We moved on to Isabella and Austin, the Shamans. Austin went first, standing in the middle of the clearing. He breathed out a loud breath from his mouth, as if getting ready for a run. Then he closed her eyes and concentrated. We were working on astral projecting first.
His eyes flickered under his eyelids, back and forth, back and forth, until his head tilted up and his body fell onto it's back.
Isabella screamed as he fell, it ringing out in the surrounding trees.
I hugged her and told her, "It's alright, he's fine. His spirit just left his body. He'll be back," rubbing her shoulder and supporting her against my body. She nodded, but her face was still stricken, eyes wide.
Autumn frowned as her eyes darted around the clearing, clenching her already-crossed arms against her chest. She reached over, whacked Isabella's shoulder, and said, "Hey, wait. I can see him."
"Where? How?" Isabella asked, perking up.
"Over there," Autumn answered, pointing across the clearing. "And I don't know. He looks like the ghost from before. Is that how it works for Shamans? When they astral project, they roam the same spiritual plane ghosts do?"
I shrugged. "Seems so."
Isabella nodded. "That's it. It has to be, right?"
Autumn nodded.
"It doesn't mean he's..."
"No," Autumn jumped in immediately. "He's fine, like Vera said."
Autumn's eyes tracked Austin for a few more minutes, then he returned to his body, his eyes twitching again right before he came back, gasping for breath. He sat up, dead leaves sticking to his shirt.
"Are you okay?" Isabell asked, rushing to his side.
"I'm fine. Just a little winded." He smiled. "What else can I do?"
I flipped through his file. "It says you can also heal, but it doesn't say how."
"I guess just concentration," Austin guessed in a cheery voice, sitting up. "Anybody got an injury?"
"I do," Sakura volunteered.
"Where?" Austin asked, turning to her.
"On my leg. I scraped it on the way here."
I looked at it with Austin, a small scrape scabbed over low on Sakura's shin.
"So how does this work?" Sakura asked, crouching on the ground.
Isabella scanned his file pages. "It says the Shaman just has to concentrate on healing another person, and it should happen within a few moments."
Austin nodded, and placed his hands hovering over Sakura's leg, his eyes closed. He lowered his head and focused his thoughts.
Soon enough, a warm, yellow-gold glow emanated from his hands, bathing Sakura's leg in the same glow. The scratch's red color started to fade, then disappeared altogether. Austin opened his eyes, as if sensing he was done, and the glow burnt out.
Sakura gave an excited laugh. "That felt so weird. My scrape started to tingle before it went away." She laughed again. "That's pretty sick."
Austin stood up and laughed with her. "If only I knew I had this ability my whole life. Would've saved me a lota pain."
"Alright, now it's my turn," Isabella announced.
We moved onto Isabella, and started the same way we did with Austin. She took her turn in the middle of the clearing, closed her eyes, and concentrated on astral projecting. After about a minute, she opened her eyes and growled, "It's not working."
"Maybe you're a late bloomer," Austin teased.
Isabella rolled her eyes at him, but there was a look of fear beneath the surface.
"Let's try healing then," I suggested.
Isabella nodded.
"Here," I started, "I scraped my hand with a tree branch during my last shift. You can heal that."
Isabella nodded again.
We sat down together, and she put her hands over my hand, and closed her eyes. She concentrated for a moment, and suddenly a jet of water came streaming out her hand. The water shot directly towards my face with enough force to push me over.
Isabella pulled her hand back and closed her fingers around her palm. "How did I do that?"
Shawn looked through her file while I sat up, spitting water out of my mouth, blinking it from my eyes, and snorting it out of my nose.
"Well, that was refreshing," I added, and get a smile from Isabella, which was enough for me.
Then Shawn said, "There's nothing about powers like that in here. Maybe it's wrong?"
"But Austin's a shaman. Why am I not?" Isabella asked.
"Maybe the file just meant one of us would most likely be a shaman, considering our heritage. Maybe you're something else entirely," Austin speculated.
"But that doesn't make sense," Sakura started. "I mean, I know none of this makes sense, but genetics are still genetics, right?"
"Maybe you have a mixed Supernatural family," I guessed, "and you turned out to be something else?"
"But what?" Autumn questioned.
"And what else can you do?" I added.
"Then let's figure it out," Isabella stated with determination.
"So," Shawn started, seeming deep in thought, "It seems water is your power, and you can create it without needing it to be around in order for you to use it, which is nice. But is that it? Creating water?"
