by S. L. Watson
When the soft skin melted off his grotesque cheekbone, he relented. “Okay!” he cried out. “Take the rope off, and I’ll talk.”
My mom unwound the rope from his body and wrapped it back around her wrist. “If you don’t tell us everything we want to know, I won’t go so easy on you again, and we’ll see that face you’re so afraid of revealing.”
He sneered at my mom. If he could get loose, he’d try to kill her; I was sure of it. We wouldn’t be able to let him go.
I watched in horror as his skin repaired itself, with fresh skin forming over the gaping holes, masking the sickening odor that came from his exposed flesh.
“Why did you make yourself look like my brother and attack Molly at the ball? Did you have something to do with my father’s murder?”
My mom’s attention shot toward me. “What are you talking about?”
“The ring from the photo that Lucas brought, I saw it again on the man who attacked Molly.”
The shifter flinched when a dark scowl formed on my mom’s face and she approached him. “Did you kill Creagan?” She bared her teeth as the rope twisted in her grasp.
The shifter tilted his head to the side, while his lips twitched into a smirk. He may have looked like Lucas, but he resembled him less and less, making expressions Lucas never would.
“I never made myself into your brother,” he answered me, while keeping his eye on the rope dangling in front of him. “And I never attacked her,” he nodded at Molly, “before today.”
“What about the king?” My mom growled.
The shifter shook his head furiously. “It wasn’t me, I swear.”
“Is there another shifter pretending to be Darion?”
“So many questions,” he jeered. “You’re all just little fish in a bowl with nowhere to go.”
My mom lashed him with the rope.
He hissed. “He’s no shifter! He’s Orien of the Ever bloodline, and he’s going to kill you all.”
His answer didn’t surprise me. The man who had approached me at the ball and tormented Molly in her dreams had been Orien, and now I had confirmation.
The rope flew out and grazed his face, sending up a blast of smoke. The shifter writhed in the chair.
“Orien’s been dead for centuries. Tell me the truth, or I’ll flay every inch of you,” warned my mom.
“It’s true, you Vitarian bitch,” he spat.
More rope twisted around his face, and I jumped in. “Mom, wait, let’s hear him out. He’s telling the truth.”
The shifter’s head bobbed up and down. “Listen to your daughter. She’s got good sense.”
I spun on the shifter. “Tell us about Orien.”
The rope receded as he spoke. “Orien made a deal with our leader, but we weren’t able to get him off his planet until after Oria had drained him of his magic. Her punishment created the perfect ruse. We sacrificed one of our own and switched the bodies. We took Orien back to our planet, where he’s spent centuries rebuilding his strength so he can honor his part of the deal.”
“Which is?” my mom asked, but I already knew.
“They want the secret to youth,” I answered for the shifter.
He nodded that I was right. “We want bodies that don’t rot and stink of decay. Orien promised to make us magic that allows us to keep our appearance indefinitely.” He motioned at the false skin he wore. “And when he gets what he wants, he’ll have everything he needs to fulfill his end of the bargain.”
I winced at the thought of this creature continuing to look like Lucas, and he smiled at my unease.
“There is no secret to our youth, and Orien knows that,” I told him. “We don’t use magic to stay young. We age slowly because it’s a part of our genetics, just like our magic is. Orien wants the ring for his own reasons, so he lied to get your people to help him.”
He laughed at me like I was an ignorant child. “Orien found a way. He will help us, as we helped him. And thanks to your boyfriend, we know the magic works.”
I stepped back. “What are you talking about?” My shoulders shook.
The shifter gloated at my confusion. Cobalt eyes that should only belong to Lucas narrowed at me, and I fought the urge to look away from him.
“Humph,” he grunted. “Orien used your boyfriend to test his spell. This skinsuit belongs to me for as long as I want it.”
I leaned forward and gripped both of the shifter’s bound arms. “And what does that mean for Lucas?”
He shrugged with a glint in his eye. “Sorry. That’s for me to know and you to find out.”
My grip tightened.
“Such a pretty face your boyfriend has, don’t you think?”
My fingernails cut into his skin, and he just smirked. I lifted my chin and slammed my forehead into his nose, breaking it. “Not so pretty now.” I smiled and backed up.
“You bitch!” He groaned, shaking his head. “Argh!” he growled. “I’m going to slice you to pieces when I get free.”
Luna barked and leaped through the air, landing atop the shifter, and crunched his shoulder.
“Argh! Get this beast off of me!”
“Tell us where Orien’s holding Lucas and Darion.”
He shook his head. “If I tell you that, he’ll kill me.”
Luna bit deeper. Then the shifter twisted his neck and sank his teeth into her neck.
“No!” I screamed, and Luna yelped, falling backward off the shifter. I swooped over her and checked her wound. She whimpered at my touch. “It’s okay, girl.”
“Here.” Molly handed me a warm wet towel.
