Dead and Breakfast

by Lily Webb

  “It is! It’s her!” Kiki shouted and raced toward the makeshift bed. Recognition dawned on Feal’s face, and though she seemed skeptical at first, when Kiki promised her it was really her and not the metamorph, the brownie jumped into her arms and threw her own gangly, tiny pair as far around Kiki’s neck as they could reach.

  As relieved as I was to have found Feal, I didn’t see Emile anywhere. Still hugging Kiki tightly, Feal locked eyes with me as if she’d read my mind and pointed to a dark corner to my right. Instinctively, I ran toward it and nearly tripped over Emile’s unconscious body where it lay hidden in shadow.

  “Emile!” I shouted as I dropped to my knees beside him and patted his face to wake him, but he didn’t stir.

  “He hasn’t moved since the metamorph brought him,” Feal croaked, and I hoped that didn’t mean Emile had suffered severe damage. As far as I knew, vampires had superhuman healing powers too, so why was he still down for the count like this?

  “Oh, thank Lilith we found you both,” Kiki said as she sat Feal back down on the straw bed. “We were so worried we wouldn’t.”

  “Come on, we have to get you both out of here,” I said. “Kiki, help me with Emile.” She nodded, and with Feal dangling from her shoulders, dashed toward me. “You take his feet; I’ll get his shoulders.”

  “Wouldn’t it be easier to use magic?” Kiki asked.

  “You can’t here,” Feal said. “I’ve tried. Something about this room blocks it.”

  “All right, then. On the count of three,” Kiki said and counted down. With the help of Lox and Keez floating beneath him, we hoisted Emile off the ground just enough to carry him out of room 666 but had to stop halfway across the space between us and the closet that’d teleported us here.

  The sound of the closet door clicking open startled all of us. “Leaving so soon?” Emile’s voice cooed as a perfect copy of the vampire stepped out of the door.

  “Let us go. We don’t want to hurt you, but we will if we have to,” Kiki said as she stood straight and readied her wand. Terrified, I kept close to her, Feal, and the imps, who cowered behind Kiki’s legs.

  Undeterred, the metamorph zipped across the room and Kiki yelped. I watched in horror as her wand went sailing across the room, and then I was falling — literally — through the floor and into an endless sea of silent darkness. Moments later, Kiki, Feal, Emile, the imps, and I clattered in a heap together on the floor of another of the inn’s rooms, though I wasn’t sure which.

  “Lox! Keez! You saved us!” I shouted in disbelief as I sat up and realized what’d happened. We’d exited room 666 before the metamorph caught up to us, which meant the magical block couldn’t stop the imps’ portal-opening abilities.

  “Human girl save Feal. Imps help human girl. That was deal,” Keez said with a wide smile that normally would’ve given me chills. If I hadn’t worried her sharp claws might accidentally rip me to shreds, I would’ve hugged her.

  “That won’t stop the metamorph. Now that we know all their secrets, they’ll want to find us. We have to get out of here, fast. With Emile in his current state and without my wand, we’re sitting ducks,” Kiki said as she stood and lifted Emile’s feet off the ground again — but a rumbling in the room’s closet gave us all pause. “Oh no, that must be them!” she shouted. “Hurry, Selena, help me!”

  Instead, I darted around her into the bathroom. “Selena! What are you doing?” Kiki called after me, but I ignored her because I knew there was only one way to end this goose chase for good. In the bathroom, I snatched a towel off the rack by the shower, wrapped it tightly around my fist, and smashed it into the mirror as hard as I could, shattering it.

  A scream echoed through the room, and I knew I was almost out of time, so, using the towel to protect my hand from the jagged edges, I clutched the largest shard of the mirror I could handle and dashed out of the bathroom. The metamorph, still in Emile’s form, had Kiki pinned to the ground by her arms, and though the imps and Feal were slapping and pulling at every part of the metamorph they could, it made no difference.

  I ran toward the tangle of limbs and screamed at the top of my lungs to get the metamorph’s attention. They glanced over their shoulder, right at their own reflection, and a soul-tearing howl ripped out of them. While gripping their face, the metamorph rolled off Kiki to the floor and a blinding light filled the room. I shielded my face, and when the flash passed, I found a chromatic, faceless humanoid lying sizzling and curled up in the fetal position.

