by Sarah Carter
Three guard members come swarming into the house. "What happened?"
"They fell from the top floor," Aurora whimpers, as tears stream down her face. "This is all our fault."
Shaking her head, Claire says, "I'm fine." She closes her eyes and shifts, quickly shifting back a second later. "I'm good."
"Just like that? There's nothing wrong?" Ariel gasps.
"Just how I work," Claire mutters, taking in a deep breath and then exhaling.
"Kayla, oh god, why did you do that?" Jackson cries, cradling her in his arms.
Damien looks at one of the guard members. "Give Claire your hand." The guard member stares at Damien. "I will give you a paid week of vacation." The guard member sticks out his hand. Claire takes it. "Sap him dry and give it to Kayla. We need to know if she is hurt."
"I would lay down if I were you," Claire says. He follows her suggestion. She looks at him and whispers, "Nighty night." The guard's eye flutter and then close.
"Whoa, what did you do?" Ariel asks.
"Just watch," Claire exhales. She bends over and places her hand gently on Kayla's arm. Pushing the energy in, Claire starts to see Kayla stir.
Suddenly, her eyes fly open. "Oh my god."
"What hurts?" Damien asks. "We need to give you medical attention."
"Can I shift first?" Kayla asks, sitting up.
"I think you have done enough shifting," Damien snaps. "I'm going to get you well and then yell at you because this is ridiculous. You could have died!"
Kayla shies away from him and shifts into a tiger. She shifts back and pouts out her lip. "I'm fine."
"Thank god," Jackson exhales, pulling her tight against him.
"Kayla, I don't even have words," Damien spits out. "This was reckless and just stupid. Not only could have you have hurt yourself from all the shifting, you could also have killed both you and Claire."
"I'm sorry," Kayla whispers. "I didn't mean for it to get out of hand."
"Out of hand is an understatement," Damien snaps. "Damn it, Kayla!"
Aurora steps forward. "Master Damien, please, it was our fault. We provoked her."
Damien looks at her and narrows his eyes. "Don't think I didn't realize that."
More tears start to fall down Aurora's cheek and she runs for the front door. Ariel follows her and Xander shoots a look at Damien. "Stop!" Claire yells, as Xander takes off after them. "Damien, god, everyone's alright. Don't be such a douche."
"You could have died," Damien states seriously. "My best friend and the love of my life could have died and I had no control over it. This was ridiculous."
Claire shakes her head and runs towards the front door. When she gets outside, she doesn't see the twins or Xander. "Crap!" Claire yells. She ducks behind a bush and turns into a raven. Quickly, she takes off into the air. She is slightly uneasy because being a bird is new and she’s afraid of flying, but she searches the sky anyway. There isn't anything in view, so she starts circling the block. That's when she sees them running towards one of the buildings. She flies ahead of them and out of sight. Shifting back, Claire jumps out in front of them. "Stop." Xander brings his hand back. "Xander, don't, just stop."
They stop running and Aurora is still crying. "I didn't mean anything!" She whimpers.
"Hey," Claire says, stepping up to her. She wraps her arms around Ariel and hugs her. A pressure builds inside of her, but she ignores it. "We are fine. Damien is just upset. I think he has gone through almost losing us too many times. No one should have to go through that and now he has gone through it a few times with me and Kayla. He was just scared. I told you I had never seen him really freak out before. Well, I think we just did."
"Yeah, he looked pretty pissed off," Xander sighs. "No one meant for anyone to get hurt."
"It helps that I am pretty indestructible," Claire replies, stepping back.
"Does nothing hurt you?" Xander asks.
She shakes her head. "No, but I don't bet my life on that. Something is going to come along and blindside me. I'm not a superhero."
"Actually, you kind of are," Ariel laughs. "It's like you are a super freak and super talented Neturu at the same time."
Claire's stomach rumbles. "Oh, time to eat. Used up too much energy."
"How often do you eat?" Ariel asks.
