by Erin Johnson
I glared up at the skeletal man who’d stolen my ability to shift, my powers, my life, for so long. The man who’d trapped shifters in their second forms and sold them to a zoo, who’d trapped my friend Will in poverty and servitude, who’d profited from the discrimination against his own people.
I squared my shoulders as cries and grunts sounded behind me, along with the scuffle of feet. The hunched witches together let out a sustained shriek, a wailing alarm that echoed through the tunnels.
Just as Ludolf opened his mouth, no doubt to cast some spell on me, I threw the vial of purple potion into his face. I clutched the empty glass vial in my trembling hand and watched him, breathless. Would it work? Or was this the end for me?
With a strangled cry, Ludolf suddenly shifted into heron form. I blinked, stunned, then lurched forward and tackled the bird, wrapping my legs around his wings and getting a choke hold around his long neck. With my other hand I pinched his long, sharp beak shut, mindful of that charming story he’d told me once about how herons liked to peck the eyes out of their prey.
He thrashed and groaned, but I held tight to him, straining to restrain him. The old witches kept their screaming alarm up, and I glanced behind me. Horace, Prince Harry, and Princess Imogen were back in their normal forms, glowing palms aimed at the real Neo, Sacha, and Viktor, who held their hands up.
With that somewhat under control, I focused on wrestling Ludolf to submission. With a final wrench, he lay panting in my choke hold. Between clenched teeth, I whispered to him, “I had the royal healers brew up a batch of potion based on all the recipes you used to try to ‘cure’ shifters. You know—all the ones that backfired and trapped them in their second forms.”
I spoke between gritted teeth. “We’re going to walk on out of the sewers with you, and no one’s going to stop us, not even your personal guard. Your own secrecy about your second form means no one even knows you’re a heron shifter.” I smirked as he struggled harder in my arms. “Your own sick desire for a cure—oof—and your own shame about who you are, are going to be your undoing, Ludolf Caterwaul.”
In all the court cases I’d won, in all the murders I’d helped solve, I’d never felt more vindicated and triumphant. Take that, Ludolf!
I glanced up, panting, as the witches continued to wail their alarm. Then again—we still had to get out of the sewers alive. I lifted my head and looked toward Horace and the prince and princess. “Uh, guys—what’s the plan?”
Francis, in a whirl of black smoke, dropped out of bat form and hovered beside the three witches. With a wave of his hand, they all collapsed facedown on their tables, unconscious.
He sighed in the now near silence. “That’s better.”
“Yeah, but I’m sure the alarm they sounded has the entire shifter army descending on us any moment.”
The real Neo, hands still in the air, nodded. “They’re coming.” He gave me a long look. “We’ll help you.”
Ludolf, in heron form, writhed under me. “And—oof—why should we trust you?”
Francis drifted over, the black toes of his shoes dangling above the stone ground. He rolled his wrist, and a large burlap sack appeared in his hands at the same time that a rubber band magically wrapped itself around the heron’s beak. Together we stuffed Ludolf, in bird form, into the sack, and Francis pinched the opening closed as inside, the bird writhed and flapped his wings.
I huffed and straightened, dusting off my jeans and jacket. I nodded at Francis. “Thanks.”
“Guys?” Sacha’s deep voice cut through the silence. He glanced behind him. “They’re nearly here.”
37
A Red Heron
Viktor chittered and twitched, and Sacha stepped closer, muttering gentle words to him until he quieted a bit.
Neo started toward me, but the prince stepped in front of him, blocking his way. Neo shot him a heavy look, then addressed me over the prince’s shoulder. “You don’t have much choice. They’re going to be here any second.” He raised his dark brows. “Darkmoonies stick together, right?”
I stared at him a long time. We’d successfully trapped Ludolf—was our whole plan really going to hinge on me trusting my old frenemy from the orphanage? I crossed my arms and shot him a sassy look. “What do you propose?”
“They’re close,” Sacha cautioned, his thick palms still raised.
The prince and princess exchanged worried glances, but Horace just gave a lazy blink. “Let them come.”
