Spark (Legends of the Shifters) Read Online Free PDF Page B

quiet for a
moment. “Then I'm your trainer .” He stepped
closer to the light, and when I saw him, I was speechless. Three long
scars were carved down the side of his face, starting from the
forehead, and running across his eye, down his cheek, and under his
chin. I swallowed hard, wondering what had happened to him.
    I
looked away quickly, afraid that me staring at his face would make
him angry. I struggled to come up with something to say. “How
does that mean you’re my trainer?”
    He
sighed. “Well, whatever number you get first is the trainer
that you get for the rest of your stay.”
    I
paused, thinking, and then asked, “Have you ever had an
apprentice before?”
    “ Yes.
Once... But she died.”
    I
stopped breathing.
    He
didn’t let me think about it too long. “Now, if you want
to eat, you’d better get going. You have less than an hour
before you’re survival session ends.” He handed me a
necklace with a black gem hanging on it. “As long as you have
this on, I can contact you. If you take it off, your session ends,
and you get nothing to eat until tomorrow.”
    I
took the necklace and hung it around my neck, glancing at him one
more time. He nodded in affirmation.
    I
stepped into the tent, still unsure of myself, and gasped as my
surroundings changed.

CHAPTER
FOUR

    It
was still night outside, but the moon was brighter. I was up to my
waist in snow, making my lower body completely numb with cold. As I
peered around, a drift of icy snow pelted my face.
    First
of all, tell me what your second form is, said a voice in my head.
    “ A
phoenix,” I said aloud.
    My
trainer was silent for a moment. Then, he chuckled. If
that’s the case, then you’d better change as quickly as
possible.
    I
shuffled through the snow for a little before I realized that he was
right. I needed to get in the air if I wanted to eat today. I tried
to concentrate on the warmth, but I didn’t feel it.
    “ Why
can’t I call it up?” I asked.
    Concentrate
on the exact opposite of your fear, he replied.
    I
thought about it. I had concentrated on warmth, but I was also afraid
of darkness. I would have to concentrate on warmth and light.
    I
closed my eyes, and pictured the dawn of a new day when the sun first
starts to melt the snow, and warm your cheeks in the freezing cold.
How it brings hope for a new beginning and how it blinds your vision
with its brightness.
    Then
the strange sensation of shifting took over my body. The light
flashed again, and after it had gone, I had to wait a while before I
could see.
    Good, said my trainer, now get into the
air.
    I
don’t know how, I thought to
him.
    Follow
your instincts. Just don’t go too high if you’re unsure
of yourself.
    I
unfurled my wings, stretching them out as far as they could go, and
then I launched myself into the air by thrusting them downward. I
pushed down again and again until I was high enough to see the
mountain from afar. I thought that it might be scary to be up so
high, but I found out that it was actually liberating. I angled my
wings downward, and plunged toward the ground, thrusting them out
again when I felt like I was getting too close to the snow-covered
mountain.
    I
see you’ve got the hang of it already, said the trainer. Now you’re on
your own. I can’t help you find a meal. That’s the rules.
    Wait!
I only see snow and rock! How could there possibly be anything to
eat? I said frantically.
    There
was no reply. I made an audible cry of anger that came out as a
shriek. It scared me, but then I remembered. I was a bird. One that's
been jostled around a little too much.
    The
only thing I could think to do was travel to the base of the
mountain, where perhaps, because it was of a lower altitude, it would
be warmer and have more of a chance of life. I swooped downward
through the fog that obscured my vision. There were only jagged
rocks, pointed upward in such a way that if I had gone too low, I
would have been impaled.
    Still
hoping, I searched for