There were a dozen responses to that question and every one of them was blown apart by the rising tide of pain that brought stinging sweat to Amber’s eyes.

“Help me,” she said, her words distorted. It hurt to breathe.

Benjamin hurried over, looked down at her. “The pain won’t last long,” he said. “The change’ll happen any minute now. Then he’ll be here to put you out of your misery.”

He ducked out of Amber’s line of sight, and she was left alone again, with just the ceiling and her pain for company. Another few seconds and she’d no longer be able to form coherent thoughts.

She couldn’t prevent it any longer. Amber shifted, the sudden transformation making her cry out once more.

“I told you!” Benjamin said loudly. “I told you not to do that!”

Either the pain dimmed to a manageable level or else she was suddenly just able to handle it better – either way she could now raise herself up on to an elbow to look at Benjamin, who had the rifle aimed and ready to fire.

“Change back!” he commanded. “I know you can change back! You’re not like us! Change back right this second!”

“You shot me,” she said. “I’m dying. Please, you have to help me.”

“I said change back!” he roared, advancing on her.

Instinctively, her black scales rose on her skin, locking into place to form armour in the time it took Benjamin’s finger to tighten on the trigger. The bullet struck her chest, just below her left shoulder, smashing through her scales and she twisted, screaming.

Benjamin was standing over her now. “That wasn’t my fault! That was your own fault! I told you not to change and you changed!”

She lashed out, caught him below the knee and sent him to the blood-splattered floor. He didn’t drop the rifle, though, and he was swinging it towards her when she scrambled up. She ran for the window, leaped through, shards of glass scraping her scales. She landed in the snow, the pain almost making her black out, but she was up again a few seconds later, woozy, dizzy, almost running straight into a tree.

She pushed herself away from it and her scales retracted. With her arms crossed over her body, she started down the slope. She slipped and slid, bounced off one tree to the next in the darkness, but managed to keep upright. She found a trail and took it, grateful for the level ground. She glanced back at the bloody footprints she was leaving, and her foot struck something and she stumbled to her knees. She stayed like this for a moment, fighting to get the pain under control. When she was sure she wasn’t going to puke or pass out, she looked back up the slope, and saw Benjamin.

He was coming for her.

Chapter 44