Chapter 9 #2
It’s like being slapped—only good. Just this sudden, shocking wall of feeling. I don’t know what to say.
Luckily, he’s not done.
“Regardless of what happens once the magic is reversed, you are a shifter, and you’re welcome among us.
I imagine there will be a lot for you to learn and take in.
I’m going to stick around until we can see how things go for you, and hopefully by then we’ll have an idea of which clan you belong to and can get you settled with them.
But whatever happens, you’ll have a place with us.
We’ll help you acclimate to being a cat.
” He smiles at me, and I get just a hint of his alphaness. It’s a comforting warmth in the air.
I smile back. “Thank you. That means a lot.” I take a deep breath, then stand. “I’m ready.”
The room is crowded. My team is here, plus Alistair and Percy, of course. Dr. Sims and a nurse. Aidan. And two powerful sorcerers here to help David and Percy with the reversal.
“How would you feel most comfortable?” David asks me. “Sitting? Lying on the couch?”
I consider it. I don’t think I could handle lying down while everyone towers over me.
I’m usually one of the shorter people in the room anyway; there’s no need to make it worse.
I’m not sure standing would be good, though—for one, I don’t know how long this is going to take or if it’s going to have a physical impact. I mean, it will, but…
“Sitting,” I decide. It seems the better option all round. I pick an armchair and settle myself. “Is this okay?”
Percy smiles reassuringly. “It’s fine.”
There’s some more preparation, during which most of the observers are banished to the far side of the room.
Dr. Sims, the nurse, and Aidan are the only nonparticipants allowed to stay close, just in case I need them.
I try not to think about what it would mean for me to need the doctor.
We had a quick conversation earlier about the possibility that I might feel pain or have an adverse physical reaction—like cardiac arrest—during the reversal.
I’ve been assured that they can definitely keep me alive in that case, which is a silver lining, I guess?
We also talked about ranking pain levels.
They’re hesitant to introduce any kind of pain relief into my system until the procedure is done, in case it influences anything, but of course if I’m in agony, they won’t make me stay that way.
So… yeah, feeling a bit nervous right now.
“Okay,” Percy says. “Are we all ready?”
“Yes,” David says, and his friends… fuck. I forgot their names. You’d think, considering what I’m about to let them do to me, that I would remember who they are.
Deep breath, Sam. This is fine. This is okay. I can just ask their names again. They look like they’re concentrating, though. Maybe it’d be better not to interrupt right now. I’ll just call them Tall and Eyebrows until we’re done. Really, that guy’s got the best damn eyebrows I’ve ever seen.
Am I rambling? I might be a bit nervous. I turn my head and glance across the room to where the others are. Gideon meets my gaze, and the solid strength there settles me.
“Sam.” I look up at Percy. He smiles reassuringly. “What I’m going to do is filter the magic so they”—he nods to the three sorcerers—“can see what’s been done. Then we’ll work on reversing it.”
I nod. “Okay. I’m ready.” I feel like I’ve been saying that a lot.
In the next moment, I feel the warm wash of magic, the same as last night when Percy did his examination.
“Oh!” Tall exclaims, surprise written all over her face.
“Fuck,” David says, and I try to remember if I’ve ever heard him swear before.
“You told us what to expect, but…” Eyebrows shakes his head. “This is extraordinary. Obscene, but extraordinary.”
“You can see the threads of sorcery now?” Percy checks, and Tall nods.
“Yes,” David replies. All four of them are looking at me, but… not. Looking beyond me?
Looking into me. That’s so fucking creepy.
“You’re right, Percy, there’s several distinct signatures here, but the way they’re woven together makes it difficult to pinpoint them.”
Eyebrows pushes his sleeves up, as though preparing for physical work. “Hopefully we’ll be able to get a good sense of them as we unravel this shit. Where do you want to start?”
I tune them out as they begin talking about crap I don’t understand. I should probably pay attention, since they’re going to be doing stuff to me, but I can’t get my brain to focus properly.
“Sam?” That’s David. I flick my gaze toward him. “Could you focus on your inner energy, the way you did last night?”
“Sure.” That might actually help my brain work better.
It felt almost meditative when I did it yesterday.
Closing my eyes, I let the thrum of my heartbeat take over.
Blood rushes to all my extremities and back again, a cycle of life and energy.
A low-level tingle itches under my skin, not as strong as last night, but there.
