Page 22 of Bizarre Bonds
Rollick motions to them. “Lesser shadowkind are simpler to contain. I don’t turn on the lights inside once they’re caught, so they can stay more comfortable in the darkness. There’s only enough silver and iron embedded to ensure they don’t go slipping out.” He grimaces. “I know it isn’t ideal, but I have tried to give them as much room as possible. It’s difficult to cater to them properly when they keep changing.”
Peri steps closer to the wall of cages, her gaze fixed on their doors. “How do you know they keep changing when you can’t even see them?”
“I have devices monitoring the inside of the cages that keep track of certain types of energy and the physical space they take up if they materialize. They’re all pretty erratic, similar to the readings we’ve gotten from the rifts, but they adjust their composition on somewhat regular schedules. Some change once or twice an hour, others no more than once a day, most somewhere in between. That variation matches what I’ve been able to decipher from that sorcerer’s notes.”
The demon walks up to one of the cages. “I’m going to let out one of the fastest-morphing ones now, after Jonah compels it tostay in the room. Peri, I’d like you to monitor its internal state, especially when and after it’s adjusted its outer appearance. The rest of you can keep watch for anything you happen to observe in your own ways.”
As he presses a couple of buttons on the outside of one of the higher cages, Hail leans against the wall and folds his arms over his chest. His expression looks stony as a statue, but he doesn’t grumble anymore.
When Rollick opens the cage, Jonah speaks a few of those magical sounds that wobble through my nerves, louder and more emphatic than usual to get the sorcery to stick.
A creature currently the size and shape of a hamster—but covered in slick slimy skin that reminds me of a newt—hops out onto the ground. It trundles one way and then another on its stubby legs, its pin-like claws tapping against the tiles.
We all watch as the newt-ster keeps scurrying around without any clear sense of direction. Peri’s gaze stays trained on it. “Right now, it feels curious and a little nervous. It’s confused about where it is and how it got here.”
“Understandable,” Hail mutters.
It only takes a few minutes before the creature’s small body shudders and expands. It balloons to several times its previous size, puffing out like a blowfish but sprouting feathers rather than scales.
Only its legs stay the same size, leaving it to sway and rock across the floor rather than really walking, as if the hamster has become the exercise ball rather than just running inside it.
It whirls around and snaps its teeth at me. I jerk back, not sure what I did to offend it.
“As soon as it transformed, it had a surge of unhappier emotions,” Peri says. “I think that’s happened a lot of the times we’ve seen them morph.”
Jonah makes a face. “It can’t be fun constantly adjusting to a different form.”
There’s an odd urgency to the creature’s movements around the room now, though. It might have snapped, but I have the unexplainable impression that it simply wanted to latch on to something.
Maybe I can distractitfrom its discomforts. Even a hamster-ballfish should get to have some fun.
I release my ears and all five of my tails and crouch down close to the creature’s level. With a squeaky gurgle, it sways toward me.
Yes, it wants to join me. We can make that a joyful collision rather than a toothy one.
As it scuttles forward, I hop to the side with a swirl of my tails. When it changes direction, I make another leap. “Let’s play, little guy! Seize the day, not my nose.”
The creature lets out a snuffly-sounding snort and shoves itself toward me. Peri’s voice comes out in a yelp. “Mirage, watch out!”
It’s easy enough to dodge the little thing. It careens into the space I just left with a furious chittering.
My head droops. My invitation appears to have been soundly rejected. “I guess it’s not feeling very playful.”
Peri shoots me one of her sweet smiles. “It’s just kind of jumbled up inside. I don’t think it’s in the right mood.”
Her attention darts back to the creature. “Its temper is starting to simmer down, though. Just a little bit.”
Can I say that’s any thanks to me? I might have been keeping it stirred up rather than simmered down. That’s what I always seem to do.
I wanted to be here with Peri so I can help, but what help can I really offer? I’m not good at anythingotherthan being ridiculous.
The knowledge niggles at me through two more of the creature’s shifts. Each time, it snarls and snaps right after the change and then gradually calms, no matter what we try.
A few minutes after the third change, Peri’s face has gone unusually solemn. The stream of emotion coursing into me from her feels even more unsettled than before.
Neither of the other men she’s marked seem willing to ask the important question, so I will. “What’s wrong, Rainbow?”
She shakes herself, but the impression of gloom doesn’t lift. She turns to Rollick rather than to me.
