Please note, this chapter has been split into two episodes in order to meet Tapas episode length requirements. Please see the episode before this one to read the first part of this chapter. This is episode 2 of 2.

Owen reached into a pocket in his brown suit and produced a cell phone. He looked at it and said “Lovely. Just as I had feared, there is no mobile signal here.” 

I was impressed. “You have a cell phone?”

“Of course we have mobile phones! We have access to the same technology that humans do. Some of it we actually invented ourselves and shared with humans so that both of our races could benefit. Some of it we make use of, such as the internet, communications technology, television, radio, and the like. Some we do not, such as automobiles, airplanes, et cetera. Why shouldn’t we have technology?” 

“Oh, it’s just that in Harry Potter the wizards either can’t or don’t use muggle technology. They use magic. Truthfully I always felt that this was the only really dumb part of the Harry Potter world. Why in the world were they using owls and patronuses instead of mobile phones and email?!?” 

Owen rolled his eyes in exasperation. “Again with the Harry Potter nonsense. I have already told you, those books and movies are works of fiction. We are not wizards, Daecon. We have access to a very limited amount of magic and can do very specific things with that magic, but for most things we rely on the same technology that humans do.” 

I was disappointed, though I couldn’t put my finger on exactly why. I was going to be able to fly, and make myself invisible, and maybe some other things. Surely that is exciting enough? ‘Hogwarts isn’t real’, I told myself. Then I thought about something that he said. 

“Wait, why don’t you use cars? I love my cars. My little Boxster was my pride and joy, I loved opening it up on a twisty country road...” 

“Yes, yes, I’m sure that brought you a great amount of joy, even though you were burning fossil fuel and poisoning the atmosphere to do it. No, don’t feel guilty, you were only doing as the humans do because you were raised among them and know no better, though they are slowly and reluctantly learning the damage they are causing. The real reason we do not use mechanical transportation, my dear man, is that we simply have no use for it. You say driving was enjoyable, but that’s because you haven’t experienced free flight yet. We can fly faster and further in a given amount of time and get to our destination much more quickly than any person in a car could ever hope to. In the right conditions and by playing the wind and air currents right we can maintain speeds of several hundred kilometers per hour for hours on end while exerting very little effort. A commercial aircraft might fly across the Atlantic faster than one of us can, but it’s so stifling, sitting inside a steel tube for that long, and besides, by the time you factor in the time travelling to the airport, waiting around to be boarded, waiting to take off, and then repeating it all and dealing with customs when you land, it’s really not that much faster to go by airplane than to fly naturally.” 

“Oh, yeah, I suppose”, I said. “Man, I can’t wait to be able to fly.” 

“It will come, it will come”, Owen said as he paced around the cave looking at his phone, trying to find even a single bar. “Damn it, I can’t find a signal anywhere. I would imagine that I’d have to leave the valley to find one...”

“What’s the problem? Who do you need to call so badly?”, I asked.

“Young man, I don’t know whether you fully appreciate the danger you are in right now. If those humans find this cave before you can fully shift, or at the very least, learn how to hide your wings, you will be done for. Imagine what would happen when those searchers enter this cave and discover you sitting in here with those wings growing out of your back!” 

“Shit, yeah, I guess it wouldn’t be good, would it?” 

“No! If they didn’t kill you on sight out of fear they would haul you off to a laboratory somewhere and dissect you. And don’t think for a moment that they wouldn’t kill you on sight. I think you know how well humans generally handle things they don’t understand.” 

“Oh, come on”, I said. “We’re not that bad. We...”

“Not ‘we’”, Owen interrupted. “They. You are not one of them. You never were, really, but now your ever returning to live with them is absolutely impossible.”

“Impossible? Why?”

