“Why would we go to where the biggest monsters live? Or do you want a bigger monster instead?” He leers at me and for a second I am repulsed. I remind myself that Under is trying to steal him from me and I have to keep a tight hold. I am his memory.
“I want you.” I press a kiss to his lips, glad that he still has them. “We are going back to where I live. To where you used to live. Do you remember being human like me once?”
A scowl forms, marred by the horns sprouting from his forehead and his eye socket. “Did I know you then?”
“Yes, we went to school together.” Then I tell a white lie. “We know how to leave this place, and how to undo the changes.”
It’s not a total lie, as we are figuring it out.
Behind me, Tail groans, but this time it sounds different, one of relief than more pain. I twist around, dreading what changes I’ll see and if he too has forgotten me and where we are going. If I have to convince both of them, every time, I’m not sure we’ll be able to make the trip. With every fight they will become more dangerous to me if they don’t remember who I am.
“You really want to help him,” Michael says.
“Yes. I can help you both.” I smile and hope that I am right. Already I know that if I have to leave without them, it will tear my heart apart. There has to be a way for them to unravel all the changes and return to being fully human. To return home where they belong.
He studies me like he isn’t sure that he trusts me, then he nods and puts me down. “Trying is better than doing nothing.”
I run over to Tail, my feet kicking up the soft gray dust as I skid to a halt and drop to my knees by Tail’s side. The notebook in my pocket bumps against my hip. I haven’t read it, but I will tonight. I’ll read it to him and maybe it will shake some memories loose, maybe some happy ones.
I half expect his tail to reach out and wrap around my throat, but he lies there, breathing like it is the hardest thing in the world. His four-eyed gaze settles on me.
The scales have risen to beneath where his ribs start, and there is a bony protuberance arching up out of his shoulders. I hesitate, then put my hand over his golden furred one. “Are you okay?”
“Yes. Or I will be.”
“Why did you move first? Why not let the others attack?”
“The element of surprise. We were outnumbered and had what they wanted.” His fingers wrap around mine. “I couldn’t let them take you.”
A smile forms on my lips. “You remember me?”
“How could I forget the woman who is willing to fuck monsters to get us all home?”
“Michael, Horn, has forgotten the last two days. Everything.” My voice cracks like I hadn’t realized how deep that had cut until I said it aloud. “It feels random and cruel what Under takes.”
“Yet, we both know it’s not.”
I sniff and nod. “Under took the reason he was fighting…and you?”
What does his new bony frill and increased snake-ishness have to do with anything?
“I bit and poisoned one of them. Using my venom makes me more of a snake. It shortens my temper. Those things I understand. The rest…” he sighs and pushes himself upright, then runs his fingers over the new growths on his shoulders.
His head tilts and I sense Michael behind me.
“We need to move. This place is too exposed,” Michael says. “Are we taking her to the center?”
“Yes. It was agreed on. You remember me?”
“We are allies,” Michael grits out like every memory is a struggle.
“We are more than that since we share her.”
“Prey is ours,” Michael says as to remind himself that he has to share.
I turn to look up at him. His thick furred thighs are in front of my face. As I lift my gaze, the full swell of his loincloth makes it hard for me to see past.
Tail rises from the ground. “She is. And we are going to take her home.” He wriggles closer. “Get on my back and we’ll travel faster. It would be nice to reach the next ridge of mountains before we rest.”