I know it’s true, even as I tell myself I am dreaming, that I am still in bed under the covers. I am stuck, pressed flat into the grain of wood under me. The door to the sewing room closes behind her. She nods to herself: everything as it should be. The door to my room is open, but she can’t see my bed from where she stands, can’t see that my bed is empty. I can see her head turning toward her bedroom. She digs her heel in, at my throat that isn’t there. My mother’s bare feet slap against my skin, across my belly, my chest. I am lying on my back, flatter than bread.

I want to tell her I’ve had a nightmare about the Sisters, that I can’t sleep with all this whispering and worrying from her-and what are you sewing in the dark, Mamma? I try to move my lips, but I have no mouth. My mother's face, like the moon in the dark hallway. Before I even have time to pull my eye away, the door opens.

Instantly, her shadow fills the room, a mountain on the wall. “I push my eye farther into the crack, smushing my cheek. Slowing impulse to a mere draft, sucking into himself, he reached the very heart of the Norns’ lair. He delighted at the speed at which he travelled, catching himself just in time, before his enthusiasm revealed the disguise. Without effort, he whooshed past the threshold into the cave, into the bark of the Great Tree, winding cleverly under and over and through a maze of roots and rough stone, past every trick and trap the Sisters had set. He rumbled with pleasure, at his own cleverness, born out of accident and indecision: he had become pure air. Instead of transforming into another creature, he hovered in between. He pushed out of the eagle skin and leaped away from the horde of birds, springing into the sky. Not convincing enough to hide his true identity. The shape of an eagle, useful for fast travel across worlds, but only temporary.

The Sisters were too astute for his usual chicanery. he slipped in and out of himself, testing which disguise to use. You can contact her through instagram or through her website: Translations published by Vorto Palabra, Croatia, and Eksmo, Russia. Her debut novel, Becoming Leidah, was released in April 2021, Simon & Schuster Canada. Her experience and interests include modern dance, dance theatre, fiction writing, expressive arts therapy, painting and mixed media art making. You can contact her through instagram or through her website: Michelle has been an Arts educator for over 27 years in mainstream and special education classrooms. Michelle has been an Arts educator for over 27 years in mainstream and special education classrooms.

Becoming leidah by michelle grierson