Chapter Twenty-Four
The next morning, Trevor and I had breakfast at the cabin and then shifted to wolves to run back to Pride Palace.
I was nervous to shift after the night before, but both of us transformed back into our human forms without issue.
We had left our clothes in the changing room near the pool and got dressed there before going inside.
The dining hall was full of werelions, and the sound of them talking sparked anxiety in me. I had shifted back fine, but I didn’t believe it was safe to shift, not even in the God Realm.
I motioned to Trevor to wait and then poked my head into the dining hall. “Good morning!”
A tide of “good mornings” came back to me.
“I don't want anyone shifting until this thing with the god machine is over. Trevor had some trouble shifting back last night, and I don't want any of you stuck as lions.”
The hall went silent.
Then Aidan asked, “Trevor had trouble shifting back? But he's the Froekn Prince.”
“Yes. He did fine this morning, but I don't want any of you taking that risk.
Also, I'd like everyone to stay here for now.
I know a lot of you have jobs in the Human Realm, but there's some weird stuff going on there right now.
If you work at Moonshine, you should be fine.
Everywhere else is risky. It's up to you if you want to take that risk.
I won't stop you, but I'd prefer it if you stayed home. This is only temporary. Tell the others.”
“Yes, Tima!” they shouted.
Feeling better, I joined Trevor at the elevator. As we got into the golden cage, I said, “You too. Let's not risk shifting until we know for sure it's safe.”
“I had no trouble this—”
“Trevor, please! I have a bad feeling.”
He immediately nodded. “As you wish.”
“Thank you.”
We went up to the top floor and left the elevator hand-in-hand.
Azrael and Odin were sitting at the kitchen table, feeding the twins.
It had once been a small table, but I had to expand it with our growing family.
Kirill, Viper, and Re were on the couch, watching television. They all greeted us as we came in.
Sebastian and Dominic cried in unison, “Mommy!”
“Hello, my loves.” I went around the table kissing men and boys, making my way back to the fridge.
After grabbing some cream, I went to the counter to pour myself a cup of coffee.
Trevor joined me, placing his mug next to mine in a silent request. “Should I tell them, or do you want to?”
“Tell us what?” Odin asked.
I poured coffee into Trevor's mug and went to the table with my coffee, leaving the cream for him. I took the chair beside Odin. “Trevor had some trouble shifting back from wolf last night. We were both okay this morning, but I told the Intare not to shift until this was over.”
“You think it has something to do with the machine?” Azrael asked.
“It could. Shifting is a transformation, after all.”
Azrael looked over at the men on the couch. “Did you hear that? No shifting for now.”
“What?” Viper called over the sound of gunfire. He clicked off the TV and got up.
Kirill and Re came over to the kitchen table with Viper, and I explained what happened and why we needed to be careful.
“I'm going to text my father.” Trevor headed for the tower door nearest us. “I don't want the Froekn shifting either.”
I sipped my coffee and made a funny face at Dominic, who giggled. I was about to say more when Torrent came running into the room. With a jerk, I straightened in my seat. “Torr, are you all right?”
“V, there's some weird stuff going on.” Torrent set a tablet on the table, and then he noticed the twins. “Uh, hi, Sebastian. Dominic. Um?” He looked at me.
“I'll take them downstairs and stop by the classroom to warn Lesya and Vero not to shift until we tell them it's safe.” Re picked up the twins, one in each arm.
“Thank you.” I kissed his golden cheek as he passed by.
“Bye-bye!” the twins called to us in unison.
No one was immune to adorable winged toddlers. We all waved and called bye-bye back, even Torrent.
Torrent waited until the sound of the elevator moving came in from the corridor.
Then he brought up a video on his tablet.
It was a social media post with a caption that read, “End of Days?” Torr pressed play, and the video came to life.
A person sitting in an emergency waiting room had uploaded the video.
They filmed a man at the check-in desk. Going by what the angry people in line behind him said, he had cut to the front.
He was hunched over and wearing a hoodie.
The camera angle showed the back of his head and the desk nurse's face.
When the nurse looked up at him, her eyes went wide.
She stumbled to her feet and backed away.
The woman filming muttered a curse and moved away from the waiting area for a better look at the guy.
The view shot to the nurse first. She scrambled for something, and then her voice came on over the intercom. “Code purple! Code purple! ER!”
“Code purple?” I asked.
“Some hospitals use it to announce an infectious event or person,” Torr whispered and motioned at the video.
The man backed away from the desk and then spun to run out the door.
Our view chased after him, but when the man looked over his shoulder, the woman filming screamed and fell back.
I didn't scream, but I gasped when I got a glimpse of the man's face.
He looked feverish, but it wasn't his wide eyes or flushed skin that disturbed me.
It was the inflamed veins running up the sides of his neck, glowing with every breath he took.
When he exhaled, his breath misted in the air as if he were standing in a snowstorm.
As the nurse screamed for security,the view bounced around, but the man was gone before security could get him.
The entire waiting room fell into chaos, people shouting, crying, and jerking away from the man.
