Phoenix Reborn (Woodland Creek)(19)

“How can I not have known this?”

“Because all your life you’ve tried to be normal. To fit in. You’ve never noticed that ‘fitting in’ has quite a different meaning here. Oh, yes. There are many young people who don’t understand; who see your fire-starting as terrifying behaviour. But there are others — some whom you know well — who understand. Why do you think I had you come work for me, in an underground bunker? I know that you need a safe environment.”

“So all along you’ve known. But if you say I’m one of these…shifters…what will I turn into?”

Ranach looked into the distance. “That I can’t tell you, though I have my suspicions. If it’s what I think then you are one of the ancient kind. One of the special breed. You will not be a simple house cat or a lizard; that is certain.”

“Ranach, how does this happen? How do I change?”

“For most of your kind it comes naturally, but then most are raised into it, taught from a young age what they are. I have kept the truth from you in order to protect you, and to abide by your parents’ wishes. You see, your kind is sought after by some, and difficult to hide. There are those who would perceive you as particuarly dangerous. And I have always wanted to shield you from harm. But I have wondered at times if I was doing more harm than good, allowing you to feel so much like an outsider in your own community.”

She went quiet for a few moments, uncertain of her emotions. Her hands, flat on the ground, glowed faintly, causing the drops of water on the grass to sizzle quietly.

“Are you angry with me?” Ranach asked.

“No,” she said. “Of course not. I know — I’ve always known — that you wanted to protect me. I didn’t entirely know from what, of course. But now that you’re telling me…this is a lot to take in, you understand.”

“Of course. I know that all too well. But now that you know, we need to get your skills in check. You will be a danger to yourself and others otherwise. And now that you are spending time with a certain young man…”

“You know about that?”

“Absolutely. A wizard knows all.”





8





“Wizard?” By now, Ashling felt that she was falling through her prolonged dream, her head spinning. “What are you saying?”

“Shifters aren’t the only ones attracted to a place such as this. We wizards need magical landscapes as well.”

“You’re…Gandalf?”

Ranach laughed. “Don’t I wish,” he said. “Though my eyebrows are nearly long enough to be his younger brother. I don’t have the hat, though.”

“So you’re essentially telling me that Woodland Creek is home to wizards as well as shifters. That I’ve somehow never known this.”

“Yes. And imagine what a pain it’s been to keep it from you, and how difficult it is for the shifters to keep it from the normal folk.”

“Normal folk,” said Ashling. She smiled. “I always wanted to be one of them. Normal, average. And now, suddenly, I’m not so sure.”

“I’m glad,” said Ranach. “Now, do something for me: close your eyes.”

Ashling obeyed, sealing them shut as the sunlight tried to penetrate her eyelids, causing her inner world to glow orange.

“Try and shut out images of what you’ve seen, of the trees and the grass. Empty your field of vision.”

“All right, I’ll try.”

“Now create a blank canvas. Black or grey — just see nothing, if you can.”

A moment later she replied. “Got it.”

“I’m going to show you something,” he said. “Keep those eyes shut.”

As though a film were being screened in her mind, a large book appeared before her: leatherbound, thick. On its cover were no words; just the image of a bird portrayed in some sort in gold leaf, its wings and tail seeming to trail in flames behind it.

Ashling envisioned herself opening the book, and inside once again she found that there were no words: only pictures in vivid colours. More flames, this time moving, burning in beautiful waves on the page itself.

She gasped.

“It’s all right,” said Ranach. “Keep looking.”

From the flames emerged a bird like the one she’d seen on the cover, shooting into the sky. It soared off into the distance, a trail of embers in its wake. And then it was gone.

She turned the page, but the images had disappeared. Only blank sheets of parchment lay before her. Once again her eyes opened.

“What did I see?”

“You saw what you might become,” he said. “And though I have my suspicions, I don’t want you to tell me. It is to you to discover, when you’re ready. Just be aware, Ashling, that there is danger alongside your world.”

Danger.

She thought of Hawke in that moment. He might be willing to accept her as he knew her, but he didn’t know this: that she was truly a freak of nature. As exciting as it might be to gain the ability to morph into something other than a human, he was just a man. He wouldn’t — couldn’t — understand this.

Still, something inside her felt liberated. At last, she was beginning to know what she was. She almost had an identity for the first time in her life. A shifter — and there were others like her, in this very town. How had she not known this? No doubt she’d even grown up with some of them.