Violet squeezed her eyes shut and rubbed her temples.
“I know it’s a lot to take in,” said Dawn. “Gus and I are here for you. And we are doing our best to find more answers.”
“Do the mothers know? I mean, are they aware that it’s possible for them to acquire shape-shifting abilities?”
“No,” said Dawn. “In fact, we think it’s best this information stays between us. If this leaked to the wrong people, who knows how dire the consequences might be.”
Violet and Gus nodded in agreement. Then, after an outpouring of thanks for their help, Violet left the room. Much to her displeasure, Thane was still waiting for her in the hallway.
“You shouldn’t have drunk that stuff,” he said.
Violet rolled her eyes. “I feel fine. Besides, the last thing Gus would do is poison me.”
“Maybe not intentionally. Don’t get me wrong, he and his mother know what they’re doing when it comes to the Erathi, but they’re not all knowing when it comes to shifters.”
“Oh, yeah? And I suppose you’re the ‘all knowing’ one, huh? Considering you’re a Veniri. Right?”
Thane blanched. “How did you . . . Did Nathan tell you? Or was it Sagan?”
“No one told me.”
He regarded her with a creased brow. “Then how?”
Without answering, Violet began walking toward the exit. As if she was going to mention that her baby shifting was the tip-off. No way was she ready to tell him about Solace.
Just when she began to think he’d leave her alone, she heard Thane’s footsteps behind her, and he appeared in her periphery.
“Whatever Nathan or Sagan or anyone else told you, I can explain.”
“Just forget it. I’m not in the mood for a backstory chat. Oh, and another thing. Just because it turns out you’re a Veniri doesn’t mean you get to start making decisions for me.”
Thane scoffed. “Of course not. All I’m trying to say is, you’re a shifter now. Not only that—you’re a hybrid shifter. Do you have any idea what that means? From what I know, a hybrid is unheard of. Shifters don’t survive a bite from another race. Don’t you see? You’re special. When the news starts to spread, others will come from far and wide to try to hunt you down and take what you have. You need to be careful. That elixir Gus gave you might be a painkiller for your Veniri side, but who knows? It might make your Magneii side vulnerable.”
It was Violet’s turn to scoff. “And you know all about what makes me vulnerable, don’t you?”
Thane crinkled his nose and raked a hand through his beach-blond hair. Violet half expected him to bark an insult at her and storm away. But he didn’t. He kept walking beside her in silence, matching her brisk pace.
She shot a sidelong glance at him. He was hunched forward, his hands deep in the pockets of his jeans. A small part of her wanted to apologize for her prickly attitude, but then she reminded herself she should be glad he was feeling just as miserable as she was. Her head swam with all the raging insults she wanted to hurl at the man who had lied to her and watched her best friend die.
Violet froze. Speaking of hurling . . .
Her hand flew to her mouth. In a flurry, she spun and sprinted back down the hall toward the ladies’ bathroom. Judging by the thumping footfalls that followed her, Thane was right on her tail.
She shoved the bathroom door open, ducked into a stall, and expelled Gus’s revolting medicine from her stomach. The taste was even more wretched on the way back up.
“Don’t say it,” said Violet when she’d stopped gagging.
“I wasn’t going to.” Despite the rank smell Violet was creating, Thane was holding her hair out of the way and handing her paper towels when she needed them.
After rinsing her mouth out and splashing water on her face, Violet gripped the sides of the sink. Her head drooped to her chest.
“How are you feeling now?” Thane asked.
She winced. Why is he still here?
“Your stomach might feel better, but how does the rest of you feel?”
When she thought about it, she was pain free. Gus’s painkiller had worked. “I’m fine. There’s no pain.” She lifted her head to tell Thane where he could shove his doubts about Gus’s medicine, but instantly, she was overcome with a dizzy spell.
Thane caught her before she could crack her head on the sink. “Violet?”
“I’m fine. I just . . . whoa.” The room began to spin. “I feel like I drank way too many tequila shots.”
