Scarecrow stumbled back a step, shock in every line of his body, and Curly let out a strangled sound.
I pressed myself against the wall, heart pounding.
That was Calder, no doubt about it: the glow of his silver eyes and the shape of his nose and cheekbones confirmed it.
But he was a monster. I couldn't imagine being truly afraid of him, not anymore. But monstrous was the only word that fit. He'd half-shifted, but not into any creature I could instantly recognize; a polar bear, maybe.
Something huge, something with white fur to match the thick growth on his bare arms and chest…something even larger than Calder was in his human form, given that his head now brushed the ceiling and his shoulders almost spanned the double-width doorway. Six-inch gleaming claws extended from his fingers, and his jaw had stretched, morphed, into something distorted and totally inhuman, large enough to accommodate his dripping fangs.
