Page 45 of Bizarre Bonds
“Or maybe she went back into the rift and will stay there,” Raze mutters without much hope in his tone.
Peri pipes up, her voice as bright as ever even though her expression looks serious. “Now that it’s sucked everything back in, the rift feels the same as it did before—unnerving but not more than usual.”
I nod, remembering the chaotic vibrations the portal gave off right before we left it. “All wibbly-wobbly but not spewy-stewy.”
Whatwasthe mess that flooded the streets around the rift for a short time? Nothing about it felt like the shadow realm I’ve dipped back into now and then, where it theoretically came from.
I like surprises and curiosities, but not the kind that try to drown people and crumble buildings.
Rollick sighs. “The shadowbloods will keep monitoring the situation, and Sorsha should be on the scene soon. She’s just wrapping up another matter she was called away to.”
Peri hesitates. “Are you taking us off duty? We did our best.”
The worried note in her voice tugs at my heart. My teeth itch to sprout into a full set of foxy fangs, as if there’s anything here I can defend her from.
Rollick is already waving off her concern. “No, no. You handled the situation as well as could be expected. The way you read that being’s emotions to figure out her weakness was a particularly impressive move. Your talent should also come in handy for quelling continuing fears among the humans who witnessed the strange events and can’t quite ignore them.”
I cock my head. “Shouldthey ignore them? If that being comes back, she might bash them up as much as their cars and windows.”
Rollick’s mouth twists. “I know it’s in your nature to want to ‘play’ with humans, but they’re the biggest threat to our existence in this world. Every type of shadowkind they’ve encountered, they’ve turned into a new monster to build a mythology around. If more of them realized those ‘monsters’ and dozens more kinds are real…”
“How can you be sure it’d be so bad when we haven’t had a chance to find out?” Peri asks.
The demon arches his eyebrows. “Just in the past few decades, we’ve had to contend with an organization that experimented on shadowkind with the intent of wiping us out, another that created the shadowbloods and then tried to use them to expose and destroy us, cabals of sorcerers slaughtering beings to enhance their powers and enslaving masses of others… Even if some are accepting, it doesn’t take many mortals to create a potential disaster.”
His words have set off a prickling chill that claws into my chest. Experiments on shadowkind—does he mean the same ones who caged me?
I don’t ask. I don’t want to stir up the memories even more.
No one knows except Peri, whose gaze I refuse to meet.
Rollick pauses and then shakes his head with an air of bemusement. “When humans and shadowkind collide, it almost always ends in catastrophe, going back as far as the devastation of the wingéd wars. But there’s been even more disruption between our realms than usual recently. So much they’ll be ready to blame us for, so many people on the verge of realizing. I’d hate to see what happens if we tip the balance too far to swing it back.”
Peri’s bright blue eyes have widened. “Shouldn’t we all be in the city doing damage control, then?”
The demon offers her a wry smile. “Some of your companions’ temperaments aren’t ideally suited for comforting rather than clashing. And I have something else I thought we should apply your talent to that might prove even more urgent.”
All of Rollick’s words have been ominous as rumbling thunder, but that last remark hooks me with a tug of curiosity. “What’s that? Did the other new rift do something extra strange?”
From the sounds of things, this surprise wasn’t a good one either.
Rollick chuckles, but without the humor the sound deserves. “That rift looks the same as all the others to me. I’m not taking you that far. I got a report from my assistants who are studying the warped beings at my estate. There’s been an… unusual development there. I suppose it could bode well for our current problems, but I find it unsettling all the same.”
Jonah frowns. “What kind of development?”
“It’ll be easier for you to see for yourselves.” Rollick’s gaze returns to Peri. “But I’ll be especially interested in hearing what feelings you pick up from the creatures now.”
And the rest of us are crammed into this narrow hunk of flying metal because getting too far apart from her would tear all five of us apart—worse than if we were tossed through the turbines.
I suppress the urge to squirm.
There’s no one around but my fellow shadowkind. I should be able to switch into fox form—why should any of them care?
Except that Rollick is the head of the school that’s taught us to hold human form whenever possible.
I don’t want him changing his mind about my ability to control my impulses and send me back to even the dreary, not-horribly-surprising part of the shadow realm.
Is that what would happen anyway if the humans took up a mass hunt? A deeper shudder runs through me. Let’s get back to the city quick and prove how very okay everything is—even if it isn’t.
