You could take a lesson, Conall told his elk wryly.
It was distinctly odd to see his elk flatten his ears and toss his head, not just know that he was doing so.
I like it, Gizelle said, scratching behind the gazelle’s ears and laying her forehead to hers. There’s usually too much noise and we know each other better than words.
How long have we been here? Conall asked. Does time pass here like it does back there?
It depends on how wide I leave the door open, Gizelle said, as if it were perfectly logical.
Of course, Conall said, mystified.
Gizelle gazed up, an unexpected expression of dread creeping onto her face.
There’s rain coming, she said.
Conall looked up. Above them, it was featureless and black. No stars. No clouds. How can you tell? he asked.
Gizelle ignored him. There’s rain coming, she repeated. A rain of blood. And the earth splitting and the cage breaking.
Gizelle?
She looked at him, but it didn’t seem like her eyes. Everything will come undone, she cried. It will be my fault!
Then he was blinking back at the restaurant as couldn’t-be-Brick was snapping fingers in front of his face.
Gizelle was gone.
“What...?” He was half-standing, crouched at the table as if he’d been right in the middle of standing. His muscles ached.
“That probably could have gone better,” the waiter said with a shrug, gathering up the uneaten food and dishes.
Conall finished standing. “How long?” he had to ask, still feeling dazed.
“Just a few minutes,” the waiter said with a shake of his head. “But that was long enough, I guess.”
Conall recognized the dark red pools of material on the floor past Gizelle’s chair as the parts of her dress.
Chapter 17
Gizelle ran and ran and ran until her sides were heaving and the lights of the resort were distant twinkles behind her, and kept running until the jungle closed around her.
Finally, she shifted back onto trembling human legs, staggered a few steps, and sank down into the moss to weep.
She’d made a mistake in taking Conall to her safe place. All she had done was prove what an abnormality she was.
She was such a joke as a human.
She was foolish and awkward and ugly and odd and she couldn’t imagine anyone ever loving her.
It hadn’t mattered so much before... before Conall.
She hadn’t wanted to be loved before she’d seen him and realized what love might be.
He was so beautiful and proud, and he moved so easily through the world that baffled her.
She wanted him so badly that it hurt, deep in her belly. She ached for his touch and was terrified of it. She could feel all the hollow places inside that she wanted to let him into, and she was afraid she would crack apart if she tried to open to him.
And to top it all off, she had probably destroyed Lydia’s pretty dress when she ran away.