It was early the next evening when I awoke, but even though sunset had hardly begun, Illy was already gone. I climbed out of bed and went to the window, which was open. The harsh cold wind blew in like a waterfall, but by some illusion of the mind, I thought maybe I saw a large black bat disappear as it soared away over the land, so I left the window open, just in case. I returned to my room, still very confused by the entire endeavor. I ran into Ebony in the hall and practically latched onto her arm to get her to explain.
"Do you know about the pretty guy roped up in Master's closet?" I asked, almost laughing at myself for asking such a seemingly ridiculous question.
"Of course," She said brightly, "He stays there whenever the Queen is dead so he can eat our dreams." But seeing it made nothing clearer, she continued, "His name is eleven, and he is the only slave of the Queen who is expected to live. He is a dream eater, so he needs to consume dreams to live but is otherwise much like an immortal version of a human, as long as he gets enough food. Eleven became her slave about a thousand years ago and for whatever reason she became incredibly attached to him, probably because he was quite abstruse but very dedicated. After a while she roped him up because she became attached, and he had no objections, and now he stays tied at all times when he is not by her side, and refuses freedom from anyone else."
"So he eats dreams," I said.
"Yep, but depending on the quality of the dream and the sleep the flavor is different, which I'm sure you already know, as he doesn't hold off on telling anyone about it." She looked a little giddy and insisted she had to go so I let her leave and returned to my room to ponder it. I found a simple blue and white checkered dress laid out for me and a small blue suitcase with a note on it instructing me to pack all I needed for a week of travel, neglecting clothing as someone else would take care of that. I threw in a couple things and a book about the Chinese language and etiquette before landing upon my phone, which had a couple new messages from old friends who had heard of me and thought to text.
As I had time and had heard from Illy I was allowed to text I sent a few of my best friends replies stating I had settled in and my master was kind but I wasn't allowed to tell them many details about my new life, besides that I no longer lived in England and my new owner traveled often. I also, remembering Clifford, decided to text him about my new life, leaving out the loss of my arm because I figured it wouldn't make much sense now that I had my arm back. He wrote back almost immediately telling me about how he had traded masters and was much more content in the hands of this one, who turned out to be quite rich and was now living in the East of China. We slipped easily into conversation with all we had in common, and I ended up talking a little to him about my dilemma with both hating my Master and liking her but knowing I shouldn't because there was no hope in that.
But after a while he said he had to go and I got back to packing just in time to finish as the Silver twins arrived at my door. I picked up my suitcase expecting to go but they motioned for me to set it down again. "The trip has been postponed for another day and we shall leave tomorrow evening instead." They said in unison.
"Why?" I asked, but they just shrugged and left, so I plopped down on my bed and read a while before going out to the parlor to find Illy in her usual place. I slipped into the chair opposite hers.
"You don't have to wear that anymore." She said, looking up, "We don't leave until tomorrow now so you can change back."
"I'll do it later," I said, "Unless you want me to do it now." But she shook her head no and turned back to her work sketching out documents while I decided to read. I had become so immersed in the book that when she did call to me I hardly heard and she had approached and yanked me by the chain of my neck before I was shaken from the book. The golden twins were occupied in the corner, and now it was almost dawn so I thought for a moment she wanted me to go to bed, but when she plopped down beside me on the sofa I realized that wasn't the case.
"Have you really never transformed before?" She asked, her hand firmly planted on my thigh just to watch me squirm.
"Of course not," I replied.
"Not even as a kid?" She asked.
"No, but I used to have these strange dreams when I was a kid. I used to dream that I was flying above the house in this strange glow of swirling light, and that another big blueish raven would come up behind me and lead me back down again, but I always woke up in bed the next morning even thought the dream always felt so real." She almost laughed at me.
"I don't think those were dreams," Illy said.
"Not dreams?" I questioned, but then I considered it, and realize she might as well be right. If I was able to turn into a raven, and my mother was too, what was to say she hadn't been that big blueish bird that lead me back down from the clouds as a kid, and I wasn't really up there. "Then you think I've already been a raven?"
"I would expect so," She replied, "It's just a matter of being able to control it. If you really tried now to remember how it felt you could probably do it even today." As she said this she practically threw me out into the open space of the parlor, and watched intently, so I tried to imagine it. I thought about the cold wind on feathers, and the bright moon above the gray and wispy clouds. My mother's frantic expression, and the glowing warmth of blue light around me, it's streaks swirling around me as if to form a ball of protection. I thought about how I stood in the backyard when it would happen, with my arms outspread and my head held high, not really intending to turn into a bird, but to rise up off the ground, ridding my body of the Earth's eternal pull.
