“Completely,” agreed Winter, brushing her dark hair from her eyes, and Simon gave her a look. “What? Have you ever seen a dolphin in the desert?”
Simon ignored her. “You won’t be useless,” he said to Jam. “You’re great at self-defense.”
“Yeah, against humans,” said Jam, pushing his glasses up his nose. “If Malcolm pits me against a mammal or a reptile—”
Behind him, Simon sensed a flurry of activity, and something soft and white dropped onto the table. He turned in time to see Garrett, one of the mammals Nolan had been laughing with, finish tipping a bucket full of goose down directly over Winter’s head.
“Hey!” cried Simon, but there was nothing he could do. The fluffy white feathers clung to her hair and spilled into her lap, and Winter sputtered, her eyes widening with confusion.
“Thought I’d help you out, Mutt, since you want to grow feathers so badly,” said Garrett. Behind him, the other mammals laughed, and Simon clenched his fists when he saw Nolan’s mocking smirk. Simon had endured plenty of bullying from Garrett and the other mammals when he had first arrived at the L.A.I.R., but up until today, Nolan had kept them under control. Apparently he was mad enough to let them off their leashes now.
But Simon’s attention quickly returned to Winter, who had gone from pale to scarlet. Garrett and Nolan might have thought it was a hilarious joke, but Simon could see the pain and humiliation swirling in her green eyes. Winter was a Hybred. Instead of her parents being from the same kingdom, her father had been a bird Animalgam, and her mother had been able to shift into a reptile. Being a Hybred didn’t seem like much of a big deal to Simon, but Winter, who had been raised by Orion and had spent her entire life wanting nothing more than to shift into a bird, had been desperate to keep her parentage a secret from everyone, even Simon. She’d only revealed her real Animalgam form in order to protect him, and now the entire school knew that she was a cottonmouth snake.
It was one of many things Simon felt guilty about, but at least this time he could do something to help. While Winter sat still, her hair shielding her face and her shoulders tensing as if she were about to cry, Simon stood and gripped the back of his chair so tightly that his fingernails left indents in the wood.
“You know who else is a Hybred?” he said. “Me and Nolan. Would you dump feathers over our heads, too?”
Garrett stepped closer, towering over Simon. “I wouldn’t have to, birdbrain. You’ve already got them. And if the teachers had any sense, you wouldn’t be here right now, not after you let Orion kill Darryl Thorn. Traitor.”
As soon as Garrett said his uncle’s name, something inside Simon snapped. The world went dark around the edges, and it felt as if there was a molten-hot hand squeezing around his heart. Without warning—without even realizing what he was doing until it was too late—Simon launched himself at the bigger boy with a feral cry.
Garrett fell, his elbows knocking against the wooden floor with a hard crack. Simon scrambled over him, trying to pin his legs and arms, but before he could get any kind of grip, Garrett began to shift. His body sprouted tan fur, his hands and feet turned into paws, and his face twisted into the muzzle of a mountain lion, complete with a set of razor-sharp teeth.
In an instant, the massive cat flipped over, and he shoved his paw so hard against Simon’s chest that Simon felt as if his ribs were about to snap. “You think you can take me on and win? Your wings are useless if you can’t fly.”
Simon wheezed, struggling to breathe as his vision went red. He didn’t have to fly. If he wanted, he could shift into a bear and show Garrett what a real fight was like. He could turn into a venomous viper and make the rest of the day excruciating for him. Or he could will his body to become as small as a flea, and when Garrett least expected it, he could strike.
The temptation to do all of that and more was enormous, and Simon had already formed the image of a tiger in his head when a massive gray wolf tackled the mountain lion, sending Garrett flying. Simon sat up, half expecting the wolf to pin Garrett, but instead they both shifted back into their human forms.
“What did I tell you about laying a paw on my nephews?” growled Malcolm, casting a shadow over Garrett, who had turned ghostly pale.
“Simon attacked him,” said Nolan from the edge of the crowd that had already gathered. “Garrett was just defending himself.”
Simon glanced at the table where his friends sat, opening his mouth to insist Garrett had attacked Winter. But while Ariana and Jam were on their feet, both ready to jump in and defend him, only a pile of white feathers remained where Winter had sat seconds before.
