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Ever since she’d lost her hand, Dali had known that your life could change in an instant. But she’d only thought about it in the sense of the changes being terrible. But the moment those pigeons had stolen her necklace had set off a chain of events that had changed everything for the better.
Sitting in the audience of the Fabulous Flying Chameleons’ final Refuge City performance, Dali mentally ticked off the ways that everything had changed.
She’d gotten back in touch with her Navy buddies. As Merlin had predicted, none of them thought less of her—in fact, it turned out that some of them had worried that she thought less of them! They now checked in with each other almost every day over email or text or phone. She might be retired, but the Navy would still be a part of her life.
She and Merlin had moved into a larger apartment that had opened up in Tirzah and Pete’s building, and managed to compromise on decoration by dividing it up room by room. When they proudly showed off the final result, Tirzah suggested that they photograph it for a magazine article called “Opposites Attract.”
Managing the Defenders office, not to mention the Defenders themselves, was definitely a challenge. But then, she’d always loved a challenge.
She’d cracked down on food-stashing and coffee-mug-abandoning with an iron fist, posted clear rules about what was and wasn’t allowed in each room of the office, and turned a certain horrifying disaster area into an actual working kitchen/break room where people could cook, eat, and relax.
Dali had also hired the two most responsible of the pigeon teenagers as cleaners, since they already knew about shifters and clearly needed good honest work. It had been a definite win-win. Ara and Mason got money to save for college, and the office actually looked professional. Mostly. Not even Dali could bring herself to ban the pets, so clients were occasionally puzzled by the discovery of blue hairs on the sofa.
She’d even had a chance to plan and coordinate a team mission. Merlin’s raptor had never let up about the barista’s sofa, so Dali had presented Roland with a plan for retrieving it.
As the least intimidating member of the team, Tirzah had approached the barista after work and said that she worked at a security agency, she’d been in the Starbucks when the barista’s evil sofa-stealing ex had showed up and gotten his just deserts in the form of a frappuccino to the face, and she’d like to help out, woman to woman. With the barista’s enthusiastic permission, Roland and Pete had knocked on the evil ex’s door, loomed over him, and repossessed the sofa. And then the whole team had ceremonially moved it back into the barista’s apartment.
The barista had been delighted and posted an enthusiastic review for Defenders on Yelp, the evil ex had left an angry comment to her review that attracted hundreds of jeering rejoinders, Merlin and his raptor had been thrilled, and Dali had enjoyed the deep satisfaction of a difficult job well-done.
A month ago, Dali and Merlin had driven her grandmother to their own apartment to tell her about shifters in a more private space than the retirement home. Merlin had proved it by turning into a hamster-sized velociraptor. Grandma had taken the news with surprising equanimity; Dali suspected that was mostly due to Merlin’s charm and Dali’s clear happiness at being with him, though the presence of Blue hadn’t hurt.
“I had a hound dog named Blue when I was a little girl,” Grandma said, patting the bugbear. “He had big sad eyes like this creature, too.”
“How’d you get him?” Merlin asked. And then they were off, trading stories about dogs they had known.
After the visit, Merlin stayed in the car while Dali walked Grandma inside.
“I was wrong about what kind of man he is,” Grandma said thoughtfully. “He’s got other things to do with his restless heart than run around the country.”
“You mean, he runs around as a raptor instead?” Dali asked.
“Yes. Much more practical. This one’s a keeper.” Once again, she said triumphantly, “I told you my necklace would bring you luck!”
Dali kissed her wrinkled cheek. “You were so right.”
And now Dali was back at the circus, in the audience for a change. Cloud perched on her shoulder, intently watching the show. Blue sat in the aisle beside Merlin, his stubby tail thumping the floor.
Merlin sat beside her, his arm flung over her shoulder, suffusing her with his body heat, their ever-sizzling chemistry, his protective strength, and his love. Even though she could touch him and be with him all she pleased, his presence was still a marvel to her. Especially when she thought back to how discouraged and lonely she’d been only a few months ago.
