Girl who Speaks to Birds

Chapter 22

I have come to accept the feeling of not knowing where I am going. And I have trained myself to love it. Because it is only when we are suspended in mid-air with no landing in sight, that we force our wings to unravel and alas begin our flight. And as we fly, we still may not know where we are going to. But the miracle is in the unfolding of the wings. You may not know where you're going, but you know that so long as you spread your wings, the winds will carry you."
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"Wake up shifters!" shouted a voice. I opened my eyes groggily as everything from the past few days rushed back to me, and my heart beated quickly. I felt a pain go to my side as the man's foot connected with it.

"Get up!" he shouted in my ear.

"I'm getting up, stop kicking me."

I got to my feet, shooting him a cold, hard glare.

"You know how mad they were when you squeezed the lemon. Do you want to die at their hands?"

"No."

"My apologies, sir. I should not have done that."

"Just don't do it again." he replied in a gruff tone "Go to the board and see what your task is for today."

I nodded and walked away, going to the board. I had seen the board the day before, and knew where it was. I scanned my focus down the list until I saw my name.

Madelyn Ruth: Fishing - Report to the lake

I sighed; they couldn't have bothered to send some shark shifter or something.

"I doubt a shark would fit in a lake. I believe they know about your access to all species of avians and plan to have you shift into an osprey or other bird of prey."

"Now it makes sense. But how do I find the lake?"

"Fly up and look, perhaps."

I took the tip and flew up, looking below myself. It was thrilling, being up so high with the wind moving through my hair. Then, I felt a shock, and I went down. Halfway through the fall, I regained the use of my wings.

"What was that?"

"The force field, I believe. How else would you explain the shock?"

"Dang that force field."

"I see those men at the lake calling for you. You better go."

"Okay."

I flew down in a dive, feeling the wind move through my hair.

"Get down here, stupid shifter!" one of them shouted.

"Coming!" I replied, then landed seconds later.

"I see you've made contact with our force field." the second man said in a laugh. Oh, how I wished to send him a scowl - no, a brick to the face. I balled my fists angrily.

"You will shift into an osprey and catch enough fish to fill these two buckets." he instructed "Failure to do so will result in punishment - a large one."

They both walked off, their footsteps sounding extremely ominous. I shuddered, and then focused on an osprey. I recalled the memory I had seen an osprey fly by the car window, how it looked in flight. Such beautiful birds. And I was about to become one.

My arms merged with my wings as the pattern changed. Then, I was shrinking, shrinking, shrinking. Feet became talons as my nose and mouth curled into a beak. I sprouted feathers, and after a few more changes, I was an osprey. I took off, flying over the water. The osprey's vision was keen, strong enough to see through the water. Fish swam through the water, oblivious to my flight. I felt kind of bad for them, but if I was to stay alive, this was what I would have to do.

Now, what to do, what to do.

"You need to keep your shadow off of the water, or else the fish will swim away."

"This may sound like a stupid question, but how do I do that?"

"It's not stupid at all. It is going to be your first time hunting fish, after all. You need to stay at a point where your shadow will be cast on land, not water. Then, dive and try to be quick."

"And you're sure it'll work?"

"Yes. You may have to try a few times, though. Hunting for fish isn't as easy as it looks."

"I doubted it would be. Now, I'm going to try to fish."

I followed Ashlea's instructions. But which type of fish would fill the bucket quicker?"

"Don't be picky. Just go for it."

I sighed. "Fine."

I dove, aiming for a large fish that was about to cross my path. And then I did it! Though the fish was trying to wriggle out of my grasp, I tried to keep it secure in my talons. Though I didn't know what I was doing - not in the slightest - maybe if I dug my talons in...

The fish flopped due to the lack of air, and soon, those were silenced. It was laying limp in my talons, and I dropped it into the bucket. I sighed; just so many more to go. I was about to catch another fish when everything started to shake. A loud, rumbling noise seemed to shake the earth, and I looked around frantically. And in my panic, I may have sorta...

Forgotten to flap. Yes, I did. Go ahead, laugh. I was afraid, and I'm not good at multi-task.

I was plummeting. This was it; I was going to die because of my stupidity. I didn't think to start flapping again; I was too petrified with fear. I thought I was going to die. I closed my eyes, bracing for impact.

The crash and burn never happened.

I opened my eyes, afraid of what I might see. Blood? A broken wing? Or worse, one of the hunters? Nope.

It was Tyler.

"Caught you." he said with a smirk before setting me down "Now shift back and get in the van."

Well, that doesn't sound suspicious at all. However, I did shift back.

"Get in the van? What are you? A kidnapper?"

"Nope; I'm sneaking you outta here. Trinity and a few others are here; we hijacked a van."

"Do any of you even have a license?"

"Trinity said she had her learner's permit and she practically already had her license."

"It doesn't count. But I'll take it. "

I took off, following Tyler. When we got to the van, all I saw was chaos. Men holding bronze, silver, and golden weapons surrounded the van. Trinity was cornered.

"Run, Madelyn!" she shouted "I'll be fine!"

"No, you won't!" I shouted back "I'm not leaving without you!"

"Go! I'll get out!" she shouted at me, and Tyler shoved me into the van. He drove away, the shaking of the vehicle like the horrible shakiness and uncertainty of my life.

A/N- Don't have much time to type, but thanks for getting GWSTB to 357 in fantasy. That's amazing! I couldn't have done it without you!

I've got to go, but please vote, comment, share, and I'll see ya in the comments! Bye for now!