“I don’t care who started it. We do not use our Animalgam forms against each other, period,” said Malcolm. “No more pit privileges for the rest of the month, Garrett. And if you ever attack another student again, you’ll be expelled.”
Simon didn’t hear Garrett’s response, if he managed one at all. Instead, as Simon climbed to his feet, he caught sight of his hands, and his blood ran cold.
His fingernails had shifted into claws.
Hybred
For the rest of breakfast, Simon only half listened to his friends’ conversation, staring at his hands instead. His fingertips had returned to normal, but that had been too close. If Malcolm hadn’t interrupted the fight when he had, Simon didn’t want to think about what he would have done.
On the way to the pit for morning practice, Simon trailed behind his friends, all too aware of Garrett complaining about the loss of his pit privileges in a booming voice that rose above the crowd. Simon, unfortunately, hadn’t received the same punishment—or any punishment at all—which undoubtedly meant Garrett would make Simon’s life as miserable as possible for the foreseeable future. There wasn’t much he could do to make it worse, though. Not unless he was smart enough to keep targeting Simon’s friends.
The pit reeked of vinegar, but better that than skunk. Simon joined Jam and Ariana at the top of the bleachers, where they sat as far from the action as possible. Ariana looked annoyed, while beside her, Jam appeared vaguely ill. Simon thought it was from the smell until he remembered what Jam had said at breakfast.
“At least you won’t have to fight against Garrett,” said Simon as he sat down.
“That’s something, I guess,” said Jam, though he didn’t look terribly reassured. “I thought for sure I’d be matched against him in the pit.”
“Not today. Do you see Winter anywhere?”
Both of them shook their heads. Simon searched the sea of students around them, but there was no sign of her. Before he could try to sneak away to find her, however, Malcolm strode onto the sand with a pair of pack members in wolf form trailing after him.
“Sophie Fitzgerald and Geoffrey Lee,” he called, and two older students stood. “You’re up.”
He and the pack members cleared the sand, leaving room for the pair to face off. As soon as Malcolm blew the whistle, they shifted into their Animalgam forms—a wasp and a rattlesnake—and the fight began. Other students shouted support for their favorites, but Simon couldn’t muster up much interest, not with Winter missing. Despite Jam’s anxiety, most students enjoyed pit practice. It was the only time they were allowed to shift into their Animalgam forms outside of sanctioned training and when they were inside their sections. Simon knew most of the others ignored those rules, though; he’d seen for himself how Ariana spent half her time as a black widow spider, and most of the mammals shifted whenever a member of the pack wasn’t looking. Simon didn’t blame them. If he could, he would have run around as a different animal each day just to see what it was like. As it was, he was stuck as either an eagle or a human in front of others, and both seemed to catch him an equal amount of grief.
The wasp won the match after the rattlesnake tried to capture the insect in his mouth, only to wind up with a stinger in his tongue, forcing him to yield. The students cheered, and Simon’s attention wandered even more with each successive match. Beside him, he could feel Jam growing tense,
but there was nothing he could do other than quietly reassure his friend that he would be fine. When they’d sneaked into Sky Tower two months earlier, Simon had seen Jam take on a grown member of the pack and win. A student would be a piece of cake.
As Simon seriously considered whether anyone would follow him if he excused himself to use the bathroom, Malcolm called the names of the next pairing.
“Benjamin Fluke and . . .”
Simon held his breath.
“Nolan Thorn.”
His eyes widened, and he looked over at Jam. “At least it’s not Garrett,” he managed, but that wasn’t much consolation. While Nolan was really the Beast King’s heir, almost everyone in the L.A.I.R. believed he could only shift into a massive gray wolf like their uncle. And with the mood Nolan was in that morning, Simon wouldn’t have put it past his brother to draw blood.
With his hands trembling, Jam made his way down to the sand, where Nolan stood waiting, determination radiating off him. Simon anxiously leaned forward for a better view, all thoughts of Winter temporarily pushed aside. This couldn’t possibly end well.
“He’ll be fine,” said Ariana, but even she didn’t sound convinced.
