by Chant, Zoe
She barged forward, came close to Catalina and Shane, and said in a voice so soft that she knew only a shifter would hear, “Don’t mention shifters. Magical animals are okay.”
Shane’s ice-blue eyes met hers, and though he didn’t give any outward indication, she could tell that he understood and would do as she had asked.
Catalina blinked, then gave her a little nod. “Well anyway, that’s his thing. He likes to see how people react. I had no idea he was going to do it now, though.” She elbowed him in the ribs, then said to Bryan, “Seriously, you can let him go now.”
Bryan glanced at Waylon and Angel, both of whom nodded. Still wary, he released Shane and stepped away.
And then the last person Raelynn expected to see ran in, with her long black hair swinging behind her. Caro called out, “I heard growls and thuds! Is a dog loose?”
“Nope,” said Raelynn, grinning. “Just Bryan.”
“Hey!” Bryan said.
“Are your parents here too, Caro?” Raelynn asked. “Where are they? Where were you?”
“I was in the bathroom,” Caro said. “Long drive. Dad and Tirzah didn’t come, but Shane and Catalina were visiting, and they said I could get a ride so we could have a slumber party and I could meet Black Flame!”
“That part was planned in advance,” Dad said. “We thought it would be a nice surprise for you. Somehow the part about Shane being the invisible man got left out.”
“How did you do that, Shane?” Judy asked.
Shane shrugged. “Just comes naturally.”
“What are your pets?” Angel asked.
“Cats,” said Shane.
“You flew cross-country with three cats?” Bryan asked suspiciously.
“Five cats,” said Catalina, at the same time that Shane said, “We drove.”
“We’re on vacation,” Catalina said. “We rented an RV and we’re driving across America! It’s been so much fun. For the cats too.”
“So, just their yearly shots and exams?” Bryan asked, picking up one of the carriers.
“Yes, that’s right.” Catalina took another carrier, and Shane took the last.
Once the big cat carriers were off the floor, Raelynn saw what they’d been concealing—the small carrier that Caro used to transport Moonbow, her miniature pegasus. Caro picked it up, and everyone followed Bryan into the largest exam room.
Bryan placed the carrier on the examination table. “Is this cat magical in any way?”
“It’s cats, plural. Two in that carrier,” said Catalina. “And no, they’re not magical. Just ordinary cats.”
An angry yowl came from the carrier on the table, followed by a spitting sound.
“I’ll take these last,” said Bryan. “Yours seem calmer.”
With quick but unhurried grace, he plucked the carrier from Catalina’s hand, set it on the table, and flipped open the top.
A pair of winged cats launched themselves from the carrier and zoomed straight up to the ceiling.
“You said they weren’t magical,” Bryan said accusingly.
“She meant the ones you were going to take out, before you changed your mind,” said Shane. “But the ones Catalina was carrying have wings.”
Scowling upward, Bryan said, “I can see that.”
The cats were circling high overhead, meowing triumphantly and chasing each other. The larger cat was black with beautiful patterned wings like a Monarch butterfly, and the smaller cat was a soft gray with moth-like wings.
“They’re beautiful,” Raelynn said. “What are their names?”
“The black one is Carol Danvers, and the gray one is Shadow,” said Catalina. “Here, kitty kitty kitty!”
The cats ignored her. Carol Danvers seemed fascinated with the overhead light, which she kept sniffing at, while Shadow flittered around the edges of the ceiling.
“I’ll get the butterfly nets,” said Angel.
“They’re very evasive,” said Catalina. “Especially Shadow. He takes after Shane.”
“Shall we try peer pressure?” Shane asked Catalina.
“Peer pressure,” Catalina agreed. “Everyone, in or out, but shut that door.”
Everyone crowded inside. Dad shut the door. With a nod to each other, Catalina and Shane opened the remaining carriers. A black cat leaped out and hid under a chair, spitting and hissing. An orange tabby lifted her head and let out a warning yowl.
Catalina scooped out the last cat, who was black and white, and set her down on the examination table. “Go on, Rogue. Call them down.”
