Page 28 of A Light in the Dark

TWENTY-EIGHT

In heels. It was horrific and impressive.

While I’d become angry over having been kidnapped, poisoned, dumped in a river, and left to die, the thought that my home city-state would go so far as to actively participate in a genocide enraged me. While Coraline had shifted due to anxiety, fury took the blame for having decided to shed my frail human form. An explosion of white did an excellent job of making a mess of any plans to act. The substance, thin, stringy, and unexpectedly heavy, grounded me when all I wanted to do was fly, find the assholes behind the probable genocide, and beat them until they never bothered anyone else ever again.

Rather than fly, I waited while a sighing Roger peeled away the gossamer strands doing a good job of pinning me to Moonriver’s leader. “Oh, look. Another case of a shapeshifter pining over a pretty woman and causing trouble for everyone else. ”

I opened my mouth to scold him, and rather than words, I made a squeaking noise.

“Huh. She’s vocal. That’s unusual. Sit tight, Valerie. It seems we won’t be doing another shifter gene test after all. While you didn’t have silvery hair, you did show as having shifter genes in your first test. It seems your love of silk must have been significant enough you went and stole Joel’s genetics. I’m sure you’re heartbroken, learning you can supply yourself with silk. You’re true to form for a luna moth, albeit larger than normal. Your wings are currently non-functional, so try not to panic. You’ll be flying soon enough.”

It took me a shamefully long time to realize the white, gossamer threads were silk ripe for the spinning, in long strands I’d love playing with. Once Roger freed himself, he started picking the silk off me. He worked a hand under me and lifted me off Mr. Stephans, who lolled his tongue in a canine laugh. As I could no longer communicate using words, I settled with more squeaking.

“Coraline, would you mind shifting? I’m going to need help gathering the silk. The first shift silk is pretty precious to flutters, and Joel will have our heads if we don’t at least try to collect the stuff and bring it back. He’s already going to have our heads for irritating her straight into shifting. I’m betting he wanted to do as flutters do and coax her through some long and elaborate plan he hasn’t even had a chance to start planning yet.” The wolf bobbed her head, and without bothering to move, went about transforming. Unlike other shifters I’d seen, her clothes transformed with her. “Why don’t you hand her to me while you dig us out? Ask someone to get a helicopter over us and dump some sacks down so we can gather it up. We can make the pack run the sacks to the cars.”

Roger did as told, and after some conferring on how to prevent damage to my new wings, which wouldn’t be usable for flight for at least twelve hours due to their wrinkled and semi-folded state, Coraline held me in the palms of her hand. The man went to work gathering handfuls of the silk, draping it over his arm and doing his best to keep from breaking any of it.

Even if he did, I’d have no trouble spinning the silk into useful threads and yarns. I observed, squeaking away as the collection of fine strands grew.

“I wish I could just spit out the stuff for my hobbies when shifting,” Coraline said, and she shook her head while laughing. “Wolf fur is not great for turning into yarn, by the way. We’re too bristly. I tried. It was scratchy yarn. I figured I should have Calden brush me and make use of the fur, but no. We’re bristly. And if we do manage to get that crap fur out of our undercoats, we just don’t shed enough to do more than make a mess. As such, I gave up that hobby after a week and returned to reading books, skinning rabbits, and going camping.”

I appreciated the woman’s choice of hobbies, and as I lacked any other way to show my approval, I squeaked at her.

“She really is vocal. Most of the luna moths can’t squeak even if they want to,” the woman said in a rather jovial tone. “Joel’s going to be wailing over being outclassed in all ways. But what’s with her coloration?”

“She’s a rare color strain. There are a few color variants of luna moths found here and nowhere else. Earth’s luna moths only came in one variety; they’d be green if bred during one part of the year or a pale yellow if bred during other parts of the year. She’s the silvery white variety, which is among the rarest of the lot. Do not ask Joel about luna moth colors, Coraline. He will tell you.”

Ah. I remembered the female we’d made comfortable until she’d peacefully passed inside the Sampson family home, and she’d been a glorious silvery white, just like the moon. Unfortunately for me, I couldn’t twist around to get a look at my wings. As there wasn’t anything else I could do, I began the tedious process of learning how my new legs worked, crawling around Coraline’s hands and trying to make sense of the world around me.