  A moment later, a series of popping noises echoed, and Blair, Jadis, and Delia appeared in the room; the metamorph’s howl must’ve clued them in to where we were. Blair glanced from me to the metamorph and back again, then beamed as she charged forward with her wand still cautiously pointed at the unmoving copycat.

  “Did you do this?” she asked me breathlessly. I nodded, unable to find words, and Blair pulled me into the tightest, one-armed hug I’d ever felt. She planted a kiss on the top of my head. “You’re amazing.”

  “Smart thinking,” Delia agreed with a smile. “But let’s not let them get away again. Irretio,” she said, and a series of blue-white hoops of light shot from the tip of her drawn wand to wrap around the body of the metamorph. “That should keep them from changing into anything else. We’ve got a lot of questions to ask them when they eventually come to.”

  “Are you all okay?” Blair asked.

  “Just peachy,” Kiki said as she pushed herself up into a sitting position with wild, frizzy hair, and we all erupted into laughter. What else could we do? The whole situation was so crazy.

  Jadis dashed toward me to give me the tightest, hardest squeeze she could muster. “I’m so glad you’re okay. Never run off on me like that again.”

  I wiggled out of her grip to look her in the eye. “Weren’t you the one encouraging me to take a leap of faith the other day?”

  “Yeah, to come here, not to go chasing after an unpredictable shapeshifter! This is a bed-and-breakfast, not a dead-and-breakfast!”

  “And thank Lilith it isn’t,” Blair said. “Now come on, let’s get this sorted, once and for all.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Though I knew they couldn’t hurt me now, seeing my rounded, warped reflection in the faceless head of the metamorph still made me uneasy. Without eyes or a mouth of their own to give them an expression, I had no idea what they were feeling, thinking, or planning, or if they were even conscious.

  After Kiki and I filled Blair, Jadis, and Delia in on everything that’d happened, Blair, the consummate hostess, sprung into action to tend to a newly conscious Emile in his chamber, transfer the bound shapeshifter to an upright position in a chair at the dining table, and call Aron down to join the rest of us in the dining room for an emergency meeting.

  “What should we do with the metamorph?” I asked, watching Lox and Keez flit around me in the shapeshifter’s reflective skin while we waited for Aron to come downstairs.

  “Well, I suppose that depends,” Blair said. “I still don’t think they meant to hurt anyone, so I doubt they’re dangerous. But if they really are the last of their kind, then I don’t think we can let them leave, either.”

  “What? Why not?” Jadis asked, horrified. “We can’t keep them here! They already tried to make all of us disappear, remember?”

  “Yes, but only to protect themselves,” Blair countered. “And really, who could blame them? If you were one of the last members of your species left on this earth, wouldn’t you do everything within your power to keep yourself alive too?”

  Though I struggled to admit it, Blair had a good point. It seemed exceedingly cruel, given the metamorph’s situation, to send them back out into the hostile world that’d forced them to Kindred Spirits in the first place. And while I wasn’t sure I agreed with Blair’s assessment of them not being dangerous, I could still empathize.

  “We should at least hear what they have to say for themselves before we decide on anything,” Kiki said as she pulled out a chair ne
xt to the metamorph and examined their featureless head. Seemingly still frightened of her kidnapper, Feal kept a safe distance away from the metamorph by hanging out on Kiki’s shoulder.

  “Agreed,” Delia said, and sat down next to Kiki. “What’s taking Aron so long? Our culprit should wake up soon.”

  As if on command, the thudding of Aron’s hammer against the stone floor echoed, and the dwarf stumped around the corner into the room. “Looks like I missed all the excitement. Gotta say, just looking at this gathering makes me hungry.”

  We all shared a laugh as Aron climbed into a dining room chair and looked us over.

  “Finally,” Delia teased.

