Page 26 of Blade

“I want you to remember I understand this is not what you usually look like.” Hopefully. “The ranger said you’re a panther shifter and a quick Google search showed me how pretty you’re going to be once we get this figured out.”

Ugh.

He glared at me.

“Fine.” Dragging it out wouldn’t help. “Here you go.”

Opening the door as wide as it would go, I showed him the tiny bathroom that barely fit a person much less a shifter. Blade seemed just as nervous as me because it took him a few long moments to take the single step that would put him in front of the mirror.

There was no doubt about him being some kind of a person because he knew exactly what the mirror showed when he was finally looking into it.

Oh. That face.

The serious expression he always wore was replaced by something sad and seemed overwhelmed as he crouched down on all fours in front of the long mirror. When he just stared at his reflection, I shifted to go sit down beside him.

The tiny hallway wasn’t designed for anyone to be sitting down there, but we made it work mostly because I was nearly on top of him. “The ranger said it could be fixed, but I didn’t want to let him do anything to you until I could think about it. Now we need to think about it together.”

Buttons really would’ve come in handy with that.

Oh, maybe there was an app I could make work?

His low whine as he turned and rested his head in my lap broke my heart but I tried not to let him see it. “I don’t know his intentions or if he’s some kind of local serial killer, but he seemed genuine to me until that whole trying to knock you out thing. I want you to think about what you remember from that meeting. Not the words, if that’s too hard, but how he felt to you.”

He was thinking much clearer now than he had been earlier, but animals still had a good sense of who to trust and who to avoid. Even if he hadn’t understood most of the words before, he hadn’t been afraid of the ranger.

After a moment Blade let out a rumbling purr that felt like a positive response to me but it was hard to tell.

“I have an idea about how we can communicate easier.” Giving him a hug, I got up from the floor. “This is going to look weird to you but it’s basically magic paper.”

Was there a better way to explain it?

When had computers come out?

Pulling out my tablet from the cabinet, I sat down at the table and turned it on. “Come here. No more mirror time. You can show me how attractive you are once we get this fixed. Smart is better anyway. Looks fade when you get old or zapped by a crazy witch.”

As I started searching for the right keyboard app, Blade finally came over to the table after a round of dramatic sound effects. “My dad used to be really hot based on old pictures I found but now he’s insane and kind of mean and looks like a troll in human form. He’s not very nice, so I don’t feel bad about saying I’m glad I look like my mother.”

It drove him crazy for some reason, though.

“You were protective of me and smart even when we met under questionable circumstances, so that’s more importantthan looks too. You even stepped in front of me when we met the ranger.” Did he remember that?

“Your memory seemed foggy when we got home but I wish you could tell me how you’re feeling now.” Whatever he was feeling he needed a cuddle because he put his head in my lap. Petting it, I downloaded an app I was pretty sure would work. “Oh. Yes or no questions. Are you remembering meeting the ranger more clearly now?”

He nodded.

I was going to have to remember to ask better questions.

“I’m glad.” That had to mean we were moving in the right direction in some way. “Okay, this is like a typewriter. You touch the key with your nose and the letter will pop up at the top.”

Was there a better way to explain this?

“I’m not going to explain the technology behind it because none of it would make sense, but it’s not magic. It’s just a way for us to communicate that’s going to work like a typewriter without paper.” God. I was terrible at this.

Holding up the tablet so it was upright on the table, I pointed to one letter once he was looking at it. “R.”

As I touched it, the letter appeared at the top of the screen. The letters were huge compared to the regular keyboard that would pop up on the tablet, but there was no way he could’ve pressed those. Blade was watching it carefully but I had no idea what he was thinking. “If the letters don’t make sense, I’ll find pictures for us to use.”

Were they making sense?