Princess Imogen flashed her eyes at him. “I’d rather not get involved in another battle royale, thank you.”
I frowned. Another? Was baking a more hazardous job than I realized?
Neo pointed at the three unconscious old witches. “They sounded the alarm; we need to hide them. I don’t know how, but I’ll try to explain why Ludolf and the witches aren’t here and why royalty is.” He frowned, clearly worried.
I shook my head and took the writhing sack containing Ludolf from Francis. I used both hands and dragged it across the ground till I reached Neo. “You mess this up or betray us, and we’re all going down. Capisce?”
He gave me a small grin, as he looked me up and down. “Yeah, Jolene, capisce.”
I rolled my eyes as I shoved the sack at him. “And stop looking at me like that.”
He blushed a little but passed Ludolf over to Sacha, who handled the writhing sack with barely any effort. I turned to the prince, princess, and Horace. “You three pose as the old witches.” I spun to the vampire. “Hide the real witches outside the back entrance so they’re out of sight.”
I turned to Neo. “And you pretend you’ve apprehended me. Go!”
Thunderous steps echoed down the tunnels as Ludolf’s army approached, and we all dashed to our places. Francis whisked himself and the three unconscious hags out of sight, the other three took on the witches’ appearances and their places at the tables, and the shocked Neo, Sacha, and Viktor pretended to hold me captive.
I hoped they were pretending. If not, I was about to find myself in the middle of a battle royale, as the princess had put it, without any powers or way of defending myself.
Soon, burly men and buff ladies in a hodgepodge of DIY armor charged down the narrow tunnel toward us. They could only walk one or two abreast, so the line of them seemed to stretch back endlessly. My heart pounded in my chest as I recognized the enormous lion shifter who’d tried to attack Sam Snakeman. I gulped as we locked eyes and his lips parted in a snarl.
A short but wide dude with a shaved head and leather chest plate stomped up to us. He glared at Neo, then past us at the three witches—our friends in disguise.
“Where’s Ludolf?” He narrowed his eyes at Neo. “We heard the alarm.”
Neo’s throat bobbed, and I willed myself not to look at the sack in Sacha’s hands. Ludolf was close by—just in heron form.
Neo ran a hand over his slicked-back black hair and shrugged. “Ludolf? We were just heading to see him.” He elbowed me, a little too hard for my liking. I glared at him. “We apprehended this one trying to sneak around the Darkmoon.”
The short guy got in my face. “The little thief, huh?”
The guards behind him chuckled.
“Ludolf’s going to make you pay for your little stunt.”
“How much?” I raised my brows. “I’ve only got like ten gold coins on me.”
He glared. “You think you’re so funny. Someone needs to teach you a lesson.”
I scrunched up my face at his breath. “And someone needs to teach you a lesson about brushing your teeth.”
He sucked in a breath, his expression darkening. “Why you—”
Neo flashed his eyes at me, then shot the dude a tight smile. “Let’s let Ludolf do the punishing, hm?”
The guy sniffed, then jerked his cleft chin toward the witches. “What was with the alarm then?”
The one in the middle raised her hand and waved. “False alarm!” Her voice came out hoarse, but cheery, and I guessed it was the princess. “Yo
u know us—” She threw her arms around the other two and hugged them tight to her sides. “Just a few senile old hags stuck underground for decades. Bound to make a mistake and wail for no reason now and then.”
Viktor wrung his hands and giggled maniacally. I prayed to the sea goddess he wouldn’t blow our cover. Sacha placed a heavy hand on his shoulder, and he quieted a bit.
The guard dude frowned at the witches, clearly uncertain, but turned back to us. His narrowed eyes slid to the writhing sack. “What’s in there?”
Neo’s throat bobbed. “Heron shifter. Dude runs a shop in the Darkmoon and wasn't paying his dues. Ludolf had us pick him up for questioning.”
The dude sneered, a few teeth missing. “Questioning.” He chuckled, and a few of the guards up front, who could overhear, chuckled with him. He pounded a fist into the palm of his other hand. “Wouldn’t mind helping with some of those ‘questions.’”