Rogue gave a plaintive meow. Carol Danvers went on patting at the overhead light, but Shadow swooped down and landed next to Rogue. He folded his wings neatly and nuzzled her.
“Well, that’s one of them,” said Bryan. He examined the cats, pronounced them healthy, and gave them their shots.
“Don’t put them away yet,” said Catalina. “Peer pressure, remember?”
With an extremely long-suffering look, Bryan neatly extracted the yowling orange tabby from the carrier. Carol Danvers left the light and circled lower, watching as Bryan examined and vaccinated the tabby, whom Catalina identified as Natasha Romanova.
But it was a three-vet job to capture the black cat, Jessica Jones. Jessica fought and howled so hard that Carol Danvers flew down to defend her, going straight for Bryan’s face. He neatly plucked her out of the air and vaccinated her, then popped her and Shadow back in the carrier. Natasha and Rogue were returned to the carrier they shared, and finally Jessica was replaced in her own solo cage.
“Flying cats are a handful,” remarked Waylon. “I’m glad mine don’t have wings.”
“Jessica fights very well without them,” remarked Shane, giving her carrier a fond glance.
“You’re so lucky,” said Caro to Raelynn. “You get to see things like this all the time.”
“You live with two flying cats and a flying mini pegasus,” Waylon pointed out.
“But not with Jessica,” remarked Catalina. “She’s a one-cat chaos machine.”
Jessica responded to her name with a hair-raising howl.
Once the cats were done with their shots and bundled back into their carriers, Raelynn gave Shane and Catalina a tour of Vets For All Pets, and showed them and Caro the current magical rescues. The portal hadn’t opened in a while, so all they had was a three-headed Cerberus dog being treated for mange and a pair of ice salamanders. Shane and Catalina were very satisfactorily impressed, though.
“One of our teammates has a three-headed dog,” said Catalina. “A bit rowdy. Barks a lot.”
“I can’t imagine why,” Everly said with a grin.
“So this is where the magical animals come from?” Shane asked.
“There’s other portals too,” said Angel. “And some magical animals live on Earth, in out of the way places. So if you’re trying to track down where yours came from, it’s not necessarily here.”
Shane nodded. “Guess I won’t be staking out your portal, then.”
Raelynn couldn’t tell if he was joking or not.
They locked up Vets For All Pets, and then Angel and Everly took Shane and Catalina out for dinner. Bryan was invited, but said vaguely that he had things to do.
Caro went home with Raelynn, Judy, and Dad. They ordered in pizza and watched a movie. After that, the girls went to Raelynn’s room, where they lay talking and petting Moonbow, Caro’s miniature pegasus. Before Raelynn had seen Black Flame, she’d thought Moonbow was the most beautiful animal in the world. But she tactfully didn’t tell Caro that her pegasus had recently been demoted to second place.
“Are we going to do it?” Caro asked in a low voice, after the lights went out in the rest of the house.
“We’re absolutely going to do it,” Raelynn whispered back.
On their last sleepover at Caro’s place, they’d come up with a plan to sneak out and ride together by the light of the moon, Raelynn on Black Flame and Caro on Moonbow. Dad had never let Raelynn ride Moonbow, saying it was
too dangerous, and their last sleepover had been during the dark of the moon. But tonight the moon was full, and Moonbow could become big enough to ride.
“What time do you think?” Caro asked. “Midnight?”
“Let’s wait a while longer, to make absolutely sure Dad and Judy are asleep,” said Raelynn. “1:00 AM should do it.”
They spoke of many things as the long hour ticked by, from their other friends to their favorite books to their least-favorite teachers. And in low voices, they talked about secrets.
Caro was the only person Raelynn had ever voluntarily told about being an out-of-control failbear. Though Caro wasn’t a shifter herself, Raelynn had instinctively felt that she’d understand. And she had. Her own father had once been out of control of his own shift form, a cave bear. Though in his case it had been much less shameful, as he’d had the extremely valid reason that he hadn’t been born a shifter, but had been kidnapped and experimented on as an adult.
“So Judy still doesn’t know about shifters?” Caro asked.
