Chapter 16
Chapter
Sixteen
Winter
"So," Milo broke the uncomfortable silence on the way back, "how was the anomaly at the park?"
"Contained," Rook was terse.
"It was a magical leaking hydrant," Fenric elaborated stiffly. "Someone had enchanted it to spray rainbow water that turned people into their spirit animals temporarily. Relatively minor, as it turned out."
"Oh, that sounds fun!" Milo's enthusiasm seemed to physically pain Fenric, whose eye twitched again.
I could kiss him.
"It was not 'fun.' It was a violation of at least twenty-seven Bureau regulations regarding public magical displays and unauthorized transformation spells."
Horrace, who had been quiet until now, suddenly perked up at the mention of transformations. He made a curious trilling sound, and I felt his interest spike through our connection.
"You like transformations?" I smiled watching him.
He bobbed his head, several eyes blinking in sequence.
"No," Fenric tone firm, catching the exchange in the mirror. "Absolutely not. That entity is not allowed to transform anything."
Horrace deflated slightly, making a sad musical note that somehow perfectly captured the essence of disappointment.
"His name is Horrace," I reminded Fenric for what felt like the tenth time. "And he hasn't done anything wrong. He's just lost and scared."
Rook turned fully in his seat, his amber eyes studying the manticore with unexpected thoughtfulness. "How did you know it, he, was the monster from the prophecy?"
I explained what had happened in the swamp, how Horrace had connected with me, and the visions I'd seen of his past with Emma.
"The prophecy markings responded immediately," I showed how the blue symbols on my arm pulsed in rhythm with Horrace's presence. "It's like they recognized him."
"Fascinating," Fenric admitted reluctantly. "But still highly irregular. There are protocols for inter-dimensional entities, forms that need to be filed, containment procedures..."
"He's not going to be contained," I felt Horrace's fear spike at the word. "He's coming with me until we can find Emma. That's final."
Rook and Fenric exchanged a look that spoke volumes.
"What?" I narrowed my eyes. "What aren't you telling me?"
"We received a message from Dr. Thornwick while you were in the swamp," Rook scratched the back of his head. "He's decoded more of the prophecy. It mentions something about a 'monster's bond' that strengthens the vessel."
"The vessel being you," Fenric clarified unnecessarily.
I processed this new information, unconsciously reaching up to stroke Horrace's side. He purred musically in response, nestling closer.
"So the prophecy wanted me to bond with Horrace?" I glanced down at where his tentacle wrapped around my wrist, covering my prophetic markings.
"It appears so," Fenric admitted grudgingly. "Though the implications are..." He trailed off, clearly uncomfortable.
"What implications?"
Rook answered instead, his voice low and serious. "If your power is tied to the manticore, it changes things. Makes you harder to control."
"Control?" I looked at them sharply. "Is that what this has been about? Keeping me under control?"
The temperature in the SUV seemed to drop. Horrace sensed my anger, his form rippling in response to my emotions. The blue markings on my arm flared, and I felt power building beneath my skin, responding to my distress.
"That's not what Rook meant," Milo interjected quickly, placing a calming hand on my arm. "He meant it makes you harder for the cultists to control. Right, Rook?"
Rook met my gaze steadily. "The Bureau has only ever wanted to protect you, Winter."
"And the rest of reality from me," I added bitterly.
"That too," he admitted with surprising honesty. "Power like yours… it's dangerous. But necessary."
His honesty defused some of my anger. I took a deep breath, feeling Horrace relax slightly as my emotions stabilized.
"Well, Horrace stays with me," I spoke with finality. "Prophecy says so. And apparently, he makes me stronger, which seems like a good thing given that cultists keep trying to kidnap me."
When we finally arrived at the apartment building, I expected Zane to be gone, his shift had likely ended hours ago. Instead, he was leaning against the entrance, a picture of casual grace that didn't quite mask the tension in his shoulders.
His mismatched eyes widened fractionally when he spotted Horrace, then narrowed with calculated assessment.
"That's new," his voice dry as we approached. "Interesting fashion choice, Shortstack. Living scarf?"
Horrace, to my surprise, perked up at Zane's voice. Several tentacles waved in what seemed like greeting.
"This is Horrace," I introduced. "He's the monster from the prophecy."
"Of course he is," Zane nodded, as if inter-dimensional manticores were an everyday occurrence in his world. Maybe they were. "Does he bite?"
"No, but he knows all the lyrics to Cats," Milo offered helpfully.
Amusement flickered across Zane's face. "Terrifying."
As we made our way up to my apartment, Zane fell into step beside me, his eyes occasionally flicking to Horrace.
"He's bonded to you," he observed quietly.
"How can you tell?"
"The energy pattern." He gestured vaguely to where Horrace's tentacle wrapped around my wrist. "I hunted inter-dimensional entities for decades, remember? They only form bonds like that when they've found an anchor they trust completely."
I wasn't sure how to respond to that. The idea that this strange, lost creature trusted me so completely felt like both a gift and a burden.
"Is that a problem?" I was suddenly concerned by his scrutiny.
Zane's expression softened unexpectedly. "No. But it makes you more unpredictable."
