Page 20 of Misfit Monsters (Pack of Outcasts #1)

Periwinkle

M y eyes twitch open. A mishmash of clashing flavors wobbles through my nerves like someone’s upending a buffet table over me.

I sit up, peering through the darkness. Faint moonlight seeps through the camper van’s windows, highlighting Jonah’s sleeping form tucked under his blanket.

The sight of his black hair lying rumpled against the small pillow brings a twinge of affection into my chest that’s not totally familiar. I have the urge to reach over and smooth the strands back from his face.

It’s not as if he minds his hair getting in his eyes when they’re closed anyway.

I don’t want to wake him up, and another splatter of strange emotion hits me at the same time. Definitely not from Jonah—it’s reaching me from too much of a distance .

We’re alone in the van. None of our shadowkind companions have snuck in to shelter in the shadows.

Have Raze and Hail gotten into another argument? I’m not sure how much I can intervene, but talking them down this evening seemed to help a little.

Time for my one-person cheer squad to come to the rescue.

I slip through the shadows along the tiny gap at the edge of the doorframe and re-materialize on the dirt track outside. The chilly night air wisps against my skin. Crickets chirp in the thicker darkness of the woods.

I can’t pick up on any signs of trouble with my other senses—no snapped words or grunts of combat. Only another spurt of emotion that’s too muddled to decipher.

I’m not tasting any hostility in the impressions, at least. I don’t think I need to fear my imminent demise.

Watching for any evidence to the contrary, I venture into the forest in the direction the pulses of emotion are emanating from. I’ll get a better idea what’s going on, and if I think I need backup, I’ll call for the others then.

It turns out I don’t need to call. I’ve taken less than ten steps before a lean figure topped with bright red hair emerges from the shadows by my side.

Mirage cocks his head, gazing down at me. He keeps his voice hushed, though his usual lively energy still ripples through it. “Where are you off to, our little rainbow?”

A trace of a blush touches my cheeks at the reference to my glowing hair and the various embarrassing emotions it’s put on display. “I’m noticing unusual feelings from something—or more than one thing—out this way. I thought I’d take a closer look.”

He clicks his tongue, mock chiding. “All by yourself.”

I shrug. “I didn’t want to bother the rest of you if I didn’t need to. You could go back to the van. ”

A grin stretches across Mirage’s face. “Exploring is much more interesting. If there’s trouble, I can outfox it for you.”

Another pang of affection fills me, even though the fox shifter has been irritable with me before. “You really don’t need to, but if you want to come along, I’m happy to have company.”

“It’s settled, then. Mirage and Periwinkle, back in a twinkle.” He winks at me with a brief swish of his five bushy tails before they vanish back into his human-esque body.

The rhyme comes with a brief flicker of satisfaction like fresh cherry pie. “You like playing with words a lot, don’t you?”

“I like playing with all things. Why not have fun wherever you can?” He hops over a fallen log with a swift flip before landing. Then he stops, maybe realizing I can’t leap over quite so nimbly, and offers his hand to help me clamber over.

His grasp is unexpectedly steady. I kind of wish I didn’t have to let go.

I walk on more cautiously as I wait for another of those strange sensations. For maybe a minute, nothing comes, and I start to think it’s gone and we should go back.

Then another flare wriggles through my nerves from closer by.

I point up ahead. “Still this way.”

Mirage bounds along beside me. “You’re not worried about what it could be?”

I consider the question. “A little. But not very much. It doesn’t feel bad , only… confused.”

“Confused people—and shadowkind—do bad things.”

“But sometimes they do good things too. Or they need help so that they can. If we ignore them, we’d never find out. ”

He lapses into a short silence. “You like to unravel mysteries!”

He sounds so delighted with his revelation that I hate to correct him.

“Sort of. I just… like to understand everyone. There are so many different feelings, and they don’t always make sense.

When I start sorting them out, a lot of the time that seems to make the other being happier too. So we all win.”

I hesitate before glancing up at him. “Like… you always look like you’re having fun on the outside. Like you’re happy. But sometimes I can tell you’re actually sad or even scared. You don’t have to pretend, you know. You need to recognize what’s wrong to make it better.”

Mirage tenses with a flash of his fangs. “ I don’t need any help. It’s all playing around.”

His voice is sharp, but the flare of emotion that prickles over my skin is more anxious than angry. I’ve stuck my foot in it again.

Let’s see if for once I can retrieve that foot from my mouth before it ends up right down my throat.

I dip my head apologetically. “I’m sorry. I’m realizing that a lot of beings don’t like it when I mention how they feel. If it’s easier for you focusing on having fun, I won’t bother you about it.”

Mirage opens his mouth and closes it again. An expression of consternation crosses his face. He gives his body a little shake, his fox ears shimmering into existence through his ruddy hair.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” he says.

I give him a sympathetic smile. “I don’t know your reasons, but there are things I don’t like talking about either. I have to remember that more when it comes to everyone else.”

His gaze darts to me, something shifting behind his bright brown gaze. “ You aren’t the trouble, Rainbow. The trouble’s in here.” He touches the side of his head and then the front of his chest. “I like how you are—when you’re not asking about those things. You want everyone to be happy.”

