“What does that mean?” Kade asked.
“It means we should all be on the lookout for lightning strikes,” I said. “Come on.”
I wasn’t surprised when Luke grabbed my hand as we moved forward. He’ll fight if he has to, but he doesn’t like it. When Kade grabbed my other hand, though, I wanted to laugh at the absurd situation. How did it come to this?
When we finally rounded the corner we found Nixie on the ground protecting her face with her arms as the changeling flopped around on top of her, an invisible barrier separating them. Nixie was using some form of magic to shield herself, although I couldn’t be sure what, and while it was keeping the changeling from clawing her skin she was weakening.
“Should I shift?” Luke asked.
“Yes,” Kade answered for me.
I glanced at him, surprised. We didn’t need to add a wolf to the mix.
“I haven’t seen it yet,” Kade said, shrugging.
“He can show you later,” I said. “He likes the right lighting when he does it. Plus, Luke, do you really want to shred those pants? You’ve only had them a week.”
“You’re always looking out for me.” Luke’s smile was genuine, although I could see the brief flash of worry as he turned back to Nixie. “Are you going to do something about that?”
“I’ll get it,” Kade said, squaring his shoulders.
“Stay still, hero,” I ordered. “I’ve got this.”
After dealing with the first changeling, I knew exactly what to do with this one. I threw out a mind net and dropped it on the surprised creature’s brain, squeezing in tight.
Stop.
The changeling jerked its head up, the command confusing it.
“Get this thing off of me,” Nixie howled. “It smells horrible!”
Much like the first changeling, this one didn’t look as if soap – or water, for that matter – was ever introduced into its world. Instead of dark hair, this one boasted blond tufts. The red eyes glowered the same.
Come here.
The changeling’s eyes were busy as they bounced around, landing on Dolph and Raven as they rounded the corner and pulled up short.
“Is that the same kind of thing that you killed last night?” Raven asked.
“Yes.”
Not there. Look at me.
I kept trying to prod the creature into focusing on me, but it refused to stare at one place too long.
“Are you just going to stand there?” Nixie yelled. “It’s trying to kill me!”
“You’re fine,” Raven said, stepping closer so she could study the changeling. “It’s creepy. What’s with its eyes? I’ve never seen a changeling with eyes like that. Are we sure that’s what this is?”
“I didn’t see the spine, but everyone who did says it was a changeling,” I replied, our earlier fight forgotten … for now.
“It’s just so different from anything else I’ve ever seen,” Raven said.
The changeling lunged at her, but she easily sidestepped it.
“I don’t like it,” Raven announced, crossing her arms over her chest. “Explode its brain and let’s get this over with. I’m tired.”
“I don’t want to kill it,” I argued.
“Why not? It smells and it’s gross.”
“You smell and you’re gross, too,” Luke shot back.
“Shut up, Luke!”
“Both of you shut up,” Kade ordered. “Poet wants to study it.”
“And we all know that Poet gets whatever she wants,” Raven sniffed.
“You don’t have to be here,” Kade snapped. “No one needs your attitude right now.”
“Oh, don’t be such a drama queen,” Raven said. She met my gaze. “Do you want to try to hypnotize it?”
That was a pretty good idea. “We could put it into one of the tiger cages inside of the tent.”
“If you really want to study it, I think that’s the way to go,” Raven said. “There’s nothing in its head, though. You’re right. It’s as if … something ate most of its brain.”
“Well, thank you for that,” Luke deadpanned. “Now I’m going to have nightmares about brain-sucking monsters.”
“It’s better than having nightmares about Raven shrinking your … you know what,” I countered.
“Don’t remind her of that,” Luke hissed.
“Let’s do this,” Raven said, rolling her eyes. “We have a full day tomorrow and I need my beauty rest.”
I nodded. “Okay. You move to that side and I’ll stand here. We’ll trap it between us. Try to keep equal distances apart. We’ll force it into the tent right behind you and then into the cage after that.”
