Prologue

A sleek minivan swerve into the driveway, effectively knocking over the dumpster which toppled over and strewed day old Chinese. The sound of car door slamming and the inevitable cursing from one of the two figures caught the attention of a barn owl perched twenty feet away on the neighbor's tree. It blinked sleepily as the seen foot tall figure broke free of the shadow and kneeled over to regroup the straying bottles, cursing all the while. Under the light of the street lamp, his light brown hair was spiked up neatly and the crisp button-down shirt clung to broad shoulders that hadn't been rendered by age.

A petite woman materialized quickly to his side and grabbed the remaining bottles and dumping them in the trash. Her hand gripped his arm in a way that made the owl bristle in anger, "Sweetheart," she said, lifting her head up to meet his eyes from her 5'3" stature. "Do you want to go inside and say hi to the kids? They've been waiting up to see you."

"Sure thing, Jean," he said, smiling before wiping his hands on the plaid scarf around her neck.

She shrieked and batted him away hastily.

"What?" he grinned, his brown eyes flashing in amusement. She was too easy.

"That was uncalled for," Jean replied, despite the smile tugging at her lips. He could have wiped his hands on her dress and she wouldn't mind. A shiver ran through her as she eyed his strongly chiseled features that were obscured by the night.

A light flickered off in the front window, presumptuously to give the couple more privacy which they took advantage of to the chagrin of the owl. The owl lifted its wings and took flight. The lingering days of summer left the air humid and dead for a breeze, but she still managed to circle around a block without street lamps several times before precariously thrusting her legs forward for a tree branch.

White and black-flecked wings melted away, sprouted into tan arms and fingers. Talons gripping the bark loosened and elongated into tan legs as her shoulders jutted out to support the growing spinal cord which extended with the formation of her back. The features of the bird did not change too distinctly but ears crept out from the mass of feathers and melted into skin. White hair darkened to rich brown waves that flowed past her shoulders.

The girl coughed roughly and slumped over in fatigue. She wasn't naked but close in her tank top and shorts, and a sudden draft was punishing her for it.

"Rena," a velvety voice whispered from below. She peered down with her still owl-like eyes at a black-white image of her grinning cousin, Raveena. Half her face was covered by a large black sweatshirt and jeans.

Rena let loose of the branch and landed smoothly on her bare feet. Aside from the quick pain that jolted in her ankles from the cold concrete, she was fine. All things she was used to by now.

"Here," Raveena said, pulling out a pair of sneakers from a shoulder bag. "You done spying for the night."

Rena grabbed the shoes and wedged the size sevens on her size eight feet. It had to do for now. She pushed a slice of hair behind an ear. "Not nearly enough. You think he would tell me about her."

"Well, Ren," Raveena said, pretending to look thoughtful. "I think he's a little old for you."

"Ew, he's my father Raveen," she said, rolling her eyes at her cousin. They headed for Raveena's car parked two blocks in the opposite direction, hoping to make it back to the city before he did.

Hey people! I'm back! This is the official (so far) copy of this.

I just wanted to get on a major editing run of this story. This chapter is mostly the same but I'm doing some major changes from chapter 2 on.

Due to the recent plagiarism scare I also want to make it clear up front that if anyone steals anything, I will come after you and that's no joke.

Feel free to leave any criticism or love you have :)