Rippled Read Online Free Page A

before?
    “It’s better if I just show you.” He squeezed my hand, set the glass back down on the table and backed away. “Don’t freak out, okay?”
    Don’t freak out about w—? “Holy shit!”
    If I’d blinked at that very moment, I would’ve missed it. Even then, I wasn’t sure if it had actually happened.
    Of course it did.
    There, in front of me, stood a snow leopard. A living, breathing cat that should’ve been out in the mountains somewhere. Not here.
    It flinched and took a step back when I cried out. It didn’t move after that. It didn’t say a word.
    Animals don’t talk, remember?
    Then how do you explain it just appearing out of thin air? It has to be from the drugs.
    If that were true, then both Brian and the leopard were just a hallucination.
    That would explain why you feel so comfortable with him.
    No, it wasn’t a hallucination. It felt real— was real . Concerned with what I could see, and even more so with what wasn’t there, I inched to the middle of the bed.
    Yeah, like that’s going to help.
    I eyed the door and wondered if it was locked from the inside or by the guard we’d passed on the way in.
    It will kill you before you even get there.
    “You freaked out,” came Brian’s voice. The leopard canted his head to one side. “How do I look?” He mewed, then asked, “Do I look fat in this coat?”
    I had still been trying to shake off my surprise from seeing a wild animal in front of me when it had spoken. With Brian’s voice. Its lips were moving, but instead of growling or whatever it was that snow leopards did, it was talking.
    With Brian’s voice!
    And after the leopard’s—after Brian’s last comment, I wasn’t sure if I should laugh, cry or call for help.
    “Uh,” I began, trying to pick my jaw up off the floor. “I don’t even know where to start.” It was a wonder I could even talk.
    It’s the drugs. Whatever I was on was keeping me calm. It had to be. No one in their right mind would be this calm in front of a wild animal, let alone a snow leopard. “A little warning would’ve been nice!”
    The leopard—Brian—sat back on his haunches. “Would you have believed me if I had told you?”
    “I still don’t believe it.” A part of me wanted to reach out and touch his fur, to see if what I was seeing was real. But the rational side of me held me in place in the middle of the bed. “Why? How is this…? Who did this to you?”
    “That’s interesting,” Brian purred, flicking an ear in my direction.
    “What is?”
    I’m not seeing this. It isn’t real. Time to wake up, Krista. Any minute now. No pinch in the world could wake me up from this dream …
    That’s it!
    “You aren’t real. This is all a dream, and you can’t die in a dream.”
    “Wrong on both counts, actually. This isn’t a dream.” He took a step towards me. “And you can die in a dream if it’s the right one.” Another step.
    “And is…is this the right kind?”
    “Krista, this isn’t a dream.” He stopped a few feet away from the bed. “And what’s interesting is the fact that you asked who did this to me. You didn’t ask how this happened or if I was born like this.”
    “What, with the ability to…to transform?” I shook my head. “I would’ve read about it in the paper or something.”
    “Then how do you explain myself and everyone else here? We exist—we’ve existed for over a year. You never read about it, though, did you?”
    “I…no, I guess not.”
    You should be running. Like now. Right now.
    I didn’t move. He isn’t a dinosaur. He can see you whether you move or not.
    “So, what happened? Is this…” I gestured to his furred body. “Is this why I’m here?” Is that why I can’t remember anything? “Have I—?”
    Brian was shaking his head before I could finish. “No, you haven’t shifted.” He bowed his head. “Well, not exactly.” When I didn’t take my eyes off him, he continued, “Okay, you kind of did.”
    “Kind of?” Why