“So he’s insane.” My blunt bunny didn’t pull any punches, especially when it came to his family’s safety.
Damien made a noise in his throat. “I’m not sure he’s sane, but I can’t say he’s insane either.”
“What do you mean?” Theo asked, adjusting his glasses even as he ignored the lock of dark blond hair that fell over his forehead.
“I was inside Ishida’s mind,” Damien began, reaching up to rub his temple. “I’ve been inside the minds of others once they have shattered. That’s exactly what happens—they truly shatter, like a mirror against stone. His mind is nothing like that. I’ve never experienced anything like it.”
“You mean he’s like Ciarán?” Ryder mused, running a hand through the purple strands of his hair. I loved how the color illuminated as it caught the overhead lighting, nearly glowing against his sun-kissed skin.
“No.” Despite the seriousness of the situation, I could almost hear the unsaid ‘Thank God’ at the end of that sentence. “Ciarán was covering his mind, hiding it, attempting to make himself appear dimwitted and unfocused, and used music and random thoughts to act as a cover for his true self. It’s more like…” He considered us for a moment, searching for the words he needed. “It’s more like he doesn’t have a true self.” Damien leaned back against the wall, letting the wood take his weight as he thought. “I can always feel a person’s alter in their minds, but it’s an echo, it’s not a real presence. When a mind is shattered, it’s like picking through pieces. His mind feels nothing like either. It’s a mess of blurred lines and sharp edges all jammed together and combined into one entity.”
“Can you show me?” Theo’s blue eyes were sharp.
Damien tilted his head. “I can try. I’m not sure I can pass the full sensation though,” he cautioned.
“Just try,” I encouraged. “Maybe if I can understand a bit better, it will help me when I talk to him.”
Damien opened our link, and I felt him push an impression of him searching Birdman’s mind toward me. It was a view of our compound, of the buildings from overhead, I realized. It should have been simple, a flash of memory, yet in a moment, I understood what Damien meant. I felt like I was seeing through a poorly filtered screen, each piece of the image colored and processed slightly differently. Emotions battered me, none of them seeming to connect, and each of those fragments felt off, disconnected, yet were still clearly a part of the whole.
Ryder swore, staggering slightly, before Hiro caught him, keeping him steady on his feet. Joshua had gone slightly pale, reaching out to steady himself against the wall. “What in the hell is that?” Joshua whispered, his eyes wide as he looked at us.
“That’s what you’ve been looking at?” I questioned breathlessly. “His entire mind is like that?”
Damien’s mouth was pressed into a thin line. “Everything. I can’t even get to it all. Much of it’s still walled off, but the parts he’s let me into? It’s all the same.”
“What could cause that?” Killian asked, and even the sturdy Celt looked a little sick, his fair skin slightly green.
Theo sighed, pushing his glasses up his nose. “It may actually make sense.” All our eyes whipped to the Kraken. “I finished all of the testing I’ve been working on. I was going to go over the results with you before we went in there today, but seeing this? It makes everything a little clearer.”
Damien waved a hand for him to continue and pulled me against his chest, nuzzling his head into my hair.
Theo looked to all of us in turn. “He’s a hybrid.”
“We knew that already,” Killian grumbled.
“You don’t understand. The kids? They’re maybe two types of shifters. The types are forced to integrate, unlike a typical mating, but they’re still two types. Him?” Theo shook his head. “I found markings for at least eight kinds of shifters in his DNA. Active types of shifters.” His eyes locked with mind as he added, “Including an avian marker I’ve only seen one other time.”
I froze. “He’s part phoenix?”
“Not phoenix,” Theo assured me. “But whatever your father’s bloodline is. I’ve still had no luck identifying that.”
“But you know it’s not Stepanov’s Koschei,” I pointed out. “It doesn’t match what’s in the database.”
“I only know what he contributed to the database doesn’t match,” Theo reminded me gently. “He could have had his own reasons for not wanting his genetic material catalogued and simply provided false material.”
“He’s not avian though,” Ryder argued, slamming his hand into the wall. “I don’t understand why that guy, or Stepanov for that matter, would make that kind of claim!”
“Mind games,” Killian replied coldly. “What else would it be? He knew it would fuck with our girl’s head like nothing else.” Killian wasn’t wrong, and I shuddered again, despite Damien’s warmth at my back. I had already gotten rid of one murderer of a father, only to be told I had another one. It was like I was cursed. I knew bloodlines didn’t define a person, but I still didn’t want to be related to that evil bastard.
“Ryder has a point,” I murmured, pulling Damien’s arms tighter around me. “He’s creepy as hell, but he’s not a bird.”
Joshua winced, rubbing the back of his neck. “Actually, that’s not true.” All of us froze, turning slightly to look at him. “Or may not be true,” he added hurriedly. “It’s an old legend, you have to dig for it, but there are some who say that a koschei can take on another form—a bird. My dad mentioned it once. Stepanov keeps the legend hushed up, swears it’s a lie, a human manipulation of the legend in order to try and add something less fearsome to his kind.”
“Like the story that basilisks can be killed by a rooster crowing?” Ryder queried dryly, poking a finger into Joshua’s side. Joshua didn’t take offense, just nodded.
I groaned, sagging in Damien’s grasp, knowing my Gargoyle wouldn’t let me fall. “Let’s deal with that part later,” I pleaded, resting my head against him.
“What else did you learn about the prisoner?” Damien asked Theo, pressing his lips gently against my head.
Theo grimaced. “He’s a mix of avian and reptilian shifters that veer toward the venomous ranges, though nothing as rare as basilisks. I can’t guarantee what traits he has gained from each, just that you will need to be wary.”
“I’ll monitor his mind as much as I can. If nothing else, I hope I can at least pick out if he’s telling us the truth.” Damien didn’t sound hopeful, and I stroked a hand down his arm in reassurance. “Keep your eyes open. He hasn’t tried anything, but he’s from the Council. I still haven’t been able to figure out why they’d sacrifice him for no reason.” The others nodded sharply, their eyes alert.
I swallowed hard and attempted a smile I knew was shaky on the edges. “Well, let’s see if we can work this out one bird to another.” Damien released me gently as Joshua opened the sealed doorway, allowing us entrance.