After a phone call and some coordination, a helicopter came, dropped bags as Roger requested, and hovered near the river. The gusts from the blades knocked me about, and Coraline turned to shield me before Roger took over, cupped me in his larger hands, and approached the flying machine. Someone inside reached down, placed one of his large hands over me, and eased his other one beneath me, carrying me inside. Once the doors were closed, he released me.

As I didn’t want to fall, I huddled on his palm. The loud sounds reawakened my headache. As I couldn’t do anything to communicate that their flying death trap, which they apparently used to rescue people, worsened my symptoms, I investigated the Hunters.

I recognized two of them as having been on the team that had retrieved Gabriella from my home. As I’d survived a needle to the arm from the one, I picked my way over, working to make my legs do what I wanted. Within a few moments, the one holding me figured out what I was about and handed me over. “It seems she remembers you.”

It amazed me I could hear them over the rotors.

“That’s promising on the concussion front at least.” The Hunter situated me on the back of his hand, and then he stroked a finger along my back. I found the sensation pleasant, and I did my best to lower my wings to offer better access. “I am convinced there is no luna moth alive who doesn’t like someone petting them. What goaded her into shifting? Did Roger tell you when he called in?”

“He’d made the mistake of mentioning the probable genocide of refugees. According to him, she went lava hot from rage before they got blasted with first shift silk.”

The Hunters had a chuckle over the circumstances of my shift, and the one holding me continued to pet me. “We have the better job. They’re going to be picking up silk for hours. The entire flutter will invade if they think even a scrap of it was left behind. And that it’s the first silk of the woman their flutter’s leader is invested in? He’s going to be insufferable.”

“Coraline and Calden are there. I’m sure between the two of them they can wrangle Allasandro and make sure to gather all the silk.”

“Between the three of them, they’re going to be trying to lure a flutter to Moonriver so they, too, can have a silk obsession.”

I settled, made myself as comfortable as I could without being able to ask questions and sate my curiosity, and waited to see what the Hunters would do next—and see a Moonriver hospital for myself.

With luck, I’d be released from the hospital in a hurry and be able to transform back to human so I could get a fixed phone, make a few phone calls, and learn more about what was going on in my home city-state and why.

As Moonriver had more wolves than anything else, the Hunters sent a helicopter to Stonecreek to retrieve someone from Joel’s flutter. According to Roger, who came to keep me company at the hospital, Joel would not be the one they sent.

His concussion had been categorized as severe, and he would not be flying anywhere for at least two weeks. He’d be evaluated to see if he could drive again in a week. Until then, he would be locked up at home and forced to wait.

The edict irritated me, as the poking, prodding, and lectures about being a shifter would have been much easier to tolerate with Joel around. I expressed my irritation in squeaks, and the Hunters resorted to feeding me platters of berries and fruit to shut me up. Then, because luna moths had a reputation around certain flowers, one of them had gotten the idea to bring me a bouquet of roses to entertain me.

In the future, I would tease the luna moths about their rose issues, but I wouldn’t judge them for it.

Roses induced deep relaxation and resulted in a rather excellent nap.

I also learned why gentle bouncing woke luna moths, as the sensation mimicked what my new body registered as flight. However, as my wings were still wrinkly from my first shift and needed time, I failed at flight and squeaked my dismay over the situation .

My boss laughed, and like Roger had, he stroked my back with a finger. “I won the argument over coming as I have known you the closest for the longest. Meri is here, too, as she has medical knowledge about luna moths. Lois had to work, else she’d be here, but you have an appointment with her the instant you’re back in Stonecreek. All the new moths in our flutter have appointments with her. But she will provide you with your favorite treat if you cooperate.”

I settled and issued another squeak, hoping he understood it to be a demand for more information.

“She’s been very vocal,” Roger said, and the concern in his tone amused me.

“Joel can be vocal as well, but it’s very rare. He’s only vocal when we’ve messed something up and he wants us to know it and he’s a luna moth. She probably picked it up from him. If he’s been encouraging her to talk back, the magic probably responded accordingly. Of course, the magic is sometimes more sensible than we are and may understand we need someone willing to talk back to him at her leisure.”

Roger snickered at that. “We were concerned it might be a health issue.”

