Page 19 of Chasing Tail
Chapter 11
Callum and Forrest never left our side. They also seemed to bicker more than clownfishes. They didn’t disappear and return with some poor soul’s parts, but they seemed to be taking this seriously. Callum disappeared and came back to spread out all kinds of things on the table. Forrest tried to gently convince Taron to let him touch me and use magic without Taron getting creative with something in this house.
Callum didn’t seem the slightest bit worried that if Taron had his shark teeth, he’d probably take a bite out of Forrest. Instead, he seemed engrossed with what he was doing. I really wanted to watch over his shoulder, but I needed to keep an eye on Taron.
“I can do both of you at the same time,” Forrest said. “I’ll have to touch Kishi to do it.”
Taron wasn’t having it. He bared his teeth at Forrest. Did he think that was scary? His teeth weren’t sharp anymore, and he couldn’t even handle fish bones. Forrest drew away like Taron’s new teeth were even capable of doing the damage they used to.
“I’ll only touch her shoulder, and it won’t hurt at all. You both might feel a little tickle.”
Whatever Callum was doing was starting to smell funny and had this blue mist floating above it. He barely even looked up.
“They might be bonded like shifters. The wolves will pick a fight if they suspect you are even thinking about it. If Beck weren’t a prince, he would have gotten his ass beat by now. So why do you keep pressing it if Taron clearly doesn’t like it?”
“Because I don’t know any other way of helping them. Kishi, can you convince him to let me try?”
I snorted and rolled my eyes so hard, they nearly popped out. I’d been trying to do that this entire time. I didn’t think Callum was paying attention to us, but I heard him laugh.
“You aren’t going to win this battle, Forrest. It sounds like she’s already tried, and he likes her way better than he likes you. He’s already tried to stab you once. It’s probably a shifter thing. They are probably just a type we don’t have here.”
I had a feeling Taron was enjoying many things about this new body, but he’d always been very proud to be a shark. He justhadto let out a slight growl at the suggestion we were shifters and nearly blow our covers.
“He doesn’t like that either. You’ve always bragged about being better than everyone else with potions. So if I can’t find the right magic through touch, we’ll have to use a potion. And soon, because so far, the only thing I think Taron does like is food, and I really don’t want to get stabbed figuring him out.”
I brushed Forrest’s arm where Taron couldn’t see to get his attention. I shook my head for him just to drop it and start on Taron because there was the definite possibility of Taron losing it again. But, instead, Forrest gave me this look like he really didn’t want to give up on this.
He really wanted to solve the mystery that was us. But, unfortunately, Taron was being a little insufferable, and Forrest was totally overlooking that. I’d already had this conversation with Taron several times, but I was the only one of us who could actually speak, so one of them would eventually need to touch me.
This time, I knew part of the show was because Taron didn’t want this strange magic touching me. He wanted to take it on himself, so he could figure out if he could trust them. He seemed to be forgetting I needed to feel their magic, too, because killing the druid king would take both of us. We both needed to learn what their magic felt like.
Talking sense into him when he was like this was pointless, so I decided to compromise. There were two types of druid magic at work here, and we needed to know both of them if we hoped to survive this. So let Taron deal with Forrest, and I’d sample whatever Callum was working on.
Forrest kept laying his hands all over Taron and asking if he felt any different or could speak now. Taron just sat there grunting and scowling.
“Taron, play nice. He’s going to give up if he thinks it’s not working.”
“He won’t. He’s kind of tenacious like a horseshoe crab.”
“You can still be nice about it while he tries. Forrest is trying to help, and he’s being respectful of your stupid rules of not touching me.”
“Fine. I’ll be pleasant to your pet druids, but his magic feels funny. Sometimes, it makes me cold. Other times, it’s hot. Sometimes, it feels like swimming through a bed of really slimy kelp, and I don’t like it.”
“You don’t like anything here but the food.”
“I enjoyed sleeping next to you in that nice bed. Ew. It feels like swimming through a bed of really slimy seaweed now.”
“You need to be focusing on other things. How can we fight this kind of magic?”
“Easy. By removing his hand and breaking his fingers. He can’t do this unless he’s touching me.”
“They aren’t shifters like we know,” Forrest said. “I scanned Taron for magic. It’s strange. I don’t know what he is, but his magic feels wet and tastes salty.”
Taron growled and removed Forrest’s hand from his arm. Forrest grunted because Taron wasn’t letting go and was bending his fingers back. For once, I wasn’t mad at Taron, even if I really didn’t want him breaking Forrest’s hand. We needed to know what kind of magic druids were capable of, but I didn’t want them figuring our secret just yet.
Forrest managed to get his hand away from Taron and didn’t look like he intended to try again. But, of course, I wouldn’t either, with Taron being so territorial over me.
“We’ll have to try potions,” Forrest said. “I’ve tried every healing spell I know when someone has been hit with magic. I tried a basic curse removal, but without knowing what’s been done to them, it’s too dangerous to go any deeper with that kind of magic.”
