Page 22 of Radiant Shadows

“I’ll take good care of her. Don’t you worry. Now, off to class.”

Soft footsteps retreated from the room.

I scrunched my eyes tighter and pulled the blanket over my nose as a wave of chemical scents assaulted my senses. My stomach gurgled in protest but, thankfully, didn’t go any further. It wasn’t like I had anything to throw up, anyway.

I barely felt the needle as Ms. Heather took my blood and sealed the spot with her healing light. The last thing I remembered before finally drifting back to sleep was Ms. Heather laying her hands on my forehead and speaking soft, soothing words that seemed to ease the ache.

***

I groaned as a gentle hand rocked me awake. Ms. Heather smiled and propped up my bed to allow me to sit up.

“I apologize, but I have something that will help. Here.”

She handed me a plastic cup filled with a clear liquid. There was no smell to it, but I hesitated. I hadn’t been sick much growing up, but I’d seen my mom shudder in revulsion after taking some medicines. I wondered if this was one of the sweet ones or one of the horrible ones.

“It’s best if you drink it all in one go,” Ms. Heather advised, as if reading my mind. She sat in the chair beside my bed. “And you’ll need to drink the whole dose.”

I sighed. So, it was one of the horrible ones. I held my breath and tried to still my chattering teeth as I lifted the cup to my lips.

I only made it halfway through before I started coughing and spluttering. The bitter taste coated my throat and tongue, and I shuddered just like I remembered Mom doing. But as I threw back the last awful dregs of the drink, I noticed that the shaking and chills were gone, my sore muscles beginning to unwind.

“What the heckwasthat?” I asked, handing the cup back to Ms. Heather. I tried to scrape the taste off my tongue with my teeth, but it just wasn’t letting go.

“Here. Try this.” She handed me a mint, which I eagerly tossed into my mouth.

The flavor didn’t quite cut through whatever was in the remedy, but at least it gave my taste buds something else to focus on.

“Better?” she asked, and I nodded. “The drink is an old were remedy to help ease the change.”

My brows furrowed, and I frowned. “A were remedy? Why would that help?”

She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. “Well, based on your symptoms and the fact that you’re a chimera, it seemed prudent to run some diagnostics on your blood. The flu isn’t really something a harpy would get—we don’t get sick at all—and even with your mer side, your harpy should be strong enough to keep you free of illness. Something had to be blocking that ability.”

She looked down at her nails, and I wondered what would make the woman so nervous.

“It turns out that you have ursa DNA in your chimera makeup.”

“Ursa? As in a werebear? How’s that possible?” I clearly remembered from my shifter biology class that weres were bitten shifters, and I’d never been bitten. Not by anything any bigger than a bug, anyway.

She curled her hands in her lap, looking me in the eyes. “It appears the ursa DNA has been lying dormant in your blood. I think your shift into your dual chimera form activated the latent ursa DNA, and you’re now experiencing the effects of a first shift.”

I groaned in exasperation as I leaned back against my pillow. That was all I needed, another shifter type lurking inside. Was there no end to the surprises and secrets in my life? “How long will the change take?”

She shifted in her seat. “I’m not entirely certain. Normally, it takes a were about a week, give or take, from bite to firstshift. You, however, seem to be developing at a slower rate. I’m estimating two weeks, but it could be more. Or things could change, and your rate could accelerate. No one’s ever seen a born were before, so I’m afraid we’re out of our element here.”

I let that sink in, but a startling thought made me sit back up. “There’s no other shifter types in me, right?”

Ms. Heather shook her head, giving me a half smile. “Ursa is the only othershifterDNA you carry.”

I nodded. I felt like such a freak. What kinds of procedures were done on my mom to produce a chimera with were DNA? For the first time since Mom’s passing, anger bubbled up. What kind of person lets people experiment on their unborn child? It was beyond sick. She wanted to yell or scream or do... something.

If Mom were alive...

But she was dead. And she’d done everything she could to keep me away from my sadistic vampire father. Guilt cooled the white-hot anger burning through me. I was the worst, most ungrateful daughter ever.

Still, the anger gnawed at the edges of my guilt, and I felt almost dizzy from the mood swing. What the hell was happening to me?

“Knock, knock,” came a deep voice from the doorway.

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