Girl who Speaks to Birds

Chapter 28

A forest bird never wants a cage.

-Henrik Ibsen

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Dad sighed. "You're gonna teach me?"

"Yes; I've had to shift many, many times these past few weeks."

Then, I spoke to Ashlea.

"How am I supposed to do it?"

"Don't worry; I'll help you teach him. Remember what I did when I taught you to shift? Have him do something like that."

How out of the ordinary it was, that I was giving a lesson to my father when ordinarily it would be the other way around. Well, life wasn't normal anymore. Heck, I was a shifter. I had wings.

Yeah, in no way was that normal.

My dad snapped me out of my thoughts. "So, Madelyn, how do you shift?"

I would've honestly thought that the hunters had known by now, or the scientists had figured out and told the hunters. But still, I didn't mind. It could be a useful asset when freeing Trinity and the other shifters.

"I'm fairly certain that you're a wolf shifter," I said, looking at Dad "So just form an image of a wolf in your mind and focus on becoming it."

I had drawn on the moment where Ashlea had taught me how to fly. It was mere weeks ago, and yet it felt like it had happened years go.

"Probably because so much has happened."

"Probably. But I have a question. What if the mission fails, and I'm captured by the hunters and scientists?"

"They'll either kill you, enslave you, or experiment on you. Most likely the first."

"That's really reassuring. Thank you Ashlea."

"Stop your sarcasm."

"Fine."

I sighed, then looked at my Dad. I had been so engrossed in my conversation with Ashlea that I had missed seeing my father shift.

He was clad in brownish grey fur, and his face bore a wolfish grin.

"I see you've succeeded. How does it feel?"

He said nothing.

"You can speak to shifters even if you're shifted." I explained.

"Oh. That's embarrassing."

"Don't feel embarrassed. I didn't know for a while, actually."

"This is so strange!" I heard my dad exclaim "Who would've thought that I'd be able to shift?"

"Sorry to burst your mini happiness bubble," I began, "But we still have to go rescue Trinity; remember?"

"Right. So, what do I need to learn?"

I was about to say something when Tyler spoke first.

"You'll need to learn how to fight," he began "And stealth training is also needed."

"But we were about to rescue Trinity!" I complained "And who knows how much longer she has?"

"Give me a minute; I'll see."

Tyler flew off. No! He was going to go to that hunter place! I couldn't let him get killed!

"You have feelings for him,"

"No, I don't. It's just that he knows how to fight and I don't. We need him to rescue Trinity. And he can't do that if he's meeting the same fate."