There is movement of shifted bodies above the water. Then a muffled snort and a human voice. Shifting makes my joints creak and pop, which means it’s been days since I’ve last been human. I grow tall, my arms stretch outwards and reach up, my head appearing where there was only the fifth arm of the starfish.
It’s always weird growing a head and face out of nowhere. It feels like entering a new dimension and losing another at the same time. A bit like a portal. And when I step through that door, I kind of miss the other side.
I gasp as my mouth breaches the water, breathing cold air and wiping the water from my eyes. There’s a lioness’s chuff before I’m squinting at Minnie’s human form and Stacey in her golden lioness form. “Oh, hey Lia!” Minnie pipes, strokingEugene in her arms. “We thought we were doing rabid pack again, so Stacey was all for shifting now that she’s feeling a little better.”
Rabid packis referring to the time where I shifted into my lioness form and wouldn’t come out of it for days. This was after the council had declared I deserved execution. I’d hidden myself in here for months. My anima has different desires these days.
Telekinesis helps me get out of the canal and onto the cement landing. Rolling my shoulders to stretch them out, I grimace as I take the towel Minnie offers me. There are bags of food and bottles of water in piles about the stone landing, as well as backpacks with clothes and toiletries.
“I got injured,” I explain, gesturing to my newer leg, still a slightly lighter colour than the other.
Henry levitates over to me from where he’d been perched on Stacey’s head. Eugene gives a strained sort of cluck, and I grimace at him, shoving a finger in my ear and twisting it. “Maybe none of that for a while, okay, Eugene?”
He ducks his head, and I present my hand for Henry. The little nimpin sniffs the air, chittering with his beak before levitating himself onto my shoulder and settling there. He’s assumed the position of mother hen again, and today, I have no complaints with that. “So what do you guys know?”
Minnie puffs out her cheeks. “We know you did something bad enough to have an entire squadron of armed officers from the council come andraidthe academy.”
“Bad enough,” I repeat with disgust. “I wasdefendingmyself against bullets and harpoons!”
Stacey shifts back into human form and grabs her backpack of clothes. “They said you destroyedsixhelicopters, Lia!”
“Lies!” I exclaim, waving my arms, and then crossing them defensively. “I counted four.”
Minnie chokes. “That’s really great and all, Lia. Like…really great, but it means there’s a very inconvenientarrest warrant out for you.”
“Wasn’t there already one in place?” Stacey says, re-tying her pigtails. “Or was that finished and they’ve begun another?”
“I can’t bloody keep track,” I mutter. “Arrest warrantthis, arrest warrantthat. Is there food?”
“Yeah, Beak left jacket potatoes with cheese and baked beans,” Minnie says, heading to a small table with a foil-covered plate.
“Savage would be proud,” Stacey chuckles.
That’s what does it.
My vision blurs, and I grab my stomach as if I can stop it from dry retching. Something inside of me twists so violently I think I want to starfish-it again, but I can’t. I just miss him so much. Missthemso much. He’d been hurt. They are all suffering. I’m sobbing and dry heaving and arms come around me and Henry squeaks in my ear.
“Who said what to Lia?” comes Sabrina’s deadpan.
“It was me,” Stacey says thickly. “I’m sorry, Lia. I shouldn’t have brought Savage up.”
Someone pushes a bottle of water in front of my lips, and I gulp the cool contents down. A hand pats my back, and somebody pushes my hair off my face. Three faces swim before me, and Minnie whisks a tissue into her hand so she can mop my eyes. “This is really hard,” I whisper hoarsely. “I saw them. They looked awful.”
“We saw the videos,” Stacey whispers. “But you did amazingly.”
“It doesn’t matter.” I hang my head back. “For all my bravado, I don’t know if any of it made a difference. They’re still captive right now. I’m still being targeted by my father. They’resending helicopters after me. I don’t know how much longer I can go on doing this?—”
“I’ve said it before and I’m going to say it again,” Sabrina says through gritted teeth. “They arealive, Lia. And while they are alive, there is reason to go on.”
“I’m sorry,” I sniff, feeling ashamed that Sabrina had to lose her mates to death to be able to say this to me, here and now.
“Don’t get sorry. Get even. Besides, your ass looked great as you walked out of the Jewel. Everyone’s saying so on socials.” I stare at Sabrina, and my leopard friend graces me a rare smile. “Girl, if the ass gives you followers, I say we milk that shit for all it’s worth.”
“Marketing campaign for Lia’s ass, roger that,” Stacey says, getting out her illegal tablet and pencil. “It’ll be a movement.”
Minnie hands me the uncovered plate of food, and I dig into the potato and beans with my hands. “Marduk was in astatewhen we realised where you’d gone,” Minnie says, twirling her finger through a curl as she often does when talking about her oldest mate. “But somebody was filminglive,so we had our eyes glued to that for a while.”
“He said they’d come after me,” I say, wiping my mouth and only smearing more of the baked beans sauce. “I couldn’t have waited another second, Min. I just couldn’t. All I’ve done is research serpent magic and justthoughtabout things. It was time for action. That crocodile cunt forced my hand.”
