A pair of husky puppies materialized in the middle of the room, barking. Fen almost jumped out of her skin, accidentally dislodging Cloud from her shoulder. The gray cat fell off, her wings buzzing, hit the newly upright table, skidded claws-out on its polished wood surface and sent all the magazines flying, then launched herself into the air again.
“I take that back,” said Carter. “That pair of noisy menaces can get into locked rooms too. Nowhere is safe.”
Natalie ran into the lobby, her rainbow hair shining under the light. “Wally! Heidi! Knock it off!”
The husky puppies instantly stopped barking, as if she’d hit a switch.
The green cat caught the black one, and they wrestled in mid-air. Roland came through the door, holding something. “Hello, Carter. I made you a welcome to the team—”
The cats smacked into his hands, knocking a misshapen green thing to the floor. It bounced twice, then rolled off into a corner.
“Well, itwasa cake,” Roland said.
Fen, who didn’t think cake was supposed to bounce, said with some relief, “That was very kind of you. What a shame it got ruined.”
“But it’s the thought that counts,” said Carter. “Thanks, Roland.”
Roland brightened. “Maybe the inside could be salvaged if we sawed off the outside.”
“I don’t think so,” said Dali. She pointed at Blue, who was nosing the green object toward the chewed-up leaves.
Roland looked from his dusty cake to his battered houseplant and sighed. More to himself than anyone else, he muttered, “I amnotgiving up.”
A woman came in, rolling herself in a manual wheelchair with a laptop sitting on a built-in lap shelf. She was curvy and cheerful-looking, with curly brown hair. She whistled, looking upward, and called, “Batcat! Shoulder!”
The black cat plummeted downward, landing hard on her shoulder with her claws out.
“Ow,” the woman muttered, then offered her hand to Fen. “Hi! I’m Tirzah Lowenstein, the Defenders IT person. Pleased to meet you!”
Pete followed her, holding up his arm to the green cat. It landed on his wrist, much more gently and with claws in, and perched there like a falcon. “Tirzah’s my fiancée. And this is my cactus cat, Spike.”
“Cactus cat,” Fen murmured delightedly. “I wish we’d been able to bring our pets. I’d love to have introduced them to yours. But we came straight here. Carter…” She trailed off, uncertain whether he’d rather explain himself or have her do it for him. From the look on his face, he’d rather do neither.
“My eyes,” he muttered, staring at the floor. “They’ve started changing color.”
Everyone immediately clustered around, trying to get a look at him. He looked deeply pained, and his eyes went cloudy-day gray.
“They’re normally sort of greenish-brown, aren’t they?” Pete asked, putting his face much too close to Carter’s.
Tirzah stood up from her wheelchair, balancing on one leg and holding the back of it for support. “I always thought more of a brownish-green.”
“They’re hazel,” Carter said shortly. “It’s the color between brown and green.”
“They were gray a second ago,” said Dali. “Now they’re kind of… dark pink.”
“Like a medium-rare steak,” Merlin added helpfully.
Carter jerked backward. “You don’t need to get this close!”
“Oh, now they’ve gone redder,” Merlin said with interest. “Like a rare steak.”
“What makes them change color?” Natalie asked. “Is it camouflage? Or—wait—they get more red the more pissed off you get, right? Like a mood ring?”
“Like a mood ring from hell,” Carter muttered. Then, as everyone leaned in closer to hear him, he said loudly, “Eunice wasn’t bluffing. I’m turning into a monster!”
“You’re not amonster,” Merlin said immediately. “You’re a man with an involuntary transformation problem.”
“Whatever you call it, I need help,” said Carter.
