I woke up with a jolt as sunlight seeped through the heavy canopy of forest trees. With my eyes refusing to open, my fingers instinctively flexed in search for my cross and bow, only to find them not within reach. Well done, Eileen, I said to myself. Leaving your weapons unattended definitely makes you a real professional hunter. I tried to stand up and look for them, sending leaves I used to cover my body as camouflage flying everywhere. Cursing my clumsiness, I brushed a bead of sweat off my temple, however, instead of feeling my own skin against the side of my face, a tickling, almost feathery sensation made me jump. I glanced down at my arm, and found myself staring at the most beautiful wing I’d ever seen.

So I am a bird now, I thought. Now what?

A girlish giggle escaped from somewhere above.

“I’ve got to say, you deserve credit for staying this calm,” a voice said. I looked up to find eight birds perched on top of a tree branch. They all had the same gorgeous wings as mine - purple-lilac toned, with hints of shimmering gold accentuating the softly curved shape when opened up fully; their little heads were a classic navy blue, and glinting black eyes as dark as chrcoal. They were called Forest Jewels for their breath-taking beauty, however, I was not in the mood to admire their adoring features. As a hunter, I was more used to seeing their bodies pierced by my arrow. Say that I shot two Jewels per week… I started doing the math in my head, and the number of Jewels I’d killed over the years suddenly brought a clench to my stomach.

“Are you really not going to say anything?” said the same voice, this time in a mocking tone. “You know exactly why you are now one of us, and what might become of you?”

I tried to shrug, only my wings made some weird movements that almost threw me off balance, so I stood still, and admitted truthfully, “No, I don’t.”

“Eileen, right? You are the best hunter around here?”

I nodded.

“When did that happen, you becoming the best? I mean. No offence, but you don’t seem like a natural.”

It was the truth, but it did hurt my feelings a little. Just yesterday I could have taken each of them without blinking an eye, so it was rather embarrassing for me to acknowledge my not-so-honorable hunting records in front of them. I hesitated, pondering on my words, and decided to ignore the last remark. “Two years ago, approximately.”

“Hmm, would that happen to be around the time Gabriel disappeared?”

My heart missed a beat at the mention of Gabriel’s name. “How do you know about Gabriel?” I asked, fear creeping into my voice. Gabriel was the first ranking hunter in our territory before I came first, and before him was his sister Kayla. Folks said that the title of an “elite hunter” ran in his family, and they were correct, until all members of his family disappeared one day and I came in as number one. Nobody knew where they went, or why they left.

This time I did not get a wry reply from any of the Jewels. The one that spoke earlier leaped off from her branch and jerked her head upward. “Follow me, Eileen. Can you catch up?” she dared, and off she soared toward the top of the tree.

Why not? I flapped my wings, surprised at how easily flying came to me, and trailed behind her.

“Wow, that took you less time to figure out than hunting. Want a challenge?”

“Oh, come on, Sherry,” said one of the Jewels still situated on the branch below. “She deserves to know it before your tricks!”

I deserve to know what?

Sherry ignored her and started circulating the treetops. Her movements gradually became so abrupt that I had to make sharp turns to prevent hitting a tree. “Keep it up! Show us what you’ve got!” Sherry shouted from above. I picked up a bit more speed, my head getting dizzier by the second. I tried not to look down and focus on the open blue sky ahead of me, but just then I heard something-a crack of a twig on the ground. It was like a whisper, so low that Sherry’s voice had almost drowned it. “Careful!” I yelled, as soon as an arrow pierced the air inches away from Sherry and stilled on a tree trunk.

“Seems like you know how to dodge an arrow, hunter girl,” said Sherry. The mocking tone had been restored, however, a hint of panic escaped from her voice. “Let’s get out of here. Who knows if Eileen can spot the next one,” she gestured at the arrow, then headed to the edge of the forest.

I knew I should have followed her and the rest of the group, but I couldn’t help staring at the arrow. It was two inches shorter than the ones I would normally use, and a sunset-orange ribbon was tied to its end. That ribbon-I could have recognized it anywhere, because it belonged to my best friend Jocelyn. Jocelyn was among the shortest girls in our territory, and she had always struggled with stretching her bow due to lack of strength. For this reason, all of her arrows were made shorter, and I suggested her to attach a ribbon to every one of them so that once she had made her first successful shot, she wouldn’t miss it. Just a bit closer next time, Jocelyn, and try not to aim at me, I thought bitterly.

