Chapter 12 #3
“He’s going to die. You have to save him,” I said, twisting my head to look up at Camazotz. He hovered above me.
“Here is your chance, Corvus. But I won’t save him.”
“Do you realize what I’m saying? People know he’s here. They’re expecting him to return. They’re going to come looking for him.”
“And I will tell them to feel free to search for his body.” His eyes narrowed. He dug his heels in, and I wasn’t going to win this discussion. He’d probably fly Darryl’s body out over a deep ravine and drop it in there. No one would ever find him.
I turned back to Darryl and knelt next to him.
He coughed up more blood and grew still.
Shit. Could I save him? Was he testing me?
Seemed too risky, especially considering how little I knew about human anatomy.
Then again, I didn’t need to know avian anatomy to turn into a crow or to grow wings out of my back.
I put my hands on his head. When Camazotz had healed my broken wing, it had felt like a soothing, warm energy.
I tried to picture my own genetic makeup, only with Darryl’s features.
This was tricky. I didn’t want to change him into a copy of me. God, could I even do that?
He sputtered, taking one last wheezing breath.
I was out of time. I grabbed the same energy I used for my own transformations, pulling it out of me and pushing it into Darryl.
Silently, I chanted for his brain and lungs and throat to heal, to be good as new.
Like a thick fog, the healing energy poured out of me, and his chest moved up and down, once, twice, his heart kicked up its beat from non-existent to steady.
I kept at it, connecting with his body on a cellular level until he was whole again.
He opened his eyes, and I sat back on my heels. I had done it. I had saved his no-good life.
“H-h-h-Freya?”
“No, Darryl, my name isn’t Freya. Whoever she is or was, I am not her.”
“What happened?”
“You passed out.”
I stood and held out my hand. He took it, and I hauled him to his feet. He felt around his neck, but there were no wounds, no bruises, no evidence of his near-death experience.
He looked at me, still dazed. Camazotz had retreated, sitting in the shadows cast by the fire. He was so still, blending into the darkness at the edge of the room.
“Look, Darryl. Why are you doing this? My friend is here legitimately. Why are you going to all this trouble?”
“Listen, Freya…”
“Morrigan.” It took everything to hold down my frustration. Even now, after almost dying, he was pushing.
“Morgan. I have no idea why you’re here.
If you’re fucking him or what. But you need to leave as soon as you can.
I can give you a ride. But as soon as I’m back home, I’m doing everything I can to get him kicked out.
” He took a step back, and I lost my train of thought.
I had changed him, and now we were connected.
That tug between my Monster and me, it was there, only much milder, between Darryl and me.
This was why he hadn’t wanted to save him. I looked over at Camazotz, horrified.
You could have warned me.
Would it have made a difference? He wouldn’t look at me.
I turned back to Darryl, who stood waiting for my answer. Well, I was going to give him one he would never forget.
Pulling the energy from my toes, I pictured myself, only bigger, a feminine version of my Monster.
My bones stretched; my skin darkened. Dark talons appeared on the ends of my longer, powerful fingers.
My facial bones thickened, giving me fangs that peeked out from my dark lips.
Cat slits took over my pupils. And my wings burst from my back, slightly bigger than the others I had used only a few times, ripping open the back of my borrowed shirt and popping a few buttons.
All of this happened within a heartbeat.
Darryl looked up at me in horror. I could sense his fear; it rolled through me like a burst of power.
“Listen closely, Darryl. You didn’t listen when my friend told you the first time, and I had to bring you back from the brink of death.”
He tried to speak, his mouth flapping a few times like a beached fish.
“I’m only going to say this once. You will leave the mountain and never speak to anyone about us ever again.”
He nodded, still speechless.
“Tell me, Darryl. I need to hear it.”
“I’m never coming back. I won’t tell anyone what I saw, and I will leave you alone.”
His terrified eyes looked at a spot over my shoulder, and I glanced back. Camazotz, in his real form, complete with horns, left his spot by the wall and stepped into the light. Thankfully, he still wore the kilt.
“You can go, human,” Camazotz’s voice rang out into the corners of the room. Darryl turned and fled, his pounding footsteps fading as he reached the front of the house.
“Corvus, that was the single most remarkable thing I’ve seen in a long time.”
I spun to face him, surprised. I opened my mouth to respond, not certain of what to say, but he leaned in and kissed me, hard.