How dare you!
We deserve to live!
[angry scarlet]
For the first time, Carter felt a pang of guilt at the idea of getting rid of his monsters. They hadn’t chosen him any more than he’d chosen them. It was hard to be angry with someone who only wanted to live.
He pushed it away. They were parts of himself, and he had the right to decide which parts to keep and which to discard. It was his life.
It’s our lives!A monster snarled that so loudly that he had to clench his fists to stop himself from clapping his hands over his ears.
“Canyou get rid of them?” Carter asked Kerenza.
She gave a disgusted snort. “See, that’s what I mean. Your animals know you don’t want them, so they’re not cooperating.”
He wanted to bang his head against the nearest tree. “What am I supposed to do about that? I can’t change how I feel.”
The witch shrugged, then took a zip-lock bag out of her pocket. This one was entirely full of green powder with streaks of silver. She opened it and dumped it over his head.
It smelled like hot metal and the back of an old spice cupboard. He sneezed, and a wild hope filled his heart. “Is this going to fix me?”
She shrugged. “Maybe. You’ll have to see what happens. If you get more animal attributes, it didn’t work.”
“No shit,” Fen muttered.
Kerenza put her plump hands on her plumper hips. “No swearing on my property, young lady.”
With uncharacteristic meekness, Fen said, “I’m sorry. We really appreciate your efforts.”
“We do,” Carter added. He had to physically stop himself from brushing off the green-silver powder in his hair and all over his suit and coat. Some of it had gone down the back of his neck. It itched. “Thank you so much. I appreciate the try, whether it works or not. You mentioned charms to stop the wizard-scientists from freezing us…?”
“Yes, yes.” Heaving a put-upon sigh, Kerenza said, “I suppose you may as well come in.”
They followed the porcupine witch into her cabin. It was clean and bright, dominated by an enormous wall-mounted TV blaring commercials. She shooed them to a comfortable couch in front of the TV, then began rummaging around in a cupboard.
A creature padded into the living room. It was the size of a large cat, hairless, with a scorpion’s tail and enormous, protruding fangs like a saber-tooth tiger. Its yellow eyes had goat-like slotted pupils. It caught sight of the strangers in the house and hissed, showing a forked tongue. Fen let out a faint shriek, and Carter started up from the sofa.
Kerenza clicked her tongue at the weird creature. “Friends, Blossom!”
Blossom hissed again, but grudgingly avoided the sofa and went into the kitchen. It sat up on its hind legs, begging. Kerenza tossed it a doggie bone treat from a glass jar, which it caught and crunched up.
“What is that?” Fen asked. Carter was certain she’d just barely stopped herself from completing the question withthing.
“Blossom is a purebred miniature manticore,” Kerenza replied proudly. “Delightful creatures. So intelligent. Marvelous watchdogs. They are a bit subject to cold, on account of being hairless, so I knit little sweaters for her to wear in winter.”
The image of Blossom in a knit sweater made Carter feel like his mind had just bluescreened.
“How many of you want amulets?” Kerenza called over her shoulder as she resumed her cupboard rummaging.
“Six who are shifters,” Carter said. “And four more who are mates and family members and might be around.”
“Irrelevant,” Kerenza said. “The freeze spell works the same whether you’re a shifter or not.”
“Great. How about some powder to fix anyone whose inner animal gets controlled by the gargoyle?”
She shook her head. “That doesn’t work by itself, young man. It works because I sprinkle it. I can give you antifreeze amulets, but that’s it. Do you want them?”
Trying to stifle his disappointment—having someone else control one’s inner animal was far worse than being paralyzed—he said, “Yes, please.”
