Polaris Skies

Chapter 18

It was Yeller and not Cashia asking this time. Nat looked at him sceptically. Hana rested a hand on Nat's, her finger rubbing his thumb.

Yeller rose and offered Nat his hand. Nat brushed it away and dragged himself up on his own. He couldn't look at Yeller. The white-haired man wasn't sure if he was ashamed or embarrassed. He waited until the blond left to the kitchen, then followed him in, his hands jammed into his pockets. Yeller found a quiet corner boardering on the mudroom nook behind the edge of the fridge. Nat raised an eyebrow, waiting.

"God, this is going to sound so freaking weird. Tereza wanted to talk to you, and it hurts like freaking hell for her to take over. Like electric spiders," Yeller told him.

"You dragged me in here to talk to Tereza?" Nat quipped.

"I have some standards, and I'm not gonna have them hearing a woman coming out of my vocal cords. It's hard for her to take over as she is and I didn't exactly want to yak in front of the group if she buckled me. She can't navigate the neural paths as Cashia can," Yeller growled back.

"Fair enough." Nat motioned for Yeller to move on with it. He knew he was being cold, but he didn't know how to act around Yeller at the moment. He had been close to the drummer. He had learned Gaelic for him, and underneath it all, he knew that there were feelings buried deep.

Tereza switched over. "I talked to Sylvi. She agrees with us that she needs to fully transform for everyone's safety. Without the full transformation, she is a liability to this group's safety." She had a quiet voice, as soft as could be obtained from Yeller's vocal range.

"What's your idea then?" Nat leaned against the counter.

"I move in with Sven." Tereza shrugged.

"And that would help how?" Nat wrinkled his eyebrows into a confused frown.

"Us, Yeller, you, and Sven, enough of the genetic mix-up, and we should be able to accelerate the transformation." Tereza motioned her index finger between them.

"Wouldn't the acceleration kill Hana?" Nat's spine stiffened at the suggestion. Sven sat back, waiting patiently. He had already drawn his own conclusions and was waiting on Nat to accept his fate.

"There is always that possibility. However, look at it this way, if she was to slowly transform through the prolonged process you've been stumbling into like a bird in a cave, she might be put in more danger because of some type of trouble you'd get yourselves into. You remember how she followed you guys through the sky in the town. What would happen to her if her wings failed her in the middle of flight, or she blacked out when trying to help you out of a river or something?" Tereza crossed her arms over her chest.

"We should talk to Hana about this. Is she on board? I'm not going to force her against her will." Nat took a step back from her.

You'll do damn near anything to keep my Sylvi safe, human. Sven bit at him.

No, it's wrong, and it's not happening, Sven. I will not become Michael. Don't you dare make me into him. Nat threatened back. Sven slunk into the recesses of his mind. He cursed, knowing the wolf would pop up again at an inconvenient moment.

"Talk to Hana if you need to, but what about me?" Tereza dropped her arms, opening her stance up to plead.

"I'd rather talk to Yeller about it. Switch out for a bit." Nat twisted his fingers symbolically. His energy was wearing down. They had covered at least fifty miles since they had left the enclave. His shoulders were still raw. He had contributed a large energy burst to Hana. His emotions were everywhere. He watched, edgy, Yeller's transformation from the female to the male.