A "Winds of Change" Story

By Jon Sleeper

Hospitals. I hated hospitals! Ever since I slammed my hand in a car door when I was ten and broke four fingers. And now I had even more reason to hate them. Even with all the huge anti-scent filtration installed, the place still made me jumpy as any herbivore when he’s surrounded by the scent of blood.

Blood from all types. My ears seemed permanently plastered to my skull, and when I stepped through the doors with my parents behind me I stopped in my tracks and whinnied nervously out of reflex. My mother put her hand on my shoulder. "It’s okay, David."

I took some shallow breaths, then slowly got a hold of myself. "Wow... I didn’t know things could get this bad."

"There’s a smell-cancelled room for skittish people like us just to one side of the main waiting room. You could wait there until you hear about Todd."

I sighed deeply, the air moving through my flaring nostrils like a pair of wind tunnels. Mano and Michael were already with him. Jim was apparently in an examination room, getting himself looked over for exhibiting his First Sign. Bright green feathers had grown on his shoulders during the search.

I remembered the first thought that went through my head when I realized what was happening to me. I also knew—though I’d kept it to myself—what Jim’s problem was.

He didn’t want to Change. Even though he was about to join the birds in their wonderful freedom of flight.

So I decided that he needed me more than Todd did. Waiting wasn’t going to help much, and in this environment there was the distinct possibility that my zebra instincts would suddenly take over and I’d norm-shift and possibly break some things. Like my legs. I told my parents I was going to go find Jim, and went to the help desk in the prey-species waiting area. The guy at the desk was a fellow African mammal. A muscular mid-degree impala morph. I cleared my throat, and asked in my horribly rough voice, "can you tell me where Jim Yates’s room is?"

The man’s ears twitched as he pulled up something on the screen in front of him. "You’re ‘Stripes’, I take it?"

"What was your first clue?"

"Heh. He’s down the hall, tenth room on your left. Can’t miss it. And congrats on your Change, kid. There’s also a organization for us African types if you get tired of your equine club."

I smiled. "Thanks, I’ll consider it." I left the room and walked down the hall as quickly as I could. Which wasn’t all that fast, really. My feet had continued their Change, and it was affecting my whole lower half. By now there were only three toes left, the middle one having a rudimentary hoof on it. My foot bones were a couple inches longer, and were losing the characteristic arch of human feet. And because of this, it hurt to walk on them for any length of time. If they Changed any more than I’d have to use a pair of support frames so at least I wouldn’t have to use my norm all the time to get around.

I walked with a nervous quickstep that hurt more and more as I went down the hallway. Scents were less filtered out, here. I felt myself tense up and my ears moved around extra quick to make sure I didn’t miss a sound. I knocked on the door. "Jim? It’s Stripes. Can I come in?"

There was a pause. "Yeah, come on in."

I opened the door to find Jim sitting on the examination table, a large book open in front of him. He was wearing a hospital gown that in no way hid the bright green feathers sprouting from his upper back. He looked at me and sighed. "Hiya. How’s Todd?"

"I don’t know yet. I can’t stand being out there. It’s much easier for me in here."

Jim grinned weakly. "Well, I guess I’m not going to have to worry about that. Most birds don’t have near the sense of smell mammals do." He sighed. "I just wish I wasn’t stuck in here while everyone else is hovering around Todd. Or the raccoon we think is Todd."

That was a question that neither of us wanted to think about. It was possible that the raccoon we’d caught wasn’t him. They were using a telepath to confirm it. Then they had to find an Inducer and a Telekinetic to change him back. The Inducer to make him change, and the Telekinetic to hold his bones in place while he was changed to prevent more injury. "Well, I’ll hear at the same time you will. Where are your parents?"

Jim sighed again. "With the Morphologist. They’re identifying my exact species. Though they seem to think, because of the color of the feathers, that I’m becoming something like a macaw or parrot." The book had large pictures of many species.

"Congratulations," I said, smiling. No response, just a sigh. "I’m jealous, you know. At least you’ll be able to talk in your norm form."

A corner of Jim’s mouth actually turned up in a grin. "You know, I never thought of that. If I don’t get my wings on my back, I’ll get them by shifting." Then he sighed deeply, and looked at his hands. Then he reached to carefully scratch his back just below the feathers.

