Channei loved being a magpie. Those damn birds could get away with murder and no one would think twice about it. Once Ami swatted her off the rail, she flew back up to Master Qila, giddy as the real bird, and landed at the old woman's feet. She tugged at Qila's bootlaces to get her attention, then spouted a few words. "Ami's on the lift."

"Well done, Channei." Qila stared dead ahead and showed no real sign of being pleased. "Let Yayaba know what's happening. I doubt we'll need her, but just in case."

Channei nodded her head and took off. The wind swept her up like she weighed nothing. She listened for the lightningfisher's calls amidst the howling gusts and eventually spotted Yayaba taking off from the cliffs and diving down into the valley below.

Knowing she wouldn't be able to keep up as a magpie, Channei became a falcon. Easy enough to remember, given how many nested on the mountainside. She folded her wings inward and dived after Yayaba. Together, they plummeted down into the valley. Yayaba threw her wings back out just before hitting water. Her clawed foot skimmed the river and splashed Channei's feathers. Channei grabbed onto Yayaba's neck spines with her talons and tried to yell over the wind. "Yaya, sis! Listen up!"

Yayaba snapped her jaw open and cracked a whip of lightning across the water's surface. Then she grabbed a mouthful of stunned fish in her needle-like teeth and bolted them down.

"Master Qila said to let you know she doubts she'll need your help." She omitted everything about Ami. "But I could use a favor."

Yayaba's streamlined head twisted around like a snake's.

"Point me toward Howl Hollow, would you?" Channei asked. "Or a bluehole that'll take me there."

The lightningfisher hollered. Her wingtips splashed against the water.

"I'm not insane, I'm a few steps ahead," Channei snapped back. "Kolo was first spotted there, right?"

Yaya bellowed.

"What, you think the ghosts are gonna get me?" Channei was nearly out of breath trying to keep up with the lightningfisher. Her wings hurt like hell. "Yaya the coward who stayed quiet. Doesn't sound great."

Yayaba took a hard right and landed on the riverbank, scaring away a gaggle of snow geese. She snapped a straggler out of the air and smashed its fragile body against the stones, killing it instantly. Channei landed with her, then returned to the human form she thought most beautiful. Yaya growled at her.

"I'm hungry. Let's share." Channei beckoned with fingers that still looked a little like talons.

Yaya refused to make eye contact.

"Please?" the shapeshifter tried. When that didn't work, she added an apology. "Sorry I called you a coward. But you've gotta prove to me that you're on my side."

Yayaba nipped one of the goose's legs off, then tossed it to Channei. The shapeshifter bit right into it, not caring that it wasn't cooked or even plucked. "Thanks," she said through a bloody mouthful. "So, are you going to help?"

Yaya sighed and folded her neck spines down. Then she lifted her head and pointed it toward the horizon.

"Northeast. Thank you. See? Wasn't that hard." Channei ripped off another strip of raw meat, then patted the lightningfisher's serpentine head. "Enjoy your food. Come get me if if I'm not back soon."

Yayaba grunted.

"Yeah," Channei sighed. "I owe you one." She shifted back into the falcon but found it more difficult that time. Her feathers came in ragged and patchy. That frustrated her. She always wanted to look her best, but eventually she supposed it didn't matter and took off anyway.

Her wings worked just fine. She caught an updraft and soared up toward the clouds. The world grew tiny beneath her. Channei took it all in, exhilarated. The view from the sky never got old.

As she flew to the northeast, another thought replaced the simple joy of flight. She realized she was headed somewhere potentially deadly with no protection of any sort. It was easily the most reckless thing she had done in her entire time at Styzia. She wasn't entirely sure why she felt like she needed to go to that dead village. Curiosity? What would she even find there?

The wind picked up. She tried to fly against it, but with the gusts came freezing rain. It soaked her feathers and froze them to her skin. Channei let out a half-bird and half-human screech, then descended. It was probably safer to wait out this rain on the ground, no matter how much she wanted to push ahead.

She plummeted down to the snow-covered glen, shifted back into her favorite human form, and stretched her arms until they stopped feeling like wings. Shifting always made her ache in strange places, but she felt particularly stiff and sore now. Channei supposed it was because she hadn't practiced the form of a falcon much at all. Some forms were effortless at this point, but it seemed a falcon wasn't one of them.

