“You went tojail?!”
“Shifter jail. I don't have an official criminal record. I served some time, but then I got the chance to help out the Defenders, and they testified on my behalf. The rest of my sentence got commuted. The Defenders were really nice about it. We even got to be friends. Especially me and Carter and his... Um. His wife, Fen.”
Annabeth was still taking it all in. “So basically, you got made into a shifter by a supervillain.”
“Um. Yes.”
She rescued the onions before he could chop them into mush, and stirred them into the shredded potato mixture. “What was it like being in shifter jail?”
“Boring. And depressing. It didn’t have a swimming pool, so the only times I got to shift were when they let me out of my cell so I could get some exercise. I was supposed to run around a track, but it was the only time I had room to shift. I’d turn into a Dunkleosteus for a couple minutes, and just... sit there... and then I’d have to turn back.”
“That sounds awful.”
“Yeah. But I can’t argue with the sentence. Ididdo some bad things.”
“And you paid your dues.”
“Yes.” He looked up from the onion-drenched cutting board. “It did all work out in the end. I didn’t do any real harm, and the Defenders don’t hold a grudge. I was mostly worried about how you’d feel about it... Howdoyou feel about it?”
Annabeth had only been thinking about how it had all felt for him. She’d been excited with him when he’d explained how he’d gotten the chance to become a Dunkleosteus, and angry when he’d told her how Elayne had blackmailed him, and sad over his jail time. It was only then that she realized that he’d told her the whole story believing that she might judge him for it, or even break up with him.
Her words tumbled over themselves in her haste to reassure him. “Norris, if someone had offered me the chance to turn into a Dunkleosteus—or any marine creature, honestly—I might’ve locked some people in a basement too. I’m not proud of that...”
“Me neither.”
“But I can see the temptation,” she concluded. “So I can’t judge you. Idon’tjudge you. You’re human, that’s all. We all make mistakes. And it’s not as if you did it out of malice. Unlike a certain cheating toad I can think of.”
He looked horrified at the very idea. “I wouldneverdo anything like that.”
“I know you wouldn’t,” she said simply. “I trust you. Now let’s make our Hanukkah miracle latkes.”
They deep-fried the potato pancakes and ate them with apple sauce. They were crisp and delicious and marvelously unhealthy. They ate them and drank the wine, and enjoyed each other’s company until the little oil lamps burned low.
“Come on,” said Annabeth, rising from the table. “Let’s try out the bed.”
CHAPTER 8
