Shai Soi

Chapter 43

I didn't notice I could no longer feel my left leg until it gave out. The ground rushed up to meet me and a sharp pain sliced through my cheek. Nathaniel was there in a second, helping me up, and catching me when my leg wobbled beneath me. My hands were on his chest and his hands held my waist steady. Heat rushed into my face. It was like the first day we met.

Nathaniel must've been thinking along the same lines. But instead of his usual playfulness, his mouth was a straight line. "That's it. We have to leave her behind. I'm not kidding," he said when he saw me start to protest. "You said you'll help until it kills you. Well, you're an inch from burning yourself out. And I'm going to get you to the nurses' office just like the first day we met. You got that?" Footsteps crashed through the woods on our right. Many of them. Maybe three dozen. Nathaniel could hear them too. He looked back down at me. His voice grew frantic. His hand cupped my cheek. "Bec? Can you hear me?"

"Yes... Are you supposed to be that blurry?"

"We'll have to leave Sadie here. She won't be bothered if they see her knocked out, right? Remember Bec, every shai  has their limits. Chai  may be powerful, but we've got limits too. The difference is that when we reach those limits, the consequences are much more severe. Okay?" When I didn't answer, his voice rose. "Bec?"

"Mm-hm. Leaving Sadie. Safe. Big, big consequences. Very big. I can't feel my pinky."

What was wrong with me? I couldn't form full sentences. I couldn't admit that I didn't want to leave Sadie behind. Not only would that be giving up on her, but on myself. I couldn't find the words. I couldn't even say 'admit'. Heck, I couldn't even move my pinky!

"We're going to shift now. Ready?"

"There goes my other pinky."

"One, two-"

"Is Sadie supposed to move like that?"

"Three!" My body condensed into a scaley green geko. I put up my second eyelids to protect my sensitive eyes from the wind. Nathaniel's scaley bird feet closed just slightly around me, as if to make sure I was there. I thought that was an odd phrase. 'I was there'. Here! Present! Physically I was there. But when Nathaniel asked if I was okay I sang, "This little fingie went to a tundran market. This little fingie got hypothermia. This little fingie jumped into a huge cup of coffee and burned his nerve endings. And this little fingie went all the way home.

Home. Home where my momma and dad were. Home where Crazy Cat Lady Loretta knitted sweaters for every new cat she got each month. Home where my Disney movies and books waited. Home where I could sit with Nathaniel while watching TV or doing homwork. Home where Derek and Natalie and Sadie could come over to talk.

Arnold, the voice in my head, hummed, "Gonna make this place your home."

The simple four-letter word is what filled my head, gave me new strength. It was the one word that filled me from nose to tail as something came hurtling out of the sky and sent us free-falling.

Personally? I wasn't a fan of hurtling towards earth at 150 miles per hour unable to see  anything but blurs of green and brown or hear anything but the roar of wind in the ears. But, apparently some people are into that. (It's called falconry, though I'm pretty sure the falcon glides near them when they're skydiving. It probably doesn't try to gouge your eyes out. Right?)

I'd recognize her heated shara  from anywhere. Sadie's sharp beak pierced my tail and drew back with it still in her beak. (Gross.) I managed to straighten out, nose downward and tailess with an aching behind. I should mention some lizards have the ability to detach its tail as a distraction to its predators. I could speak on behalf of Sadie's surprised caw that the lizards' stratregy was spot on. I was just hoping I had a butt when I turned human. Being buttless would not be so appealing. Speaking of butts, where was... ah, Nathaniel.