Page 63 of Bizarre Bonds
“This stuff will damage your cars,” he says, without even sounding all that concerned, but the news spurs the humans into action. They throw their vehicles into reverse and zoom away.
The edge of the still-expanding pool spasms, and a separate body pops out—a creature about the size of a pigeon, though it has four wings instead of two and four scaly legs to coordinate. As its head jerks around, a waft of fear hits me.
I scoot closer. “Hey, there. Everything’s all right.”
I mean, other than the fact that it’s at the edge of a strange shadowy spew, it might morph into an even more awkward shape at any moment, and if it changes shape enough, it could completely disintegrate. But I’d like my words to be true.
And nothing about this situation will get better if the creature freaks out.
Raze makes a rough sound. “There are more.”
With a couple of pops like bubbles in simmering sauce, a second creature and then a third spill out of the deluge.
The new ones aren’t much bigger than the first, none of them higher beings, but my nerves jitter all the same. “We’ve never seen more than one come out at once, have we?”
Mirage shakes his head. “The more the merrier?” he says, but he can’t quite make the question sound hopeful.
As we circle the three creatures, which all look more dazed than anything else, Zian comes jogging over. “The metals aren’t having any effect on the stuff from the rift, but the flow seems to be slowing down. Oh, hell, what are those?”
“New shadowkind creatures that tumbled out with the flood.” I crouch down so I’m closer to their level. The stream of sensations I’m picking up from each twitches and quivers, and I tense up. “I think they’re going to morph already. I’ll try to keep them calm.”
“Peri,” Raze says in a worried tone. He positions himself at my flank, ready to leap in should he need to.
Zian takes in the scene and then rushes off. “Maybe the chains will help with them.”
I focus on the three beings, summoning all the peace and happiness I can inside me. The way I felt when Jonah admitted he wants to be with me. The comfort of Raze watching over me. The delight of Mirage’s jokes, keeping our spirits up even when it’s hard. Hail’s cool nonchalance that nonetheless ensured the humans got out of harm’s way.
Like I did before, I push the sense of contentment out of me toward the creatures.
I’ve never attempted this with more than one being at the same time. I’ve barely experimented with what I’m capable of at all.
But if we can’t settle them down… I don’t know what we’ll have to do to them.
Sparks of anger and flares of frustration hit me with a caustic tang. I keep aiming my calming emotions at them, not shoving too hard, simply sending out a steady glow of warmth.
The creatures stumble and spasm—and two of them collide into each other.
One second, there’s the quadruple-winged pigeon and a being with scruffy fur and three oversized paws like a lopsided bunny. The next, there’s just one beast—wings protruding on one side, fat paws groping at the asphalt on the other, two heads merged at the cheeks, mouths opening in a joint squawk-squeal.
I jerk backward in surprise. As the merged creature squirms, it morphs further: one paw lengthening, one wing taking on a ridge of spines.
But it can’t seem to propel itself in any direction with its mishmashed limbs. And…
Pain washes through me with a sharp edge of panic that turns the mixture as bitter as raw mustard. I flinch.
“It hurts. Something about the way the bodies combined—it isn’t right. So much of them is in pain.”
Mirage shifts his weight from one foot to the other. “Can we pull them apart?”
“I don’t think so. They look—and feel—like they’re totally fused. I don’t know how that happened.” My own horror merges with the anguish still streaming into me.
It doesn’t matter if Zian brings metals to restrain the combined creatures. They’ll still be in agony.
My own distress must be reverberating into my men. Raze eases past me. With a blink, he erases the contacts that coverhis stark black eyes. “I’ll put it—them—out of their misery. They shouldn’t have to live like that.”
Hail grunts. I half expect him to argue, but instead he strides in front of Raze, holding out his arm. “I can do it. A sudden freeze will be totally painless.”
The basilisk shifter stares at the winter fae, but he backs up to give Hail room.
