Wynter's End

by K. R. Thompson

  Claire laughed. “All the best surprises are.”

  “So, unless you’re going to try to beat what he just did, can we go now?” William asked Logan, who didn’t look like he was really ready to go anywhere without Claire.

  “Sure,” he said. He leaned forward, gave her a quick peck on the cheek and then followed his brother down the steps to the car.

  When they drove out of sight, Claire turned toward me. “Okay, so tell me how I can help. William tells me you are a multi-shifter, but it was something that happened recently. Tell me more about it.”

  And so, I explained about the four animal spirits I held, but I left out every bit of information about the book that had been the cause of it all.

  Claire chewed on her bottom lip as she listened to my story, no doubt wondering exactly how I’d managed to get myself in the predicament I was in. I hoped she wouldn’t ask for specifics, and thankfully, she didn’t. Then I explained there was really only one spirit I had problems controlling—the crow.

  “I’m having issues with landing after I fly,” I told her. “Unfortunately, the few flying shifters I know are much larger, and it’s been hard to learn from them.”

  She nodded. “At Imperium, we call them ‘air shifters.’ We don’t have a great many of them there either. There are mostly only woodland shifters in this area, since we are in the mountains.”

  “Adam mentioned you are a multi-shifter,” I said. “How many animal spirits do you have?”

  “Only one.”

  I shook my head. “I don’t understand. How can you be a multi-shifter if you only have one?”

  “All shifters have a body that holds two souls—one human and one animal. You’re the only one I’ve ever heard of who has four,” she said. “I am a Yokai. I’m one of the rare ones who can ‘borrow’ the magic of another shifter. Anytime I’m near another shifter, I can tell what magic they have, be it earth, air, flame, or water. I can tap into what they are and shift into their animal’s spirit.” She paused. “But it’s really strange. I’m not getting anything at all from you. Not as much as a spark of magic that tells me what you are. It’s…more than a little odd.”

  “Sorry.”

  “No, don’t be sorry. That came out nothing like I meant. What I mean is…I am finding you completely fascinating, Nikki.” She smiled. “I’ve shifted into many different animals in the time I’ve learned to control my magic as a Yokai, but never have I met someone like you. You have four animal spirits in you, and only one is giving you problems? That is beyond impressive. I’ve met a few students at Imperium who have been there for years trying to learn how to coexist with only one spirit.”

  “So…do you think you can help me?” I asked, unsure of what else to say.

  She smiled. “I’m certainly going to try. What do you say we see if I can pull from your magic? I’ve never attempted to borrow something I haven’t felt before. Today will be a learning experience for us both.”

  “All right.” I agreed, happy she was at least game to help me, even though she was relying entirely on what I’d told her and not pushing me to tell her the secrets I hadn’t.

  I led her out into the yard. “We’ll be okay here. My mom and sister are gone for the weekend. There’s no one to see us.”

  That sounded really creepy, I thought, berating myself. Could you sound any more like a moron? This girl doesn’t even know you and she’s here, alone, trusting only your word that the three other animal spirits you have are completely under control, and that’s the only thing you can come up with? There’s no one to see us?

  But if she was worried at all, she didn’t give the slightest indication of it. Instead, she followed me and waited as I shifted. The crow, who had always been close to the surface, seemed to realize he had an audience now, and it took a solid minute of me concentrating before I shifted in a rush of bluish-black feathers and hopped on the ground in front of Claire’s boots.

  “Okay, let’s see what I can do now,” she said, closing her eyes. A small wrinkle furrowed her brow as she concentrated. I expected to feel something—some sort of pull from my energy or a wave of magic to pulse around me the way it felt whenever I was around the Keepers when they shifted.

  Instead, there was nothing.

  I was about to give up hope when suddenly the girl in front of me faded, her skin growing translucent as if she were turning into a ghost. Soon that faded away, leaving only a slightly darkened place that still held her shape.

  Then even that evaporated, and a small dark crow stood opposite me, watching me, intelligence showing in its dark, beady eyes.

  It cawed once, a noise that sounded like triumph, then it hopped on the ground once, then twice before jumping into the air and flying.

  I copied her movements and followed, and in the next moment, we soared above the trees.

  Claire moved easily, like she’d been born as what she’d called an “air shifter.” She spun in the air, moving up and down and letting me trail behind her. She was far more in tune with me than I realized. Once I began to feel at ease where we were, she caught a stronger current of air higher up, forcing me to work a little harder and learn more.

  Always I was at ease with her, not wondering when she would turn on me, seeing me as prey.

  When she descended into the forest and landed on a branch, I was so relaxed with being what I was that instinct kicked in before logic did, and I landed easily beside her.

  She did a little hopping dance, letting me know she was happy with me, then took off again. I zipped along after her, and we dodged around the trees as if we’d been born crows instead of humans, and for the first time since I’d lost my white wolf, I let myself truly think as the animal I had shifted to.

  Somewhere along the way, she dropped back and let me take the lead. I let myself go, giving the crow the choice of where he wanted to take us.

  After a while, I noticed we were flying to a destination, though I didn’t know where. Still I let the crow lead the way, and Claire stayed behind us. I felt like I knew the way by heart, wherever it was we were heading.

