[Please note: this is unedited and not ready for publication. The full chapter is available for free here: https://reamstories.com/kjcarr]
An Eurasian eagle-owl. Seriously? An owl had outwitted me? A cockroach?
Tawin had warned me. “Thalia, a word of warning. There’s some guy searching the streets, looking for rarer shifters, like you. Word has it he’s not a typical shifter himself—an eagle owl shifter. No one knows what he wants with them. Stay safe out there.”
An eagle owl shifter. Huh. That was rare enough. What was he looking for? Friends? A companion?
I fluttered my wings. I was neither of those things for anyone. Pimps had tried to get me to prostitute for them. I turned them all down. I had ethics.
I paused and then sighed internally. Well, I had my own code of ethics. Yes, I stole things. But I only stole from those who could afford to lose whatever I took. And I gave the money I got for them to those who really needed it.
Well, whatever he was looking for, I didn’t think I was it.
Except I must be because here I am. Flying through the night sky in a jar being held in the claws of a giant owl. All I knew was that he had left the city and now was winging through the sky to some place unknown.
I had to keep my wits about me and make sure I knew where he was taking me. So I could make it back home.
But I didn’t take magic under consideration.
One minute I was watching the scene below me whiz by and the next I was waking up in an even larger glass cell. It looked like an oversized glass jar to my fuzzy eyesight.
And here I was, an insect lying on its back, inside it for scientific study.
Wait.
I rubbed my fingers together before moving one leg. Well, darn, I wasn’t still a roach! How had he forced me to change?
I stared up at the glass ceiling above me, not wanting to look around yet. I needed to think this about this some more. Because, since leaving my parent’s home, I haven’t been in a more horrible situation.
I mean, when I was homeless and living in a box, things weren’t so bad, given I could change into a roach at night. I could always find something disgusting to eat, having a somewhat full stomach when I changed back to human.
As long as I didn’t think about what I had consumed, I survived. Once I did, I lost what little sustenance I had gained. It only took a few times of stomach-cramping hunger before I made sure I didn’t think about what I did as a roach.
Survival was key.
When I had seen a few others stealing from the stores, I realized I could do it better. Life changed for me at that point, even if I was doing something I considered wrong. But my belly was full at night, and I had clothes and shoes to wear.
It didn’t take long for me to figure out not to buy new clothes. Those made me too conspicuous and there were others out there on the streets who would then try to steal them from me.
Then one day, when I had finally had enough cash for a prepaid phone. Tawin had been my first call, startling me when he had contacted me. It had been rough at first, because I didn’t trust anyone, but he won me over. And from then on, we chose better marks. More lucrative ones.
I didn’t know what he did with his money, but me? I gave much of it to those who were in similar situations as I had been. Hating to see the babies and young children on the streets, I set up special banking accounts for them. The mothers—it was almost always the mothers—then could have a place to live, food to feed their families, and clothes for them to wear.
I didn’t discriminate, though. If there was a single father or a couple who were working hard to keep their family together but couldn’t make ends meet, I helped. Yes, I had to pick between all those needing help. Tawin helped me there as well, weeding out those who always had their hands out but wouldn’t use those hands to help themselves.
I had gotten good at thieving. No one ever caught me, even though there had been some close calls. But this guy had been good—ninja skills—creeping up and capturing me as I finished this last job. And it had been the biggest one I had ever taken on.
And now he had me here in a human-sized jar.
Tawin. I checked my ears, finding that my ear com-link was gone.
I wondered what Tawin had thought once he had lost contact with me. I figured he already knew what had happened. He knew everything. He wouldn’t help me, though. That was one rule we had since our first day.
Plausible deniability
The rest of this chapter is on my ream page, available for free for the public.
KJ