Page 8 of Prickly as a Porcupine

“He met you when you were a minor, a child, in the hospital.”Agent Sparks kept her eyes on Ariel as if pinning her to the chair.“You didn’t know this, but Grimm was one of the doctors on your case when you were young.”

“No.”Ariel shook her head.“If that were true, he would have told me that when I met him.”Ariel felt quite sure about that.It would have been the perfect way for him to have earned her trust faster.She would have had more confidence in his abilities if she’d thought he was already acquainted with her case.“Besides, a doctor taking care of sick kids doesn’t sound like the evil experimenter that you’re accusing him of being.”

“Oh, wake up, Ariel!”Agent Sparks exclaimed.“Piece it all together!Grimm wasn’t therehelpingyou; he washurtingyou.He’s the reason you weren’t getting better.He was running experimental procedures without you or your family’s permission, and you weren’t the only shifter child he was doing it to!”

“That’s why he lost his job there,” Agent Stone added, his voice steadier than Sparks’.“The hospital found out what he was doing.”

“Impossible,” Ariel objected.“He would have been in jail if that were the case.”

Agent Sparks snorted with derision.“Unfortunately, many hospitals will go to great lengths to keep their name out of headlines, including quietly dismissing a bad actor and hoping no one goes digging into case files.”

“But it’s enough of a reason for him to not tell you about his early involvement with your case,” Agent Stone continued.“If he had told you about it when you first met, you probably would have done some digging and learned the full extent of it, so he didn’t offer it up.”

“No.”Ariel struggled to suck in air.“That’s not true.You’re lying.Dr.Grimm saved me.He was the only one who could cure me.”

“He was the only one who could fix you because he was the one who originally messed with your genetic code,” Agent Stone explained.

“It was a trick, Ariel.”Agent Sparks crossed her arms, leaning back in the chair.“The other doctors could have treated your genetic disorder if Grimm hadn’t been messing with your DNA the whole time.”Her tone was as fiery as her bright red hair, but, for once, Ariel didn’t think that the peahen shifter’s ire was directed at her.

Thatwas too much.She didn’t need Sparks’ pity.Ariel stood, knocking her chair over.She fought the urge to cover her ears from any more words Stone and Sparks were going to throw at her.The walls were pressing in on her.It felt too much like being locked in a tiny cell.Her heart hammered in her chest.Sweat dampened the back of her shirt.

“We know this is a lot, Ariel.”Agent Stone put up his hands as if to show he meant no harm, while gesturing for her to sit back down in her chair.“Please, sit down, take a minute.This is why we haven’t told you before.Paige didn’t think it was a good idea, but we’ve given you all the time we can, and now we need help.Yourhelp.”

“We’re desperate,” Agent Sparks added.“Help us prevent what happened to you from happening to another child.”

“I need air.”Without another word, Ariel flew out of the interrogation room, not caring for the consequences.

She heard Agent Stone say, “Just give her some space.She can’t go anywhere,” before the door shut.

Anywhere they can’t find me,he meant.The ankle monitor felt like a brick strapped to her leg.An anchor, pulling her under the waves as her ship sank around her.

5

Ariel couldn’t run fast or far enough.Her troubled thoughts followed as she ran through WANC, weaving in and out of crowds of startled agents, cadets, and nurses.Her feet took her to the nearest exit, and she shot out the door, running toward the only place that could feel like home: the forest.Or at least a grove of trees on campus near the lake Joline mentioned.Ariel threw herself at the base of the nearest tree as if begging for mercy.She hugged her knees as shudders of sobs erupted throughout her body.

“Umm.I don’t want this to be weird, but… are you okay?”a female voice asked from the tree above her.

The presence of a stranger during such a vulnerable moment had her blood turning to ice.Ariel wiped at her face with the back of her hands and tried to sniff away the rest of the evidence of her break.She fixed her meanest face as she looked up into the tree branches and asked, “Were you sent here to spy on me?”

“Hey!”The young woman jumped out of the tree branch above Ariel, landing gracefully in front of her.Only as she adjusted her glasses and narrowed her brown eyes did Ariel realize that the snoop was Joline.

“What are you doing here?”Ariel asked, shocked to see the woman for the third time in one day.

“You came tomytree.I was here first.”She put her hands on her hips, but as her face lit up with recognition, her posture immediately relaxed.“Oh, It’s you...Uh, do you want to talk about it?Or have a shoulder to cry on?”After looking Ariel up and down, she added, “Or be left alone?”

Ariel glanced up, meeting Joline’s brown eyes.The golden flecks in her eyes complemented her coppery skin.Joline watched her, probably waiting for a response.“I don’t know,” Ariel said softly with a sniffle.“I feel… so… lost.”Her shoulders deflated as another round of sadness consumed her, turning her into a blubbering mess.

“Do you need a hug?”Joline offered.

Ariel nodded, wanting nothing more than to be told everything was okay.Even though it wasn’t.And while a voice in her mind assured her that the agents were lying, she knew that voice was just wishful thinking.Just like the group members said, she was duped by Dr.Grimm.And then thrown out like a worthless rag.

Joline wrapped her arms around Ariel, cradling her.Ariel melted into the hug, melted into Joline.For the first time in ages, she felt safe.Would the porcupine shifter still hold her if she knew of the atrocities Ariel herself had committed?She didn’t think so.Ariel bawled even harder, leaning her face into Joline’s neck, the porcupine shifter’s curly hair tickling Ariel’s nose.

“I’ll… try… not… to get… snot… in… your hair,” she said between sobs.Her body shook with each spasm of her diaphragm.

Joline’s shoulders bounced as she laughed.“It’s okay.I can wash it out in the shower.”

Ariel chuckled.She couldn’t help it.The few times she had run into Joline, the woman had been optimistic and cute.It was as if she had a calming aura.Though she bet the porcupine shifter wouldn’t be so bubbly and understanding if she knew why Ariel was so upset.