Cassie Alexander - Deadshifted

Asher leaned on me as we went inside. The rest of the room was still there, in all its strange glory, and Claire was sitting on the bed with Emily nearby. I felt Asher groan at the sight of them.

“It’s going to be okay,” I said, to him, to me, to everyone. I didn’t even care if it was a lie. It was all I could do to stop from petting Asher, just to feel him whole beneath my hands, present, there. Maybe the pregnancy hormones were finally running wild, I didn’t know, I just couldn’t stop crying.

He pulled me into him. “It really is. We’re going to be fine.”

I nodded into his chest, blind. It was awkward and I didn’t care—but after a time I did, and turned around, looking out at the rest of the group, still plastered to Asher’s side. If I kept ahold of him, he couldn’t ever leave me again.

“Was the room like this when you got here?” Claire asked, after pointing at the destruction I’d left on the floor.

I shook my head. “No. I went a little crazy.”

She snorted. “Good for you.”

Asher stood straighter, stroking my wet hair, addressing everyone. “We need to get out of here.”

“Not before you tell us what you are—” Rory said.

“No, he’s right. It’s not safe here.” Claire gestured for Hal to come and retrieve her. It occurred to me that Hal was a very patient man. “You still have the master key, right?” she asked, looking to me. I nodded. “Then let’s discuss this somewhere down the hall. Or on another floor entirely.”

Asher grunted. “Hang on.” He planted me, and disappeared into Nathaniel’s bathroom, then returned. “Okay. Let’s go.”

By the shaky logic that the gunmen would be rising up going door-to-door, we agreed that getting a floor higher would buy us the most theoretical time. I walked by Asher’s side, and I reached for his injured hand as we headed toward the elevator at the end of the hall. The towel-dressing was occupying the space of two digits—he wouldn’t be able to wear a wedding ring now even if he’d wanted one. “Why this?”

“He wanted to see if they’d regrow.”

That was so awful I stopped walking. “Why more than one?”

“So people would know it was me, not him, if I changed again.”

“Oh.” I realized if we made it back from this, “Hector” would have to explain two newly missing fingers at work. Despite Asher’s being a shapeshifter, Nathaniel had effectively marked him for life. He wasn’t a salamander, he couldn’t regrow lost limbs.

“He’s nothing if not thorough.” Asher shook his head and pressed me to him tighter. I bit back a squeak as my shoulder bent a direction it shouldn’t. “What’s happening to the rest of the ship?” he whispered in my ear.

“The rescue ship brought gunmen over instead of aid. They’re tearing through the ship right now, shooting whoever’s still alive. I don’t suppose you’ve got an entomologist inside you somewhere?”

“Never had the pleasure of meeting one.”

“That’s a shame then, because it turns out there’s weird worms inside a bunch of people, making them eat everything and then fling themselves overboard.”

Asher’s nearness slowed our pace. We were already at the back of the group, afforded some privacy for our reunion, although Rory was casting back anxious looks. Claire was hitched up on Hal’s back, and Hal had a gentle hand on Emily’s shoulder, herding her forward.

“Edie…,” Asher said, his voice low in my ear, and then tilted his head at everyone ahead of us.

I didn’t need to look into his eyes to know he’d done the math. There was no way we’d manage to get this crazy group of people off this boat. We’d be better off on our own. He knew it, I knew it, we both were right. But.

I shook my head and gave him a bittersweet smile. I loved him more than anyone else I’d ever loved in my entire life. I would walk across glass for him, or run back into a fire. But everyone up ahead had just helped me set him free. I couldn’t turn my back on them, not even to save my own hide.

Asher sighed beside me, a sound more felt than heard, and closed his eyes slowly, like a cat resigned to his fate. I would have squeezed his hand, but I didn’t want to hurt him.

Our group reached the freight elevators that we’d already used, opened the door, and waited for the elevator hidden behind it to arrive—and when it did it was occupied by a single soldier.

Luckily, our group was more comical than threatening, which gave Claire a chance.

She leaned over Hal’s shoulder and whispered, “You didn’t see us. Go back the long way.” Her voice was the sound of writhing snakes, scales rasping drily over one another. It echoed in the elevator and it felt like it was a personal instruction. I took a step back—and Hal’s arm reached out to stop me.

The soldier whom it’d been directed at dropped the barrel of the gun he’d been raising and nodded crisply, order received. He walked around us as though we were not there, and headed down the hallway to the stair.

Asher openly gawked. “I know a lot of languages, lady, but I’ve never heard one like that before.”

Claire smiled down at him. “You’re not the only one with secrets.”

“Am I the only one without a superpower here?” Rory said.

I gave him a sympathetic look as the elevator door began closing. “Nope.”

It didn’t take any time at all to rise up a floor, and we deposited ourselves in one of the large rooms facing out to sea and barricaded the door. We’d have warning if anyone entered, but we’d also be trapped inside.

I wasn’t surprised to see an unfamiliar dead body in the bathroom. Emily’d found it first, but Rory’d gotten a hand over her mouth to muffle her scream in time.

A man was in his very nice and separate-from-the-bathtub shower. He was slumped in a corner of it, all his clothes on, eyes staring open, jaw dropped wide.

“Shhhhhhhhh,” Claire told the girl, but without any weird accent this time.

“It’s like this?” Asher asked me.

“All over the ship. That, or people have gone insane and jumped overboard. You don’t even know half of what it’s like.” I stepped back out of the room, and they followed me. “We have to pool resources, and quickly. All our cards on the table. For real.” And to encourage full disclosure—“I’m a human. I’ve got a master key to all the staterooms.” I looked over to Rory, standing at my right.

Rory crossed his arms, knife still in hand. “I’m Rory. I’m a human. I’m keeping this.” He waggled the knife.

Claire went next. “I’m a siren. I met Hal a long time ago. I can convince people to do what I want them to do, if they’re near enough and willing to listen. My voice travels better underwater.”

Rory’s eyes narrowed. “I’ve fought sirens in video games before. You all are never good.”

Claire looked affronted. “I hope then that we are at least hard to kill.”

“Depends on the difficulty setting.”

“Oh, I can be very diffi—” Claire began.

“I’m just a man who loves a siren,” Hal interrupted both of them, and Claire looked chagrined.

Emily knew it was her turn after Hal. “I have a radio.” She held it up for us to see. Hal must have given it to her. I gave her an encouraging smile, and then looked to Asher, who shrugged.

“I’m a shapeshifter. And I’ve never met one of you before.” He bowed to Claire.

“And I’ve never met one of you,” she said, somewhat regally from her perch.

“You only think you haven’t,” he said, with a puckish grin.

Now was not the time for my boyfriend to charm people. “What happened to you? Did you find anything out? And what the f—” I started to curse, saw Emily, and bit it back in time. “What was going on in that room?”