She was still in chains. She was wet, and cold, and some of the metal taste in her mouth was her own blood.
Make herself at home. Right.
“I’d rather stand.”
“I’d prefer you sit.”
And if I don’t, we’re in the middle of the ocean a thousand miles from anywhere, and I’m chained up in a way that specifically prevents me from shifting.
She staggered to the chair and lowered herself into it. Her knee started to bounce nervously, making her chains clink. Mr. Fairchild gave her a look that told her it would be a good idea for them not to do that.
I can be still,she told the empty waters inside her where her shark’s voice ought to be.I can. I always used to. Remember? So still, it would freak people out.
She took a deep breath and didn’t choke.Good start.
“I never had the opportunity to apologize for what my daughter made you into.” Mr. Fairchild sat opposite her. His expression of concern made her feel sick. It was the first real emotion she’d seen on him. “After the accident, you disappeared. I kept tabs on your location, of course, but I didn’t want to intrude. Not until I had a solution.”
“And this is your solution? Feeding me to the Soul-Eater?”
Mr. Fairchild’s eyebrows went up again. “Now, how do you know that name? Don’t tell me MacInnis and his band of merry men know about the ancient divinities. He’s a thug, not a historian.”
Carol swallowed back bile at his description of her boss. “It came up recently.”
“Is that so? How interesting. So many things seem to be coming to light these days. Almost as though fate itself is pavingthe way for us. First poor old Gerald stumbled upon the shadow dragons—not that he had any ideawhathe’d found. Then our winged friends emerged from their long slumber. With a little help, of course.” He made a vague gesture, like bowing for applause. “And now—no.”
He paused, long enough for cold fingers of anxiety to creep around Carol’s throat, then smiled. “I was going to say ‘now, you,’ but that isn’t quite right, is it? You should have been first on the list. A herald of what was to come, as the old world cracks open beneath the new. The spark that warns of a wildfire. A monster for a time of monsters.”
Carol forced the words past the lump in her throat. “I’m not—”
“No, no. You won’t be. Once he returns and fixes what centuries of uncontrolled magic have led astray.”
“You’re going to free the Soul-Eater.”
Mr. Fairchild’s eyes dropped to his lap in a perfect imitation of piety. “He has been imprisoned too long. There is a great deal of work for him to do out here in the world, and I regret that my Elly is the cause of some of it. Which is why I am so pleased my little rescue mission was a success.”
“Rescue?! You think yourescuedme?”
“I understand if it doesn’t feel that way right now. You must have built yourself quite the protective self-delusion, to survive with that face for so long. But you don’t need to hide from the truth anymore. Pretending that you can exist in the same world as the rest of us shifters, working for idiots like MacInnis, who act as though your face is something that should be ignored. Soon, it will all be over. You will be the beautiful young woman you were meant to be.”
I’m going to be sick.
She waited for the horror to rise to a crest inside her, for her shark to loom up, strong and relentless and—
Nothing.
Her anger, her horror, her disgust, anything she could have chained into strength and defiance, all drained away, leaving only the fear behind. Only the thing that made her weaker. Not stronger. Never stronger.
Just a broken girl, clinging to false hope. Believing the world would be better to her than it had ever given her reason to think it would be.
Even Moss—
She squeezed her eyes tight. She couldn’t think about him. Not now.
He wasn’t coming to save her.
No one was. The closest thing to a hero she had right now was Adrian Fairchild. Who wanted to save her from… herself.
Her monstrous, unwanted self.
