For a moment, Keeley was confused. She stared down at the thing inside the case, nestled so carefully in a satin-covered cushion.

She’d expected drugs, or money, or some high-value item Sean was fencing for his new “business partner.” Not this.

It’s just… a rock.

A fancy, polished rock the size of her fists put together. But still… a rock.

Frowning, Keeley slipped the rock out of the case, cradling it against her stomach as she checked under the cushion it had lain on. There was nothing else in the case. Just the stone.

What the hell is going on here? Is this some sort of a joke?

Keeley’s heart sank. No. Not a joke. A test.

Sean had tricked her, and she’d fallen for it. There was no job. He just wanted her to know he could still control her.

Her fingers tightened around the stone. She was about to throw it back in the case and slam the lid shut, but something made her pause.

It was just a fancy stone. The sort of thing Keeley had seen in New Age stores, the ones that sold crystals and herbs and stuff. It probably wasn’t worth more than thirty or forty dollars, really.

But it was… pretty. Glimmers of purple, green and blue seemed to shift under its surface as the train rocked in its tracks.

Pretty, she thought again. And strange. The coloration made the rock look mysterious, valuable—

She shook her head. Whoever had carved it had done a half-assed job. It wasn’t even properly round. Instead, it was tapered at one end, almost egg-shaped. And the surface wasn’t finished, but had a dimpled texture, like a golf ball.

Still…

Keeley felt half-hypnotized. She ran her fingertips across the dimpled surface of the stone. She didn’t have many pretty things these days. If this was a trick, a test, then she didn’t need to leave it in the case, right? The stone was the right size to fit into her coat pocket. She could just—

Just steal it?

Keeley grimaced. Wow. Doesn’t take much to make you fall back into bad habits, huh? Even her inner voice was bitter.

She sniffed and gritted her teeth, bracing herself to push down on the surge of rage and helplessness she knew was coming. Damn it, she’d tried so hard. For years.

All she wanted was to be someone else. Someone better. Someone who deserved even a taste of the love and happiness she’d seen in that family she’d almost bowled over back at the hotel. Was that too much to ask?

She closed her eyes, stretching her imagination as far as it would go. No point imagining herself as someone with a happy mom and dad. It was a bit late for that.

But this new, imaginary Keeley—the one she’d dreamt of when she left home ten years ago, the one she’d spent the last decade trying day after day to become… In her most secret dreams, she would have a man who looked at her like the guy with the fancy watch had looked at his new fiancée. As though she was the most wonderful, most important person in the world.

Someone that Keeley could look at like the woman had looked at him, smiling and giggly and pretend-tripping so he would catch her. Like she trusted him so much it wasn’t even a question.

Like she couldn’t wait to start their life together. Be a family. Have a family, have kids who would grow up surrounded by that much love…

Keeley shook her head. Well, it hadn’t happened, had it? No chance of a boyfriend when she spent her evenings scrubbing floors and changing sheets instead of out clubbing. The most action she’d had in the last few years was dickheads like the guy tonight leering at her ass.

No. New Keeley, old Keeley, it didn’t matter. She was stuck with the hand she’d been dealt. No way she would ever have anything like—

*—Curiosity, warmth, hello?—*

Keeley spluttered and blinked. That… wasn’t her. It had been in her head, but it wasn’t her that had thought it. Or felt it. It hadn’t even been words, just a strong… feeling.

“Now I’m going crazy as well,” she muttered. She wiped her eyes and checked the next stop. “Oh, shit.”

The train had nearly arrived at the station where she was supposed to leave the backpack. She needed to put the rock away. Make it look like she hadn’t tampered with it.

Keeley wrapped her fingers more tightly around the stone.

Her fingertips tingled and she stopped, eyes wide. A moment before, the stone had been cool to the touch. Well, it was rock, after all. But now it was warm. And growing warmer by the second.

Keeley looked at it more carefully. It was still just… well, a fancy rock. It sat heavily in her hand, its polished surface reflecting the light unevenly.

It shouldn’t be this warm just from her holding it for a few seconds, should it? She turned it over in her hands, looking for a seal or join. Maybe it was some sort of electronic gadget?

Something moved inside the stone, and Keeley almost dropped it.

It felt alive.

Keeley held her breath. There it was again. The stone shook in her hands. A short, soft movement—like a heartbeat.

Thud. Thud.

“What is this?” she breathed, eyes fixed on the stone.

A bright, fluttery excitement burst against her mind. Not her excitement. She wasn’t excited, she was freaking the hell out. So what is—

Crack!

A hairline crack appeared in the stone, so thin Keeley could barely see it. She ran her fingertips over it, just to make sure she wasn’t imagining things.

“Oh, shit. Now it’s breaking?”

The stone rocked at her touch.

Crack! Crack!

The hairline crack widened and another one appeared. And another. Keeley’s pulse thudded in her ears. Was this part of the test? She opened the case, and the goods started breaking—was it some sort of failsafe?

A fragment of rock the size of her palm fractured and fell away, and Keeley gasped.

It wasn’t a failsafe. Because this wasn’t a stone. It was an egg.

A long, scaly nose poked out of the hole in the egg. Tiny eyes blinked, then peered up at Keeley, bright gold and shining with curiosity.

“Oh, my God,” Keeley breathed.

The little creature poked its head up, staring straight at her with golden, cat-slitted eyes. Another piece of shell fell away, revealing—No, that’s impossible—a pair of folded, gleaming-gold wings.

As Keeley watched, the hatchling flared its wings out, its eyes narrowing with pleasure as it stretched free of the confines of the egg for the first time in its life.

She knew it was pleasure the creature was feeling, because she could feel it too. In her head. A little sunburst of satisfaction.

The hatchling opened its eyes again and stared at her.

“Prrp?” it trilled.

Keeley stared back.

So this is what Sean wanted you to move. Not money, or drugs. Not a stone. A living creature.

“What are you?” she whispered, tentatively lifting her hand towards the hatchling. It sniffed politely at her fingertips and nibbled experimentally on her pinky finger.

The world seemed to whirl around her.

No, she thought, desperately clinging to reality, that’s not the world spinning. It’s the train slowing down.

Keeley licked her lips. Drop the case in the backpack in the last car and leave by the rear door. That was what she was supposed to do.

And fuck knows what Sean will do if you don’t. No way he’ll stop at getting you fired. Remember what happened last time.

The scars on her fingers ached.

The tiny winged lizard-thing blinked up at her with its huge, innocent golden eyes. Something shivered deep inside Keeley. A warm, gentle feeling she hardly recognized.

And this time, it wasn’t from the hatchling. It was all her.

What sort of a person are you, really?