“I won’t wait at all,” he said promptly. “My answer is no.”
Balin gave an airy wave of his hand. “I told you, I don’t want a foolish, impulsive decision. I want you to take your time and think it over. Only then will you be able to take in the offer I make and the price of refusing. And now I will return your associates to their senses so they can see and recoil from the monster that you are. I alone will treasure you and lift you to glory. When you’re truly ready, you shall make your choice. And then you will take up your true place among us, as the Dark Knight Pride.”
Balin made a grand gesture, unfreezing everyone on the boat.
Merlin almost fell over, but recovered into a graceful flip that propelled him off the boat and onto the island. He immediately shifted, becoming a sleek black velociraptor.
Natalie, who like Merlin had once been a professional acrobat, leaped off the boat in an astonishingly high jump. She shifted in mid-air, becoming a huge white hound with feathered wings and eyes like pieces of a summer sky.
Pete vaulted off the boat. He too shifted as he moved. His massive cave bear hit the island with an enormous thud.
Ransom stepped off the boat and on to the island. A cloud of smoke rose up and a black hound the size of a pony stepped out. The hound was wreathed in smoke, and it glared at Balin with eyes made of pure fire, like windows into Hell itself.
Roland spread his arms wide, as if in a gesture of invocation. Flame blossomed in his palms and raced up his arms. For the blink of an eye, he was a man with wings of fire. Then he was gone, and a fiery phoenix blazed across the sky.
It all happened so fast that Carter had no chance to warn them. All five of the Defenders went straight for Balin and Eunice. Despite Carter’s sinking feeling that it was a useless attack, he couldn’t help feeling warmed by how instantly they’d all jumped to his defense.
Fen, who had unfrozen in a kneeling position, scrambled to her feet, staring. “What the actual fuck.”
When the Defenders were about to reach the wizard-scientist and the gargoyle, Eunice gave a fierce, toothy grin, and everything fell apart.
Roland, who had been diving down as a phoenix, shifted to human form in mid-air. He hit the ground hard.
Natalie, who had also been diving in her Gabriel Hound form, veered off and plunged into the swamp. She vanished into the black water with a tremendous splash.
Merlin shrank to the size of a gecko. Since his power was to change his size, this didn’t seem to throw him much. He kept on running, darting to veer around a bush that was suddenly an obstacle. Then he became the size of a T-rex and crashed into the trees he’d been about to run between. He fell to the sand and struggled to get up, clearly dazed.
Ransom became a man again, his face taut with pain and fear. He managed a single step forward before falling to his knees, pale and shaking.
Pete swerved off course, charged in a wide circle around Balin and Eunice, and ended up facing the boat again. He let out a tremendous roar and charged straight at the boat. The cave bear’s eyes were mad with rage and fixed on Fen.
None of the other Defenders could fight at all now, let alone take on a mind-whammied cave bear. If someone was going to put their body between Fen and the maddened prehistoric beast, it would be Carter or no one.
He had only a split second to think, but the adrenaline surging through his body made time seem to slow. He had just enough time to think,Fen will see me. Everyone will see me. This is the end of everything.
He pushed her toward the back of the boat, shouting, “Get down!”
Then he jumped from the boat on to the island, putting himself directly in the path of the charging cave bear.
Carter shifted.
Chapter 14
Carter pushedFen harder than she thought he’d intended to. She stumbled backward, tripped, and sat down hard in the back of the now-empty boat.
After the many, many things she’d just seen that she could barely believe were real, the most horrifying was Carter jumping to put his body between her and the gigantic charging bear. But it was very easy to believe that he’d give his life for her. It was the third time she’d see him throw himself between her and danger, without regret or hesitation.
Fen leaped to her feet, screaming, “Carter, no! Get in the water!”
She didn’t think he even heard her. She could barely hear herself over the cave bear’s roar. And the expression on his face when he’d pushed her made her think he was beyond listening. He’d had the spookily calm, set expression of a man about to throw himself on a grenade.
Well, she wasn’t about to let him die for her. She lunged for him. There wasn’t enough time to turn the boat around, but if she dragged him into the swamp, they could swim away and hope the cave bear wouldn’t swim after them.
She caught him by the arm. He screamed. Instinctively, Fen yanked her hand away. How could she have hurt him that badly? He sounded like he was in agony.
Carter fell to his knees as his scream turned into a spine-chilling howl. He writhed in pain, then seemed to expand. His clothes exploded off his body.
He was shifting, like the Defenders had. Like he’d told her he could no longer do.