My breath came in short pants as I looked over their heads—the line of shifter soldiers stretched back so far, I couldn’t see the end of it, but there were at least a hundred of them visible. So many that they’d make short work of us—or at least, me.
Hopefully, our gamble paid off, and, out of shame at what he was, Ludolf hadn’t revealed to anyone that he was a heron shifter. The dude stalked over to Sacha. “Open it.”
Sacha looked at Neo, who gave a slight nod. He opened the sack, holding the edges with his enormous hands. The guard dude leaned forward and peered inside, then jumped back as a sharp yellow beak jabbed up at him.
“Snakes!”
Sacha clamped the sack closed again and lowered the heron down to the ground.
The guard dude curled his lip at the sack, then at Neo. “Fine. We’ll walk with you down to the office.”
Neo waved him off. “Nah. Ludolf asked us to meet him here.”
“We have more potions to test on that one!” The middle witch pointed a knobby finger at me.
The guard dude hesitated and looked past us toward the back entrance where Francis waited, out of sight, with the real witches. After a long moment, my breath held and heart pounding, the dude shrugged.
“Fine, whatever.” He glared at the prince, princess, and Horace in their old lady disguises. “Just no more false alarms.” He shook his head as he turned, grumbling to himself. “I brought half the underground army with me.” He cupped his hands to the sides of his mouth and shouted at the waiting ragtag group. “False alarm—stand down!”
Slowly, they all shuffled back, grumbling, and I shot Neo a small grin, while Viktor twitched and giggled.
“What do you say we get out of here and deliver this heron to the cops?”
Neo raised his brows. “I know you’re dating one, but you really think you can trust them?”
I nodded, thinking over my talk with Chief McCray. “Peter’s not the only good guy on the force. Plus, we have the royals backing us.”
We glanced behind us as the three old hags transformed back into Horace, Princess Imogen, and Prince Harry. Francis drifted around the corner from the back entrance.
I grinned. “Ludolf’s reign is over.” I could hardly dare to believe it as a rush of relief washed over me. “We’re free.”
38
Sam
Peter, Daisy, and I headed back up to the top of the mountain, accompanied by Francis the vampire (who kept ahold of Ludolf in his heron form), Horace, and the prince and princess. I didn’t let go of Peter’s hand the whole way up, and this time, even the climb through the bustling cobblestone streets didn’t feel like a chore. Catching my nemesis definitely gave me a little extra pep in my step.
We reached the royal grounds and the guards with their golden lances let us in through the main gate. I slowed as we entered, remembering that Sam Snakeman had stood behind the podium in nearly this exact spot when he’d been attacked by Ludolf’s goons. I glanced out over the dark palace grounds, the tree line marking the edge of a small forest. Where could he be?
We paused inside once the golden gates were locked behind us. Being securely on the palace grounds suddenly made it all feel real. We gathered in a little circle.
Prince Harry pointed to our right, toward the jail. “We’ll go with you and make sure Ludolf’s processed properly and guarded.”
Iggy nodded his flaming head. “It’ll also make these guys look less insane when they try to book a heron for kidnapping, false imprisonment, and murder.”
I grinned. “Thanks.”
The prince rubbed his wrist and spoke more to his princess than the rest of us. “We’ll have to coordinate with the healers. They’ll need to make up a cure so Ludolf can be properly tried in human form.”
She shrugged, grinning. “I don’t know—it’d be kinda cute to put a heron on trial.”
He smirked and shook his head.
Horace stood a little apart, his eyes half closed as if he had much more important things to be doing than talking to us. “I’d leave him a bird a little longer—clip his wings to make sure he can’t escape.”
The princess shot him a wary look. “Metaphorically, or…?”
Her little flame peeked out of his lantern up at her. “Do you really want to know?”
She curled her lip. “Good point.”
I shoved my free hand in the pocket of my jacket, the other still wrapped around Peter’s warm hand. Daisy stretched her neck out and gingerly sniffed the burlap sack. A muffled squawk sounded, and the heron thrashed again. Daisy ducked her head and backed up, growling.
