Page 35 of Shared By the Werebears
We all stared.
“Well what the fuck isthatsupposed to mean?” Ronan growled.
“I don’t kn—” I began.
But just then something tiny and sparkling zipped out from a crack near the pedestal, wings fluttering like a hummingbird’s. It hovered in front of us and I saw it was a kind of dragonfly with a bright green human head. It stared at us, all four of its arms crossed, and its teeny face glowing with gleeful judgment.
“Well, well,well,”it said in a voice like the tinkling of wind chimes. “A horny Succubus and two very confused bear-boys. Haven’t seen this trio before.”
“What…er,whoare you?” I asked, blinking.
The creature preened in mid-air.
“Call me Whimsy. Keeper of the Vault of Dreams, former companion to the Priestesses of the Veil, and Judge of Supplicants. You three are clearly idiots, so I’m here to help.”
“Oh good,” Ronan muttered. “A smartass lightning bug.”
Whimsy glared at him.
“I amnota lightning bug, bear-boy! I am aflitterling—the last of my kind. So show some respect.”
“To a creature I could squash with my thumb? I don’t think so,” Ronan grunted.
“Ronan!” Finn and I said at the same time.
“Let him talk—we might learn something,” Finn added and I nodded in agreement.
“Thank you.” Whimsy made an elaborate mid-air bow that involved all four of his stick-thin arms. “Now, since at leasttwoof you have manners, I will continue. You are presently in the Vault of Dreams, which makes you Supplicants.”
“Um, we didn’t exactly come here on purpose,” I said. “I slipped into a hole in the forest floor and slid down here by accident.”
“That is immaterial.” Whimsy waved his many arms in dismissal. “What’s important is that you get to choose a magical artifact—only one between the three of you, mind—so you must agree on which to pick.”
“Okay but how do we know which one to choose?” I looked up at the glowing golden words on the wall once more. The line about “Some bring bliss and some bring blight” seemed ominous.
Whimsy gave a mighty sigh which shook his entire, teeny-tiny body.
“Very well. Since you’re such special snowflakes, I’ll show you what each can do. Demonstrations are free of charge. You’rewelcome,”he added loftily.
The words on the wall behind him rippled again, and an illusion unfolded in the air, light and sound blooming in a swirl of magic. Now the letters read:
Item 1: The Mirror of Truth
Whimsy zipped over to the nearest item lying on the moonstone pedestal—a flat, polished black glass oval about as big as a bathroom mirror you might hang over the sink. It was framed in long, curving silver thorns.
“This isTheMirror of Truth,”he squeaked. “It doesn’t show your reflection. It shows your regrets. But if you look long enough—and hard enough—it can also help you heal them.”
Without waiting, the Mirror began to emit a soft blue glow, and Ronan, as if pulled by an invisible string, stepped forward.
“Ronan, wait!” I exclaimed and Finn jumped forward to grab him by the arm but it was too late—he was already leaning over the mirror, looking in.
The wall behind the pedestal lit with a flickering vision. Finn and I stared— it seemed to be showing us what Ronan was seeing in the black glass.
We saw a slightly younger Ronan—taller than the others in his Werebear Clan, standing between Finn and another male Shifter with wild black hair that was silver at the temples, who must be Thorne. The three of them changed, Shifting into their Fur Forms, and soon there was a black bear, a brown bear, and a massive grizzly—which again, must be Thorne—roaming through the forest, obviously hunting.
“Oh,” Finn breathed. “That’s us on the last day we were all together—the last time we hunted as a Clan before the curse!”
As we watched, a gorgeous stag came into view. There was obviously something magic about it—its coat was pure white and its horns and hooves gleamed like mother-of-pearl.
