Norris waded on to the island. Fen and Carter kept a wary distance from him so if he suddenly became a Dunkleosteus, he wouldn’t be able to bite them. Carter whistled to Precious, who reluctantly left off clawing Norris and flew to Carter’s shoulder. She clung to his wet shirt and preened in a self-satisfied manner.
“Good girl,” he said, scratching her head.
“Can you please call off the flying squirrel?” Norris pleaded, vainly trying to grab the small moving lump under his shirt. “It’s tickling the hell out of me.”
Carter shook his head. “That’s not ours.”
Fen started to step forward. Carter grabbed her arm. “Don’t get close to him.”
“I swear,” Norris began, sounded both exasperated and on the verge of uncontrollable tickle laughter.
“Here, sugar glider,” Fen called. “Get out of that weird man’s shirt. It’s all wet and muddy and gross.”
The lump crawled upward, emerged from Norris’s collar, and leaped. The sugar glider’s furry gray gliding flaps spread out, and it sailed straight for Fen. She caught and held it, petting its black-striped head. It gazed at her with adoring eyes as black as engine oil and chittered softly at her.
“Hello, darling,” Fen crooned, stroking it. “What a sweetie. And so tame! He must be someone’s pet.”
Norris gave her a startled glance. “It’s not your pet?”
She shook her head. “Never seen him before in my life. In fact, I’ve never seen a sugar glider in real life before. I’ve only ever seen photos and videos.”
Tiny friend, crooned a monster.
Pretty pretty furry friend, pretty furry friend, gibbered a monster.
[approving blue]
Carter was getting a suspicion about what might be going on. “They are real animals, right?”
Fen stared at him as if he was a complete lunatic. “As opposed to what?”
He pointed to Precious.
“Oh. Yes, they’re normal animals.” The sugar glider squeaked. She added, as much to the little creature as to Carter, “Normal but incredibly adorable animals.”
To his horror, he caught himself exchanging glances with Norris over her head. The horror instantly switched to annoyance when Norris, who clearly had never been acquainted with discretion, blurted out, “That one’s probably magical though.”
Her eyebrows rose. “Really? What makes you say that?”
Norris waved a big, muddy hand at Precious. “He’s got a magical pet, you’ve suddenly gotten an animal attaching itself to you, and your sugar glider joined his dragonette in attacking me because both of you thought I was a danger to you. It’s obvious.”
From the look in her eyes, it was clearly less obvious to her. “So, this is a known thing that happens?”
“Yeah, his whole team—well, most of his team—has them.”
“They’re not my team,” Carter snapped. “I just work with them sometimes. Anyway, we can check the sugar glider for magical powers later. Right now I want to know exactly what you’re doing here, Norris. And make it fast; we’re being hunted.”
“Yeah, I know,” Norris said. “That’s why I came.”
“To help hunt us?” Fen demanded, clutching her sugar glider protectively.
“To warn you!” The Dunkleosteus shifter scratched his head. “I guess I’m too late for that, though, if you’re being hunted already. But don’t worry. I’ll protect you.”
“You’llprotectus,” Carter said, his voice heavy with sarcasm. “I seem to recall that the last time I saw you, you were doing your best to murder me and my—the team.”
“Hey, no,” Norris protested. “I did help Elayne lock your friends in a cellar full of animatronics, and I did turn into a Dunkleosteus and jump into a swimming pool they were in, and yeah, I gave them vertigo and blocked their way when they tried to leave—I admit all that—but I never tried to kill anyone. And I feel bad about the things I did do. Especially when I realized who you were!”
The look that came into his eyes was one that Carter was all too familiar with. It was starry-eyed, awestruck, and slightly nervous. He’d seen it often, but never before in a swamp.
