Page 59 of Hybrid Heroics

“Not that I’ve noticed,” I told him. “But I’ll play around for a few minutes and let you know if anything feels different.”

I morphed between one step and the next, power coursing through me like wild rivers of magma. I had never felt more connected to my demon than I did right now.

That was new, though slight, compared to the changes Palmer was looking for.

There hadn’t been a disconnect between my forms, but I had always ignored the way my skin pulled and stretched when I changed between my human appearance and my demonic one. I didn’t feel that at all this time.

I walked for a few steps, testing the weight of my wings and the silence of my footsteps. Then I ran, circling the house twice before I stopped.

“I can’t tell if I’m any faster.”

“I can’t either,” Novak said, his head tilted as he studied me and the wolf. “Briggs seems like he is, but I think we all might be faster than we were.”

“You too?” I inquired.

He shrugged. “Either that, or I’ve gotten clumsy.”

"You’ve always been clumsy,” Vaughn reiterated.

“No. Well, yes and no. This was like…” Novak shook his head, almost lost for words. “My feet couldn’t keep up with my legs. I don’t know.”

“Are your wings bigger?” York asked me.

“No.” I stretched them out. “They’re the same size they’ve always been.”

He poked my forehead, chuckling when I swatted at him. “Your horns are different.”

“Yeah, but they grow with power. That’s not anything unusual.”

“Let’s keep exploring,” Palmer urged. “We’ll train against each other in a minute.”

“Can I join?” Sterling called from the porch. “A different sparring partner would be a fresh change.”

“Can you keep up?” York teased.

She grinned at him as a vine wrapped around his knees, hovering without his notice. He stared at her, rolling his hand as if prompting her to answer. When she yanked her arm backward, his knees buckled.

“Not at all,” she sassed.

York chuckled. “I’ve learned a few things, too.”

“I hope you have.” She offered her hand, pulling him up. “You should have seen that coming.”

As the cousins circled each other, Murphy and Thatcher stepped onto the porch. The warlock sighed dramatically—not a morning person without a gallon of coffee.

“Are you training or playing?” the alicorn asked.

I tilted my head, ready to snap at his accusation. But that didn’t sound like a terrible idea. When was the last time I just played with my power?

Fire was my element, consuming, seductive… and playful. So why wasn’t I treating it that way?

“Thanks, Thatcher,” I murmured, before shooting into the air with a spray of grass and dirt.

My wings flapped languidly a hundred or so feet above the group as I called flames to my fingertips. The familiar heat danced along my hands, moving up my arms. It was hotter than normal, though it would never burn me.

I manipulated the fire into a fox, grinning as it bounded around me. With a thought, it shifted into a wolf, snarling and snapping before it grew once more.

A flaming pedmar towered over me, its colors morphing from bright reds and oranges to light blue and white. The temperature soared, soothing me as it crawled across my body.