“Huh,” I comment. “And here I thought the rings were trackers.”
She laughs. “I thought that, too, but they’re mostly a way for you to access the magic. Humans can’t live in the shadow realm. Being here would slowly result in our bodies dying, so until we graduate, we get these. When they make us immortal, we’re reshaped using the magic of the shadow realm, and we gain stronger powers. We also get heightened physical abilities, too. Basically, when we graduate, there’s some ceremony where they connect us to the magic of the shadow realm, and we don’t have to wear the rings anymore.”
I nod like I understand, but I really don’t. I lift to my feet. “So in a nutshell, I can imagine myself dressed inanything,and it’ll magically appear?”
“As far as I’m aware,” she replies without missing a beat. “You simply need to visualize the outfit in your mind. Over time, you learn where you need the leather reinforced, and the types of pockets you need for your different weapons.”
I stop listening as I picture clothes in my mind and shadows explode around me. The shadows slither against my skin, like they’re touching me everywhere, and there’s this weird tingling sensation. And then just like when I had first put on the ring, the feeling becomes uncomfortable. Except this time, the uncomfortable sensation doesn’t suddenly fade away. It grows in intensity, those tingles now feeling like needles painfully puncturing my skin. It feels…wrong.Ifeel wrong. A cry leaves my mouth, and I keel over, grabbing at my chest, which hurts the most.
“Shit. Shade?” Kenzie rushes over.
Before she reaches me, the sensation abruptly disappears, the shadows clearing away again.
“Ow, that hurt,” I moan, slowly straightening as I struggle to breathe normally. “You could have warned me.”
I expect Kenzie to laugh when she sees me. I had pictured myself wearing a new pair of ripped jeans and an oversized t-shirt that reads: MONSTER SMUT LOVER, complete with an image of a stack of books sporting horns and a tail. Just like the drawing I’ve doodled in my sketchbook countless times.
But she doesn’t laugh. No, she stands there, her face pale as she gapes at me.
I match her stare. “What?”
Clearing her throat, she gives me a tentative look. “Um, Shade, what is it that you were going for…?”
“It’s great, right?” I answer with a grin, but my grin slowly fades when her expression remains…weird.
Dropping my chin, I peer down at my clothes, and my eyes widen. Yeah, I’m not wearing a shirt. In fact, I don’t even know what I’m wearing.
I quickly shuffle over to the floor-length mirror attached to the wall, and I stare in horror at myself. Instead of jeans and a t-shirt, strips of brown leather appear to have been roughly sewn together to create some sort of weird wrap around garment. It reminds me of the outfits cavewomen used to wear, something I only know because when I first visited the library in the human realm, I had forced myself to flick through an ancient tome about the history of humans. That’s not even the best part. Stuck to the leather in strange intervals like a child has had fun with a gluestick, are random patches of glossy, black feathers.
I suck in a breath, lifting my hands to my hair. I’d imagined a vibrant pink streaked through my chocolate waves, but instead, my hair looks like a birds’ nest with feathers tangled amidst the strands.Well, damn.I twist around to see the leather outfit only just covers my ass.
“What happened?” Kenzie asks me, her doe eyes still comically wide.
I give her a weak smile. “I have no idea.”
“That’s not what you pictured in your mind?”
I give her a look. “You think I would willingly choose to look like a half-plucked chicken?”
She covers her mouth, stifling her smile. “Well, I don’t know…but I’ve never heard of the rings doing anything like this. Are you sure you didn’t?—”
Before she finishes, shadows are sliding over me as I try again. This time, I attempt to picture exactly what Kenzie is wearing—a simple leather outfit that hugs my body, covering my arms and legs. Once again, it starts off okay, but then pain crackles through me as the magic goes wrong.
When the shadows clear again, Kenzie lets out a snort, and I reluctantly stare in the mirror. I’m still wearing a weird slab of leather that’s not at all molded to my body, though this one has straps over my shoulders, so I guess that’s a win.
“What do you think?” I ask Kenzie.
“Well…your hair looks a little…neater?”
I cock my head, staring at my reflection. “So it is.” On the bright side, my hair now looks less like a birds’ nest, and simply a little windblown with a few feathers protruding from the strands.
I decide to try one more time, but this time the pain is even worse. I’m gasping when the sensation fades, and my gaze shoots to the mirror.
Oh. My. God.
Kenzie’s laughter fills my ears as my eyes track over my bare skin, taking in the unevenly cut strips of black leather that are now only just covering my breasts and ass. Black feathers are stuck to them making them look like some strange feather bikini. Thankfully, my hair is even smoother, and I manage topluck the feathers from the strands, combing my hair with my fingers until it’s mostly tidy again.
“Well, at least you look less like a cave dweller and more like…”
