His keen eagle’s eyes could see Fen, alone and brave on the mountainside, in as much detail as if she was close enough to touch. Her hair was rumpled, her makeup was smeared, her clothes were torn, and one of her shoes had a heel broken off. But her imperfections and messiness and flaws were what made her beautiful. His Fen could scream like a banshee and murmur like a femme fatale. She could slam the door on her own parents and open her heart to a man like himself, flawed and messy and imperfect.
Imperfect but whole, said his inner chimera. A lovely shade of blue, the color of a cloudless summer sky, accompanied the voice. It was the color of happiness.
That inner voice was no longer a chorus. Like his inner animal, it had united as an imperfect but beautiful whole. His shifted body no longer felt wrong. It was different, but it had a feeling of rightness to it. And it was wonderful to be able to fly.
Carter spiraled downward out of the sky, glorying in every flap of his powerful wings. He landed by Fen with the lightness and precision of a leaping snow leopard, and lifted his head to nuzzle her.
Delighted, she stretched out her hand and stroked his fur. “It’s so soft!”
She scratched behind his ears until his chest began to vibrate. It was a feeling he’d always loved and had thought he’d never experience again. He was purring.
Fen walked all around him, admiring and exclaiming at his chimera form. She stroked his wing feathers, complimented his talons for their sharpness, and praised his eagle eyes.
“Guess you won’t be getting any less vain,” remarked Pete, emerging from the forest in his human form.
Carter spread his vast wings in an admire-me gesture, accidentally-on-purpose whacking Pete in the face with his primary feathers.
Natalie landed neatly in her Gabriel hound form, then shifted back to being a rainbow-haired woman. “His wingsarevery pretty, Pete. Almost as pretty as mine.”
“I don’t know if I’d go that far,” said Ransom, walking out of the forest. “But they’re definitely an improvement over the cryodrakon’s.”
“The what?” Pete asked.
“Balin,” said Merlin as he came out from behind a tree. “His shift form was a cryodrakon boreas. It’s one of the largest flying dinosaurs.”
“Youwouldknow that,” remarked Pete. “I suppose you had one at the circus.”
“No, but once I realized that dinosaur shifters existed, I started reading up on them,” Merlin explained. “I mean on dinosaurs. Not on dinosaur shifters. IwishI could read up on dinosaur shifters. Someone should write a book.”
Norris emerged from the woods. “Wow. That is an extremely, extremely cool shift form. Not quite as cool as a Dunkleosteus, but…”
Fire streaked across the sky as the phoenix returned. Roland landed away from everyone else, but the heat of his passage still struck Carter like a blow. He was a bird of fire, too bright to look at directly; he was a man haloed in flame, like a fiery angel; he was Roland, their leader, who had always believed in him no matter how hard Carter had made it.
“Welcome back, Carter,” said Roland. “Welcome, chimera.”
“Chimera?” Pete said. “He’s a griffin, right? Half eagle, half snow leopard?”
“A sniffin,” Natalie suggested.
Carter was so indignant that he shifted on the spot. Another benefit of now being a mythic shifter was that his clothes shifted with him, so he could launch right into the argument without having to get dressed first. “Roland’s right. I’m a chimera—a beast made of many animals joined together. My chimera has the head and body of a snow leopard, the eyes and wings of an eagle, the talons and ability to breathe fire of a dragon, the sense of smell and hearing of a wolf, the prehensile tail of a monkey, and the camouflage ability of an octopus.”
“Very impressive,” remarked Roland.
“Poor monkey,” said Natalie. “It only got the tail.”
“A prehensile tail is very useful,” said Merlin. “And fun! I assume. I can’t dangle from my tail. I’ve tried.”
“Of course you have,” said Pete.
“Carter’s chimera is magnificent. And deadly. And beautiful,” said Fen. “And he purrs when you scratch behind his ears.”
Carter gave a jerk of his hand, trying to cut her off, but it was too late. The other Defenders instantly seized upon it.
“Just like Batcat,” remarked Pete.
“Awww,” said Merlin. “It’s so cute when big cats purr.”
“Did you try skritching his floofy belly?” Natalie inquired. “The circus tigers all loved that.”
