Colin heard the words, he felt the deep sadness and loss from Kristy, but it didn’t make sense to him. How could Jenny be gone? She would be back later… Wouldn’t she?

  “Okay. I will, thank you,” Kristy said to someone on the other side of her phone.

  “Jenny?” Colin asked.

  Kristy held up her hand to Colin, and kept talking on the phone. “No, I haven’t seen the monster around here again. I’m starting to think it wasn’t a threat though… I know it attacked you, but… Yes, I’ll be careful… Okay… Alright… Bye.”

  Kristy hung up and looked at Colin in a sad way.

  “Jenny?” He asked again.

  Kristy shook her head, “They can’t help with Jenny officially for 24hours. They said they can make a move if her disappearance is tied to the investigation, but for now they suggested she might turn up sometime today.”

  “Jenny home,” Colin nodded. It made sense that she would be back later. Today, she was just coming home extra late.

  “No, Colin,” Kristy knelt on the floor next to Colin and stroked his feathers. “They’re wrong. I can feel it. Something happened to Jenny and she’s not coming back unless we find her.”

  Colin cocked his head. He felt like he was missing something.

  Kirsty sighed and reached for Colin’s beak. “Can you make that emotional connection again?”

  Colin complied and reopened the emotional pulses between them. As soon as he did, he felt a strong surge from Kristy and it was all he could do to pay attention and feel the powerful emotions of a mother’s worry for her lost child. The certainty that something was wrong was too much, but it made Colin understand. Jenny wasn’t coming back and she might not be safe.

  “No,” Colin broke the connection and stepped back. His breaths grew short and forceful as a rage started to fill him. It was unacceptable that she wasn’t safe. He stamped his clawed foot on the ground forcefully several times, “No, no, no!”

  Colin channeled his rage into a pulse made physical and lashed out with it. Not towards Kristy. He would never hurt Kristy in a million years, but this rage needed to be released.

  DESTROY

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  The instinct within him reacted with his rage and demanded release. Colin launched a pulse that flew out at the speed of sound and shattered the wooden coffee table into splinters.

  “Colin stop!” Kristy said.

  Colin didn’t want to stop. Jenny was gone and that was not okay. “Jenny no!”

  “Colin!” Kristy shouted, “You need to calm down, so we can find Jenny.”

  That caught Colin’s attention and with effort, he took several deep, calming breaths and regained himself. He looked to Kristy with hope, “Jenny?”

  “You can transform into anything you eat, right?”

  Colin nodded, “Colin eat down. Colin change.”

  “Do you need to eat the whole thing?” Kristy asked.

  Colin shook his head and tried to shrug, but it came out as an awkward feather fluff.

  “Okay,” Kristy said, drawing out the word. “I don’t like it, but I have an idea of how we can find Jenny.”

  Colin started to get excited.

  “Before we try this, can you change into something that can find Jenny?” Kristy asked.

  Colin thought about it, then shook his head, sadly, “No.”

  Kristy let out a dramatic breath and rubbed at her temples, as she squeezed her eyes tightly, “It’s for Jenny, it’s for Jenny. So the neighbor’s dog, Bubbles, just died a few days ago and it was a bloodhound. They buried it in their backyard. If you ate part of it, you could turn into the world’s best tracking dog and find jenny.”

  Colin trilled with excitement and flapped his feathers. That sounded like a great idea. He really wanted to make sure Jenny was safe and if he could find her, he could do that.

  “Are you okay with this?” Kristy said.

  Colin nodded, ready to do anything to help Jenny. He repeated the plan, “Eat, Down, Change, Jenny.”

  Kristy led Colin to the spot where Bubbles was buried and Colin managed to eat only the brain and leave the rest alone. He could tell it was important to Kristy, so he was as gentle as possible.

  After re-burying Bubbles and offering their thanks, Colin followed Kristy as she retreated back into the house.

  After taking a shower, Kristy grabbed one of Jenny’s shirts and brought it to Colin. “Okay, go ahead and change so we can do this.”

  Colin looked at Kristy and shook his head. The pulse for the bloodhound was there, but just like the snake and alligator, he couldn’t change into them.

  “What’s wrong? Do you need to go back?” Kristy asked.

  Colin shook his head. He felt frustrated, but didn’t know how to explain it.

  “So what’s wrong?” Kristy said.

  “No change,” Colin said.

  “Do you need more food?” Kristy said.

  Colin thought about it, and maybe more food really was what he needed. When Jenny was feeding him, he gained new parts of himself every time he emerged from the chrysalis. If he filled himself up and rested in his chrysalis again, then maybe he could use the dulled pulse of the bloodhound. He nodded to Kristy, “Eat down.”

  Kristy emptied the fridge and Colin ate everything he could manage to keep down. He left all the vegetables. They were disgusting. After eating nearly fifteen pounds of meat. He felt something inside himself shift.

  Rest.

  Colin inwardly cheered as he gave into the urge and changed into his chrysalis state. He felt Kristy move him from the floor onto the kitchen counter. Colin tried to sound comforting feelings her way, but something about the chrysalis prevented him from interfering with the outside world beyond being a passive, half-asleep, observer.

  Colin decided to give fully into the rest and try to finish as quickly as possible. Jenny needed him and he was determined to find her.