“What the hell?” said Amber.

Milo examined his hands. “I don’t know. I can still feel—”

He shifted again without warning, into that black-skinned, horned demon, and he snarled in irritation and immediately reverted to his normal self.

“That was weird,” he muttered, then looked at her. “You’re going to have to change back.”

“But it hurts.”

“You have to change, and then you’ll have to fight against the impulse to shift again. It’s strong. It’s very strong.”

“For Christ’s sake …”

She gritted her teeth and reverted, and fresh pain sprang from her fingers and blinded her to her own thoughts and there was another flash of pain and she was a demon again.

“I can’t do it,” she gasped. “I can’t.”

“Revert,” said Milo. “And hold.”

“Give me a minute.”

“Now, Amber.”

“I’ll try again in a minute, you dick!”

“Now,” Milo snarled, his eyes starting to glow red, and Amber snarled back and reverted and this time she held it, despite the pain, and she focused on staying a normal, clumsy, ugly human …

And when the pain retracted far enough she took a deep, deep breath.

“Well done,” Milo said, settling back into his seat.

“This is horrible,” said Amber. Every inch of her wanted to shift. Her nerve endings jumped. Her skin was electric. The human form she inhabited was all wrong. “I feel like I need to pee,” she said. “I don’t need to pee, but you know that feeling? When you’re about to burst and you know that all you have to do is relax and it’ll suddenly feel so much better? It’s like that, times a thousand.”

Milo looked at her for a while. “Right,” he said at last. “Not the analogy I’d have used, but fair enough.”

“What’s wrong with us?”

Milo didn’t answer. He just got out of the car. Amber turned in her seat, watched him walk to the sign. He passed it and turned, a curious look on his face. He took a big step back to the Charger and shifted.

He stepped to the other side of the sign and reverted.

Scowling, he walked back to the car, shifting as he did so. By the time he got behind the wheel, he’d reverted again.

“This town is a curiosity,” he said.

“You think whatever shielded Buxton from the Shining Demon is the same thing that’s making us shift?”

“It’s likely the reason, yeah. Pity he didn’t mention this to us before he flew off.”

“I don’t like this,” said Amber. “I don’t like this feeling.”

“How’re the hands?”

“They hurt. Like, a huge amount.”

“We’ll get to that motel you found on the map,” said Milo. “You’ll be able to shift behind closed doors, and you’ll heal faster as a demon. A day or two, tops.”