"That seems to be the consensus," I muttered.
When we entered my apartment, Horrace immediately tensed. His colors shifted rapidly, and he made a series of sharp, discordant notes that hurt my ears.
"What's wrong?" I looked at him in concern.
Through our connection, I sensed his distress, his reaction to the unfamiliar space with its strange energies. The surveillance orbs that floated in every corner seemed particularly distressing to him.
"The monitoring spells," Zane realized. "They're designed to detect and suppress abnormal magical signatures. He's registering as a threat."
As if in response, alarms suddenly blared. Red lights began flashing from the ceiling, and a mechanical voice announced: "WARNING: INTER-DIMENSIONAL brEACH DETECTED. CONTAINMENT PROTOCOLS ENGAGED."
"Oh, for fuck's sake," I groaned as panels in the walls slid open, revealing what looked like magical containment fields powering up.
"Fenric, shut it down!" I shouted over the alarms.
Horrace was trembling violently now, his form beginning to destabilize under the stress. I could feel his panic through our connection, raw and primal. The blue markings on my arm flared in response, pulsing with increasing intensity.
"The system is automated!" Fenric shouted back, frantically typing on his tablet. "I need override clearance!"
Rook moved with surprising speed, physically ripping one of the alarm panels from the wall. It didn't help, the system was magically powered, not electrical.
Zane grabbed my shoulders, his mismatched eyes locking with mine. "Winter, you need to calm him down. Your connection can stabilize him."
I nodded, forcing myself to take deep breaths despite the chaos. I reached up, cradling Horrace's face between my hands.
"Horrace, look at me. Focus on me. You're safe. I won't let anything hurt you."
Several of his eyes swiveled to meet mine, wild with fear. I strengthened our connection, channeling the energy from my prophetic markings deliberately toward him, creating a feedback loop of calm and reassurance. I had no idea how I knew to do it, it just happened.
"That's it," I encouraged as his trembling began to subside. "We're together. Remember? I promised we'd figure this out together."
Slowly, his form stabilized. The tentacle wrapped around my wrist pulsed in rhythm with my markings, strengthening our bond. The alarms continued to blare, but Horrace was no longer reacting to them.
"Got it!" Fenric finally shouted, and the alarms abruptly ceased. The sudden silence was almost as jarring as the noise had been.
For a moment, we all just stood there, catching our breath. Then Fenric's tablet pinged with an incoming message. His face, already pale, went positively ashen as he read it.
"What now?" I sighed wearily.
"Agent Nightstar wants a full report on the inter-dimensional entity," he swallowed hard. "Immediately."
"His name is Horrace," I corrected again.
"Yes, well, Agent Nightstar would like to know why 'Horrace' is in a secured prophetic containment apartment instead of in a proper inter-dimensional holding facility." Fenric's eye was twitching again. "She's not pleased."
"Shocking," Zane muttered.
Rook, who had been quietly assessing Horrace throughout this exchange, finally spoke. "The prophecy specified bringing the monster home."
I blinked in surprise at his support. "You're right. That's the priority."
"In the meantime," Fenric interjected, his bureaucratic instincts kicking in, "we need proper documentation. Species classification, dimensional origin markers, magical signature analysis—"
"In the meantime," I cut him off, "Horrace stays with me. He needs stability, and I'm his anchor right now."
As if to emphasize my point, Horrace made a soft, musical purr and nestled closer against my neck, his form settled now into something that, while still wildly alien, was at least holding a consistent shape.
Zane and Rook exchanged a look that I couldn't quite interpret. There was wariness there, certainly, but also something else, resignation, perhaps. Or respect.
I couldn't find it in me to care.
Fenric looked like he might actually cry as he collapsed into a chair, tablet clutched to his chest like a shield. "This violates seventeen different Bureau protocols," he whispered hoarsely. "Seventeen!"
"Seventeen's not so bad," Milo cheerfully grinned. "Remember when Winter turned the vending machine sentient? That was twenty-three violations!"
"Twenty-six," Fenric corrected automatically, then groaned. "The paperwork for this is going to be astronomical. Inter-dimensional entity affinity bonds require a Form 62-J with at least three appendices, not to mention the prophetic integration documentation..."
He continued listing forms and regulations, his voice taking on a slightly manic quality as Horrace watched him with all twelve eyes, head tilted curiously.
"Is he going to be okay?" I looked to Zane.
"Eventually," Zane murmured though he was holding back a smile. "Once he's filed everything in triplicate and color-coded his anxiety away."
I couldn't help but smile, though it faded quickly when I caught Rook watching me. His amber eyes were unreadable, but his posture remained tense, vigilant.
"What?" I asked him directly.
"Everything's changed. Again."
Looking down at Horrace, at the prophetic markings that now pulsed in perfect synchronization with his presence, I couldn't argue with that. Whatever path the prophecy was leading me down, it had just taken another unexpected turn.
And judging by the way Fenric was now hyperventilating into a paper bag while muttering about form submissions, Rook growling under his breath every time Horrace shifted position, Milo feeding Frank while telling him of our adventure and Zane watching the whole scene with cautious calculation, my protectors were going to have a hard time adjusting to our newest team member.
Tough britches.