Now You See Me

Twenty-Seven: Suffocation

"Yeah, I slept really well last night. It was bizarre."

"And you hadn't taken anything before going to sleep? You weren't inebriated?"

"No. I went straight to bed after dinner."

"Right."

Courtney and Leia's voices reached me from down the corridor when I finally emerged from my room that afternoon. Leia's office door was open and I could see the back of Courtney's head from where I stood. As I watched, Leia began to pace; I froze as she looked up and spotted me. Her eyes narrowed.

"Mr Smith," she said. Courtney's face appeared with a smile and a small wave, but I was suddenly too nervous to return it, since Leia was now glaring at me. "Where've you been all day?"

"In there," I said. I pointed into the bedroom. She raised both her eyebrows.

"All this time? It's three o'clock already."

"I know. I wasn't hungry."

"That's not an excuse for shutting yourself up in there all..." she trailed off, squinting. Then with alarming speed she came up the corridor and took my wrist in a steel grip to keep me from backing off. When I struggled, she gave a sharp painful tug that brought me right up close to her.

"Leia, what are you doing?" Courtney joined us now. She looked angry. "Didn't we decide it was best if you two avoided each other for the time being?"

"Not now, Courtney," Leia snapped. "Gonna have to bypass that one today. I think we've found the solution to your problem."

"What problem?" As I looked at Courtney, she gasped.

"Damien, your eyes are..."

But Leia was already pulling me into her office, leaving me to stumble and trip over my own feet behind her, with Courtney jogging along behind me. I couldn't decipher the look on the sorceress's face as she dumped me in a chair, let Courtney in and then shut us all into the room. A sudden irrational panic bubbled in my throat, and it took everything I had to keep myself in the chair as Leia paced around. I wanted the door open; the space was too small and cluttered to be comfortable in. I was beginning to sweat under my shirt and I could feel my gills strain to open as it sprang up on my neck.

"Have you looked in the mirror today, Damien?" Leia asked out of nowhere. She pulled her desk chair out so it was positioned with its back to me, and then she straddled it and fixed me with a piercing stare over the top.

"No."

"So this is news to you?" She pulled a hand-mirror off her desk and held it up in front of me. I blinked, and then rocked back so hard I almost overbalanced the seat.

"Uh...yep. Yeah, that's news." I took the mirror from her and brought it close to my face. My eyes had gone from their usual deep brown to a vibrant emerald, the pupils vaguely ovular and pointed, and as I moved them, they contracted and dilated not unlike a cat's would.

"I've only ever seen them like that when you're fully transformed," Courtney said. She had a hand over her nose and mouth, and couldn't meet my gaze when I turned to look at her.

"You've been conversing with others, haven't you?" Leia asked me, "Other Syrens?"

"No. I mean, I thought I felt a response at one point..." I trailed off as Leia stood up and began to pace again. "But why would that make my eyes change colour?"

"Oh, it wouldn't." She waved the suggestion off. "Not normally. Not unless you were already having trouble settling on land, which we know you are. We'd be fools not to expect this at some point, but damn, this couldn't be a worse time." She dragged a hand down her face. "This will have made it ten times harder for you to cope without a clan. The only reason you have until this point is because you've never been part of one, and you can't miss something you've never had. But now they've twigged you're here and that you can understand them..." She tapped a finger against her lips. "They'll keep calling until you join them."