  When a small hut came into view a short time later, it startled me enough that the part of me making me “me” forced the crow back toward the shadows. I stopped our flight just short of flying through the window and to the branch inside. Other crows were perched there, and a small, hobbled figure moved around whom I knew to be Efflehurt, the Bog Elf.

  I landed in a tree by the hut, close enough I could hear what was happening inside.

  “Oh, is that right, then?” the Bog Elf said gleefully. “Ah wouldna ever have thought her to be so close to givin’ up her magic. Lucky for us, eh?”

  A crow cawed in response. Then another chimed in, and Efflehurt continued his conversation as if they were speaking as easily to him as if they’d been human.

  “What other secrets have ye found?” he asked happily. Then he paused, listening as the crows continued, flapping their wings. “Mm-hmm…that’s good.”

  A few of the pieces clicked into place. There wasn’t any question as to why I felt like I knew the way here. If I was correct—and I was fairly sure I was—one of the spirits I held had previously been the pet f Efflehurt.

  I looked at Claire, who had cocked her head first at me, then at the window, trying to make sense of this strange adventure.

  Deciding it would be safer for us both if we left, I hopped toward her, then flew away from the hut. She took the hint and followed me home.

  The entire way, one single thought ran through my mind. I knew where he was now—the maker of the book I kept. Though this lesson had gone wonderfully, I could put the spirits of these four to rest. I could go back and get him to help me destroy the book.

  Then, I could finally just be myself again. I could be only Nikki, the Seer of the Keepers. Not Nikki, the Seer, the keeper of the book, and guardian to four animal spirits.

  The knowledge of knowing exactly where Efflehurt was was freeing.

  And I couldn’t
wait to go back.

  Claire landed in the same place we started and shifted back, the crow leaving to be replaced with the darkness, then the translucent girl, who finally became real.

  My shifting wasn’t nearly as impressive. I went from crow straight back to myself. The instant I was human again, I felt the crow slip into the darkness, happy to have finally had its own time to be what it once had been.

  “You did a great job.” Claire beamed a bright smile. “If everyone did that well, there wouldn’t be a need for shifter schools.”

  “I couldn’t have done it without you. You made everything seem easy,” I said, thanking her.

  “I didn’t do anything but fly with you. You did it all yourself. You just needed a flying partner,” she replied, tucking her hands into her pockets. “I do have a question though, and feel free to tell me it’s none of my business if you want.”

  I knew even before she asked what it was going to be.

  “Where did you take us? It was as if you knew exactly where to go when we reached that hut. And the crows in there, and that little…man or whatever he was…”

  My fingers fiddled with the locket at my neck as she talked.

  “It was as if they were telling him things. Am I crazy…or was he crazy?”

  She stopped when she realized I’d yet to say anything at all. “I’m sorry. It’s just that I was picking up on so much magic there, and I didn’t recognize any of it as being shifter. It was…different.”

  I didn’t know her, not really. There were people in Bland who had magic whom I’d known longer than I’d known Claire, and I hadn’t spoken a word about Efflehurt or the books to them.

  But something in my gut told me I could trust her.

  Something told me I needed to talk to someone about the book—and also about the fact that I could get rid of it now…forever if I wanted to.

  And so, I did. I told her everything. I told her about my role in the Keepers and how I was destined to be the one to warn them of trouble. I told her about my time as a white wolf. I told her about the first book we’d destroyed. And I told her about Wynter giving me the new book in case she should ever need to get rid of her own magic.

  Then I explained Efflehurt’s connection—that he was the one who had created both books and he’d know how to get rid of this one as well as the four animal spirits inside of me.

  “Wow,” Claire said, eyes wide at the end of it all as she processed everything I’d told her.

  “Part of me wants to go right back there and get him to destroy it, just so I don’t have so much…so I don’t have to be so much,” I said finally, getting to the reason I had blurted everything out.

  Understanding dawned in her blue eyes, and she reached out and squeezed my arm. “I can’t lie and say I wouldn’t consider doing the exact same thing, but I can tell you I understand. When I first learned I was a Yokai, I wanted more than anything to be rid of my magic. One of the first things I heard about my kind was how much they were hated by shapeshifters as a whole. Being feared was something I didn’t want…at all. If it wasn’t for Logan showing me there were reasons greater to be proud of what I am, I don’t know what I would have done. You’ve been given a great responsibility, Nikki. You weren’t born to keep the book. For some reason, Wynter chose you. Only you. That tells me she trusts you more than anyone else and is confident you’re the one strong enough to keep it. Sometimes, in the end, the greatest things that can happen to you begin as the scariest.”

  That night, Adam came over to check on me.

  “Did it help?” he asked, as soon as he finished giving me a hug. He sat on the front porch swing, his silver eyes gazing at me worriedly. “I thought about you all afternoon.”

  “It did,” I replied and gave him the play-by-play of my flight with Claire. “I think I’ll be okay now. Landing is a lot easier. Plus, she was really easy to talk to. I like her a lot.”