“How did I ever get this lucky?” she whispered in his ear.
He knew immediately what she meant, and whispered back, “I’m the lucky one.”
The lights went down, and the small but enthusiastic audience applauded, then applauded again for the curtain call. And then the house lights went up, and Janet came forward to invite everyone to join the closing night party in the ring.
The Fabulous Flying Chameleons liked to conclude their engagements by doing a final show for a private audience composed of local shifters and non-shifter friends and family who knew about shifters.
The audience for tonight’s performance was a bunch of Refuge City shifters and their friends, the Defenders, Pete’s mother and daughter, three of Caro’s friends from the apartment building, and Dali’s grandmother. It also included some non-locals: the west coast branch of Protection, Inc. and their mates and children, who’d flown out for the occasion.
By the time Dali and Merlin and Grandma got down to the ring, it had already been set up for a shifter party, with tables of circus-themed food and drink, plus plenty of toys and climbing equipment for kids (and adults) who wanted to play.
Birds and flying squirrels zoomed and fluttered and glided overhead, and raccoons and opossums and humans and other beasts with grasping hands tried out the trapezes, which had been lowered for the sake of nervous parents, though the net remained underneath.
Dali settled her grandmother down in a comfortable chair with a table for her food. Grandma wore her lucky necklace, and the pigeon teenagers kept shooting her guilty looks while staying as far away as possible. Janet came over and introduced herself, Pete introduced his mother to them both, and soon the three old women were chatting away.
Merlin and Dali set out the goodies they’d brought for the party, which they’d transported in a lockbox to protect it from roving bugbears. They’d spent a happy weekend cooking, and had produced everything from Filipino nata de coco pastries to peach cobbler from Grandma’s recipe to truffles in twenty different flavors. No sooner had they arranged everything on platters than the entire Defenders team, plus Caro, descended to fall upon their homemade treats like a bunch of starving wolves.
Carter bit into a Buddha’s Hand truffle. “Put some of these in my next box, Merlin.”
“That was an apology box,” Merlin said. “You’re not getting one every week!”
“I’m sure you’ll have something else to apologize for,” said Carter. “I want some of the raspberry ones too.”
Kalpana gave a sigh of happiness as she ate a truffle. “Merlin, you outdid yourself. This tastes just like Dad’s hot chocolate.”
Kalpana, who normally dressed plainly, practically glowed in a striking green pants and tunic with a flowing pink scarf. Going against all tradition, she’d convinced Janet to hold a company vote on the heirship with Kalpana and Fausto as the contenders. Kalpana had won, and Fausto had accepted it with a mutter of, “At least it’s not Merlin.”
Fausto was currently a flying squirrel, and Dali suspected he was enjoying himself more that way. No velociraptor, regardless of size, could annoy him while he was in the air.
“Come on, Dali,” Merlin said. “I want to introduce you to the west coast team.”
He escorted her to a group of men and women, plus three babies and a whole bunch of magical pets. Blue wagged his tail and panted happily. Cloud took one look at the other pets, arched her back, buzzed her wings, and hissed. Merlin quickly plucked her from Dali’s shoulder and kept a firm grip on her.
“This is Dali Batiste, my mate,” Merlin said. “She was a yeoman in the Navy and now she’s our office manager. She ran the entire show backstage when we had the inspectors, and she saved my life, and...”
A handsome man with shoulder-length black hair said, “I remember what it was like to meet Grace.”
He squeezed the arm of the woman beside him. In contrast to his black silk shirt and dress pants, she had pink-and-purple hair and wore Army boots and a 1950s dancing dress with a cherry print. She held a baby in one arm. A pink-and-purple flying kitten perched on her shoulder.
He went on, “I couldn’t stop talking about how wonderful she was to anyone who’d listen, and some who didn’t. But let us introduce ourselves, and then you can go back to telling us how fantastic your mate is.”
