She studied it for a moment, uncertain whether he was teasing her. “It looks very narrow. How can we fit, even if we were birds?”
“Bats live in caves. They are small and can get into very tight places.”
“No way. You can actually make yourself that small?”
“I can be the mist on the wind, molecules in the air. Of course I can do small. So can you. It is exactly like the leopard. Study the image in my head so you have the exact replica in detail, then focus and hold that image. You can do it.” He would help her to hold the image, just as he had done with the leopard.
Corinne followed his lead without hesitation, willing to experience everything life had to offer. The sensations were completely different: the information pouring into the bat’s body came differently than the leopard’s senses. When she burst into the night sky, Dayan was already providing the next image, that of an owl. In midair, she made the transformation, this time aware of his aid, and accepting of it.
To soar across the sky was so incredible, she lost the image more than once and had to rely on Dayan to hold it for her. It didn’t matter – she was entranced. High above the trees she circled, dipping her silent wings and scanning the earth for all she could see and hear. ‘I could stay here forever!’
He was experiencing flying and shape-shifting through her eyes. It was such a part of him, he had forgotten the joy of it. Or maybe he had never been able to feel it as strongly as Corinne did until now, not even as a child when his emotions were still intact. Or maybe the intensity of his feelings was because Corinne was with him, by his side, in his heart and soul, and he had someone to share every pleasure, every sorrow. Maybe that was the difference. He only knew she had made him whole, had changed the world into something new and shiny, and her joy was constantly spilling over to him.
Dayan turned her in the direction of the house where Syndil and Barack had taken Cullen and Lisa to protect them from the members of the society. Dayan knew Darius had tracked down the hunters and had succeeded in diminishing their numbers. He had done so once before. Hopefully, it would be some time before they could fill their ranks of soldiers and send new assassins after his family. He refrained from passing on the information to Corinne, not wanting her to have to face the harsher aspects of their life until it was necessary.
Below them the house appeared, a long, sprawling structure surrounded by forest. The clearing contained a garden of wildflowers and ferns. To one side was a large oak tree. Hanging off a branch by a thick rope was a tire swing. The house looked well kept. Dayan glided to earth, guiding Corinne as she landed, scrambling for a purchase in the midst of pine needles and vegetation. The female owl nearly crashed into the tire swing. She shifted back into her normal shape, laughing aloud. It was Dayan who provided clothes.
“Dayan, this is so much fun. Did you see me? I thought I was going to smash into the oak tree. I was trying for a branch, but at the last second I was afraid I wouldn’t make it.”
Her hair was a wild mass of silk, her cheeks flushed with excitement, and her moss-green eyes were dancing again. She took his breath away and melted his heart. “You did fine, though your landing could use work.”
His voice was teasing, a black-velvet melody that somehow played through her body and soul. Corinne touched his face. “Thank you, Dayan. I love every minute of this, I really do.” She glanced at the house. “Is this where Lisa is staying? It’s wonderful – who owns it?”
Dayan shrugged. “Carpathians own property all over and we lend it when there is need. Listen to me, honey, before we go in. Lisa must not know about us. That we are different. It will be better for her if she never finds out.” Dayan spoke with extraordinary gentleness.