Malcolm blew the whistle, and the match began. Instantly Nolan shifted into a gray wolf. Jam stumbled back, nearly tripping over his own feet. Even from a distance, Simon could see the panic on his face.
“Grab him by the scruff!” yelled Ariana, but Simon remained silent as Nolan advanced. If the mammals were willing to publicly humiliate Winter in the dining hall, he couldn’t imagine what Nolan had in mind for Jam now.
In a flurry of fur and teeth, Nolan snarled and jumped, his paws landing against Jam’s chest as they fell to the ground. Jam’s glasses flew off into the sand, and Nolan bared his teeth an inch from Jam’s throat. While he didn’t bite him, Jam winced with pain, and Simon noticed wolf’s claws digging deep into Jam’s black uniform.
“Nolan’s hurting him!” he shouted, but the cheers from the crowd drowned him out. Why wasn’t Jam yielding?
The wolf pushed off Jam’s chest, tearing his shirt with his claws, and he grabbed Jam’s boot with his mouth. Before Simon could shout again, Nolan began to drag Jam through the sand around the edge of the pit, as if showing off his prize. As he paraded around, he purposely stepped on Jam’s glasses.
Simon’s blood boiled with fury, and he began to shift before he could stop himself. For one terrifying moment, as his vision changed and his limbs twisted, he wasn’t sure which animal he was about to become. But as soon as he opened his mouth and an eagle’s cry escaped, he spread his wings and flew down into the pit, consumed with anger. It was one thing for Nolan to go after Simon, but Jam hadn’t done anything to deserve this humiliation.
“Let him go,” he demanded, landing on Nolan’s back and grabbing his ear with his beak. He must have squeezed harder than he’d thought, because the wolf yelped and immediately released Jam’s boot.
“What are you doing?” cried Nolan, trying to shake him off.
Now that he’d let Jam go, Simon released his brother and flapped his wings, rising several feet. “You were hurting him. The match is over.”
“He hasn’t yielded!” Nolan leaped into the air and snapped at him, his muzzle missing by inches. Simon rose even higher. “You can’t do this!”
“Enough, both of you.” Malcolm lumbered across the sand, and from Simon’s vantage point, he could see the cords in his uncle’s neck standing out. “Simon, you know better than to interfere in someone else’s match.”
“But Nolan—”
“I saw it, too, Simon. Shift back, both of you, and meet me upstairs.”
Simon landed easily beside Jam, and though he was still furious, he forced himself to turn back into his human form. “Are you all right?” he said, kneeling beside Jam in the sand.
Jam nodded, though the scratches showing through his torn shirt told another story. “Do you see my glasses anywhere?”
Simon fished around in the sand until he found them—mangled and broken, exactly like he’d feared. “Nolan stepped on them,” he said apologetically, offering them to Jam.
“The general won’t be happy about this,” said Jam. The left lens had cracked in the center, while Nolan had managed to snap the opposite arm clean in half. There was no salvaging them.
“So tell him the truth—that it wasn’t fair,” said Simon. “Your dad will understand.”
“Simon. Upstairs. Now,” called Malcolm from halfway up the staircase. Groaning inwardly, Simon stood and offered Jam his arm. Jam wobbled a little, but managed to find his footing in the uneven sand.
“I’ll see you in class,” said Simon as Ariana joined them from the bleachers. “Go to the infirmary first.”
“I’ll make sure he doesn’t fall over on the way,” said Ariana, and though she was nearly a head shorter than Jam, she wrapped her arm around his middle and led him toward the door.
Simon joined his brother upstairs in Malcolm’s office, keeping as much distance between them as possible. As soon as Malcolm closed the door with a soft click, the hair on the back of Simon’s neck stood up.
“I don’t know what’s going on between the two of you, but whatever it is, it needs to stop,” said his uncle.
“Why are you yelling at me?” said Nolan, even though Malcolm hadn’t raised his voice. “Simon’s the one who—”
“I saw what happened. I don’t need you to tell me,” said Malcolm, perching on the edge of his desk. “I’ll say it a hundred times if I have to—you’re brothers. You will be a part of each other’s lives from here on out, and you can either learn to get along, or you can suffer for it.”
