"Where'd you get that?" I asked.
Avoiding my gaze, Kyton stood with the bag in hand. "It's my salary. We don't trust banks."
"Seriously?" I didn't know whether to be flattered or insulted. Apparently Grandma thought my protection was important enough to pay thousands for--and difficult or enough to warrant paying someone that much.
"Yeah, you're a handful, so she pays me well." He started across the parking lot again.
Why was he bringing that much money here? All of a sudden, I realized what was going on. Someone he knew, someone close to him, had to be in the hospital for some serious illness. He was probably worried that they would die. Not to mention that their hospital bills had to be a ton.
We were almost to the hospital's front doors when he stuck out an arm to stop me. He didn't meet my eyes, but I could tell his were brimming with emotion. "You'll have to stay outside the room."
Instinctively, I opened my mouth to argue. What did he think I was going to do, insult whoever he was visiting? Unplug them? I wasn't a dragon yet. And I definitely wasn't a monster. But I couldn't entirely blame him for wanting me to keep out. Whoever he was visiting was probably an Otherworlder, and they might not trust me.
"I'll-" It wasn't too late to go sit in the car. That was probably a good idea if the alternative was being stuck in a small hospital room with at least two Otherworlders. I almost turned around. But then I caught sight of Kyton's face again.
His glamour was even worse than yesterday. I could see his real eyes, huge blue ones with hardly any whites. And some kind of feathery worms were growing from behind his ears. On second thought, those were probably antennae.
"Are you okay?" I risked touching his arm in an attempt to comfort him.
He gave me a strange look, but at least he didn't move away. "No, I'm not okay. My-"
The hospital doors slid open, and a green blur flew at Kyton. Teeth bared, I jumped in front of him. He grabbed the back of my shirt and yanked me back.
"Hey-"
"Calm down," he whispered in my ear. "That's my sister."
Now that the blur wasn't moving, she did look a lot like a female version of Kyton in a green dress. The rush of adrenaline when she ran out made my whole body shake. Even I didn't know what I'd been about to do. She'd just surprised me, and I reacted. Would I have attacked her if Kyton hadn't stopped me?
Yes. I probably would have.
"Sorry." I moved to the side so they could hug.
Kyton's sister was a good half-a-foot shorter than him, but she didn't look any younger. When they pulled apart, her overly large emerald eyes landed on me. Her glamour was slipping; her eyes almost glowed, and they were just as big as Kyton's. She looked like a living manga character. Except for the pale green skin that appeared beneath patches of thin glamour on her face and neck. Oh, and the faint smell of death wafting around her.
"Lilly, right?" There was a melodic tone to her voice, but it didn't hide the disdain laced through the words.
I nodded. "What's your name?"
"Nissa." She cocked her head, and long black curls cascaded over her shoulders. "I'm Ky's twin."
Something about the way she looked at me made me feel uneasy. She didn't like me, for some reason. More than that--she was so upset at me that her magic was coming off her in waves. It smelled awful though, not like Kyton's at all.
I backed away, taking short breaths. "Cool. You know, I think I'll just stay in the car."
"No, you came this far. You should come upstairs." She grabbed my arm and dragged me through the automatic doors.
I tried to pull away, but she was just as strong as Kyton. He followed us into a spacious white-gray lobby and grabbed my other arm.
"She said she wants to stay in the car. Let her go, Niss."
Nissa glared at us over her shoulder. "What, afraid she'll bite you again?"
I couldn't believe he'd told her about that. Of course, it kind of made sense that he would tell his twin everything--but still.
"I wouldn't-"
She sent me a look that stopped me cold. "Oh, you wouldn't?"
"Niss, there's no need to-" Kyton succumbed to the same cold look that I had.
Nissa dug her nails into my arm. "You bit my brother. What kind of animal does that, then tries to kiss him?"
An invisible force was crushing my windpipe. It wasn't magic, just sick dread that slid down my throat to twist my stomach in knots. I couldn't even argue with her. She was right. We both looked human, but underneath her glamour, she was just a sister who cared about her brother. I was the monster.
I blinked furiously, refusing to cry in front of her. My arm prickled with needle-like pain as she dug her nails in deeper.
She scoffed, and dark shadows appeared under her eyes. "Don't bother crying. We both know you're faking."
"That's enough." Kyton let go of my arm and grabbed Nissa's wrist. "Let her go."
"I don't think so. Dad found out you're stuck keeping this idiot platank from killing herself, and he wants you to quit. You can get the money some other way."
I was pretty sure she'd just called me a moon cow, but something far worse distracted me from getting angry. Pale silver scales were spreading from where Nissa's nails broke my skin. They looked just like the changeling's. Any second, one of the arguing fairies could glance over and see them.
I ran backward, wrenching my arm out of Nissa's grip. Her nails cut deep grooves in my skin.
"I'll wait in the car." Before they could say anything, I sprinted outside.
A stitch knifed through my side when I stopped running at the car. Gasping for air, I ran my fingers over my bleeding upper arm. The blood had slowed faster than I would've expected. It was more gloopy than runny now. But that didn't matter.
The scales were still there. I threw the car door open and grabbed my backpack off the floor. As I yanked out my water bottle from the side pocket, I tried my best not to get blood on the car. That, I managed. Keeping my water bottle clean was a lost cause. I flipped up the lid and squirted water over my arm.
The water--and some frantic scrubbing--cleared the blood off a fat line or scales that stretched from elbow to wrist. More scales spread over the now-clean cuts. In seconds, half my upper arm looked like a silver snake with bead-like scales.
This was bad. Really bad. What if someone saw?
I jumped in the car and locked the door. The scales would go away on thair own. By the time Kyton got back, I would look perfectly normal. Or maybe not. What if they didn't go away? What if I was stuck with scales forever?
At least they'd stopped spreading. I could hide half an upper arm. If they'd spread to the rest of me, that would've been a bit more difficult. Okay, I had to have a jacket or a scarf in my backpack.
I yanked open the zipper and dug through its contents. When I packed, I'd been prepared for an afternoon of watching a movie or hanging out in the park. All I had was a notebook, a fantasy novel, and my laptop. Oh, and a handful of potion ingredients I'd forgotten to take out. It was the middle of summer. Why would I have a jacket or a scarf?
Maybe Kyton would have something I could borrow. I didn't have to worry about getting blood on it, now that the scales had covered over my cuts. This was crazy. Why couldn't I just be a normal witch, with normal witch parents?
I scrambled over the armrest and crawled into the back seat. There were a few things lying around, including jogging shorts and a pair of sneakers, but no jacket. Maybe in the trunk.
Nope, no jacket in the trunk. Just a thick manilla folder and a backpack. I hated to dig around in someone's bag, but desperate times called for desperate measures. Kyton was a decent guy, but he was still a fairy. If he knew what I was, he would either be terrified or try to kill me--or both.
I pushed aside the folder and unzipped the bag. School books. Great. Maybe the scales had gone away on their own by now.
Nope, still there. Still shiny. I zipped the bag closed and tossed it back down. It landed on the folder, twisting it so half the papers slid out. With a groan, I pushed the bag aside. Great, now I had to clean this up before I could find a casual way to hide my scales. The only thing I could think about was sticking my arm in my backpack and keeping it there.
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