“I mean, she has health issues, but those will resolve.” My boss bounced me, and I fluttered my wings. To my delight, I discovered hissing was possible. “You said she’s been shifted for about twelve hours now?”

“Yes.”

The petting stopped, and my boss gestured at something on my back, likely a wing. “In shifting luna moths, this sort of wing damage translates to internal injuries of the survival nature, likely bruising. Nothing’s broken; her wings would have shown as broken had she broken anything. Her coloration is a known strain, but nobody has seen it in shifting luna moths until this point. I can tell you where she may have picked it up; Joel took her home, and they just had a hatch with this color morph. More importantly, the female luna moth with the morph was in close proximity until she passed following breeding. Joel informed me he’d shared some of his general excitement over the hatch with her—and how the silvery white was Valerie’s first color morph exposure. The moth was preserved for Valerie to take home, so she’s at her house. I suspect that’s where the color morph genetics came from. It doesn’t help that Valerie seems to be a closet luna moth fanatic.”

As I couldn’t dispute the charges, I turned my attention to the bouquet of roses, which were out of my reach. I pointed in the direction of the flowers and squeaked.

“No, you are not getting stoned on more roses right now,” my boss told me. He carried me over to the platter of fruit and berries, setting me down on the rim. “You can have this. You should probably take those away for a while, else she’ll get stoned on them again. This is what the younglings always do, and once you introduce them to roses, you have to monitor them. The fact her entire place has become a luna moth paradise is not going to be good for our sanity. She’s going to love it, but we’re going to have to distribute keys to her place to get her out of her own roses. Had Joel realized she’d pick up his genetics this easily, he wouldn’t have enabled her quite as much.”

“It usually takes years for the genetics transfer, right?” Roger asked, and he picked up the roses, opened the door, and said something to someone outside before handing over the flowers. “She hasn’t been interacting with him much before now, has she?”

“We think he’s been sniffing at her turf for a week or two now in earnest, although the rescue had them starting their close proximity. Could the rescue have done something to speed the genetics?” My boss moved an orange slice my way. “Eat this, Valerie. It’ll help with your wings.”

“So, I wasn’t wrong about something being up with her wings?”

“It’s one part first shift, one part expression of injuries. She’s massive for a luna moth shifter, and it looks like her wings are being slow to properly straighten. That could be due to a few days with limited calories. When I talked to Joel, she was eating on par with a new shifter, which had caught his attention. He’d assumed, at least before she shifted, that it was because of working extra hours and doing a lot of gardening. She’s physically active.”

“From what Joel texted me, she jumped over a car about to hit her.”

“In heels. It was horrific and impressive.”

Roger grabbed one of the oranges from a fruit bowl, peeled it, and set the whole thing next to me. “Has anyone checked to see if the crash was related?”

“Joel is looking into it.”

As an entire orange beat just a slice, I climbed onto my prize, scrambled to the top, and went to work defeating my latest foe. While mundane luna moths possessed a vestigial mouth, mine came packed with tiny teeth perfect for tearing into fruits, berries, and just about anything I wanted. I hadn’t tried biting someone yet, but if they came between me and my current prize, I’d put them to the test. The orange’s tart yet sweet juice did a good job of revitalizing me, and I fluttered my wings while I snacked.

“Are luna moths usually that fidgety?”

“No. It’s a first shift thing. We flutter our wings normally, but she’s trying to shake her wings out and straighten them. See how she’s making a bunch of small motions rather than slow beats of her wings? Healthy luna moths will keep moving their wings, but she’s trying to get the fluids moving and otherwise prepare for her first flight.” My boss slid his hand under me, and I squeaked my protest over having been separated from my food. Before I had a chance to bite him, he bounced me a few times, and I flapped my wings to stay balanced. “You can actually see how her wings are conforming properly now.”

“And it didn’t take much orange to show visual results.”

My boss returned me to my orange, and I chomped on it, chewing only enough to swallow without choking before taking another bite. “Give her a few oranges and an hour, and I think she’ll be about ready for her first flight. Once she’s tired out enough she won’t try to fly off on us, we can take her home. I’ll make it Joel’s problem to get her shifted back to human. Do you have her silk?”

