Shifters (The Neturu Chronicles Book 3)

by Sarah Carter

  Xander reaches for her hands and squeezes them. “They’re coming to get you.”

  Mason interrupts. “Tell her soon.”

  She looks past Xander at him. “Mason. He found you. Why is he behind a force field?” Trinity asks, stepping towards the cell.

  “They are keeping him there because they don’t trust him,” Xander replies.

  Trinity checks it out and then turns to him. “Do you trust Mason?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why?”

  “Why do I trust him?”

  Suddenly, Mason yells, “Time shift! You can’t tell anyone.”

  Looking from him to Trinity, Xander says, “I just do. There’s a lot going on that I can’t tell you.”

  “You won’t tell me stuff. Don’t you trust me? Xander, it’s me.”

  He steps towards her and puts his hand on the side of her face. “When you find out. You’ll understand.”

  She backs away from him. “You won’t tell me anything. Why? It’s me.” Trinity looks away and doesn’t say anything. “Obviously you don’t trust me. That means I can’t trust you.”

  “No. Trinity. I love you. Please don’t say that,” he pleads, reaching out for her.

  “When you love someone you trust them. You obviously don’t trust me,” she says, backing up farther.

  “Trinity. Please. You don’t understand.”

  Trinity looks into Xander’s eyes. “Tell me something.”

  “We’re going to come to you, very soon. We’re going to rescue you. Then you can be free and happy.”

  “How do you know?” She asks, looking skeptical.

  “There’s a plan. A solid plan. We won’t stop until we have you. I promise you that.”

  Tears starts to well up in Trinity’s eyes. “I want out of here. I want everyone safe. It’s getting scary. We don’t know where Jennifer is.”

  “When did you see her last?”

  Wringing her hands, Trinity answers, “A few days ago. She hasn’t been at any meal in three days. What if they did something to her?”

  Xander spins to Mason. “Everyone makes it out, right?”

  “That’s what I’m told.”

  “Jennifer is missing,” Xander growls.

  Mason nods. “I know.”

  “Where is she?”

  “I can’t say. It would cause a time shift,” Mason replies.

  “Damn it. Her life is at stake!” Xander yells.

  Putting up his hands, he says, “Claire rescues her. I can’t tell you more than that.”

  There is a stare down between them. Finally, Xander asks, “Why do you get to know all of this?”

  “I’m part of the plan,” Mason states.

  “We need to know.”

  “You’ll see her soon.”

  His fists clench and Xander says, “You’re making me mad Mason.”

  “If I tell you it could change the future. We don’t know what that future will be. Right now, we know what’s going to happen. There is a plan. We need to stick it out.”

  “Why should we believe you?”

  Mason jerks back. “You’ve believed me so far, why doubt me now?”

  “I’m worried about Jennifer. She is just a kid. You know The Collector has it out for her in the first place. What are they doing to do now?” Xander sighs.

  “The Collector is a woman.”

  “So, it’s a female psychopath.”

  Nodding, Mason says, “She is very serious and quite scary. I haven’t been scared of much but she’s scary. Absolutely crazy.”

  Trinity looks at Xander. “That’s why I’m worried about what she’s going to do to Jennifer.”

  Xander says, “Trinity is scared for Jennifer.”

  “Trinity,” Mason says. “I know you can hear me. I’ve known you your whole life. I would never let anything happen to any of you. She’s going to be okay. You will all get rescued. You won’t have to live in hell anymore.”

  Grabbing her hands, Xander tells Trinity, “It’s so different out here. You have no idea. It’s incredible. The kids will go to good homes. They will live a fantastic life and they will know love. We all love each other, but there’s love beyond that.”

  She frowns and then asks, “Do you want to find love outside of us?”

  “I want to experience love with you. We haven’t been able to do that yet. I want to really have you in my arms. I want to feel the real warmth of your lips on mine.”

  “I’m sad,” she whispers.

  “About what’s going on?”

  Trinity shakes her head. “No, that I won’t be able to see you in real life.”

