My whole body was shaking. Trying to pull myself together, I resolutely headed for the door, too shocked to think of anything but putting one foot in front of the other.

- 'As you wish,' he told me in a cold and impersonal tone that reflected very well his sociopathic personality. 'That was what we thought at the time, but since then we have changed our minds,' he continued after a short break. 'I have spent many years studying your case to try to understand your lack of transformation. Because now that you are in front of me, I am sure of it, you are indeed a metamorph. My senses never deceive me.'

Sociopathic, sadistic and presumptuous, charming combination! I froze, but did not give him the pleasure of turning around. Surely seeing this as an encouraging sign, he continued:

- 'I haven't found an answer yet, though. I think your particularity may have given you additional skills, which would make you unique and precious.'

- 'Of course! Now that it suits you, I'm unique and precious. How convenient,' I said, still turning my back on him.

- 'You can spend the rest of your life brooding over your past if you want,' he told me coldly. 'However, if you're willing to put that aside, I can reveal your true nature and teach you how to connect with your own. It's up to you.'

- 'The price to pay would be my help, I suppose?' I asked, turning around at last so I could look him straight in the eye and make him understand all the contempt I felt for him.

- 'I see that we understood each other,' he simply replied, a cold grin on his face.

His harsh gaze crossed mine and I felt all the ruthlessness of this man. He was cold, manipulative, efficient and fully dedicated to the task he had set himself. He needed my help and I suspected that he would do whatever it took to get it, going so far as to reveal to me the secrets of my true nature and perhaps even some bits of my past. I could use him as he intended to use me. But did I really want to? In light of his latest revelations, certainly not. These people, or whatever they really are, had rejected me. Was I just going to do what they did and leave them to their fate, as they had done for me? Or on the contrary, show them what the words "honor" and "responsibility" meant? Reluctantly I turned around and asked him, in as relaxed a tone as possible:

- 'Explain to me first what I need to know and then I will make a decision.'

- 'Who says you're not going to listen to what I have to teach you, then let us down anyway?'

- 'You don't know that,' I told him coldly.

I know it was petty, but any revenge, however small, was fine with me.

- 'All right,' he said after a few seconds of reflexion, before leaning nonchalantly against the backrest of one of the sofas.

This time, he didn't bother to invite me to sit down, or even get closer, which was really convenient for me. So I stayed where I was and waited, increasingly uncomfortable, for him to finally deign to begin his explanations.

- 'First of all, so that you understand correctly, I need to explain to you what happens at puberty in shape-shifters,' he began.

He paused for a moment and took the time to look at me with his disturbing green eyes, before sighing again with an annoyed sigh.

- 'From birth to puberty, we all have the ability to feel the presence of the animals around us, their emotions if you prefer. We call it zooempathy. It is used to understand and find the animal whose essence best suits us. The closer we get to puberty, the narrower our field of perception becomes, and eventually only a single species is detected, the one in which we will transform ourselves. We call it the totem animal and it is unique to each individual. Once the first metamorphosis has begun, we keep this alternative animal form for life and can no longer feel or communicate with other species. This usually happens between the ages of thirteen and twenty, sometimes a little younger, but it is quite rare.'

- 'And later?'

After all, I was only twenty-three years old. Maybe there was still a little hope.

- 'It has never been seen before,' he replied in a stiff voice, visibly annoyed at having been interrupted.

- 'That doesn't mean it's impossible, though,' I argued with hope.

- 'Highly unlikely, since the first metamorphosis can only occur during puberty, when major changes occur in a person's body. Once this period is over, the body keeps track of the changes that have occurred, but can no longer create new ones.'

Goodbye the little hope I had had for a few seconds.

- 'This is all very interesting. But as apparently, according to you, I can never transform myself, I don't really care. On the other hand, what makes me so suddenly unique, that interests me much more.'

I tried to keep a neutral voice and a detached tone, but the victorious and condescending glow I saw in his eyes made me understand that I had not deceived him for a minute. Moreover, a small cold smile appeared on his lips as he slowly rose and continued his explanations.

- 'Since you have not transformed, some of us have come to the conclusion that you could have maintained your generic ability to capture the emotions of most animal species and by extension other shapeshifters. Kind of like a sort of sonar.'

- 'So it's just a theory then? You're not even sure! Okay, very well,' I said, rubbing my temples to try to make the throbbing of my skull disappear and try to assimilate all that I had just heard. 'Let's say you're right, how could this ability be useful to you?'

- 'Several unexplained disappearances have occurred in recent months,' he told me in a harder and more impatient voice, as he walked towards me. 'This is beginning to become more than worrying and we can't ask anyone for help except you. We hope you can trace the missing persons and lead us to them.'

I was already having a hard time sorting through all the information I had just been given, now they wanted to use me as a kind of hunting dog!

- 'Do you have any idea why I don't have a totem animal? Or why I never transformed?' I asked him, divided between my still present anger and a legitimate curiosity.

- 'No, I have no idea. But now that you're here, we may find out. That is, if you stay with us?' he asked me expressionlessly and with his calculating gaze.

- 'Only if I agree to help you,' I ended up breathing resigned.

It was a lot to digest in a short time, but I didn't have the time to withdraw to reflect and heal my wounds. Answers that I had long hoped for awaited me at the end of this abject blackmail. If, in the process, I could help find the missing persons, I couldn't just walk away. I looked Charles in the eye again and said to him in a low but firm voice:

- 'Explain what I need to do.'