“Did anyone ask you for your opinion on the subject?” Rhys snapped, turning to him. “And why are you even still here? Can I have a conversation in privacy?”
“You’re in my house,” Michael pointed out – and, Maisie had to admit, he kind of had a point there. Theywerein his disgustingly cluttered den of takeaway boxes and Minties wrappers.
“All right – nah. I reckon that’s our cue to leave,” said Shaz in a voice that brooked no dissent. “This isn’t a spectator sport, you know. Give the man some space to do what he’s gotta do.”
Michael’s protests were lost as Shaz grabbed him by the t-shirt and dragged him into whatever hellish cesspit of a room lay on the other side of the remains of the door, his voice getting fainter with each moment.
Okay,Maisie thought, blinking. Maybe Rhys’s animal form was somethingreallyembarrassing, and he was ashamed to reveal it in front of other people. In the short duration of their acquaintance, Shaz hadn’t exactly struck her as particularlysensitive, but perhaps she was trying to give Rhys a little privacy as he prepared to reveal his ‘unusual’ animal form.
“Well,” she said, as a ripple of something that could have been either excitement or unease – or both – ran through her. “No more excuses. If you’re going to turn into an animal, then do it.”
I can’t believe I just said that.
It still seemed unreal, even though she’d literallyjustseen two people turn into a quokka and a cassowary.
Rhys pulled in a deep breath. “All right. May as well.”
Maisie waited as he cleared some rubbish aside to make space, her stomach twisting in anticipation. Now that some of the shock of the supposed explosion and the cassowary and the quokka and the – theshiftinghad worn off, her everyday brain was starting to grind back to life again. The kind of brain that was actually surprised by things like animals turning into people.
Is he really going to turn into an animal? How can that even be possible?! Medically, that’s not possible at all!
Space cleared, Rhys looked over at Maisie again, meeting her eyes with an uncertainty that seemed incongruous with what a strong, confident guy he seemed to be.
And, well, maybe he was right to be abitnervous.
If one of Maisie’s friends had come to her and regaled her with stories of a guy getting shot, jumping in through her window, reappearing a couple of hours later without so much as a scratch on him and then taking her to meet his hacker friends who could turn into animals, Maisie would’ve called the guy a walking red flag and told her friend to run far, far away.
“Don’t be scared,” Rhys said as he stood in the middle of his small clearing. Maisie thought that seemed a bit over the top – she’daskedto see his animal form, after all! – but she nodded.
“No matter what, I won’t harm you,” Rhys went on after a moment. “I’ll know who you are.”
Maisie nodded again, even though she knew that there was no way he could turn into something scarier than a cassowary. Hell,he’dseemed scared of the cassowary. What could he possibly turn into that was worse than that?!
Rhys took a deep breath, before nodding in resolve. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and…
Wow.
Maisie had been prepared for it, but it still took her breath away. Now that things weren’t going at a million miles an hour, she could appreciate just how freakingweirdandimpossibleall of this was.
And yet, it was happening.
There was that shimmer again, this time enveloping Rhys’s body.
And then –
His body lengthened and became larger, his whole stance changing as he moved to all fours. Golden fur sprouted along his body, and – was that atail?!
Is he a lion? Is he turning into an actual lion?!? I guess he had good reason to warn me not to be scared… though I’m sure he’d just be a big pussycat,Maisie thought. Though maybe that was the shock talking.
But no, alionwasn’t right. Because there werewingssprouting from his back, and his head wasn’t that of a lion, but of a bird –
… A griffin? He turns into a freakinggriffin?!
Maisie could feel her mouth hanging open, in a way her mother would have told her was justaskingfor a fly to zoom right inside.
But she couldn’t help it – not only had Rhys justchanged forms,he’d changed forms into amythical creature that didn’t even actually exist?
But Maisie wasn’t in the habit of denying things that were happening right in front of her face. She might be dreaming – in which case, she’d eventually wake up, problem solved. But if she wasn’t, then she really only had two choices: accept that the world wasa lotmore different and strange than she had ever suspected, and was in fact a place where men could turn into enormous winged lions, or go insane.
