Rodrigo breathed in and out deeply, and then he stared down at the stone with deep concentration.
The boy’s legs slid out from underneath him. He sagged to the side, and the naiad ran forward to hold him upright. His legs fused into a tail, and gills appeared all down his neck and back. The boy’s eyes bulged as he tried to suck in air through his lungs, and nothing came. He started to look panicked.
“It’s all right,” Rodrigo said soothingly. “Remember, you can be brave. Now . . .”
The stone pulsed again, and then, as if the boy were some kind of werefish, the transformation reversed itself. The tail split into legs, the fins curled into toes, and the gills healed back into whole, unbroken skin.
The boy let out a wail. “I want to be a mermaid! You said I’d be a mermaid! Why didn’t it work?”
The other children were watching with huge eyes.
“That was just a practice run,” Rodrigo said comfortingly. “I’m only showing that it’s reversible. Now I’ll turn you for real. Put your hands on the stone.”
The boy shoved his hands on the stone, and his form melted and fused together again. This time, when he gasped for breath, Rodrigo nodded to the naiad and she grabbed the gasping boy around the waist and heaved him into the hole.
Water splashed everyone, soaking my feathers, and I shook my wings to get rid of it.
The boy’s head bobbed above the water, and he gave an overjoyed grin. His mouth moved, then he seemed to remember that mermaids were mute because they had no lungs to speak with. He gave a thumbs-up and then dove, disappearing far beneath us.
The naiad woman clasped her hands to her chest and wiped the tears from her eyes.
Three other children raced up to Rodrigo.
“I’m supposed to be a shark mermaid!” a little girl shouted. She looked about five.
“Which shark?” Rodrigo asked.
“I don’t remember!”
“You’re a hammerhead, dummy!” a boy next to her shouted.
“Don’t call me dummy!” she bellowed.
I was numb as Rodrigo turned the rest of the children, and then more batches the naiad fetched. More and more and more. Fifty-seven by the time he’d finished, unless I’d counted wrong.
As Rodrigo put the turning stone back in the backpack and zipped it up, looking tired, the naiad woman started to cry.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, rather sharply.
“It’s just . . . two hundred and thirty-eight I couldn’t risk you helping,” she sobbed. “Ones with no families to go home to, or with families who might not have kept it secret. I can’t bear it!”
Rodrigo’s expression softened. “I know,” he said. “There’s no shortage of children born of the water who are cursed to live on the land. They are the main reason I started doing this.”
I didn’t know what to think as we walked out of the building.
Was Rodrigo a villain, or wasn’t he?
Would those children be safe, or wouldn’t they?
I knew what the author of that whiny mermaid book would have said. It wasn’t the same as what my parents would say.
The biggest thing that bothered me was . . . well . . .
On the other hand, Rodrigo still hadn’t proven to me that this was safe. Nor had he told me what the odds were of somebody being accidentally tainted. How many of those children were going to wind up monstrous and dangerous?
How many of them would touch a turning stone?
How many clans would die that way?
I told myself not to be morbid as I got into the back seat of Loretta’s car. Surely one of those families would get caught, or the parents would change their minds and call the police. Surely the records wouldn’t hold up, or somebody would notice all those children missing.
Surely this hadn’t been going on for months all over the country with nobody knowing.
I wrestled with my seat belt, which didn’t want to fasten. My huge wings made it hard to stretch the seat belt around, but I didn’t want to pull them in, just in case. I squeezed back against the seat, held my breath to make my stomach as flat as possible, and shoved and shoved until I finally heard a click.
I exhaled with relief. Man, this was uncomfortable. My wings were smushed, and the seat belt was digging into my shoulder and waist. I couldn’t wait until I got back home and could get out of the car. In fact, I wished I had my flyer’s license, because I could have flown home from here. I’d almost gotten the hang of the takeoffs and landings . . .
Rodrigo got into the back seat beside me, instead of sitting in the front seat, and Loretta got into the front seat and turned the key in the ignition.
