Penn arched her back and let out a scream that was more like that of a dying bird than a human. The sound of tearing flesh and rustling feathers filled the room as two wings tore out from her shoulder blades. When they unfurled, they were nearly the length of the room. The feathers were big and black, shimmering in the light.

She flapped them once, and they created a gust so strong it knocked Gemma down. She crawled back on the floor toward the wall, and stared up at Penn as the transformation went from bad to horrid.

Penn’s face was still shifting. Her eyes first, from their usual black to the golden yellow of an eagle. Her full mouth lengthened and stretched out, so her lips were pulled back, like a bloodred line around her teeth. Her teeth not only grew but multiplied, going from a single row of flat teeth to row after row of razor-sharp daggers, so her mouth resembled that of an anglerfish.

Her skull seemed to expand, growing larger. The silken black hair remained, billowing out from her head like a dark halo, but it appeared thinner and stringier, since her scalp had gotten bigger.

The only thing about her that remained mostly unchanged was her torso. It lengthened and thinned out, becoming more skeletal, so her ribs and spine protruded grotesquely. But her human breasts remained the same, the bikini top barely concealing them, since the growth of her body had stretched out the fabric.

With the transformation apparently complete, Penn stepped closer to Gemma. She tilted her head back and forth, looking like some sort of human-sparrow hybrid, and blinked at Gemma.

“Now,” Penn said, her voice a distorted version of her normal one. “The real lesson begins.”

27. Helpless

TWENTY-SEVEN

Helpless

While Daniel untied the boat, Harper stood at the bow, staring in the direction where the song was coming from. She kept her hands pressed to her ears, afraid of what would happen to her if she listened to the song.

Her hands weren’t completely soundproof, though, and some of the music still got in. It would be impossible for her to ever explain the way it made her feel, but the easiest way was that it dulled her senses.

Her panic over Gemma’s disappearance or even Alex diving into the choppy water almost completely stopped when she listened to the music. If Daniel hadn’t been there, trying to talk sense into her, she might have stayed in the cove forever, or at least as long as the song kept going.

“Oh, shit,” Daniel said, loud enough that Harper could hear him clearly, and she turned back to face him. He stood in front of the wheel, his expression grim. “No, come on, baby, please don’t do this.”

“Daniel?” Harper went closer to the cabin and stared up at him. “What’s wrong?”

“The boat.” He grimaced. “She won’t start.”