As scared as I was, I was overjoyed at hearing a familiar name, even if it was from a stranger. “Where is Owen?”

“He is in bear form, following those men to make sure they don’t come back. Now, quickly, let’s get out of this tree. Follow me.” 

The owl spread its black wings and was about to take flight. 

I immediately saw flaw in Leander the owl’s plan: “Wait! I don’t know how to fly yet!” 

The owl paused. “Oh yes, I should have known. Well, you don’t really need to fly to get down, you only need to glide. Spread your wings and jump, they’ll stop you from hitting the ground too hard. If you give them a few flaps just at the end you should be able to land gently.” 

I highly doubted this, and looked at the owl. 

“Look", the owl said. "You were just about ready to jump out of this tree a minute ago. Why hesitate now?” 

“I don’t know. I just – it was an emergency; it was the only thing I could think of. I really need to stop those men.” 

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, it’s still somewhat an emergency. Just wait a moment, though. You say that you have some control over those wings now? Owen had told me that you were just starting to gain feeling in them when he left.” 

“Yes”, I said proudly as I gave the wings a few flaps. "I can do anything with them now. I can even make them disappear."

“Excellent! The owl said. “You’re not ready for a real flight, of course, but you have already glided before. You should be able to do this easily. Just watch what I do.” 

With that the owl spread its wings and hopped off the branch. Its wings caught the air like a kite and it glided down to the plateau below the cave opening. Just before it touched down it flapped the outer edges of its wings a few times and landed gently. It then turned around and looked up at me.

“See? There's nothing to it! You think you can do that?”

“I.. um... I guess so. I don’t...”

“Don’t be afraid, friend. Even if you screw it up your wings will act like a parachute and slow you down. You’re not going to hurt yourself. Now come on down, quickly! We have things to discuss.” 

I looked at the ground, glanced doubtfully at my wings, spread them out wide, gave my tail feathers a little flap (I had forgotten about these until just now), and jumped. As soon as I left the branch I felt my wings fill with air and I began falling. Slowly, to be sure, but still much faster than I had anticipated. Oh, shit! The ground was now getting closer, so I attempted to flap the tips of my wings as Leander had done.

Unfortunately, I flapped them a little too hard and arrested the fall completely, missing the ground and instead soaring out past the plateau and into the open air. I realized what was happening and panicked. “Oh, shit, HELP!!!” I shouted as I started pumping my wings hard, using every muscle in my back, chest, and wings. Now I was no longer falling. In fact I was gaining altitude quickly. Way too quickly!

“What... What are you doing?” the owl shouted, and in an instant it was flying beside me, pumping its wings furiously to keep up. “You must stop this and land at once!”

“No, shit, Sherlock!” I shouted back, terrified. “I told you that I don’t know what I’m doing! I don’t know how to land! I just sort of started flapping like you told me, but I must have flapped too hard and I missed the ground! As soon as I was past the point of landing I started flapping even harder to avoid crashing! Now what do I do?!?”

The owl must have realized how terrified that I was, because it sounded much gentler now: “Ok, don’t panic. The first thing you want to do is stop flapping your wings. Hold them straight out and glide, like this”. The owl stopped flapping and was now soaring beside me. 

Reluctantly, and with memories of that crash landing in that lake still fresh in my mind, I obeyed. For a moment I started to panic again, certain that I was going to crash, but my panic was abetted when I felt myself level out.  I was now soaring in the night sky. 

“Ok, now, turn around and glide back to the cave.” 

“How do I turn?”

“Use those tail feathers and your wings. If you want to turn right tilt the top of your right wing into the wind a bit to create drag on that side. Tilt the left wing so that the bottom is facing the wind. Use your tail feathers to fine tune your flight path. You’ll feel your body react to whatever movements you make. If you make the right ones you’ll go where you want. If you don’t make the right ones try again.” 

I carefully twisted my wings as the owl had commanded, and sure enough I felt myself bank and begin a steep curve to the right. I also felt myself losing altitude but I felt in control. 

“That’s it, yes!”, Leander said.  “Very good. You’re turning a little sharper than you need to, but that’s good because you’re also scrubbing speed. Now, remember, use your tail feathers to fine tune your flight. Ok, now, you see the cave below?” 

I scanned the woods below and ahead and saw the plateau with a large dark spot that would be the cave entrance. “Yes, I think I see it. It looks pretty far away, though!” 

