Page 51 of Misfit Monsters
I hesitate before glancing up at him. “Like… you always look like you’re having fun on the outside. Like you’re happy. But sometimes I can tell you’re actually sad or even scared. You don’t have to pretend, you know. You need to recognize what’s wrong to make it better.”
Mirage tenses with a flash of his fangs. “Idon’t need any help. It’s all playing around.”
His voice is sharp, but the flare of emotion that prickles over my skin is more anxious than angry. I’ve stuck my foot in it again.
Let’s see if for once I can retrieve that foot from my mouth before it ends up right down my throat.
I dip my head apologetically. “I’m sorry. I’m realizing that a lot of beings don’t like it when I mention how they feel. If it’s easier for you focusing on having fun, I won’t bother you about it.”
Mirage opens his mouth and closes it again. An expression of consternation crosses his face. He gives his body a little shake, his fox ears shimmering into existence through his ruddy hair.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” he says.
I give him a sympathetic smile. “I don’t know your reasons, but there are things I don’t like talking about either. I have to remember that more when it comes to everyone else.”
His gaze darts to me, something shifting behind hisbright brown gaze. “Youaren’t the trouble, Rainbow. The trouble’s in here.” He touches the side of his head and then the front of his chest. “I like how you are—when you’re not asking about those things. You want everyone to be happy.”
A spark of joy lights in my chest. “Yes. Yes, I do.”
“Your powers made problems, but never on purpose.”
“I wish the only thing I ever did was make people happy.”
Mirage hums. “Sometimes playing makes problems too, even though it should all be fun. I don’t…”
He halts with another waft of discomfort, tart as a kumquat.
“It’s okay,” I say softly. “Whatever’s happened, I’m sorry it happened to you. But I’m glad you’re walking with me whether you tell me or not.”
He doesn’t say anything. He just reaches out and clasps my hand. Warmth blooms over my skin from where our palms touch, and my smile turns giddy.
Then I feel the topsy-turvy emotions in a sudden jolt from just ahead.
I drop my voice to a whisper. “I think we’ve almost found… whatever it is.”
We creep along even more carefully. Mirage lifts his feet in an exaggerated pantomime and grins at me. Thankfully he refrains from adding a laugh track.
The trees thin around a small clearing, and I catch a glimpse of a hunched form between the trunks.
I stop where I have a full view, studying the creature. It stands on tall legs like a giraffe’s but twice as spindly, ridged plates jutting across its belly and a thick tongue lolling from its crooked beak.
It raises that beak toward the leaves of the nearest tree but can’t seem to bite any off. A shudder of frustration runs through it, followed by another punch of tangled emotions.
The poor thing. Maybe it would like some mac and cheese or a triple chocolate cake? Those always put me in a good mood… not that I have either on hand.
As I try to decipher the scrambled impressions, the creature’s entire body spasms. Its legs plummet to half their previous height; its beak juts farther into a pointed, furred snout.
Talk about a makeover.
My breath catches in my throat. “It’s another of those strange changing shadowkind.”
I spoke at a murmur, but the creature’s new form must come with keener ears. Its head snaps toward me. With a thin shriek, it crashes into the underbrush on the other side of the clearing.
Mirage springs forward. “I’ll catch it!” He flickers into fox form and then into the shadows in a blink.
I hustle after both him and the creature, but after the walk, my physical legs are ready to stage a rebellion. When I push them to a run, twinges of pain reverberate from my ankles.
Wincing, I slip into the swath of darkness along the edge of the clearing. But even when I throw myself forward as quickly as I can, the space ahead feels empty.