Merlin grinned. “Okay, Rafa. It’s a date.”
“I’m Grace Chang,” said Rafa’s mate. When Dali shook Grace’s hand, she noticed calluses, little scars, and very short nails painted with black glitter. This was a woman who worked with her hands. “You ran this show? I’m so impressed! I’m a stage manager, and I kept thinking what a fun challenge it would be.”
“Kalpana’s the stage manager,” Dali said, indicating her. “You should talk to her. She could show you the booth.”
“Oh, thanks, Dali. Join us when you get the chance if you want to talk shop. Rafa, mind taking Gabriel?” Grace passed the baby to Rafa, who cuddled him against his broad chest. Her pink-and-purple kitten spread his wings and flew to Rafa’s shoulder as Grace headed off in Kalpana’s direction. To Dali’s delighted astonishment, the kitten’s bright coloring got darker and darker until he was almost invisible against Rafa’s black hair and shirt.
“I’m Rafa Flores, a lion shifter,” he said, and gave Dali a firm handshake. “Navy, huh? Represent! Me and Hal were SEALs.”
Hal, a big man carrying a baby clutching a teddy bear, said in a rumbling voice, “Pleased to meet you. I’m Hal Brennan, the west coast boss and grizzly bear shifter. This is my mate, Ellie. She’s a paramedic.”
Ellie, a plump woman with curling hair who was also carrying a baby, said, “And this is Haley, and that’s Elliot, and that’s Bob.”
“Sorry, which one is Bob?” Dali asked. The babies were clearly twins and crawling age, with their mother’s sandy-blonde hair and their father’s hazel eyes.
Ellie laughed. “I’ve got Haley, and Hal’s got Elliot, and Elliot’s got Bob. Bob is the owbesloque.”
Merlin reached over and scratched the teddy bear behind the ears. It opened round owl’s eyes and blinked at them.
“It’s alive!” Dali exclaimed, then took a closer look. Its paws had blunt hooked claws like a sloth, which it was using to hang on to Hal’s arm, and a squirrel’s tail that she had initially mistaken for a fur wrap around the baby. Then she remembered what Ellie had called the creature, and laughed. “Oh, it’s an owl-bear-sloth-squirrel. How cute. Your kids must love him.”
Elliot squirmed, making an unhappy noise. Haley promptly echoed it. Both babies were wriggling and staring downward. Following their gaze, Dali saw that a nearby area had been set up where kittens and poodle puppies and baby sea lions and tiger cubs and flying squirrel kits were playing together, pouncing on each other, nosing around balls, and dozing in furry piles.
“Nick?” said Hal, glancing at the man near him.
Nick, a young man with tattoos and intense green eyes, detached Bob, allowing Hal to set his son down with the baby animals. Ellie did the same with Haley. A moment later, a pair of bear cubs crawled out of their onesies and joined the group. Nick considered Bob, then set him down beside a tiny jungle gym. Bob reached up with his sloth claws and dangled from it, watching the twins closely with his golden owl eyes.
“Best babysitter ever,” said Ellie.
“Bob saved our lives,” said Hal. “Every parent of twins needs an owbesloque.”
“Hey,” said a man. “Who gives your twins panther rides whenever they want?”
Dali nearly jumped out of her skin. She could have sworn the tall man with ice-blue eyes had materialized from thin air.
“Shane...” Hal said with a sigh. “Will you ever stop doing that?”
“Probably not,” said Shane. He looked Dali over, his cool gaze approving, and offered his hand. “Shane Garrity. Your kitten and mine look related.”
Dali was about to ask where his kitten was when a soft gray head peered out from behind his neck. Shane held out his hand, and his little kitten spread gray moth wings and landed on it, soundless and light as a feather.
“This is Shadow,” said Shane.