Isabella shrugged. "I don't know. But what Supernatural type does this make me?"
"I've never heard of one that can do what you do," I said, "But then again I've never heard about one that can do what I do either, so you could be anything."
"So let's test it out," Autumn added.
Isabella nodded, and we got started. We decided for her to concentrate again, but it was a bit more difficult since she didn't know what she was supposed to imagine. But she managed it.
The clearing filled with silence as the water started streaming from the center of her palms, swirling together in a sphere of water. She stopped the flow of water, but kept her hands out. Then she moved them around the sphere and started pulling her hands apart. The water reacted to her hands, stretching along with them until it was a long staff.
It spun to be vertical when she twisted her hands around it again, not losing its shape. She smoothed over the edges, and made the top edge end in a sharp point, and the other flat.
"You guys like?" Isabella asked.
I nodded with a faint laugh.
"Let me try something," Isabella murmured.
We all nodded, backing up slightly.
Isabella held her hands out again, and focused on the water spear she'd created. After a moment or two, a... shimmer flashed over the spear. It smoothed out all the rough edges and made the water look... different. Less fluid, and more solid. Not ice, but a bit like glass.
Isabella put her hands down and caught the water spear with her right hand as it fell from the air as her hands fell. She hefted the staff and spun it in her hands with a pleased expression on her face.
Then she turned and tossed it to me. I caught it, and thought it would turn back into water in my hands, but it didn't; it stayed firm. I felt it in my hands. It had a glass feel to it, slick and soft, but lighter, as if it weighed no more than a feather. I smiled, and got one back from Isabella.
I bent over and tapped it against the ground. It responded with a clanking sound that sounded oddly metallic.
"How does it stay in shape?" I asked.
"As long as I concentrate on it, it'll stay that way," Isabella answered. "But if I don't..." she trailed off and the spear turned to water in my hands, soaking into the ground.
I wiped my hands on my jeans, but couldn't help but smile. No matter what else our parents messed up, this was all pretty cool. I wanted to cherish this memories, and tuck them away in my brain, to stay untouched.
Then we continued through her training. And to sum it up, we discovered that she can she can make water, take it away, generate a lake's worth of water instantaneously, harden it into weapons, shields, rope, and things like that as another form of defense. And by hardening I didn't mean "turn into ice". It was kind of like solid water, but it wasn't cold. A bit like glass, but not really. Something else entirely.
It was a bit fun to watch, to be honest. Especially when she got to shaping the water and then hardening it. What Isabella would do was create the water, control it into the shape she wanted, and then harden it, smoothing over all the bumps and imperfections on the surface, like when she made the shield.
Then we tested the objects durability, and as long as Isabella kept her focus, it would never shatter. My mind went straight to comparing her to Green Lantern and his power ring from the DC comics. But when I made that comment, it was not appreciated. Mostly, anyway. Sakura thought it was funny, but her and I were the only ones who liked comic books, let alone read them.
Then it was my turn. I was kind of dreading this, but I had to push through it. It was a bit embarrassing to go now, after it came to easily and painlessly to Sakura. Now I had to show them all what I went through, and how much pain it brought me. But I took a deep breath, and did it anyway.
I stripped down to my swimsuit, shoving my clothes in a lopsided pile to the side. I'd never tried to shift before; it just came in my sleep. But I tried this time, crouching to the ground and closing my eyes. I did the opposite of what I did when I wanted to shift back: I imagined myself as an owl, through each step of my transformation, and the final result, snatching at the memories from my last shift, and what I thought I looked like.
Then I started. It first felt like a pulse, starting in my core and emanating out towards the rest of my body, spreading all the way down to my fingertips. Then that pulse turned into fire, hot and boiling and coursing through my veins.
My breath hitched as I choked back a yowl. I ducked my head down moments before the planes of my face started to change, curling my fingers in and clenching the dirt under me. The top layer of my skin started to feel like it was vibrating, which was new.
Then the feathers came. They pierced through my skin, each one feeling like getting stabbed with a sharp needle, but in tenfold. They pricked up all over my body, but predominantly on my arms and so-to-be-wings. That time I couldn't bite back my scream. It ripped free from my throat. I clenched my teeth and cut it off, but it turned into a keening wail, whistling through my teeth.
The feathers pierced through my skin all the way, making me howl again. I was trying to be quiet, but it wasn't really working. So I let the screams rip, making my chest feel lighter, the Shift feeling a little easier.