Raelynn nodded. “Dad kept his promise.”
“You know, that’s not going to work forever. She’s living with both of you! She’s probably going to marry your dad eventually. And he can’t marry her with her not knowing he can turn into a bear.”
“It’s not a big deal,” Raelynn said uneasily. “I mean, for him.”
“She must know he’s keeping something from her, though,” said Caro, absently stroking her mini stallion’s feathered wings. “When my dad wasn’t telling me he was a shifter or anything about what happened to him, I knew something was up even though I didn’t know what it was. I couldn’t stop wondering, and I ended up imagining things that were way worse than that he could turn into a cave bear. I actually thought for a while that he didn’t like me anymore!”
Raelynn was desperate to get out of that conversation. “Let’s get dressed. It’s almost time.”
They changed into jeans, jackets, and riding boots, and tiptoed out the back door. Raelynn locked it behind her. She might be sneaking out for a forbidden ride, not to mention sticking her dad with a secret he didn’t want to keep, but at least she wasn’t going to let her family be endangered by any dangerous magical beasts that might come through the portal. Or burglars. Or hungry raccoons. Anything.
The miniature pegasus launched off Caro’s shoulder, hovered briefly at their eye level, then landed on the grass. As the moonlight shimmered on his pure white coat, he grew. In the blink of an eye, he was a full-size stallion. Moonbow’s broad chest and muscular shoulders supported a magnificent pair of feathered, opalescent wings. He bent his wise head to Caro, and she threw her arms around him and nuzzled him.
“You remember Raelynn, right?” Caro asked. “Would you mind if she rode you?”
For a stallion, Moonbow was exceptionally level-headed and sweet-tempered. His dark eyes told Raelynn that he did remember her and he wouldn’t mind.
Caro mounted Moonbow in a graceful leap. She used no saddle or bridle, but rode bareback. She’d told Raelynn earlier that she’d had to learn to ride him in secret, so she’d gotten used to it. Raelynn had never ridden bareback, and the thought of riding a flying horse in an unaccustomed style unnerved her.
Then she thought, I’m getting to ride a flying horse!
Raelynn swung up behind Caro. Feathers brushed her, and she smelled Moonbow’s sweet scent of hay and rain. She settled down, finding her seat, and put her hands on Caro’s hips.
“Up, up, and away!” Caro called in a commanding whisper.
Moonbow leaped up and into the night. Raelynn gasped, her hands clenching. But Moonbow’s flight was smooth and easy, dispelling her fear of falling off. The wind whipped Caro’s long black hair into her face, and made Moonbow’s opalescent mane and tail stream like flowing rainbows.
Raelynn’s heart lifted. It was glorious, glorious…
…and she was going to do something even more glorious.
She didn’t know whether to be wistful that the flight was over or even more excited when they landed outside of Horse Hope Rescue. The girls dismounted and went to the stable.
Standing outside the locked door, Raelynn shivered. “Are you sure you can do this?”
“Absolutely sure,” Caro assured her, taking out a set of lockpicks. “Dad’s teammate Merlin taught me. He was raised in a circus, you know.”
“Does your dad know Merlin taught you to pick locks?”
“Nope. Quiet now. I have to concentrate.” Caro fiddled with the lock for several minutes, her forehead furrowed, until it clicked and opened. “Ah-ha!”
“I need to get lessons from Merlin,” said Raelynn, and opened the stable door.
She waved Caro back and went in alone to take Black Flame out. Too many people inside at this odd hour might disturb the other horses. He must have heard or sensed her outside, because he was wide awake, his nostrils flaring eagerly as she took him out. A few sparks glittered around his mane, but Raelynn soothed him, murmuring, “No fire, no fire. Calm, calm.”
The sparks winked out. Her heart swelled with the knowledge of how far he’d come and how much they’d both learned by taming him. Now that she’d taught him when not to set fires, maybe next she could teach him to set them on purpose. It would be fun to go camping with him and not have to bring a lighter.
