Page 13 of Shifter’s Thunder

Can you…smaller bolt? I want to…sonic…rocks. It was like overhearing random words at the diner.

Hoping she interpreted correctly, she generated a light charge and sent it below him, trying to avoid singeing his tail feathers.

He dived down, right into it. A moment later, on the side of the mountain, a boulder exploded. She didn’t know what he did, but it was impressive. He’d turned her spark into a cannon.

That went well. He banked left to turn on a wingtip, like a skater casually spinning on the ice just because he could. Let’s try… higher.

Okay. She had no notion if he was hearing her. Maybe she’d get better with practice.

His powerful wings flapped, taking him on a steep upward trajectory. She followed, bemused by the unexpectedly playful nature of his thunderbird. How long had it been since she’d cavorted in the sky with anyone?

As they climbed together, flying upward into the thinning atmosphere, the air grew bitterly cold, frost forming on her nostrils, but her dragon magic ran hot. It only took a few test spirals to work out flight patterns that worked for them. He was much better than she was at maintaining a steady distance, and wondered if thunderbird warriors trained in tight formations. Northern dragons tended to attack if another dragon got too close.

As they breached the layer where the air turned truly scarce, a flicker of panic fluttered in her mind. The thin air tasted exactly like the desperate flight from the demesne.

This is the height we will need. She pushed the thought toward him as she banked sharply to level off. Whether or not he heard her, he matched her altitude and stayed. Suspended between the stars above and the patterned white and gray land forms below, they hovered on the edge of the in-between.

Let’s go home. His mind speech came clearer that time.

Yes. She started a slow, wide spiral to sink into the heavier air, reluctant to end the flight but desperately ready to leave the painful memories behind.

She slowed, letting him take the lead back toward Kotoyeesinay. From this height, and with her dragon’s magic-sensitive sight, the town was a blazing anomaly in the dark wilderness. The holiday lights created a vibrant kaleidoscope of color that glittered.

Looks like Times Square on New Year’s. Tanner’s words puzzled her. What did time and a shape have to do with the turn of the year?

To her immense relief, her landing behind the Transition Center was a controlled set-down on the spot she chose, letting her magic create the cushion to keep her from bouncing. The shift to human felt slow and sluggish.

We are as fast as we need to be, chided her inner dragon. Put on your clothes before you freeze. Unless you wish to entice the male with our beauty.

Snorting with amusement, Avelunne found the bundle right where she’d left it. In her former life, she had mastered the magic to manage her clothing when shifting forms, but she hadn’t trusted herself to try it that night. She didn’t want to take a chance on destroying the intensely pink puffy coat and the star-patterned pants that had been gifted to her.

The town’s clock tower, visible as they’d passed through the shield on the way to their destination, said half past ten. The lights still glittered, but the shops were closed and the streets quiet. She walked around the shorter southern wing of the Center to find Tanner waiting near the courtyard fountain, his breath clouding in the freezing air. She balled her fists in the pockets of her puffy pink coat, grateful for the warmth but missing the protection of her scales.

“Thank you.” She stopped just outside the range of his natural heat. “I appreciate that you backed me in the meeting, and you trusted me now. I know I am a complete stranger.”

“It was the right call.” Tanner studied her, his head tilted slightly. “You pick up modern speech patterns fast. Some of our long-term residents still sound like they stepped out of a Shakespeare play.”

“Survival.” She shrugged one shoulder. “If you sound different, people notice you. Being noticed meant my Storm Mouth clutch mates might find me and drag me back to the family caves. I learned to quickly blend in where I could, and run when I couldn’t.” She offered a self-deprecating smile. “Though I admit my telepathy is rubbish. I never had anyone to teach me.” Anyone she trusted, that is. Had her parents known, they would have found someone to pry open her mind to make her more biddable.

“It worked well enough.” Tanner’s voice was low, with that undercurrent of thunder she was beginning to crave. “My thunderbird liked the connection. We’ll refine it.”

She nodded, keeping her expression neutral to hide the relief washing through her. If the connection had been any clearer, he would have heard the screaming terror clawing at the back of her mind up in the stratosphere. She knew her courage was a house of cards waiting for a stiff breeze, but she needed him to see a partner, not a liability. She was doing this for the prisoners, but she was following him.

Tanner’s phone buzzed. He pulled it out, frowned at the screen, and tapped something on it. Suddenly, Guivre’s voice, crisp and devoid of emotion, cut through the wind. “The timeline is moved up. We launch tomorrow night. Our spies think Surasa’s agents are in play. Our oracles say the only way to avoid a sea of blood is to act quickly. Get your team ready.”

The message ended with a click. Avelunne felt the warmth leak from her body. Tomorrow. The buffer of time she’d been counting on to steel her nerves had just evaporated.

The decision to trust him overrode her instinct to hoard information. “There’s something you should know. The portal at the demesne... I might be the only one who can open it. It’s part of how I escaped in the first place.”

He gave her an assessing look, then nodded. “Then we make sure you get close enough to do so. We’ll handle it.” He glanced at his phone again. “You need to eat and sleep. We burned a lot of magic up there.”

“Wait.” She didn’t want him to leave yet. The silence of her room felt too heavy. “What is a times-square? You mentioned it on our way in.”

“It’s a big town square in a city called New York. Giant displays, millions of LEDs, too many people. They count down to midnight to watch the big ball drop.”

“What? Whose ball? And what are el-ee-dees?” As far as she remembered, the city had been a shipping town and the port of entry for visitors. “New York accepts giants as citizens?”

His eyes widened, then he laughed. “Sorry, I’ve confused you. It’s hard to explain. If we live through this, I’ll take you there next year. It’s an experience.”