Coyote's Howl (Cape High Series Book 17), page 12
***
“So… he’s a coyote?” Jack says. The zoo kids had brought the unconscious Lance back to the apartments to have Aubrey look him over. Now there’s an unconscious coyote lying on Aubrey’s bed, while the rest of the school waits impatiently for the verdict.
“Yes,” Aubrey says, “he’s a coyote shifter, now.”
“But he still has some—”
“No, he doesn’t,” she says. “This is the only shifted form he has left. Lance is now… a coyote shifter.” She lets out a sigh, her shoulders slumping. “I don’t know what to tell him when he wakes up—and he should, soon. In fact, I’m sort of worried that he’s still unconscious. There’s nothing wrong with him physically.”
“So… all he’s got is this, left?” Jack says. “I mean… it’s sort of small, isn’t it? Did he have a choice in what he had left?”
“I don’t know,” she admits, “but this is what he has.”
“It’s like, bite sized,” Jack says.
“Jack, I love you, but PLEASE shut up,” Aubrey says, turning on him. “This is what he has now. This might be what he has for the rest of his life. You making fun of it will not make things better, okay?”
“Sorry,” Jack says. “Um, I’ll just go tell the others.”
“Thank you,” she says, waving him off. Her attention is on the coyote in her bed. She perches on the edge of the bed and reaches up to pet him. “Lance,” she says. “Lance, you’re safe. You’re going to be fine. You just—” His eyes open, bright gold in color. He stares at her for a moment, and then looks down, staring at his paws. He lets out a huff of air before standing. For a second it looks like he’s straining, and then he stops, falling back to his stomach once again.
‘This is my… final form?’ she hears him ask telepathically.
“I’m… I’m afraid so,” she says.
‘I’m not going to lose it, am I?’
“No, you shouldn’t.”
‘Then… then I’ll just have to get used to it,’ he says. ‘It won’t be much use against a wolf…’
“You can’t be thinking of going after Badmoon again!” Aubrey says, shocked. “You’ve just lost so much, Lance—you need to leave that to the—”
‘To the more powerful capes?’ he says, ‘I don’t want to.’ He jumps off of her bed, going right past her and into the front room.
“Lance, you just had a major—a major change!” she says, chasing after him. She stops as she sees a flash of light, and glares at Zoe, who just scanned him with her phone. “Really, Zoe, don’t you think that’s—”
“Dad’s not here to do it,” Zoe says, staring at her phone.
‘What am I, now?’ Lance asks, stopping in front of Zoe. ‘Am I a lot weaker?’
“No…” she says, looking at the phone curiously. “You’re not weaker… can you change back to human?”
Lance shifts back into his human form, looking down at his hands. “So… my final form is a coyote, right?” he says, looking around and earning nods. “That… that might be a good thing.”
“What? How can it be a good thing?” Jack asks. “You’re dinky in that form.”
Lance gives him a little grin. “I’m dinky in this form, too,” he points out. “Especially compared to you; but a coyote is fast, stealthy, and… and I don’t have to give up who I am, completely.”
“And he’s gone up in physical strength, speed, and other base stats by at least ten percent, each,” Zoe says. “His shifting abilities are still really high, as well, and his telepathy… it’s gotten stronger, too. You might only have one animal form, but as a cape, you’ve just leveled up.”
“In one go?” Lance asks, looking stunned.
“In one go,” she agrees, “and they’re still fluctuating, so I think you’ve just hit a massive growth spurt. I’d have to ask Dad, to be sure, but I’ve got access to your files, so I’m pretty confident that I’m right. But… did you choose the coyote form?” she asks, curiously. “As much as I hate to admit it, Jack is right—it’s not really the most impressive form that you could have picked.”
“I’m from the Coyote line,” Lance says. “I mean, all of my forms—I need a piece of paper!” he says, suddenly panicking. “I need to list them. Actually, I’m going to need a notebook or three, really—I can’t forget anyone. I—”
Zoe waves a hand and the wall nearest him lights up. “Just tell the computer,” she says. “I’ll have it sent to the engraving machine.”