The video ended with the filming woman whispering, “What the fuck was that? What the fuck was wrong with him?” And then a row of retching emoji heads.
Torrent stopped the video. “There have been over a hundred uploads of similar events since this morning. Hundreds from all over the world.”
“What is that?” I motioned at the tablet. “What could have done that to him?”
“I looked into it.” Torrent picked up his tablet. “All the people in the videos were patients who received a flu vaccination yesterday.”
“You're saying the flu shot did that to them?” Viper asked. “Thank goodness we don't need that shit.”
“The flu.” Odin scowled. “A vaccine meant to heal turns people into the disease.”
“It turns them into the disease?” I grimaced. “They just looked sick.”
“That's the thing,” Torrent said. “They aren't sick. Those admitted to hospitals underwent full examinations and received clean bills of health. The doctors have done all the tests they can think of, but the patients appear to be in good health.”
“They don't even have the flu?” Viper asked.
“Not even the flu.” Torrent looked at Odin. “I think the machine is malfunctioning without a transformation relic, and it's causing transformations to go bad.”
“Trevor had trouble shifting back from a wolf last night,” I said. “I had to call me back through our bond.”
“Oh, that's not good.” Torrent looked around at the shifters. “What about the rest of you?”
“I shifted back fine, but I don't want anyone else to risk it.” I motioned at the tower door as Trevor came into the room. “Trevor called Fenrir to warn the Froekn, and I told the Intare not to shift.”
“Father is warning UnnúlfR to stop his pack from shifting too,” Trevor said. “Hey, Torr. What's up?”
Just then, Re returned. After a single look at us, he grimaced. “Oh, funnel cakes. What now?”
Viper explained things to Trevor and Re, taking Torr's tablet to show them the video while the rest of us continued to discuss it with Torrent.
“Perhaps we should warn all of our shifting friends,” Torrent suggested.
“I'll text Loki and Freya.” Odin pulled out his phone.
“I'll text the Thunderbirds,” Azrael said. “Is there anyone else?”
“I'll text Horus, Finn, and Pan.” Kirill pulled out his phone too.
“And Brahma,” I said. “Tell him to warn the Hindu Gods. They have a lot of shifters.”
“And I'll ask Pan to have Hermes make another announcement,” Kirill added.
“Who else?” I pulled out my phone and went through my contacts. “Oh! Athena sometimes shifts into an owl. And Quetzalcoatl! Oh, hell. How many gods do we know that shapeshift?”
“Too many.” Re sighed and pulled out his phone. “I've got the Egyptians.”
“What about Karni Mata?” I asked even as I texted. “Does she change into a rat or does she just control them?”
“She just controls them,” Trevor said. “Tell Athena to warn any of the shapeshifting Greeks.”
“Already did.” I hit Send on the last text and looked up at my men. “Are we overreacting?”
“Better that than our friends get stuck as animals,” Torrent said.
“What about Artemis?” I asked. “Does she change into a dog?”
“No, she's fine.”
I sighed and sat down in front of my cooling cup of coffee. “Hopefully, I'm wrong.”
“Well, this will certainly scare them straight,” Azrael drawled.
“What's he talking about?” Torrent asked me.
“The Faerie God took responsibility for the events on Earth.” I looked over at Az, who, despite his confident words, looked worried. “He warned them it would get worse if the criminals didn't stop breaking his laws.”
“I assumed it would get worse,” Az said to Torrent's shocked face. “I just didn't know it would be this bad. From strange weather to mutants? That was quite a jump.”
Torrent recovered quickly, his sharp mind analyzing the situation in seconds. “Yes, but it falls in line with what the Faerie God did before.”
“The Wild Fey,” Az whispered.
“Yup.” Torr nodded. “Actually, that was well done, Azrael. It was clever to use this to help people.”
“How's he helping people?” Viper asked.
“By scaring those who hurt others. I'll bet companies will think twice about dumping waste into lakes and stuff like that.”
“Way to go, Erin Brockovich.” Viper slapped Azrael's shoulder.
Az grimaced. “Unfortunately, innocent people are paying the price.”
“Vervain will fix it after we figure out how to destroy the machine.” Torr grinned at me.
I gaped back. I knew Torr adored me, but I didn't know he idolized me. “Thanks for the vote of confidence, Torr, but I don't know how to fix those people.”
“Don't worry, V. It's not all on you. We'll brainstorm and figure it out. We always do.” He motioned at everyone. “Come on, let's do this!”
I grinned back at Torr. What else could I do under the light of such friendship?
Torrent—a man born of God and Internet Magic—was the most loyal, brave, utterly guileless man I knew.
It was especially shocking when I considered who created him and how much knowledge Torr possessed.
In the debate of nurture versus nature, Torrent was a third option that threw a wrench in the works.
He had never been nurtured, and nature hadn’t given him anything.
Iktomi taught him to be cruel, but Torr rebelled and chose to be good.
Against all odds, Torrent had become an incredible man.
Why the hell had that idiot God chosen me when Torrent was available?