From his frown, it wasn’t what he’d wanted her to pick. He rubbed his mouth, evidently thinking.
“Show me your last text message conversation,” he said at last. “With your twin.”
Oh God.This was going to be mortifying. Still, she supposed it was only fair after what she’d just put him through. Even if his interest in Lola was starting to get a bit worrying.
“Here you go.” She dug out her phone, opening her brief exchange with Lola the previous morning. “Excuse me while I attempt to hide in this beer bottle.”
Shan studied the screen for much longer than it should have taken to read two lines of text. “Birdbrain?”
“That’s my nickname for her.” She put her phone back in her pocket. “I’m the only one who gets to use it. It’s a twin thing. She calls me Catbutt.”
“Affectionately?”
“Yep. It’s kind of a joke. Birdbrain and Catbutt. Front half and back half, see?”
Shan looked utterly baffled. “No.”
Now that she thought of it, she supposed he didn’t. She didn’t normally talk about her odd quirk, since other shifters tended to find the entire concept viscerally horrifying. And she couldn’t do it at camp anyway. Not without Lola.
She didn’t like the thought of Shan drawing away from her in disgust. Then again, he hardly had a typical relationship with his own inner animal. She had no doubt he would have given it up in a heartbeat, if he could. Maybe he’d understand.
“Okay. Please try not to be weird about this.” She took a deep breath. “Lola and I can do a…thing.”
“A thing,” Shan prompted, when she didn’t continue.
“Yeah.” She braced herself. “Lola and I can sort of…share our animals. If we’re touching, I can give her my lion. Or she can give me her eagle.”
Shan, understandably, stared at her as if she’d just announced she could remove her own head.
She sighed. “Yes, that’s the reaction we usually get. It’s why I don’t talk about it at camp. I don’t want the kids thinking I’m some sort of freak. You’re not supposed to be able to rip out your own soul and hand it to someone else. Not even your own sister.”
“What happens,” Shan said slowly, “when one of you has both animals?”
“They kind of combine. If I borrow Lola’s eagle, I can shift into a griffin. Or she can, if she borrows my lion. It lasts until we touch and separate them again.” She shrugged. “I guess we can do it because we’re twins. You must have met a lot of shifters, in your line of work. Have you ever come across another pair like us?”
“No.” He was still staring at her, but not with revulsion. More like he was seeing her for the first time. “Never.”
“Oh,” she said, slightly disappointed. It would have been nice to know she wasn’t unique. “Well, it never really seemed strange to us. We used to share animals all the time when we were kids. Though we don’t do it much anymore. When one of us is the griffin, the other one can’t shift at all. So it’s not much use when we’re away from each other most of the year.”
“A lion and an eagle.” Shan murmured, more like he was talking more to himself than her. “Two halves of a griffin.”
“Yep. Catbutt and Birdbrain.” She took another drink, relieved that he hadn’t commented on the actualcontentof her conversation with Lola. “So there you go. My turn. Truth or dare?”
“What?” Shan said, sounding distracted. “Oh. Yes. Dare.”
She’d been hoping he’d pick that. She’d already worked out what to ask him to do.
“I dare you,” she said, “to shift. Right here. Right now.”
That got his attention. “Why?”
She shrugged, sipping her beer. “I’ve never had a chance to get a good look at your animal. Not your front end, anyway. You’ve always either been way up in the sky or had your tail in my face. I’d like to see you properly. When am I going to meet another qiongqi?”
Shan looked somewhat confused by the request, but he stood up. He moved back a step, opening up some space between them. His form shimmered.
Her lioness purred in appreciation.Yes.
The qiongqi’s wings shifted; opening a little, then folding back against striped flanks. It sank to its haunches, tail curling neatly over huge front paws. Its burning gaze met hers.