Seeing that made my own feet itch in sympathy. I was getting more and more uncomfortable standing on my near-hoofs, so I tucked my tail aside and sat down on the bed in front of him. I didn’t know how the hell I could help him get through this. Then I looked at my own feet, and found that the itching had actually been a small surge. What had previously been an overlarge middle toe with a thick toenail was now undoubtedly a real hoof. The two toes that were still there were so tiny that they no longer felt distinct, and were so high up on my now much longer foot bones that they no longer touched the ground. It looked like I had the hind legs of a proto-equine of some sort.

"Your Change is accelerating," Jim observed. "Think you’ll be able to walk out of the room on those?"

I shook my head. "Probably not, though I could try. The hoof isn’t full sized and the rest of my legs aren’t right at all. I’m glad I can norm shift to get around. I’ll have to get those support frames before I leave. It’ll be a few days at least before I can move around in morph form without them..."

Jim sighed. "Well, depending on my own Degree, I’ll have to go through something similar if I get bird’s feet."

I really, really wished I could say what I wanted to say. But if I said it, it would sound rather preachy. I was saved from having to say anything by another knock on the door. I knew who it was even before I opened it. And I couldn’t hold in my surprise or happiness, and it came out more a whinny than in real words. "Amanda! What are you doing here?"

Amanda was rather taller than she used to be when she first started to Change. Mostly due to the fact that she’d gained over one-hundred fifty pounds since then. Well on her way to becoming a well-muscled Clydesdale morph, her hands had only two thick fingers and thumb. There was even a bit of feathering above her fingernails like there would be above the hoofs of the draft horse she was becoming. Her feet were now rather large hooves with that same feathering, and she had the beginnings of a equine tail. Other than that, her face was just distorted enough to give it a distinct equine cast to her otherwise Asian features. Large, flaring nostrils, pointed ears that could already move a little, and hair that was more and more confined to a line down the back of her head and elongating neck.

She was also taller than me by about three inches. And she could lift about fifty pounds more than I. She already weighed as much as I did in morph (about 275 pounds) and wasn’t going to stop until she hit at least 700 pounds. As much as I weighed in norm. But she also had something in common with Jim.

She hadn’t wanted to Change. She’d also hated horses. Poetic justice, some in our local Equinity Herd said.

She smiled. "It’s all over school, Stripes. Nate might be getting suspended, I think the principal wants to talk to you guys personally first, though."

"How did you know that I was here at the hospital?"

Her expression suddenly changed to be more serious. "I’d heard a rumor that someone had been hurt. So I wanted to check here first when you didn’t answer your phone. The impala at the counter was very helpful."

"I’m glad you’re here. Not only is Todd hurt, but Jim there got his First Sign." I was privately hoping that she might help me in getting to Jim.

She grinned. "I see," and looked back at Jim, still sitting on the bed looking at parrot morph pictures. She saw the book and then sighed. "You don’t realize how lucky you are, Jim," she said to him.

"Lucky?" Jim blurted. "How could I be lucky? I’m losing everything!"

I was a bit startled by Jim’s words, but Amanda looked at me with a particular expression on her face. I made a decision. "I think I’ll leave you two alone. You have much to discuss, I think," I said. I then slipped into the hallway and closed the door.

I decided to stand by the door until they were finished. The walls and doors were heavily soundproofed so I couldn’t hear what they were talking about. But as time dragged on and on, the smells drifting down the corridor made me very nervous.

I had to sit down on the floor because my feet didn’t allow me to stand for more than three minutes with any kind of comfort. Trying to walk on them human-style felt wrong, and trying to stand on them like normal hoofed feet hurt. So I sat down on the floor, my tail curled next to me. I busied myself with watching those who hurried by, and by combing the tangles out of the black tuft of hair at the end of my striped tail with a comb from my waist pack.

I cursed myself for forgetting my watch, and I had no idea how much time had passed. But I became more and more aware that I didn’t know what was going on inside that room. And I suddenly became rather irrationally jealous.

It’s because he’s a bird, I’m sure, I thought, He’s going to be able to fly while I am left to gallop along the ground. Yeah. That’s it. For the first time, I was unsatisfied with what I was. Jim would be able to talk in norm form.

