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After finding a perch in an apple tree a quarter mile across
the half-mile lawn, he was forced to reconsider his plan, since
every window had been shut. Who was that idiot who claimed
that, statistically, there is always a least one window open in any
official building? Bird language did not include curse words, at
least what he had picked up through immersion in various avian
shapes since his late teens, but he indulged in a few mentally.
Now would come the more dangerous part; he had to go insect.
This was something he would prefer to avoid. But, unfor-
tunately, it was all-too-often necessary in these missions. Adrian
discovered the hard way, fleeing from the flood that destroyed
his parent’s camp site, that while an animal like a deer or a bug
has its uses, small or herbivorous animals are considered food by
most creatures they meet.
Focusing again, his body began to shrink still smaller. His
feathers retreated into a carapace. Internal organs shifted once
again, bones vanishing and blood thickening from red to green.
As his talons were replaced by six segmented limbs, Adrian
shifted his grip to lie flat on the branch, trusting to his new cling-
ing hairs to hold him in place without effort.
Generally, shapeshifting felt like nothing so much as
stretching inside a sleeping bag, one that formed itself around
you while you expanded or curled up within it. But changing
into insects always made him queasy, probably because their
internal organs were so radically different from most creatures.
Still, no time for upset stomachs now. He continued to focus on
the change.
The last few touches defined the form, yellow and black
stripes, a set of membranous cape-like wings, a rear stinger, and
in less than a count of ten the hawk was replaced by a Common
Hornet. At least this way I’m big for an insect, and I can defend
myself without losing my stinger.
As a hornet, his multifaceted eyes shifted into the infrared
spectrum and granted 360 degree vision, for which he found an

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