The polar bear starts laughing and falls over.
“Wait. Is it laughing at me? What in the fuck? Polar bears don’t laugh, do they?”
Since Sawyer’s only paying attention to the polar bear in front of us, she doesn’t realize there’s a snake slithering up my leg. I think it’s Seraphina, Apollo’s wife. And she better not nibble me. Finally, the snake is eye level to Sawyer.
“WHAT IS GOING ON?”
Sawyer screams as she leans back and almost falls off me. I catch her in my arms and the snake lands in her lap.
“I don’t wanna dieeeee.”
“Baby, you’re not going to die. I promise you.”
“How can you say that? Do you not see the snake that’s hissing at me?”
To be fair, the snake isn’t hissing. It’s just got it’s mouth open like it’s silently screaming. Which it probably is because Seraphina likes to mess with us when she’s in her snake form. She’s always threatening to bite Apollo, but she calls it nibbling. I’ve seen her bite animals and humans. It’s definitely not nibbling.
The snake decides to rub herself on Sawyer and now she’s got her mouth open in a silent scream. I think it’s time to explain things to her.
“Sawyer? Please look at me,” I say as I look at her.
It takes a minute for her to tear her eyes away from the snake and the polar bear. We watch the snake slowly make her way to the ground and over to one of the polar bears.
“So. First of all, that snake? That’s Seraphina.”
“Wait. What the hell are you talking about? That’s a snake.”
“Yes, that’s Seraphina in her animal form. And the polar bear she’s wrapped around? I’m pretty sure that’s Apollo.” As I’m saying this, Apollo-bear waves.
“You’re fucking with me. You have to be. There’s no such thing as a shifter. That’s in movies, not real life.”
“I promise, I’m not fucking with you.”
“He’s not.” Giovanna chuckles.
“Oh trust me, I thought they were all fucking with me when I found out.” Gabriela laughs.
“You guys are serious?” Sawyer frowns as she looks at everyone. And then she looks at the animals.
One of the red pandas comes over and sits in front of Sawyer.
“Oh my god. Now this one’s adorable. It’s a red panda!”
The bearcat hisses at her.
“Well then. Grumpy little red panda.”
“That’s cause she doesn’t want to be called a ‘red panda.' They call themselves ‘bearcats.’” Giovanna chuckles.
“Bearcat? That’s even more adorable.”
After the shifters shift back, Sawyer gets to ask them all kids of questions. I think she’s finally believing what she’s seeing. I sigh as I look at the time. We have to start getting ready to meet her mother. I have a feeling she’s not going to be alone.
“Hey, I was wondering, you’re going to need a bodyguard for Sawyer, right?” Georgíos Nikolaidis asks.
“I do want one for her, I was going to ask this weekend about it.”
“I’d like to volunteer to do it.”
