Shai Soi

Chapter 22

Rebecca zipped into the sky. I had to admit for a Newling she was very fast. "Sadie..."

She rolled her eyes at my warning tone. "Let her figure it out for herself."

I crossed my arms. "The Elders put us in charge of her."

"Relax, she won't change fluidly for a while. Then when she gets the hang of it we'll get her before any real damage can be done."

Many times, she was the one to pull me back on track, even then we'd risk things that were probably better left alone. Sadie wasn't one to put something out there just for the sake of it. I kind of guessed that Sadie didn't like Bec all that much, though I didn't know why. "Sadie, that's my friend up there. Are we really going to make her learn the hard way?"

She attempted a shy look. It didn't suit her.  Sadie snuggled close, fiddling with my hair. She put a hand on my chest. Her thumb and pointer finger pinched in the air. "Just a little."

From up above, Rebecca yelled, "This... is... AMAZING!"

She was shooting towards the earth in human form. A few more seconds and she'd be a grease spot on the ground. Just above the tree tops she shifted into a hawk, cutting off her dive. She lunged as a lioness onto the Council's cliff top, and shot into the air as another bird. "Uh, did you say we'd stop her after she got the hang of it, right?"

Sadie continued fiddling with my hair. My lashes fluttered. She settled her chin on my shoulder. "Yeah, why?"

I cleared my throat, trying not to get distracted by her breath on my cheek. "How long do you think that'll take?"

"Took you an hour; me, half that. Maybe between the two?" She huffed like she was irritated about the topic. Sadie's arms rested on my shoulders, nudging me to look at her.  "Now, let's have our own fun..." She pressed her lips against mine for a second before pulling away. "Wait a minute, why do you ask?"

I cleared my throat. "No reason, it's just that she second she dove, she changed."

Sadie drew away completely. "What?"

"YEAH!!!" Rebecca dashed past us channeling so many animals, it was hard to read.

She was going to drop faster than a stone. "Rebecca!"

She was drunk on power. "THIS IS AWESOME!!!"

"Rebecca, slow down!"

Sadie shoved my arm. "You remember how it felt, she's not going to stop until she drops."

"Forget that. At this rate, she's going to get herself killed." Rebecca rose as a hawk and zoomed out of my line of vision.

"Then what are you standing around here for? Let's knock her out of it!" Sadie shifted into her Peregrine falcon, and I followed suit. We launched into the air to track down a Newling high on shara.

We'd been tracking Rebecca for twenty minutes. She must've been incredibly strong to last so long. Her shara levels could be felt miles away in a lightning storm, and they wouldn't have felt any less powerful. Sadie must've been thinking along the same lines.

Dang, that girl's fast. You see her?

Yeah, tree line. Eleven o'clock. Unlike before, Rebecca was flying much lower. And slower, it was probably the only reason why we caught up with her in the first place.

How long do you think...?

Rebecca faltered. Not long, look. Bec!

She dipped under the tree line, giving me a heart attack. At this height, she could break a lot of bones, maybe all of them in bird form. She reappeared once before spiraling towards the ground. Interesting fact about Peregrine falcons: they can dive up to 120 miles per hour. I didn't have to channel anything to get there in time. And I couldn't have cut it closer.