I stared at the note and the plate of meat and gave Shiners a questioning look. How does Charlie know about me? Or did he realize that I had spent the night here? But if that was the case what's the deal with the ground beef, rather than a burger or something? I looked around the place for any answers, but as far as I could tell there weren't any.

Shiners gave the plate an inquisitive look. I was keeping an eye on you but from a distance. I had a feeling that you would be turning into a bird. But I didn’t know what kind, and how much of you would be there at first. Would you attack me as food if you saw me? So it’s possible that he found you as you transformed. We will have to ask him, but chances are it’s too late to ask him tonight.

Well, I’m a little relieved if he knows about me, but also nervous, and scared. Will he react violently, or suspiciously? Hopefully, the food is a good sign that he won’t be a threat. I eyed the food as I gave it a sniff and glanced over toward Shiners, I assume it’s safe? I mean I know it’s dangerous for predators to eat food left out. But I doubt anyone wanting to harm me would put their name on it, especially not Charlie. And who else would even know what happened?

Shiners chuckled a bit. It looks fine, and you were saying that you were hungry. I would eat it, and heck, if you don’t mind, may I have a little bit myself? Saves me from finding something that's been dead for a few days.

I laughed. Go ahead, I doubt that I can eat all of this, and you're my friend, I can’t leave you starving while I eat. Now that I'd said I was going to, I realized it would be harder then I thought. My beak was designed to tear stuff, not grab stuff that was nice and soft. I leaned down first to try to grab the meat with the hook of my beak. Next, I leaned to the side to scoop some of the meat into my beak and it was a little more successful. From there, I could finally taste the meat. I got more nuance in the flavours, but it wasn't super sharp and dominating. It was a strange mix of sensations.

Shiners moved over and more gracefully grabbed some of the meat in his beak and ate along with me. The taste is pretty strong to me, but I don’t know what your taste is like now, or what it used to be. Either way, I’m happy about this, we will have to thank Charlie tomorrow, he said.

I gave a nervous nod, as I was more than a little concerned about how such a conversation would go. Well, hopefully, that will go well…and that you don’t get completely bored of having to speak for me. I’m getting full and probably should get some rest after all of the excitement today.

He gave a nod and finished up. Well, we may have to figure out an easier method to communicate. Though if Charlie does know what you are and accepts you, he should be able to help too.

Whatever happens, having you around is a good thing. I finally voiced something that was on my mind for a while, Why are you helping me? I mean I’m glad that you are, but what's so special about me?

He shrugged his shoulders. Like I said I felt connected to you, maybe it’s because of you being a shapeshifter and me being smarter then most ravens. Or that we can both talk to each other. Ever since I found that shapeshifter in the past, I’ve wanted to talk with someone else. The few times I tried talking with humans that were not like you…it didn’t go too well. And I’ve not met any other animals like myself that could communicate as we are. It could just be selfish, but by helping you, I won’t be so lonely. I'd have a friend.

I get that. I can't imagine how lonely I would be without you. I could have tried talking to my parents or Charlie, but that wouldn’t work. At best they might treat me like a pet. Even if my family doesn’t accept me, having you here to teach and help me will be great. But I really do hope that I will be able to go home. With a bit of difficulty, I placed my wing over his back as a sign of friendship. But I’m starting to get sleepy and we should probably rest, that way I can be refreshed for whatever problems arise tomorrow.

Shiners gave a nod and looked around. We should be safe here for the night, plus I’m sure that this is where Charlie will show up.

I nodded and moved to a corner away from the door and window, to be away from anything sneaking in. I yawned as it had been a crazy long day. There were still many things that didn't undertand, not the least of which was that I was now an eagle. And being human again seemed like something far off in the future. I glanced over to Shiners as he settled in next to me, giving me what must have been a smile before closing my eyes. The cold bothered me a little bit, but not enough to keep me awake.

-------

“Mike, wake up, time to go to school.” was the first thing I heard the next morning. That was followed by a light poke against my side as I tried to shoo the poking with a hand. “SKREE” was all that got out instead of the, ‘let me go back to sleep'. The skree confused me for a moment as I opened my eyes to glare at my mom. Instead, I turned to see Charlie laughing next to me as he poked me with a finger. Shiners was trying not to laugh next to me.

Why was Charlie in my bedroom, and a raven…for that matter why was it so cold? I looked around and immediately all the memories came flooding back to me. I groaned a little bit. So I guess yesterday wasn’t a dream, was it?

Shiners shook his head, chuckling as he repeated what I said to Charlie.

He shrugged “I was pretty sure it was a dream…I was not at all expecting you to actually be an eagle.”

Giving the best grumble that an eagle could, I asked, Well, how did you even find out I was an eagle? Last I saw you, I was running from school and you were in the classroom.

Charlie shrugged as Shiners repeated my words again. “I was going to continue the test. I figured I would check in with the nurse after the class and see how you were doing. Instead, I looked out the window in time to see you running off into the woods and worried that something worse was happening, I finished the test as quickly as possible, though I'm probably going to get a bad score, and then I followed after you.”

You didn’t have to do that for me. I’m glad you know…but I would have been fine.

That's how you followed me., But it still doesn’t explain to me being an eagle. And you seem rather calm about it. I could only imagine how I would react if I had seen Charlie turn into an animal. While I was trying to act calm, the concern and weirdness I was experiencing were under the surface. The only thing that kept me from completely panicking was the fact that Charlie and Shiners were here. Without them, I could only imagine how I would react.

