"I don't think you can get it," he said. His tone was wise and scholarly, but there was a little hesitation, too. "You just have it if you're from the Other Place! That's what Odris says I was first - he just took some essence and gave it my name! And then I was created."
"I can't," he insisted. He would have frowned if he had a mouth, but beaks were weird and didn't move like regular mouths with lips. Why didn't Elias get it? "It has to stay in me! So only I can spy."
He crossed his wings again, deep in thought.
"...We could do something other than spying," he suggested. "I can do all sorts of things and look like all sorts of people!"
"Ooooh!" Elias said again, now understanding. "Why didn't you say that earlier as well?"
But then he stopped in place, grinning at Maahes's suggestion. "You can look like anyone?" he repeated. "How does that work? What if the person I have in mind isn't here right now? Do you have to look at them to copy them?"
Maahes was pretty sure he had said that earlier, but he was too excited at the thought of showing off his powers to bring it up. He fluttered off of Elias's shoulder and landed on the ground in front of him. A moment later, his guise had shifted so he looked completely different than he had when he first showed up on Elias's world. It was an older guise - the kind of guise he wore to important meetings when Odris dragged him to them. He looked really old, like he was older than twenty. He made his hair short and brown.
(He also made it windswept, but he didn't really know what that was. He just liked how cool it sounded and had always wanted to try it with his own hair.)
He gave himself a pair of nice gray eyes, a tall-ish body, and a fancy Alteran outfit with a nice pair of dark brown boots.
"I can look like anyone," he confirmed, his voice fitting his guise. "I kind of need to see what they look like because it's scientific, but I can guess if I haven't seen them before."
Elias watched with wonder when Maahes switched appearances again. It was so weird to see him transition from a bird to a man, and just... weird to see in general. Goosebump shivers!
But the weirdness went away when Maahes reaffirmed that he could look like anyone. An idea popped into Elias's mind, and he was nearly bouncing up and down in excitement.
"Okay, okay, okay," he began, already grinning. "There's a picture of someone I want you to copy, but it's in her house. She's not home, and neither are her parents, so we can totally grab it! Especially if you're tall, like...!" He gestured to Maahes.
Maahes didn't usually do girl guises, but he could do them. So even though he didn't know who Elias was talking about and didn't know where they were going, he rushed after him. Elias had also made it sound like it was good to be an adult right now. But Maahes didn't know what adults wore, so he shifted back into the younger guise he had first used with Elias.
"Why do you want me to copy her?" Maahes asked, tilting his head ever so slightly to the side as he caught up to Elias. He kept pace with Elias - and even went a little bit ahead every few seconds.
Elias glanced back and noticed that Maahes shifted back to his kid self, but he didn't have time to complain since he asked him a question and he immediately got distracted by it.
"A prank!" Elias exclaimed with his hands in the air as he continued to run forward with Maahes by his side.
He then clasped his hands together and set them to the side of his head, batting his eyelashes really fast.
"My name is Evaline, and I'm soooo perfect!" he said in a mocking, high-pitched voice. "Nothing can make me look bad!"
He then grinned and dropped his hands, looking back at Maahes.
"Except you!" he said in a normal, but smug, voice. "You can look like her and then talk to the others here and spread all kinds of fun rumors—about me, of course! That I'm the best, and her favorite partner, and I'm smarter! And stuff!"
He beamed at him like he was super proud of this plan.
Maahes thought it would be mean to make the girl - who Maahes guessed was named Evaline - feel bad, but he quickly changed his mind when he realized Elias wanted to spread good rumors. He was okay with that!
"Yes!" Elias cheered. "C'mon, follow me, we're almost there."
He didn't need to say that bit since Maahes was following just fine, but he continued to lead him out of the woods and into the field that stretched behind the school. Without waiting, he zig-zagged between trees and followed the fence line until they reached a beaten path by a creek.
"Okay," he said, stopping to catch his breath. He looked back at Maahes and grinned. "We just follow this path, and it's the house with the fancy roof on the end. We'll have to find a window to open, but they're all a little high and..."
Could they even be opened from the outside? Well, one way to find out!
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