“Too exhausted to fly?” said a voice behind me. “I can wait for you.” It was the same Jewel that said I deserved to know the truth.

I inhaled deeply, then exhaled, to slow down my heavy breathing. “Thanks. I’m ready now.”

“I’m Alexa,” she said, fixing her eyes on me. “You are unlike the other Transformed.”

“Transformed?” I repeated.

“Yeah, the ones like you. One minute ago they were humans, the next minute they became Jewels. Don’t you want to know how? Or why? Most of your peers start asking questions the second they realize they can understand us.”

One of the reasons I became the best hunter was I had remarkable patience. I’d always believed that time would lead me to my prey. In this case, I was waiting for Alexa to tell me when she was ready. When I told her my theory, she smiled.

“You are the smart one,” she said, taking another good look at me. “Let’s talk on the way. The others are waiting.

“Humans are turning into us now,” she began. “Because we are using our magic to avenge you for taking so many of us. Though there is only a very limited number of us left, we survivors are the strongest. Our magic combined together is powerful enough to target the champion hunters and turn them into us. We then split into groups to take in the newly Transformed.”

“So…Gabriel and Kayla, and all the others that went missing… They are still alive? Are they with another group?” I asked.

Alexa’s expression darkened. “No. This is the worst part of it all, see. Almost every one of the Transformed asks us immediately, how do they change back? We tell them the truth – they have to be recognized by one human in order to return to their normal life, and that’s usually how they get killed,” she paused, almost apologizing for what was about to be said. “They are shot when they get too close to a hunter, before they can even start explaining or dropping a talisman or whatever. This spell, I am sorry to admit, was cast for the purpose of seeing humans finishing themselves off. Many of us take particular pleasure in seeing humans finishing themselves off.”

My heart thumped harder, a hammering on my body that made my wings flutter uncontrollably under invisible weight. Have I ever killed a Transformed trying to communicate with me? Did one of my fellow villagers die because of me?

“Let’s focus on how to change you back,” reminded Alexa, relieving me of remorse. “I mean, you want that, right? To get back? Do you have a plan? Is there someone close to you that you think will understand your message?”

“Actually, there is. Jocelyn, the girl that almost shot Sherry. She is my best friend.”

“She doesn’t seem like that good of a hunter. Hmm,” muttered Alexa thoughtfully. “That might increase your chances of survival. Usually non-prodigies need longer to find the perfect shooting angle and all that jazz, which means you have more time to get their attention.”

Sherry snapped at us when we finally caught up with them. She kept saying “Wasting our time” and how I was being sentimental after first experiencing the cruelty of humans as a Jewel. I said nothing, and occupied my own branch on the tree we were staying on temporarily.

“Don’t mind Sherry. She’s just lashing out on you,” said Alexa, joining me.

“You haven’t told her, have you, Alexa?” said the Jewel on the branch above us, Shannon.

“Told me what?” I turned to Alexa, who sighed,

“Sherry lost her brother recently,” she said. “To you. That’s why she’s keen on torturing you. Don’t let it get to you. Focus on your plan to get back home, Eileen.”

“Why are you helping me, Alexa?” I asked. “Why don’t you hate me like the others?”

“You didn’t kill her brother,” answered Shannon. “And since you didn’t kill mine, I don’t either.”

Alexa rolled her chocolate brown eyes. “That, and you’re different from them. You are a different kind of champion, Eileen. The others won by killing an outrageous number of Jewels, but that was never the case for you. You never took more than two of us in a week. The other champions killed for the glorious title, but you did it for survival.”

“So you just happened to become champion for that? Not killing us all?” asked Shannon teasingly. Alexa fluttered her wings, making a whole lot of leaves fall on Shannon.

“No, she is known for her skills. It was always one clean shot that ended our lives. She never needed a second chance.”

“That makes me sound scary,” I said.

