Chapter 5
I’d heard stories about skinless all through my childhood. In addition to being dangerous to woelfin, they were pretty hard on each other. Males tore rivals apart during power struggles. Females were married off to the highest bidder like so much chattel.
Nothing I’d been told, however, could explain why the only two skinless women I’d met looked like sailors who’d survived lashes from a cat o’ nine tails. Why the one beside me now quivered like a leaf in a storm.
“Get inside and lock the door,” I demanded, pushing Aunt May behind me. Whatever was going on, I’d protect her. I turned sideways like movie fencers did during battle, wishing my trusty knives weren’t stuck at the bottom of my duffel bag.
Because I’d possessed the sword in my hand for less than a day, and I’d spent
