The ShapeShifters Book Two

Artisan

Ollie was an amazing architect. There was no doubt about it, that man had talent. He effortlessly selected and blended colors, and his expert hands carved the wood and stone. Ryan ended up watching in amazement as the architect crafted various items to create a structure.

It was amazing the agility Ollie had as well. Even not being able to fly, Ollie was able to vault himself over gaps and up the supports and around the wires. His nimble fingers slipped materials into place soundlessly, creating a masterpiece Ryan had never seen.

Despite being somewhat clumsy on a day to day basis, Ollie changed when he built. Gone was the clumsiness, instead replaced with confident, powerful grace. He did it with a purpose, a reason, a yearning. Whether it was fueled by trying to fix his wings, or something else, Ryan didn't know.

Instead of working on his contraption like he should be, Ryan found himself watching the builder, entranced by his angelic like movements. Ollie never noticed, even as he wiped the sweat from his brow and hopped down after a few hours of work.

"I made something for you." Ollie held out a simple wooden box to Ryan.

"Really?" Ryan took the box and opened it with care. It might be simple, but it was handmade. Inside was a little mustached man with a little tag attached to it. "Dream Design?" Ryan read off of it.

"Yeah, I was thinking that while you do the engineering, I do the building, we could have some sort of partnership and a name. Dream Design made the most sense." Ollie scratched his neck.

Ryan thanked Ollie for the gift, the clever name reminding him of the business he started years ago. The box made him wonder how Ollie was doing on the morphing.

"I'm not sure." Ollie answered Ryan's thoughts uncannily. "I feel like I've accomplished something, but not like Chris was describing."

Ryan sighed and tucked his tools into a box for the day. "I know how you feel. About not being accomplished."

"You do? How?" Ollie put his own tools away and followed Ryan down the trail.

"We all deal with a little bit of self doubt, even Chris." Ryan started to climb the ladder, Ollie biting his tongue to keep from saying he already knew that. "When I first had my morph, I thought, 'How cool! I'm a bat, I get to fly at night.' Then I realized how useless that was as a bat, instead of an owl. And a squid? Forget about self defense, I'm a sitting duck. Everyone else got powerful morphs, or at least ones they could get away in. Thomas even got to be a sick phoenix. The dude gets to play with fire without any repercussions!" Ryan had reached the end of the ladder at this point. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about the others, just sometimes you wish you could be more, you know?"

Ollie decided to cheer Ryan up as best as he could. "In terms of self defense, Ryan, I saw your protection cube. It really could live up to its name."

A happy silence followed that, each absorbed in their own thoughts. The day was ending, and it was ingrained in Ollie now that dark was dangerous outside. He never knew why, but he followed it without question. Besides, he had wings now, what could go wrong?

Well, they could start to crack and basically kill him. Ollie slumped a little at the thought. His wings were pretty much a clock to his death if they weren't dealt with. The only way Ollie knew he would be able to cope with it was by having hope and try to be optimistic about it. So he would continue to do his day to day tasks, minus flying, and do his best to get his accomplishment done.

Chris had decided to stay, saying his mission was done, however, Ollie strongly suspected it was to keep an eye on him. Not in a bad way, just to make sure he was okay.

"Hello Ollie, how are you feeling?" Nick's voice broke through his mental thoughts.

"I'm good, you?" Ollie looked up from the ground. Nick had joined them on the trail, probably heading to the lodge after a day of hard and somewhat stressful work. Stressful, because Thomas had rushed in with news that Ollie was dying. Not exactly what one would hope for on a work day.

"Better now. Grace helped me with some of my endurance in running. Too bad reindeer bodies aren't built for long stretches of running."

"You still wondering about the Evil incident?" Ryan poked Nick playfully in the side.

"Yeah, especially after Chris went on a secret mission. Do you think he is hiding something?"

"If he is, then it's for our own good." Ryan replied, saving Ollie from having to answer through a closed up throat. "When has Chris done anything that has made you doubt him?"

Nick couldn't come up with a good answer to that, so he sufficed with shaking his head. "I have my suspicions; however wrong they are." Glancing over at Ollie, Nick noticed his smaller friend was walking a little stiffly. "You okay there Ol?"

Ollie pulled himself together and managed to say some normal words. It helped that Nick used the nickname he gave him fairly early on. "Yeah, must just be a little sore. I was working hard today."

A cry of an eagle was heard above them, but they all ignored it. If it was one of the hermits, they would just simply call out. Plus, there was tons of natural wildlife in the forest, and eagles were common in this particular area.

The sun was setting very rapidly, so by the time they got inside, twilight was upon them. Once the sun set, the air chilled and caused goosebumps.

"How was it?" Chris was the first to greet them, sitting comfortably on one of the sofas. It was the same one Ollie found him on a few nights ago. The question was directed to Ollie, because the reason he was laboring the rest of the day on a building project instead of getting some much-needed rest was the fact that he had to cure his wings.

"Well, I don't think they've changed much, can you see anything?" Ollie turned and lifted his wings up so that Chris could study them. What Chris saw was the black was continuing to spread, but he chose to say nothing about it. That kind of information would only bring Ollie down, limiting his chances of survival.

Simply shaking his head, Chris beckoned the trio over to the couch. There was well enough room for over five people on the massive furniture. Everyone started pooling in quite rapidly, even the ones who had nocturnal morphs.

Hadix of all people joined them and asked to speak to Ollie in private. After a nod from his friends, Ollie followed Hadix up the stairs into a quaint room suitable for a few occupants. More dorms branched off of the room, but this area was the quietest.

"I understand that you will be temporarily stopping flying training with Thomas Thompson, is that correct?" Hadix's voice was deep and hard to distinguish. When Ollie first saw Hadix, he half expected the voice to have a robotic sound to it, as Doc was at least half robot. From his right eye, to his right arm, and even his left leg, Hadix was quite a sight to look at. Oh, and his skin was green. No explanation came for that.

"Yes." Ollie thought that was a nice way to put it, assuming Ollie would come out of this thing alive.

"Well then, you are my charge now. I will be training you in long range fighting, from the ground." Hadix leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table. "You will learn how to be subtle and blend in, and you will be punctual. Do you understand?"

"Yes sir." Ollie didn't know why he called Hadix, sir. He waited tensely for a reaction. Hadix didn't seem to change, but his expression softened ever so slightly.

"No need to call me sir, Ollie. I am just a mentor to you. In fact, I have been told that you might have something to teach me." Hadix replied brusquely and beckoned Ollie to follow him downstairs to the group. "Training begins tomorrow at dawn."

Ollie almost sputtered. Dawn? Was Hadix crazy? Apparently not since Hadix seemed to read Ollie's thoughts.

"Dawn is one of the best times to get lighting and figure out how to disguise yourself. Meet me out on the patio up front." With that, Hadix disappeared, Ollie scampering to catch up.

"At dawn I guess." Ollie muttered to himself, heading for his room. It would be wise to try to get as much sleep as possible.