Ugh. This guy smells weird—like cologne and bird poop.
I watched her a moment. The cologne had to be Ludolf’s smell, but the bird droppings must be from his heron form. I suddenly had a thought.
I looked Daisy’s way and woofed. Do shifters smell different than other animals to you?
She cocked her head, her pointy ears pricked. She let out a slow groan. Yes… now that I think about it. If they’ve shifted fairly recently, they still have some human smell on them.
I looked behind me toward the gate, then back at Daisy. How recently?
She shot me a flat look and huffed. I don’t know—in case you’re wondering, yes, you do still reek of owl droppings occasionally.
I glanced over at Francis the vampire, hovering beside her with Ludolf in the sack. He’d smelled it on me, and I hadn’t shifted in years.
I barked at Daisy. Could you try to sniff out a snake shifter smell? I then turned to Francis. “Do you think you could sniff out your friend Sam if he’d been by here recently? Like in the last day or so?”
He considered it a moment, narrowing his dark eyes, which he’d lined in black makeup. “Yes. I think so.” His voice came out low and drawling.
I turned back to Daisy and barked, my excitement building. Let’s go back to the gate, where Sam Snakeman was attacked. See if you can catch the scent of snake and track it.
I turned to the vampire and barked at him.
He recoiled and curled his lip at me.
I shook my head. “Sorry, just got a little excited there. Daisy thinks she can sniff out the scent of snake. I think if you can try to smell out Sam and I check with animal witnesses along the way, we should be able to find your missing friend.”
The princess blew out a breath. “Oh, that’d be such a relief. We’re all so worried about him.”
Peter bit his lip and looked toward the jail. “Should this wait until after we’ve booked Ludolf?”
Horace curled his full lips into a sneer. “Don’t worry. Mr. Caterwaul here can writhe in that sack for a bit longer.” His expression darkened. “He’s not going anywhere.”
The princess’s eyes grew round as we turned and headed back toward the gate. “Snakes. You really don’t like this guy, huh? What’s your history with him?”
Horace’s gaze grew faraway, a cruel curl to his lips.
Iggy scoffed. “Look who you’re talking to, lady! Again—do you really want to know?!”
Pink spots burned on the princess�
��s cheeks, and she gave a sheepish grin. She turned to Horace. “Never mind.”
The guards let us back out, and Daisy zigzagged across the cobblestones, nose to the ground, huffing and sniffing with impressive focus. I’d bet I could have held a handful of bacon in front of her head and she wouldn’t even have looked up.
Similarly, Francis tipped forward so that he hovered horizontally, his shoulder-length black hair hanging forward over his shoulders. He zoomed about beside Daisy, hooked nose only a few inches above the ground.
The guards at the gate shot each other wide-eyed looks but didn’t say anything.
Francis and Daisy seemed to be of the same mind—soon, they turned back inside the gate and followed a meandering path toward the tree line.
I let out a bark. You’ve caught Sam’s trail, Daisy?
She didn’t even look up, her wet black nose twitching. She let out a quick woof. Stop blabbering and let me concentrate.
I turned to the others and nodded, encouraged. “I think she smells snake.”
Iggy shot his fiery head out of the lantern and gasped out, “That’s what she said!”
“Iggy!” The princess clapped the shutters on the lantern closed, muffling the flame’s mischievous cackling, then shot me an apologetic smile.
Francis, still hovering horizontally in a partly hilarious, partly unnerving way, glanced back at us. “I’m also picking up smells of Sam—cinnamon, fear, and a hint of lisp.”
The princess frowned. “You can smell his lisp?”
The vampire rolled his eyes and spoke in his deep drawl. “You’re too gullible.”
The princess just shook her head at him as Prince Harry took her free hand in his. We entered the tree line and moved deeper into the dark forest. Peter lit his wand, and the princess opened Iggy’s lantern again to give us light to see by.
The princess’s face suddenly lit up, and she turned to her husband. “The forest—of course! I think this is where Sam grew up. It’s where I found him during the competition last year.”