"Wake up, Sera! You’ll break all the pots!" The fog in my head told me it was too early for this. I must have really done it now. Mother poked hard at my leg hanging over my bed. I tried to shake her hand away, but I fell over right onto the floor. I searched the room to get my bearings. The barbed baskets seemed a bit lower this morning.
I stood up and immediately lost my balance, knocking into the large pot beside me. I reached out and saved it before it hit the floor, but the water inside escaped, and the last of the water was wasted. "You don't know your own size, child." She tensed and turned back to her work on the roof. "You must have grown last night." She chuckled and trimmed the ropes.
I steadied myself and examined my arms and legs. They seemed a little longer and my sleeves suffocated my arms. Strange. Mother’s dresses rested neatly over the rack at the foot of her bed. I unfolded the emerald one and checked for her approval. She nodded. I bent over to step inside the dress and knocked my necklace against the rack. It sang aloud. My muscles felt a dull sting.
My arms and legs were wooden. As I bent over, my necklace swung back and forth into the rack, each time sending the sting surging through my body. As the swinging stilled, my hands caught the crystal keys between the tremors. The stinging died away.
A sharp sting seared my neck. I reached and felt my necklace strap closing around it. "Mother!" The air was hard to breathe. "Help!"
She bolted over and stretched to her tippy-toes behind me. She cut the strap with her knife and it fell to the floor in pieces. The sting spread over
my body, shifting my balance. The crystals bounced and spun in the air. They sang their notes until the air silenced them.
The floor seemed like a safer place to be. I slid into Mother's dress and sat down to pick up the curious little things. The large crystal keys I'd always worn on my necklace fit well on my growing arms. I placed three on my right forearm and the other five on my left. My fingers were drawn to the center notes. As soon as they played, another surge ran through my body, beginning at the top of my head, burning through my arms, and ending at the blades of my back.
I uncurled myself from the floor to stand up straight. Mother backed slowly away from me, her arms behind her, seeking something to lean against. The top of her head was below me. From that angle, I barely made out the tears starting to form in the corners of her eyes.
I grew each time my bracelets played. I lifted my head through the hole in the roof. My muscles flared and I opened my arms and hands toward the sky. My skin warmed in the morning light. A soft wind tickled the hair around my face as I perched on the roof. Had there always been so many leaves on the trees?
Mother found a safe table to crawl under. "Don’t do this, Sera. You may not find your way back."
I brought my right wing down over my shoulder to examine the spot that had torn a hole in the wall. A tender tingle spread as I touched it, but nothing to worry about. They carried dense muscle. The light caught the crystal bracelets as they dangled around my arms. I slowly folded them together and searched for the notes. Clumsy fingertips found them and they spun slowly around my arms.
Steady now. I flapped the wings as easily as I moved my arms and hands. I lifted my head high, and scanned the market. I saw Lulu setting out her honey jars for the day. I saw the distant market clearly. She dropped a jar and smiled when she saw me. The bright amber oozed out of the broken clay when my eyes focused on it.
I shifted my gaze up and the sky drew me into it.
