Chapter 19

::Is that you, Manuel?::

::Yeah, I think it is. This sure feels funny. Can we change back?::

::Do you sense anything close behind us?::

After a moment, the reply came. ::Not close. I changed a few seconds after you did and barely got out the door, but I think we confused them. They were expecting birds, not rats.::

:Okay.:: Alex moved out from under the bush and gathered his energy to shift back to human form. This was a jolt, different from coming to ground and changing from raven back to man. Of course, becoming the mouse had been a new effort, not familiar, and leaving it this first time was hard.

Manuel seemed to struggle a bit as well, but finally emerged as himself. “Damn it, partner, don’t ever do that to me again! I liked to shit when you changed, but I knew I had to do something fast or I’d be dead. Scared outta my skull, but I tried to picture a small critter I could become—wound up a packrat, I guess.”