Page 34 of Defiant Princess

“Or will it open with your mind powers,” Layla says.

“She might have a point.” Catherine sits up, brushing the sand off the back of her black tank top. Nearly two weeks into knowing the twins, and I’ve never seen Catherine in anything but black or Alexander in anything but jeans or chinos and a gray t-shirt. Or naked. Alexander’s also big on being naked, usually while he’s way too close to Juliet for my liking.

“Shifting’s not really a physical thing, after all,” Catherine continues. “At least not the start of it. The trigger into the physical transformation is something you pull with your mind.”

Juliet takes a deep swallow of water before asking, “But isn’t that what I’m already doing? I mean, obviously I’m trying to open the door with my mind, not in physical reality. It’s all in my head, the door, my hand, the lack of handle.”

“Maybe that’s it,” I say, her words making my brain stem tingle.

She frowns. “What’s it?”

“Maybe there’s no handle because a part of your brain doesn’t want you to shift,” I add. “Maybe it’s afraid of what’s waiting on the other side of that door and is trying to protect you by making it impossible to open.”

Juliet pales, Layla’s brows crawl up her forehead, and Catherine curses softly. “Ford, my friend. Maybe you should be a psychology major instead of English. Because that…” She points a finger Juliet’s way. “That sounds like a very possible thing to me. What about you, J?”

Juliet nods, just a tiny bit at first but with increasing size as she mulls it over. “Could be. I want to shift, I really do, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little scared of it, too.”

“What are you scared of?” I ask.

For a moment I don’t think she’s going to answer. But then, she proves she’s a braver, more vulnerable person than she was when we got here. “I’m scared of hurting myself or someone else. Of going full burn and forgetting my entire life.” She hesitates before adding in a softer voice, “And of finally finding my form and realizing it’s not going to help. That it’s as small and unimpressive as my human one, and I’m out of luck on both sides.”

“Small, yes,” Layla says. “But unimpressive? No way, woman. Not even close.”

“I’ll second that,” Catherine agrees.

Figuring Juliet knows how I feel, I say, “So, you have some very realistic and justifiable fears. But you need to get past them. How do we do that? What’s the opposite of fear?”

“Peace?” Catherine throws out.

“Pizza?” Layla asks. “Sorry, I’m still hungry. By the time I got to the dining hall after afternoon training, there wasn’t any salmon left. Just grilled tofu chunks.” She sticks her tongue out and shudders. “Why they keep making tofu when most people around here are hardcore carnivores, I have no idea.”

“I actually like the tofu,” Juliet says. “I’m weird all around.”

“Play,” I say, refusing to get distracted. We don’t have time to be normal college coeds and talk shit about the dining hall food. The trials start in two days.

Juliet’s gaze lifts to mine. “Play?”

“It’s the opposite of fear. Right?” I ask. “It’s creative instead of destructive. Relaxing instead of stressful.”

Her lips curve and a light I haven’t seen in a while sparks to life in her eyes. “Fun instead of scary.”

Layla nods. “Yeah. And if it doesn’t work, at least we’ll have blown off steam and had a good time.” She hops to her feet. “What should we do?” She cocks her head to one side with a scrunched face. “Do we remember how to play?”

“I do.” Catherine rises with one graceful flex of her legs and clasps her hands together with a mischievous grin. “And I know the perfect place to go. I’ve been saving it as a surprise, but today’s as good a day for swimming as any.”

“Swimming?” Layla perks up. “Oh my God, I’ve been wanting to get in the water for days. Take us to your swimming hole, woman.”

“It’s more like a cave of wonders,” Catherine says, motioning for us to follow as she moves to the other side of the small cove and an entrance to another cave we haven’t yet explored.

“You don’t have to ask me twice.” Layla scampers after her, but Juliet waits for me to reach the edge of her beach blanket before she steps off of it.

“You’re finally going to let me play with the cool kids?” she asks, her teasing tone making me hopeful this might work. Or that at least we’ll have some fun to balance out the non-stop hustle of the past two weeks.

I shrug. “I guess. You’re a lot less bratty than the last time you tried to follow me to a swimming hole.”

“Cave of wonders,” she corrects, poking me playfully in the chest as we start across the sand.

“I’d like to visit your cave of wonders,” I murmur beneath my breath.

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