Cloud stretched out her neck, curious but not aggressive. Merlin opened his hands and let the two kittens sniff each other. Though their wings were different, their fur was very much alike. They flew off together, up toward the rigging. Halfway up, they were joined by a fluffy black kitten with wings like a Monarch butterfly. As the three kittens began to circle and playfully chase each other in the air, they were joined by Batcat and Spike.
“Is the butterfly kitten yours too?” Dali asked Shane.
“Nope,” said a woman cheerfully, walking up to them. She was short and curvy, with brown skin and black hair. “She’s mine. Well, more mine. Shane’s my mate, so we kind of share all the cats.”
“You have more?” Dali asked, craning her neck to spot them.
“Rogue, Natasha, and Jessica Jones. But they’re back at home. They’re not magical, and they don’t like to travel.” The curvy woman stuck out her hand. “Hi! I’m Catalina Mendez. I’m a bodyguard and a leopard shifter.”
Shane smiled at her fondly. “And a superhero.”
“I was experimented on by Apex, the black ops agency that the wizard-scientists took over,” Catalina explained. Gleefully, she said, “So I have powers!”
Dali was interested to see that Catalina, like Merlin, talked about being experimented on with a total lack of angst, unlike everyone else in that situation. But before Dali could ask about it, Catalina threw her arms around Merlin.
“Merlin, I’m so happy for you,” Catalina said. “You finally got a flying kitten of your very own! Isn’t it great having a furry little darling to perch on your shoulder and chew on your hair?”
Merlin chuckled. “It is, but she’s not exactly mine. At least, she’s only mine the way Shadow is yours. She’s really Dali’s pet, though she does perch on my shoulder sometimes.”
“Oh no.” Catalina’s face fell. “But I’m sure some day...”
Merlin whistled. Blue, who had been napping on a pile of sawdust, woke up with a startled grunt, then galloped to Merlin’s side, his wings buzzing madly as if they’d give him extra momentum. Proudly, Merlin said, “This is my magical pet. His name’s Blue.”
Dali had already taken a liking to Catalina, but it only increased when Catalina said with utter sincerity, “Oh, what a good dragonfly doggo!”
“He’s a bugbear,” said Merlin. He dropped to his knees, and Blue made a sincere effort to climb on to his shoulder and perch.
“I love him!” said Catalina, petting him. “Oh, good for you, Merlin. You got the best of both worlds.”
“Both worlds?” said Shane. “Perching on shoulders and getting drooled on?”
“Cat world and dog world. And bonus bear world.” Catalina grabbed Shane’s arm. “Come on, let’s have some fun!”
The two of them ran to the ladder, which they climbed with feline grace, then joined the group that was taking turns swinging on the trapezes.
Merlin caught her hand and introduced her to Ethan, a Protection, Inc. bodyguard with sandy hair and blue-green eyes like Hal’s mate Ellie; in fact, he explained, they were twins. His own mate was the beautiful and very pregnant Destiny, also a bodyguard.
“Though not right now,” Destiny said cheerfully. “I’ll be back soon-ish, though. All us parents and parents-to-be made the rest of the gang promise to pitch in with the babysitting.”
A tiny snow-white kitten with robin’s egg blue wings swooped down briefly to bat at her earrings, then returned to the kitten games above.
Grace came back then, with Kalpana in tow.
“Come on, Dali,” Grace urged. “Kalpana’s going to show me her stage manager’s booth. Managerial geek girls unite!”
Dali couldn’t resist. Waving good-bye to Merlin, Destiny, and Ethan, she headed for the booth with the two women, where they had a very satisfying time examining the equipment and telling stories about disasters onstage and onboard caused by people failing to do as they were told. They exchanged emails and phone numbers, and promised to stay in touch.
Things change in an instant, Dali thought again. She’d not only gotten her old friends back, but made new ones.
When she returned to the party, she found that she wasn’t the only one who’d made new friends. Tirzah was in a huddle over a laptop with an elegant blonde woman who introduced herself as Fiona, one of the Protection, Inc. bodyguards. Dali said hello, then left them to their way-over-her-head tech talk.
