Page 32 of Partridge in a Bear Tree

"While I agree Joash would be happiest to be flown around the world for a conversation, there are these things calledtelephones these days, you know. I hear they work all over the whole world, even."

"It's—" Conri broke off, his mouth working with irritation before he muttered, "It's six or seven in the evening there, isn't it. I got my time zones mixed up for a minute and was going to say it was five in the morning. He'd be asleep."

"He's a cat," Maggie said. "He could be asleep at literally any time. Go on, give him a call. If anybody knows, he will."

"Why?" Ashley asked. "Who is he?"

"A big, pretty, lazy lunk," Maggie replied with a grin. "But he knows everything there is to know about shifters, so if the ability to suppressbeinga shifter is a thing, he'll be the man to tell us."

"Fine," Conri said with a roll of his eyes. He already had his phone out, and turned it to show them the video call he was putting through. "We'll ask him your questions."

CHAPTER 18

The call went through faster than Conri Lyell expected, because a video image flashed on before he could turn the phone back to himself. Penny nearly laughed: Maggie was right. Well, she couldn't tell if this Joash person was lazy or big, but he wascertainlypretty, even through a six inch video screen. He had dark auburn hair and nearly golden eyes, and skin that looked like he'd been sun-bronzed by an expert. She said, "You reallyarepretty," with her outside voice, and couldn't even be mortified about it, although her partridge rolled its eyes up and collapsed in a dead faint. Ashley, at Penny's side, gave a staccato laugh.

"And you," the man on the phone said, "are a Sixty Pix. Penny, the drummer, am I correct? It's a pleasure and a delight to meet you."

"Holy shit. I can't—yes, but how did you know that?"

"Your band is taking the world by storm, my dear, and I do like to keep abreast of these things. But I must ask: have you kidnapped Conri Lyell and are using his phone to call me for ransom? I assure you I have no intention of paying it. I can give you his bank account numbers, though, and you can feel free to help yourself."

"How the hell do you have my bank account numbers?" Conri turned the phone back to face himself, and the man on the phone's rich laughter drifted out.

"There you are. Don't ask questions you don't want answers to, Conri. It's lovely to see you."

Conri mumbled something, then more clearly, said, "We have a question we do want an answer to, though. Penny's just discovered she's a shifter."

"At her tender age? Do turn the phone around again, Conri, I've seen your narrow face many times and suspect I'll have very few opportunities to rest my eyes on the visual feast of the young women you're visiting. Maggie, if you'd like to move over there with the other women, I would enjoy that very much."

Maggie laughed. "You see me plenty, Joash. This is Ashley Torben. She lives here in Renaissance."

"I assure you that as magnificent as the Renaissance was, no one in the modern world wishes to return to that misbegotten era. Ah, thank you, Conri." Joash, facing them again, winked, then studied Penny thoughtfully. "A new shifter? In your thirties? Unusual, but not entirely unheard of."

"Does it mean I'm part of a particular shifter line?" Penny asked eagerly. It would be a kind of an answer about some of her history, shifter or not, and she would like that.

"I'm afraid it's more typically a self-preservation technique. There are shifters with long lives, but they don't normally begin shifting late. They just live a long time. But if you've been raised by true humans and have no hint of your heritage, suppressing the shift can keep you safe. If you were raised by shifters?—"

Penny shook her head, and the red-haired man nodded sympathetically. "Almost certainly self-preservation, then. That, and extraordinary willpower. Shifting is a base instinct for us. Most of the shifters I know who were raised by true humans stillbegan to shift when they hit their teen years. You must be very stubborn."

"I guess I am." Penny sagged a little. "I guess I was also hoping I might get an answer that cleared up my entire life. Not that I had all that many questions about it before I turned out to be a magical non-human being."

Joash chuckled, a warm and inviting sound. "I'm afraid I can't provide the answers to life, the universe, and everything, but I do have some friends who could look into your background for you, if you wanted. People with considerable expertise in researching those of us with more unusual family lines, shall we say."

"Oh." Penny held her breath, then bit the inside of her lip. "Can I think about that a little bit?"

"Of course. Conri will provide you with my contact details. Feel free to reach out at any time, and if you're in Italy, do drop by for a visit. Bring the rest of your band. I'm sure we can arrange a little venue for you to play. The Colosseum, perhaps."

He hung up while Penny was still trying to collect her jaw. "TheColosseum?TheColosseum? He's not serious, is he?"

"Rarely," Maggie said dryly. "But he also probably means it. If I were you I'd write a song for your band that really wants a video shot at the Colosseum. Joash will make it happen."

"How?" Penny's voice rose. "Whoishe?"

"He's very rich, very charming, and very well-connected," Conri said in much the same tone Maggie had used. "I'm sorry he couldn't give you any more concrete answers, Penny, but it's not an entirely bad thing to be told you have epic willpower, is it?"

Penny ducked her head. "No, I guess not. And it's probably better to have been safe than sorry. I'm not sure my parents would have reacted all that well to watching me turn into a partridge over dinner."

The partridge, rousing from its faint, sent an image of flapping wildly over mashed potatoes. Penny sent a picture of herself eating a nice chicken and gravy dinner to go with the mashed potatoes.

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