  He nodded. “We’re planning on taking them up in the mountains tomorrow to show them the highlights of Bland. You can come with us, right?” His eyes flickered toward the front door, and I knew he was thinking of my mom and sister being gone to Florida to pick up Brian and Tori. They’d be gone for the entire week, and I couldn’t think of a better way of spending my time here than with Adam.

  Just as I opened my mouth to say yes, the phone rang. “Argh! Be right back.”

  I jumped up and ran into the house, the screen door smacking behind me as I dashed to the phone and picked it up. “Hello?”

  “Hey, Nikki, it’s me.”

  I hadn’t expected to hear anything from Ronnie, so she caught me off guard.

  “Listen, I’m going to head into West Virginia tomorrow and go shopping, and I wanted to know if you’d like to come too.”

  The last thing I wanted to do was to drive an hour down the interstate to go shopping. I bit my lip, not wanting to flat out tell her no.

  “Please, Nikki?” she said when I didn’t say anything for a few seconds. “Please let me make it up to you.”

  The it I knew to be our last flight together when she’d dug her talons into my shoulder. Instinctively, I flexed my arm, then I said the last thing I wanted to say. “Okay.”

  “Yay!” Her excitement blasting through the phone made me smile in spite of myself.

  “I’ll pick you up in the morning.” At least that way, I’d be able to decide when I wanted to go home. To the holder of the car keys, goes the power, I decided silently. Otherwise, we might very well be traipsing around Beckley until midnight.

  If she thought it was an odd thing for me to say, she didn’t let on. She just gave me a happy “okay, see you then” and hung up.

  I didn’t have to say what or who the conversation had been about when I made it back out to the swing. I knew Adam could have easily heard Ronnie’s excited voice, even without his wolf’s excellent hearing.

  “It’s all right. I understand.” He gathered me close to him, and I immediately felt the air pop and crack around us. He leaned in and kissed me, and for the moment, everything was perfect. I forgot everything—my aggravation at Ronnie only seconds earlier, my flight with Claire…

  In that moment, it was only me and Adam.

  And I wanted it to last forever.

  Chapter Four

  My dreams were a jumble of faces coming and going, one morphing into the next before I could make out distinct features that would mark them as anyone I knew. A pounding at the door had me literally jumping in my bed, heart pounding. A few seconds passed while I waited to see if it was actually someone there or if it had been part of my crazy dream. Sunlight poured through the curtains, proof it was indeed morning. I glanced at the clock on the nightstand as someone knocked on the door again. 7:03 a.m. Whoever it was, he or she was being rather insistent for a Sunday morning. My anger flared momentarily when I found myself thinking perhaps Ronnie had decided to wake me up early in her eagerness to go shopping.

  I jumped up and scrambled out of my bedroom and down the steps, all the while mentally taking down my shields and sending out feelers to see if I’d missed something one of the Pack may have sent as some sort of advanced warning of this early morning visit.

  But there was nothing. Once I made it to the front door, I took a quick sidestep and slipped a finger in one of the small slots in the window shade, then pulled it down the tiniest bit.

  The person—or rather, the fae on the other side looked right at me from her spot at the door. I sighed and turned loose of the shade.

  “I’d rather have had Ronnie,” I muttered under my breath as I unbolted the door. There wasn’t any use in pretending I wasn’t home. Whatever Wynter wanted, I doubted she would leave until she talked to me.

  I swung the door open. “Good morning,” I said, gesturing toward the living room. “Want to come in?”

  Without a word, she brushed past me and took a seat on the couch. I leaned warily on the arm of the seat across from her. She hadn’t arrived in her guise as Mrs. Graham but rath
er in her true form, which told me she either knew I was home alone or that she really just didn’t care who saw her.

  Either way, I was worried.

  Her endless blue eyes stared straight into mine, and a chill went down my spine. Whatever the reason for this visit, everything in my gut told me I was going to wish I hadn’t opened that door.

  “What can I do for you?” I asked, my voice hoarse and scratchy, a product of both nerves and just waking up.

  My question met complete silence for a moment while she searched for the right words. When she did speak, she caught me completely by surprise. “I’ve come to ask you to take my magic away.”

  Whatever I’d been expecting, it certainly hadn’t been that. “What do you mean, take your magic away?” I asked. Of all the magical creatures in Bland, Spriteblood were the strongest—and she was one of the only ones left. I knew the day would come when she’d ask me to take her magic, I just hadn’t expected it to come so soon.

  “You asked me once why I seemed so sad. It was when you first came to Bland. Do you remember?”

  “You said it was because you weren’t what you wanted to be.”

  “It’s true. You see, my kind wasn’t born. We were made. The reason I want you to take my magic is because I remember what it was like.” She stopped, and her gaze dropped to her hands. “I remember what it was like…to be human. I’ve watched many people I love die, and there’s been nothing I could do about it.”

  Silence enveloped us. I didn’t know what to say, though strangely enough, she hadn’t caught me off guard with that particular confession. I suppose part of me had already known. “I had a dream of five children who went into the mountains one cold winter day,” I whispered, now understanding.

  She looked back up, her eyes meeting mine once again. “Perhaps to explain more of why I am what I am now, you would like to know more of who I once was.”

  I nodded.