"Because you now know that you aren’t one of them, and you’d never be happy trying to go back to what you knew before as ‘normal’. The council of elders would never allow it anyway. You’d be too big a security risk to the rest of us. You’ve also got to consider this: Those men that chased you over the cliff undoubtedly told the police that you flew away. The police surely laughed that off, but what would they think about that story if they discovered you here with wings? It would make the drunks’ stories more believable, wouldn’t it? Now, ask yourself, did those men tell the police the truth, that they were trying to murder you, but you tricked their leader into dying along with you and then flew away? Of course not. They probably concocted some story about how you lured him over the cliff somehow, and that they were innocent.” 

I suddenly felt an overwhelming urge for revenge. “Those BASTARDS!”, I yelled. “When I get all of this figured out I am going to...” 

A sudden look of alarm came over Owen’s face. “Let us get one thing perfectly clear. You are not going to do anything at all to those men. That life, the life you had before, is behind you now. You cannot go back to it. As far as the humans are concerned you died going over that cliff, they just couldn’t find your body, and that is the way it must be.” 

“But they tried to kill me! And my car...” 

“Your car is a pile of mangled metal at the bottom of that cliff. The car was just a machine, and you will have no use for such machines any longer, I assure you. As for killing you, they did not succeed in doing that, but they have, in a way, given you a second birth, into the life you should have had all along. Mark my words, once you get your shifting sorted out you will be enjoying your new life so much that you will have few fond memories of your past life.” 

“I can’t believe that”, I said. 

“You will see. Now, I must make a decision. We cannot stay in this cave for ever, because sooner or later they will find it, and if we are in it they will find us. That is not an option, for the reasons I have just discussed with you. I have got to get to an area where I can make a phone call. We need help.” 

“Can’t you just turn into a bear and let me ride you further up the mountain? I’m sure there would be a signal at the top” 

“No, that would not work. I could cloak myself but your bright white wings stand out like a sore thumb, and any helicopter flying over would spot them easily.”

 “How about at night?” 

“Again, no. They will be using infrared. They will spot our body heat easily from the air. Cloaking only works for visible light, it has no effect on infrared or ultraviolet. Or sound or scent, for that matter., which is why we've also got to worry about dogs.”

 “Well shit”, I said, secretly hoping that I’d be spending the night alone in the cave with Owen. “What are we going to do then?” 

Owen paced around the cave muttering to himself. Then he stopped and looked at me. 

“What we are going to do is this”, he said. “You are going to stay right here in this cave. Stay well back from the entrance. You are not to leave it under any circumstances. Not even to use the bathroom.” 

I suddenly became alarmed. “Wait, what? Where are you going?” 

“I am going to shift to bear form, cloak myself, and climb this mountain to the top. Even if they see me on their infrared camera I will just look like any old bear to them. If I still don’t have a mobile signal at the top of the mountain I will shift to eagle form and fly until I find a tower. Once I have a signal I will phone for help and return as fast as I can.” 

“Who are you going to call?” 

“My husband”, Owen said. “He knows a good deal more about the magical aspect of shifting than I do, perhaps he can even help you learn how to shift.”

Record scratch. The whole time I’d been lusting after this dude I had not even considered that he might be married. The concept of settling down with one person was just too foreign to me. So much for the fun night I was imagining. “Your husband?”, I stammered. “Wait, you’re married?”

 “Of course I’m married. Why shouldn’t I be married?”

Now I felt stupid. There was my balloon popped. “I don’t know. I guess I’m just still trying to get used to you all being dudes. Plus, you just don’t strike me as the marriage type.”

 “You’ve known me for all of three hours. What ‘type’ did I strike you as?” 

This plane was going down hard. I had to jump out before it hit the ground and I was terminally embarrassed. “I don’t know... Look! Just forget I said anything, OK? What if your, um, husband can’t teach me how to shift?” 

“I guess we’ll cross that bridge as it comes. Now, remember what I said. Do not leave this cave for ANYTHING.” 

With that there was a flash of light and the man was gone. The bear that had replaced him stood at the mouth of the cave for a few moments sniffing the air and looking around, then disappeared into the light.