difficult it will be to move through the forest. It will certainly be slower going than out here on the plain.”
She nodded and said, “Thank you, Crank, for all you’ve done for us. I’m sure it was hard for you to leave your home to help us on this journey.”
Crank blushed lightly. “As I have told Jenni, I am happy to help you. My hope is much the same as yours really. I want to find someone in Seren’naie to teach me, and allow me to work with plants and animals.”
“You and Marco have a lot in common then, it sounds to me,” she said with a smile.
13
Alisha ate her fruit with a sullen stare. She was sick of this. Sick of eating the same thing every day, sick of walking mile after mile going nowhere, sick of bathing in a dirty river like a peasant, and sick of being treated like baggage. No, she thought, worse than baggage — at least baggage was carried!
Maggie and Lori, and lately Zoe too, had tried to help Alisha out of her funk, but they were dealing with their own problems. Maggie was only about two feet tall and had trouble arranging clothing to keep herself covered most of the time. Lori and Zoe were, well, odd. They hadn’t changed in size, but Zoe had turned red and orange and was always cold. Lori had lost all color whatsoever. Her eyes were almost clear. Very creepy.
Todd and Will fell all over themselves, wanting to do things for Alisha — which she liked — but their looks disgusted her, and became worse daily.
She finished her meal — if you could call it that — and watched the clouds color with the setting sun. Things had been somewhat interesting when Brandon had been around. She had enjoyed watching the sparring matches. She frowned though as she thought of Sara always winning in the end. Still, it was better than being bored all the time.
Maybe Mr. Kain would let the boys practice again now that Brandon’s gone. Alisha warmed to the idea and stood up.
“Did you need something, Alisha?” Will gushed and stuck his deformed face in hers.
She managed a smile — quite an effort under the circumstances. “No, Will,” she said and pushed him away. “I’ll just be a minute.”
Will sat back down, disappointed, and she made her way over to Mr. Kain.
He was talking with Ms. Pap in low tones, away from the group. Mr. Kain had always been handsome, and his changes only enhanced his looks in Alisha’s eyes. His darker skin and subtly pointed ears gave him an exotic look she found intriguing. His eyes, however, disconcerted her. They were a dark yellow and the pupils weren’t round anymore, but diamond shaped.
Alisha was sure she had caught Mr. Kain staring at her in class more than once, but that was no surprise really. She was used to it.
“Mr. Kain,” she purred, “can I talk to you for a minute?”
The adults broke off their conversation and looked up. Ms. Pap was hideous and Alisha had to look away from her, focusing solely on Mr. Kain.
“Sure, Alisha. What is it?”
“I, well all of us really, were wondering if you would let the boys go back to practicing with their sticks. It was fun to watch and we’ve been so bored the past few days.” She looked squarely in his eyes and felt a warm tingle throughout her body.
“Alisha, I …” He paused and she continued to focus on him. “I … I think that would be a great idea,” he finished.
“What?” Ms. Pap sat up and looked at him in surprise.
Alisha kept Mr. Kain’s gaze in hers, and said, “Well, Brandon’s gone and he was the one who really caused any trouble, Ms. Pap.”
Mr. Kain nodded. “That’s true.”
Alisha felt an almost physical connection between them, a bond she gained more control over each passing second. It felt good. Really good.
“So,” Alisha prompted, “what do you say?”
Perplexed, Ms. Pap sighed. “Well as long as no one else gets hurt, Roger … I guess it would be okay. Everyone could certainly use a distraction.”
“Wonderful!” Alisha smiled. “Thank you, Mr. Kain.” She broke eye contact and walked back to her group.
Mr. Kain blinked and stared after her. “Y … you’re welcome, Alisha.”
Delicious!
“Will,” she announced, “I’ve convinced Mr. Kain to le
t you boys practice again. Go tell Todd and the others so you can get started.”
Will beamed at the news. “Cool!” he said and went to find Todd.
Alisha sat and thought about what she’d experienced. Boys had always been easy to manipulate, but this was different. She had power over Mr. Kain. She felt like she could’ve told him to go jump in the river and he would’ve done it gladly. As she pondered it, she could still feel the connection to him in the back of her mind, an awareness of where he was and even what he was feeling. She was definitely going to have to experiment some more with this!
* * * *
In the end, there were only three contestants for the matches. Vic and the twins were too small and Sara decided not to participate. Alisha was mildly disappointed at that. She didn’t think Sara would stand a chance anymore against the wiry strength of Todd, and certainly not against Kim’s bulk. Kim stood close to seven feet and was strong as an ox. Alisha thought Kim looked ridiculous in the patched-together clothes she wore. Kim had two jackets tied together as a top and one of the bigger boys had given her some sweat shorts which were stretched to their limit. Once Kim had a club in her hand, however, she was all business, defeating both Will and Todd handily. Todd, with his longer reach, eventually wore Will down in their bout.
The three walked away with nothing more than a few bumps and bruises and everyone had a good time. Alisha felt Mr. Kain’s eyes on her several times throughout the evening. Occasionally, she rewarded him with a small smile and felt some of the thrill he experienced through the bond they shared.
Alisha settled down for the night, thinking of more ways to take advantage of her newfound power.
14
Jenni woke with a fresh sense of purpose. The idea of a change of scenery from the rolling grasslands had sparked them all, and they made good time moving toward the massive forest.
Crank rode on her shoulders, as he often did. Sara walked on her right, with Tori riding awkwardly on her backpack. Tori had shrunk rapidly the last few days, since the appearance of Merlin, but she wasn’t small enough to ride him yet. Jenni and Sara had taken Tori’s T-shirt apart with one of the utility knives a few nights before to make something for her to wear. They had managed a tube top and long skirt affair that Tori could adjust each day as she got smaller. Merlin flew and swooped above them, periodically diving to snatch up a mouse or small snake.