I wiped the blood away. A large gash appeared under the fur, but it wasn’t life-threatening. Molly took over, while I stood.
My mom looped the rope around the shifter’s neck in a flash. “If you don’t tell us what we want to know, we’ll kill you.”
His eyes darted beyond us, toward the window. “I’m already dead,” he mumbled, wide-eyed as my kitchen window exploded with an arrow that thunked straight through the side of the shifter’s neck.
The room filled with Molly’s scream. I jumped to cover her body with mine. My mom crouched beside us, protecting Luna. I scanned the window. No one was there, and no more arrows came. I crawled toward the door.
“Wait,” the shifter gurgled, and coughed out a clot of blood. “He’s gone, and there’s not … much time. Orien … betrayed me.” Blood dribbled from his mouth. “Cut open my chest.”
I balked. “What? Why?”
His head drooped forward.
“Is … he dead?” Molly whispered.
The shifter’s head bobbed as he coughed a spray of blood over his chest. “If you want to save your boyfriend, you need what Orien put inside of me. It’s in the center.” This time his head fell forward with finality.
My mom crawled near him and reached to check his pulse. “He’s gone.”
“Holy shit!” Molly’s voice shook, and Luna whimpered. She cradled Luna’s head in her lap and gently smoothed her ears.
I met my mom’s stare. Lines creased across her forehead. “I think we should do what he said.”
“Okay.” I stayed low to the ground. “Let me just check to make sure whoever shot the arrow really is gone.” I crawled the rest of the way to the door, then carefully stood and cracked the door an inch to peek out. It was too dark to see beyond the porch, but I searched with my other senses. I turned back toward Molly and my mom. “There’s no one out there. They did what they came to do and fled. But why only attack him and not us too?”
I went to the kitchen and grabbed the sharpest blade I could find.
My mom stood up. “Your guess is as good as mine, but maybe we’re about to find an answer.” She grabbed the sides of the chair the shifter was bound to and paused.
“Molly, honey, will you grab a plastic garbage bag and lay it out?” She nodded toward the floor.
Molly fumbled through the utility cabinet and grabbed the box of garbage bags and a roll of duct tape. She sho
ok out several large plastic bags and layered them to cover a wide area. Then she quickly taped the edges together to make one large plastic sheet.
“That’s perfect,” said my mom, as she leaned the chair down next to the plastic bags. She cut the tape that bound the shifter to the chair, and we rolled him onto the plastic.
My hand trembled as we all stared at the sharp tip of the blade.
“Honey, I’ll do this.” My mom reached for the knife handle, but I gripped it tighter.
“No, Mom. It has to be me. Whatever it is inside of him has to do with Lucas. It should be me.”
She squeezed my shoulder, lifted the shifter’s shirt, and then scooted back with Molly. I could practically taste the tension oozing from them both as their eyes followed the blade as I lifted it in the air and tilted the tip straight toward the shifter’s chest.
I steeled my mental shield and sucked in a deep breath as I stared at the face that resembled Lucas’s.
It’s not Lucas. He’s a monster. Lucas and Darion are depending on me.
The blade plunged down and slid straight through his chest cavity. I yanked down with all my strength to open a long enough cut to fit my fingers into. Vomit bubbled up the back of my throat at the crunching sound, and I gagged, forcing myself to swallow the burning liquid.
My mom’s hand wrapped over mine. “That should be enough, honey.”
The knife made a sticky sound as I pulled it out of his body and set it on the plastic. I shoved my fingers inside the wound, eager to be done with this task.
Either Molly or my mom passed me a hand towel to cover my face with my free hand. The decaying odor rising from his open chest was worse than when his skin had melted away.
My fingers dug through the wet interior of his chest, brushing against bone and tendon until they touched something smooth and round.
“I think I found something.” I curled my fingertips around the object and slid it toward the open wound, then used the towel I held to wipe it clean.
“Whoa,” Molly breathed.
I smoothed my finger over the opalesque surface, thinking of how similar it was to the Ever ring. Tiny thunderbolts flickered within the stone. An energy gripped me, and my muscles seized as a sensation of being separated from my body overcame me. A rush of images filled my mind: hundreds of Shimera marched through a land of lush and colorful plant life. They slaughtered everything and everyone in their path. Another image of them invading a stone palace, and Felix on his knees. Blood covered his face, and bodies lay all around. He was looking up at a sword coming down over him.
I choked at the bloodbath in my mind. My torso crouched over, and I gasped for air. I heard a clunk and a clang as the stone fell from my hands to the floor and rolled away.
My mom hunched over me, gripping my shoulders. “Everly! What happened? Are you okay?”
“I don’t know.” I straightened and scooted away to press my back against the wall for support, waiting for the knots in my stomach to subside.
“It’s okay.” My mom stood. “Take a minute to breathe. I’m going to get something to cover him with.” She left the kitchen and came back carrying an old sheet and tossed it over the shifter.