“By the time I got out you were long gone. I did follow your tracks through the snow. Since few people have been out this way since the last snowfall, it was fairly easy to find your path off the trail. I took a couple of detours first. When I finally reached the fort, I could hear movement from inside and saw you move past the door and out of sight. And by the time I climbed into the fort all I had time to see was your clothes on the floor, While a large eagle jumped out the window and flew off,” Charlie explained. There was a look of wonder and amazement in his eyes, but he also looked like hed accepted what had happened.

I gave a full-body wince at his words. I could only imagine how crazy that looked. Not sure how I would react there.

Shiners finally spoke up for himself, “I wish that I had noticed this, I could have helped him with it all.”

Charlie nodded.“To be fair, while the thought of you becoming an eagle was in my mind, My first thought was that you jumped out the window naked. No idea why, but it seemed more reasonable than you turning into an eagle after quickly looking around, I had to accept that something weird had happened, plus your dreams, and how you acted Sunday. That’s when I went home, got you some food, and let your parents know that you would be staying with me. I didn’t know if I would ever see you again, or if I did, how much of your human self would still be there. But the last thing I wanted to do was make things worse when you went home if you were able to.”

Shiners gave a small sigh. I didn’t tell him yet that you're likely not turning human again for a while, as I figured you might want to.

I sighed deeply as best as an eagle could, which sounded more like a snort. I nodded to Shiners before speaking, About going back to family and turning human. I probably won’t be turning human again any time soon. Apparently, I need to do something first, though Shiners doesn’t know what. But I would like to try to…let my parents know what's happened to me. I was hoping that maybe with you and Shiners they would understand. Though I don't know how I would be able to stay home without causing problems. Can’t have an eagle walking around, and I doubt my sister would be able to avoid revealing my secret. I know she wouldn’t purposefully, but it could slip out.

Charlie stared at me for a few moments after hearing this. “Wait, hold on. You telling me you're going to be an eagle for a while?”

Sounds like it, I said. BUT on a good note, I wonder if I can turn into the other animals I’ve been feeling. It’s quiet right now, but in the last few days, I was trying to turn into a panther. Maybe I can turn into a wolf…and try my best to pass off as the new family pet; a wolf-dog. It would make it much easier for me to get around and be with the family…assuming they accept me. Though I have no idea how I would turn. Saying all this finally got some of the thoughts that I’d been having came to the surface. How about we meet after school and discuss this some more? It’s probably getting close to the time school starts.

Charlie thought for a moment. “That could work. We will need to speak with your family today or tomorrow. But in the long term being able to pose as a dog would be a good thing,” he said.

Shiners nodded. “I can try to help him. It will probably take a few days, but if you try really hard you should be able to. The dreams would imply you can turn into them, too.”

Charlie finally looked to me with a very questioningly look, “I’ve been meaning to ask this…but how exactly are you an eagle? You had those really wacky weird dreams, yes, but those were just dreams. Is this something you’ve been secretly able to do for a while and didn’t tell me? Just how is any of this even possible? If John or Frank told me about this I would have thought they were playing a joke or gone insane." he says.

I cringed a little bit, No, it’s something that just happened. Yesterday I dreamed of meeting an eagle…and when she touched me I turned into what you see. I flew from the nest, and the next thing I knew, I was flying for real and crashed into the snow. And no, before you ask I wasn’t hurt, just confused. I don’t know why I turned into this eagle, or what any of it means. It’s both exciting and scary. I have no explanation for any of this, or why it's happened. I just know that I'm an eagle now, that or I'm having a mental breakdown. Saying this out-loud finally let me admit to others what I was thinking and feeling.

Charlie frowned, “I can imagine it is scary and exciting, but you have me here and shiners, and with luck, your parents will be there too. Whatever happens, we will figure this all out. Assuming I haven't gone completely loco.” he half-joked.

We all nodded as Charlie stood up. “Well, I should get to school. You two want to follow me?” he asked.

I nodded. it would give me a chance to get more flying practice. Have you told anyone else? Like Frank and John. I have no idea how they will react.

“No I haven’t, and probably best for now that we don’t. the fewer people that know, the less trouble it might cause. At least for now,” he said. “I knew that it would bother you, but we can maybe tell them in time. Though I'm not sure how readily they would believe it either.”

Maybe if things don’t go well with my parents we can let them know. That way I have some backup. But for now, yeah let's not tell, I said. It frustrated me, but what else could we do. The more people we told, the bigger the chances of there being complications of some kind.

Charlie climbed out and gave me a thumbs-up as I stepped to the doorway. I had a moment of vertigo as it looked so high up now. I dropped down, then flew up into the air.

Shiners followed after me. Try to glide while you can. One thing that will help is the air that pushes up from the ground. I'm not sure where you would find it here, but I see eagles do it all the time. That should help you glide longer and use less energy.

I gave a small nod. I heard about thermals in school, though I didn't know much about them. Something about hot air rising, and it would make sense that it might help a bird. I circled above as best as I could, probably flapping my wings more than was needed as I kept watch on Charlie below. He looked up occasionally to smile, and we soon reached the school. I swooped down carefully and pulled back up above the tree line to give him a skree, which was my attempt at saying, “have a good day.” That obviously didn’t come out. He gave a thumbs up and went inside.

Shiners called back to me, he left us some more meat at the fort. We should eat some of that and then get to practicing flying and maybe seeing if we can start you towards shapeshifting into another animal.