“Okay.”
Kade and Luke remained close as I repositioned myself. They gave me room to maneuver, but both were poised to step in if the changeling changed its focus.
“I could’ve given myself a manicure in the time it’s taken you guys to do anything,” Nixie grumbled.
“Stop your bellyaching,” Raven said. “This will be over in two minutes.”
“I’m here, Nixie!”
I registered Naida’s arrival two seconds too late. Her hands were already in motion and I jumped in the path of her magic to protect the changeling without thinking fully about what I was doing.
When she unleashed the tempest – and the accompanying lightning – I was in the middle of the danger zone.
“Poet!”
Thirty
“This is the worst thing that’s ever happened to me!”
I clenched my jaw and tried to ignore Luke’s wailing as Kade tenderly ran his hands over my body. After raining down a hell storm of destruction – within a five-foot radius, mind you – Naida reined in her out-of-control magic and realized I’d taken the brunt of the lightning strike.
She’d immediately started apologizing – and hadn’t stopped for the past fifteen minutes.
The changeling was so dazed by the storm that Dolph and Nellie easily managed to wrestle him into a cage. Raven, seeing no reason to stay – after she was done laughing at my hair and fried expression, of course – retired for the evening and left us to deal with the consequences. I was fine with that. She was the last thing I wanted to worry about.
“Are you okay?” Kade asked, his eyes reflecting worry. “Please tell me you’re not going to keel over and die on me.”
“I’m fine.” In truth, my body felt as if it was on fire. I didn’t want to curl up in the fetal position – which was what every nerve ending in my body was screaming for – out of fear that Kade would flip out, but I was hurting.
“How can you be fine?” Kade pressed. “You were struck by lightning.”
“I am so sorry, Poet,” Naida said, pacing in front of me. I ignored her.
“I’m fine,” I repeated.
“Your hair is standing on end,” Kade said, grabbing a hunk of it for emphasis. “Your eyes are glassy and you’re barely moving.”
“Does anyone care about me?” Luke asked. “Does anyone care about my terrible night?”
“Not really,” Kade said, his eyes never leaving my face. “I think we should take you to the hospital.”
“How are we going to explain that?” Nellie asked. He was more interested in slipping a stick between the cage bars and poking the changeling than our conversation, but he interjected occasionally. “Hello, doctor, my friend was struck by lightning while trying to protect a monster from a crazy pixie. A straightjacket you say? Why I’d love one.”
“Shut up,” Kade said. “She could have internal damage.”
“I don’t have internal damage,” I replied. “I … believe it or not, this isn’t the first time this has happened.”
“I’m so sorry, Poet,” Naida said, wringing her hands. “I had no idea you were going to jump in front of that thing. I was trying to save Nixie.”
“I was taking care of myself,” Nixie said. “These idiots were standing around talking about saving me while I was actually doing it.”
D
olph wrapped his arm around Nixie’s diminutive shoulders. “There, there, fairy,” he said. “You’re fine now.”
“I’m not a fairy,” Nixie groused.
“Whatever.” Dolph rolled his eyes until they landed on me. “What do you want to do with the changeling?”
“Well, I was planning to probe it to learn more, but I think that’s going to have to wait until tomorrow,” I answered.
“Why?” Nixie asked. “You should probe it now so we can kill it. I don’t like the way it’s looking at me. It’s like I’m the steak and it’s the hungry dog.”
“I can’t probe it right now.” I gritted my teeth as a new wave of pain washed over me.
“Why not?” Nixie pressed. “Get it over with. We’re going to have to hide it all day tomorrow if we don’t kill it tonight. We can’t let visitors see it.”
“Visitors will have no reason to be back here,” I reminded her.
“What if an inspector shows up?”
“Then we’ll magically cloak it,” I snapped, rubbing my forehead to ward off the dull ache.
“I don’t want to join in with these two right now, but I kind of have to,” Kade said. “Why can’t you probe it now?”
