“Good boy,” I murmured, watching as Dee cried over the body of her brother. “You’re always such a good, good boy.”
A soft scuffling sound from inside the barn drew my attention. I glanced over to see the lindworm’s tail pass by the opening, heading back out into the forest. I smiled a little despite the seriousness of the moment. The lindworm hadn’t done anything but allow itself to be annoyed by Crow, who was admittedly very good at being annoying. There had been enough blood shed already, and I didn’t need to add another lindworm to the total.
Blood . . . “Dee, where did Walter take Shelby? Which way is Frank’s office?”
“West,” she said, voice muffled by her position. “Walk west, and you’ll find it.”
My day had included a homicidal gorgon crossbreed and an angry lindworm, and there was still a cockatrice somewhere around here that needed to be accounted for. This wasn’t the time to worry about any of that. Shelby was hurt. Shelby might be dying. And she needed me.
“I’m sorry about your brother,” I said softly. Then I turned, still holding Crow against my chest, and ran into the woods.
My parents insisted that my siblings and I learn how to navigate by the cardinal directions before we were allowed to start first grade. It didn’t come easily for all of us; Verity used to get confused, and nearly had to repeat kindergarten. I’d always been good at that sort of spatial orientation, and I ran without hesitation, somehow managing to navigate the uneven terrain without tripping over anything and slamming face-first into the dirt.
It was something of a shock when the woods finally ended and I emerged into the open field surrounding the gorgon community. I didn’t slow down, but kept running, tossing Crow into the air as I went. He took wing, cawing angrily. Hopefully, his irritation would be enough to keep him in the trees and prevent him from accidentally locking eyes with any gorgons. It was a miracle that he hadn’t been petrified yet, and I wanted to keep it that way.
I work hard to stay in shape, but that doesn’t involve very many sprints through the forest. I was panting and weak-kneed by the time I reached the door to Frank’s trailer. The door was closed. I stopped myself just short of pounding on it, managing to make myself back off enough to knock politely.
The door opened a moment later. Frank’s form filled the doorway, and his expression as he looked down at me was utterly impassive.
“Where is my wife?” he asked.
“In the woods, with her brother,” I replied. “He’s dead. She’s not. Where’s Shelby?”
“Here.” Frank stepped aside, allowing me into the trailer.
I’ve entered homes that had been taken over by ghouls. I’ve walked into Apraxis wasp hives. And I don’t think I had ever taken a single harder step in my life. I stepped inside and turned toward where I’d seen the surgical beds when we were in the trailer before.
Shelby was lying there with a blanket pulled up to her shoulders. Her eyes were closed, but her face wasn’t covered. I took a slow step toward her. “Is . . . is she . . . ?”
“She lost a great deal of blood,” said Frank. “I’ve sent a car to get some supplies from the hospital. She’s stable for now. He missed her major organs. She was, if you can believe it in a situation like this, lucky.”
“Lucky,” I echoed, as I walked to her bedside. Her cheek was warm beneath my fingers. She didn’t open her eyes. I sat down in the chair next to where she lay, leaning forward to rest my forehead against the edge of the bed. I would wait there for the next emergency.
I fell asleep in that position. The emergency never came.
Epilogue
“Good for you. Now survive the next one.”
—Thomas Price
The reptile house of Ohio’s West Columbus Zoo, a private back room where no one reasonable goes
Six weeks later
THE BASILISKS WERE AWAKE, circling each other in their carefully darkened enclosure with their wings outstretched and their tails lashing in what was either a mating dance or a precursor to bloody combat. I kept my eyes glued to the glass, waiting for the moment where one of them would make a move.
The male stopped circling, picked up a piece of the hard rocky shell that had protected him while he hibernated, and placed it gently at the female’s feet. She hissed. He offered her another bit of rocky shell. She lashed at him with her tail. He offered her a third fragment. She accepted it, striking him with her tail again—but this time it was less of an attack, and more of a caress. Beginning to croon, she turned and walked away into the high grass. He followed, head bobbing in what could only be interpreted as a victory dance.
“You go on with your bad self,” I murmured, smiling.
“Who’s going where, then?”
I turned, my smile widening at the sight of Shelby Tanner standing behind me in the dimly-lit room. She was the second person to have the code—not for any scientific reason. Just because I wanted her to. Crow was cradled in her arms, his tail swishing lazily back and forth. He’d been spending as much time with her as he could since we came home from the gorgon community. He loved having a second human to cuddle with, especially one who was endlessly willing to give him the petting and adoration he deserved. I didn’t begrudge him the attention. He’d earned it when he saved us both.
“I think my basilisks are finally mating.” I gestured toward the enclosure. “It’s not much to look at right now, but in a few months, we’ll have chicks.”
“Oh, yay, more horrible things to turn me into stone,” said Shelby. But she was smiling, and she kept smiling as she walked over to kiss me on the cheek. “Ready for lunch?”
“In a minute,” I said. “And basilisk chicks are surprisingly adorable. They have blue feathers.”
Shelby had been stable but very weak for the first few days after Lloyd attacked her. She hadn’t been strong enough to come home, and her injuries would have been hard to explain to the human hospital, unless I wanted to be arrested for assault. Luckily, Frank had done a more than competent job. He was a very talented surgeon. She couldn’t have been in better hands. Thank God.
She walked over to peer into the enclosure, where only the rustling of bushes betrayed the location of my basilisks. “Blue, you say. All right. What happens after the chicks come?”
“We raise them to maturity and then send them off to the people who need them. Walter has agreed to take these two on a long-term basis, and trade their offspring for whatever the fringe requires.” It was a tidy way for them to make a little money without betraying their ideals. Much. “Are you still coming to dinner tonight?”
“What, like I’d miss the opportunity for your cousin to school me at Scrabble again?” Shelby laughed. “I’ll be there at six, as planned.”
“Oh, good.”
Sarah wasn’t exactly “schooling” anyone at Scrabble, since half the words she used were made up, but she had fun, and she was getting better at keeping up with the conversation. Really, she was getting better at everything. She could reliably tell me from Shelby, which was a real accomplishment, considering how far gone she’d been when I’d first come to live with my grandparents. I was actually starting to think she might get back to her own personal definition of normal.
Shelby wrinkled her nose at the rustling bushes. “This is getting dull,” she said. “Anything else going on around here?”