Chapter 2
Ariel sat in a chair in the group therapy room, teeth clamped shut as she listened to the others talk about their families and new concerns while in rehab. If she could cross her arms across her chest any tighter, her ribs would probably break from the pressure.
Simon, an ex-experiment, sniffled as he continued his story, “So I haven’t been able to visit my family.
They’re all human. How could I possibly explain my condition?
” He pointed to the beaver teeth that were permanently part of his dentition.
Simon grabbed for the box of tissues, his clawed hand mangled the box.
He had a lot of shifter traits that wouldn’t disappear in human form, and they were from a variety of animals.
He’d never be able to visit a human town again—maybe never even see the world outside FUCN’A property again.
While the others in group seemed to think this a tragedy, Ariel felt Simon wasn’t truly appreciating his gifts.
He could intimidate anyone with those claws!
Although she could admit he had experienced somewhat of an injustice, if Dr. Grimm had been the one to work on Simon, he would have done a much better job.
The scientist who’d held Simon clearly wasn’t as intelligent, gifted, or generous as Dr. Grimm.
A golden glow kissed Paige’s bronze skin as she turned to Ariel.
“You look like you want to say something.” Ariel shook her head, and Paige continued, “You mean to say that you don’t have any thoughts or feelings about what Simon just shared?
” She raised a dark eyebrow as if to say she found that hard to believe.
Another therapy session, another time being held under the interrogation light of the resident “friendly” therapist. Ariel knew that to do her job best, she had to really make these people believe she was trying to assimilate.
She had to say something, and she had to make it good.
Paige had proven her ability to see through any falsity or lies Ariel had tried to emit previously.
What to say? Saying Simon seemed a big baby to her probably wasn’t the best response.
She took a breath and sought out her feelings toward someone else she’d hoped to help in the past, her brother.
Merely bringing Anson to mind unearthed the ache she kept buried in her chest. The one she pretended wasn’t there because she wasn’t sure what to do about it.
“It must be awful to want to see your family and not be able to,” she offered up with as genuine emotion.
“It’s more than that,” Simon said with a sniffle, narrowing his green eyes. “I didn’t even know what a shifter was before I was kidnapped.” His shoulders deflated with a sigh. Even his deer ears wilted.
“That really sucks.” Ariel nodded sympathetically. “I’m sorry this work was done on you so poorly. Dr. Grimm—”
“You were held by Dr. Grimm, too?” Simon’s eyes widened and locked in on Ariel with surprise, his dark curly hair bobbing as he vibrated with newly generated rage.
“Then you know what he’s like! He just rolls the dice and leaves people with a cocktail of deformities and augmentations that don’t make sense! ”
Ariel froze. Simon implied Dr. Grimm did this to him? Is he lying? “Is this a setup?” she turned to ask Paige. Was everyone in group told what to say to get her to doubt Dr. Grimm’s genius? That was low, even for Paige.
“What do you mean?” Arty asked, blinking his large yellow eyes in the ostrich head he wasn’t able to shift out of. The rest of his body remained human, save for his long, feathery neck and bird head. Ariel ignored him, turning back to Simon.
“Simon, were you told to make up a story about Dr. Grimm?” Ariel needed to know. Heat flooded her neck as anger buzzed in her chest.
“What?” Shock filled his face, enlarging his green eyes. “I didn’t make up anything.”
“You must have. Dr. Grimm wouldn’t do something like”—she gestured to Simon’s various animal features—“you know. He only provided people with gifts. He fixed me.” Ariel knew she shouldn’t be sharing details about herself, but she couldn’t stand people lying about the doctor and dragging his name through the mud. She wouldn’t stand for that.
“Do any of us look fixed to you?” Arty asked, puffing up his fluffy, white feathers like a crown around his head. He blinked his large, round eyes at her. “And don’t even suggest I don’t know whose lab did this to me. I have no reason to blame a different so-called scientist for this.”
“It couldn’t have been Dr. Grimm. He sometimes had assistants helping,” she added, in nearly a whisper.