The next thing Violet knew, she was back in Thane’s arms. The dizziness lasted as long as it took him to carry her all the way to her bedroom.
When he gently laid her down on her bed, he asked, “Feeling any better?”
Violet stared at the ceiling, trying to maintain her nonchalance in the face of Thane’s close proximity. “Yeah. This room isn’t spinning. Maybe the bathroom is broken.”
Thane chuckled, catching her off guard. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen him smile, let alone laugh. That’s because you haven’t seen him in almost a year, and you’ve been avoiding him like the plague, she told herself.
His chuckles died down, and for a second, they just looked at each other. For the first time, Violet noticed the golden flecks that used to be in Thane’s irises were absent, leaving them a drab brown.
“I think I just need to sleep it off,” she said, trying to ignore the feelings stirring in her core.
Thankfully, Thane took the hint and stood up. “In that case, I’ll leave you to it, Ronda Rousey.”
Violet frowned. “Who and what now?”
“She’s a famous Erathi fighter.”
Violet blinked.
“Never mind,” Thane said with a smile. “See you in the morning.”
Violet stared at the door long after he’d left, contemplating: Did he forget to turn the light off, or did he remember I prefer to sleep with it on?
18
Swarovski Crystal Statue
After Nika stormed off, Nathan and Sagan sat in contemplative silence on the edge of the pavilion platform, looking up at the night sky.
“I’m sorry I didn’t end up helping you with your mission,” Nathan finally said. “I got a little caught up.”
Sagan frowned. “What mission?”
“The Veniri queen’s assassination.”
“Oh, right. That one.” Sagan hissed out a long sigh. “That feels like ancient history now. At the time it felt like it was my ultimate goal in life. But now . . .”
“Yeah, I know what you mean. I felt the same way. It took me a while to drop the obsession of plotting to kill Idalia.”
“I haven’t decided not to kill her. My sister will get her justice. And you’re definitely still going to help me.”
Nathan huffed a laugh. “Fine.”
“But first we help Violet and Solace.”
“Of course. Violet and Solace first.”
“How long has your skin been like that?” Sagan asked, catching Nathan off guard.
His insides turned to granite. “Like what?”
Sagan fixed him with a don’t-bother-lying-to-me look. “When you were about to attack Nika, I saw your chest was crystallized. Last time I checked, you had scales.”
“Last time?” Nathan quirked his head to the side. “Do you mean the time your sociopathic father made you stab me in the chest, just for funsies?”
A mix of emotions swiftly crossed Sagan’s face, and Nathan mentally rebuked himself for prodding at what was clearly still a sore point for both of them.
“So, what’s going on?” Sagan asked again. “Since when do sliths grow Diamantium skin?”
“They don’t.” Nathan shrugged. “I, uh . . .” There was no point trying to make something up; Sagan was way too in tune with his BS radar. “I don’t know what’s going on. And from what I can tell, I don’t think it’s Diamantium. It’s . . . different.”
Sagan’s eyebrows shot up. “How do you mean?”
Nathan til
ted his gaze to the stars, searching for the right words. “Well, Diamantium is rigid. The other stuff is somewhat flexible.”
“Show me.”
“Now?” Nathan glanced around.
Sagan rolled his eyes, as if Nathan were a toddler throwing a tantrum. “Show me.”
Nathan reached for the top button of his shirt, then hesitated. “You know this is weird, right? You’re basically asking me to undress—”
“Just do it,” Sagan snapped.
“Okay, okay.”
When Sagan dragged Nathan into the infirmary, they interrupted Dawn and Gus busily clearing away a mound of bloodied swabs. Nathan’s chest constricted when he recognized the teal-and-magenta combination. So much blood . . .
“How’s Violet?” he asked.
“Aside from looking like Frankenstein’s bride, you mean?” Gus’s expression was hard.
Nathan’s shoulders hunched. There was no excuse—no worthy explanation. Once again, he’d failed to protect Violet.
