This Elder looks, for the first time ever, humanish. Still smoky, still distorting, but damn if it doesn’t actually mold its shape into a person with eyes—glowing ones that can’t seem to decide on a color. I don’t know which is worse—the shape-shifting creature, or the choice to look like it does now. No, wait. I do. This one. This one looks far more frightening than any of the others. “Bloody hell,” Will whispers. What he said. A concave hole opens where a mouth ought to be and . . . it laughs. LAUGHS. Not screams, but laughs. And it’s an awful laugh, all evil and angry and . . . female. This thing here, it’s a female. “Found you, little Creator,” it hisses, voice distorted and hollow. Oh. My. EFFING. GODS. It spoke to me. It spoke! THEY SPEAK. Furthermore, its arms extend and twist until they resemble fists curling around twin sais. WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE? This—Elders don’t do this! Do they? Have they changed in the last six months? I fight to reclaim my voice.