“It is far away. In that brief amount of time we’ve probably flown at least 3 kilometers away from it. You can really move when you want to! Ok, now, keep your eyes on the cave. You should not have to pump your wings at all, we are plenty high enough and there's a nice updraft. Just glide on the wind. Stay focused on that cave and adjust your flight as necessary.”

I did as I was told and was soaring effortlessly. I was beginning to enjoy this a lot – it was just like the dreams I had as a kid. Only slight movements were needed to keep up my flight path. I could feel the updraft holding me aloft, and I was covering distance quickly. Maybe too quickly. The cave opening was getting close. 

“Ok”, Leander the owl said. “You’re coming in much too fast to land. Turn the bottoms of both wings toward the wind to slow yourself down. The key to a smooth landing is to arrive at your landing spot just at stall speed, only a few inches off the ground. That way you can just fold your wings and land gently and gracefully.” 

I turned my wings as commanded and felt them fill with air, almost like parachutes. I was slowing down now, and quickly. 

“Ok, straighten them out a bit, you don’t want to stall too soon. That’s it. Now use your tail feathers to adjust your pitch. You’ll want to be almost standing upright as you land.” 

“Stall? Pitch? What are you talking about?”

“Haven’t you ever been in an airplane? Owen told me that you grew up with humans, so I’m putting this in human terms."

"Yes, I've been in airplanes", I replied, "but only as a passenger. They didn’t let me drive the bloody things! They have pilots for that sort of thing, people who are trained to fly. I just sat in the cabin, got drunk, and flirted with the stewards!"

"Oh. Well, let me briefly explain: Stall is the minimum speed you can glide while your wings still provide lift. If you go below that speed you will drop out of the sky unless you start flapping. An airplane has to get above stall speed to lift off, and it has to stay above stall speed or it will fall from the sky. As with birds, we are lucky, if we stall we can flap vigorously and gain speed and altitude. It’s not pretty or graceful, but it can sometimes be life saving. Airplanes can’t flap their wings, so they simply drop and crash unless they’re high enough, then they can pitch their noses down so they can speed up in a hurry.” 

“Lucky us”, I shouted back. “So what about pitch?”

“That is the angle of your body as you fly through the air. Pitching downward, meaning having your head down, tends to make you fly downward and you pick up speed while losing altitude. Pitching upward will use some of your forward momentum to try to make you climb. If you have enough momentum and pitch up hard enough you will climb, but only until your momentum slows, at which point you will either have to start flapping or you'll stall. If you pitch correctly, though, you will not climb, you'll simply turn your underside more to the wind, which will create drag and slow you down. That’s why you pitch upward, almost vertical, when you’re landing. You want to be standing because you want to land on your feet, and you don’t want to be moving too fast or you'll stumble and maybe fall.” 

I processed this info as the cave, and the plateau below it, drew nearer. 

“Ok, we’re getting closer now. Slow down a bit more, that’s it. Now, just as you are almost directly over where you want to land turn your wings almost vertical, with the bottoms pointed into the wind. Use your tail feathers to orient your body so that you’re almost upright and align yourself with where you want to land. Flap your wings a little – gently this time! – to slow yourself almost to a stop just as you get to where you want to come down. If you do this right you will come to a complete stop only inches above the ground, at which point you simply fold your wings up and drop. Ready? Ok, wait for my command... now, DO IT!” 

I tried to remember all of this as I was coming in and I executed the manoeuvre almost perfectly. I touched down perhaps a little faster than optimal and stumbled a little bit, but for a first landing it was as good as could be expected! Well, second landing if you counted the dunk into the lake, but that could hardly be considered controlled. The important thing was that I was on the ground. Not only that, but as soon as I had touched down I folded my wings without even thinking about it, and discovered that they had hidden themselves.  I looked over just as the big owl touched down in a perfect landing. 

“Excellent! Well done!”, the owl yelled as there was a flash of light. 

The owl had disappeared and in its place was a short, bald black man, dressed in a black business suit. Just like the owl he had been his body was stocky – he was not abnormally short, but the almost square shape of his body gave the illusion that he was. To me looked like somebody that should be providing security to the president or something. The only thing that looked odd about him was that his eyes were the same bright green colour that the owl’s were.