She saddled and bridled him, and led him out by the reins. He was used to all that by now, and didn’t object. They’d even put a sack of oats on the saddle, to get him used to having a weight on his back, and it had been days since he’d tossed it off. But a sack of oats didn’t feel like a person. That would be the real test.
As they passed Curstaidh’s stall, the little Shetland unexpectedly stuck her head out the window and made a grab for Raelynn’s jacket sleeve. She yanked her arm away just in time, baffled by how the pony could have even gotten her head that high. Daring a peek from a safe distance, she caught a glimpse of Curstaidh standing with her front legs braced against the door before the pony dropped down with a disappointed snort.
Black Flame gave an answering snort, as if to say, I’m going for a midnight gallop and you aren’t.
Outside, Raelynn offered Black Flame a coal and Caro offered Moonbow a carrot. The magical horses crunched on their treats, eyeing each other with curiosity but no hostility. One pitch black, one pure white, one born of moonlight and one of fire: the horses were each other’s mirror images. Raelynn snuck out her phone and took a photo, just for her and Caro to treasure in secret.
“Ready?” Caro asked.
“I am. I hope Black Flame is. If he isn’t, we’ll just have a nice moonlit walk with me leading him while you fly. One thing I’ve learned from working with him and Judy, you never ever want to push a horse to do anything it’s not ready for.” But in her heart, Raelynn prayed that Black Flame would be ready.
He was restive, sniffing the air and tugging at the reins. She could feel that he longed to run under the moon.
“Good boy, Black Flame,” she murmured, stroking his silky coat. “Easy now. Easy…”
She put one foot in the stirrups and leaned her weight on it, then waited for him to get used to that sensation. He didn’t seem bothered by it, so she swung on to his back. He started, his head turning quickly to see what was happening. But she was already stroking him, murmuring, “Calm, calm, it’s just me.”
There was a moment poised on the knife edge. He could accept her and her weight, or panic and try to buck her off, or panic and bolt. Black Flame made his decision. He tugged at the reins again, his focus back on the idea of galloping in the cool night air, now with a rider on his back.
“Let’s ride!” Caro called out.
She’d led Moonbow a bit away, so he wouldn’t be right in Black Flame’s face when he took off. She leaped lightly on to his back, gripped with her thighs, and said, “Up, up, and away!”
Moonbow spread his great wings. At the same time, hoping to distract Black Flame, Raelynn loosened the reins, nudged him with her th
ighs, and said, “Go!”
Black Flame began to canter, then sped up into a gallop. He had a beautiful natural rhythm, which she’d observed but never before felt. The wind blew in her face as she felt his strength and speed and trust in her, as she trusted in him.
Above her, Moonbow flew, his great white wings beating against the night sky and Caro’s long black hair streaming out behind her. But though she and Black Flame galloped across a field, Raelynn felt as if they too were flying. There was no separation between horse and rider; they were one beast, wild and free.
Raelynn felt as if she could ride forever. But she knew that Black Flame was a young horse, no matter how strong his bones were, and she shouldn’t overtire him. She slowed him to a canter, then a trot, and finally a walk.
Moonbow landed, folded his wings, and began to walk beside her. Caro’s long hair was thoroughly tangled, but she looked as happy as Raelynn felt.
“That was wonderful,” Caro said. “We should do it again tomorrow ni—”
A snarl interrupted her. Black Flame reared, nearly throwing Raelynn. Wings thundered beside her as a pale creature leaped at them. Raelynn barely managed to keep her seat, and doing so took up all her focus. Black Flame’s front hooves slammed into the grass, almost pitching Raelynn over his head and barely missing the creature.
The beast made a sound halfway between a snarl and a scream, and leaped away. It landed in the shadows at the edge of the forest and made that hideous cry again.
It had all been so sudden, and the beast had moved so fast, that Raelynn hadn’t even gotten a good look at it. All she could see now was a pale form in the darkness, a shape the size of a very big dog or a miniature horse. Not even knowing what the creature was made it especially unnerving.
Raelynn looked around wildly, her heart pounding. Caro and Moonbeam were circling overhead.
“Get into the stable,” Caro shouted down. “You and Black Flame. Lock the door. I’ll get help.”