Dawn laid a hand on his shoulder. “If it helps, none of her injuries were permanent, and with a little rest, I’m sure she’ll be back to one hundred percent in no time. And even though you might be blaming yourself for what happened, just know that Violet wasn’t blaming anyone.”
Nathan crossed his arms. “You’re letting me off the hook way too easy, Dawn. But thanks.”
Dawn gave him a kind smile, then glanced between Nathan and Sagan. “I have a feeling that’s not the only reason you’re here.”
Sagan closed the door and flicked the lock before turning to Nathan. “Show them what you showed me.”
“Wait!” Gus held up both hands. “If this has anything to do with butts or junk, I’m outta here. I’m definitely not qualified for any of that.”
“August Farrow!” Dawn rounded on him with a stern look of disapproval.
“Relax.” Sagan leaned back against the door. “Do you think I would be here if it was anything like that?”
Nathan raised a hand. “Uh, I also wouldn’t be here if it was anything like that.”
“Good point,” said Gus.
Dawn tutted, cutting the conversation off before it became any more awkward. “What do you need to show us, Nathan?”
A hush fell over the room as Nathan stripped off his shirt.
“Whoa!” Gus’s jaw dropped. “What is that? Is that a Veniri thing?”
“No . . .” Dawn’s forehead crinkled in a thoughtful frown as she moved closer. The patch now covered Nathan’s entire shoulder, along with the area beneath his collarbone, and was heading toward his sternum.
“Have you seen anything like this before?” Nathan asked.
“Never. Do you mind if I . . . ?” She gestured to the crystal flesh.
Nathan shrugged. “Sure, go ahead.”
Dawn pressed the crystal patch with one fingertip, and it dimpled like skin under the gentle pressure. Nathan had to hold back his shock at the sensation; he could swear he felt every tiny ridge in the texture of her skin.
Gus moved to stand next to his mother. “What is it?”
Dawn shook her head. “I can’t begin to imagine. What happens when you haze? Does it still affect your scales?”
Nathan hazed from the waist up. There was no point in ruining another pair of pants if he didn’t have to.
“Hmm . . .” Dawn studied the still-crystallized flesh interwoven with his scales, then examined the area on his calf. Nathan tried to suppress his horror that the crystallized surface on his leg had started to wrap around his ankle and head up toward his knee.
By the time Nathan finished explaining the details of how and when he first noticed the patches, the group had already begun to speculate about possible causes and hypothetical cures, with Gus furiously scribbling notes on a clipboard.
Had Nathan’s stress and anxiety in Tempecrest brought about some kind of physical manifestation?
Was there a genetic anomaly in Nathan’s DNA that had recently been triggered?
Had Nathan picked up a rare disease in Tempecrest?
Was this some kind of Veniri autoimmune disease?
Was Nathan being possessed by a Veniri demon?—that was Gus’s question.
Was Nathan progressing to the next stage of the Veniri’s evolutionary process?—that was also a Gus question.
“Actually,” said Nathan, suddenly struck by a memory, “now that I think about it, there was something unusual that happened right after”—he shot a pointed look at Sagan—“Aphrodite.”
At the mention of the hunters’ light cannon, Sagan’s eyes widened.
“You said that no one had survived long enough to know the full effects of Aphrodite,” said Nathan.
“No.” Sagan’s features hardened.
Gus’s head swiveled between them. “Care to elaborate?”
“The Aphrodite is a tool the hunters use in harvesting Diamantium,” Sagan replied. “It’s a light cannon that sends out a condensed, artificial beam of Venusian light that forces the Veniri to haze and expose their shards. The Aphrodite also ensures the Veniri doesn’t shift back into human form even when they . . .” He winced. “. . . even after they die.”
Gus’s pen hovered over the clipboard as his mouth formed an “oh.”
“And this Aphrodite was used on Nathan?” Dawn asked.
“Yes,” confirmed Nathan and Sagan at the same time.
“And you think things started to change after that?”
Nathan nodded. “Yes.”
“What kind of changes do you recall?”