I laid my head down on the soft ground and felt my body shrink and change into my new form. That part didn't hurt as much, but just felt like small cramps bubbling up in my joints, but they faded quickly.
I stood up, the transformation complete. That was also the first time I didn't black out. Maybe that only came in the beginning, when I didn't choose to Shift, Or maybe they disappeared with time, each Shift easier than the last one. I hoped for the latter. God, I hoped the latter was true. I hoped and prayed for it.
My friends had the same reaction to me that they had towards Sakura, but their looks held more sympathy than for her, seeing my painful change. I didn't really expect much from them during this part. I mean, what could they do? The answer was nothing. They could do absolutely nothing to help me. I felt slightly ashamed, like my Supernatural type was inferior in some way because it hurt. In my head I knew that wasn't true, but my heart didn't know that. Didn't see that.
Isabella approached me and knelt on the ground. "That's pretty sick, Vera."
I chirped at her, and she laughed.
"Considering what I think you just tried to say, I'm going to forget you just said that." Isabella smiled again, which made my heart beat a little harder.
If I could've smiled back, I would have. But I couldn't. So I settled for a prank of sorts. I spread my wings out to their full width, and took to the air. Isabella stood up, her face shocked, but not scared.
I got high enough, then landed on Bella's head.
She laughed, moving under me. The others laughed to, calling out teases, both to me and Isabella, this a brighter spot in our day.
Then I spread my wings and soared off her head, beating my wings faster and faster, circling above at astonishing speed. Okay, I was showing off a little bit, but it felt good. It was a release from the pain this brought, like a sweet treat after running a marathon. But my wings grew tired from inuse after a little while, so I spun back down to the ground in lazy circles.
I fluttered my large wings and landed, my talons sinking into the soft ground. I was ready to shift back, but I didn't know how to tell them that. I took a short flight over to my clothes and picked my jean hem up in my beak.
Sakura understood and brought my clothes to the middle as I flew away, winging towards the center of the clearing. I landed and folded my wings into my sides. Then concentrated again, imagining myself in my head. What I looked like. What I sounded like. How I moved.
It came then. The pulse, the fire, the pain. It was always less painful to Shift back to my normal self. I guess I understood that; human was my main form, not owl.
I came back to my normal self with less screaming than when I left it. I grew back into myself, feathers disappearing, body growing, face changing, all that. When I came back I felt colder. I opened my eyes and pulled my swimsuit on, then my clothes. I was still tugging my shoes on when Autumn called out, "Descent?"
"Yes," I answered, bent over to my other foot now. Then I stood up and said, "Now onto the fun part."
Isabella smiled. "The magic."
I wasn't really sure how it worked, but then again, none of us were. So I held my hands out in front of me and focused all my energy to my hands. After a few moments, a small sphere started to form, hovering over both of my hands. Then it grew almost instantaneously to the size of a softball. The base color was a soft white, but it had crackling red energy sparks circling around it, sparking and hissing at each other. A couple red energy sparks touched my skin, and I expected them to sting or burn, but I didn't feel them.
I spread my hands apart and the energy ball split in size, one side going with each hand. Then the two orbs started rapidly growing again, until they were the same size as before.
"Where should I send these?" I asked my friends.
"Wait," Autumn called out. She stepped forward and drew an X in the dirt around the same area where she drew her Necromancy symbols. "There," she said when she was done, standing up. "Aim for that X."
I drew in a deep breath, then threw the energy ball from my right hand at the X. It hit it square in the middle, sizzling the ground below it and around it, like a miniature bomb went off. The earth had blackened and charred, smelling like fire.
I threw the other fireball near it, and it had the same result. I held my hands in front of me, marveling at the destruction I just caused. For all these years, I had these powers inside of me, and never knew they were there. I felt like I was robbed of something, all those years growing up thinking I was just a regular girl.
I tried to conjure up other things, but I couldn't seem to do it. Frustrated, I pulled out my file pages. It said that I could do both offensive and defensive spells, and I wanted to try my defensive ones next.
I told my friends this, and Shawn and Isabella offered to play-spar with me to help my magic come to the surface.
Isabella went first, and generated another water spear and hardening it. She held it in both hands, and came at me with it. I put my hands out in front of me, fingers spread, and right before Isabella's spear would've hit me, a transparent shield with hints of light blue along the edges enlarged itself from my hands, blocking Isabella's blow.
She stumbled back, and tried to penetrate my shield again, but it held firm. I thought it was a bit like Isabella's powers; as long as I kept my concentration, the shield wouldn't brake.
