I passed out before I hit the tiled floor.
The taste of blood in my mouth was the first thing I noticed once my senses returned. It took a few more seconds before the whooshing in my ears quieted down enough for me to hear what was going on around me: gasps and screams.
I struggled against the sleepiness.
Another piercing scream raised my hackles. The next scream stopped abruptly and all I heard was the splashing of water. I forced my eyes open. One of them seemed crusted shut with blood and no matter how hard I tried, it wouldn’t open more than a gap. Fog floated in the bathroom, a wall of milky white.
I touched my throat and winced. The skin was tender. But there was another spot that ached even more. I glanced down at the hole in my shirt and the A on my skin peeking through. It was glaring red and oozing blood. Ryan had renewed the cut.
Focusing my attention on the mist, I tried to make out what was going on.
Ryan was holding Kate’s head under water. She’d stopped struggling, her arms hanging limply at her sides. Summoning my strength, I staggered to my feet. Ryan let go of Kate and the rest of her upper body sank beneath the water’s surface. Waves lapped over the edge and flooded the bathroom.
Dots of light danced in and out of my vision.
I willed my body to transform but nothing happened. This couldn’t be true. What was wrong with me? Ryan was coming toward me, slashing the air with the knife. Why wasn’t he sicking his fog on me? Maybe he too was out of energy.
I tensed my legs the way that Alec had taught me. I struck out into a high-kick but my aim was off and I almost lost my balance. With a deep breath, I tried again. This time I kicked the knife from his hand. It clattered to the ground.
Ryan lunged forward, his hands closing around my throat like the mist had before, tightening until I couldn’t breathe. His nails burrowed into my skin. I gripped his arms, trying to pull him off-balance, but he was too strong. My fingers dug into him, hurting him as much as I could.
His grip was relentless. My lungs constricted and the blurry black dots returned to my vision. The olive green of his irises disappeared until there was only white. The fog densed, began to hum, snatched at my hair and skin. It would kill me. I didn’t have much time.
A faint rippling sensation started in my legs and traveled through my body. I focused all my energy on the shift while more dots danced in my vision. The rippling increased and I felt my bones lengthening, my muscles growing. With a yelp, Ryan let go and the room cleared of mist. Stretching, shifting, reshaping and then the transformation was over, and I was as tall as Ryan. I’d changed into Alec.
“You’re—you’re one of us? Did Abel’s Army send you?” His irises had returned to their usual green.
“I’m not a killer and I don’t care about your army,” I said.
He staggered forward again, his arms extended. I blocked him and thrust my knee up, hitting him in the groin. With a groan, he stumbled backward and sank down on one knee, the knife inches from him.
He grabbed it, his knuckles turning white, and advanced on me, weapon brandished. His gait wasn’t as steady as it had been before and only a few streaks of haze danced around his legs. He thrust forward like a snake serving its deadly strike. Fire seared my arm where the blade sliced open my skin. Immediately my sleeve soaked up the warm liquid.
With a battle cry in Alec’s deep voice, I charged at him. Ryan slashed the knife in an arc, aiming straight at my head. With a jolt I shifted back to a female body. I didn’t even know if it was Madison’s or mine. The blade missed me by less than an inch. If I hadn’t shifted, Ryan would have scalped me. I kicked at his knee as hard as I could and heard a satisfying crunch.
Ryan cried out in pain and lost his balance, flailed his arms, and stumbled forward, bumping into me with his full force. The impact squeezed the air out of my lungs and made me gasp. We fell backward and my tailbone slammed into the solid floor, sending a jolt of pain up my spine. Ryan’s heavier body landed on top of me, and something hard dug into my stomach.
I grew stiff with fear. Had he stabbed me?
His eyes widened in shock before his mouth went slack. He sagged against me as something warm and wet soaked my clothes. I pushed him off. He rolled over onto his back, the knife handle sticking out of his midsection. Blood trickled out of his mouth and his eyes lost their focus. Gurgling breaths spurted out of his body. Strands of mist curled around his arms and seeped into his skin.