“Because her brain is fried,” Luke answered for me. “Sheesh!”
“Oh.” Kade rubbed his hand over his chin. “I … that was really stupid.”
“I’m so sorry, Poet.” Naida was near tears.
“Let it go, Naida,” I said. “It was an accident. It’s over. We can’t go back in time and change anything so forget about it.”
“No, don’t forget about it,” Luke countered. “Poet wasn’t the only one hurt here. Everyone seems to be forgetting about my loss.”
“Yes, the pants are quite a loss,” Nellie said, shifting his eyes to Luke and sticking his tongue out. “The fashion world will never be the same.”
During the melee surrounding the Naida’s tempest, Luke tried to protect me. He wasn’t close enough to absorb the strike – and I was secretly glad for that because I didn’t know whether he could survive the jolt – but he was close enough for his pants to catch fire. Naida quickly doused the flames with a localized downpour, but Luke’s new pants were a lost cause.
He wouldn’t shut up about it either.
“I think you’ve had enough for one evening,” Kade said, taking charge. “I say we set a watch on the changeling. We’ll take shifts. Can you guys handle the duty tonight?”
Nellie nodded. “I want to watch it for a little bit. It’s weird. I like it. It’s like a really big and filthy cat. Dolph and I can handle tonight.”
“Thank you,” Kade said. “We’ll set up a schedule over breakfast tomorrow to cover the rest of the day. Since we only have a night show, it shouldn’t be too hard to coordinate.”
“What about me?” Luke whined.
“I’ll buy you new pants if you shut up,” Kade offered.
“I want these pants.”
“I can’t help you there,” Kade said. “Your best friend just got struck by lightning. Try to think about her for a second.”
Luke’s expression softened. “You feel bad about my pants, don’t you, Poet?”
“Luke, if you don’t shut up I’m going to cut your tongue out,” I threatened.
“That’s going to make eating the omelet you’re making for me tomorrow morning rough,” Luke said.
“That’s it.” Kade body checked Luke away from me with his hip and carefully slipped an arm around my back and another under my legs before hoisting me up. I whimpered, causing Kade to furrow his brow. “Please let me take you to a hospital.”
I mutely shook my head, biting my lip until the pain eased.
“Fine.” Kade gave in. “I’m taking her back to her trailer. No one is to bother her. Yes, that means you, Luke. She needs sleep. We’ll deal with the changeling tomorrow.”
Nellie mock saluted, hoisting his black dress and clicking his heels together as he grinned. “Sir, yes, sir!”
Kade ignored him. “Come on, Sparky. Let’s get you to bed.”
“You can’t call me Sparky,” I grumbled. “I don’t like that.”
“I can call you whatever I want tonight and you can’t put up a fight,” Kade replied. “Luke, don’t even think about waking her up. If you do, we’re going to have a problem.”
“I guess this means you’re not going to get a chance to ride the … lightning bolt … tonight, huh?”
“Luke, don’t make me put her down and kick your ass,” Kade threatened. “It’s not going to end well for any of us if that happens.”
A quick scan of Kade’s face told Luke he was dancing on the edge. “Goodnight, Poet.”
“Goodnight.”
“I’m so sorry, Poet,” Naida offered as Kade carried me out of the tent.
“Sometimes I hate my life,” I admitted, resting my head against Kade’s shoulder and letting the weariness overtake me.
“Right now, I don’t blame you.”
KADE was gentle as he settled me on my bed. I didn’t mean for the wounded animal sound to escape when it did, but the look of concern on his face was almost enough to crush me.
“It’s okay,” I said, forcing a smile for his benefit. “I wasn’t lying when I said this has happened before.”
“What were you thinking?”
“I was thinking that we need to find out who created these things and why they’re here,” I answered. “I thought Naida would see me and stop what she was about to do. I didn’t realize it was already too late.”
