“You can now just change into whatever you think about. And you should know that Miley can do that as well.” They both looked at his daughter when she giggled. A dizzyingly amount of clothing changed on her body in a matter of moments. “I have had it since I was made. You, again, since we touched.”
“Why a touch? What I mean is, why did just a touch do this? I would imagine that you’ve touched a great many people in your time.” She nodded, and said it was because they were mates. “I see. Not really, but for now, I have an answer I can work with.”
“So, I can do this all the time? Change my clothing? Into anything I want?” Mercy told her that was right. Even a gown if she wanted. “Great. No more going shopping for clothing. I hate that. The rooms are much too small for me, and my wheelchair gets stuck all the time.”
“I can heal you.” Joel dropped his fork again. “You keep that up and I’m going to put a bib on you. You’re making a mess.”
“You can’t say something like that and expect me not to react. What? How can you heal her? With a touch?” Mercy shook her head. Before he could ask any more questions, Miley spoke.
“I don’t care what you have to do to me, so long as I can walk. I’ve never done that, you know that? Never taken a step in the grass. For that matter, I’ve never felt the grass beneath my feet. I don’t know what it’s like to pee in a toilet. That might seem stupid to you, but to me, it would mean the world.” Miley started crying. “Dad, you have to allow her to do this for me. I want this so badly. I would have been all right with never being able to walk, but I have an opportunity to take steps that I never was able to do before.”
“Miley, honey, I want you to be able to walk as well. But we have to figure it out. I’m sure that Mercy has thought of everything.” He looked at her and she nodded. “See? Didn’t I tell you she was the best? So, what do we have to do?”
“It’s not just healing her that we have to worry about. Or be concerned about.” Miley started to speak when Mercy cut her off to continue. “You’ve been in a wheelchair all your life, right? You haven’t any idea how to walk, balance or, as you said, go to the bathroom. This is going to take work. On all our parts. You have to take time to get the basics of being on your feet, doing things that require you to stand. Balance is just one of them, as I mentioned, but you will need to learn to bend at the waist, with your knees. I’m sorry to say it this way, but you’re going to have to be treated as an infant. Simply because you never learned these things as one.”
“Okay, I can understand that. But I’d like to get started as soon as possible. And, if we can, I’d like to keep this between us.” Miley asked him if he thought it was going to fail. “No, never that. But I think that it will be a wonderful surprise when you’ll be able to step out of that thing and walk, don’t you?”
“Yes, yes I do. I’m so excited.” Miley looked at him. He could tell that she was trying her very best to not demand that they do it now. “What do we do first?”
“You need to shift.” Joel didn’t even ask. He figured that if Mercy said it that way, then it was possible that Miley could shift. “You can as well, Joel. Again, since we touched. Miley can because she’s in my heart. As my child.”
He didn’t know what to say. He wasn’t even sure that he could speak around the lump in his throat. She loved his daughter—loved her like her own child. And when Miley rolled around the table to hug her, he got up to join them. Kissing them both on the head, he told them that he loved them too. With all his heart.
They were silent for a f
ew moments, then Miley said something about breathing, a minor thing, that he laughed about when there was so much love around the room. Just as he was sitting down to eat, Mercy dropped another bombshell on them.
“You’re both immortal too.”
For as long as he lived, which apparently was going to be a very long time, he didn’t think he’d ever drop his fork at a meal like he had this one. Clearing his throat as the other two ate, he decided that he needed time. Or at least some guidelines about telling him things. But they were laughing, at him, and Joel found that he didn’t care. He’d drop his fork the rest of his days if it made them this happy.
The process to help Miley wasn’t as bad as he thought. Yes, she had to shift, which worried him more than he could admit out loud, but Miley was excited. Mercy was careful with her to the point where he could see Miley wanted to bash her head in.
“All right. So, I just think of a falcon and then wait for her to contact me.” Mercy said that was right. “To be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever seen one, except in books. Can you—I don’t want to cause you any trouble, but can you make one for me?”
“It’s no trouble, but my bird sometimes has a mind of her own. She may sit on your lap.” Miley made a joke about not being able to feel it. “I just don’t want her to get into the habit of doing it. She has great talons, as well as she is a little nippy. Don’t let her if she wants to hurt you. All right?”
“Yes, but one thing first, I know that you’re Dad’s mate and all. And I’ve never called anyone this before, but can I call you Mom?”
Mercy’s shift from human to falcon was swift.
“Did I make her mad?” Joel said that the bird, he reminded her, had a mind of her own. “She did say that. I hope that I didn’t make her mad.”
The falcon was beautiful this close up. The brown feathers on her back were soft looking, and her legs were snowy white. When the pretty but deadly bird hopped up on Miley’s wheelchair, she looked as if she were showing off. But the beak was what scared him more than her talons, which were long and sharp.
“May I touch you?” The bird nodded. He supposed that the bird had a name and started thinking of her as Mercy. “You’re very soft, aren’t you? And you have more than just brown and white on your feathers. Some of them are black, others are orange and blue. I guess that’s so you can blend in.”
When Mercy grew to her large bird and spread out her wings, Joel was shocked—he’d never realized before how wide they’d be. Nearly sixty feet, he’d bet, and when she turned to look at him, he had a feeling that the bird was sizing him up.
She wants to taste you. All sorts of thoughts went through his mind. Not like that, you moron. She’d clip you until you were nothing but a nub. She means to taste your skin. And when she does, don’t touch her. It’ll hurt, but she’ll transfer more magic to you.
“I’m not sure I want more magic.” Mercy became her small bird again and moved to stand on the corner of the coffee table, where he was sitting. “This nip, where would she like to do it? I’m assuming it won’t matter.”
No. Just put out your hand. As I said, it will hurt, but you’re going to be marked. To be honest, Joel, I’m not sure what that means, but she wants to mark you.
His hand was trembling, but at this point, he thought that it was all right. After today, he would have been surprised if he hadn’t been trembling a little. When she spread her wings again, he watched as she flapped them quickly but didn’t lift off the table. That was when she bit him. The distraction helped some, but it was very painful.
He felt it roll over him in waves. The magic, he assumed, seemed to fill parts of him that he’d not realized would matter. Even his earlobes tingled. Then the burning of his shoulder and back nearly took him to the floor.