Page 74 of Tricks for Free

“I won’t turn you to stone unless I’m making an effort, and I promise not to make an effort,” said Megan, in a tone that was probably meant to be reassuring, and missed the mark by about a mile.

Sam unwound his tail from Fern’s ankle, suddenly seeming to realize what we were talking about. “Hold up a second here,” he said. “I don’t want to be turned to stone.”

“Megan is a Pliny’s gorgon,” I said. “She can stun or petrify, depending on what she’s trying to do, and whether or not her hair is uncovered.”

“Can’t petrify if the snakes can’t bite you,” said Megan cheerfully. “My wigs double as a safety measure. I’ll be taking them off before I try to freeze the bad guys.”

“This isn’t helping,” muttered Sam.

“Unless Megan’s life is actively threatened, she’s unlikely to be trying to turn anyone to stone,” I said. “But we need to know if you need sunglasses, and whether she needs to be as careful around you as she is around me.”

“My mother was human,” said Sam. “If she can stun you, she can probably stun me.”

“It might be tied to the form you’re in,” said Megan.

Sam opened his mouth to protest again. Then he closed it, sighed, and said, “You’re going to do this no matter what I say, aren’t you?”

“No,” I said. “If you don’t consent to her looking at you, she won’t look at you.”

He and Cylia both relaxed.

“But,” I continued, “if you don’t consent to her looking at you, you have to agree to stay here while I take her and Fern and go to face the cabal.”

Sam’s eyes narrowed. “No.”

“Then she looks at you.” I shook my head. “We need to know. You don’t go into a fight without all the relevant information, and this is super-relevant.”

“This feels a little bit like blackmail,” Sam informed me.

I shrugged. “So it’s a little bit like blackmail. I’m okay with that if it means you don’t get stunned in the middle of a bad situation.”

“It doesn’t hurt,” said Megan. “It’s more like going to sleep and not dreaming for a little while. We can even stun each other, if we work at it.” She glanced at me. “It’s how we get around the lack of anesthesia in most of our hospitals.”

Being a cryptozoologist sometimes means learning something new every day. I managed to keep the surprise out of my face as I nodded and said, “That makes sense.”

“Fine,” said Cylia. I turned to look at her. She shook her head. “I want to be involved with this fight about as much as I want to gargle a mouthful of spiders, but people are screwing with luck, and that sort of thing paints a big target on the jink community. Even if we don’t have anything to do with it, this is going to get a bunch of us killed if it doesn’t stop. So fine. Stun me.”

“Sam, close your eyes,” I said. “One at a time.” I closed my own eyes, putting my hands over them for good measure.

“I’m taking off my glasses,” warned Megan. There was a soft hissing sound from her hair, and then a thud as—presumably—Cylia hit the floor.

“She’s out,” reported Fern.

“Sam?” I asked.

There was a pause before he said, “I’m not letting you do this without me.”

Several seconds ticked by. Nothing happened.

“Sam?” I asked again.

“Nothing,” he said. “I’m going to try something.” There was a faint stretching sound. I’d heard it before. It was the sound of fur retracting and muscles moving to fit a human’s musculature, rather than a fūri’s. It was followed by a much louder, more distinct sound: that of a body hitting the floor.

“He’s out,” reported Fern.

“I’m putting my glasses back on,” said Megan. “It’s safe.”

I opened my eyes. Both Sam and Cylia were sprawled on the floor, unconscious. Sam was unconscious in his human form, which was strange enough to be unnerving. Since fūri was his default, he normally couldn’t stay human when he wasn’t awake.