The scenery around us began to blur, and I thought, That’s odd. Why is the reservoir still on the left? It should be on the right if we’re going back home.
“You understand why this has to be kept a secret,” Rodrigo said from beside me.
“What?” I jumped. “Oh — uh — yeah. You don’t want people thinking all those kids are tainted and putting them in cages or killing them or something. Got it.”
“Because they’re not tainted,” Rodrigo said. “They’ve just been rescued. You understand that, don’t you?”
“Uh huh,” I said, nodding quickly. I understand that that’s what you’re saying. Doesn’t mean I believe you.
“I would never normally take an outsider to one of those turnings,” Rodrigo said quietly. “But I knew you would understand, because you too lack a clan.”
There was something very intense about his gaze that worried me. I swallowed. You’re undercover, remember? I told myself.
“Yeah, lacking a clan stinks,” I said. “I really wanted to have one, but then Rarity Clan ended.”
“I know,” he said, nodding. “Which is why I’m starting another one.”
“You . . . are?” I said slowly. “Uh . . . where?”
“Right here in Sky City,” I said. “I’ll have to move on soon myself, of course, but three of the people I turned have joined it already.”
“Which ones?” I gasped.
He smiled. “That’s something you’ll have to learn for yourself. If, that is . . . you want to join it.”
“Wh-when is the meeting?” I stammered.
He smiled. “Right now.”
My throat felt tight, and not just because the seat belt was squeezing the side of it. I didn’t want to go there! Was he kidding? I wanted out of this car right now!
On the other hand, if I went . . . I might learn more of his secrets.
“O-okay,” I said.
“In that case,” Rodrigo said, unzipping the backpack he had placed on his lap, “are you ready to be a werehawk?”
Chapter 16: The Choice
“Uh . . .” I said, which was the first thing that came to mind. “No! Nope! Sorry! I’ve decided I’m happy being a vulture! Thanks and all that, and I’ll be sure to tell people about you if I think they’d be interested!”
It wasn’t a lie. I would definitely be telling the police, and I was certain they’d be interested.
“Let me be clear,” Rodrigo said, and there was nothing of the warmth that had been in his voice. “You will be leaving here a werehawk, or you won’t be leaving at all.”
“What if I didn’t want to be a werehawk?” I asked nervously. “What if I wanted to be a werebear, or a wereporcupine?”
“Fine,” Rodrigo said shortly. “Is that what you want?”
“No, I want to be a vulture. But see? Proved you wrong! I could leave being anything, and that would be fine!” I laughed as if it were a big joke, hoping he would join me.
He didn’t.
“You see, the thing I don’t like about being a vulture is not having a clan,” I gabbled. “Having a clan would be great. And I’ll be happy to refer people to you, so, uh, yeah, please let me join!”
He said nothing.
“Don’t worry, I can promise not to tell about the mermaids if you don’t want me to!” I added brightly.
&nb
sp; I really didn’t want to promise that, because I wanted to tell the police badly, but if it would save my life, I would.
Rodrigo’s expression didn’t change.
“Okay, you’re right, I have to make a decision about what I want to be,” I said desperately, sneaking my left hand to the lock on the door. Using my gigantic wing feathers to mask the movement, I flipped the lock and shoved my hand over to the handle. “You’re totally right. I’ve got it. I want to be — alive!”
I yanked the handle, intending to leap out and shift into vulture and zoom away before they could stop me.
The door was child-locked. It didn’t budge.
“Told you,” Loretta said to Rodrigo. She pulled one of her hands off the steering wheel, rolled down the driver’s side window, tossed my phone out into the blurred scenery, and rolled it back up again.
“HELP, SOMEBODY SAVE ME!” I shouted at the top of my lungs at the closing window. “I’M BEING KIDNAPPED BY A PAIR OF EVIL ARCH-VILLAINS!”
“You do realize we’re in a time pocket, right?” Loretta asked as the window sealed shut. “No one will understand what you said.”
Rodrigo sighed. “This is really very disappointing.”
