Shapeshifted

My mom had asked me that at every job I’d ever had as a nurse, ever. “Gah.” I rolled my eyes for comic effect, and grinned at her. “Okay. Yeah. He is.”



My mother chuckled in triumph. “Tell me about him.”



“Okay.”



We hung out until she faded, talking about small things under Peter’s watchful eye. When she wanted to take a nap again, I left. Peter even gave me a hug. I tried to be genuine when I gave him one back.



By the end of my return trip home it was raining in earnest. I ran from the station to my door, and once I got inside I started to gear up. I put on my belt with a silver buckle, and a silver cuff that Asher’d given me for Christmas what felt like a lifetime ago. I took the silver cross down off my wall again and plunked it in my bag. I wasn’t sure how to get to the Reina’s. I pulled out my phone and prepared to text Asher.



There was a knock at my door. Maybe he’d saved me the hassle of a text, heh. I walked up to my front door and looked through the peephole outside.



As soon as I saw who was there, I began latching all the lock chains I’d installed.



“Edie!” Ti protested, from the far side, hearing me work. The Ti of last night hadn’t been able to speak to me, right?



“Ti—where were you last night?” I asked through the closed door. Though the better question to ask might have been who he’d been.



“Edie, come on. Let me in.” He hit the door, and it made me jump.



“Why’re you here?” I yelled through the door.



“I found your badge. In my pocket.” There was a long pause. “Why was it there?”



“Just stay on that side of the doorway, okay?”



Silver wasn’t any good against zombies. Nothing was, except for guns and knives, and I couldn’t imagine hacking Ti up. Plus the most dangerous thing I had in my house was a steak knife.



I opened the door slowly and peered through the chains. He loomed on the other side.



“Do me a favor and try to look harmless, could you?” I asked him. He deflated, taking a step back. “Thanks.”



“Edie, what’s going on here?” Honest confusion played on his face.



I stepped forward and peered out and up at him. “You really don’t know?”



“No. And I don’t like feeling like that.”



“You’re not going to like what I have to tell you then.” I looked to the side, where my neighbor’s front door was closed. “Last night, I saw you with a butcher knife. You’d been cutting bones out of Dren. For a while now, it seems. A month or so.”



Ti blinked. I waited for him to tell me I was lying. If he did, then I’d slam the door in his face. My hands tensed, waiting.



“Go on.”



“I was rescuing him. From where he was trapped. Being tortured. By you, as it turns out. And then you were going to come after us, and somehow you changed your mind. I think you remembered me. You could have hurt me but you didn’t—so maybe you knew who I was. Even if you can’t remember it happening now.”



Ti ran his fingers through his short hair. “Why would I hurt you? And why would I torture Dren?”



“You really don’t remember anything?”



He shook his head slowly.



“What’s the last thing you do remember?”



“Yesterday. I did some construction work for the guy I’m working for now. It’s what I do in the day, while he works on getting me back my soul.” He stared down at his hands. “I remember from sunup to sundown, but not after that.”



“Do you sleep at night?” We’d never done any sleeping when we slept together, when he was with me.



“No. I don’t need to.” I watched him think about the gaps in time. “I don’t remember what I’ve done any night … for a while now.”



“Is the magician you’re with named Maldonado?”



Ti’s brow furrowed deeper. “How did you know?”



I sighed. “Hang on.” I closed the door and undid all the locks. “You’re sure it happens around sundown?”



“Yes. Whatever it is.”



I let him into my apartment and closed the door before I went on. “I saw you with a butcher knife. You’d been filleting Dren.” I sat down on my couch.



He stood there for a moment, processing. “You’re sure?”



I nodded quickly. “There was a chance that you were going to debone me. That’s why I had my badge out. I hoped it still had some magic left in it. And I think you remembered me—you didn’t raise the knife.”



It was clear from the look on his face that he couldn’t believe it. “I would never hurt you, Edie.”



Well, that’s debatable. I kept my witticisms to myself.



Ti looked at his hands like they had blood on them. “How could I have been so blind?”



“Do you remember anything about a girl there?”



“Oh, God, no—what else have I done?”



“She was trapped in a cage. The room she was in was plastered with bones. I couldn’t get her free.”