“Thanks,” he says.
“Now everyone out, he has work to do,” Zoe orders the rest of the room. “This is important.” They leave, watching as Lance sits down on the ground in front of the wall, listing animal after animal and watching as the words light up the wall.
***
The sleek black car pulls to a stop in front of the apartments. For a moment the people in the car watch as a large group of teenagers cross in front of them, heading for the campus. “Something’s happened,” Taurus says grimly, getting out of the car.
“I agree,” Pan says, following him. Amara gets out of the back seat, along with Cubby and Adanna. They head into the apartment building silently, each dreading what they’re about to hear. When they get in, both adult males stop, listening. After just a second everyone except for Amara and Cubby race up the stairs.
“Um… let’s see, it’s one of the antelope type from Africa—computer, list all of the medium sized creatures in Africa,” Lance says as they reach the room. He looks at the list as it comes up, and then sighs, and just starts reading all of them off the list. They appear, one by one, on the wall with the others he’s already listed.
“Lance,” Pan says, mournfully.
Lance looks up, giving the two shifters a little, bittersweet smile. “I’m a coyote shifter, now,” he says simply.
“Coyote?” Taurus repeats, sounding shocked. “Why a coyote?”
“It is who he is, even if he’s lost the others,” Pan says. “It suits him.”
Adanna walks past them, sitting down next to Lance silently. He looks at her, cocking his head slightly, only to blush as she reaches up and pats him on the shoulder. “I can’t understand,” she says quietly, “and I won’t pretend to, since I’ve never lost my animal form, but I don’t think this should be done alone.”
“I’m okay,” Lance says.
“You’re in shock,” she says bluntly. “It’s to be expected. Make your list, and then you can mourn properly.”
He nods, turning back to the computer as both Pan and Taurus sit down nearby, as well.
“We’ll get his mother,” Amara says from the door.
“She’s—” Lance starts out.
“Trust me, we’ve already heard where she is,” Amara replies, leaving the shifters to themselves. It’s quiet, save for Lance’s voice softly listing everything he’s lost in such a short time. The list goes on, and on, and Adanna reaches up, looking a bit surprised as she wipes a tear off of her cheek.
They all look up as the apartment door opens and Amara walks in with a falcon on her arm. “Mom—” Lance says, jumping to his feet. “I was just—”
‘I know what you were doing,’ the falcon says, her voice carrying to all of them. ‘I’m glad.’
“I—I didn’t think—I mean—” Lance says, looking down. “I miss them. I don’t want to forget any of them, and—and this was the only way I could think of to remember them. I’ve got, um, a little graveyard that I’m building…”
‘Don’t forget them,’ his mother says. ‘Don’t ever forget them. Is it true that you’re a coyote shifter, now?’ She jerks, shifting with a few awkward movements and landing on her feet. “Are you… are you truly a coyote?” she asks.
“Yeah,” Lance says. “I am.”
“Oh thank the Creator,” she breathes out, hauling him into a hug. “I knew you had a chance!”
“I’m JUST a coyote shifter, though,” he says.
“I know. I know, there’s still a chance you might stay that way,” she says, pulling away. “But we can have hope.”
“You think so?” Lance asks.
“I think so,” she says, only to shift back into her falcon form, abruptly. ‘At least… I hope,’ she whispers, guiltily.
The room is silent for a second before Pan clears his throat. “Miss…” he stops, abruptly realizing he doesn’t know her name.
‘Kimi,’ Lance’s mother says. ‘My name is Kimi.’
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Kimi. I am Panther, my wife is Amara, our daughter is Adanna, and our son is Kayode—ah, Cubby,” he says, seeing Cubby make a face at his real name. He only hears it when he gets in trouble, after all. “I wish to study your family’s genetics, to see if I can understand why you go through this transitional time. Would you be willing to come with me to my home?”
