Norris got to his feet. “I can help.”
Carter whipped around, clutching the espresso machine protectively to his chest. “You! I might’ve known you’d be here!”
Fen smiled at him. “Hi, Norris. You’re early. The holiday party’s not till next week.”
“I know. I was in the neighborhood and I was hoping you had some dry clothes I could borrow.” He still couldn’t quite believe that he’d actually gotten to be friends with Carter Howe and Fenella Kim, who owned the top two tech companies in America. Having to escape a swamp together was a great ice-breaker.
“Did you fall in another swamp?” Carter inquired.
“I had to jump in a lake,” Norris explained. “My curse came back and I suddenly turned into a Dunkleosteus. Do you have Kerenza Couch’s number?”
“I amnotdriving you this time,” Carter warned him. “Never again!”
“Maybe we could rent a plane and fly him in,” Fen suggested.
“He’d still need transport from the airport,” said Carter.
“I’d drive him,” Merlin volunteered.
“Pete, can you get Norris something to wear?” Tirzah asked, spinning her wheelchair to nudge her mate. “He must be freezing.”
Pete made a rumbling sound distinctly reminiscent of an annoyed cave bear, but beckoned to Norris. “Come on. I’ll find something to fit you.”
“I think I’m a bit bigger than you,” said Norris. “I was thinking Roland...”
Pete gave an even more bear-like snort. “Let’s try the spare stash first.”
It turned out that as an all-shifter private security agency, the Defenders kept plenty of spare clothing for shifters who were neither mythic nor extinct, and had destroyed their clothes with an unexpected shift. Pete led Norris to the stash, where he was able to find clothes that fit—enough that he could even make a choice between shirts. He left the plain black T-shirt and pulled on the one with a reproduction of a Far Side cartoon of cigarette-smoking dinosaurs, captioned “The real reason dinosaurs went extinct.” It seemed appropriate.
I am not a dinosaur,his Dunkleosteus pointed out.I belong to the familyDunkleostidae, the sub-orderBrachythoraci, the orderArthrodira—
The classPlacodermae, and the phylumChordata,replied Norris soothingly inside his mind.It’s just a joke.
Scientific inaccuracy is no joke, grumbled his Dunkleosteus.
But when Norris returned to the lobby, Merlin looked up from mopping the floor and gave him a thumbs-up. He was wearing a T-shirt with a picture of a T-rex and the caption “I’m too rexy for my shirt,” and said, “Good choice. I picked that one out.”
“Of course you did,” muttered Carter.
“So, does anyone have—” Norris began.
Ransom unfolded himself from the chair where he’d been piecing together an intricate snowflake mobile. The hellhound shifter bodyguard handed Norris a piece of paper with a phone number and the name KERENZA COUCH.
“Thanks, Ransom.” Norris looked for a safe place to sit down while he made his call. Every piece of furniture was occupied by a person, a magical pet, or a teetering stack of holiday decorations. He cautiously leaned against a wall as he made the call.
The familiar voice of Kerenza Couch answered the phone. “If this is about my car warranty, you’re going to wake up tomorrow morning with eyebrow warts.”
“Er, no,” said Norris.
“Oh,” said Kerenza. “It’s the fish fellow. Young man, you have two minutes to state your business.The Young and the Restlessis about to start.”
“The curse is back! I started to turn into a Dunkleosteus in a coffee shop, and I had to run to the park and jump in a lake. I need you to take it off again, please, and this time make sure it stays off. I know you don’t like to travel, so I can come to you. I need to get this fixed right away.” Norris spoke so quickly that he realized that he was gabbling, and hastily shut his mouth.
“Anything special happen at the coffee shop before the shift started?” Kerenza inquired.
“Yes! I met my mate.” Dreamily, he went on. “She’s the most beautiful, brilliant—”
“Yes, yes, she’s wonderful and perfect in every way,” said the witch. “Well, that explains everything.”
