Monsters: The Folklore Trilogy Book 3

How To Be a Friend

A mirror, reflecting fractured scenes of a stone gray castle I knew very well. I shuddered. The image flickered, disjointed pictures clashing with each other at the spiderweb thin cracks. Blood, slowly dripping down the rivulets of a pale white palm. Eyes, flashing with lightning and fear. A clenched fist. A gash on a cheek. A cold silver knife. A smile, too broad to be natural, a curl of cruelty at the tip of each ruddy cheek.

And an overwhelming pulse of darkness, thrumming through it all.

~~~~~

My eyes slowly opened. It was dark, the stars glittering distantly in the sky. I took a shaky breath. I could feel the wood beneath my back. I was on the boat. I was okay. Safe from the terror and blood in the mirror of my nightmares.

Then I remembered what had happened.

I sat bolt upright with a gasp, ready to apologize. I felt my throat tighten with guilt and frustration.

"Oh good, you're awake," I heard a voice say. I turned to see Deynan and Sophie sitting behind me. Deynan smiled at me, not unkindly, which was a slight surprise.

"You were asleep a long time," Sophie said quietly. "I think two forced transformations in one day was a lot for your body to handle."

I nodded slowly, unsure of what to say.

Deynan sighed and turned around. "Amarie, nobody got hurt. You're fine. Don't worry about it."

I was stunned. "How did you—"

"You're always worrying about other people, it's not that hard to guess you feel bad right now. Plus, you have that trademark guilty look in your eyes that you get when you're worried you hurt somebody," Deynan explained.

I considered this a moment, somehow feeling a little bit worse. "Oh."

Desperately, I tried to change the subject. "Um...so how come you guys are awake?"

"First watch," Deynan replied. "Sophie and I were the only ones that weren't affected by your magic weirdness, so we weren't really as tired as everyone else."

"Figures I get stuck with this idiot," Sophie sighed.

My stomach lurched. "I thought you said nobody got hurt."

Sophie and Deynan shared a look, then Sophie explained what had happened. I felt like there was a pyramid of guilt growing in my stomach, each word another stone.

When she finished, there was silence except for the quiet movement of the waves.

I pulled my knees a little closer to my chest, looking at the ground. "Oh."

"I'm still curious as to why nothing happened to us," Deynan said cheerfully, clearly trying to lighten the mood.

Sophie shrugged. "Maybe we don't have distinctive enough characteristics."

I shook my head.

"Um...or maybe not?"

I took a breath. "It's not that. I don't know what, exactly, but I don't think she...I, can take away distinctive characteristics."

"That's literally what you said," Deynan said, annoyed.

"But I might have been lying. Distinctive personality traits are determined by the perception of others," I tried to explain.

"So?" Deynan challenged.

Sophie gasped. "So it's different for everyone. I might say Sierra's most distinctive quality is her joy but you might say her determination."