Chapter 28 ~ A flash of White

~Duncan~

I had no words.

No, literally. Kerata had accidentally frozen my jaws shut with my own saliva as she sped by on the way to dropping those two idiots in the lake, which didn't look like it had fared very well under her wrath either. Several large icebergs were drifting away from where she had run across the water.

I shook my head, and flapped back to the warehouse, straining my jaw muscles to try and unfreeze my mouth. When I arrived, Kerata was just finishing telling the others her story, in icy cold tones. Fiona turned to me, her eyes wide. "Is she serious?"

"Mmm MMM hmm hmmmmmmm MMM-hmmm!" I narrowed my eyes at Kerata accusingly, pointing at my mouth with one wing-claw and rolling my eyes.

Fiona cocked her head at me. "Your aunt lives in a hut?"

I shook my head, growling. "Mmmmm MMMMMMM, hmmm HMMMMMMM MMM-Hmm!"

Dane grinned. "Your car is stuck in a rut?"

Kerata looked back and forth between us like we were all crazy. Fiona giggled. "Alright! Alright, Duncan, I'll take pity on you..." She closed here eyes for a brief moment, then opened them to reveal her dragon's eyes - brighter green and glowing slightly, with slitted pupils. She opened her mouth and breathed a stream of flames toward me. I held my ground as the warm tongues of fire licked at my face, steam rising from my jaws. A moment later, they were gone, and I worked my jaw for a moment, trying to get the feeling back into it, before speaking. "As I was saying, my JAWS were frozen shut. Therefore, I could not answer properly."

Dane doubled over with laughter, while Fiona covered her mouth and snorted into her palm, a puff of smoke escaping between her fingers. Even Kerata cracked a smirk. "Sorry, I didn't realize I had frozen you."

I shrugged, grumpily. "Anyway... shouldn't we be looking for Raven?"

Fiona leaped to her feet, then staggered to the side, against Dane. "Raven! How could I forget?!"

Before anyone else could open their mouths, a black blur arrowed in through the partially-open door, and fluttered to a clumsy landing in the middle of the floor. A cloud of what appeared to be coal dust engulfed the large bird for a moment, then cleared to reveal an exhausted, panting Raven. She leaned over, hands on her knees coughing.

"Raven!" Fiona exclaimed, "Are you alright?"

Raven held up one finger, indicating that we should wait. Every eye was focused on her as she stood up one hand on her chest, wheezing slightly. "Sorry... everyone... I was late... I tracked... the few... remaining... Shifters... to their hideout."

Dane grinned. "That's our Raven! Sneaky as the bird she was named for! Er... I mean..." Raven mock-glared at him as he struggled to eat his words. "That is... uh... I just meant..."

While the two of them bickered for a moment, the rest of us turned back to business. Kerata had become her regular blonde-haired, blue-eyed, slender self again, while the rest of us sat down on nearby palette stacks. I chose to stay in my natural form. Though, these days, being human was beginning to seem more normal to me, for reasons I could not explain.

"We need to decide what to do." Fiona placed her hands on her lap, looking around at us. "Should we attack them directly, or wait for them to come back and try again?"

"I have another solution" Kerata raised her hand. Fiona nodded to her. She looked around, as if she was surprised that everyone was listening to her. "Well... I think we should hide out, take a few days to rest up, and in the meantime, spy on their hideout, see if we can spot all the entrances, how many troops they have, that sort of thing."

Dane looked impressed, and I privately agreed with him. Fiona just looked proud. "I think that's a great plan. Should we head back to the Nest?"

I shrugged. "I don't think it would hurt. We could certainly see them coming from there."

Kerata humphed. "We still need to figure out an easier way for me to get up there."

Dane nodded. "I'll see what I can do... In the meantime, Fiona? Are you up for two passengers?"

She nodded, and we all stood up. After she had explained the situation to the two oblivious party members, there was a colorful blur of light and dark swirls just outside of the door, and a moment later, a Dragon, a Wyvern, a Raven and two humans set off from the concrete, soaring out over the slate-colored water of Lake Michigan, before swooping back towards the city.

One of these figures glanced down and southward, back along the coast toward Indiana. For a moment, an oddly shaped flash of white caught their eye... but in an instant, it was gone. With the sound of three pairs of wings beating the air, they flew on, soon alighting on the roof of the second tallest building in the United States, which they called home.

End of book Two of the Changlings Trilogy