"Sometimes six full meals a day. It depends on what they have me doing for training. That's what I do on the weekends. There is also a gym set up in the basement. I practice every day and run every morning with Damien. Jackson sometimes goes instead of him. Kayla doesn't jog at all."
"We do," Aurora finally sniffles. "We went through physical training every day. No fighting, but we had to run in human form and do physical exercises."
"You can go running with us then," Claire exclaims, completely excited.
"No," Aurora replies. "We were forced to do it. That doesn't mean we liked doing it.”
“Bummer,” Claire says. “I love to get running buddies. It’s good for you.”
Xander shakes his head. “We have been told what was good for us enough for a lifetime.”
“That is very true. Okay, I will teach you what Neflix is and give you an unlimited supply of ice cream.”
“Ice cream is awesome,” Aurora sighs. “We’ve had it once.”
“Once,” Claire snorts. “We are going to the grocery store and I am going to introduce you to Ben and Jerry.”
“Who are they?” Aurora asks, excitedly.
Claire smiles. “Two guys. You will really like them.”
“I don’t like boys.”
“Trust me, you will fall in love with these two.” Claire gestures behind them. “Can we go back please? Then Damien can apologize for being an ass.”
“Yeah, we are just so used to running,” Ariel says. “It’s almost second nature. Always afraid something bad is going to happen. Always worried The Collector will find us or we will be imprisoned somewhere else.”
“You need to stop,” Claire says. “I promise nothing is going to happen to you. Damien wasn’t being the leader of your people, he was being a scared guy. He’s like everyone else. He has a heart and it can get broken.”
Xander exhales and nods. “Yeah, come on girls, we should get back. This is our greatest hope to a real life. We could be normal. Blend in with society. Try to achieve a dream.”
“We are your answer to that,” Claire promises. “We just need to trust each other and get into no more battles.”
“Okay.”
“I will promise to not leave your side until The Collector is taken care of, but you need to make me a promise in return. Don’t run. No more. It’s harder for me to protect you if I am chasing after you.”
“That’s a really good point,” Ariel whispers.
“We promise,” Xander agrees. “Try and keep us alive.”
“There is no other goal right now, besides getting everyone else out,” Claire replies. Xander nods at her. She tilts her head and says, “Come on.”
Chapter 8
Xander
They silently walk back to the house. The front door is wide open and they walk in. Kayla is in Jackson’s arms and Damien is talking to a man in a suit. He turns his attention to Claire as she walks in. “Claire, he wants to check you out.”
“I’m fine,” Claire replies sharply.
Damien narrows his eyes. “Get checked out.”
Meeting his glare, Claire articulates, “I’m fine.” She gestures the steps. “I’m going to start to clean up upstairs.”
“I’m having a service come in. We need to re-drywall the hallway.”
“Plus build a new banister,” Xander says, kicking the wood next to him. “But cleanup is easy if you give me five minutes, some garbage bags and get everyone out of here.”
“Xander, that’s unnecessary,” Damien replies.
“Why, it’s a handy talent,” Xander scoffs.
Damien shakes his head and sighs. “Everyone out.”
“But master,” the guy coun
ters.
“I said….” Damien says, “O-U-T.”
“Yes sir.” He and the guard members all leave. Shutting the door behind them.
“Damien, baby,” Claire sighs, walking over to him. She puts her hand on the side of his face and kisses him. “I’m fine. We’re fine.”
He stares at her for a second before saying, “I thought you were going to die. I thought you both were going to die. Over something so incredibly stupid.”
“Baby…” Claire pulls him against her. “I’m fine.”
“Master Damien,” Aurora interjects. “We really are sorry. We usually pulled stuff like that in gyms or outside.” She looks upstairs. “It was never in a hallway.”
“How about we just not do that again,” Damien suggests. “We all know you three can do incredible things.”
Claire crosses her arms and snorts. “I’d like to see any of you turn into another person.”
“Can you turn into anything else too?” Ariel asks.