As for me, I was prouder and more excited than I had ever been in my life. Without even thinking I ran over to Leander and wrapped my arms around him in a hug. 

“Thank you! Thank you! That was incredible! I can’t believe I did it! I really did it! I actually flew!”

Leander allowed the hug to continue for a few seconds, then pulled away. He looked at me with a broad, kind smile. “Yes, you did very well. With a little bit of practice you will be an ace, I’m sure. For now, though, you should probably concentrate more on completing your shifts. I could hardly believe it when Owen told me that you had only shifted part way, and now not only have I seen that, but I’ve seen you fly in half human form. That is quite remarkable. At least you’ve got cloaking yourself figured out.” 

“What? I didn’t...”

“Yes, you did. You’ve been cloaked since I arrived and saw you in that tree. You’re still cloaked now, in fact. That’s why those humans couldn’t see you even though they shined their lights directly on you.” 

“But I’m not trying to cloak. I don’t even know how I’m doing it.” 

“Yes, yes, I realize that now. It’s likely instinct. You needed to hide, so you hid.” 

“Yeah, I guess so. That’s how my wings appeared too, according to Owen. I needed to fly, so I flew.” 

“From what Owen told me about that being your first shift, yes, I'd say that is what happened.” 

“Yeah, I know. I'm 25 and that was my first time growing wings. Owen told me how retarded I am..” 

“What? No! Owen would never have called you retarded. You have a lot of learning to do, but considering you’ve only just discovered what you are I think you’re doing rather well, and Owen does too. He was just surprised that somebody your age could have no idea about what or who you are. Now, on to more pressing issues. When you were about to jump out of that tree you said you had to stop those men because they had your phone. Why was that phone so important?” 

“For two reasons”, I explained. “First, because it shows that I was here. Owen was right, the humans are looking for me, and they think I killed the guy who shoved me off the cliff. They were arguing about whether or not I had survived, and one of them even almost had the other convinced that I hadn’t, until they found that stupid phone in the cave.” 

“I see”, said Leander. “That is a problem. What is the other reason?” 

Now I was looking at my own feet. Sheepishly, I admitted: “I... um.. I kinda took a selfie with it.” 

“So? 

“In the cave.” 

“So? They’ll already know you’ve been in there.” 

I looked up at Leander. I felt like an idiot. “With my wings.” 

“What? Why on Earth would you do that?!?”

“Because I wanted to see what they looked like! Growing wings and turning into bears and stuff might seem normal to you, but to me it’s still crazy and new! I was curious and couldn’t see them well, so I took a picture.” 

“Oh, for the love of... Ok, Ok, I can’t fault you for being curious, I suppose, and I know how people your age do like your selfies. You couldn’t have expected them to get hold of your phone. Please, though, tell me that you didn’t post the picture on social media.” 

“What? Of course not! I’m not that stupid! Besides, I couldn’t have even if I had wanted to. No cell signal here, remember?” 

“Ok, good. At least the damage is minimal. And they didn’t see the photo yet?” 

“No, my phone was locked.” 

“Good. That buys us some time. I’ve got to catch up with Owen. You stay here in the cave. If anyone comes, cloak yourself. Or remain cloaked, since you already are. No more flying though, not tonight.” 

“Ok, I’ll stay in the cave. What are you and Owen going to do to those guys?” 

“I’ve got a plan. Owen and I will take care of it. Don’t worry, we won’t hurt those men, but we must make them think that you weren’t in this cave – or at least that most of you wasn’t.” 

“What? Most of me? What do you mean?” 

“I don’t have time to explain. I have to go.” 

With that there was a flash, and Leander’s human form was replaced by that of a large black jaguar with the same green eyes that Leander the human and Leander the owl had. It showed how I really must have been getting used to this as I didn’t even jump this time. The large cat turned to leave then stopped. 

“Wait. Give me your shirt”, it said. “And a sneaker. Quickly.” 

“What? How am I supposed to go without sneakers?” 

“You won’t need them tonight. We’ve brought clean and dry clothes for you, including hiking shoes, so don’t worry. Quickly now. Shirt and a sneaker. The sock too, come to think of it.” 

Confused, I removed my shirt and a sneaker and placed them into the panther’s open mouth. 

“Fanksh”, the panther said with its mouth full of clothes. “Now, remember. Shtay here”.

With that it took off down the slope like a silent black rocket.