Page 37 of Partridge in a Bear Tree

Even one Torben,Penny decided a couple of hours later, was enough of a horde.

It wasn't Bill's fault he was about six and a half feet tall. Six eight with the pompadour. But it did make him a pretty credible horde, even all by himself. Particularly in winter gear, which everybody was wearing in Colorado at this time of year, bulking them all out. It was just that Bill didn't need any extra bulk to be very large, so he looked a bit like a bear walking on his hind feet when he came into the ice cream parlor where Penny was waiting for him and Gwen.

He is a bear on hind feet,her partridge pointed out, which was possibly the most sensible thing it had said so far.But we can be bigger than him,it added smugly.I can be big. Want to see how bi?—

NO!!!

The partridge looked deeply offended and sank into the depths of Penny's mind with a sense of injured, sullen pride. Penny, trying to ignore it, waved Bill and Gwen down, and curled her hands around the mug of really excellent coffee she'd already picked up from the counter. Gwen bounced over to drop into the seat across from her. "I was going to say, you know it's nine degrees out, right? What are you doing inviting us to meet you at an ice cream shop?"

"I figured it wouldn't be busy. I was wrong!" It was a cozy little cafe with linoleum floors, walls painted with bright splashes of color, and booths that could fit anywhere from two to ten. There were a startling number of people there for the Saturday afternoon before Christmas. An even more startling percentage of them were actually eating ice cream, although they were also still all bundled against the cold, which made it even funnier. "But I wanted to talk to you away from the pub."

Gwen, who was pretty pale to begin with, paled rather dramatically. "Oh my God. You're not leaving the band, are you?"

Penny gaped at her. "No!"

"Oh, thank God." Gwen slumped so far in her seat that she nearly slid out of it. "Okay, God! Don't scare me like that!"

"I didn't! You came up with that entirely on your own! You scared yourself!"

Thedamnedpartridge fluttered up in Penny's mind in an absolute panic, wings and feathers going everywhere.RUN! RUN AWAY!It put on a burst of speed, by partridge standards, and raced across whatever space it existed in within Penny, wings still flapping, although it didn't take off.

It took everything Penny had to stay still in her chair.What is wrong with you?!?

THERE'S SOMETHING SCARY!

Bewildered, Penny looked around the ice cream parlor. Bear-sized Bill, ordering ice cream and coffee at the counter, was the scariest thing in the cafe, and he was about as scary as a teddy bear.There's nothing scary at all?

THE LADY IS SCARED!

"She—" Penny strangled the sound.Gwenscared herselfby imagining things! Just like you're doing!

No! I'm scared because she is!The partridge sent a garbled idea of 'if the human is scared there must be a reason for a small bird to be scared,' followed byI DON'T HAVE TO BE SMALL!

Penny said, "No!" out loud this time, startling Gwen, who looked embarrassed.

"I heard you the first time. I don't know why I just decided you were quitting. That would be the worst."

"No, I—oh, God. I can't do this twice. Let's wait for Bill."

Gwen's eyes popped. "Oh my God. Are youpregnant?"

EGGS! WHERE ARE THE EGGS?!?!The partridge, apparently distracted from random fears, began scrabbling around in search of, Penny guessed, a nest. Eggs. Maybe chicks. She was so distracted by it that she could only say, "No," much less strenuously than before. Absently, even.

Gwen looks suspicious. "Are you sure? That should have gotten a way stronger reaction than 'are you quitting the band.'"

Chicks,the partridge said decisively, as if remembering.Humans have chicks, not eggs. Where are the chicks?Single-minded worry sent it scrambling around Penny's mind again, looking for chicks.

Penny groaned.I don't have any chicks. Go to sleep.Aloud, she said, "Yes. I mean, no. I mean, yes, I'm certain I'm not pregnant, and you're right, my reactions are all off, and—oh, thank God, Bill."

The big man lumbered over and sat, giving Penny first a pleasant nod of greeting, then suddenly going still and staring at her like he'd never seen her before. Penny understood perfectly: she couldsensethat he was a shifter, somehow. It was almost as if she could see a glow around him, although she couldn't. Or feel an unusual warmth from him, maybe. That was closer, although still not exactly right. She justknew, basically, and it didn't make any sense.

"Penny?" Bill asked cautiously. "Are you, um, feeling all right?"

"Fine, yes, thank you."

We could be dying,the partridge said in sepulchral tones.The bear probably senses it.Its eyes widened.It's going to eat us. We're easy prey. RUN AWAY!!!

Penny whispered, "Oh myGod," and tried very, very hard to ignore the bird. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about," she said to Bill, and then, taking a deep breath, turned her gaze to Gwen and dropped her voice. "So I found out last night that I'm a shifter."

---