Merlin caught up with her as she passed by Hal and Roland, deep in conversation over the rewards and difficulties of being the boss of a bunch of rowdy shifters. She told him her thoughts on new friends, and he grinned and replied, “I was just thinking the same thing. Come look at this set of new pals.”
He indicated a gawky young man who couldn’t be more than twenty-one, and had pulled up a chair to join Grandma, Janet, and Pete’s mother Lola.
“Who’s he?” whispered Dali. “Some local shifter?”
“His name’s Manuel, and he’s semi-local,” Merlin replied. “He’s a protégé of Nick’s, going to college in New York.”
The three white-haired women seemed utterly charmed by Manuel’s earnest manner as he asked Janet’s advice on putting on a production of a musical he’d written. It was, he explained, called Howl and was an exploration of the real lives of werewolves, written by a werewolf.
“It’s got serious themes, but I want it to be fun, too,” said Manuel.
“Like Hamilton,” said Lola. “My Caro just loves that musical. Can’t stop playing it.”
“Isn’t that the rap musical?” Janet asked doubtfully.
“Oh, it’s not all rap,” said Lola. “Lots of it is very hummable. I could play you some on my cell phone.”
“Manuel, do you have any songs on your phone we could listen to?” Grandma asked. “I mean from Howl.”
“No, I haven’t recorded any of it yet.” Hesitantly, he said, “I could sing you something, though...”
“Yes, please,” said Grandma.
“We won’t be critical,” Janet assured him. “We know it’s a work in progress.”
“Come on,” Lola said. “I want to be able to say I heard it before it was even recorded!”
Manuel cleared his throat a few times, then began to sing in a pleasant tenor. The song was a heartfelt tribute to the joys and responsibilities of being in a pack, with clever rhymes and wordplay.
Nick, the young man with green eyes and tattoos, came up beside Dali and Merlin to listen, along with a woman with flowing silver hair. She too had tattoos that wound up one arm in an abstract pattern, but hers glittered silver. Dali had never seen anything like them before, and had to stop herself from staring.
When Manuel finished, everyone broke into applause. He ducked his head, embarrassed, then caught sight of Nick and said, “Applaud Nick. If it wasn’t for him, I’d still be stealing cars in a werewolf gang.”
“No fucking—” Nick began. Three pairs of disapproving eyes turned on him, and he gulped and said, “No way. He was always meant for better things.”
The silver-haired woman offered Dali a hand. “Hello. I’m Raluca, Nick’s mate.”
As they shook, Nick said, “And the best fu—best fashion designer on the west coast. You want a special outfit? Call Raluca, she’ll fix you up.”
Raluca was indeed dressed very beautifully, but Dali’s attention wasn’t on her clothes. It was on the miniature blue dragon that fluttered down from the rigging to land on Nick’s shoulder. It gave an inquiring chirp, then a trill as it stretched out its long neck to nuzzle Raluca’s cheek.
“Wow,” Dali breathed out. “A dragon!”
“A dragonette,” said Merlin. “Rescued from guess where.”
Raluca said, “Her name is Doina.”
“She’s the dragon,” Nick said, indicating Raluca.
Dali remembered Merlin’s first aid kit, with its little vial of the antidote for a poison that only affected dragons. Raluca was one of the people Merlin was looking out for, along with his team and the circus and anyone else who he encountered. Dali was his one-and-only, but he had more than enough kindness and protective instincts to go around.
An elegantly dressed man with golden hair strolled up, arm in arm with a redheaded woman bedecked in jewelry, with a diamond dragonette perched on her arm. They introduced themselves as Lucas and his mate Journey. Their dragonette, Treasure, flew off with Doina.
Dali gazed up at the dragonettes and kittens swooping and diving in mid-air. She murmured, “It’s so magical. It’s hard to believe that it’s real.”
