IMOGEN
“Person, place, thing, or animal?”
“Animal,” I said.
“Is it a mammal?” Finn said.
“No,” I said.
I was playing twenty questions.
And the kid kept beating me.
He’d actually beaten me something like thirty-seven times, but I was trying not to count. Both for my pride and my sanity.
As far as I could figure, the twenty questions game was some way for Finn to cope. Maybe only until his sister came back, or until he dealt with all the hard realities I’d hit him with. I wasn’t sure about the when of things with Finn, so I just kept playing twenty questions.
Over and over.
For hours.
I tried to get him up, so we could head on.
I told him we needed to get out of here.
But he refused. Said if his sister was coming, then she’d come here, and he wasn’t leaving until she arrived.
I couldn’t fight him on it, couldn’t physically drag the bugger out, with my hands in their pathetic condition, so what was a girl to do?
Twenty questions. Clearly.
Eh, really, it was the least I could do for the poor guy.
He seemed shocked at the change in his appearance. He had long legs and arms now. And a deeper voice. And the tone of his skin was still slightly green. And he still couldn’t get on very well with his body. Couldn’t move his legs.
He actually said he’s quite interested in studying his modwrog self as his next science experiment, as soon as his arms and legs heal up and he can move around better.
“Second question,” Finn said. “Is the animal bigger than me?”
Was Finn longer than a crocodile? He looked giant. Long and lanky, but still so young … he couldn’t be over … what?
“How old are you, anyway?” I said.
“Fifteen. You?”
“Sixteen. Had a birthday a few months ago.”
“Happy birthday,” he said. He smiled at me.
After everything this kid had been through, he wished me happy birthday, and he smiled.
My heart pinged. No one but my mom had told me happy birthday in years.
“Thanks,” I said.
I needed to distract myself because I felt that lump forming in my throat again.
I cleared it away and said, “I think you’re the same size as the animal. I know that’s not a yes or no answer, but your question is a bit ambiguous anyway ….”
Finn scratched his head, watching me gesture.
He frowned.
“Umm … Imogen? I haven’t wanted to ask, but … what’s wrong with your hands?”