I chuckled. “I’ll be fine, Zephyr. I promise to be careful.”
“I’d appreciate that. I prefer my head on my shoulders.”
I shook my head, giggling as I stood. “Can we try flight in my owl form a few more times before we finish up?”
“If you’re feeling up to it, you can start navigating around trees.”
I smiled and turned, jumping up onto the boulder, shifting mid leap into my owl form and landing, wings spread and ready for flight.
“But first you need a break,” Zephyr said with a knowing smile.
My wings sagged to my sides as I let loose a heavy sigh. “Fine.”
“Bank!” Zephyr coached from the tree before me.
I tilted my tail feathers, heart racing as I drifted around the trunk of the tree and landed on the branch lithely. The wind ruffled my feathers, but each movement I made, each sweep of my wings, left no sound.
“Excellent!”
I’d gotten a second wind after we stopped for a break, and we’d continued our training for an additional hour. I stretched my wings out once more before I folded them in at my side.
The bark of the branch crumbled under Zephyr’s talons as he landed beside me. He tilted his head to me, onyx eyes assessing my wings. “I think we should end on that note. We’ll glide down and be done for the day.”
“Ok,” I responded as he leapt off, gliding down to the base ahead of me.
As soon as we were done, I’d be able to focus on Marcus and Eris, revisit every interaction with him, see if I’d missed anything that might hint at his connection to Eris. I wondered if I could dive into my own mind and watch those memories, see if I could pick out anything that might give me any clues. Maybe I could see Lucia’s memory of when they’d fought Melantha the first time, too.
Zephyr now stood on the ground below, already shifted. My eyes drifted across the expanse of the slumbering forest, snow blanketing every inch of the forest floor nearly thirty feet below. Confidence surged through me as I stretched my wings out. I’d glided farther distances. For once, there wasn’t any doubt in my mind as I pushed off the branch.
The wind caressed my feathers, my body, as I descended. I loved this feeling. It was like freedom. Pure freedom, and I couldn’t imagine how I’d lived without experiencing this, how someone could live tethered to the ground, unable to taste the wind, feel the breeze under their wings.
It was strange how quickly these things were becoming second nature, but Damien had explained before how the merging of the memories brought with them the experiences of my past lives. He was right. The lost parts of myself had slowly begun to fall into place as if I’d been incomplete my entire life.
I feared I would never get to experience that feeling of completeness before the end.
My thoughts drifted to darker places, to the end. Had Marcus known his was coming? Had he known I’d kill him? I tilted my wings and shifted to bank around a branch when Marcus’ voice shot across my thoughts.
Do you hear it?
My concentration slipped, my balance failing. For a moment, I could see Marcus before me in the salvage shop, and my stomach dipped. His bloodied face lifted to me, as it had in the moments after I’d snapped and punched him. That cruel grin spread across his face.
I was wondering why it got so quiet after I had you in that cell.
I narrowly missed the branch I’d dipped under, my wings and tail tilting and flexing as I attempted to right myself. Marcus’ voice flitted across my mind once again.
Thank you.
“Cas!” Zephyr yelled.
My gaze shot forward, and I slammed into a thick tree limb.
Whispers of an unknown language danced across my mind in the darkness—violent, surging, and overlapping. I was in chains, the metal icy against my tender skin. Eris’ voice, disguised as my own, slid over me like a snake as I waited for Marcus to awaken me in that cell again.
He’ll return. When he does, bite back.
The chains dispersed, and I plummeted through the concrete, crashing onto the couch at The Complex, head throbbing from diving into Cole’s mind. Damien cursed as I told him of Marcus’ involvement with the darklings.
Dammit, Marcus! What would possess him to side with them?
