You were not intended to be the agents of change….
I’ve never heard of a girl…
The moment Brynne had seen Mini’s eyes shine with tears and Aru’s lower lip tremble, something in her had snapped.
“I know what I’m doing,” she said. “At least…I do now.”
Brynne took one step into the arena, smudging the chalk on the ground, which was cold under her bare feet.
Behind her, Rudy whisper-hissed, “I have atry-not-to-dieplaylist….Do you think Brynne would like it if I put that on?Ow!Don’t pinch my scales, Aiden. That’s rude—”
“I’m ready, Jambavan!” roared Brynne.
No sooner had the words come out of her mouth than the floor shook. Clods of dirt and pebbles bounced around her. The candles flickered in their rock sconces. Brynne barely had a second to catch her breath before Jambavan’s huge frame came into focus. For an old bear, he moved with uncanny grace. He shredded the air with his claws, then pressed down on Brynne’s shoulders. Brynne dug her heels into the ground, wincing as sharp rocks tore into her skin.
“GIVE UP, LITTLE ONE!” roared the bear king.
Brynne grunted, trembling with the effort to stay upright. She gripped his shaggy arms and tried to push them away. She lifted her chin, meeting Jambavan’s gaze head-on. In the half-light, his rheumy eyes looked wild.
“You first,” she said.
Jambavan laughed. “Child, I am not even trying.”
He pushed down harder. Brynne tried to resist, but it was like poking a skyscraper with your pinkie and expecting it to topple.
Brynne, this doesn’t look good,said Aru through the Pandava mind link.We can figure something else out, I promise! But it’s not safe!
Bee, c’mon, this is scaring me, said Mini pleadingly.You’re not strong enough!
Brynne gritted her teeth as she smiled.
That’s the point, said Brynne.
Wait, what—?
Brynne blocked her sisters’ voices. With a duck and a twist, she slipped out of Jambavan’s hold, and then she scrambled out of his reach.
The bear king spun around, snarling. Steam plumed from his nostrils. “Don’t congratulate yourself for that maneuver,” he said. “I am not used to fighting opponents so small.”
Brynne let his words roll off her. She jumped back, putting even more space between herself and the bear king before she roared and ran at him. Jambavan caught her, his claws sinking through the thick enchanted coat Nikita had made, and forced her back onto the earth floor. Brynne felt something pop in one of her knees as she resisted the bear king’s attempt to make her crumple. He loomed over her, blotting out the light.
“Yield,” he snarled. “You are neither strong enough nor big enough to topple me, child.”
Brynne dug in her heels once again. The effort made her pulse hum in her ears. When she blinked, spots danced across her vision. Her spine felt like it was being compressed, and still she held firm….
She held firm because she’d realized something when Jambavan had talked down to them. He didn’t know who they were or what they’d done—he’d taken onelookat them and assumed they were weak. The moment Brynne had heard that, she’d understood something.
Yes, she was smaller.
Yes, she wasn’t as powerful.
But there was strength in that perspective. When someone chose to see you only as small and weak, it made them careless. Careless enough not to notice when a small and weak thing crept past all their expectations and laid a trap they didn’t expect.
Jambavan rose on his back paws and pressed harder on Brynne’s arms. The room grew dark and cloying. This close, she caught the animal stink from the king’s bared teeth. She waited until her knees buckled, until she could see Jambavan wobbling in his effort to push her down. And then, Brynne closed her eyes…and transformed.
In the past, she would have made herself huge. She would have morphed into an elephant or bear or gorilla. This time she changed into a small blue chickadee.
Instantly she felt the relief of being out from under Jambavan’s claws and the sudden weightlessness that came with flight. The bear’s eyes widened. He’d leaned too far over to get her to yield, and it had cost him his balance.
