Page 2 of Prickly as a Porcupine

A familiar figure appeared around the next corner, stopping Ariel in her tracks and making her wish she’d wandered down a different hallway.Gabrielle Crowe’s black wings—an unappreciated gift from Dr.Grimm—were on full display, even in her human form.Ariel recalled Grimm’s displeasure at the way the bird shifter rallied against the change.How Gabby resisted fawning over the doctor’s genius was beyond her understanding.Instead, Gabby had acted like it was some kind of curse.

Ariel had figured Gabby would’ve been discharged from WANC by now, considering it had been just over a year since she’d escaped Dr.Grimm.But it was taking time for FUC to find appropriate new homes for those with permanent partial shifts—places where they wouldn’t be seen by non-shifters.And that was only if they were even ready to be released from rehabilitation.

For a moment, Ariel thought it possible that the crow shifter didn’t know who she was—she couldn’t remember having any direct contact with her while working for Dr.Grimm.But the steely blue eyes set in the woman’s pale face said otherwise, as did the ruffling of her black feathers, and the fact that, instead of quietly passing Ariel, Gabby stepped in front of her to block her path.

Then, Gabby leaned in and whispered, “You b-better… be-behave.”The crow shifter’s trade-in for her gifts was her speech ability.In Ariel’s opinion, it was a small price to pay for the beautiful wings she now had.“You m-may… have others f-f-fooled.”Gabby narrowed her blue eyes at Ariel as if trying to squish her with her eyelids.“M-my eyes… on y-you.”

Before Ariel could reply, the crow shifter continued walking down the hallway, her giant wings a fluttering shadow behind her.Great, just what I need, more eyes on me.Since Gabby wasn’t fooled into believing that Ariel was happily adjusting to life at WANC under FUC supervision, it would make Ariel's attempting to sneak around WANC at night that much more difficult.At this rate, she’d never find the leg Dr.Grimm gifted her.

Ariel sighed as she looked at her watch.It was almost time for group therapy, her least favorite thing about the rehabilitation program FUC was running.Therapy alone would be grating, but the fact that the group members were former experiments of Dr.Grimm made it that much worse.She had to sit there and keep an impassive face while listening to them all talk about how horrible they believed Dr.Grimm to be.Well, at least none of them were those she’d helped to capture, or even ones that she’d been tasked with watching while they were imprisoned.She had to wonder if Paige Brennon, the counselor, had made sure of that.

Group didn’t make sense to Ariel.She could never understand why anyone would want to share their deepest, darkest secrets in front of strangers.Though, in her opinion, it was just as awkward in individual sessions with Paige, and Ariel had gotten to know her pretty well in the past year.She groaned.Ariel couldn’t imagine spending another year with these people.

Why hadn’t Dr.Grimm tried to rescue her yet?Last summer, FUC apprehended Ariel when she’d tried to turn her brother, Anson, back to Grimm’s side.Dr.Grimm hadn’t intervened to finish the job of nabbing her brother or to rescue her from FUC, but why?Surely he had to know she wouldn’t turn on him, like Anson had after FUC captured him.Was Dr.Grimm waiting for her to turn Anson back to their side?Maybe that was it, maybe he was respecting her mission, and waiting for her to complete it before he liberated her.She had no choice but to assume what the doctor would want her to do.

Unfortunately, Ariel had made exactly zero progress on the Anson front.When FUC had first arrested her, she’d resisted getting close to Anson out of spite—to send her brother a message—but as time passed, her defiance had become something else.Fear, maybe.That thought scared her even more.Why would she be afraid to talk to Anson ifhewas the brainwashed one?She’d easily be able to defend her position and choices.So what was that fear really all about?She didn’t dwell on it.Tried not to think about it at all, actually, and instead did the next best thing.If she couldn’t face Anson, then the least she could do was try her best to get the agents to doubt her brother, who was now an official consultant on any case involving Dr.Grimm.

If Dr.Grimm was watching from afar, he’d know she was still loyal to him.But day after day, she waited for a sign that he was plotting her escape, but no secret notes appeared under her pillow at night or on her food tray, like she’d seen in the movies.So, she did her best by pretending she was cooperating with FUC, when, in reality, she was waiting for a jailbreak.

At least FUC no longer kept her in a cell.They let her stay in the dormitory with the cadets and other ex-experiments who were being rehabilitated.Of course, that was only provided she kept her ankle monitor on and charged at all times.