“We’ve tried a lot and nothing has hindered me yet. Though, in the end, I need someone else’s energy to do it, and certain amounts of energy, but I can drain someone before they even know what’s happening. It can just give me a whopping headache. Like if you drink a Slurpee too fast.”
Grimacing, Xander asks, “What’s a Slurpee?”
“Pure sugar and awesome,” Kayla explains. “One of the few things that affects us like humans, brain freeze.”
“I’ve heard of that from a movie,” Xander says.
“You freeze your brain?” Aurora interjects, looking really confused. “Why?”
“No, if you drink or eat something really cold too fast it can cause a sharp pain in your head,” Kayla says.
She raises her eyebrow. “That does not sound like fun, at all. I will pass on the Slurpee.”
“You may not like ice cream too then.”
“No, ice cream I will do,” Aurora laughs.
“After we eat, we will run by the store and introduce you to two men that you will love,” Claire promises.
Xander nudges his head towards the upper floor. “We should get that cleaned up.”
“Let’s put the banister and bigger pieces to the side. Someone else will have to get rid of it,” Damien suggests.
“Okay, let’s start cleaning, because we know my love of cleaning,” Claire mumbles sarcastically.
“Why don’t you have us do it,” Kayla suggests. “I’m the one who likes things hospital clean. Jackson, too.”
“Her boyfriend also,” Damien murmurs, looking at Claire.
Claire rolls her eyes. “So, I’m the slob of the group. There has to be one.”
“We weren’t allowed disorder,” Xander says. “There was steep punishment if things were left out of place.”
“Kind of like the military,” Kayla says.
“Sort of. We got put through drills if it happened and then we were beaten if we didn’t do them right.”
“Was being beaten just a go to, there?” Claire asks.
“Do you remember what my body looks like?” Xander replies.
Claire looks sad and frowns. “Yeah, I’m so sorry you guys. We will try and make it up to you. I promise. Your life will be different now.”
“Well, let’s get this cleaned up and then we can go to the pub.”
“Starving beyond belief now,” Kayla groans dramatically.
Xander looks at the chunks of woods. They start to move into a neat pile.
An hour and a half later, they are sitting at a table. Aurora is just staring at everything around them. “This is so cool,” she exhales.
A waitress comes over. “So guys, have you decided on what you want?”
“We are actually going to share some wings along with our food,” Claire says. “We want 12 of each flavor.”
The waitress gives her an odd look. “You want 120 wings and meals?”
“Yes,” Claire replies, just looking at her.
“Alright,” the waitress mumbles, raising her eyebrows. “What else does everyone want?”
“Barbeque burger for me,” Aurora declares, smiling broadly at the cute waitress.
The waitress smiles back at. Xander and Claire’s eyebrows shoot up because it’s not just any old smile. That makes the corners of Xander’s mouth twitch but he tries not to smirk.
Finally, interrupting them, Claire says, “I will have the chicken sandwich.”
“Oh, okay,” the waitress replies.
“I will have the steak,” Damien says. “Medium please, with fries.”
“I’m going to have the same,” Jackson adds on.
“Never had steak,” Xander exhales, furrowing his eyebrows and pressing his lips together. He stares at the menu, having no clue what to get.
Damien says, “He’ll have the steak too, medium well.”
“Fries?” The waitress asks. Xander nods, being very thankful for Damien’s help. She looks at Ariel.
“I want the loaded mac-n-cheese,” Ariel states with big eyes. “I want everything in it.”
Claire laughs. “It’s awesome.”
The waitress finally looks at Kayla. “I want the nacho burger,” she says.
“That sounds so bad for you,” Damien laughs.
“I will get your order right in,” the waitress says. She turns and gives a smirk to Aurora before walking away.
“Aurora,” Claire teases. “I think you have an admirer.”
“Shut up!” Aurora hisses. “She may hear you.”
“Strike up a conversation next time she is over here,” Kayla suggests.
“Yeah right. I have barely been out in the real world. I know nothing about what’s going on. What would we even talk about?”
Nudging her, Claire says, “You wait. Some girl is going to come along that you suddenly have vocal diarrhea with.”
