Rhys, who was looking… well, the wordshiftycame to mind. He seemed suddenly unable to meet her gaze, no matter how hard she tried to catch his eye.
Her eyes narrowed.
He obviously knew about all this. There was no way in hell that he could just drag her up here into this absolute pigsty – or cassowary-sty – of an apartment, and not be shocked by seeing not one, buttworandom, completely location-inappropriate animals turn into humans.
… What the hell. I’m sick of today – I’m doing what I want from now on.
“Hey.” She grabbed Rhys’s chin and turned his face so that he was forced to look at her, and didn’t let go. His eyes widened.
“Do you turn into an animal as well?” She tightened her grip just enough to be noticeable. “Be honest.”
Rhys hesitated for a moment, before, finally, he said, “A bit?”
Maisie stared at him. “You can turn into an animala bit? What does that mean? What bit of you? You just get goat legs or something? Or your head turns into a goat head? Or you get goat hooves for hands?”
Maisie wasn’t sure why she had decided to fixate on goats, but then, she’d had a long day. She wasn’t up to thinking of more than one kind of animal right now.
“No!” Rhys said, looking and sounding almost comically offended. “No goats – no part of me turns into any part of a goat!”
She wasn’t sure why he should be so indignant about it – a half-man half-goat wouldn’t be any more ridiculous and outlandish than anything else that had happened today, would it? Maybe she just needed to take it in stride.
Well, unless she woke up tomorrow and realized that this was all an incredibly messed-up dream.
Okay,she thought, trying to calm her racing thoughts.First things first.
She had a logical mind. It came with being a nurse: the first thing she usually had to do was establish the facts so that she could plot a course of action.
“All right,” she said, feeling determined. She’d get the bottom of all this if it killed her. “Let’s start at the beginning, then: that green stuff I touched earlier – does it have any hallucinogenic effects?”
Rhys looked confused for a moment, before shaking his head. “No. Just lethal ones.”
Maisie nodded.Great.
Lethal was not exactly a word she enjoyed hearing, but on the other hand, she seemed fine, and there wasn’t so much as a mark on her finger now.
Perhaps Rhys was able to suck it all off my finger before it could take effect,Maisie thought, as a warm shiver rolled down her spine, even though she knew full well it was a completely inappropriate reaction to have.
So I guess… Rhys saved my life.
She swallowed.
But that, as with everything else, only seemed to bring up more questions than it answered.
“Okay, then,” Maisie said. She felt like someone stuck in the lowest floor of a labyrinth, following a long string of thread back to the surface. Or at least to a straight answer. “So I’m not going crazy, and I’m not hallucinating. Now that we’ve established that, and now that you’ve said you can turn into an animal as well – even if it’s justa bit– do you mind telling me what animal it is?”
The words should have felt insane to say out loud, but, well, she was starting to realize that ‘insane’ was her new normal.
In the background, she noticed that Michael and Shaz – if thoseweretheir real names – were watching this whole little scene with what appeared to be great interest, their heads swinging back and forth depending on which of them was talking. Michael was gnawing on a Violet Crumble, clutching it in both hands just like a quokka feasting on a leaf, and spilling honeycomb pieces down the front of his shirt as he did so.
Great. Now me and my little mental break are serving as free entertainment.
Rhys winced, and it was obvious from the way that his face moved through a range of expressions that he was weighing up a whole lot of things in his mind. Which was understandable… but Maisie thought that her need for a full explanation was also pretty damn understandable, too. She waited, her face schooled into the firm, take-no-bullshit expression that she reserved for her most free-spirited patients.
Finally, he spoke. “Would it be easier if I just showed you? My shifter form is… a bit unusual.”
Maisie raised an eyebrow. “More unusual than a quokka and a cassowary? Who appear to be… romantically involved, somehow? I don’t think so.”
“Ooh, she has a point there, Rhys,” Michael said, nodding. “That’s a definite hit.”
