Chapter 8: The newbie

I looked up behind Luna to see a black eagle flying towards us. My eyes immediately changed and I was ready to fight but Jacob stopped me. Luna and I looked at him in confusion and back at the eagle. "Wait!" Jacob held my hand as he continued looking at the bird.

I closed my eyes, smelling his scent again. It was Luka's scent. Luka is an eagle too? I looked back at Jacob, with a surprise look on my face. I was totally speechless but Luna was more shocked than me. Jacob let go my hand and rushed inside the house to give him some clothes. I think he had clothes in his bag... After a while both boys came back.

"What's going on? How is Luka an eagle?" Luna began to yell at them. "They are like us!" I replied, feeling a bit guilty because she was the only one not aware. "Jacob is a Harpy eagle like me." I added trying to put on a fake smile on my face. "You knew sis? You two knew about us?" Tears started filling her pale brown eyes and she ran inside the house. I wanted to console her but the words that she said to me personally left made me quite ashamed of myself.

'I did not expect you to hide this from me!' Somehow I heard her thoughts or maybe she mind-linked me.

I was about to run inside the house but Jacob grabbed my hand, shaking his head at me while Luka ran after her instead. "Let's leave them alone for a bit!" I nodded sadly as I walk into the nearby forest next to my house. Jacob followed me behind but I started running. In an attempt to stop me he grabbed my arm and I let out a small yelp.

He immediately let me go while analysing my arm. "What happened? Are you hurt?" He asked with concern as he held my hand. He twisted my hand carefully to see where I was hurt. He froze when he saw lots of scratches on my elbow.

I was hurt when I was trying to defend myself from that golden eagle. "It's going to heal Jacob. Leave me now! Will you?" I uttered in sadness, tears running down my cheek.

Jacob tried consoling me and it made me and Spark feel better but I was still feeling guilty about what Luna told me. 'She said that out of anger! She didn't mean it!' Spark spoke, trying to console me.

"What did Luna tell you?" Jacob suddenly asked. He was so stubborn so I decided to tell him everything.

"Now please Jacob! I need some time alone!" I begged. 'Get over it! I'm going to take over your body.' I agreed while I started transforming. Jacob started changing too but I didn't want to fly with him specially when I'm sad.

I flew as fast as I could but Thunder was able to catch up with me. 'Spark! Faster please!' After a few minutes he was nowhere to be found so I thought he was gone but when I turned my gaze back, I saw Thunder in front of me.

'I've had enough now! I'm going to attack him to push him away!' I said furiously to myself. Spark didn't want to do that but I had complete control of my body so I did what I wanted.

I flew at full speed towards him while letting out screeching noises to alert him. At the same time, Spark was yelling at me to stop but I was not listening to her. He was already in position to defend himself.

As I reached closer to him, I flipped my talons towards him and aimed for his wings. I was inches away from him when Spark shouted in my mind making it almost explode. 'Stop it! You two can't hurt each other, you are...'

I immediately stopped. Confused written all over my face, I decided to ask her; 'What do you mean we can't fight each other?' Jacob and I flew back to the house still waiting for Spark answer.

I joined Jacob outside after changing back in my human form. I told him what Spark was telling me and he immediately realised it. "What did she meant by we can't hurt each other? Tell me Jacob! I know that you know it!"

"We are... mates"

I took a few steps back from Jacob, trying to process everything. 'Look! I wanted to tell you but you didn't like him so I decided to stay quiet.' No wonder why whenever she saw Jacob she would flap her wings. I was having the feeling that we were but I didn't expect it to be true.

Just then, Luka and Luna came, she immediately apologized to me saying that she didn't mean it. I was at least glad that my sister was ok. But we also decided not to tell anyone about the mate thing. Later the boys decided to return home.

The following day, everything was back to normal. I reached school early this time where I saw Luka waiting at Luna's desk as usual. I greeted him and sat in my seat. "Where's Luna?" Luka suddenly asked me. "She is hunting, she'll be here in a few minutes, I guess! So how did you manage to convince her after that shocking news?" I asked. A huge smirk appeared on my face.

"Well I kept apologising continuously to her and she finally forgave me. Then we started talking about our eagle spirits and so on!" He grinned.

"What's your spirit's name?" I asked excitedly. "Ash and what's yours?" He asked with a huge smile on his face. "Oh mine is Spark, I like her even though she's annoying sometimes!" I giggled while Spark was flapping her wings happily. I was very grateful to have her honestly. She was the only one who was always there for me.

'Thank you Hannah!! Love you too!' She kept replying. After a few minutes, Luna also came, she was coming inside the class when she was suddenly bumped by a girl who was running in the corridor. If Luka didn't grab her right in time, my sister would've hit the edge of a table that was near the door.

I ran after the girl who was basically panicking. "You there! Stop right now!!" I yelled but she kept on running. While i was running I noticed something. She had feathers on her arm and she was trying to hide them.

'Is she having trouble to control her eagle?' I asked Spark in confusion while I kept running after her. 'She has not transform for a while and her eagle is hungry and want to hunt that's why she forcing her to change! We must hurry otherwise she going to transform here!!' Spark replied.

I ran as fast as l could and grabbed her by her hands, we ran until we reached outside the school. We couldn't see anyone so I decided to let her transform here. "Hurry and tranform!!" I shouted. She nodded and flew away. I watched as the Philippine eagle finally disappeared in the clouds.