  “It’s a good thing you were here, Delia,” Blair said from where she sat on the table’s edge to divert Aron’s reply. “I don’t know if we would’ve ever figured out what was going on without you. To think such a rare individual was staying here right under our noses all this time…”

  Delia smiled and nodded. “That’s what they do. They’re masters of flying under the radar; they have to be to survive. And it’s not just me you have to thank. If it weren’t for Selena’s visions, we never would’ve had a clue.”

  “Maybe, but I still don’t understand why anyone would want to hurt a metamorph,” I said, unable to take my eyes off the shapeshifter’s entrancing, chromatic skin.

  “Well, as they’ve proven since they’ve been here, impersonating people can be chaotic and dangerous,” Delia said. “Obviously, I don’t think that means metamorphs deserve extinction, but I understand why people fear them.”

  “Yes, because people often fear what they don’t understand and can’t control. I know a thing or two about that story,” Blair said with a half-smile and a twinkle in her eyes.

  “Which is all the more reason we should hear what this poor, lost soul has to say,” Kiki said and patted the metamorph’s hand like she would if they were one of us, jolting them and making Kiki gasp and jump back. Feal nearly fell off her shoulder from the surprise.

  The metamorph’s head darted left and right, locking on each of us. “So, you’ve caught me,” they said in an ethereal voice, though I couldn’t for the life of me figure out where the sound came from since they didn’t have a mouth. Then again, after all the strange things I’d seen and experienced since arriving at the inn, it probably shouldn’t have surprised me. “How much time do I have left, then?”

  “Relax, you’re not in any danger,” Blair said. “We mean you no harm; we only want to talk. As I’m sure you can imagine, we have a lot of questions for you.”

  “And if I refuse to answer?”

  Blair exchanged uncomfortable looks with Kiki. “Then we’ll have no choice but to evict you.”

  The metamorph sat still as stone for a moment while they weighed their options. “Very well.”

  “What’s your name?” Kiki began gently.

  A beat of silence passed until the metamorph shifted in their seat to focus their eyeless gaze on her. “Rune.”

  “Thank you. What brought you to Kindred Spirits, Rune?”

  “I am being hunted.”

  “By whom?” Delia asked, an eyebrow raised. Rune’s head whipped to face her.

  “Tara Dupree.”

  I almost couldn’t believe my ears. “Really? What would Tara want with you?” I asked, and Delia chuckled and leaned back in her chair.

  “Of course. It makes perfect sense,” she said, staring at me. “The rumors about Tara’s disfigurement must be true. She probably wanted to harvest poor Rune’s abilities to help return her face to the way it was before, and as rich as she is, she’d have the resources to do so.”

  “Precisely. Upon hearing rumors of my existence, Ms. Dupree hired a paranormal investigator to track me down in the mountains surrounding Starfall Valley. They captured me and took me, against my will, to Ms. Dupree’s mansion, where I lived as her double until I escaped.”

  “Wait, so she had you pose as her?” I asked, not following. “Why?”

  “To dispel the rumors about her condition. I attended all of her engagements in her place. I met with her husband and his business partners, always showing the ideal version of her to them and the other socialites.”

  “Then how did you escape?”

  Though Rune had no mouth with which to do so, I sensed they were smiling. “Through the same methods. I copied her bandaged appearance, told her security I was on my way to a treatment, and walked out a hidden door designed to keep the press from seeing her. Because my presence was her secret from everyone, including her husband, none of them knew to look for me. I can only imagine her fury when she learned I’d escaped.”

  “She underestimated you. A critical mistake,” Delia said with a smirk, but Rune didn’t answer.

  “The Dupree mansion isn’t too far from here, just a mile or so further up the slope. Is that why you came?” Kiki asked.

  “Yes. I saw the building and assumed it would be a good place to hide, rest, and think things through for a while.”

  “But why pose as Tara? Wasn’t that risky?” I asked.

  “No. With her reputation, I could be as demanding and withdrawn as I wanted without bringing undue attention to myself, and Ms. Dupree’s bandaged face gave me an unquestionable disguise. Everything was perfect until the brownie came into my room uninvited,” Rune answered, casting their expressionless stare on Feal, who hid further behind Kiki’s shoulder.

  “Feal saw you in your regular form, didn’t she?”