“Yeah, because you wanted to taint the last vulture in Sky City?!” I yelled. “You sent a serial killer after all the others in the 1980s! Admit it!”
“That wasn’t me, that was my boss,” Rodrigo said coolly. “Exactly how old do you think I am?”
“Really old,” I said furiously. “Super old. Centuries old. Because she’s been feeding you time to keep you immortal!” I jabbed my finger at the driver’s seat accusingly.
Rodrigo and Loretta both started snorting with laughter.
“Good theory,” Loretta said between chortles, “but no.”
“Try again,” Rodrigo said, his lips twitching.
“Then you’re . . . uh . . .” It was putting me off that they seemed to think my theory was funny. “You’re super evil and you’re out to take over the world,” I announced.
“What would I do with the world?” Rodrigo asked in amazement. “Do you have any idea how much work it would take to run it?”
“I don’t have to know, because it’s your plan,” I glowered.
Rodrigo looked exasperated. “No, it isn’t.” He glanced at Loretta. “Should I taint her, or would you rather suck her time?”
“I need to feed off someone,” she said. “I only have an hour and a half left. Sixty or seventy years to work with would be worth a few hours of aggravation from being in the same room as her.”
“Why can’t you do both?” I asked, and then realized that had been a really, really stupid question to ask.
“Because taint would shorten your lifespan considerably,” Loretta said shortly, keeping her eyes on the road. “If I’m going to drain you, I’d rather it be worth the effort.”
“Oh, right,” I said, nodding as if this were a perfectly reasonable thing to say. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Rodrigo zip his backpack back up, and I sighed with relief.
If that thing wasn’t out in the open when I tried to escape, I wouldn’t accidentally touch it when I kicked Rodrigo in the face and jumped out. I mean, of course I was going to shift and fly off the instant this door got opened. I mean, duh.
“So what are your evil plans?” I asked hopefully. “Since you’re going to kill me anyway, you can tell me all about them, right?”
Rodrigo snorted.
“You’re supposed to do that,” I explained. “That’s what bad guys do.”
“I am not a bad guy,” Rodrigo said, his eyebrows twitching.
“Uh huh, ’cause good guys go around killing teenagers and tainting children,” I said.
A muscle in Rodrigo’s cheek twitched. “They’re not tainted.”
“Oh, yes, they are!” I shot back. “When the wereechidna touched her clan’s turning stone, it turned pink! You tainted her, and I bet you tainted lots of those kids!”
“They’re not tainted,” he snapped. “I can tell the difference when it happens, and it’s only happened twice before. It’s very rare, and of course I had those two put down right away.”
Put down? Put down?! k`1`2
“Who did you kill?!” I shrieked. “Was it the pumpkin? The poisonous tree? Two out of seven is not rare at all!”
“Oh, spare me stupid teenagers,” Rodrigo muttered, putting his hand to his forehead. “That’s two out of about two thousand, not just seven. I’ve been doing this for over a year.”
I was furiously offended. I wasn’t stupid! In fact, I was smarter than he realized, and I’d prove it!
I yanked my wings in, flopping back against the seat and fixing my seat belt, which was now way too loose. The wire reappeared in my bra.
Ha! Now the police could listen to every word we said! Okay, they’d have to record it and then slow it down, which meant they’d be way, way behind us, but still . . .
“Well, the wereechidna girl is definitely tainted!” I snapped. “She touched her clan’s turning stone, and it turned pink!”
“Being a taint carrier is not the same as being tainted!” Rodrigo snarled. “None of them are going to turn into monsters or go crazy. It’s just a natural consequence, nothing more!”
“Wait . . . all of them?” I said, stunned. “All the people you’ve turned are tainted?”
Rodrigo shut his mouth. He looked like he regretted having said anything.
“You tainted every last one of them?” I shrieked, my voice rising.
“It’s not the same as being tainted!” Rodrigo snapped. “They won’t get sick, they won’t go crazy, they’ll just taint any turning stones they touch. It’s a very small price to pay!”
