“Here.” Belvedere hands me a bottle of swirling, red-orange liquid. “Try this.”
I pour it over the mechanism. With a hiss and a click, the lock unravels, and the door swings open.
Inside, glowing orbs float along the walls, their soft light fighting against the sinister energy in the air. Rows of chests line one wall, a small bed with a patchwork quilt rests at the back, and a rocking chair faces an unlit hearth.
Esmerelda moves beside me, opening drawers.
A low, mocking voice cuts through the silence, carrying from nowhere and everywhere at once. The air warps with it, like heat shimmering above stone. Shadows twitch at the edge of my vision until they pull together, shaping themselves into a figure that can’t quite decide what it wants to be. Limbs stretch, shorten, rearrange. One second it looks almost human, the next its smile splits too wide, revealing sharp teeth. My heart stutters. Instinctively, I shove Esmerelda behind me. She shoves back, already braced to fight, eyes burning.
“It’s cute you think we didn’t know you’d know,” I throw back.
The changeling laughs, its voice warping as its form flickers. “Oh, I do enjoy this game. I knew you knew that I knew you knew.”
“Just shut the hell up, freak,” Esmerelda hisses. “We aren’t here for games. Tell us who the hell hired you to kill our families.”
The changeling’s face morphs into mock innocence. “Why, I don’t know what you could possibly mean.”
Esmerelda lurches forward, but I grab her jacket, stopping her in her tracks. She shrugs me off with a glare and points at the trickster. “You better speak up, or the next thing you change into will be your last.”
It looks at me. “I see why you put a ring on this one. She’s fire.” Then, it starts shifting. Tall to hunched, male to female to neither. It’s dizzying. Distracting.
Seconds later I discover why.
One second, it’s smirking, the next its arm lashes out like a whip, slamming Leonard into the wall.
Clutching his side, Leonard staggers upright. “Not like I need my ribs or anything.”
I charge with brute force, aiming to pin the fucker, but it twists, body flattening like a shadow. I crash into stone as the creature reforms behind me with a maniacal laugh. It flips me around, pinning me to the wall, its hands crushing my throat.
My vision blurs, but then Esmerelda strikes. Her knife sails across the room, embedding deep in its shoulder.
The changeling grins as it yanks the blade free, like it barely felt it, then flings it back.
“Esmerelda!” I tackle her to the floor right as the blade whirs past.
She winces under me. “Ouch, fuck. Get off me!”
“You’re welcome,” I growl.
She glares. “Next time, let me get hit. Might hurt less.”
I scramble up.
“Watch out!” Esmerelda yells as the changeling’s hands morph into boulders. It swings down, and I roll to the side just in time. Those boulder fists hit the floor, sending a splintering fissure through the stone.
I hook its legs and flip it, pinning its arms. I’m ready to punch its face, when it suddenly morphs into an exact replica of Esmerelda.
“You wouldn’t hit a lady, would you?” it taunts.
“Hit it, you idiot!” Esmerelda yells.
I drive my fist home.
The changeling splinters into a cockroach, skittering across the floor. Minerva stomps, but it flickers into a Leonard lookalike. Creepy as fuck.
The real Leonard barrels forward. The changeling mirrors his stance exactly, mocking.
They fight in perfect sync, the changeling copying Leonard’s every move. Leonard flicks a glance at me, then deliberately stumbles. When the changeling does the same, Esmerelda jumps on its back. Before I can so much as blink, it turns into a snake, squeezing out of her hold, then coiling around her. It morphs back into what I imagine to be its natural self: pin-like eyes in its head, mouth wide and full of razor-sharp teeth. “I wonder if I should have a taste of your lady here. You do know a changeling bite is poisonous, right?”