“We gathered it all,” Roger replied in a rueful tone. “It took us six hours, and there’s roughly five hundred pounds of it.”

“That’s a lot.” My boss made a thoughtful sound and crouched to have a closer look at me before asking, “What color was the silk? Texture?”

“It’s soft, it’s the same color she is, and it’s pretty slick. Tough, too. I doubt it’ll shatter once spun. She got pretty riled up when she shifted. We can have her tested for magical aptitude. That might account for the excess. Isn’t it usually pound for pound in silk on the first shift?”

“It’s not uncommon for there to be some extra silk from the first shift, but it’s usually no more than twenty percent extra. I think she weighs about one thirty. Do you still have a blood sample?”

“We used up the entire vial we got last time running her genetics test for shifting aptitude. In good news, we know her starting point from her first real exposure to Joel, and we can get a blood sample after she shifts. Ideally, we’ll return her to Stonecreek while human. I don’t want her to be defenseless, especially not after what happened.” Roger growled, all the warning I needed he was a wolf in human’s clothing. I kept an eye on him while munching away at my orange. “Are you capable of helping her to shift?”

“I can probably manage, but she’s going to be grouchy. Us luna moths get grouchy when we’re separated from our partner, and she’s been sticking close to Joel. She hasn’t shown any symptoms of separation anxiety while at work, though, but she has been making excuses to go wander up the hill to his place—or giving him reasons to wander down the hill to her place.”

When I thought about it, I realized I hadn’t been precisely subtle about paying my neighbor visits—and I’d resorted to holding him hostage. As I had no reason to protest and wanted to encourage my neighbor to keep visiting me, I focused on devouring my orange so I could learn how to fly.

It took me a few minutes, but I conquered the piece of fruit, and I wandered around the stainless table in search of a new piece. I made it to the basket, climbed up on it, and investigated the offerings. I located an apple, and after experimentation, determined my tiny teeth could pierce the skin, and I helped myself. Once I reached the core, my boss intervened, turned the apple, and said, “We do not eat the cores. Those make us ill. The last thing you need is to get ill.”

With the apple vanquished, my explorations led me to a plum, but the slick texture defied my tiny teeth, and I squeaked complaints over having been thwarted. With some help from a knife, my boss peeled it for me, set my prize on the plate, and moved me over so I could enjoy it.

“Where is all that fruit going?” Roger asked in an incredulous tone.

“Just wait until she starts spitting silk, which should be starting up within the next twenty minutes, especially at her current fruit consumption rate. We’re as close to pure magic as shifters get, and it takes a lot of energy to fuel shifting back to human. Once she has enough calories for the process, she’ll expel some silk, and then I can nudge her along and make her transform. Did she shift with her clothes?”

“She did—either that or it became silk. Can her clothes do that?”

“No. She would have ended up trapped under her clothes and unhappy about it. Those of us who don’t shift with our clothes are very careful to strip first. Joel will be pleased to know she shifts with her clothes. Most of our flutter does, and it stresses him out when he’s worried about luna moths having clothing incidents.” My boss shook his head, went through the basket, and pulled out a mango, peeling it with his knife and setting it on the plate for me. “Valerie, eat this, and then we’ll see about monitoring your first silk production. After that, I’ll see if we can get you shifted so you can have a proper examination. I know you probably want to fly, but let’s save that for when Joel can help, all right?”

I could accept waiting to fly until Joel was around. I tore through the plum and moved on to the mango, and when I finished, my boss worked his hand under me, carried me across the hospital room, and placed me on the bed with a layer of paper towels. “Once you digest, you’ll feel the need to cough. Just let it happen. You’ll cough out silk, and after about ten minutes, you’ll have your very own batch of silk to play with to your heart’s content. You won’t produce much, but we’ll collect it for you anyway. Once you’ve shifted a few times, you’ll start expelling more silk through coughing and less silk from the act of transforming.”

During the wait, my boss explained how the flutter worked, what members were expected to do, how I’d have constant visitors for at least a year until I could learn to resist roses, as he expected Joel would need to peel me off my plants in order to get me going to work for the next while. As Joel’s kidnapper and general keeper, I would be expected to keep an eye on all members of the flutter and maintain my garden for everyone’s enjoyment.

That amused me.

I settled in to wait, hoping everything would be all right at home.