Lance’s mother turns, looking at him for a long moment. ‘You are a cat,’ she says.
“I am,” he agrees, bowing slightly. “I am a panther shifter—an African Leopard, to be exact, my daughter is one as well. My son has yet to come into his cat form, though.”
‘And you are…’ she says, turning to Taurus.
“A minotaur shifter,” he says.
‘A bull,’ she sums up.
“Pretty much.”
‘I… I don’t wish to leave my son,’ she says quietly, turning to watch Lance, who’s gone back to listing animals. ‘But if you think I can help…’
“I do,” Pan says, “and the sooner, the better. Nico is… well, he is my best friend, but he can be quite… stubborn when he’s made a decision.”
‘Nico?’ Kimi asks.
“Don’t worry about that, just yet,” Pan says. “We have two days. I plan to have this figured out long before that.”
‘Then I will come with you,’ she says, stepping onto the arm that Taurus holds out for her. ‘I will do whatever I can to help.’
“Can I… can I stay?” Adanna asks.
“Yes, of course,” Amara answers softly. “Lance, if you need any of us, please call.”
The teen raises a hand in response, not bothering to stop his listing.
***
“You’re done?” Mastermental asks as he steps into the converted cell. The room is practically vibrating with electricity. There’s everything a mad scientist would need—but it’s built into the wall with a visible laser wall blocking it from being accessed. There’s even a television built into the wall that’s lit up with all the movies she has access to. “It looks cozy in a rather… deadly sort of way.”
“I’m not going to give anyone the excuse to send her back until we’re done using her,” Nico says. “If anything, I’d prefer to keep her here. I’ve had to use her abilities more than I like to admit, lately.”
“So is this truly about Lance? Or do you have a hidden agenda here?” Mastermental asks.
“Can’t you read my mind?”
“You know that I can’t.”
“Then no, I don’t have a hidden agenda. Just by doing this I’m probably going to be sleeping alone even AFTER the marriage takes place. Summer doesn’t want Star Born this close to our kids, and I can’t exactly blame her… but she’s been behaving herself, and a brilliant mind is something that shouldn’t be wasted.”
“Even if her morals are questionable, to say the least?” Mastermental asks. “Do you truly think she’ll willingly go along with whatever you suggest?”
“Yes,” Nico says. “I have to do SOMETHING, Double M,” he says, turning to look at him. “I can’t just sit by idly, waiting for one of my kids to develop some other strange problem—I thought I knew what was happening with him. I honestly thought that.”
“And you’re troubled because you were wrong.”
“Of course I am! Every scan I took, every test, told me that that kid was going to become something amazing.”
“And you think you’re wrong?”
“Aren’t I?” Nico demands. “I had a good idea of what each of these kids will become. I scan them weekly, Double M! I have everything charted out and a projection for the next twenty years! Lance is supposed to be growing in leaps and bounds right now, and possibly gaining MORE variations of the forms! Instead he’s lost all of them but one. That doesn’t make any sense. If I’m wrong about him, who knows what else I’m wrong about?”
“You have far too much faith in your systems, and not enough faith in the children you are training, Nico,” Mastermental says quietly. “Do you think Lance will be a bad super if he has only one form?”
“No, of course I don’t,” Nico says, running a hand over his face. “I just… I am not the super that my father is,” he says finally. “I’ll never be able to change things on an atomic level, ANYWHERE, much less for a mile and a half diameter. I’m good—I know that, you know that, but I am less than what I could have been had I been born like him.”
“Do you really think that?” Mastermental asks.
“I know that. And even if I have to deal with the knowledge that I could have been… better, somehow, Lance shouldn’t have to.”
