I was bofflescated speechless; an extreme rarity for me. As I hung there, staring, I replayed my years with Shazam through my mind: his mysteriousness, his constant disappearances, his “other form” I’d known nothing about. His constant, cagey, evasive replies to so many questions, the odd juxtaposition of extreme emotion and wisdom.
We are not permitted to interfere or influence our chosen’s choice in any way. We are never to have contact after the initial invitation. I’ve told them that’s why we have so few young but they don’t listen. Y’rill/Shazam looked abashed. When you got lost in the Silvers, you were so lonely, like I once was, and I was afraid you would die. I came to you in my Hel-Cat form to help you survive.
“All those times you disappeared?”
I had to be Hunter or I would lose the right. I could only spend half my time with you.
“But Shazam is so emotional and you’re well, more…composed.”
As a human, you strike me as quite emotional, too, Y’rill/Shazam said, sounding slightly miffed. You saw my wisdom on occasion. I wasn’t always emotional. Then, When we shift, we are what we once were. Flaws and all. The enormity of Hunter can’t fit in a small skin. Another reason most of us choose to remain Hunter. It is difficult to get used to being tiny, driven by our biological natures again. Y’rill shuddered, sloughing black ice into the air beneath her wings. Being Shazam is humbling, I am a very different creature in that form, needy, tiny, lonely. Then her eyes gleamed and she said, You were a good mother to me. I will be to you as well, in this form.
“OHMYGODSHAZAM!” I exploded, as it finally, fully penetrated. “You’re my Shazzy-bear!”
Y’rill smiled. I am. I couldn’t tell you. They say if we breach that one rule, our child will never be born.
“That’s why my black hand never bothered you. I always wondered why I could touch you!”
Y’rill nodded. Also why I told you to make it go away. Reminding you that becoming one of us was your choice. You said you wouldn’t even if you could. I chose well with you. Your desire for adventure is exceeded only by your desire to care for worlds. We do much of that up here. One day you’ll see.
“See what?”
The threads that connect everything. We tend them. We sow them.
I began flying again, gingerly, then with greater gusto. I was flying in space! With Shazam! Holy hell! I always knew Shaz had another, enormous form and stayed “up in the air” but I’d never once imagined that form was a Hunter! I’d even written that ditty about Shaz the mighty fur-beast who lived up in the air, and us battling dragons together.
I snorted with laughter and it came out as a soft, delicate trilling gong accompanied by twin plumes of fire from my nostrils. Criminy, I just shot fire from my nose!
Hunter half the time, woman the other half; with Ryodan half the time, with Shazam the other half; with incredible adventures to be had both ways. Fierce exhilaration filled me.
I knew you’d think so, Y’rill/Shazam said smugly. Come. I have so much to show you.
As excited as I was to see more of my new home, Ryodan couldn’t feel me anymore. “First, take me back to Earth so I can—”
Send him one of your texts, Yi-yi, and let it go. You have all the time in the universe. Others are waiting to meet you. Few are chosen, far fewer born. Most reject it. Only the fearless join us here.
“Ha ha, a text,” I said dryly.
Ah, I forgot, you won’t be able to do that for some time. She sighed. I suppose I’ll break yet another rule for you.
As I watched, Y’rill turned, churning ice beneath her enormous leathery sails, and focused her attention on a nearby star. What do you want it to say?
I tried to nibble my lip, and gouged myself in the cheek with a fang. “Ow!” This was going to take time getting used to. “Tell him I’m okay and I’m coming home soon.”
A thin bolt of pale purple lightning, fine and laser sharp, erupted from a taloned hoof as Y’rill carved a tiny chunk of the star away, etching words on the face of it that shimmered like stardust.
Then, abruptly, Y’rill vanished and reappeared far beneath me, caught the chunk of star and brought it back, tossing it to me. Holy flour balls, she could sift! That meant I could sift, too! I’d eclipsed Batman a million times over. I caught the chunk of star, cupping it awkwardly in my hoof, marveling. One day I’d be able to carve messages on stars. Etch a twisty D for Dani all over the bloody universe. Criminy. Dancer would be beside himself if he could see me now.
Throw.
“Huh? How, where?”
I’ll correct its course. Just throw it.
I did, launching it into space, then Y’rill spun midair, batted it with her tail and sent it rocketing off at such speed that it vanished from sight as if it had entered a black hole.
It is done. He has received your message.
I understood a bit about travel in space and said, dryly, “When? Five million years in the future?”
I adjusted it so that he would receive it at the proper time.
“You can manipulate time?” I was awed.
She nodded.
“I can do that, too?” I practically shouted.
Thank the stars, NO! You must grow into your Hunter powers. It takes a very, very long time.
“Do I have any Hunter powers right now?” It may have come out sounding a bit peevish, but seriously, I was a dragon. I wanted some juice.
Y’rill chuffed. There’s my Yi-yi. A few. But when you become human again, no.
“You mean except for the lightning.” I liked my lightning bolts. I wondered if I’d be able to use them now without turning black.
Not the lightning. That is part of the birthing process. You will be as you were before you changed.
Sucky, still, “But I’m immortal now, aren’t I?” I said, and if I’d been human, I’d have been bouncing in hyperspeed from foot to foot.
You can be killed in your human form until you’ve spent enough time as a Hunter that you complete the full transition. You must be careful when human, Yi-yi.
“For how long?”
You would consider it a very long time. Now come, let me show you your new home.
My new home. All the worlds were my oyster, half my life. The world I loved was mine for the other half. I turned my head from side to side, drinking it all in; the velvety, exquisite, enormous expanse of space and, one day, the mysteries even of time. Beyond that, if I chose to die, I could become as a planet.
This was, I decided, bemused and stunned, the greatest superhero gig of all.
I was a Hunter.
Like the caterpillar, compelled beyond reason to spin itself into a cocoon, I’d grieved the transformation, believing I was losing my life. Deep down, in a place I never let myself feel, I’d actually been…afraid. I’d mourned. Only to discover wonders I’d never dreamed possible. Become an entirely new thing.
I might fly Ryodan up into a starry night sky. Soar overhead while his beast hunted. A dragon and a beast, roaming the Earth together. God, the things we could do now!
It was a future I couldn’t wait to explore.
“How many months?” I demanded.
For what?
“To shift.”
I said years.
I said smugly, “Right, how many months? Come on, Shazzy-bear, break another rule for me.”