But I could still think like myself, I hadn’t lost control. A knot that was twisted tight inside me loosened, just a little.Does this mean I can fly?
Ican fly.Youwould undoubtedly crash.
Probably. But I spread my wings and admired the sensation of the wind tugging at my feathers.
Cara watched me. “So this is your third form—you have the equine, the Wyvern, and now, a Gryphon.”
There is one other. But I can’t identify it,Iskar said.
I passed it on to Cara. “I’ve called on it once,” I confessed.
She stared at me. “You let it emerge?”
I nodded. “And managed to get it to go away again. But it wasn’t easy. And it tries to take control when I get upset.”
Her mouth twisted. “But Iskar still doesn’t know what it is?”
“No.”
That troubled her, I could tell. “If it starts to emerge, do you think you can stop it?”
I swallowed. “I don’t know.”
She rubbed her temple. “Maybe Havoc should go alone.”
No.I needed to go on this mission.
Tell her this is fated,Iskar stated emphatically. That you must be a part of this, and she should not interfere.
When I passed that on to her, she eyed me. “Did Iskar tell you that?”
I nodded.
“You know this can go all kinds of bad,” she said.
“Havoc has mated her. Riley believes she is linked to Rafael,” I said, and then paused.
“And what about you?” the Watcher asked.
“I just want her safe,” I whispered.
“To think I used to consider Dragons stubborn.” She rolled her eyes. “They’ve got nothing on Centaurs.” She stepped in close to the creature I’d become, and grabbed me by the tip of my beak.
“You’d better be right about this, old man,” she said.
I am neither old, nor a man,Iskar huffed.
I didn’t pass it on, but held my breath until she released me, clapped her hands together, and said, “Okay, put the feathers away. You have a mission to go on.”
I exhaled in relief. “I’m good to go?”
The Watcher nodded. “The Gryphon will be your go-to, though. The Wyvern will fight you until the ends of time. I doubt it will ever be reliable. And until you get back, hold back on the mystery option. If you can’t visualize it, you run the risk of losing yourself when you shift.”
“Okay.” With my mind at ease now that I knew I was going to help Riley, I realized that I would have found a way to do it, regardless of how Cara might have felt.
Hold onto your butt,Iskar warned me.This might sting a little.
Great—The first paroxysm shot through me, and all coherent thought evaporated as my body writhed its way back to human.