“I know what you mean,” said Journey warmly. “Lucas and I have been together for years now, and sometimes I’m still just struck by amazement at how my life turned out.”
Merlin put his arm around Dali’s waist, strong and secure and warm. “Me too.”
As the party went on, the two teams drifted together again. The west coast team started teasing the east coast over their impromptu performances.
“I can’t believe I missed it,” Rafa said. “Pete as a dancing bear! Now that’s a once-in-a-lifetime spectacle.”
“Yes, it was,” said Pete. “And now it’s over. Thank God.”
“Not quite,” sang out Caro. She waved a phone at the group. “Guess who enlisted a buddy to come to the show and secretly tape all the best bits?”
Pete made a grab for his daughter’s phone, but she ducked under his arm, laughing.
“Get it, Tirzah!” Pete called.
“Get it yourself,” Tirzah said, snickering. “I for one am delighted that my brilliant performance was immortalized on tape.”
“And Batcat’s, too,” said Dali. “Well—maybe. I don’t know if the magical pets show up on video.”
“They do if you already know they exist,” Caro assured her. “I got Batcat. And Dad riding a unicycle. And Carter covered in oil.”
“That video must be destroyed,” said Carter.
“I totally agree,” said Pete.
They looked at their other team members. Carter demanded, “Aren’t you going to help?”
“I’d love to see it,” said Merlin. “I missed a lot of it, since I was busy wrongly accusing Fausto—” Cupping his hands around his mouth, he called up to the air, “Sorry, Fausto!” In a normal speaking voice, he went on. “And other stuff.”
“I don’t mind if anyone sees me being a strong man,” said Roland. “It’s not as if I was oiled.”
“I wouldn’t mind seeing myself juggling,” said Ransom, rather wistfully.
Pete and Carter glanced at each other, then spontaneously worked together, creating a pincer formation to go for the phone.
“Help!” yelled Caro between bursts of giggles. “Help, I’m under attack!”
Shane seemed to materialize out of nowhere, neatly confiscating the phone out from under Carter’s nose. “Got it. Hmm. Too bad we don’t have a projector, so we can all see...”
“Give me that,” said Dali.
Shane passed her the phone, evading Pete’s grab for it. Dali tossed it over Carter’s head to Grace, who caught it and yelled, “Kalpana! Help me in the booth with the projector! Rafa! I need a blockade!”
Grace and Kalpana ran for the ladder to the stage manager’s booth, Grace stuffing the phone into her Hello Zombie Kitty purse for safekeeping as she went. Rafa body-blocked Pete’s rush after them. Carter tried to dart around him, and Rafa shouted, “Guys! I need a little help here!”
Merlin and everyone on the west coast team who wasn’t either pregnant or holding a baby fell into place, forming a shield wall and blocking Carter and Pete’s access to the ladder.
Grace and Kalpana reached the booth, where a microphone had been left on; a chorus of amplified triumphant giggles floated down. A moment later, a video clip began to play on the ring’s backdrop, showing the world’s most disgruntled dancing cave bear.
Pete sat down on the floor and groaned. Carter joined him when the clip of his oiled chest outlined by flying squirrel throwing knives appeared. Caro’s friend hadn’t recorded the entire performance, but they’d gotten all the most embarrassing parts.
When Caro herself appeared, gracefully flying through the air on the full-size Moonbow, her Grandma Lola called out, “Just beautiful, princesa.”
Pete got up and put his arm around Caro’s shoulders. “We’ll keep a copy of that one. But the ones of me must be deleted.”
“No way,” said Tirzah. “I’m saving copies deep on the dark web, where you’ll never, ever find them.”
“Email them to me,” said Grandma Lola.
Pete sighed.
When the clips ended, the groups again drifted apart. Blue wandered off to play with Fiona and Justin’s three-headed Cerberus pup, Trio, and Ethan’s frost-puppy Snowy. Catalina and Shane went to try out the flying trapeze.
Dali looked up wistfully.