Kade rubbed the side of his face as he studied me. “Why do you think someone created the changelings?”
“Because Raven is right – don’t ever tell her I said that,” I warned.
Kade chuckled hoarsely. “Your secret is safe with me.”
“She is right, though,” I said. “Something ate away at their brains, and I doubt very much it occurred naturally. That means someone or something did it to them. There has to be a reason for that.”
“If they can change their appearance, why don’t they?”
“I don’t think they’ve retained the intelligence to do it,” I said, leaning back on the pillows and fighting a grimace. Kade was already a ball of nerves.
“Stop holding back on my account,” Kade said, kneeling in front of me and reaching for my feet. He began unlacing my shoes. I thought about arguing, but I was too tired. “I know you’re in pain. Stop trying to pretend you’re not.”
“I’ll be better in the morning.”
“I can’t believe you’ve been struck by lightning more than once.”
“Yes, well, I defy all reason and odds,” I said, closing my eyes. I was exhausted. I wouldn’t be able to fight off sleep for long.
Kade snapped his fingers in front of my face, forcing me to pry my eyes open. “I’m sorry. Before you pass out, though, I need to know if there’s something here I can give you to help with the pain.”
“There’s a bottle of purple liquid in my medicine cabinet,” I replied. “It won’t do much for the pain, but it will ensure I sleep for eight straight hours.”
“That’s better than nothing, I guess.”
Kade returned with the bottle less than a minute later, unscrewing the cap and pushing it toward my mouth as I fought to hold on to consciousness. “Drink up.”
I swallowed two mouthfuls, and when Kade didn’t pull the bottle away, I reluctantly gulped another. “I’m going to be out in a few minutes.”
“Good.” Kade reached for my pants, causing my eyes to widen.
“Don’t worry. I have no intention of touching anything when you’re unconscious. That’s not my style. I want you awake for the good stuff so you can praise me.”
That not what I was worried about. In truth, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d shaved my legs. Whoops. This could be embarrassing.
Kade tugged my pants off and thankfully left my shirt alone. He rolled me under the covers and then killed the bedroom lights. I wanted to
say goodbye before he left, but my tongue refused to work.
It shouldn’t have surprised me when I felt the bed dip down on the other side as Kade climbed in next to me, but my brain registered mild confusion. Was he staying with me again? I could get used to that.
Kade rolled on his side and pulled me close. “Goodnight,” he murmured as he pushed down my flyaway hair. If he thought my bedhead was bad this morning, he would have a real treat waiting for him in eight hours.
I made a noise, but it didn’t resemble coherent words.
“I’ll be here when you wake up,” Kade said. “Get some sleep.”
I was almost out.
“We’re going to have a long talk in the morning about the way you go into a monster fight, so get your rest,” Kade added.
Oh, well, that sounded horrible.
His mouth was close to my ear when he spoke again. “I’m also going to kiss you senseless, so you have that to look forward to when we’re done fighting.”
Oh, wow, tomorrow was already looking up!
That was my last thought before sleep dragged me under.
Thirty-One
I woke up to a fuzzy brain and a mass of muscle pressed against the side of my face. When I shifted, I realized the muscle belonged to Kade, who was cuddled beside me. I also realized I had drooled in my sleep, and the small pool puddled on his bare chest.
When did he take his shirt off?
Seriously, it should be against the law to look that good without a shirt on.
“I see you’re awake,” Kade whispered.
I glanced up at him. “I drooled on your chest.”
His grin was too charming for this early in the morning. “It’s not the first time.”
“You don’t have ego problems, do you?”
“It’s not like you struggle with self-esteem problems,” Kade said, lifting his hand and pushing my unruly hair from my face. I thought I heard static. Crap on toast. My hair had to be an unholy mess. “How are you feeling?”
That was a good question. I tested my limbs, internally groaning as I tried to keep from complaining. It was going to be a long day of hobbling around, no doubt about it. “I’m fine. I feel good.”
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