A spark of joy lights in my chest. “Yes. Yes, I do.”

“Your powers made problems, but never on purpose.”

“I wish the only thing I ever did was make people happy.”

Mirage hums. “Sometimes playing makes problems too, even though it should all be fun. I don’t…”

He halts with another waft of discomfort, tart as a kumquat.

“It’s okay,” I say softly. “Whatever’s happened, I’m sorry it happened to you. But I’m glad you’re walking with me whether you tell me or not.”

He doesn’t say anything. He just reaches out and clasps my hand. Warmth blooms over my skin from where our palms touch, and my smile turns giddy.

Then I feel the topsy-turvy emotions in a sudden jolt from just ahead.

I drop my voice to a whisper. “I think we’ve almost found… whatever it is.”

We creep along even more carefully. Mirage lifts his feet in an exaggerated pantomime and grins at me. Thankfully he refrains from adding a laugh track.

The trees thin around a small clearing, and I catch a glimpse of a hunched form between the trunks.

I stop where I have a full view, studying the creature. It stands on tall legs like a giraffe’s but twice as spindly, ridged plates jutting across its belly and a thick tongue lolling from its crooked beak.

It raises that beak toward the leaves of the nearest tree but can’t seem to bite any off. A shudder of frustration runs through it, followed by another punch of tangled emotions .

The poor thing. Maybe it would like some mac and cheese or a triple chocolate cake? Those always put me in a good mood… not that I have either on hand.

As I try to decipher the scrambled impressions, the creature’s entire body spasms. Its legs plummet to half their previous height; its beak juts farther into a pointed, furred snout.

Talk about a makeover.

My breath catches in my throat. “It’s another of those strange changing shadowkind.”

I spoke at a murmur, but the creature’s new form must come with keener ears. Its head snaps toward me. With a thin shriek, it crashes into the underbrush on the other side of the clearing.

Mirage springs forward. “I’ll catch it!” He flickers into fox form and then into the shadows in a blink.

I hustle after both him and the creature, but after the walk, my physical legs are ready to stage a rebellion. When I push them to a run, twinges of pain reverberate from my ankles.

Wincing, I slip into the swath of darkness along the edge of the clearing. But even when I throw myself forward as quickly as I can, the space ahead feels empty.

Mirage and the strange shadowkind have already outpaced me. I don’t know if they continued in the same direction or veered off somewhere.

I stop, surrounded by unfamiliar trees and bushes. The chill of the breeze penetrates the shadows.

With a shiver, I return to physical form. My awareness of the mortal world is clearer when I can use my senses fully.

I can’t see, hear, or smell any trace of my hiking companion or the creature we were tracking, though. If Mirage caught the beast, he’d call for me to join him, wouldn’t he ?

Turning around, I recognize none of my surroundings. Which direction did I come from? Every stretch of trees and underbrush looks the same.

How do I get back to the van from here?

This is why I like cities. They have signs.

I should have laid down a path like that fairy tale with the two children. Shiny stones, not bread crumbs—bread crumbs are only good for the birds.

I walk a little way in the direction I think will take me back to the clearing where we spotted the creature, but it’s just trees, trees, and more trees. I’ve only gotten more lost.

It was important to find that shadowkind. It might help us figure out where the beings like it are coming from. But I can’t help anyone if I pull an accidental disappearing act.

What will Jonah think if he wakes up and I’m gone? Will Raze be angry? Will Hail call me useless?

I hug myself and peer around me. A sallow yellow glow tints the nearby trunks. My hair is glowing with my growing fear.

If Mirage hasn’t caught the creature by now, I’m not sure he will. He really shouldn’t be following it on his own after the last one attacked us out of the blue.

Assuming he didn’t simply ditch me.

No. I don’t believe that. I can still feel the comforting pressure of his hand around mine.

I lift my voice to carry. “Mirage? Mirage, where are you? I couldn’t keep up. Mirage!”

For several beats of my heart, all I get is the dark glower of the gloomy forest. Then a fox head pops from between two bushes.

Mirage transforms into human-esque form as he bounds out. He grasps the sides of my arms. “Are you all right?”

He looks so concerned that my pulse flutters. I want to lean into him, but I’m afraid he’ll pull back rather than gather me closer.

Instead, I recover my smile. “I was too slow and I got lost, but I’m sure we can find our way now that I’ve found you.”

Mirage hums. “That shifty being was too quick even for me. Following its trail was already hard before I heard you calling. Maybe Raze can track it tomorrow.”

“That’s a good plan.”

Mirage turns me so we’re facing in the same direction, tucking one hand around my elbow. “My nose is good enough to follow our trail. I’ll get us back before anyone wails!” He pauses. “If you’ll count on me for that too.”

I beam at him. “Of course. Thank you—for coming, and for leading the way.”

As Mirage smiles back at me, a wash of emotion streams off him like nothing I’ve sensed from the fox shifter before: sweet and warm but poignant, like pork belly drizzled with salted caramel.

Even when I’ve gotten lost in the woods, I can do something right… whatever exactly that was.