“Did you have…vocal diarrhea…with Damien?” Aurora laughs.
“We talked for hours,” Claire says. “We still do. We will lay there at night and have the longest conversations about life.”
“That’s what you do at night?” Jackson laughs. “Ouch.”
“Jackson,” Kayla scolds. “It’s romantic.”
He looks at her. “Well, if we aren’t having sex then you are sleeping within thirty seconds. I could talk to the wall...”
“Jackson!” Kayla exclaims.
Rolling his eyes, Jackson says, “Honey, we are in college and live together. The odds that we are having sex is pretty high.”
Claire busts out laughing and nearly falls out of her chair. “The look on your face and, oh my god, you are so red Kayla.”
“Shut up…all of you,” Kayla snaps, though a smile is twitching on her mouth.
“Don’t worry Jackson,” Damien says. “We have plenty of sex, but we talk afterwards. She has me trained now to go on less sleep.”
“Whip you into shape,” Claire says. “You’ll be able to guard yourself once I am done with you.”
“Yeah,” Xander whispers. “Why are there no guards here, or is Claire all that you need?”
Barely speaking, Damien says, “The two guys in the corner booth, guard members.” He pauses and says, “There is also a crow outside and a fox in the bushes.”
“That’s crazy,” Ariel exhales.
“There are also six more in a van waiting down the block.”
“Holy cow.”
“Yeah, I have a team around me all the time,” Damien says. “So, if you add on Claire, you are safe right now.”
Xander shakes his head. “That is intense.”
“Try being a young kid on the cusp of being a teenager and hitting on girls, knowing full well that your father knows every time you pick your nose practically, because you have a detail of highly trained fighters trailing you.”
“Seriously?” Ariel says.
“Seriously,” Damien replies. “My sisters and I have always had details, since we were kids, especially me. My sisters could wander the house and do whatev
er. They always had to know where I was.”
“Because you were the heir?”
He nods. “Yeah.”
“Do you know what sucks,” Kayla interjects.
“What?” Jackson replies.
“The females are the power houses so to speak, right? We pass on more…traits. Why aren’t we a matriarchal society? Do boys always rule and if they do, why?”
Every girl at the table turns and looks at Damien. “We are suddenly greatly outnumbered,” Damien mumbles. “I honestly couldn’t tell you. I had this conversation with Courtney when we were younger many times. Technically, she can rule, but she doesn’t want to. She has made it pointedly clear that she wants to be an engineer. Yes, it’s a patriarchal society, but that doesn’t mean a woman couldn’t take my Dad’s place. There are no laws against it. It’s just the way things have been.”
“I think Courtney should rule,” Kayla says. “I adore Courtney.”
“Thanks,” Damien says. “You’re like my best friend. Aren’t you supposed to side with me?”
“I can side with whomever I want and I think a girl should rule for once.”
Aurora suddenly puts her finger up. “You know what’s weird. This debate was brought up in our teachings.”
“What?” Damien scoffs.
“Remember Xander,” Aurora says. “It was like two years ago. It was a debate about on why the Neturu are a patriarchal society, when women have the more prominent genes.”
“Why would that be brought up?” Damien replies. “I mean, it’s nothing that has ever been brought up to me in my teachings.” He looks at Claire. “What about you and your mom?”
Claire shakes her head. “She has joked around about it but it’s never been really brought up.”
Damien turns his attention to Jackson. “What about you?”
“Never, nothing,” Jackson answers.
“That’s a little interesting,” Damien murmurs. “What kind of schooling did you have?”
“History, sociology, politics, anatomy, physiology, mathematics, science…” Ariel says.
“So, you know something of the human race.”
She shakes her head. “That was entirely Neturu.”
“Do you know nothing of the human race?”
“We do know some, but I have a feeling it’s not all entirely true, or only the worse was chosen. Wars, famine, hatred, murder, abuse, things that would make your stomach turn. When we came out we were so scared as to what we were about to encounter.”