1. Rubber Duckie

1

Rubber Duckie

Drake

I ’m gonna kill my cousin Perry. It’s bad enough that he constantly teases me about my shifter form—something I had no control over—but now, he just fucking left me here! When I get out of this, he’s a dead man.

If he hadn’t convinced me to break into this toy store, I never would have ended up trapped. He told me this place was laundering money, so we planned to sneak in, get the evidence, then steal some toys to donate to the local children’s hospital. This is what we do, after all. As object shifters, we’re perfectly suited to sneaking in places because the second there’s a risk of getting caught we can just change into our object form and wait out the danger.

Perry said he staked out the place and no one would be in until late morning. But right as I was going through the accounting records, and realizing he was wrong about the money laundering, the lights flipped on. I ducked.

The squeak I made as I hit the ground in my shifter form attracted the owner, who picked me up and put me on top of the display case of rubber duckies, which is right next to the front register. In plan sight of the door and most of the shop.

He barely puzzled over my left-behind shirt and athletic shorts before shrugging and chucking them in a lost and found bin behind the counter.

Considering where I’m perched, there hasn’t been a single opportunity for me to shift back without someone seeing me.

Fucking Perry! He’s long gone, ditching me here, probably laughing his ass off. This was planned. It’s so fucking clear that this was planned.

The owner is a sweet old man who definitely isn’t laundering money. Perry knew there was this display case here. He knew exactly where I’d be put if I had to shift to avoid getting caught. He purposefully trapped me here all day.

I should get him to do a B&E with me in a frat house. As a remote control, he’d probably be stuck there forever, with some jock always watching something or playing some video game on the TV. Yeah, that’s what I’m doing once I get out of this.

While the clock ticks down to closing, I make plans for revenge. But just as the owner is about to lock up, a woman stops in front of the store window and looks right at me. She changes course and comes inside.

“Sorry, miss, we’re closing up,” the old man says from behind the counter. The rest of his employees have already left, and he’s even shut off the lights in the back.

“I’m so sorry. It’s just… I saw the rubber duckies. And…” She gets this faraway look in her eyes that makes me want to hug her. “I had one as a little girl, and it was always such a comfort to me. Today was the worst, and it would mean a lot if, well, how much are they?”

“Fifteen dollars,” he replies.

Her face falls like he’s said the little plastic toys cost a million. She bites her plump bottom lip. She’s pretty. Really pretty. With light grey eyes, the color of a bath bubble reflecting light. Her skin is pale, her face angular, her hair a dark brown. She’s got this glamorous beauty to her that makes me think of starlets from the 1950s.

“Here,” the shop owner says, picking me up and holding me out to the woman. “My gift. Everyone deserves a little compassion and a bubble bath on a bad day.”

She shakes her head. “Oh, no, I couldn’t.”

“None of that.” He leans over the counter, takes her hand, and drops me onto her palm.

Her touch is soft, almost reverent. Her fingers are long and elegant as they run over the dips that mark my fake wings.

“Thank you.” She pulls me into her chest. If I was breathing in this form, she’d be suffocating me, but what a way to go, clutched to the bosom of a woman like this.

“I lost my job today,” she says, “and I know fifteen dollars isn’t a lot, but it would be enough to pay—”

“No need to explain.” He pats her hand. “Just enjoy, dear. Alright?”

The woman pulls me back enough that I can see her nod, somewhat awkwardly. Then she gives the old man a wobbly smile. She leaves the store, holding me close to her heart.

Considering how meaningful a free rubber duck is to her, I feel sorry I’m gonna have to disappear on her.