Then Isabella let her spear become liquid again, falling into the ground. Isabella stepped back and said, "Shawn, it's your turn."
He nodded and approached me.
I made my shield bigger as he came closer, stretching my hands out wider, then longer, so it covered more of my body.
Shawn started jogging then punched my shield. I felt a shudder through my body, but my concentration never broke, so it stayed intact. He punched it two more times, and then a third. It was getting weaker, the strain showing on my face.
An idea sprung into my mind. So they next time Shawn backed up, I sprung my plan into action. My current shield morphed into a square shape, then grew into a 3-D version of one, sides extending out from the flat square, then closing off on the opposite side as my shield and over the top. Then I mentally told it to float up over Shawn's head, then slam down over him, trapping him.
He started punching the walls, but the more he punched them, the stronger I got, filling me back up with the energy I exerted fighting against him. Then he stopped hitting it and backed up. "Alright Vera, you win."
I smiled and mentally told the box to disappear. And it did, dissipating into the air. I kept trying, having Isabella come at me again, and found out I could levitate her. Not very high, only a few feet, but it was cool. It drained my energy pretty quickly though, so I put her down.
I also figured out I could put people to sleep. It could create a dark blue mist, and if inhaled, sent a person to sleep. I accidentally did that to Austin, but I was also able to wake him up with a dark red mist I created the same way.
But then I was done. I wondered if I figured out my special spell yet, or if I didn't have one yet. But I'd never really know unless I spoke to another Lechuza.
Shawn was last. It was his turn to shift into his animal form, a black panther. He did what both Sakura and I did; stripped down to his bathing suit, crouch low to the ground, and focus on the change.
So that's what he did. It came after a minute or two, his skin rippling, muscles tightening. His skin changed, his thick black fur pushing through his tan skin. His body started changing then, limbs shifting towards a new center of gravity, face narrowing, torso shrinking.
Each change brought on a new wave of cries, making me wince every time. I thought about what I must've looked like to our friends, going through my Shift. I saw as each spasm hit Shawn, the others wince along with me. Sympathy. That's what it came down to. And that they all were glad that they didn't have our same problem.
I cleared my mind and returned my focus to Shawn. His arms and legs were readjusting themselves into his new form, bending into new stances, seemingly breaking as they did. Then the black hair covering his body thickened into a gleaming coat. His face planes shifted, also covered in fur. Then a long tail sprouted from his back, curling around his back paws.
He lifted his head and his eyes met mine. Black panther eyes. He was done. He had turned.
Shawn stood up, stumbling slightly on his front legs. When he stood up, I really got a good look at him. He was about as tall as my mid-thigh, but probably about as long as he normally is tall: over six feet, including his long tail. His face was wide, with big eyes, flat, wide nose, big pointed ears, and long whiskers coming from his small snout. His paws were big, with claws curved and sharp. His legs were thick and well-muscled, along with his core.
He walked towards us, slowly and surely, making sure he didn't twist an ankle. Isabella and Autumn backed up when he got closer, but Sakura, Austin, and I stayed put, our eyes trained on Shawn. He sat in front of us and curled his tail in close to his body. Then he let out a high-pitched chirp.
I laughed along with Sakura, and laughed even harder at the expression on his face that all-too-clearly said, "Did I just make that noise? Was it as high-pitched as it sounded to me?"
When we continued laughing, with Austin, Isabella, and Autumn joining in, Shawn hissed at us, which made the laughter stop.
Then he tried out running, backing up from us. He tried out the positions first, doing sort-of lunges on four legs, then running around the clearing at full speed, nothing more than a black blur of motion. He finally skidded to a stop, dirt flinging out everywhere.
I walked towards him and whispered, "Is it still you in there?"
He bobbed his head up and down.
"See, I was right."
I didn't know panthers could roll their eyes, but Shawn managed it.
I smiled. "You know, I could get used to this whole not-being-able-to-talk thing." Then I grew more serious. "You wanna try shifting back now?"
He nodded gain, bobbing his head up and down.
Austin collected his clothes and set them in the middle of the clearing for him. We all turned our backs and gave him some privacy.
I could hear him shifting back though. Animal ears, I guess. I could hear his sharp intake of breath. His bones cracking. Skin rippling. Fur receding. The inhuman cries and grunts. Then a human gasp, and he was through it. He shrugged his clothes on, then said, "I'm descent."
We turned back around and he was grinning. "We did it."
I nodded and smiled. "We did it."