Diamond in the Sky

Chapter 18

As the shadow engulfed me, my sight faded to black but when I emerged a crow and soared up to meet the others, I felt like my world had lit up in technicolour. We soared down to the lake and out through the gaps in the mountain. The beating rhythm of my wings was therapeutic and I found my mind drifting back to Darcia. She was almost ghostlike in her waif form, so slender that she barely was there at all. I wondered if anyone else knew about her and whether Cronus permitted her food. I was happy in my new family but there was something not right. Her warning rang in my ear that at some point Cronus would turn on me, that he was not the protector that I envisioned him as. It made me feel uncomfortable following his orders like I was flying into a trap but he hadn't done anything to me that felt wrong. Except to tell me the terms about my transitioning contract. It sounded like that was out of his hands and just the way it had to be.

That troubled me too. Was I even capable of going through with it. Or was I about to learn shadowkinesis only to meet my end.

These thoughts haunted me all the way back to hometown. As we neared Felixstowe, I heard Cronus' voice, "Do you have a back garden?"

"Yes."

"Will it provide enough cover for us to shift."

I thought about it, "Yes."

"Lead us there Kya."

I had to beat my wings harder to push myself to the front of the formation and lead the crows to my home. The back garden was cast in strange shadows as each crow began their shift. Stretching out the inky darkness to become human again. They looked out of place in their black attire in my back garden and I suddenly felt uneasy by their presence. This was my safe place and as much as I had come to like them in the short space of time we had, I still didn't really know them yet. I felt awkward as they all looked at me with anticipation and I didn't know what they wanted.

"Aren't you going to invite us in?" Cronus asked.

"Of course," I smiled weakly, "This way." I began walking towards the backdoor.

"Is that an invitation. I'd like to hear it so I don't overstep my welcome."

I opened the backdoor, "Please come in."

Mum and dad appeared and greeted my visitors as if it was the most ordinary thing in the world to have your home invaded by goths through your backdoor. Mum busily began making them drinks. Luckily my home wasn't small and my entourage made themselves comfortable on the various chairs in our open plan lounge dinner. Morgan took an interest in the fish.

"I'm sorry have been gone," I apologised, "And, I know I should have called."

"Have you been gone?" Dad laughed.

"I hadn't noticed." Added mum. She looked at Callum, "Was that a latte you wanted?"

"Yes, please."

"Mum, dad, what's wrong with you?" I looked between them, my world was spinning. All the strange faces staring at me. A room full of unknown in my home.

Morgan stood up from where she had been squatting looking at the fish, "They're not really your parents. They're shells. The Rep's have doctored them."

"How do we fix them?"

Cronus' voice oozed authority, "Humans is not our area."

"I was a human." I replied, "We were all humans once."

"You were a werewolf when we came for you."

"No, I wasn't. I never shifted. I never howled at the moon."