Dani shuddered. “That does sound terrifying.”

“Well, the real eye-opener was when human adults started shifting. It started off slowly, so spaced out that we thought it was a freak occurrence, but now it’s happening every year. We figure it had to be the rift, because we’ve never heard about humans randomly developing super-powers.”

“The League confirmed that, right?”

Zed nodded. “Yeah, we double-checked before we let their consultants rampage through the town like pissed-off grizzlies in spring.”

“Smart. Jillian said you’re not really telling people that there are problems with the rift, like not even the locals know what’s going on?”

“We didn’t want to cause a panic. If our residents happen to ask, we explain it away with recessive genes. When you live in a town where everything is a little weird, you can get complacent about it, ignore what’s right in your face. Especially if part of you doesn’t really want to know. And we definitely didn’t want word to get outside of the community. We’d have every crazy person who had internet access camping out in town, trying to force a change.”

Dani chewed her lip. “There are a lot of people on those furry internet forums.”

“What?”

She held up her hands in surrender. “Nope. I will not be the one to explain that to you. Google it on a non-work computer.”

“Even if I make a pouty bear face at you?” He gave her his best impression of “puppy eyes.”

“I think Pouty Bear is one of the lead moderators on the furry internet forums.”

“Dammit, now I have to Google it.”

Dani laughed. “So the rift is changing people at a genetic level?”

“That’s the theory. Jillian has the League’s genetics department coming up with some sort of test, to see if there’s a ‘marker’ to make you more likely to be changed or have a child that’s changed. That’s the big trailer in the back of the village with the sign on it that says ‘No, Zed, you can’t come inside and play with the test tubes, Love Jillian.’”

“I haven’t seen that one.” Dani cocked her head to the side, squinting at him. “So what’s the deal with you and Jillian?”

Zed frowned. “What do you mean, cher?”

“Well, you two seem close. You were pretty comfortable without your shirt around her yesterday. And you tend to bring her up a lot. Just curious. I like to know if I’m going to step on any toes.”

Zed felt his cheeks flush and his mouth drop open. She really just came out and said that? She didn’t seem to be brazen for the sake of being provocative. She came across as . . . sincere. She just wanted the information. Maybe she was one of those rare drole that actually said what she thought? The more time he spent with her, the more interesting she became.