“Where’s Cang?” Fassn asks, blinking away the drops cascading through his stringy hair. He’s allowed himself to be pulled back into the smithy with Abia and Shyan.
Shyan stares at him in open disbelief. “You saw him transform, right? And walk out the door?”
“Yeah,” Fassn says, with a drawn-out aspect, as though he’s trying his best to remember.
“His skin turned grey. He got new teeth, just like you. He touched the purple fang.”
Fassn reaches around to gently dab at his shoulder blades. “I miss my wings.”
“Not relevant. We’re going to see Ulxurix, the witch.”
He brightens. “Oh yeah! She did my teeth. Did we ever pay her?”
Blushing, Shyan says, “Well, no, but we were working on it. Still are.”
Abia signals to Shyan to move things along.
“Right. Fassn, get ready. We’re going back into the rain.”
Lightning strikes, and in that flashing instant, written across the faces of the three is pure terror.