“I don’t see how you expect me to get along with him when he does things like this all the time,” said Nolan, crossing his arms.
“And I don’t see how you expect me to get along with you when you’re bullying my friends,” said Simon hotly. Malcolm sighed.
“We have thirty minutes of pit time left before you need to be in class,” he said. “I’m going back down to observe. You two will stay in here and talk it out, and you will not leave until you’re behaving like brothers. Is that understood?”
Though neither Simon nor Nolan nodded, Malcolm strode out of his office and closed the door behind them. For several minutes, Nolan refused to look at him, let alone say anything. Simon knew without a doubt that his brother would accept nothing less than a total apology, and even then he’d probably argue with him just to drive the point home. As far as Simon saw it, there was no point—what little headway he’d managed to make with Nolan the past two months had been destroyed in a single morning.
“That was the first time in six weeks Malcolm’s let me fight in the pit, and you had to go and humiliate me in front of everyone,” spat Nolan at last.
“I wouldn’t have done it if you hadn’t been hurting Jam,” said Simon. “You didn’t have to drag him around like that. He hasn’t done anything to you.”
Nolan scoffed. “He’s weak.”
“Not when he’s underwater.” Simon shook his head. “He’s my friend. If you’d been set up against anyone else, you would’ve never—”
“You think I care that he’s your friend?” said Nolan.
“Yes. Just like I think you only told Garrett to pull that prank on Winter because she’s my friend, too.”
His brother’s nostrils flared exactly like Simon’s did when he was upset and trying to think of what to say. Seconds passed, and finally Nolan burst. “The entire school knows you like your friends more than you like me and Malcolm. You’re always with them, and you never even bother talking to me unless Malcolm makes you. Sometimes I think—I think if you had to choose between us, you’d choose your friends.”
Simon stared at him, speechless. That wasn’t a choice he ever wanted to make, but if he did . . . if he was being honest with himself, Nolan was right. He would choose Winter and Jam and Ariana.
“It’s not the same for me,” said Simon, a knot formin
g in his throat. “You’ve known Malcolm your whole life. He’s already your family. Me, I’m not—”
“You’re not what? Our family?” Nolan narrowed his eyes and finally looked at him. “You could be, you know, if you tried. But you don’t. You don’t sit with me—”
“Because your friends hate me,” said Simon. “Did you or did you not hear what Garrett called me?”
“You are a traitor,” snarled Nolan. “You’re a traitor against me. Against Malcolm. Against Mom. You’re the reason she’s gone.”
Simon would have preferred a sucker punch to the gut than having to listen to the venom Nolan was spewing, and he could feel that familiar hot anger surge through him. Willing himself not to shift, he took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down. It didn’t work. “I didn’t betray you. You’re the one who already has a family. My family died on the roof of Sky Tower, and you and Malcolm are never going to replace him. And yeah, maybe I spend more time with my friends, but that’s because they like me and want me around. You just want someone to tell you how awesome you are all the time. But you’re not,” said Simon, and he stood, glaring at his brother. “Awesome people aren’t bullies. Awesome people are accepting and nice and don’t call people traitors or Mutts or act like the world should revolve around them, because it doesn’t. My world has never revolved around you, and never will, got it?”
“Yeah, I got it,” said Nolan nastily. “Good to know what you really think of me. I guess you think Mom made the wrong choice, don’t you? Keeping me instead of you.”
Simon didn’t bother replying. Instead he stormed out of the office and slammed the door behind him, not caring if Malcolm would be upset with him. His uncle was already upset, and if things kept going this badly between Simon and Nolan, he always would be.
While everyone was finishing up in the pit, Simon wandered the Den, checking empty classrooms and the musty library for Winter. He even ducked into the dining hall again to see if she’d tried to sneak breakfast once everyone had left, but it too was empty. Frustrated, he headed toward the reptile section. He doubted she would hide in there, considering how much she hated being a cottonmouth, but with most of the students in the pit, there was a chance she would try. Each of the five Animalgam sections was designed to create a familiar environment for that specific kingdom, and the reptiles lived in a desert, complete with sand and suffocating heat. Simon had only been inside a couple of times before, and he instinctively looked down, not wanting to step on anyone’s tail.