“That’s interesting,” Eyebrows says. “You can actually see the sorcery degrading when he channels his inner energy.”
“Most humans are unaware they can even do this,” Tall responds. “It was probably something they felt safe not to guard against when they were designing the weave.”
“It works in our favor, anyway. Let’s grab some pieces before they disintegrate and see if we can identify the perpetrators. Sam, are you able to maintain this focus for a while?” Eyebrows speaks directly to me for the first time since we were introduced.
“I think so,” I say, slitting my eyes open. It has no effect on the thrum of energy through me, so I open them properly. “It feels easier today, good, like stretching.”
He nods. “Excellent. That makes sense—it’s your shifter side waking up.
Those of us in the community are used to being aware of our inner power.
Let us know if you start to feel any strain, but I think that, given enough time, most of this sorcery will just break down under the pressure of your true self.
That should make it easier for us to reverse. ”
“That’s good.” I let my eyes drift closed again and concentrate on the energy. It’s kind of mesmerizing. Soothing. I can hear the murmur of voices as the others discuss what they’re doing, but I don’t bother trying to make sense of it. There’s a faint rushing noise beneath it all.
“Sam?”
I lift my heavy eyelids and look up into David’s smiling face. His features seem sharper… clearer, somehow. “Yeah?”
“We’ve gotten enough to identify the sorcerers involved and also to see exactly what they’ve done here. Now we’re going to try unraveling the rest. I need you to pay attention and let us know what you’re feeling.”
Ah, the scary bit. Great. “Okay.”
“Are you still okay to keep up the energy flow? Because we think that will make it easier.”
“Sure. It’s not any effort at all anymore.”
David exchanges glances with the others.
“Could you ramp it up a bit?” Tall suggests tentatively.
I shrug. “I could try.” I direct my focus back to the energy. It’s been flowing without any direction from me for a while, so now I actually concentrate on the thrum of it, encouraging more intensity. The tingle picks up, racing a little faster, and the tiny hairs all over my body stand on end.
“That’s sped it up,” Tall says with a lot of satisfaction.
“If I may,” a new voice says, and I open my eyes again. It’s Aidan. “I could compel his shift.”
“No!” Alistair snaps from across the room, and I turn my head to look at him. Elinor has a firm grip on his arm, but his face is livid. She doesn’t look happy either. Gideon steps up beside her and bends his head to ask her something.
From the way the others stop to consider, I know this is a big deal.
“What does that mean?” I ask.
Aidan meets my gaze. “It’s a serious thing,” he says solemnly.
“I would force your animal side to come forward. Shifting is difficult and takes a lot of energy at the best of times. To have it forced is very uncomfortable, both physically and mentally. I definitely don’t like the idea of having your first shift be that way. ”
So why did he suggest it? “Oh. You think calling my cat forward will make what’s left of the sorcery fall apart.” That kind of makes sense.
He shrugs. “It’s a theory. Your scent has changed over the past hour or so—the human is fading, and the cat is coming out.
I think there’s enough of your shifter self discernible for me to call the rest out.
I’ll leave it up to the experts to say whether it would be a safer option than trying to unpick the sorcery. ”
“Percy?” David asks. He’s worrying his lip with his teeth. “The weaves are degrading naturally under the pressure of Sam’s shifter energy without impacting him at all. I’m confident we can handle unraveling them, but we don’t know what those booby traps will do if we inadvertently trigger one.”
Booby traps? Maybe I should have paid attention. “Wait,” I say. “Can I just…? So, if Aidan forces me to shift, it’ll be… what? A bit painful? Make me feel… sad? Anxious? Help me out here.”
“Painful,” Aidan agrees. “It’s something your body can do naturally, but instead of you doing it, I’d be forcing it on you—like how most people can reach up behind themselves and scratch the middle of their back, but when someone yanks their arm back, it hurts.”
“So painful but not cripplingly so?”
“Right. But there’s a degree of mental discomfort too. You’ll feel anxiety, and it will probably linger for a few days. You may also get emotional.”
“Sounds fun,” I mutter. “Okay. But it’s likely that in return, this will dissolve all the sorcery with no consequences?”
“We think ,” David is quick to stress.
“The other option is for you all to pick apart the sorcery and potentially set off some kind of booby trap?”
“Yes.”
“And we don’t know what those booby traps would do?”