"Nothing."
I brought Meeko close to my chest, remaining vigilant about my talons. "Are you comfortable?"
He grunted, his long whiskers brushing against me. "I'm fine. But I have a question."
"Yeah?"
"If your wings are on your arms, how are you going to carry me and fly at the same time?"
I grinned. "I'm glad you asked, Meeko. Check this out."
Clearing my throat, I concentrated my shifting magic on my back. A second later, two huge wings burst out of my shoulder blades.
Meeko let out a loud squeak of surprise, then slapped his paws over his mouth.
I chuckled. "Shocked you, did it?"
"No." He looked away, furrowing his brow. But it was too late. I already heard the adorable sound that came out of him.
"Hey, I'm not called a shifter for nothing," I said, shaking out my wings. "In fact, there's plenty of cool stuff about me that you don't even know yet."
"I'm sure I'll hear all about it," Meeko mumbled.
"Maybe if you ask nicely," I teased.
"I don't do anything nicely."
A smile curved my lips. Was that what he thought about himself?
"All right, hang on tight," I said. "Lift-off in three... two... one!"
Pushing my legs against the ground, I launched upwards in one powerful swoop. I kept my limbs close to my body to avoid the tree branches. Once we cleared the canopy, I spread my wings with awhumpf.There was nothing but open sky as far as we could see. Wherever Mistral was, we'd catch up with him.
We had to.
"Ready?" I asked Meeko, just to make sure the sudden motion didn't freak him out.
He sighed. "Ready."
And so began our whirlwind adventure. Me, peppy and excited; and Meeko, sullen and wanting to stab every harpy in the world.
Including me, probably.
5
Meeko
I wasin a harpy's cage of talons a hundred feet in the air with no way of escaping.
If I told myself this morning I would be in this situation willingly, I would've thought I was crazy.
But this was my new reality. To retrieve my precious sword, I was forced to swallow my pride and accept help from the enemy.
At least, I wanted to keep thinking of Cloud as my enemy. He was an alpha harpy, a deadly and untrustworthy combination.
And yet, here I was, clutched in the palm of his hand.
Maybe Iwascrazy.