I spread out my arms and looked at the ceiling, trying to recreate that urge, and before I even knew what was happening I felt like my vision became blurry and I disconnected from the ground and my body like a boat is pulled away by the ocean when it's rope is cut at dock. My vision cleared and I could see around me Master gaping at me, and turned my head to see the Golden twins doing the same. My head felt lighter as I seemed to drop to the ground, landing steadily on the carpet, it's fluffy texture between my toes.
Around me seemed this ominous blue glow and when I looked down I saw metallic blue and black streaked feet, scaly and spread out like a birds, with pointed black claws adorning their tips. I looked to the side and watched as my feathered and shiny wing collapsed against my body as I let it fall to my side, and around me seemed this ball of slender silver light, like fish swarming in a sphere as if to protect something that they loved. I looked up at Master and realized I saw short, but not nearly as short as I had expected when I saw Heather as a bird. I stood to about Illy's knee and as she held out her hand and I climbed on to be lifted to her face, I could see shock in her mismatched eyes, and intrigue on her scrunched eyebrows.
"Can you hear me?" She asked, reaching up to stroke the feathers on my head. It felt strange but nice, and I thought it out of character of her to do so. The swimming lights parted around her, swirling around her edges like she was a breach in their pond. I knew she could see them too, and sometimes stared at them as if hypnotized by their dazzling dances. I opened my mouth to answer her but recognized quickly that I was not able to make that sort of sound, and closed it, nodding instead. "Can you turn back?" She asked now, and figuring I could, I closed my eyes and imagined myself as a person, my arms down and back straight, with my feet together. I felt myself almost pulled upward and stretched out like taffy, until when I opened my eyes, I saw my head was near the ceiling.
I was cold and for a moment I thought things had gone terribly wrong, until I looked down to see myself standing stark naked on one of Master's hands. I leaped down and covered myself, crouching low on the couch. The Golden twins were staring almost in a trance, and Illy seemed every passing moment to lean closer. She turned my head so I could look at her, and almost the moment our eyes met she almost shrunk back.
"Dear god," She exclaimed, "How am I supposed to keep you as a slave when you're like that?"
"Like what?" I asked, feeling scared I had done something wrong.
"Like," She began, but lost her words in the middle. Her face was a little red and her black curls looked a bit frizzy, and I wracked my brain for a reason. She postpones the trip, she looks a tad frazzled, she blushes, and is snappy with guests, I thought, why. I wasn't special, I knew I wasn't because the golden twins had told me what she did was normal, and that she was just toying with me, but that didn't make anything make any more sense, and I dared not assume that I might be even a little unique because I felt that would strain my heart far too much. But she wasn't sick or anything, as moments ago she had held my entire being on one outstretch hand with no sign of fatigue. She interrupted my thoughts.
"Nothing," She said finally, getting up and brushing herself off like it would somehow clear her head of some unwanted thought. She turned to me and yanked me up by the chain, which I began to realize might be a way to both asserting dominance and making herself feel in control, and therefore, safe. She pressed a long and churlish kiss to my lips before releasing me so suddenly I almost fell flat on the floor and stalking off up the staircase. I turned to the Golden twins, and realizing I was still naked save for a pair of blue underwear, shooed them away so I could slip back on my dress.
"I'm sorry Sapphire," the left twin said when I turned back to him.
"Sorry for what?" I asked, confused by the unprompted apology. The right twin looked up, her eyes sad and strangely knowing.
"I don't think the Princess will ever get tired of you." She said, her voice so monotone and serious that I almost stepped backwards from her.
"What do you mean?"
"She's never acted like this before."
"but what do you mean you're sorry, and why don't you think she'll tire of me when you said just a day or two ago that she tires of everyone she's possessed." I asked. They exchanged glanced before answering, as if checking their facts.
"She does," They replied, "But she's never acted like she has since you showed up, so we think it's possible she's connected to you somehow, and therefore her interest will not falter like it often does. We're sorry because we supposed you were relived to know you had a really good chance of walking free, but now, it's not as likely."
"But she could just be reacting to something else. I'm not special or anything, and I'm no match for her." I replied, but after that they seemed just as reluctant to change their minds, and all the more eager to excuse themselves, so I returned to my room and settled in to sleep the day, but sleep didn't come easy when so much had encompassed my highly confusing day, and I felt the longer I stayed here with these people the stranger everything got, and began to look forward to the China trip a bit more.