Geralt got Terry's address from Nancy, drove her home, then headed back himself.
"Welcome home, sir!" Rebecca came bouncing out to greet him.
"A glass of warm milk," Geralt said.
"Of course."
Geralt went upstairs to shower, as usual.
"Book of Proverbs."
He summoned the ancient-looking parchment book and turned to page [7].
A Shapeshifter in Chameleon's form appeared on the page.
Name: Tiatta Oak Species: Shapeshifter Skills: Perfect Mimicry, acquisition of a subject's recent memories Memory Carousel: Unwatched Status: Deceased
"Watch," Geralt said.
Mist rushed toward his face, and he entered Tiatta Oak's Memory Carousel.
Shapeshifters were strange creatures. They had families, but spouses did not live together. Each took on a different human appearance and played a separate role.
Their young were raised by the whole community. At birth, they were smaller than hamsters, so a female Shapeshifter's body barely changed from conception to delivery. Within a year, the young reached the height and weight of a seven- or eight-year-old human.
That was when a Shapeshifter began living independently.
Why were Shapeshifters so intent on living as humans?
Emotion.
Love, hate, resentment, greed, anger, obsession... Human emotions were indispensable food to Shapeshifters. The stronger the emotion, the better it tasted.
Tiatta was an unusual Shapeshifter. He fed on only one thing—
Suspicion!
And he was not limited to humans.
That was why conflict and discord followed Tiatta wherever he went.
Gradually, Tiatta stopped changing shape merely to feed. He toyed with humans as he pleased.
He thought he was a god!
A little over a month ago, Tiatta arrived in Storybrooke. In the forest, he found Thompson in the middle of trying to hang himself.
Tiatta took Thompson's appearance.
He told Thompson he was one of God's incarnations walking the earth.
Thompson fell to his knees