Panthera Spelaea
Freedom of Flight

I woke up at four in the morning. I tried to go back to sleep, unsuccessfully, as my sleep schedule is shit from the naps and travel.

The girls didn’t wake as I slid out over Anna to the side of my bed. I grabbed clothes out of my dresser as quietly as I could. By the time I reached my bathroom, Anna had rolled into the warm spot and had an arm over Svetlana’s waist.

I took a shower, something we should have done after last night’s debauchery. There was something about having wild sex in your parent’s house that was deliciously naughty. The girls obliterated any memories I had of other women in my room, and we’d finally fallen asleep about one in the morning in a sticky, sweaty mess. I finished up and got dressed, leaving a note that I was going out for a run.

My father purchased the Quiet Waters Ranch outside of Danbury, Texas, in 1983. The three hundred and twenty-seven-acre property started as a private hunting and fishing property. Located equally south of Houston and west of Galveston, it wasn’t far from the office or the field.

By the time I was born, an existing 126-acre lake stocked with Florida-strain largemouth bass regularly gave up ten-pound plus lunkers. Four smaller lakes and ponds got added as I grew up, focusing on forage fish, fishing for kids, or duck hunting. It became an executive retreat for his company, with RV hookups and a small cabin allowing overnight stays. Lewis Cantwell closed many a business deal from the back of his bass boat over the years. Technology and growth eventually let him work from home instead of his downtown Houston office, and he built their dream home on this property when I was eight.

I stretched against the pool house and set off into the expansive property. I no longer jogged because I wouldn’t break a sweat. Instead, I ran at full speed for miles and miles. What used to take me an hour to run was over in twenty-six minutes, so I did another circuit. The darkness didn’t bother me, as my lion vision could see perfectly in the soft moonlight. I passed the pole barns and RV park, then curved left along the ATV trail at the edge of the property. I had to hold my Lion back from taking off after a wild boar; that could happen later. It probably wouldn’t be best to return to the house covered in the blood of a fresh kill, and even Consuela might not appreciate the bacon delivery.

When I got back, I scented Melanie outside. I found her in the hot tub, staring out over the yard towards the ducks in a nearby pond. “How was the run?”

“Short,” I said. “You should test yourself over the next few weeks. Your body will become stronger and faster. If you aren’t used to it, you might accidentally damage things.” I pulled off everything but my nylon shorts and started a quick outdoor shower.

“I will once I’m not so damn sore,” she replied as she moved the water jet to another spot on her back. “I get your strength and speed; I mean, it’s a huge damn lion. Anna said my bird is four feet top to bottom and forty or so pounds. How will that work for me?”

I slid into the hot water across from her. “Birds have an insane muscle-power-to-weight ratio, and nothing will shock me. Your endurance should be off the charts too. I wish I knew more, but I had little time with Ekatarina before her death.” I told her Ekatarina’s story and the betrayal that ended her life. “I have to believe she’s happy her Eagle found a good host. It sure as hell didn’t like being a Todd.”

She put her hand over her chest. “I feel funny,” she told me.

“Like what?”

“Like something is pushing its way out. PLEASE tell me this isn’t some ALIEN-type crap where it tears its way out of my chest.”

“I think your Eagle wants to talk. Remember when I taught you to meditate?” She nodded. “Close your eyes and focus on your breathing. Clear your mind, and don’t be afraid. The Eagle is part of you now. It’s your other half, and it won’t hurt you.”

I watched as she did her breathing exercises and her body finally relaxed. This push was good news for her; the faster the two melded minds, the better. She didn’t do anything for almost fifteen minutes, then her eyes opened. “Wow.”

“Did you have a nice talk?”

“Not so much a talk as a sharing of emotions,” Melanie said. “I can sense her excitement at being free again.”

The sun was about to rise into a sky painted with reds and yellows. Consuela was up, but she would be busy preparing breakfast. “Let her out,” I told her. “Climb out and take off your suit; you don’t want it tangled.”

Her eyes got wide. “I can’t go naked out here!”

I laughed. “Wrap your towel around you. It will fall off when you switch.” She got out and wrapped herself in a beach towel, tossing her wet suit into the chair. “The first time hurt because you were scared. It’s nothing to be afraid of. Welcome her forward, and see the world through her eyes.”

Melanie closed her eyes and relaxed. A moment later, the wet towel fell to the patio stone. In her place stood a Golden Eagle, and she was looking at me. “Nice job,” I said. “Relax and get used to her body.”

I wrapped the towel around my forearm and placed it in front of her; she hopped up, her claws holding on without hurting me. I stood and walked away from the pool to the open grass yard leading down to the ponds. I held my arm high, and she flapped her wings nervously. “You’re a bird. Your Eagle has been doing this for more than ten thousand years. Let her do her thing while you enjoy the ride.”

Melanie’s beak seemed to nod, and her legs pushed off my arm as her wings extended to their nine-foot span. Powerful beats sent her forward, gaining altitude as she passed over the water’s edge. She circled me a few times, climbing hundreds of feet in the air.

I heard the patio door open, and Svetlana and Anna came out wearing bright sundresses and sandals. “Consuela said you and Melanie were in the hot tub,” Anna said.

“We were. Melanie and her Eagle had a good talk, and now she’s up there.” They followed my eyes to where the big raptor was soaring above the lake.

“She’s handling this so much better than you did,” Svetlana said as she wrapped a towel around me. “Are you sure this is a good idea? I’d hate to see her fly off and get lost.”

“I think we’ll be fine.”

“We’ll watch her. You should go change for breakfast.”

I finished drying off and tossed the wet towel in the hamper. Grabbing my clothes, I headed back and took a quick shower. I changed into shorts, a Hawaiian shirt, and boat shoes. I stopped by Melanie’s room and grabbed a dress and underwear for her. By the time I got back out to my mates, Melanie had been gone for twenty minutes. “Where is she?”

Svetlana pointed to the south. “She’s been having some fun up there. She’s diving, soaring, turning, and I think I even saw a barrel roll a few minutes ago.”

I held up the dress towards her, then set it over a chair. Melanie must have gotten the idea across to her Eagle because it let out a scream and went into a dive. She pulled out over the lake and flew towards us only a few feet in the air, flaring out and landing on a poolside table. She looked at us and let out a piercing scream, then switched back to her human form and collapsed.

I heard another scream from inside, followed by a thump as something hit the floor. “Help Melanie,” I said before I ran to the patio door. Mom was moaning and rubbing the side of her head when I got to her. “Are you all right?”

“Help me up,” she said. I got her to sit up, then helped her to a chair. “What was that?”

“One of our surprises for this morning, but we hadn’t planned for you to find out like this. Melanie is a switcher as well. She is the only surviving Aquila Chrysaetos Simurgh, the Ice-Age era Golden Eagle known to us from fossils found in Crete. Beautiful, wasn’t she?”

“Amazing,” Mom said in a daze. When the door opened, she looked up to see Melanie and the girls. “My baby!”

“I’m fine, Mom,” Melanie said as she raced to her side. “I’m better than fine.”

“How?” Mom looked from her daughter to her son, both of whom had changed in ways she’d only read in fictional books.

“I think we need to do this after breakfast,” I said. “I’m starving.”

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