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“Gerrard!” Joe shouts.
I turn and he tosses the spear at me. I catch it and know what I need to do.
The spider raises another leg to stab Michael’s chest while he is pinned in place.
“Duck,” I call.
Michael does. I run at the guard, and I launch myself over Michael’s back. The momentum drives the spear through the guard’s chest. At the last moment he twists and instead of landing on the walkway, there is only air beneath me.
Michael grabs my ankle. I dangle as the spider falls to the ground far beneath me. Michael and Joe are shouting. They should let me go. I am bigger and heavier than them. They can’t fight if they are trying to save me. Then Julie is there. She grabs my hands and I’m hoisted back onto the walkway where Theo has taken up position at the rear again.
We are all alive. Bleeding, but alive.
“Come on,” she says. “We’re almost there.”
“Why did you help me?”
“Why wouldn’t I? We’re a team.”
Joe and Michael are not far from the spire. I follow them as she stays close to Theo.
We are a team. That means helping. Did I join their team when I stepped in to defend them? Or are they willing to help any monster who wants to change? I’m not sure I wanted to…and yet I was the one who couldn’t resist watching them. The other guard had no trouble avoiding them. So I must have seen something that called to me, even though I didn’t understand what it was.
I make it to the base of the spire.
Michael slaps me on the arm. “Thank you for saving me.”
His words twist in my skull, and I’m blinded by the memory of spinning lights and rain on the windscreen. The tearing of metal was the jaws of life as the firefighters and paramedics tried to save me. This time I risked my life to save a new friend. I’m not a friendless monster.
My face aches and burns, and I cry out and drop to my knees.
“He’s changing,” Joe says.
“Into what?”
Their hands are still on me, protecting me from myself and from the fall.
It seems to take forever before I can breathe again. I lift my head, aware that it feels different. My hand touches not mandibles, but a jaw like Michael and Joe have.
“You okay?” Michael asks.
“Yes. Thank you.” They have freed me from the place. No, I have freed myself from this place by letting go of what I thought put me here. They simply showed me what was possible. All those monsters trapped by their own fear and shame and guilt. But if anyone had told me, it wouldn’t have been the same. I wouldn’t have believed them.
Theo and Julie join us.
On the walkway beyond them is the queen. “You can’t leave me. I brought you here. I brought you all here.”
“That’s not true,” Theo says. “I was here long before you.”
Julie peers around him. “And I forgive you for bringing me here. I’m glad we met, Mom.”
Michael stands and turns to face the queen. “I forgive you too.” He glances at Joe and me. “We all forgive you. Maybe one day you can forgive yourself.”
I stand and put my hand on the cool rock of the spire. Then I lift my gaze, knowing that the easy part is over.
20
Julie