  “But you can feel me,” Xander replies, putting her hand on his chest.

  “It won’t be the same. I won’t see your handsome face.”

  “Maybe they can do something. They can do so much. All we have to do is ask.”

  Her eyes light up. “Do you think they can help Tray? The Collector said she can.”

  A smile spreads across Xander’s face. “Oh my gosh. I bet they can.”

  “Wouldn’t that be amazing!”

  “We could do and be so many things out here. They can get rid of the scars. There won’t be a constant reminder. I can start over and really leave it behind me.”

  “Hopefully we all can,” she says. “Are you sure you’re coming?”

  “This is a top priority for the council,” Xander assures her.

  She shakes her head. “To think we are that important. To think they even care.”

  “They care. They care a lot. They are so incredibly kind. Wait until you meet everyone. We’re all friends.”

  That seems to peak her interest. “Friends?”

  “Yeah. We talk. We do things. We’ve had fun. Real fun.”

  Trinity smiles. “It sounds amazing.”

  “Pretty soon you’ll be able to experience it too. We will be so happy.”

  “I can’t wait. Our family will be safe.”

  “They will be. We’re coming for you,” Xander promises, taking her hands and gripping them.

  “Soon?” She asks.

  He nods. “Very soon.”

  “I should go,” Trinity whispers.

  “Okay. I love you so much.”

  “I love you and I trust you. I trust that you’re coming to us.”

  Xander smiles. “We are.”

  She goes on her toes and kisses him. “See you soon.”

  “Bye.” With that Trinity disappears. Xander immediately turns to Mason. “You’re positive that we get them.”

  Mason assures him, “Everything is going to plan. I just have to keep my mouth shut so there’s no time shift. Little Bit said she would be gone for a day. Whatever she did drained her.”

  “Could she go to Shima?” Ariel asks.

  “I don’t know. Obviously she’s not a hundred percent Neturu.”

  Ariel suggests, “Maybe she’s just Kenga.”

  “Maybe,” Mason replies.

  “We’re part Kenga. Maybe she’s full Kenga.”

  With a quick shake of his head, Mason exclaims, “You’re what?”

  “She didn’t tell you?” Ariel replies, looking surprised.

  “No.”

  “Yeah, we’re half Neturu. Half Kenga. We have discs in our chests that send energy impulses to our brains.”

  “How in the hell did you find that out?” Mason gasps.

  Gesturing, Ariel says, “They scanned us. It took a bit because we kept shutting down their equipment.”

  He looks at her in awe. “I knew you had talked about possibly being part Kenga. I would never have guessed you actually were.”

  “Honestly, we kind of knew but were still shocked,” Xander interjects.

  Ariel frowns. “I was upset.”

  “Why baby?” Mason asks, moving closer to her.

  “I can’t have kids.”

  “Oh honey. We don’t know that for sure. You’re part Neturu.”

  She shakes her head. “But that’s n
ot where our energy comes from.” Ariel puts her hand on her chest. “It comes from here. It comes from a disc. I probably can’t merge my energy with yours. Claire can’t at all.”

  “We were never allowed to,” Mason says.

  Tears well up in her eyes. “Why would you want to be with me now? We can’t do the most intimate part of being Neturu.”

  “I’m complete energy. You haven’t tried with me,” Mason replies, putting his hand on the force field.

  Putting her hand outside his, Ariel says, “And if we try and it doesn’t work?”

  “I’m going to stay with you Ariel. I can finally have you. I will take you just as you are. That other stuff isn’t important.”

  “Are you sure?” She asks, looking hesitant. “You may change your mind.”

  “I just want you baby. I will take you whatever way I can have you because all I want is you.”

  A small smile turns up on her mouth. “Thanks. I just want you out of there.”

  “Not yet. In a week. Then I go to the institute.”

  “Who all goes?” Ariel asks.

  “Xander, me, Claire, Alex and the guard. A lot of the guard.”

  Ariel wrings her hands. “Does The Collector know you are coming that day?”

  “No, but I’m pretty sure Jesse Grandin’s going to talk to her.”

