Page 128 of Her Rabid Beasts

Yeti levels both of us with a look that could have made a lesser beast shrivel. His wavy white hair is loose down to his shoulders and he runs his hand through it like he’s really agitated. He points first at me, then Sabrina. “You two were seen leaving the animus dorm with a device. Titus has just reported his laptop as stolen.”

The leopard and the eagle are truly out of the bag.

“It was just us two,” Sabrina sighs, gesturing between me and herself. “No one else was involved.”

I feel Raquel and Stacey shift uncomfortably behind me, but whatever comes of this, Iwon’tbe seeing any of my friends incriminated for doing the right thing.

“Where is it?” Yeti steps forward, his massive form completely dwarfing the room. He’s even bigger than Beak and is nothing more than a menacing beast come to deal judgement.

“Where is what?” Minnie asks defiantly.

Us animas all look at her in surprise as she stares Yeti down—well, up—and doesn’t move from her position at the door. They’re almost touching. But he’s so tall it doesn’t matter; he just talks over her head to Sabrina. “The laptop. You were seen stealing Titus Clawson’s laptop.”

“Um, nope,” Sabrina says. “Lies. He was rabid, remember? Maybe he doesn’t understand what you’re talking about.”

“We will tear this room apart,” Beak snarls, and I swear I see his eagle eyes flash. “Give it over. I can smell that tiger’s scent.”

“That could just be Minnie,” Sabrina retorts, casting Minnie an apologetic look.

Everyone knows it’s not.

There’s a standoff between us two parties, the space heating up like a branding iron held over a fire.

“What do we do?”Raquel projects to us.“It’s under the bed. They’ll fucking find it.”

Then Yeti raises a hand, and the entire room starts toshake. The floorboards tremble, and the beds start vibrating—the desk too. Sabrina’s heart-shaped mirror trembles before crashing to the floor, shattering into a hundred tiny pieces.

“Alright!” I shout over the din. “Hand it over, Stace.”

The furniture in the room abruptly go still.

“I would have held out longer, Lia,” Sabrina grumbles. “I fuckinglovedthat mirror.”

“Girlfriend, there’s no point and you know it,” I reply.

“That’s seven years of bad luck to you,” Minnie sneers at Yeti.

To my surprise, he leans down and says straight to her face, “Does that include the part of this year I’ve already had or not?”

She blinks at him, almost in a daze, before turning her face away. I love her for not backing down from him.

“I’ve never seen more arrogant animas in my life,” Beak says, shaking his head, his dark blonde mohawk shiny in the afternoon light.

“Well, you can’t have met that many worth knowing,” Stacey quips happily. “Besides, we were gonna give it back anyway.” She tosses the laptop over our heads right for Yeti and it flips end over end before he catches it with a dark look at her. “Oops,” she chirps. “So sorry, boss.”

Beak snaps his fingers at us. “All of you, let’s go.”

“What, where?” Minnie demands.

Yeti steps back out of the door and sweeps a pale tattooed hand out. “To court for your judgement, your highnesses. Titus has demanded a trial.”

Shit.

There’s a moment of tense silence before Sabrina clears her throat. “Well, at least he knows what title to use,” she says, before she struts out the door with her head held high, longponytail swishing. The rest of us follow, marching between the two order leaders and trying not to look sheepish. Yeti instructs Eugene to stay behind and although the rooster clucks unhappily, he stays put on Raquel’s bed.

I’m the last to exit the dorm building in front of Beak when the eagle commands my name like an army captain. “Lia.”

“What?” I say over my shoulder.

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