Flipping the Bird (Shift Creek #1) - Carrie Pulkinen Page 0,19

the amulet around her neck. “Don’t fly anywhere near Rainecourt Manor, okay?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Are you ready?”

“Oh, yeah.” Meg rubbed her palms together.

“Okay then. You can have my bird.”

The amulet heated against Alice’s skin, and the same electric sensation shot through her limbs. As Megan transformed into the crow, Alice dropped to the ground on all fours, her vision growing sharper in the darkness. The moon suddenly seemed twice as bright, and as she lifted her hands in front of her face, she found tiny black paws instead.

Megan, she tried to say, but the sound came out as chittering. Holy mother of trash pandas. Alice hadn’t just flipped her friend the bird; they’d traded magic.

She looked at Megan in crow form, and Megan cawed before flapping her wings and taking to the air. Unsteady at first, she tumbled through the sky, spiraling toward the ground before righting herself at the last minute and soaring upward.

She better not mess up my feathers. Alice sat on her haunches and watched her friend fly circles around the field. Wrapping her paw—Megan’s paw—around a tuft of grass, she yanked it from the ground. Nice. Having hands while in animal form sure would be convenient.

Nah. Alice preferred her wings, and it seemed her bestie enjoyed them too. Megan’s caw echoed across the creek as she soared back toward her, but she didn’t land. She just kept circling and circling, while Alice got more and more impatient.

She made raccoon noises at her friend, but her voice wasn’t very loud, and either Megan didn’t hear her, or she ignored her completely…probably the latter. Shifting to human form was tempting, but since she didn’t know how the magic worked, she didn’t dare.

With her luck, she’d traded human forms too. Or worse, she’d get stuck. Who knew?

So she waited. And waited. And waited. Finally, after a million excruciating minutes, Megan attempted a landing. Of course, her inexperience made her overshoot her target. Her feet hit the ground, but her body kept going, and she tumbled twice before skidding to a stop on her belly.

It was time Alice got her bird back, but… Oh no. In animal form, the amulet had been absorbed into her body by the magic. Would it even work if it technically didn’t exist? She had to try.

Alice waddled toward her friend and focused on swapping forms. Nothing happened. She vocalized her intent, but since she couldn’t form words, the magic didn’t respond. It appeared the amulet’s power worked via the spoken word, and she could only speak in human form.

She had no choice but to shift and hope for the best. With a deep inhale, she closed her eyes and imagined herself human, in her own body. Her skin tingled, and as the transformation began, her body grew until she found herself on her hands and knees in the dirt. She stood, dusting off her legs, and sighing with relief at the sight of her own knee-high boots.

“Give me back my bird.” The electrical zap reversed, and the moment she felt her bird return, she shifted, taking to the air herself and circling above the creek before returning to the ground.

“Ow. I should have asked you how to land before we did this.” Megan rubbed her neck. “How’d I do? Better than your boyfriend, that’s for sure.”

“You did great. Do you need to get in the creek?” Alice settled on the ground next to her.

“Nah. I’ll be fine.” She looked her up and down. “You took my raccoon. It’s okay. I trust you with her, but I wish you’d have told me first.”

“I didn’t know that would happen.” Alice lay on her back, lacing her fingers behind her head and gazing up at the stars. “I did the same thing as when I flipped it to Donovan, but this time, your magic flipped to me too.”

“And his didn’t?”

“I don’t know. If it did, I didn’t notice. I was in shock at the time.”

“Man, you could have had mad warlock powers for a minute or two, and you didn’t even realize it.” Megan lay next to her like they did when they were kids after Alice had been grounded for venturing out to dumpster dive with her late at night. Crows weren’t naturally nocturnal, and her parents didn’t appreciate her adventurousness when she was young.

“Maybe I shouldn’t throw away the amulet just yet. I think we might need to do some more research with it.”

Megan cut her a sideways glance and grinned. “I agree one hundred percent. At