“No, that makes you nice, for not making us suffer more than we have to.”

I stared at her, seeing her sincere eyes staring back at my own. Never once in my life had I considered kindness or being nice as an importance - I was a hunter; it was shooting down enough Jewels so I could trade their fur for bread that was important to me. However, the look Alexa gave me carried so much weight that it looked like she was expecting a lot more from me. “Don’t you see? Once you have changed back, you can tell your peers to stop taking so many of us. If the champion survives without shooting twenty Jewels a day, the others will manage as well. You can stop a lot of hatred from spreading once humans have shown our leaders that they, like us, are just trying to survive. It’s the only chance for the spell to be lifted, for things to return to normal, for this cycle of preying and revenge to stop.”

A long silence stretched while her words sank in, and when they did, I still had one more question before I was determined to act. Cautious hunter that I was, I had to make sure that she hadn’t picked me by mistake. “Why me?” I asked.

“Because you are the only one who doesn’t hunt with greed,” she said. “Make sure Jocelyn sees your message.”

The dawn was warmer than I remembered; also more alive. Perhaps it was because I was at a different part of the forest than where I usually hunted, or maybe it was just excitement tricking my brain. I don’t know, I couldn’t tell. I watched a squirrel slowly chewing a nut away from a branch high above, while keeping an eye out for Jocelyn’s arrival.

“I am telling you, I almost got a Jewel yesterday!” came a whisper meant to be indistinct. My eyes trailed after the direction it came from, and sure enough, beyond a rabbit that now scurried away, was a tiny figure. Jocelyn, just the person I wanted to see.

“You see that, Jocelyn? You scared away a rabbit. Stop talking.” This was surely her brother, Jake. “Just go wait by the river bank, okay? I will catch up with you later.”

Jocelyn huffed. “Fine. I will go find Eileen and hunt with her instead. She never tells me to go away.” My eyes started to water at that comment, but before I could get more emotional, Jocelyn went the other way, in the direction to where I camped the other day. So I wasn’t seen as missing just yet - it was quite normal for us to go on a hunting trip and not return for a few days. I pondered on whether it was a good thing, while wrecking my brain for another strategy. What now? My original plan was to get my bow and arrow from where I’d left them before I turned into a Jewel, and wait for Jocelyn and Jake at their usual “hunting spot”. Once they’d shown up, I planned on dropping one of my arrows from the tree to get Jocelyn’s attention. I was waiting for the moment when confusion would fill her eyes as she whispered “Eileen?” and I, on that cue, would drop another note I’d carved out the previous night on a bark with my beak that read, “Yeah, it’s me”. However, my plan was already falling apart before we got to that point. She was walking away. I didn’t get my chance to signal her. I debated if I should follow her-if I did, I would give away my location. Jake might shoot me before I dropped my arrow. If I didn’t, I’d have to wait for another day. I was settling my mind on finding a better opportunity when Shannon suddenly whispered, “Who’s that boy, Eileen? He is really cute. Well, for human standards.”

Jake remained standing still, but his bow was slowly tilting up. He’d heard her.

The leaves were a pretty decent disguise, but the flashy pattern of the Jewels’ wings were way too easy to make out once he’d known our approximate location. Jake was good at hunting - he wasn’t the champion, but he was the one who taught me most of my tricks. I couldn’t see exactly which of us he was aiming for. Had he seen us all? Did everyone know he’d seen us?

Alexa was perched right beside me. I gave her a warning look, hoping she’d catch on. Her eyes widened with fear, as she gently pecked twice on our branch to alert the others.

The other Jewels who stood near enough tensed at the sound of Alexa’s pecking, while Jake released an arrow. This time I could see clearly-it was going straight in Shannon’s direction.

I had no time to think, before I yelled “No!” and dived to block it.

A painstaking scream escaped, only I saw not my own body falling to the ground.

Alexa.

 “Don’t move. Wait until he’s gone,” she whimpered once she’d hit the ground. I heard Shannon slowing her own heavy breathing, while the others stood as still as statues, not daring to let out a sound. “And Eileen, don’t stop trying.”

I nodded, more solemnly than ever, and saw a spark of hope flicker in her eyes, before they closed forever.