A Hippogriff for Christmas - Zoe Chant Page 0,31

deep breath, glancing away. It was entirely possible she was just setting herself up for more humiliation. But something within her wouldn’t let her walk away.

Beau had seemed so… so genuine. And the way he was looking at her now, his dark eyes intense and powerful, as if he was seeing right down to her soul…

“All right,” she said. “Show me, then.”

Beau nodded. “Come over to the trees,” he said. “You don’t have to go inside the forest if you don’t want to, but I’m going to go in amongst the trees. It’d be… kind of awkward if anyone else saw this.”

Pulling in a sigh and wondering why she was letting herself get talked into this, Annie trudged through the snow, following Beau to the dark line of trees next to the lake.

Probably he’s just going to run off through the forest, she thought. Or hide behind a stump and say he’s become invisible or something.

She stopped on the edge of the trees, even as Beau carried on to a small clearing by a large fallen fir tree.

“Okay,” Annie said. “Show me, then. Prove whatever it is you want to prove.”

Beau nodded, looking at her. “I will,” he said, then hesitated. “But Annie – just… be prepared, okay? And don’t be frightened. No matter what you see, remember that it’s still me, okay? And remember that I would never hurt you.”

Annie frowned.

What is he talking about?

Annie honestly couldn’t say what she was expecting to happen next – for Beau to run for the hills, or for some of Beau’s douchey friends to jump out from behind some trees and start laughing at her – but nothing could have prepared her for what she did see.

She could feel her eyes widening in shock as she stared at Beau as he began to – began to –

Change.

It was the only word Annie could think of to describe it.

At first, it was only subtle – a shimmer seemed to pass over his skin, like the shadow of a cloud passing overhead. At first, Annie thought that it was a shadow, or some other trick of the light.

But she quickly realized that this was much more than a simple shadow. After the initial shimmer, the changes in Beau became much, much more noticeable.

To say the least, Annie thought in a kind of dazed way as she stared in stunned silence.

Instead of skin, Beau’s body now seemed to be covered in short, dark hair. Well, some of him was, anyway – the rest of him was covered in white feathers, while from his back sprouted a huge, elegant pair of wings, extending up into the trees.

Annie was so busy staring in wonder at them that she almost missed how much the rest of Beau had changed. But when she finally did manage to drag her eyes down from the beautiful wings, she gasped.

Beau’s legs had become the hindquarters of a horse, strong and well-muscled. His arms and hands had become feathered legs and strong talons, while his face –

– His face had become the proud, gallant visage of an eagle, white-feathered and golden-eyed, with a strong, curved beak.

He – he looks just like the creature in the photo, Annie thought, too stunned to move, let alone think a decently coherent thought.

But it was true. Beau had transformed in front of her very eyes into the same mythical creature she’d seen on his phone – the one he’d insisted wasn’t Photoshopped, and was in fact very real.

Annie was pretty sure there was no Photoshop for real life, though. She might not be any kind of graphic designer or even know much about computers beyond checking her email, but she was almost certain she would have heard about that.

Which can only mean that this is really happening, Annie thought as she stared at the creature – what had Beau called it? A hippogriff? – as it stood amongst the shadows of the trees.

But it’s not really just a creature. Annie swallowed. Hard. It’s Beau. He said so just before this happened. He told me that no matter what I saw, it was still him.

“Beau?” she said, her voice so quiet even she could barely hear it. “Is it really you?”

In response, the hippogriff let out a low, crooning sound, swishing its horse’s tail and tossing its eagle’s head, spreading its magnificent wings wide. It was almost as if it was showing itself off to her. But then, it slowly folded its wings against its back, lowering its