"Janin, I have a bad feeling, a really bad feeling about this. Let's just leave it at that and call the whole thing off." Octavius glanced at the trembling woman on the ground, "I will be marrying Eve... and I will build a farm. We will live a simple life—a comfy, peaceful, and quiet life. I don't think this is all that necessary anymore, and definitely not worth the risk. I hate Heka with my being, with every fiber of my existence, but she scares me too much. I don't know what I'll do if she ever comes for revenge. So let's stop, please."
[Fine, let's stop! But please, take my form and get away quickly, escape while you still can!]
The frantic plea never left the prison of Eve's frozen body, trapped behind lips that would not move, behind a throat that would not produce sound.
In that same fractured instant a sudden clarity bloomed behind her eyes—an evolution forced by pure, animal terror, by the primal need to survive.
