I look up at the setting sky. It’s been about two hours, two more hours until the curse Diablos put on us starts coming into effect and making our lives unbearable. We better find them, or everyone is going to suffer.
I close my eyes, searching for the dragon’s song. It doesn’t take long, they aren’t far away, but something’s changed in it. It’s deeper, with more layers, an echo.
While I listen to it, memorizing the changes, my shiver continues to argue.
Something sharp lances through my head, a pain that I’ve felt before, but it’s been growing stronger. I grip my face, letting the music fade away. My lungs burn, and the desire to get to the seagrows like a weight that gets steadily heavier. I gasp, struggling in the hold of the pain, until after several lifetimes, it stops.
I blink, realising I’m covered in sweat and am on my ass, huddled against the wall.
“It’s happening,” Lirin says softly. “We’re changing back. The spell's ending.”
“We have some time,” Ronit says. “If we can find the people who did this to us, then we have our backup plan. We have Mei. That was the agreement we made; our bargain for legs. The creature who gave us time wants her, so there’s still a chance to find a way out of this.”
“You know perfectly well the people who did this to us are long gone, Ronit. The witch wants Mei, it has always been about the Strega. So, are we handing her over or not?” I snarl.
There’s a long silence as they digest my furious words. The triumph I felt when we made the deal feels like bitter ash in my mouth now. It would be hard to give her up to some creature. What if it’s that leather-winged bastard? What if the creature is something worse?
It’s her or us.
We already bartered. If we fail to deliver and succeed in our mission, then we become the slaves of the creature who wants her. Back in the ocean, like dogs.
“We should never have made that bargain,” I say hoarsely. It’s not the first time I’ve said it.
Reed snarls at me, but he doesn’t argue. He just turns away and locks down his feelings, giving us ice through the bonds.
“What about the deal with Diablos?” Lirin says. “He’s more powerful, his deal will nullify the other.”
“She will be safer in Nightmare than she will be with Deux hunting her here if we can’t catch him,” Ronit mutters. “Better to give her a chance than watch her die.”
Canto shakes his head. “You weren’t there, you didn’t see it; they were relentless in Nightmare. They didn’t see her as a threat at all. When did it all become about keeping Mei safe?”
Ronit is silent, staring at Canto for a long moment. “She is our only option for keeping our freedom.”
Canto curses and throws his fist at the brick wall, breaking the bricks.
“We were never going to find the Fae who cursed us, and I think the creature knew this. We can’t even get home to look.”
“That place is not my home!” Reed says, quivering. “I’m not going back there. Faerie is a hole that betrayed us.”
Ronit shrugs. “We don’t have to do it. We don’t have to hand her over. We can choose to leave her be and go back to the oceans, as guard dogs forever. There is nothing that says we have to.”
“But this is it, it’s us or her?” Lirin whispers. “What about-”
“If you bring up that mate bullshit again, we are going to have huge issues,” Reed snarls. “She can’t be.”
“Has it occurred to any of you that refusing to face it, refusing to acknowledge the fact that she’s our scent match, is because we are ashamed of what happened?” Lirin shouts.
“The scent only arrived with the Fae.”
“That Fae lady we all felt nothing but contempt for?” Lirin points out angrily.
“She’s an omega, that changes things,” I say, breaking into the conversation for the first time. “Part of our reasoning for why she couldn’t be ours was because she wasn’t an omega, so she couldn’t carry that potent, sweet scent that drove us nearly out of our minds. She’s an omega; it’s possible.”
“Judging by how we’ve been feeling, it’s not just possible, it’s probable,” Lirin barks. “What if Mei is our scent match?”
We fall silent, each of us thinking about those ramifications.
“She’s off-limits,” Canto says harshly. “We don’t touch her.”