Ariel turned the next corner toward the therapy wing, wondering what the group topic would be today.With any luck, it was something she could add to without divulging anything too personal.Ariel learned quickly that if she kept silent, Paige would either put her on the spot to talk or threaten her with an extra group that week.She had to come up with something to add to the conversation.So far, she’d done a good job of dodging the topics by speaking on how challenging it was for her to adjust to living at WANC.Ariel found that keeping close to the truth without sharing anything of value seemed to work best.That way, she could play along, and the counselor wasn’t the wiser.Otherwise, Paige was a hound on the trail of an escaped prisoner, trying to ferret out feelings and personal tidbits Ariel had no desire to share.

Dragging her feet, Ariel reached the large wooden door labelledGroup Therapy Room 3.With a deep breath, she opened the door and glanced at the whiteboard that noted their topic for the day.

Shit.It was not going to be an easy session, that was for sure, because Paige had written in giant letters:Understanding Family Relationships.Paige met Ariel’s gaze and canted her head, her glossy black hair shining from the overhead lights.With a wicked smile, Paige said in a sweet voice, “I wanted to choose a topic you could relate to.”That smile said it all.Ariel wasn’t fooling Paige with her act.

Not one bit.

2

Ariel sat in a chair in the group therapy room, teeth clamped shut as she listened to the others talk about their families and new concerns while in rehab.If she could cross her arms across her chest any tighter, her ribs would probably break from the pressure.

Simon, an ex-experiment, sniffled as he continued his story, “So I haven’t been able to visit my family.They’re all human.How could I possibly explain my condition?”He pointed to the beaver teeth that were permanently part of his dentition.Simon grabbed for the box of tissues, his clawed hand mangled the box.He had a lot of shifter traits that wouldn’t disappear in human form, and they were from a variety of animals.He’d never be able to visit a human town again—maybe never even see the world outside FUCN’A property again.While the others in group seemed to think this a tragedy, Ariel felt Simon wasn’t truly appreciating his gifts.He could intimidate anyone with those claws!Although she could admit he had experienced somewhat of an injustice, if Dr.Grimm had been the one to work on Simon, he would have done a much better job.The scientist who’d held Simon clearly wasn’t as intelligent, gifted, or generous as Dr.Grimm.

A golden glow kissed Paige’s bronze skin as she turned to Ariel.“You look like you want to say something.”Ariel shook her head, and Paige continued, “You mean to say that you don’t have any thoughts or feelings about what Simon just shared?”She raised a dark eyebrow as if to say she found that hard to believe.

Another therapy session, another time being held under the interrogation light of the resident “friendly” therapist.Ariel knew that to do her job best, she had to really make these people believe she was trying to assimilate.She had to say something, and she had to make it good.Paige had proven her ability to see through any falsity or lies Ariel had tried to emit previously.

What to say?Saying Simon seemed a big baby to her probably wasn’t the best response.She took a breath and sought out her feelings toward someone else she’d hoped to help in the past, her brother.Merely bringing Anson to mind unearthed the ache she kept buried in her chest.The one she pretended wasn’t there because she wasn’t sure what to do about it.“It must be awful to want to see your family and not be able to,” she offered up with as genuine emotion.

“It’s more than that,” Simon said with a sniffle, narrowing his green eyes.“I didn’t even know what a shifter was before I was kidnapped.”His shoulders deflated with a sigh.Even his deer ears wilted.

“That really sucks.”Ariel nodded sympathetically.“I’m sorry this work was done on you so poorly.Dr.Grimm?—”

“You were held by Dr.Grimm, too?”Simon’s eyes widened and locked in on Ariel with surprise, his dark curly hair bobbing as he vibrated with newly generated rage.“Then you know what he’s like!He just rolls the dice and leaves people with a cocktail of deformities and augmentations that don’t make sense!”

Ariel froze.Simon implied Dr.Grimm did this to him?Is he lying?“Is this a setup?”she turned to ask Paige.Was everyone in group told what to say to get her to doubt Dr.Grimm’s genius?That was low, even for Paige.

“What do you mean?”Arty asked, blinking his large yellow eyes in the ostrich head he wasn’t able to shift out of.The rest of his body remained human, save for his long, feathery neck and bird head.Ariel ignored him, turning back to Simon.

“Simon, were you told to make up a story about Dr.Grimm?”Ariel needed to know.Heat flooded her neck as anger buzzed in her chest.

“What?”Shock filled his face, enlarging his green eyes.“I didn’t make up anything.”

“You must have.Dr.Grimm wouldn’t do something like”—she gestured to Simon’s various animal features—“you know.He only provided people with gifts.He fixed me.”Ariel knew she shouldn’t be sharing details about herself, but she couldn’t stand people lying about the doctor and dragging his name through the mud.She wouldn’t stand for that.

“Do any of us lookfixedto you?”Arty asked, puffing up his fluffy, white feathers like a crown around his head.He blinked his large, round eyes at her.“And don’t even suggest I don’t know whose lab did this to me.I have no reason to blame a different so-called scientist for this.”