“It might have been if you’d told them about it!” I shrieked. “If you’d warned them not to touch their clans’ turning stones!”
“That would defeat the point!” Rodrigo shouted.
“Rodrigo,” Loretta said warningly from the driver’s seat.
Rodrigo jumped and looked a little guilty. “Right,” he said, clearing his throat. “That’s it. No more talking, or I’ll taint you right now, Lisette.”
I shut my mouth, but my mind was working furiously.
So Rodrigo’s goal was to taint turning stones. That would explain why he hadn’t warned anybody. But why did he want to do that? That was crazy. Was he out to destroy as many species as possible, or something?
I thought about Loretta’s rant on the way to the orphanage, and my suspicion became a chilly certainty.
He wants to destroy all the “useless” species, I thought.
I kicked the back of the driver’s seat, trying to think of a perfect plan to escape. Every single one I came up with ended with Loretta Vampireclanbaobhansith just casually freezing me and dragging me into their secret lair or wherever-we-were-going, so they weren’t very successful plans.
Her power was a real pain. It was hard to plan around it.
I wished I still had my phone. I could have secretly texted Kegan. Plus, I was pretty sure phones had GPS on them. That would’ve helped the police find us. Of course, that was probably why Loretta had thrown it out the window.
Mom, Dad, I thought, I’m sorry I went now. Happy?
But of course they wouldn’t be. They were going to be miserable when they saw my dead body. I wasn’t too enthusiastic about the idea myself, really. And Kegan . . . the last thing I’d done before I’d left the house was yell at her for tattling.
Now would be the perfect time for my awesome power to come out and surprise everyone and save me, I thought, kicking the back of Loretta’s seat as hard as possible. Awesome power, now’s a great time!
“Do you mind?” Loretta snapped from the driver’s seat. “I’m trying to drive!”
“Yep, I mind,” I said promptly. “I mind that a lot. You’d better stop this car right now and kick me out.”
Rodrigo snorted.
“Hey, can we stop somewhere so I can use the bathroom?�
� I added hopefully. That always worked in movies.
Rodrigo unzipped his backpack threateningly.
I got the hint and shut my mouth again.
The scenery around us was no longer blurry, and we were heading down a residential street with lots of little houses. Loretta pulled into the driveway of a cozy yellow house that looked like it belonged to some little old lady. There was a boring grey car in the driveway.
“This doesn’t look like a secret lair,” I noted.
“It isn’t,” Loretta said. “It’s my house.”
“You’re using your house as a secret lair?” I asked. “Lame!”
“It’s not a lair, it’s not a secret, and don’t bother trying to run away,” Loretta said, parking beside that other car and unlocking our doors.
I was out the door in a flash, shifting to vulture so that I could fly away —
— nope, I was in a tidy kitchen with lace frills on all the curtains.
“I told you not to bother to try to run away,” Loretta said with exasperation.
I let out my loudest and most terrifying hiss, flapping my wings threateningly. Loretta jumped backwards, looking alarmed —
— and now I was in a cage. Terrific. There were droppings on the newspaper at the bottom, too. It looked like there had been pet birds in here recently.
I let out an earsplitting shriek of protest.
“Your own fault,” Loretta said coldly. “Rodrigo’s already gone, so it’s just you and me. Scream all you want; I put soundproofing on the windows and doors.”
I smashed my head against the door to try to beat it open, but that just hurt my beak. I squawked furiously.
“As I said, no one’s going to hear you,” Loretta said. She reached for a chair next to the table my cage was on.
I jabbed my leg through the bars.
She shrieked and leapt back, holding a bloody knuckle.
I hissed and let out an evil-sounding chuckle.
She kicked the chair far out of my reach and ran after it as it slid across the room. The chair clattered onto the floor by the entrance to what looked like a living room, so she picked it up and sat on it. Seeming to be trying to regain her lost dignity, she pulled a fashion magazine out from under her arm and started flipping through it.
Trials of a Teenage Werevulture (Trilogy of a Teenage Werevulture Book 1) Page 14