Chapter 50: Flight and Fight

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I seemed to hang suspended in mid-air for a split-second.  Like I existed briefly outside time and space.  I heard Kerry shout in rage.  I heard the tranquilizer gun go off.  I saw my feet dangling over the street and the cars far below....

Then the moment ended and I was plummeting like a rocket towards the ground.  My stomach shot straight up into the back of my throat.  The air roared in my ears.  The street rushed up to meet me, growing larger in my field of view much faster than I had anticipated.

Panic seared through me.  I didn't have enough time!  I couldn't change into another form as quickly as I shifted into the wildcat.  And, worse, nothing was happening.  I didn't feel any changes.  I wasn't sprouting wings... feathers... flaps of skin... nothing!

I heard people screaming below me, the high-pitched noise cutting through the roar of the wind.  Maybe I was screaming too.  I couldn't even tell.

This isn't working!  I'm so stupid!  I'm going to die!  I'm going to splatter on the road like a-

No, wait!  Yes, something was happening now!  But, why the heck was I getting bigger?  Wouldn't it make more sense for me to be shrinking?

My arms were the first thing to change.  They stretched and extended outward.  They flattened and expanded before my eyes.  My legs did the opposite, retreating and shriveling up, becoming thin and clawed. My bones grew hollow and light.  My head was being squeezed like play dough, going from big and round to flat, narrow and streamlined.  My lips hardened into a hooked, dangerously sharp beak.

And finally—finally!—the feathers came.  My skin tingled as they erupted down my back, across my chest and along both arms—which were a lot more like wings at this point. 

Yes! I practically screamed the word inside my head.  I didn't even bother trying to keep my thoughts separate from everyone around me.  Yes!

The ground was still coming at me pretty fast.  My body was angled downward, slicing through the air like a knife.  My shadow was getting bigger and bigger on the pavement below.  It expanded almost across the entire street.  Whatever I was, I was feathered and huge!

I flared my wings just as I was about to hit the ground, using muscles I had never used before.  Muscles that had never existed on me until about ten seconds ago.  I felt a sharp jerk as my fall was cut short.  I found myself shooting forward down the middle of the street.  My feathers skimmed the tops of vans and trucks.  Wind swirled around me.  Newspapers and pamphlets went flying out of their neatly organized stacks.  Random bits of garbage leaped and spiraled through the air. 

People shouted and pointed at me, or just stared with their mouths hanging open.  Phones and cameras appeared as if out of nowhere.  Flashes of bright light assaulted my eyes.

Well, so much for being discreet. I would have a lot of explaining to do after this.  But, for now, I just wanted to get the heck out of here.

I pumped my huge wings, causing heavier items like hats and decorative scarves to join the array of flying debris.  My speed picked up.  I whipped past buildings and cars at what felt like a hundred miles an hour.  But, I wasn't gaining much altitude. Was I too heavy?  Was there a flaw in this new form?

Then, a warm draft rose up from beneath me.  Before I knew it, I found myself being lifted higher into the air.  The people on the street quickly shrank down to the size of scurrying ants.  Gleaming sheets of glass and steel continued to flash by on the edges of my vision.  The wind raked through my feathers.  A powerful feeling rose up inside of me and released itself—almost against my will—into the air.

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