We threw on jeans and matching navy blue t-shirts as fast as we could; I managed to get my top on right side out, with the tag in the back. Some days I found that task challenging. By the time we came back downstairs, Joseph and Miranda had both arrived and Elizabeth had come out of her room. Rick was filling everyone in on my desire to fly instead of riding a snowmobile.
"I don't see a problem with that," Liam said. "I'm guessing you can fly low enough to follow us, if you're invisible."
"You're really able to go invisible?" Elizabeth asked. She looked a little skeptical and I couldn't blame her.
"Yup, I was giving a demonstration this morning. It seems I can do just about anything. Maybe when I threaten Rick with turning him into a toad, he'll believe me now," I said.
The magic stuff was a wish come true for the me before I was told who I really was, but there was a part of it that scared me. I wasn't sure where the line was that shouldn't be crossed. As I learned more about it, I knew it would become clear, and until I found it, I wanted to have fun where I could.
"You wouldn't dare," he replied.
"It seems like a fitting retribution for all your creepiness. Being creepy should be banned, make a toad appear in my hand," I said, holding out my hand to show everyone the toad. "If you're not nice to me, this is what you have to look forward to," I taunted. I didn't really turn Rick into a toad, but a toad appearing out of thin air carried the same effect.
"I don't think you'll have any problems keeping your soldiers in line," Nate said. "Can we lose the toad and head out?"
"Sure. Thank you, toad, you have proved your point; now why don't you get out of this joint," I chanted and the toad disappeared. "Okay, now I just need to wash my hands."
I wasn't disgusted by toads, but I had no idea where it had been before I called it. I headed to the kitchen and washed with enough anti-bacterial soap to fight anthrax.
When I made my way back to the others, I heard Elizabeth speaking. "I'm just going to stay behind. I have so much work to catch up on after being gone, and I want to do an inventory of supplies."
"That's fine," Nate said. There was something a little strange in his eyes. I clearly got the notion he didn't care what Elizabeth did, which sat wrong with me.
"That's too bad," I said, trying to counteract his dismissiveness. "We could have used you to help even out the testosterone to estrogen ratio. Anyone else staying behind?" I asked.
"I am," Vinnie said. "I'm not big on sightseeing and sea water makes my gears cringe. I implore you to be careful, though. Even if there aren't more warlocks out there causing havoc, there are polar bears."
I got that he was joking, but I was going to have to point him to some better joke sites. There was nothing funny about getting mauled by a polar bear.
"Frannie, Gary, you guys coming?" I asked.
"Wouldn't miss it," Frannie responded. "You never know when you might be able to pick up some sea front property for cheap."
"Okay, first things first," I said, moving to stand next to Nate and Rick. "Time to fill my greatest desire; make our clothes able to stand up to fire."
I didn't know for sure if it would work, but it would take me a second to think of a spell to dress me after I changed back and I preferred not to stand in front of everyone in my birthday suit. Plus, there was that split second before the change where we'd be naked.
"I'm thankful you're so clever," Nate said. "Let's hope that spell works. We don't want anyone else to get a view of us without our clothes; they might get jealous."
We were heading towards the snowmobile shed, when I had a brilliant idea. Being able to do anything I wanted was turning me into a genius. I needed to see how strong my abilities were, and my plan would give me insight into how just a few words could do the impossible.
"Why don't we all fly? I could say a spell that makes everyone a bird.?We could probably get there faster by air and that would give us a chance to do more sightseeing."
"If you can do that, I say we head over to Round Island where there's a game sanctuary. It's the dead of winter, so most of animals probably won't be around, but you never know with all this global warming going on," Liam said.
"You sure about that, bro?" Kyle asked. "That's probably a hundred and twenty miles away. I've never flown as a bird before, but that might take a while."
"It just depends what kinds of birds she makes us. I volunteer to be an eagle," Liam said cheerfully. He adjusted his neck in a way that reminded me of a bird.
"You guys seriously have no problem with a person who has only started casting spells using you as guinea pigs?" Joseph asked. I couldn't help but agree with his logic.
"As long as she doesn't turn me into a guinea pig, I'm totally fine with it. If something goes wrong, she can fix it. I have faith in her," Liam told him, while he made a gesture with his hand and eyes that made me think 'duh'.
"Maybe it's because you guys don't already change into another shape, but I'm a little apprehensive of changing into a bird," Frannie said. "Remember, I'm a kitty cat and we don't always play nice with little birdies."
"I could make you a flying cat, if you want," I provided helpfully. If we were worried about what people would think about seeing phoenixes in the sky, I could only imagine what would happen if they saw a flying calico.
"No, if I'm going to fly under my own power, I don't want to look silly doing it. You can change me into a bird, but it better be an awesome bird," she replied.
"So, everyone is good with me trying?" I asked. After they all agreed, I started thinking of what I should say. It was going to be a little more complex to get everything I wanted. "First, make sure we can still speak; even though they will have beaks. Now with a mix of gold and white; make them all eagles so they can take flight."
I needed to pick up a wand somewhere. Even if it was only a prop, it would make spellcasting more fun.
