Chapter 7

As I zoomed down towards the speeding vehicles on the street, I tried to think of a bird that would help me in this moment.

19 stories, 18...Damn it!

What kind of bird will help me?

A few tears wielded up in my eyes, blurring my view of the city below.

Focus Vanessa, focus

I thought, trying to keep myself from full out panicking.

I blinked the tears out of my wide eyes and pushed the thought of how close I am now to the black pavement out of my head. I shut my eyes and imagined one of my favourite birds, a Harpy eagle. Within a few seconds, I successfully transformed into one, flapping back up high into the air to avoid getting hit by city obstacles and being seen by walking pedestrians.

That was a close call.

I think I need to practice more on shifting into different animals and mov-.

Before I could finish my thought, my sharp eagle eyes spotted something unusual and strange happening downtown; A 5 story albino scaly serpent had its tail coiled around a blue transit bus, refraining it from any movement.

What a coincidence

I thought, as I flew down towards the distracted serpent to get a closer look.

I glided down to a shattered window at the back of the bus and landed safely on the floor, shifting back into my human form in front of the terrified civilians inside. I examined each one carefully for a few moments, taking note that most of the people in here are banged up from the creature's attack.

Then I saw my friend Rachel, who had bruises and bleeding cuts on her arms, legs and a few on her face. After seeing that, it triggered me to kick the serpent's tail.

"Everyone get ready to run to the nearest building; I'm going to free the bus".

I jumped back out the window, shifted myself into a hideous hyena and sank my bone crushing jaws through the white, thick scaly skin near the end of the tail.

The albino snake hissed in pain as it loosened its grip on the city bus, setting free the innocent, injured people. They all flooded out as quickly as they could, clearing the area. The albino snake looked at me for one moment with its beaty red eye and recognized that I was bad news. It retreated its tail out from underneath the bus and began to thrash it around, until my canine teeth lost their grip and I was sent flying towards a wide door window, crashing onto the wooden floor of a local coffee shop, that was right across from the damaged city bus.

While I got back up onto my paws, the five-story snake turned its attention back to the bus, noticing that there were some stragglers inside. It lowered its bulky head down to the bus and peered inside, as if it were searching for something. As the serpent was busy, I shapeshifted into a leopard and began to stalk my way towards the opposite side of the vehicle; I planned to attack its eye.

After I successfully crossed the road without being spotted by the creature, I crept around the side of the bus, until I was directly across from it. Without hesitation, I leapt through the shattered window above me and darted towards the other side of the damaged city bus, before I realized that the albino snake was no longer there. Thinking on the spot, I got out of there and glanced around for any signs that the creature moved deeper into the city.

But as quick as it came, it left without a trace.

How can a-.

The sound of sirens pierced my thoughts.

That must be the police and paramedics; I better go before I get caught and put behind glass.

Using my powerful hind legs, I leapt high into the air, smoothly shapeshifting into a harpy eagle like I've done it a million times and flew away just before the cops arrived at the scene. Meanwhile at the damaged transit bus, a young male paramedic was helping Rachel out of the bus, with her leaning against him as she limped out.

She had mild injuries; A large cut that ran down her leg was gushing blood, even after the medic had wrapped a bandage over it to stop the bleeding. As the pair made their way over to the ambulance vehicle, Rachel saw a pair of paramedics carrying a lifeless body of an older woman (in her 50's) on a stretcher pass by her.

She carefully studied the women for a moment, before realizing who it was.

Oh no, I don't think Vanessa will take that very well.

Out of all 35 passengers that were aboard, why did she have to die?