  Xander says, “Trinity said they’ve been on lock down for three days.”

  “He must have told her when he found us,” Ariel states.

  “I wonder why he didn’t try to kill us,” Aurora mutters.

  “We were with Damien,” Xander says. “The council would have known something was up.”

  Putting up his hands, Mason declares, “All I know is The Collector knows Lexi talks to me.”

  “Won’t that cause a problem?”

  He shakes his head. “Lexi says it’s part of the plan.”

  “Who’s plan?” Ariel asks.

  Mason shrugs. “Time’s plan I guess. God’s. Who knows?”

  Aurora asks, “What happens if there’s a time shift?”

  “Then we have no idea what’s going to happen,” Mason answers.

  “All this comes from a two-year-old?” Ariel says, raising her eyebrows.

  “Trust me,” Mason emphasizes. “She’s no toddler. It’s like combining Yoda with a preschooler. She’s so little and childlike, but what she knows would just blow you away.”

  “Why doesn’t she just get out of there? She would know when the doors open.”

  With a shake of his head, Mason says, “She doesn’t know her own future.”

  “What?” Ariel snorts.

  “She doesn’t know what exactly happens. It’s only the important stuff and the stuff she wants to see.”

  She raises an eyebrow. “I don’t get what you mean.”

  “She said, ‘What fun would it be to see my own life?’”

  “But she talks about Claire and Damien.”

  Mason tilts his head to the side and says, “The beginning of her childhood. I asked her how far into the future she could see. Little Bit looked me in the eyes so seriously, then scrunched up her nose and smiled. I’m always amazed that she knows when and when not to say things. She’s two. All the other kids couldn’t shut up when they were two. She’s like a grown person inside of a child.”

  Ariel pauses and then says, “She can do other things?”

  “She can do what Jennifer does and so much more,” he replies.

  “Why do you think she can do all of those things?”

  He shrugs. “I don’t know. I don’t even know what she is. From her features, at least part of her is Kenga. I haven’t seen her shift.”

  Xander shakes his head. “Where would they get Kenga strands from? We’ve been gone for hundreds of years.”

  “Little Bit says The Collector is old,” Mason replies. “But like all things, she will die someday.”

  A smile sweeps across Ariel’s face. “Did The Collector hear that?”

  “Probably,” Mason says, smirking back.

  “Why doesn’t she just kill Lexi,” Aurora interjects. “Major time shift.”

  “Oh, there’s no killing Lexi. She will say bless you before you sneeze.” Ariel looks confused. “It’s a human thing. They say God bless you after you sneeze. She knew about it, so she says it. She always goes, ‘Bless you’, and then you sneeze.”

  “How weird,” Ariel draws out.

  “You get used to her. She’s fascinating. She can say the wisest thing and then ask why her Barbie has no lady parts.”

  Now, Ariel smiles. “What did you say?”

  “I said toys don’t have those parts.” He laughs, obviously remembering. “She then asked how Barbie pees.”

  “She really said that?”

  “Yeah, she’s half Yoda and half baby.”

  Aurora exclaims, “I remember Yoda!”

  “From Star Wars,” Mason replies.

  “You’ve made me watch that movie like a thousand times,” Ariel snorts, with a small smile.

  “I always wondered if the Neturu were like that,” Mason says, looking deep in thought.

  Xander replies, “I think it’s more like Star Trek than Star Wars.”

  Ariel looks at Mason. “Claire said something about mutant humans that reminded her of us.”

  Mason furrows his eyebrows. “Mutant humans?”

  “Y…people…” Ariel says.

  “Oh, the X-Men.”

  “Yeah.”

  He looks like he is thinking and then Mason says, “We’re like the X-Men on Star Trek.”

  “Maybe we can be in a movie!” Aurora exclaims. “Who needs special effects?”

  “Those special effects are awesome,” Ariel laughs.

  “I know,” Aurora replies. “And it only cost us a thousand dollars to make the movie.”

  Xander narrows his eyes and smirks. “I think that would blow the Neturu cover.”