There wasn't any smoke and mirrors. Three golden eagles and three bald eagles appeared in front of me. Other than flapping their wings to get used to the feathers, they didn't move from their spots.
"You are an evil genius," I heard Liam say in my mind. He started flapping his wings enough to levitate off the ground. "This is so cool."
He launched himself into the air and I was impressed by how easily he took to flight. I had a feeling he spent a lot of time in front of the television watching nature shows. As long as he didn't go apex predator on me and start hunting prey, things were going to be okay.
"Wow, you actually did it," Frannie said, unable to hide the surprise from her voice. "And I don't feel weird. It's actually kind of cool." She and Gary both launched off to test out their wings.
It turned out Frannie, Gary and Joseph were the bald eagles and Liam, Kyle and Miranda were the golden eagles. The males were huge and had seven-foot wingspans. The girls were a bit smaller, with probably just under six-foot spans. Joseph and Miranda took off, and after a little wobbling on Miranda's part they were soaring with the others.
I turned to Nate and Rick. "So, you guys ready to change?" I asked.
"I'm always ready to go phoenix," Rick replied. "You're still remembering what it's like to change, but we have to keep the urge to change under wraps almost all the time."
I saw him start a ring of fire around him and Nate soon followed. I did as Nate taught me and soon felt warm enough for the change. I found my beautiful caged bird hiding in the recesses of my mind and changed shapes. It was easier the second time, and it felt almost like a homecoming.
"Holy crap, Avery," I heard Frannie say. "You are one amazing looking firebird up close."
"Someone is going to have to take a picture sometime. I can see the projection in my mind, but I don't know if that's what I really look like," I replied.
"I'm sure what you see is what you get, but you could just change in front of a mirror," Rick informed me.
"I guess, but I still want a picture. Now I have to say something to make us invisible. Do you think the eagles need to be invisible?" I
asked.
"Both birds can be found in the Alaskan skies, so I think they'll be okay. People might find it a little odd that they're flying together, but we should be going fast enough that no one will be able to get pictures. Even if they did, we'd be gone before the biologists could make it out here to investigate," Nate replied.
"Okay, back to our spell then. I need to tweak it a little so the eagles can see us. We don't want any midair collisions. Now you see us, now you don't; make it so our friends see us, but others won't."
"Since they can still see us, how do we know it worked?" Nate asked.
"Good question. Hold on just a sec." We were still in town, so I flew down the block to the closest house and knocked on the door. It seemed like the simplest way to test.
A man opened the door and looked around. He acted like no one was there and shut the door in my face. I flew back to the others. "It works. Let's get this show on the road," I said as I took flight. "Lead the way guys."
After a couple of hours flying at high speeds, we reached our destination. The eagles picked a rocky area and landed, so we followed. Okay, moment of truth. The phoenixes in the group switched back to humans and thank goodness our clothes were intact.
"Looks like you can save us a bundle on our clothing bill, if you just enchant all of our clothes. I wonder how many you can do at once. I assume our whole closets won't be anything for you," Nate said giving me a kiss. For once he didn't sound scared about me being able to do something special.
"I'll have to do some tests as soon as we return to New York," I replied.
"You going to change us back anytime soon?" Joseph asked.
"Sure. As fun as it was, eagles are not their fate; return them to their previous state." Clearly, all the rhyming books I'd read as a child were coming in handy.
"Awesome. We even have our clothes," Gary said. "I was a little worried they may somehow go missing in between the changes."
"It's a pretty handy trick," I said as I rubbed my temple. For some reason, my head started pounding like jack hammers were having a party.
"Everything okay?" Nate asked, the concern I was used to back in his voice.
"Just a little headache. I'm sure it will go away soon. Let's see if we can find any wildlife," I said, and started walking off in whatever direction I deemed good.
The others followed behind and I came to a stop on a small cliff.? "So this is the Bering Sea?" I asked, looking out at the breathtaking view.
"That it is. This group of islands is called the Walrus Islands. In the summertime the shores are covered with over a thousand walruses. During the winter, you can probably find some foxes and such roaming around, but the main attractions are hard to find," Liam informed us.
"So, in the summer what else can you see here?" Gary asked.
"Sea lions, seals, and whales can be seen around the different islands. A lot of birds also nest on the islands. Mostly kittiwakes, which you would probably think are gulls. There are some puffins and parakeet auklets though that the girls would like," Kyle answered.
"It's still beautiful, even if we don't get to see all the animals. With the return trip eating up most of the day, do you guys want to wander around a little more before we head back?" Nate asked.
"I think that would be fun," Miranda said. "You guys are still invisible to everything but us, so you might be able to get up close and personal with the wildlife you can find."
After walking around for at least an hour, we didn't find any new friends for me to play with. There also weren't any people around, so we did whatever we wanted, which included games of tag and hide-and-seek. Our fun came to an end when everyone started getting hungry. We decided to head back and have an early dinner. When dinner was over, I called it a night, so I could rest and try to get rid of the headache that was still gently throbbing.
CHAPTER 27
Confidence - the feeling you get before understanding the situation