“Have you thought about setting it free?” Vali suggested.
His eyes widened. “If I do that—how can I control it?”
Control. It always came down to it. Or rather, to knowing when not to try.
“Sometimes these things are a negotiation,” Vali said. “Shifters learn control over their beasts from a very young age, but it takes time to do so.”
Maddy straightened. “There is tons of trial and error,” she said. “We screw up regularly.”
Marcus stiffened. “Shifting into a Dire is a little different from what I’ve got happening.”
Maddy shrugged. “Shifts are shifts, though. And our early ones are pretty wild. The beast inside us is exactly that—and we go a bit crazy when we are young.”
“I’m not changing into a fluffy puppy.” Marcus held up his hand, and the fingertips revealed glowing talons. “This thing inside me is lethal, I can feel it.”
“So are Dragons,” Vali said. “And we breathe fire, too.”
“Fire is a tricky thing.” Kiko grimaced. “Trust me when I tell you—it tends to emerge when least expected.”
“I can shift to whatever I touch—some forms get pretty interesting, because along with the physical changes comes some psychological ones, too,” Lucas said. “I’ve gotten good at suppressing them, but still find myself with some residual effects.”
Fascinated, I stared at him. “Like what?”
He grinned. “I hated Hiimna fruit until I shifted into a Guina lizard once. Love it, now.”
Marcus’s hand curled into a fist. “I doubt that what is inside me eats fruit.”
Maddy shrugged. “Same principle. Whatever wants out, will get out, sooner or later. You have to accept it, and let it happen, in order to form a relationship with it.”
He hesitated. “What if it changes me in the process?” His voice was hardly above a whisper.
She snorted a laugh. “Of course it will. You will have to find the new you.”
His eyes slid back to me. I could see the flashes of white amid the dark. He reached a hand out, and the fingers—now human again—drifted through my hair before he pulled them back.
“Come back, okay?” he requested.
“I plan to bring the party back with me.” My voice shook.
He looked like he wanted to say more, but he turned and walked away.
“He’s skating close to the edge,” Kiko said.
“If you mean he’s losing it, I agree.” Vali turned to me. “Be careful out there. You tend to leap before you think.”
Fair assessment. I smiled at her. “I will.”
Kiko hugged me. “Will what? Be careful? Or leap before you think? Just come back, bestie. Wish I was going with you this time.”
“If we thought Isobel’s Bellatis would drool for you, we would,” Lucas offered.
Kiko shot him a brilliant smile that had him flushing bright red. It only endeared him more to me—Lucas was so much like the boy next door. Only this one shapeshifted to weird things.
So maybe I needed to work on my analogies.
The Satyr and the Dragona walked over to the bench and sat down to watch us as we waited for the signal. To eliminate the energy surge caused by a cross-realm Jump, Lucas, Maddy, and I would be gating to Rannkin, rather than Jumping.
I dug the crystal dust out again and took some more.
