I turned away, and we stepped off the moving path. Up ahead, someone pushed through the crowd and came towards us. I jerked back, but it was too late; his bare arm brushed against me.
“Fuck,” I whispered. The man ignored me and kept moving, leaping on the moving path. I stopped dead in my tracks, watching him hurry as he gripped his backpack and brushed past other people. Bree tugged my hand and said something I couldn’t hear. She pulled me harder, getting me further away.We need to hurry, she said.
But what I was seeing was impossible. A normal human couldn’t touch me, not even through clothes. Not even for a moment. Even if he was some random shifter or witch, thisdidn’t make sense. The top of the guy’s head bobbed out of sight, blending back into the sea of people.
How?
Bree’s fingers tightened around mine, getting my boots moving again. My head spun around to face her, my face hot.
“Stop,” I rasped to Bree. Confusion swirled around my head. Holes started to poke all my beliefs. I’d been so sure this serum was headed in one direction. I never stopped to consider that there were other options.
“We’re almost at the gate,” Bree said, her voice stretched thin as she tried to hurry. I looked behind me, trying to see if the man had fallen and died. There were swarms of people moving—meaning nothing had happened. He was fine.
I felt something dangerous inside me:hope. It was too good to be true, I knew that. And yet I couldn’t stop the hope. It unfurled inside me. The man not dying—what could it mean? But I knew what it could mean. I could fucking taste it.
It meanteverything.
I’d always thought I was cursed and always would be. Doomed to a tragic fate. That I’d be dead before I was old and leave a trail of bodies in my wake. But what if I wasn’t doomed? I’d never allowed myself to consider a reality where things changed. Why? Because I was desperate for it. So desperate it’d eat me alive.
My hands were shaking now. Orson, Bree, and Nemo had begged me to consider an outcome that didn’t end with their deaths. They’d told me my belief was psychological more than logical. That everything would be fine. I didn’t listen, and maybe I should have. I’d thought they were naive, but perhaps this was my blind spot.
Someone slammed into me. I staggered back, my hand slipping from Bree’s as the impact took me.
“I’m sorry,” the woman said. She reached down for her suitcase handle. I watched with wide eyes as she picked it up and walked off.
My thoughts were spinning, and I was breathing heavily. There was too much adrenaline building up. I pulled Bree close to me. She gasped when I kissed her. People moved around us, too rushed to gawk.
“They didn’t die,” I said. I had to stop smiling. I had to calm down and think logically, but the excitement was getting the better of me. Bree looked up at me with a confused smile, asking what I meant. “They didn’t die,” I repeated, words falling over each other.
“You pupils are human again,” she said. Bree touched my mouth, and I held out my unsplit tongue. I stepped away from her, running my fingers through my hair in disbelief. I checked my watch. Seventeen minutes were left.
Was the serum a cure this entire time? Maybe the venom had been burning out of my system for the last twenty-four hours. The serum changed you, made you more, a better version of your powers. But what if being a basilisk was fucked up genetics, and I was becoming what I was always supposed to be?
A phoenix.
Like Hazel and my parents.
I’d be touchable, and I’d beright. Not an abomination.
“Bree,” I started. Orson and Nemo were looping back, realizing they’d lost us. I imagined how happy Bree would be when I told her—the relief. Nemo and Orson, too. We could do anything. Definitely escape Supra, who was going to be here any minute. Fuck those assholes; the deal was off. Thank god.
Nemo and Orson were never going to let this go. Probably use it as argument fuel, insisting I listen to them. Even that sounded nice at the moment.
But before the words came from my mouth, something slick and muscular uncoiled in my gut. White-hot burning exploded in my stomach. I choked on the taste of sour heat—like lemons and fire in the back of my mouth. The scent was everywhere, coming off me in hazy heat waves. My legs trembled as I stumbled into the middle of the hall. I clawed at the turtle neck, trying to open my airway for a fresh breath.
A new wave of people rushed toward me.
“Baz, shit,” Bree hissed as she saw the people coming. “Let’s hurry.”
I jerked away from Bree and bumped into someone, falling over them as they dropped. He was already dead by the time I pulled myself away. A woman stopped in her tracks, looking at the dead man with shock, trying to figure out what was happening.
She pointed at the corpse. “Is he okay?” Green-black veining spilled down her nail beds, engulfing her hand before it snaked under her jacket’s cuff. Her eyes met mine and turned black. A wail crawled out of her throat as venomous veins branched from their eyes. Foam bubbled up from her open mouth, and black tears fell down her face.
I never touched her, not even indirectly. I turned to look for Bree. I met her shocked blue eyes, and the whites began to darken to a vicious, deep green. I ripped my gaze away in absolute horror.
“Baz. I’m okay.”
“Get away from me,” I growled, my voice full of gravel as more acid filled my mouth. I scrambled away from her as fangs burst from my gums, sliding out like they’d always been waiting quietly to expose themselves. Venom dripped from the tips. The pain immobilized me for a moment. I curled in on myself as my tongue slowly forked again. My mouth was full of saliva. I spat on the ground and watched a hole burn through.
