Page 69
“I frequently admit what I do not know,” Karloff replies. “Science becomes dangerous when people stop doing that.”
I glance down at my hand. “What about me?”
Karloff studies me for a second, then gestures toward the scanner. “You show no evidence of dormant transformative magic.”
Hewit straightens. “None?”
“None I can detect.” Karloff holds up a finger. “But that is not a guarantee.”
I look at Hewit. “So if he bites me…”
“The most likely outcome is that the bond completes.”
My heart beats harder. “And I stay human?”
Karloff nods. “That is what I would expect.”
Hewit turns sharply toward him. “Expect?”
Karloff sighs, and guilt flickers across his face. For the first time since we arrived, he looks older. “Hewit, I cannot offer you mathematical certainty in a magical system created accidentally by an herb I should never have used in the first place.”
He pushes a hand through his hair, disturbing the already wild strands. “I have spent years trying to understand what happened that night. The Frankenpunch did not impose one transformation upon everyone. It interacted with each person differently. Gregor became an ogre. Others became wolves, witches, dragons, ghosts. Some gained abilities that were not obvious for years. There has never been a single rule.”
He looks at me. “But you are not Scarlett.”
Some of the fear I hadn’t admitted to carrying loosens.
“What about this?” Hewit asks, indicating our locked hands. “The sensing.”
Karloff looks thoughtful for a moment. “My best theory is that the mate bond has initiated but remains incomplete.”
“Incomplete how?”
Karloff’s eyes go to Hewit’s mouth. “The claiming bite.”
Hewit’s expression hardens. “No.”
Karloff blinks. “I don’t expect you to do it this instant.”
“But you’re suggesting it.”
Karloff holds his gaze. “Yes.”
“No.” Hewit’s voice is flat. Final.
I feel the fear beneath it. Not mine. His.
Karloff must sense it too because his tone softens. “The bond is already progressing, and refusing to complete will not stop it. You will continue to experience increased awareness of one another. Emotional crossover. Mirrored sensation. Thought impressions. Stronger physical effects.”
Hewit’s jaw clenches, and I feel his worry spike again.
Karloff nods toward me. “And if Nora is feeling your fear strongly enough to experience it physically, the separation between your emotional states may continue to thin.”
I think of my knees buckling yesterday when I felt Hewit’s relief. “Is that dangerous?”
“Not inherently.”
“Not inherently,” Hewit repeats.
