Her eyes grew black, and her face went blank, but she held on, mouthing one word over and over-- Samuel's name.
Samuel went to his knees, too, his eyes white and wild.
"Not here," I told him, and it was my turn to talk.
"You cannot change here, Samuel.
You have to get her, Phin, and the kids out of here.
You have to--she's not going to be in any shape to do anything.
Hold on." She wasn't going to be able to free me: first her father, then werewolf, and I could take a pretty good guess at what the final shape would be because the fairy queen had no intention of letting me go.
She who had been Daphne thought I was the proper owner of the Silver Borne.
She thought that when she released Gabriel, our bargain about my safety would be over.
Evidently, I wasn't human enough to benefit from the guesting laws that prevented a fairy queen from killing the humans who came into her realm.
She could kill me and get the book.
She'd have been right had it not been for one thing.
I didn't own the Silver Borne; Phin did.
When she killed me, all she'd get was a boatful of trouble--and I'd do my best to convince her of that once the others were free.
All I'd have to do would be hold out until Adam came to get me.
Of course, if Ariana managed to hold on to the last shape the fae took, it would make my life a lot easier.
For three minutes, Ariana held on to the werewolf--and then it changed.
The hound looked a little like a giant beagle: white with brown spots, rounded ears that hung on either side of its face, but there was no sign of the friendly expression that most beagles live and die with.
Ariana looked at the hound she held, her arms wrapped around its throat and her legs tucked almost under its body.
For a moment, nothing happened and, despite myself, I felt a great leap of hope.
I didn't want to be left alone with the fairy queen, who wanted to kill me.
Then Ariana rolled away from the hound, who must have looked like one of the hounds her father had tortured her with, and curled into a fetal position, her mouth open and screaming, but the sounds locked in by terror.
Samuel picked her up and crooned to her.
Not saying anything, just giving her his voice.
He hadn't forgotten who the enemy was, though.
His eyes were on the fairy queen.
"Five," said the fairy queen, sounding moderately grumpy.
"I thought I might get to keep you, werewolf, too, but she was stronger than I thought." Samuel snarled at her.
I noticed that Zee's rock, lying on the ground under the belly of the hound, who was focused on Ariana, was flickering.
"Samuel," I told him urgently.