CHAPTER TWENTY
Cyrus knelt on the gravel beach, hardly able to walk.
He recalled his voyage through the sewer current—through refuse, human waste, and storm water until it spat him out into the Chicago River. The last remnants of rain lingered in the air from the storm that had washed him through the city drains.
The storm clouds were clearing from the navy sky, and the lights of the city blurred against Cyrus’s vision like bokeh in an unfocused camera lens.
He was covered in his garbage and filth, back in human form, lying next to his own vomit. He rolled over, cheek smacking against gravel. The river turned sideways and he gasped for air. Summoning a cluster of energy deep within, he transformed himself into a rat.
He stumbled across the gravel, unable to see but relying on his whis