  “What a way to come out!” Aurora counters.

  “Yeah, terrify the humans even more than just being alien shape shifters.”

  Aurora punches her hand. “We’d kick their asses.”

  Mason shakes his head. “People would die. There would be mass hysteria. A war would break out. They wouldn’t know human from Neturu. I’ve been out here longer. There are bad people and there are really good people. Those really bad people would prey upon the good people.”

  “That’s sad,” Aurora sighs.

  “It’s the way of war. Neturu are a little different psychologically but very similar, too. It would not be good but we would win, but at what cost.”

  Ariel crosses her arms. “The world is as scary as The Collector said.”

  He looks at her with kind eyes. “You can’t concentrate on that. The world has so much good in it.”

  Xander puts his hand on Ariel’s shoulder. “Yeah, think of what we have experienced so far. Look at Claire and everyone.”

  “I guess part of me is still scared,” she mumbles, scuffing her shoe across the floor.

  “We’ve never been out in the real world. It’s going to be shocking at first.”

  Putting his hand up by her against the force field, Mason says, “It can be absolutely amazing. I can’t wait to show you so much.”

  “I’ve travelled all around the world,” Ariel counters.

  “There’s so much you haven’t done. Like rollercoasters! You have to try a rollercoaster.”

  Aurora says, “We saw one of those! I wanted to try it.”

  “And you?” Mason asks Ariel.

  She smiles. “It looks terrifying, but yeah, I would try it.”

  “We’re going to go to an amusement park and rock it.”

  Ariel raises an eyebrow. “Rock it?”

  “It’s a saying, but we’ll have fun,” Mason replies.

  “Sounds good.”

  “I still have to pee,” Mason groans, bopping around.

  The door suddenly opens. Mr. Hardrick and Damien walk in. Damien cr
osses his arms. “What else do you know?”

  “That I have to pee,” Mason whines, as he crosses his legs. “I was going to pee on the force field but Ariel says she doesn’t want me to blow off my penis.”

  “Mason!” Ariel yells. He grins.

  “We will take you to a regular cell,” Damien replies. He motions to the guards standing in the hallway. The guards enter and raise their guns.

  “By gun point?” Mason snorts.

  “Of course,” Damien says darkly.

  Sarcastically, Mason counters, “Okay. I obviously need to behave since I can’t jump. But I seriously have to go.”

  “Talk,” Damien commands.

  “No, pee,” Mason growls.

  “You need to talk,” Mr. Hardrick says.

  “Mr. Hardrick, it’s an honor to meet you finally,” Mason says, bowing his head.

  Shaking his head, Mr. Hardrick says, “This whole situation is…mind blowing.”

  “You train me. Along with Claire,” Mason declares with a big smile.

  “This little girl told you this?” He replies.

  With a nod, Mason says, “Yes. Lexi.”

  “What is she like?” Mr. Hardrick asks.

  “Oh my god. I have to pee,” Mason groans, nearly squatting to the ground with his legs crossed.

  “Let me get the force field down,” Damien says, walking over to the computer panel.

  Mason whines, “I’ve never had to pee more in my entire life.”

  The force field disappears and Damien snaps, “Put cuffs on him.” A guard member walks forward. He moves Mason’s other cuff up and puts a bar between his wrists. After he presses a button, metal cuffs spring around them and a blue current is seen coursing through the metal.

  “We’re coming with,” Ariel states, stepping forward.

  “No, absolutely not,” Damien responds severely.

  “What if you do something to him? I would never know. I need to be able to trust you. I need to know he’s safe.”

  There is a heavy pause and then Damien sighs. “Alright. Come with.”

  As soon as Mason walks forward, the guards put their guns higher and surround him. He rolls his eyes. “This is so not scary.”

  “We will kill you,” Damien declares.

  “A little extreme?” Mason responds. “I’m not worried. You don’t kill me.”

  Damien stares him down and then says, “Let’s go.”

  They all walk out and follow Damien down a hall. “What can you tell us?” Mr. Hardrick inquires.