“Want to buy a coat tonight?” Fen asked.
“Hmm. Maybe. Normally I get them specially tailored, with pockets and so forth to my specifications, but I would like one, even ready-made. I don’t feel quite dressed without one.”
“Oh, but you must have a couple spares at home.” Fen always got at least one extra of any item of clothing she particularly loved. You never knew when it would stop being made.
“I did, but not anymore,” he replied glumly. “They all got destroyed. That was my last one.”
“How do you destroy a coat? Other than falling into a swamp.”
“Helping out the Defenders.” He seemed wary, then took a deep breath, calmed himself, and went on, “Now that you’ve met them, not to mention Balin and Eunice, you can guess the kinds of situations they’d get into. I wouldn’t shift in front of the Defenders—I was too ashamed—but if I could catch an enemy alone, I didn’t much care if they saw me. I’d try to take off my coat first, but sometimes there wasn’t time.”
“I’m going to make you tell me all your Defenders stories. They sound amazing.” She nudged him. “I’ll even tell you how brave and heroic you were, how’s that for incentive?”
“Excellent. You tell me how brave and heroic I am, and I’ll tell you what a good listener you are.”
She tossed a pillow at him. “Hey, how come no one else’s clothes ripped off when they shifted? Is it because of your, uh, problem?”
He shook his head. “No, that used to happen even when I was a snow leopard. I’d have to undress before I shifted if I didn’t want to destroy everything I was wearing. Most shifters can’t take their clothes with them. The only ones who can are the ones who turn into mythical or extinct animals.”
“The ones who can turn into mythical or extinct animals,” she repeated, marveling. “What a month I’m having. So why is that?”
Carter shrugged. “I don’t think anyone knows, really. The theory is that mythical beasts are inherently magical, so there’s enough magic left over to take care of their clothes. It might be similar for extinct animal shifters—maybe it takes magic to recreate an animal that no longer exists.”
“It must have been amazing to grow up like you did,” she said wistfully. “Surrounded by magic. Knowing you’re special.”
His face darkened. “You should have grown up knowing you were special.”
Fen didn’t know how to reply to that. She did believe that he believed she was special. But it was a long way from that to believing it herself. Her parents’ voices echoed in the back of her mind.
“Do you everthink,Fenella?”
“Why don’t you just try harder?”
Uncomfortable with the topic, she stood up. “Come on. Let’s go shopping.”
Chapter 17
As they lefttheir hotel room to go on a shopping spree, they swung their clasped hands between them like a pair of high school sweethearts. It made Carter realize how long it had been since he had done anything purely for fun. Usually he was either busy with Howe Enterprises, or busy with the Defenders, or busy vainly researching wild leads off strange internet boards about how to get rid of unwanted inner monsters.
Who would have thought that getting kidnapped would be the best way to go on a vacation?
As they approached the elevator, he said, "Hey, I just remembered. Do you care if the press finds out about us?"
Fen’s beautiful dark eyes widened in surprise. "I can't believe I didn't think about that. I guess even a couple days safely away from the paparazzi got me relaxed. What do you think?"
Don’t hide, howled a monster.
Be honest, hissed a monster.
Tell, tell, tell, gibbered a monster.
For once, he agreed with them. He adored Fen. He wanted everyone to see that she was with him. He wanted to shout it from the rooftops. The brilliant and brave Fen Kim, drinker of fine whiskey and thrower of soda cans, who could scream fit to wake the dead and find food in the wilderness, and was absolutely, positively, no doubt about it the sexiest woman alive had chosenhim.
"It's up to you, of course,” he said. “But personally, I'd like to go public. The only reason I see for keeping it a secret is that Eldon McManus might claim we made everything up and conspired together to frame him, but he’ll probably say that anyway. Besides, once we get back to Refuge City, the only way to keep it a secret would be to sneak around like a pair of burglars. I’m picturing the kind from old comic strips, where they wear striped suits and flat caps."
She snickered. "The flat cap might look good on you, but I draw the line at striped suits. And if we sneak around, it’ll only make us look guilty once the paparazzi catch us—and they will eventually. So let's not hide."
Let's not hide. Her words struck him with their unintended double meaning. He'd stopped hiding his monstrous shift form, even though it hadn't exactly been completely by his own choice. Fen had stopped hiding her insecurities from him. It was terrifying, but freeing, too.
