It sounded like Mary was getting her mixed up with someone else, because while she had changer genes, she certainly wasn't able to change. Though, admittedly, she'd never tried to, either.
A chill ran over her skin, and she rubbed her arms. Whoever had blocked her memories had been very thorough indeed if she could not remember something as basic as the fact that she could shapechange.
Why block it in the first place, though? She could understand why Hopeworth and everything that had happened there might have been erased, but why the total erasure? Why take away from her something as harmless as the fact she had a brother or that she could shapechange?
And how was any of this connected to the mythical Sethanon?
"How many bird forms did he have?" she asked.
"Several. You always seemed to prefer the small hawk form, but him, he liked to change. A hawk, a raven, sometimes even a pigeon. None of those could fit through the window, though. He came today as one of them annoying birds—minors, I think they call them."
Again she wondered if Mary's memories were true, or if she was getting imagination and reality mixed up. She glanced up as the nurse finished her check on the old girl.
"She's fine," the nurse said. "Just keep her calm."
Sam nodded, waiting until the two nurses had left the room before continuing her questions. "Did Joshua say why he was here, Mary?"
"He said it was all right to talk. He said they couldn't stop me anymore." Fear briefly crossed her half-frozen features.
"Maybe that's why he came. He knew."
"He who? I need to know which one of them, Mary, so we can stop him."
"The general. It was the general."
"Blaine? Or Lloyd?" It had to be one of them. Lloyd was a gynecologist, and apparently in charge of the breeding section of Hopeworth. Blaine had been the man behind the experiments and training. Maybe even the whole Penumbra project.
But which of the Blaines had been here? The one she'd met at Wetherton's car, or the one who'd been in Wetherton's office?
And did it actually matter? Just because she hadn't felt anything "off" or evil about the first Blaine didn't mean he couldn't be either.
"It was Blaine." Mary shuddered. "We used to call him the day shadow. Always creeping about, he was, and harder to spot than a ghost at dusk."
"Did he say anything?"
"Didn't get a chance, did he? He saw Joshua and scooted out of here as fast as he could."
"So he recognized Josh?"
She smiled. "You always used to call him that when you were angry with him. It was like you couldn't get his full name out fast enough."
Her dreams had never shown anger with the man who was supposedly her brother. Only fear and longing—fear of what they were doing, of what Joshua was going to do. Longing to be free, to have what she'd never had—a family, friends.
Things she still didn't have.
"Did we fight often?"
Mary shrugged. "You were as different as night and day when it came to personalities. You were always the fiery one, the one quick to judge. He was more…careful." She looked away for a minute, her gaze briefly distant. "But for all that, I always thought he was the more dangerous of the two of you.
He never seemed to have limits of any kind. And he did some nasty things."
"We both did," she said softly.
Mary's gaze met hers again, and she raised a slightly shaking hand to brush Sam's skin with dry fingertips. "In many ways, you were always the good one. What you did, you had to do."
Her words made Sam remember the pin Joe had given her. Had it been more of a clue than she realized? Had the abstract man and woman on its surface—one light, one dark— represented her and the man who was supposedly her twin?
Had Joe been trying to tell her that he not only knew who she was, but who her brother was? And did that mean he was a friend or foe? For sure, he'd warned her of trouble more than once, but that didn't mean she could trust him. Hell, for all she knew, Joe might be Blaine in disguise.