Chronicles of the Unknowns: Exposed

Chapter 2

"What are you doing?" Jake asked as feathers began to form on my skin.

"Looking for my brother," I said just as my arms bones hollowed out to form wings.

"It's too dangerous for you to go out on your own. The humans are hunting us down with no mercy," he said.

"I won't be alone if you can keep up."

"How am I supposed to keep up with a bird? I'm strong not fast."

My only response was to turn my head around a complete 180 degrees to get a good look at him. His jaw went slack and his eyes bugged out, especially when a strangled sounding 'who' came out as my vocal chords began shrinking with my body. If I could have laughed I would have.

"That's some freaky shit right there," he said.

Once I was finished morphing, I flapped my wings and took to the air. Great horned owls had excellent vision and were predators in the night. I could find where I was looking for and not necessarily have to worry about another bird attacking me. There was always the chance that a group of crows would try to mob me, but I wasn't the kind of owl they were used to - I was an owl with human intelligence. Those crows wouldn't stand a chance

I peeked back down at the ground and saw Jake chasing after me. Circling back to give him time to catch up, I caught sight of my parents' home not too far away. Their house was hard to miss.

The pool in the back yard was so large that it drained into our indoor pool and led into the jacuzzi. The walk way was grandiose and could easily fit three or four suvs side by side. There were ten bedrooms on the inside and half of them had their own private bathroom. That's not to mention the oversized kitchen, living room and basement.

Jake made it a point to mention how sublime the house was when we finally arrived on their doorstep.

"You could've told me your parents are millionaires," he joked as he walked up the from steps. I'd landed on the front step and had been waiting on him for a few moments. The owl and I watched his every moment as he got closer.

"You're much more intense as an owl. It's kind of creepy actually."

I chirped in response.

"Well are you gonna invite me in or are you just gonna sit there and look at me?"

I cocked my head and stared him down for a few moments before morphing back to human. Jake was going to have to break the door down. I'd already morphed three times today and it was slowly wearing me out. Most days I ran around as a wolf and shifted back to human only when it felt like an itch I needed to scratch. That's the way morphing was - I could never stay as one thing indefinitely. Some days I just needed to switch things up whether I wanted to or not.

"I don't have a key so you're going to have to rip the door off the hinges," I said.

"There isn't a security system here?"

"My parents are rich, not intelligent," I said with a shrug.

Jake shook his head and let out a puff of air before grabbing the door handle and tearing it right out of the doorframe. That door easily weighed fifty pounds and he tossed it like a rag doll.

"What the -," I heard my father's voice say.

I took a step inside and walked toward where I knew my dad was. He was always in the living room reading a book or newspaper at this time of the night. When he saw me he did a double take.

"Celeste..." he whispered, slowly taking off his reading glasses.

But I wasn't here to make up for lost time. I was here for my brother. And I was hoping with all my might that he was home.