Hunching to hide his face as much as he could, Shan lurched past the young man. The restroom turned out to be asingle windowless cubicle, the walls streaked with mildew and scribbled graffiti.
Right now, it looked like paradise.
It took him three attempts to lock the door. He slumped to the ground, spilled toilet water soaking through the knees of his suit.
Control. Control.
Muscle twisted against bone. Agony wracked him as every part of his body fought to slide into a different shape. He bit down on his own arm, trying to muffle his scream.
“Hey!” Someone pounded on the door. “What’s going on in there?”
“I think he’s sick.” He could barely make out the driver’s voice through the howling pain. “He was bleeding in my back seat, but he didn’t want me to take him to the hospital.”
“Hey!” The pounding redoubled. “Hey, man, you alive in there?”
He couldn’t respond. His paw-hands clenched, claws digging long gashes into the floor.
“He might have collapsed. You got a way to open this?”
“Uh, yeah. Hang on.”
No,he wanted to shout, but a key was already rattling in the lock. He scrabbled away, pressing himself into the furthest corner as the door opened.
“Hey, man, are you—holy shit!”
He caught a single glimpse of two horrified faces before the door slammed shut again. The lock clicked.
“What are you doing? We gotta get out of here, man!”
“You want that thing coming after us? Help me block the door!”
Something thumped against the far side of the door. He tried to shoulder-charge it, but his distorted body refused to obey him. He slumped, claws dragging weakly across wood.
“It’s trying to get out! Oh God, oh God, oh God?—”
“Just keep piling stuff up! I’m calling the cops!”
No,he tried to say, but it came out as a feral snarl. The crash of objects being hastily piled in front of the door redoubled.
Another spasm of pain twisted his spine. He curled in helpless agony, gray creeping in at the corners of his vision.
“Hello? Hello?” The driver’s frantic voice was the last thing he heard as everything drained away. “Yes, we need help! There’s a monster here!”
CHAPTER 35
Leonie had hoped that Rufus and the other campers would keep Lola distracted long enough for her to get a grip on herself and come up with a plausible explanation for Shan’s disappearance. Unfortunately, there was a problem with this plan. Namely, that it relied on a bunch of kids.
“So.” Lola leaned against the doorframe of the laundry room, muscled arms folded. “Kids tell me that Shan’s gone.”
Leonie kept stuffing her sheets into the industrial washer. “Yes.”
“Is he coming back?”
“That’s up to him,” she said shortly. “I don’t want to talk about it, Birdbrain.”
“Tough titties, because I do.” Lola braced her hands on each side of the doorframe, blocking any chance of escape. “What’s going on, Catbutt? And don’t fob me off with some weak-ass excuse. I want to hear the truth.”
No.It was so ironic, she almost laughed.You really don’t.
