Deep Betrayal Page 0,97
hear the lie. Tentatively, I reached down, afraid of what I’d feel. Afraid of feeling nothing. My fists refused to unclench, but slowly I willed my hands to open, letting my fingers stretch to their full length. The first thing I found were the remains of my shorts, hanging in fringed tatters from the waistband. I combed the strips of cotton through my fingers and took a deep breath. If only I could feel my fingers against my legs, I knew I’d be okay. No one would ever hear me complain if it was just a broken leg. I laid my hands flat against my thighs, relieved to feel my palms hot against my skin, but gasping at the sensation, because beneath my fingertips was the familiar texture of smooth scales over compact muscle. In a panic, I replayed my slip off the rock, the sinking, the air burning up in my lungs. I remembered the flash of light.
“You changed me?” My voice was a coarse grating—like the bottom of a boat against the sand.
“He says he didn’t,” said Dad, whom I’d now located at my shoulders.
“I didn’t!” Calder said, from my feet, or fin.… I didn’t want to look, but peeked through my lashes. All I could see was a twitching blur of pink that caught the sun and flashed light in my eyes.
Calder and Dad carried me up the porch steps, and Mom called through the screen door. “Jason! Jason! Oh, thank God you’re home! What are you—? What’s wrong with her? Lily!”
Sophie held the porch door open, and Dad and Calder carried me in. The pain was unbearable now—like waves of broken glass pulsing through my bone marrow. I writhed and twisted as my skin pulled and joints strained in their sockets. Somewhere in my head, Mom was screaming.
“Blankets!” Dad yelled, and Sophie pulled quilts off beds and the afghan off the couch. My tail knocked over a floor lamp as I thrashed and seized uncontrollably.
Mom whimpered nearby while Calder cocooned my body with the blankets and placed couch cushions around my head to stop me from slamming it into the wood floor. Already, a goose egg rose up at the back of my skull.
“Shhh. Shhh,” he said. “Just breathe. Deep breaths.”
I screamed in agony against the ripping. Could they hear me tearing in two? It was so loud in my ears. Tears burned like acid behind my eyelids. “I don’t understand!” I cried.
“You shouldn’t have butted in,” Sophie said.
“Not now, Sophie,” Dad said. “Why is it taking so long for her to change back?”
“I don’t know,” Calder said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Should I call the doctor?” Mom asked. “Maybe Father Hoole?”
“No!” sounded four voices in unison.
“No, of course, not,” Mom said. “What was I thinking? I don’t know what to do. Give me something to do.”
“Take me to the lake!” I howled. “Get me back. I can’t stand it!”
“How long has it been?” Calder asked.
“I don’t know,” Dad said. “Ten minutes? Fifteen?”
When I opened my eyes, Calder was my mirror. When I flinched, he did as well. Every movement I made, every grimace played out for me on his face. To both feel and see the pain doubled its intensity, and I gripped his arm with such force, he sucked air through his teeth.
“Please,” I begged, digging my fingernails into his flesh. “Get me back to the lake.”
Dad apologized. He didn’t want to backtrack the process. Perhaps I’d made some progress that they just couldn’t see; perhaps just another minute longer and I’d be back to normal, whatever that was.
I shrieked again as a tremor ran the length of my spine. If I didn’t know better, my vertebrae were trading places. Calder scooped me up and slung me over his shoulder like a bag of laundry. Dad protested, but Calder wasn’t listening. He ran for the lake.
I lifted my head off Calder’s back just enough to see Mom and Dad through the kitchen window, Dad’s arm around her back, supporting her as she stood, watching, her hand covering her mouth. She turned into him and buried her face. Through the window, I could hear her say, “Don’t leave,” and Dad’s shaky voice say, “I never left.” My face fell limply between Calder’s shoulder blades. At least Dad was home. He and Mom would be all right. If I was dying, at least I could die happily, knowing they had each other.
I clenched my teeth to hold in another scream as my body stiffened. Calder