“You do things that your father could never do, Nico,” Mastermental says. “You’ve figured out how to replicate skills that have a much farther reach than Superior ever will. You’ve rebuilt most of society’s computer systems. Your father could never have done that. Just because you don’t have his abilities doesn’t make you inferior. Just because Lance does not have his grandfather’s abilities does not mean he is inferior, either. In fact, with your help I believe Lance will have a far larger impact on the world than his grandfather ever did.”
Nico goes silent, staring at the room he’s built. “I’m still moving her here,” he says simply.
“I am not arguing that,” Mastermental says. “I am trying to make you see past your insecurities, to the truth. Lance might have only one animal form for the rest of his life, but so do Taurus and Panther. Do you look down on them for that?”
“Of course I don’t!”
“Then don’t look down on Lance. He is no different.”
“I’m not looking down on him,” Nico says. “I’m just trying to… save him.”
“But does he truly need to be saved?” Mastermental asks.
Nico just stares at him. “If you could no longer read minds,” he says finally, “would you just say ‘oh, this must be natural’ and shrug it off?”
“No, of course I wouldn’t.”
“Then why should Lance be any different?” Nico says. “I’m getting the kid’s abilities back, whether he thinks it’s just his lot in life or not.”
“Then I will arrange for Star Born’s transportation,” Mastermental says.
“Thanks, I appreciate it.”
“Just out of curiosity, have you heard from Panther?” Mastermental asks, pausing on his way out the door.
“No, why?”
“Because I’ve heard that he’s quite well trained in shifter genetics.”
“But he’s not a mad scientist.”
***
It’s early in the morning by the time I’m done listing every animal I could think of. Adanna is sound asleep in her panther form next to me, and I look at her a bit enviously. It was nice of her to stay. I know my siblings would have done it, had I asked, but unlike them, Adanna never bothered me while I was working. She’d stayed there, silently offering support the entire time. Sunny’s a lucky guy, I think as I yawn. I look at my hands, staring at my fingers for a moment before I try, one last time, to change into anything other than a coyote.
A familiar paw, those skinny legs, I’m a coyote again. I let out a soft huff of air before curling into a ball and closing my eyes.
Almost before I let out my next breath, I find myself standing in the same field that Badmoon had been attacking my mother in. I look around, and then down at the four paws I’m standing on. I’m in coyote form. I didn’t expect that.
“You should not be here, pup,” a now-familiar voice says. I turn, seeing Coyote standing to the side, crouched down over the ground. "I am not the only one that will sense you.”
I frown and walk over to him. ‘So can you see me?’ I ask.
“No, not when I’m awake. I can merely sense you. Have you finished losing your forms, then?”
‘I have,’ I say.
“And what are you, when you have lost everything?” he asks. I almost swear that he already knows. I shift, standing in front of him in my human form.
“I’m a coyote,” I say, staring him straight in the eye even though I know he can’t see me.
“I see,” he says. “And are you disappointed by that fact?”
“Why would I be?” I ask. “I mean, it’s a beautiful creature… I don’t think I would have been disappointed with any of them, really—well, I mean, if I was a whale shifter I might be a bit… bothered. I mean, until I found a Hall on the coast. I don’t think my whale would have really helped in Central.”
There’s a hint of wonder on his face. “And had your final form been something small and weak, such as a rat?”
“Rats are amazing,” I say, grinning at the thought. “All the places you can get into—and they’re a lot more intelligent than most people think. Nah, a rat would have been okay, too… I actually miss the rat a lot more than the whale, but I never got to USE the whale, so maybe I’d feel differently if I had.”
“You loved all of your forms?” he asks.
“I did,” I say. “I… I miss them a lot. But… why are you here?” I ask him as he goes back to crouching and touching the ground.
“To see if my theory is correct,” he says grimly. He lifts his fingers, and I see the blood mixed in with the dirt. He sniffs it, and I know what he’s smelling.
“You shouldn’t harbor him, Coyote,” I say. “He’ll kill all of us, eventually.”
“He is what we’ve made him to be,” Coyote says, standing. “He is what I feared you would become.”