“Want to try?” Merlin asked.
Dali held up her left hand. “Not unless you want a repeat of how I scared the living daylights out of Morgana’s minion.”
He laughed, then said seriously, “I could hold your wrists instead of your hands. Like this.” He demonstrated, gripping her wrists. “Now you grab mine. See? Like that.”
His grip was strong, and she’d seen him fly through the air with ease. But more than that, she trusted him. He’d never suggest that she do anything unsafe, and if he thought she could do it with his help, she could.
She took his hand. “Let’s go flying.”
A few minutes later, Dali was soaring through the air, delighting in the sense of speed and freedom, while Merlin held her wrists and softly sang a snatch of “The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze.” His golden hair floated around his face, his sky-blue eyes sparkled, and his ease and grace and strength were on full display.
High above the crowd, it was as if they existed in their own perfect little world. It wasn’t frightening—she could never be afraid while Merlin held her—but it was thrilling, exhilarating, and altogether wonderful.
“You’re especially sexy in mid-air,” Merlin said softly.
“You too,” said Dali. “Let’s find a closet or something when we get down.”
“Good idea.”
They didn’t find a closet, so they snuck out of the big top and went hunting around the empty fairgrounds, clutching hands and giggling like a pair of teenagers. Merlin turned a corner around a food stall and burst out laughing.
Dali, following, also began to laugh when she spotted what he was looking at.
It was a clown car.
The wheels were off, and it seemed to be in the process of being broken down for parts. But it was unmistakably a clown car.
“Well,” she said. “The windows are painted over, so it’s definitely private.”
“Come on,” Merlin said. “Just to say we did it in a clown car.”
“I can’t resist such a romantic invitation,” Dali said, and climbed inside.
It was small enough inside that they couldn’t move without touching one another. Getting fully undressed would have been difficult, and she doubted they’d have had the patience to do so even if they’d had all the space in the world. The hunger in Merlin’s eyes was a blue blaze, and Dali felt hot enough to set the air on fire. They pushed aside the clothes that were in the way, their fingers clumsy with need, and he slid into her like a key into a lock.
They moved together, rocking rather than thrusting, overcome with passion. Two bodies and hearts and souls united in love and ecstasy. A spark built within her, setting her every nerve alight, until it roared into a wildfire and they both went up in flames.
Dali had completely forgotten where they were until she emerged from the lazy haze of satisfaction and tried to stretch out, and accidentally elbowed Merlin in the neck.
“Ow!”
He tried to move aside, and that was how she discovered that his hand was pinning her hair.
“Ow!”
They managed to emerge without too much more damage, and fled to the train to clean up in a bathroom.
“Well,” Merlin said, “We can now say that we’ve had sex in a clown car.”
“It was pretty great while we were doing it,” Dali said, brushing out her hair. “But now I know why most people prefer beds.”
When they returned to the party, they passed by a man with copper-colored hair and startling black eyes, who had earlier introduced himself to Dali as Justin, Fiona’s mate. He was speaking quietly to Ransom in a corner. Both men looked so serious that Merlin and Dali glanced at each other, then walked close enough to overhear.
“If you ever want to talk to anyone,” Justin was saying. “I was experimented on by Apex. It leaves a mark.” He indicated his eyes. “Literally, in my case.”
Ransom made a sound halfway between a laugh and a sob. “You think me talking to you will make me feel better?”
Patiently, Justin said, “It doesn’t have to be to me. But yeah, I think you should talk to someone who can understand.”
Ransom closed his eyes briefly, seeming to struggle with himself. When he opened them, they were unfocused, gazing into some far-off distance. “I—I’m sorry. I have to go.”
He turned and hurried away, stumbling and bumping into things as if he was half-blind. Dali and Merlin went after him. Before they could catch up with him, he’d gone backstage. They saw nothing but the door to a storage room closing.
Merlin knocked. “Ransom? Are you okay?”
There was no reply.