In that moment, I didn’t want anything more than to be a bird. And in that moment, I felt a wave of dizziness so intense I nearly blacked out. When I regained myself, I felt... different.

The first thing that struck me was that my muzzle was rather numb. It also didn’t look right to me when I looked forward. It was hard and shiny, and my I seemed to be breathing out of two holes in the top of it.

It took me all of two seconds for me to realize that I was looking at a beak. A beak the way it looks to birdmorphs everywhere. From their point of view. Feeling around with my tongue confirmed it. I raised my hands to so I could see them. They were covered in dry, scaly skin that was a shiny black in color. My finger nails were curved and pointed, like small talons. And then there were the feathers. More specifically, my tail feathers.

I squawked in pain as I realized that I was sitting on them all wrong. I was on my feet immediately. My scaly black feet with four toes, one of which faced directly backward. But back to the feathers...

There was no way I was becoming a bird of prey. No eagle had the blue feathers I was seeing. My chest was an off-white in color. My arms seemed to have proto-flight feathers that were a bright blue and barred in black. My tail feathers also had this coloration. Experimentally I fanned them without much thought. There was only one bird I knew that had these features. I just had to do one more thing.

I carefully felt along the top of my head. I was reward by feeling a crest of feathers that would go up and down at a thought. I was a blue jay morph.

The fact that I wasn’t a bird of prey was shoved aside by the fact I had a Power. A real Power! Not like norm-shifting, which was common as dirt. I could turn into a bird! I could fly!

I was also comparably as Changed at my zebra form. My chest was very deep and muscled with what were definitely flight muscles. There was no sign of wings on my back. So it was more than likely I was a non-flighted type. Which meant several things that might be bad...

My feet and legs did seem to be a little further along in their Change than my zebra form. I found myself bent forward more, with my chest in the process of dropping between my legs. It was an odd, odd feeling. I was also much, much shorter. Just how much I didn’t know.

As I was pondering this the door opened, and out of the corner of my eye Amanda looked startled. I noticed that I couldn’t smell the way she was feeling, but she looked startled. "Oh! I’m sorry. Did you see a partially Changed zebra out here?"

I turned to face her. She absolutely towered over me! For a moment I was afraid, and felt an urge to flap my arms and get away! I swallowed my sudden fear and said in a squawky voice, "It’s me, Mandy. I can change into a bird, too!" I sighed inwardly. My voice as a blue jay was no better than the one I had as a zebra. No singing in this form, either.

She was immediately skeptical and looked around for me. "Right," she said, "Where’s Stripes? And why did he put you up to this?"

"But I am David! Here! I’ll show you!" I closed my eyes and concentrated with all my might. I was rewarded, but not with what I was expecting.

I felt naked, bare of feather or hair. But my skin also felt very, very dry. I heard Jim and Amanda gasp, but it sounded rather muffled. I opened my eyes. My hands were colored a bluish gray, and the texture was rather rubbery. There was a webbing between my five fingers, when I looked down I saw that I only had three long toes that were webbed. My tail was thick and long, and it had a pair of full-sized flukes on the end. On my pack I felt a vertical protuberance that was a dorsal fin. And I was breathing through a single nostril on the top of my head that I had to consciously unplug in order to breathe. "Oh my God..." I said, my voice coming out of that breathing hole and sounding very high-pitched. No singing in this form, either. Damn, I thought.

I had a thick neck, a kind of half dolphin muzzle with a jutting chin, conical teeth of a fish eater, and a permanent smile.

Then the Universe decided to cooperate and I was once again standing in front of Jim and Amanda, a zebra. "Guys, I think we’d better call a nurse..."

But my mother was already bounding down the hallway in her norm form, she shifted quickly when she saw the three of us. "Todd is awake! And don’t worry, because it is him! They were successful in changing him back!"

I was about to open my mouth, but then the Universe once again decided to have some fun with me. I didn’t do a thing to cause it. But in three seconds I changed through all three of my forms, though I was privately glad that I didn’t seem to gain any more forms. But I ended up not as my normal zebra self, but as a blue jay. I couldn’t help but look at Jim and shrug. "I guess we’re both bird brains together, huh?" I tried to smile, but it didn’t work.

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