Chapter 9 #3
He exchanges glances with Eyebrows and Tall. “No. We could examine them a little more closely to get an idea, but that will take time, since we want to be careful not to set any of them off.”
Well, fuck.
Either way, this is not going to be fun for me, but the decision seems kind of obvious.
“You’re all the experts,” I say, “but right now, my vote is for Aidan to compel the shift.”
“Sam,” Alistair starts, but Percy’s already talking.
“I think that’s the best option also. The magic seems to concur.”
“Wait,” Gideon says, frowning.
“That’s what we’ll do, then,” David declares.
“It’s best if we clear the room,” Aidan advises. “We don’t know how Sam will react to his first shift.”
“I’m not going anywhere until I’ve talked to Sam!” Alistair shouts. I turn to look at him. He’s got his hands balled into fists, and it seems like he’s right on the edge of his own shift. Elinor is hissing something at him, but I can’t make out the words.
“Okay,” I say. “What?”
He stomps over. “You need to think about this seriously, Sam. I trust the species leader to take care of you, but a compelled shift is awful . Your first shift will be hard enough anyway without having to deal with the aftermath of it being forced. I’d be a shitty friend if I didn’t warn you against this. ”
Nervous butterflies erupt in my gut. Could it really be that bad? I look at Elinor, who followed Alistair. She makes a face, but nods.
“It’s really bad, Sam. We pretty much spend our lives trying to avoid it.”
Fuck. I look over at David. “If you had to guess, what do you think those booby traps do?”
He shakes his head. “I don’t know. But… for a booby trap like this to be triggered, a sorcerer would need to be probing your genetic makeup.
I’d say the purpose of the trap is to protect the sorcerers involved and maybe hide the exact extent of the work.
I doubt we would have been able to get as much information as we have without Percy’s help—and without the weaves having degraded as much as they have.
If they’d been in perfect condition, we wouldn’t have even been able to see them without Percy. ”
“You’re talking in circles, David,” Tall says impatiently. She meets my gaze squarely. “If I was guessing, I’d say setting off one of the traps would cause a self-destruct in the remaining weaves.”
“Which are tied to me on a molecular level?” I’m not sure if that’s the right turn of phrase. Honestly, I don’t even know what a molecule really is. But the very thought of something inside me self-destructing makes me feel sick.
“Yes.”
“Then fuck no,” Gideon declares. “You can’t put him at risk that way. And I don’t like the idea of forcing him to shift, either. There has to be a way to do this that won’t hurt .”
I push aside the warm, fuzzy feeling his concern brings and turn back to Alistair. “Which would be worse, a forced shift or the possibility of me melting into a puddle of goo from the inside out?”
He looks at the sorcerers. “What are the chances that you’d actually trigger the booby traps?”
“Fuck off!” Gideon roars.
I can’t believe Alistair’s even asking. I just want this fucking sorcery out of me .
Eyebrows spreads his hands. “We’d try really hard not to, but there may be more than we can even see. Let’s say a maybe… ten, fifteen percent chance?”
“I don’t think it would be quite that high,” David says bluntly, “but if it were me, I’d go for the forced shift. I’ve heard they’re horrible, but nobody’s ever died from one, have they?”
Alistair shakes his head reluctantly. “Not that I’m aware.” He glances at Aidan, who also shakes his head. “Fuck, okay. I wish it didn’t have to be this way.” He steps back. “I have to wait outside, Sam. Your cat might not like having a hellhound in the room.”
“Why are we not trying to think of a better solution?” Gideon demands.
I ignore him. Am I going to lose all sense of self? “But it’s you,” I tell Alistair. “Won’t I know you?” I turn to Aidan, slightly panicked. “Won’t I know my friends?”
“Probably,” he assures me. “But you’ve never shifted before, and the circumstances aren’t ideal. We don’t know how your cat is going to react at first, so we’re going to minimize the potential for problems. Remember?”
Yeah. All right. He did say something about that before. I nod, huffing out a breath. “Wow, I thought I was ready, but I guess this is… Can we just do it and get it over with?”
“All right, everyone, clear the room,” Percy announces, and there’s a ring of authority in his voice that startles me. I knew he was the lucifer, and everyone defers to him, but I never really thought about the fact that he’s in charge .
He smiles at me. “For what it’s worth, the magic is strongly indicating that this is the right decision, Sam.” He defers to Aidan. “Dr. Sims, Karly, and I are going to stay. Does that work for you?”
Aidan nods. “Nobody else, though.” He raises an eyebrow at Alistair, who huffs.
“I said I was going.” He grabs me in a hard hug. “Ugh, you smell like cat.”
“You’d better get used to it,” I manage. Unless I die, of course. They said that had never happened, but hey, I’ve been setting a record for firsts in the past twenty-four hours. Why not add another to the list.
He puts his hand on my nape and squeezes. “I’ll see you in a few minutes.”
Is that all this will take? I hope so. I nod, and Alistair lets go and makes a beeline for the door. “Hurry up, all of you,” he yells. “Don’t drag this out longer than it has to be.”
Elinor grabs my hand and gives it a squeeze. “You’ll be fine, Sam. See you soon.” She goes after Alistair. Lily comes to give me a kiss and a hug, then she and Andrew leave as well.
“I’m sorry this wasn’t easier,” David tells me. “We’re going to find the people who did this to you.” And then the sorcerers are gone too.
We all look at Gideon. He’s standing a few feet away, legs planted, arms crossed over his chest. He doesn’t look like he’s on his way out the door.
“Gideon?” Percy prompts.
Gideon shakes his head. “I’m not leaving him.”
Aidan frowns and opens his mouth, but Gideon cuts him off. “Not. Leaving.”
His intimidating, massive presence makes this all seem a little bit less scary.
“Let him stay,” I say, almost without thinking about it. “If that’s okay?”
Everyone looks to Percy, who’s studying Gideon with a considering expression. He glances at me, back to Gideon, and then finally says, “Fine. But don’t interfere.”
Gideon nods sharply and seems to settle more comfortably into his I-can-kick-your-ass stance.
Percy smiles at me. “Sam, are you rea—"
“Sam, shift!” Aidan commands, and there’s something in his tone that makes my bones ache.
But nothing happens.
Disappointment settles in my stomach. “Maybe there’s not enough of my shif—” I cut myself off with a shriek as my whole body comes apart, the energy inside me pushing , bursting out—