Defiant: Book 2 of the Forbidden Series

Chapter Eight: Protector

Van

The little lime green bird twittered from the lowest branch of the tree. She bent her head and cleaned beneath her wings before turning and wagging her tail feathers, showing off the brilliant streak of turquoise down its center. She was quite possibly the cutest thing Van had ever seen, but she had to resist the urge to smash her with her fist.

"I thought she said no birds."

Hailey picked at dirt beneath her nails. "She said no birds for you."

Van scowled. No birds. Nothing too big. Nothing aquatic. Livy's training style involved a lot of don'ts and very little do's. Not that it mattered- Van had managed nothing bigger than a few hairs and a set of claws. She couldn't even shift her arm to a tree branch, though she refrained from sharing the details of her previous attempt with anyone. As far as she was aware, Livy stuck to animals, and Van was fine letting everyone think the same about her.

"Okay, let's call it a day," Livy said as she resumed her human form and pulled on the robe she kept handy for between shifts. She practically bounced with excitement.

"You're the only one who made progress," Van pouted. She shook her arms and the tawny cat hairs broke off her skin and drifted to the floor.

"She still hasn't been brave enough to fly," Hailey added, grinning when Livy's smug expression faltered.

Luca's cousin sniffed daintily. It reminded Van of the prim girl Livy had pretended to be at school.

"Shifting as a Protean isn't the same as shifting to my panther form. She's a part of me. I instinctively know how her body works and moves. Being a bird is kind of like putting on skates for the first time. I know what skating looks like, but that doesn't mean I can just do it. I know what flying looks like, but I don't instinctively know how to use the wings."

"But you haven't had any issues taking their forms." Van raised her hands and willed the claws to replace her fingertips again, but nothing happened. She dropped them to her side in a huff. "I can't even manage that."

Livy put her hand on Van's shoulder. "Shifting requires a complete surrender of yourself. It's something I've been doing for years, and it's something completely unnatural to you."

As much as Van wanted to argue, she knew the girl was right. She liked to be in control, and after weeks in the Void, she was terrified of losing herself again. What if she shifted and could never become human again? She would be trapped inside herself forever. In the hallway, her choices were to shift or die.

"I have an idea."

"No." Hailey shook her head, her blonde hair swinging around her chin. "I vote no."

"You don't even know what I was going to say," Van protested. She looked at Livy for help. The girl cocked her head to the side but said nothing. "I'm not going to shift while I'm safe. My subconscious is perfectly happy being human. I need to give it a reason to shift."

Hailey groaned and fell back on a beanbag chair shoved against the paneled wall of the training room. "This is exactly what I was afraid of."

"It's not a terrible idea, really," Livy said, tapping a manicured finger against her lips. Where she found the time to do her nails during all this chaos, Van didn't know. The world could burn, and Livy would maintain her composure.

"It's a terrible idea, Liv," Hailey said with shock in her bright blue eyes. "She just came out of a coma."

Van whirled on the ex-Slayer. "Let's go ahead and take care of this. We will not put me in bubble wrap because of what happened to me. Livy was held captive and half starved when we found her. Experimented on. I don't see anyone stopping her from participating in the war efforts."