Time passed slowly.
Sonder heard the distant waves against the hull, and voices and footsteps from above.
But down in the hold, it was different.
The four sailors who had been posted as guards had been dismissed, and a new set had already replaced them.
Fresh faces, but no less tense than the last group.
If anything, worse.
They stood their posts with forced steadiness, eyes never straying far from the cell door.
One of them kept glancing at Sonder, as if reassuring himself she was still there.
No one spoke. There wasn't much to say.
Sonder stood a short distance away.
Her senses brushed against the space within the cell.
The presence inside hadn't vanished. She was just making sure.
At some point, someone above must have called out the morning.
But down here, there was no light to prove it.
At some point, Sonder took a bucket, turned it upside down, and sat on it. There were no chairs, but she made do.
She sat before the cell, just watching.
Time blurred until something shifted inside the cell.
The creature moved.
Sonder stood, and the sailors noticed immediately, cursing that they were on guard when it happened.
One of them straightened.
"What is it?" he asked, as if Sonder had an answer.
Like them, she could only watch, but everyone was ready for combat.
Strange sounds. Faint movement.
And a low, almost strained, breath.
The creature changed slowly, as if being compressed; reduced.
Its form began to alter.
The wings drew inward, drawing inward until they seemed to sink into its back, leaving only faint, uneven outlines beneath the surface.
Its limbs shortened. The long, clawed hands shifted, fingers retracting into something more familiar, but the nails remained sharp.
Its face took the longest, stretching, distorting, then softening.
The mouth closed, though the fangs remained, now more pronounced against a face that almost resembled a man's.
When it was done, it was just a man, or close enough.
That was when Sonder realized how much damage she had done.
His body was covered in wounds.
Cuts that had been hidden by dark, uneven skin and a fur-like texture that blended with the blood.
Now, in this form, there was no hiding it.
His side was torn.
Bruising spread across his ribs, dark and deep.
There were burns too, faint, but there.
It must have been from the magic turned against him.
He leaned back against the wall of the cell, breathing slowly.
"…That's… that's the same thing?" a sailor muttered.
In a way, the transformation felt familiar to Sonder.
"I'm going to get the captain," another sailor said and rushed out of the hold.
They seemed far more disturbed by him now; man instead of creature. Far more than Sonder was, and even more so now that he looked like one of them.