“Why—why any of that? And why me?”



“I’m not sure, to be honest. You helped him torture Dren—and Dren couldn’t feed off you. Maybe that’s why.”



Disbelief still roiled on Ti’s face. “You rescued him? Why?”



“Because I couldn’t figure out how to rescue her. And even though Dren’s awful, Ti, no one deserves what happened to him.”



Ti flexed his strong hands. “I know where he is. I’ll kill him.”



“If he’s been controlling you, Ti, you can’t go back to him. Who knows what’ll happen to you tonight.” I looked at my phone. It was six o’clock now—not that far away from sundown. “We have to figure out how to fix you, how to get you cured.”



“How?”



How indeed? I made a face. I only knew one person who could cure the incurable.



CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR



Ti came willingly with me to the train station. It was so hard not to remember the last time we’d done this, when we’d been on the way to my trial, where the fate I shared with Anna had been sealed. I stood near him, but not too near him—I wanted to protect everyone else on the train if he did go away, but I didn’t want him to get the wrong idea about him and me.



For his part, he seemed lost in thought. I bet he was poring over each and every day he remembered, searching for lost memories.



I stepped away and texted Asher. “Hey. I need more time. Ti’s here—he’s safe right now. I’m taking him to the curandero.” Asher didn’t respond to me.



When we got off at the clinic’s stop, the marketplace was winding down; everyone had taken their wares home as it wasn’t safe to sell at night. We walked down to the clinic itself, where a bright blue Three Crosses flyer had been nail-gunned to the door, promising the opening of a grand new church for Santa Muerte’s mass on Friday night. The eighteenth—the day after whatever Maldonado was starving Adriana to do. The street was littered with them—I wondered if there’d been a fight.



“Where to?” Ti asked, looking around.



“I was hoping we’d see Olympio.” I felt safe traveling with Ti. We walked down the street. I tried to remember the way I’d come that night, but it’d been dark, and we’d gone to the Reina’s hideout besides. I recognized one side street and took it, taking us to the mural of Santa Muerte. The sun was beginning to set, giving her an eerie glow. How long did I have? What a wonderful plan this was. I stood in front of her picture. “Hey, you—I’m doing a lot of work here. You want to help me?”



Ti looked from the mural to me. “Edie?”



“Edie!” I turned toward the new person shouting my name and saw Olympio, riding along on a bike too small for him, waving at me. “Hey—Edie!”



“Olympio!” He parked the bike and got off. I hugged him, and he hugged back for a second before he realized it was uncool and pulled away. “Olympio—I need a really big favor.”



Olympio looked over my shoulder at a brooding Ti. “Who’s he?”



“He’s being possessed by Maldonado every night. Can your grandfather cure that?”



He looked Ti up and down, and I wondered what he was seeing with his don. “Of course he can,” Olympio said, but his face was unsure.



“How do we get there from here?”



“I’ll take you the short way. Follow me.” He hopped back on his bike and led the way.



Ti and I walked quickly after him. “This was your plan?” Ti murmured.



“Pretty much.” I crossed my fingers that it was a good one.



CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE



We reached Olympio’s grandfather’s building not long before nightfall. Olympio ditched his bike and raced ahead to announce us.



“How is he going to heal me?” Ti asked.



“I’m not sure. But he fixed me up when I was in dire straits. I wouldn’t bring you here if I didn’t think he could help.” I took his hand in mine as we walked in the door.



Olympio came back down to find us as we were taking the first set of stairs. There was a child crying behind one of the thin walls. I tried not to think about what would happen if I was wrong; if Maldonado’s power over Ti couldn’t be broken, just where would I be setting him loose? It was hard not to yank him down the hall.



Olympio opened his grandfather’s door and waved us in. “He said yes. Come on.”



* * *



Ti ducked under streamers hung from the ceiling near the door. “Edie,” he chastised, seeing all the candles and statuary lying about.



“He’s magic. In a good way. I promise.”



Olympio’s grandfather was tearing off strips of tinfoil to lay on the floor while muttering what I assumed were prayers to himself. When he saw Ti he made an exclamation.



“What?” I asked Olympio. Olympio turned, eyes widening.