A part of her, deep down, knew she was making excuses.
She knew that what he’d done for her was nearly miraculous…
but no miracles happen without some failures in the testing phases.
But all of this? Ariel glanced around the room as if seeing the group members for the first time.
Probably none of them could live among humans again.
Ariel swallowed that part deeper. If Dr. Grimm wasn’t the genius she took him for, then what did that mean? What had she been helping him do?
“Grimm did this to me, whether you can believe it or not,” Simon said softly. “It’s okay if you can’t acknowledge it. That’s what this group is for. We’ve all been through a lot.”
She laughed darkly. “But that’s the thing. I haven’t been through a lot. I… I benefited from his work. He gave me gifts for a small price.”
“By small price, you mean this?” Jennifer, across the room, lifted her pant leg to reveal a furry hind leg. Ariel wriggled her nose to take in the scent. It was shrew fur. Her fur.
No… not just her fur. Suddenly a realization hit, one that she didn’t want to believe, and yet everything inside her told her it was true.
It was her leg.
Ariel was lost for words for a moment. This had to be a trick. They were conspiring against her. “He wouldn’t do that. He said he needed it.” She shook her head, trying to shake loose the image. Her mind spun. So did the room. Ariel’s stomach lurched. Is that really my leg?
“He needed it for me,” Jennifer said with a sneer.
“The first experiment didn’t go so well.
Left me needing a replacement leg. And what better way to continue his shifter experiments than by attempting xenotransplantation?
Grafting limbs from one shifter type to another, seeing if abilities would transfer from donor to recipient.
He played you, Ariel. He played all of us at one time or another. ”
“It was just a game to him,” Simon added as he brushed back his curly hair, his deer ears twitching in annoyance.
“No. It meant something. I meant something,” Ariel choked out, horrified when she had to sniff to try to hold back emotions. Hot tears stung her throat, but she swallowed them. Even if they would drown her, she held them in.
“I think we need to bring this conversation back to the main topic,” Paige interrupted as Jennifer opened her mouth to probably say something else Ariel wouldn’t like. Paige turned to Ariel, “What about your family?”
“What about them?” She tried to bury the anger rising in her chest, though why it was there, Ariel wasn’t sure.
“Have you visited your brother yet?”
She narrowed her eyes at Paige, trying to figure out her angle. “No. So what?” She crossed her arms.
“Family—at the very least, our support system—is what helps us all to heal. Who is your support system?” Paige asked, glancing around the room.
“This group is mine,” Simon piped up. “So are the friends I’ve made at FUCN’A. I can’t see my family, but I have others I can get close to.” The lightness of hope colored his soft voice.
Arty sighed. “There’re many others here like me, who may never pass for ‘normal’ again. They are my support system because they know what I’m going through. And my family are shifters, so they can come visit me, too.” He gave an apologetic glance to Simon.
Jennifer crossed her arms. “I’m new here and have trouble trusting after… after what happened. I’m still building up my supports, I guess.” A darkness clouded her face before she added, “I don’t have a family.”
“Family can be chosen,” Ariel tried reassuring Jennifer, leaving out that Dr. Grimm was the first one to suggest this to her.
He said it in the beginning, when Ariel was crying at night in the lab over how much she missed her family.
I can be your family. Family can be chosen.
Ariel shook the memory from her mind as she looked back to Jennifer’s now-covered leg—Ariel’s leg.
Was it all a lie? Could the others be right?
Did Dr. Grimm say what he had to so he could manipulate her and get what he wanted?
Paige clasped her hands together. “Today was a challenging group. Between now and next week, take some time to reflect on who is in your support system. Also, plan for some self-care later today if needed. And as always, my door is open if anyone needs to talk.”
Ariel sighed in relief. Saved by the bell. Hopefully the next group would be a safer topic. Ariel left the room with her dark thoughts, trying her hardest not to think about Dr. Grimm and their seemingly twisted relationship. The others were wrong about him. They had to be.