Gus proceeded to scribble as Nathan answered. “The first thing was that I couldn’t haze out of Veniri form. That was when Sagan helped me to escape the hunter’s bunker. After that, I discovered I can jump higher, run faster, and punch harder. And then there’s my elbow blades.” He held up one of his arms and released the Diamantium blade from his elbow. The crystal shard ran parallel to his forearm, the tip just shy of his wrist.
Gus’s eyes bugged. “Whoa. Cool.”
“I used to get an agonizing pain right before my blades sliced out from my elbows. But now I feel nothing.”
“That doesn’t sound too bad to me,” said Gus.
“Believe me, it’s bad,” said Nathan. “The blades are a defense mechanism. If I’m in danger or a heightened emotional state, they can automatically release. The pain used to warn me, and I could pull myself under control before the blades appeared. Now it’s next to impossible for me to contain them.”
Dawn gazed into space, her index finger tapping her lips.
“What’re you thinking, Mom?” Gus asked.
“Hmm, I’m not sure yet. The only way to confirm anything is with more observation and testing.”
Without any further delay, Gus and Dawn checked and recorded Nathan’s vitals, took photos and measurements of the crystallized patches, and drew blood samples. Nathan gritted his teeth when Dawn cut out a small section of the crystallized skin with a Diamantium-edged scalpel. She also collected a small section of his scales to compare under the microscope later.
The last thing they did was draw up a schedule for Nathan to come see them every day.
Not even twenty-four hours later, however, Dawn and Gus had some disturbing news.
“Now, just to clarify,” began Dawn, “this is just what we’ve discovered since we saw you last night. Further tests need to be performed before we can confirm anything.”
Nathan nodded, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in his gut. “Just give it to me straight, Dawn.”
She gave him a tight-lipped smile as Gus opened a little box and pulled out two glass microscope slides.
“As you’ll see, the sample on the left is your scaled flesh, and the other is the crystallized flesh.” Gus held up what looked like a little flashlight. “I borrowed this from Sagan. It’s a smaller and much less powerful version of what you guys called the Aphrodite. Take a look at the scales.”
As Dawn switched off the lights, Gus slipped the slide into
the microscope and gestured for Nathan to look into the eyepiece.
The image Nathan saw looked like a lumpy mound of playdough randomly hatch-marked by deep crevices.
“What you’re seeing is actually your flesh, or rather your un-hazed skin,” explained Gus.
Nathan frowned into the eyepiece. “I thought you said they were scales?”
“I did. As you would probably expect, when your body isn’t reacting to Venusian energy, it reverts back to its human state, right?”
“Right,” said Nathan.
“Now, watch this.”
A teal light appeared at the edge of the image. Where the light washed over the skin, the lumpy mass rippled with an inner glow, then began to warp until the hatch pattern morphed into hundreds of glowing circular cells. But when Gus pulled the flashlight away, the glowing cells reverted back to their original state.
“You’ve just witnessed what your flesh looks like at a microscopic level when it hazes,” explained Gus.
Nathan whistled. “I’ve never seen it from that perspective before. It looks pretty awesome.”
“Wait till you see this.” Gus pulled out the slide and replaced it with the second one. “This is a sample we took from the edge of the crystallized patch. You’ll already notice some differences.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” said Nathan, looking into the eyepiece. This image had the same lumpy playdough-like texture, but tiny flecks of iridescence glittered across the surface.
“Now, this sample hasn’t been exposed to Sagan’s flashlight yet,” said Gus. “Watch what happens.”
Again, the teal beam of light shot over the skin sample; again, the lumpy mass began to glow, undulate, and transform into hundreds of shimmering circular cells. But this time the cells began to stretch and split into thousands of tiny shards, with tiny rainbow flecks reflecting off each splinter. When the light disappeared, the splinters shifted back into the lumpy mass, but the glittery particles seemed a little bigger than before.
“What just happened?” Nathan asked.
“We’re not sure yet.” Gus exchanged a look with Dawn. “But we have a theory based on these next slides.”
Flames of Mars (Celestial Shifters Book 2) Page 18