  “Yes,” Rune said, and lifted their face to Kiki. “Though I made it abundantly clear I didn’t require service.”

  “Well, now you know as well as the rest of us that Feal is an independent spirit,” Kiki said with the hint of a smile as she reached behind herself to soothe Feal with a stroke.

  “You tried to frame Aron for Feal’s disappearance, didn’t you?” I asked, desperate to know if I was right.

  “They did? Is that why you two were asking me about hidden rooms?” Aron asked Jadis and I, dumbstruck, but we all ignored him.

  Rune’s head swiveled back to me. “I had no choice. I’d observed their contentious interactions, so I acted quickly.”

  “But Lox and Keez caught you planting Feal’s broom outside his door.”

  “Almost, yes,” Rune answered over Lox and Keez squealing, “Catch and snatch! Catch and snatch! Catch and snatch!” while whizzing around their head.

  “So, the key the imps found really was you, wasn’t it?”

  “Yes. I panicked and turned into something I thought to be innocuous enough, but I failed to account for the imps’ affinity for shiny objects. They picked me up and tried to fly me to their basement collection, so I attempted to shift into something that could fly away, and it knocked us all out of their portal.”

  “Which is how you ended up on the first floor and in my pocket.”

  “Yes. I knew as soon as we made contact what you were, even if you hadn’t realized it yet, and I knew it meant trouble for me, but I had nowhere else to go.”

  “So, you waited until Jadis and I were asleep and showed yourself out of our room, then kept trying to bury your secret — until Jadis and I caught you in the kitchen.”

  “We metamorphs don’t believe in causing harm; we can’t bear to do unto others what they have done to us. Bringing milk to the brownie was simple enough at first, but your abilities made moving through the inn undetected more difficult.”

  “Were you the one who called the room service to Aron’s room, then?”

  Rune nodded. “Yes. I thought, between my trying to frighten you in your dreams and your other visions, you might falsely accuse the dwarf, giving me time to orchestrate an escape.”

  “Thanks for the broccoli cheddar, then. It was delicious,” Aron said, and I couldn’t help snickering.

  “But then Selena and I saw you peeking outside your room,” Jadis said. “I always thought that was weird, given how reclusive we thought Tara was.”

  “Metamorphs are maste
rs of the art of disguise, but even we make mistakes.”

  “You’ve said ‘we’ repeatedly. Does that mean there are others left besides you?” Delia chimed in.

  “Yes, though exceedingly few. For their safety, I would prefer not to say more about them.”

  “I understand,” Delia said.

  “So, it’s true then that you never wanted to hurt anyone?” Blair asked, speaking up for the first time in several minutes.

  “No, never. I only intended to keep the brownie in hiding long enough to escape and put enough distance between myself and the inn so that no one could track me. I cannot — no, I will not — go back to the Dupree mansion.”

  “I don’t blame you, but if you really didn’t want to hurt anyone, why did you attack Emile?” I asked.

  “That is an inaccuracy. Emile attacked me; I only defended myself.”

  “Maybe, but then why did you drag him off to room 666?”

  “Again, I had no choice. The vampire had previously caught me, posing as the dwarf, stealing from the kitchen for the brownie. I worried he’d already suspected something and seeing me posing as him could only have tipped him off. If he’d told any of you about that incident, it would’ve foiled my ruse and dashed my chances of escape.”

  It all fit together perfectly. Though I couldn’t say I would’ve done the same thing if I had been in Rune’s position, I at least understood why they’d done it; they felt backed into a corner, one that kept growing smaller as we closed in, and feared getting tossed from the inn to face who or whatever Tara might’ve had out there looking for them.

  “How did you figure out where room 666 was and how to access it?” I asked, the last burning question I had on my mind.

  Again, I sensed Rune smiling. “For that I have the brownie to thank,” they said, staring in Feal’s direction. Feal pulled her pointy hat so far down over her face in shame that it covered her eyes.

  “Oh, dear Lilith! Of course! That makes perfect sense!” Kiki shouted. “I’ve always wondered how Feal sneaked around all the rooms with no one noticing, and now it’s obvious: the closets!”