Channei walked through the snowy field and came to a lone dead tree. Its enormous gnarled branches reached up toward the sky like skeletal hands trying to snatch up the sun. She pressed a hand to its pale gray trunk, then turned to sit with her back against it. The roots propped her up almost like a chair. The shapeshifter smiled and closed her eyes for a moment. Cold rain stung her face.

Maybe sitting in the rain wasn't a good idea, she thought, but told herself the tree shielded her enough that she wouldn't be drenched. "Any time now," she told the sky. "You can stop raining."

It pattered on.

Channei's fingers traced absentminded swirls in the snow. Her throat hurt and she wasn't sure why. She tried to remember the last time she'd had a drink of water. When she realized it had been hours ago, she downed what little remained in her waterskin. That helped somewhat, but her thirst still gnawed at her.

The shapeshifter resisted getting up for as long as she could. She had overexerted herself in flight and only felt it now. For a second, she entertained the idea of calling for Yayaba to haul her back home, but then she imagined trying to explain to Master Qila where she'd been and why. No, not ideal.

Eventually, Channei forced herself up. Easier said than done when her leg muscles protested at the slightest movement. She turned in a slow circle, searching for water nearby. There was a small cliff that divided the field from the forest. Spilling down from it was a trickle of snowmelt. She made her way over to fill her waterskin.

Channei knew her comrades would get on her nerves about filling her waterskin with possibly unclean water. Thankfully, she was alone. She'd never gotten sick from water and couldn't imagine now would be the first time. She put one hand on the wet stone and leaned to catch her breath for a few moments.

As she refilled her water, Channei thought she heard something behind her. It sounded faint, but the moment she looked over her shoulder, he was right there, breathing down her neck. He locked one arm around her chest and held a dagger to her throat with the other. "Styzian filth." The man growled in her ear. "Where are my boys?"

Channei dropped her waterskin and grabbed the arm restraining her. "You really think I'm going to tell you?" She twisted to look up at his face. His eyes were wide and wild with rage. She taunted him again. "You think I have to do anything you say?"

The tip of Haode's blade penetrated her neck just deep enough to draw blood. "If you value your life at all, then yes." He held the dagger up so she could see her blood dripping from it. "I will have them back, whether you stand in my way or not. You might as well make this easier for both of us."

Channei shook her head. "I've seen what you do to them." She clenched her jaw. "Dakko is fighting for his life now, you know that, right?"

"Dakko's been fighting for his life since the beginning," Haode corrected. "And do you know what keeps him alive?"

Channei scowled. "What are you going on about?"

"Love," said Haode. "Love is what keeps Dakko alive. I've hurt him before, yes, but no one will ever love him like I do. I refuse to abandon him even when he falls behind. Even when he's a burden I would do better without." He took a deep breath in. "Until you've carried Dakko a thousand miles, don't claim to know what's best for him or his brother."

Channei nearly vomited.

"And because I love them," Haode hissed, "I'm going to do whatever it takes to get them back. If I have to, I'll wipe out every last one of you monsters. So tell me, where are they?"

"I brought them to Styzia." She almost laughed as she said it. "Not like that'll help you at all. One step into our walls and you'll be history."

"Very well, then." Haode chuckled. The sound of his laughter chilled Channei to her core. "I'll start with you."

He stabbed her.

Channei's eyes and mouth shot wide open. Blood spilled down her neck and chest in a heavy dark red stream. She thought she heard him say something else, but everything sounded muffled, as if her head were underwater. Her eyes rolled. No, she urged herself. No! Focus!

She couldn't picture any new form with clarity. A strange patchwork of fur, feathers, and different shades of skin formed along her arms. In his confusion, Haode loosened his grip just enough that she could break free and run.

Channei felt more lightheaded with each unsteady stride. Her blood splattered the snow. The field was surrounded by trees. If she could make it to the forest, perhaps the terrain would give her an advantage. Right as she had that thought, Haode caught up to her. He grabbed the hood of her coat. "I'm always ahead. I see everywhere you could possibly go."

The knife dug into her back. Channei howled in a dozen different voices all at once. Then she could no longer maintain her shape. She slumped to her knees. All she could think in her tired mind was how much she hated the body she had been born with.

"Who'd have thought?" Haode sneered. "All along, under all those falsehoods, you were a scared little boy."

"You..." Channei choked in the wrong voice, half-laughing, half-sobbing. "You're the only scared little boy I see." She forced a smile on the face that wasn't hers, then crumpled to the cold ground. "I...I hope you die screaming..."

[25] Channei: A Few Steps Ahead

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