"We'LL meet up here come high midnight, so get naked and show everyone what mother nature gave ya!"

People were laughing and clothes were flying off everywhere. While seeing naked people was still enticing for them, shifters were a lot more casual about nudity than their human counterparts. There were jokes, teases, and several looks of Longing, but the changelings took it all in stride.

Heda noticed that Anthony was watching her, openly grinning as her lacy bra and boy-short panties came into view.

"Daddy likes," he said. Anthony was already naked, and even the gay chick had to admire the packaging.

"I ain't gonna call you daddy, no matter how much you beg," Heda replied, tossing her remaining clothes into the driver's side of her car.

"Damn! How can I get abs like that?!" Joanna said, running a hand over Heda's washboard stomach.

"Lots of crunches," she replied.

"And I burn a lot of calories when I fly." She was staring right at Joanna's gorgeous tits, wondering how far she could push “playfulness” once she won the bet.

"Well, let's get this started," Joanna said.

"That ass of yours isn't going to kick itself, so I'll have to do it. No half-forms. Full animal form only, and first one back with a prize wins." With that, the blond girl shifted, bones and skin melting and reforming in a way that Heda almost saw as sensuous. Joanna, still with a green aura, had turned into a beautiful twelve-foot king cobra. She flared her hood and hissed at Heda.

"Yes, you're very pretty . . . for a belt waiting to happen," Heda responded. She lifted her eyes to the sky and spread her arms, letting the change run through her. It hurt to shift, but changelings were pretty used to it by the time they were teenagers. It was like ripping off a band aid in that the faster you did it, the easier it was to move on. She could feel her arms becoming wings and the hairs on those arms morphing into feathers. Her beak sprouted from her face and her eyes could see from horizon to horizon. Sharp talons clutched the ground and she let out a great cry that made everyone still in the clearing take notice. She was a warrior of the bird family, and a proud one at that. Her wings had a span of eighty-eight inches and she weighed fourteen pounds, making her one of the largest eagles anyone was likely to see.

“Told you she was a hot chick," Anthony said to one of the passengers from Heda's car.

"Ready . . . set --" the passenger said.

Heda spread her wings while Joanna got a coil underneath her.

"Go!"

Joanna certainly got going faster, disappearing into the woods as Heda slowly climbed high into the sky. Eagles were meant to soar, but they weren't exactly what you would call nimble. But she didn't need to get too high. She had maybe an hour of daylight left, and she needed to make the most of it. Eagles had great vision most of the time. Their night vision . . . not so hot.

For a moment, she forgot all about the bet. It felt good to be in the air, mocking gravity with gentle grace. Up here, the eagles ruled.

Falcons might be faster and the condors might be larger, but eagles were the power. At least in Heda's ever-so-humble opinion. She focused those eyes on the ground for any sign of movement.

"Hell with a mouse,' she thought. ‘Let's find me a rabbit.'

“Are you sure you're up for this?" Bill asked, "You're normally a night flier anyway." The enormous man held the door open so that Madison could get out. He knew that she wasn't so helpless as she made out to be, but he couldn't help himself. Besides, her hands were trembling just a little bit. She was totally freaked out about finding the girl in the cage. They had just left the hospital where Madison had been visiting with the young woman. The girl was actually doing better, but Madison had been asked not to talk to anyone about their conversations until the police were ready for a formal statement. Apparently stumbling across the girl's cage first had made Madison her savior, so she was willing to talk to her. Madison was more than a little bitter that the girl probably never would have given her the time of day under normal circumstances. She knew what people called her. But that was a petty and selfish thought and she pushed it away. The girl needed an outlet and if Madison could give it to her, then so be it.

Madison had heard the whole story. The girl, Carla Cowan, had been out in front of the library reading a book and waiting for a friend to show up. She got a call saying they weren't going to be able to meet so she headed home. She hadn't heard anything . . . just suddenly there were arms around her and a cloth over her mouth. She hadn't been able to shift or scream, and she blacked out. When she had come around, Carla was in a cage and her ankles and wrists had been locked. The cage was surrounded in a bright light and the rest of the room was pitch black. It had been cold . . . Carla remembered the cold. She screamed, but all she heard were the echoes, making her think the room couldn't have been that large. Then the voice started.

"It sounded . . . mechanical," the girl had whimpered. Carla couldn't even verify if the voice were male or female. It kept repeating one phrase over and over again: "Tell him I'm coming." That was it. No explanation as to who "him" was. She had said she couldn't deliver a message if she didn't know to who, but the voice didn't care. Then the shocks had begun. She was in a metal cage, and whoever it was, was sending shots of electricity through it. It hurt a lot, but never enough to kill her or even let her slip gratefully into unconsciousness. It would stop for periods of time, but she didn't think the person had left. Then the shocks would start up again at random intervals. She'd only been given one glass of water a day and no food at all. When she soiled herself, she was sprayed down with a hose, then shocked again.

Finally, the day that Madison had found the cage, the voice had said,

"It's time to let him know." She'd felt something sink into her arm, then she had woken up in the cage on campus. She didn't know how she'd gotten there. When she'd seen Madison, she'd actually thought that she was an angel and that Carla had finally died.

“She thought I was an angel," Madison muttered.

“What was that?"

“Nothing,” she replied. Her face pointed towards the sun. It was true that bats were mostly nocturnal, but it wasn't like echolocation didn't work during the day.

“I haven't had a chance to fly in a while."

“Okay, if you insist." Billy had parked next to a creek just deep enough for him to submerge. He and Madison often came up here separate from everyone else. He was the only one she was comfortable enough with.

"I'll just be lounging down here catching fish. Say an hour?"