I returned back to see Luna, Luka and Jacob gossiping about their first flight. "What happened to that girl?" Luna turned her gaze at me. "She was having some trouble controlling her eagle so I helped her." I replied as I walked back to my seat.

"Then tell her to join us tomorrow! Maybe she doesn't really know about eagles!" Luka suggested. "Yeah great idea!!" An hour later, Mr. Martin entered the class as always in a rush.

"Ok class! You need to be careful there has been sight of eagles almost everywhere so be careful." He reassured the students. I looked at Luna who was as worried as me.

"Apparently the Dark Orphan bird has driven away all the shape-shifting eagles from other forests and now they are here!" Luka turned to notify us. We eventually became more surprised than before.

"If there are eagles then there are hunters!!" Jacob added. "But hunting eagles is illegal!" Luka said in a worried tone. "As if the hunters would listen!" Luna rolled her eyes.

'Hunters!! I completely forgot about that girl!!' I told Spark as I realised. "I gotta guys see you in next class!!" I shouted as I ran out of the class. 'You do realise that you've bunked class two times, do you?' Spark spoke.

'No! Last time I was sick so count it as a second time!' I replied making a moking face at Spark. 'Seriously?!'

We ran in the empty corridor that led to the outside of the school. There were some people outside the school so it was a bit unsafe to transform here. 'Let's go! We don't really have time to transform anyways!' Spark exclaimed at me.

We sprinted towards the forest that was close to my house. The only problem was that I was quite slow in my human form but we didn't lose hope we kept on searching for her.

It would have been difficult for us if I did not use her scent to find her behind the bushes hiding. 'Should've known! She's naked!! Wait, I have some additional clothes in my bag!' I quickly gave her the clothes and helped her to stand up behind the bushes.

"Are you ok?" I asked with a bit of concern. "What is happening to me?" The latter started panicking. "I thought your eagle spirit told you!" I said.

'That means she did not have any contacts with her eagle. She does not understand anything about what we are saying!' Spark added as she realized. "Can you please tell me what your name is and how old are you?" I asked her politely.

"I'm fourteen and my name is Eliana Quinn! And this has happened to me since last week when I celebrated my fourteenth birthday" She replied as she began weeping. 'How can she be one year late, I transformed when I was thirteen?' I asked Spark. 'The transformation process is between the age of thirteen and fourteen! Remember your sister transformed at this age too!' Spark sigh.

"Don't cry Eliana! I'm the same as you and I have more friends like me. I'll teach you how to control your transformation, if you don't mind that is!" I reassured the girl which made her feel relieve. "First close your eyes and try to find a voice inside of you!" I repeated what the leaders had taught me when I was a beginner.

"I found it and it's talking to me!" She said in a panicked voice. "Ok stay calm. That voice is your other self, she'll be the one who will allow you to transform! Try talking to her!" I explained.

"Her name is Ivy and she says that she likes me." She muttered as she continued concentrating. "Great you are already getting quite along together!" She opened her hazel eyes to look at me. "Anyways can you tell me more about yourself please?" She asked innocently.

"Ok! My name is Hannah Courtney and I'm sixteen. I'm a harpy eagle and my eagle-spirit's name is Spark. She is quite annoying but I love her as my other sister. I transformed for the first time when I was thirteen." I presented myself gracefully.

"Can I call you Anna?" She asked nervously. "Only if you let me call you Eli!" I giggled and she nodded happily. "Anyways I don't think it's safe to stay in the woods there are hunters that's why I came to get you. Come at my place." I suggested. I grinned as she nodded at me.

After a few distance, we could see my house. I opened the door to welcome Eli inside and walked her towards the kitchen. "I'm guessing that you're hungry after that flight. Would you like to eat a burger?" I asked trying to act like a chef. She nodded happily while I was preparing a burger for her.

"So what type of eagle am I?" She suddenly asked. "Oh you're a Phillipine eagle, you're the most beautiful of all eagle kind" I praised. "Thank you" she replied delightly. "Here you go, your delicious burger is done! Bon apetit!" I placed the plate where there were two burgers then we went in the living room to watch some movies. After a while we heard a knock at the door. I opened it to see Luna, Luka and Jacob waiting outside.

"So what was the problem that you had to run out of the class again?" Luna asked in a serious tone. Just then Eli came behind me saying hi to the others. "You're that girl who pushed Luna right?" Luka asked as he tried to identify her. She nodded apologetically. "I'm so sorry about before!"

"Oh come on! Let's forget about the past! Let me present you my friends and my sister!" I said excitedly. "This is Luka Adler, my friend!" I pointed at Luka. "This is Jacob Griffin, my... friend!" I pointed at Jacob awkwardly. 'Wow you friend-zoned him!!' Spark started laughing.

"And this is Luna Courtney, my sister and friend!" I presented the last person while Eli greeted them. "Everyone this is Elina Quinn! You can call her Eli if she doesn't mind!" everyone greeted her warmly. Luna gave her a big hug.

"Can I ask you what are your spirit's names?" She said hesitantly. "Of course Eli! Mine is Crystal and she is very kind!" Luna replied. "My spirit's name is Ash and he has a very calm personality!" Luka smiled. "Mine is Thunder and he is very intelligent but sometimes he talks a lot! What's yours?" Jacob asked curiously.

"Mine is Ivy. I just came to know her a few hours before so... yeah!" Eli replied. Out of the blue, her phone started ringing. She quickly answered. Eventually she had to go home so she left along with the boys.