Neither seemed to be paying any attention to me. Good, things were complicated enough. Krys stepped up and placed a hand on Lucille’s arm. “What’s the matter?” “Give me a moment.” The sound and feel of my own thoughts emerging from Lucille’s throat felt surreal and disorienting. Lucille? Can you hear me? Lucille? No response. I felt very alone. “Are you all right?” Krys asked. I shook my head. “She’s gone,” I whispered. “She’s . . . Frank?” “Yeah.” I leaned my back against a tree and rubbed my temples, closing my eyes. My head didn’t throb, not like the agony that had accompanied my prior bouts of body shifting. However, every fiber in my being still expected the pain trolls to come with their pickaxes to mine the ore from the back of my eyeballs.
