Page 74 of Monster's Melody

“I’d want to hide too,” Elliot muttered, eyeing the long lines.

“Hey!”I exclaimed, happy to see Sunny and Daya at the edge of the crowded pier.“You didn’t join us for lunch.”

“Yeah, I wasn’t exactly packed yet,” Sunny said.

Daya snorted.“That is an understatement.Her room was chaos.We were running so late, I actually thought we might miss the ferry.”

Sunny rolled her eyes.“We were here a full thirty minutes early, Daya!”

“Like I said.We were late.”

Kasi and I snickered.

“Tabitha!”Mikaela called, beckoning the redhead over.

I didn’t know Tabitha well, but I did know that she was unfortunately related to that idiot Taggart.

Tabitha made her way toward us and I was dismayed to see that Taggart sauntered along at her side.

“Mikaela!”He opened his arms wide and made a beeline for her.

The minute he was in range, Elliot slammed a palm in the center of Taggart’s chest, shoving him away like a pesky fly.

Taggart staggered back, then caught his balance and grinned.“Aw, don’t be like that, Elliot.I just wanted to thank Mikaela for the save last semester.”

“Go away,” Elliot growled, the dragon very present in his voice.

Tabitha stepped between Taggart and Elliot, shoving her brother back.“Sorry he’s such a moron.”She rolled her eyes.“I have no idea how the two of us can be related.”

“No shit,” Taggart sneered.“You’re not even a real wolf.”He stalked away.

“What the hell?”Vorzak scowled after Taggart.“What kind of asshole brother says that to his sister, especially his twin?”

“Eh, I’m used to it.”Tabitha shrugged.“My foxy smell really sets off his wolf.”

We all reared back in horror.

“Oh, not that way.Ew!No.”Tabitha gagged a little.“Our mom’s a fox and our dad’s a wolf.”

“But you’re not a fox,” Mikaela said.“I saw your wolf form in the simulation last semester.”

Tabitha grinned.“Yeah, I’m a little bit of a mix of both our parents.”

“Oh, I know all about that,” Vorzak muttered, making me chuckle.

“I shift into a wolf, but apparently, I smell like a fox, which isn’t really a good thing around true predators.I smell like prey to Taggart’s wolf.”

“Huh.My dragon’s never noticed.”Elliot looked at Tabitha closer.“How intriguing.To be one type of shifter, but smell like another.”

“Wait.Was thatyouI saw playing with foxes in the woods last year?”Jahrdran demanded.

Tabitha grinned.“Probably.The wild foxes love me.”

I wanted to know so much more, but we were interrupted by the ferry’s arrival and the chaos of saying our goodbyes to Jahrdran and Kasi.

They both waited until we were all on board before waving and disappearing into the shadows, heading off on a quest I could only hope would bring Kasi some peace.

“So, did you hear what happened to Nika?”Sunny asked as the ferry got underway.