theresnodoorRachel. Finally. Healed.
And almost the exact moment she realized that the wound on her chest had lightened and faded into a permanent scar, she was out the door of the now-spotless apartment, on the street, around the corner, up the ladder, onto the roof and morphing.
Sweet, sweet, powerful, wonderful, unimaginable morphing.
The eagle. Oh, the eagle and it's incredible eyesight, the warm thermals off the blacktop sending huge clouds of hot air billowing up under her wings, sending her straight up into the air, one hundred, two hundred, five hundred feet straight up off the ground. The lake she saw miles away, counting blades of grass on the shore twenty minutes before she got there, then diving screaming straight down, talons flared and wonderful screeching predator cry. Scraping a fish with the talons and letting it go, wings flared and almost ricocheting back up into the air, so fast and sharp.
Landing in the nearby woods and demorphing, then just as quickly, morphed again. Huge and powerful, oh yes, the bear, her bear, her grizzly. Thick coarse brown fur and horrible beady nearsighted eyes, thick corded muscle, nothing in the world could stop her. Rearing up on her back legs to a great height of eight feet, cute little fuzzy ears brushing the leaves as she swung a paw as big as a frying pan and cracked a thick branch so hard that it split and fell from the tree with an almighty crunch that shot through the forest like a gun. Dropping to all fours and barreling through the forest at breakneck speed (for a bear), feeling brambles and thorns tear at her coat and do absolutely no damage through the thickness of it.
Demorphing when she reaches the lake, wading in, morphing again. And joy of wondrous joys, the dolphin. Her body, seven feet long and sleek shiny gray, rubbery and thick. But the joy, unadulterated in childlike innocence. Diving and leaping, clicking her song to everyone, play with me, come play! Chasing fish she has no intention of catching, diving deep to let the plants tickle her belly, shooting up out into the air, feeling it warm her wet skin, then burying herself deep into the water and clicking off more squealing sounds of utter happiness.
Demorphing. Back to eagle. Pumping her wings hard to get up off the ground and riding thermals for what must have been close to two hours before she finally forced herself to return home. Demorphing on the rooftop, climbing down the ladder, around the corner, up the street, through the door, and without word or explanation, collapsing on her mattress and sleeping for ten hours. Dreamless, sweet sleep of the utterly exhausted.
It's one of the best days she's had since arriving in this world.