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you’d like with your jaw hanging open, though you’re likely to catch flies.”
    I had been doing just that, but I shut it with the clack of colliding teeth. I brought myself back to reality with a pinch. This shit couldn’t be for real. Everybody knew these things didn’t exist. But it made a frightening bit of sense. My parents had been… attacked? Taken? Killed? I still didn’t know, years later, because I hadn’t stopped running, apparently with good reason, if Jas was to be believed.
    “If this thing can talk, why hasn’t it said something, then?” I gave the amulet a considerable once-over, holding it at various distances while examining it meticulously for anything anomalous.
    It was all that I was capable of dealing with at one time. Later, I would be able to mull over what had been discovered and decide on the best course of action. But right then, there was a pressing need to focus on slightly less earth-shattering revelations, like a walking, talking amulet. Well, sort of walking.
    “I dunno. Maybe you have to think harder.”
    “ That’s because you hadn’t asked anything of me, you dimwit !” a booming voice admonished.
    I threw my arms up in disgust. “Great, a sarcastic inanimate object with so-called wit. That’s all I need in my life.”
    “ The guilt lies within your own psyche, boy. Weren’t you heeding his words ? We closely mirror the characteristics of our owners. We’re bonded, you and I. So, get used to it, because I’m not going anywhere. And put me back. You have more important things to concern you. That kid’s no layman. He’s a Skin Walker .”
    I broke out of the conversation with an almost audible splintering, staring into Jas’ eyes. Their deep blue eddies held much more intelligence then I gave him credit for. And power. I could feel it emanating from him like some bizarre aura.
    “What the hell is a Skin Walker?” I asked. Sounded kind of creepy.
    “Looks like I was right after all.” He smiled, a brittle construct that could shatter at a moment’s notice. “Yeah, I’m a Skin Walker. My whole family is, generation upon generation tracing back to the Stone Age. Like I said, not all of us are bad eggs. We’re stronger, faster, and smarter than your average human, semi-resistant to magic. But what we’re known for… is this. We can shape-shift into any animal we can think of.”
    He was changing right before my eyes. His clothes vanished as he shifted before my stunned eyes… into a bunny? I couldn’t help myself and burst out laughing. All the tension that had been building up inside me broke, like a dam that contained too much water. Eventually, my laughter, tinged with hysterics, trickled off into giggles as the reddish-gold bunny disappeared and became regular old Jas again, with clothes . At least Skin Walkers had common decency. I had given it fifty-fifty odds that he turned up without so much as a pair of boxers when he shifted back. Thank all that’s preternatural for the evolution of decency.
    As my snickers tapered off and I established control of my faculties once more, I asked, in somewhat composed voice, “So, you can shape-shift, and you went for a bunny ?”
    “Yeah, well,” he rolled his eyes at my antics, “I didn’t want you to run home crying to your mommy after I broke these bleachers shifting into an elephant. Now that’d be a treat.” His demeanor changed. He was solemn now. “It doesn’t… freak you out or anything?”
    “Dude. I just got told I’m some genetically challenged freak that can manipulate the elements. Being able to change into any animal you can think of? I’m not so impressed.” I smiled to demonstrate the sarcasm inherent in the statement. “All right, I admit to being a little surprised. But wouldn’t any sane person be a little freaked out when a recently acquainted friend pulls back the veil of ignorance and reveals the grungy picture of reality? I can go sob myself to sleep later. Let’s go do some