Molly handed me a glass of water. After a long drink, I said, “When I touched the stone”—I squeezed my eyes shut at the memory—“I saw images. I think they were of the Shimera, and they were invading Aenoas-Vita. I’m sure of it. There was so much blood and so many bodies, and Felix …” I couldn’t bring myself to say it.
“Shh.” My mom sat beside me and rested my head on her shoulder.
“There’s living energy held inside the stone. It feels familiar to me, but I don’t know how.”
My mom snatched the rock from the floor and examined it. “This is from Aenoas-Vita. It comes from a cave in the Ever Forest, but it’s forbidden to enter.” She rubbed her hand over it as I had, her brow furrowed deeply. “Your premonitions have started. We need to alert Felix immediately, and warn him of Orien’s return and the Shimera.”
No! I pressed my head against the wall. I’d hoped Felix had been wrong about the premonitions, but he hadn’t been. He was sure they would present, as Oria had predicted of her heir.
My lungs burned, and I released the breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. The burden of knowing the future weighed heavily on my soul.
“If this was my first premonition, then that means Orien will win and destroy our planet.”
My mom held my cheeks. “Look at me, baby. Not all premonitions are definite. Events can alter the future. If we can stop Orien now, we can change this.”
“But how? We don’t even know …” I grabbed my mom’s hands from my face and pulled her into a hug. “I have an idea.”
My blood pumped with excitement, and my pulse quickened. “I know how to find Darion and Lucas. It worked before, when Siobhan held you captive. You take care of alerting Felix and Arden, and keep Molly safe with you. I’m going to Neil’s.”
I waited for the objection I was sure my mom would express about me leaving alone, but she offered none. She only entreated me. “Please don’t go after Orien on your own. Come back here as soon as you find something out, and we can go together.” She didn’t look away until I agreed. “Be safe.” She kissed me on the forehead. “I’ll take care of him.” She motioned toward the body.
Molly quirked her brow. “Well … I guess today’s the day for firsts: woke up from a magic-induced coma, drank alien blood, and now I’ll be helping your mom move a dead shifter. Wonder what tomorrow has in store for me.” She barked out a choked laugh, then sobered. “Bring him back to me, Ev.” She threw her arms around me.
“I will. I promise. And, Molls …” I pried her arms from my neck and lifted the end of her braid. “Darion’s right, this braid is fit for a warrior. You are a serious badass. I’ll never underestimate the use of a cast-iron pan again.”
Molly’s lips cracked into a partial smile as her shoulders rolled back. “Does this mean you approve of me and Darion?” She bit her bottom lip.
“You’re like a sister to me, Molls. You make Darion happy, and he’s crazy about you. And I have no doubt that you’ll keep him in line.”
Molly laughed as her confidence returned.
“I couldn’t agree with my daughter more.” My mom wrapped her arm around Molly’s shoulders. “Seeing you and Darion together makes me a happy mother.”
“But,” I added, handing Molly a tissue to wipe her eyes as happy tears sprang free. “Don’t try anything heroic while I’m gone. Stay with my mom and stay safe. Darion will never forgive me if I let anything happen to you.”
She nodded and sniffled into her tissue.
I bent down to a waiting Luna and gave her a kiss between the ears. “How’s my girl doing, huh?” I gently spread the auburn fur apart on her neck and checked where the shifter had bitten her. The bleeding had stopped, but the wound had yellow pus festering in the center. “Mom?”
“Don’t worry, honey. I’ll take care of that. She’ll be good as new when you get back.”
Luna barked as if she agreed with my mom. I ran my finger down her long snout and smoothed her tall ears, then grabbed my bag, keys, and the stone, and hurried to my car.
It has to work, I told myself as I pumped the gas, and my tires screeched at my accelerated turn out of the driveway, leaving tread marks in my wake.
I turned on the car stereo system and accessed the Bluetooth function. “Call, Neil.”
After a few rings, Neil answered, “Hello, my darling.” The club’s music blared in the background.
“I need your help, Neil. I’m on my way now.”
He responded without hesitation. “Yes, my queen.”
I hung up and pressed the gas harder, and my car practically caught air as it flew over the train tracks to the back road that led to Neil’s club.
My phone rang over the speakers. Jasper’s name popped up on the screen. Damn it! My mom must have called him. I didn’t want Jasper involved
again. He deserved to have a normal life.
I answered with a casual tone in case he didn’t know anything. “What’s up, Jasp?”
“What’s going on, Ev?” His tone wasn’t casual at all.
“Did my mom call you?”
“No. I’m at Freya’s shop, and she was giving me a reading. You need my help.”
I sighed. “I can handle this, Jasper. I don’t want you involved. And what are you doing at Freya’s, anyway? You’ve never been into that sort of thing.” And then I remembered the look Jasper and Anya had shared, and realization dawned on me. Jasper was finally moving on. I couldn’t pull him back into more of my family drama.
Jasper ignored the second part of my question. “Freya says everything is ready and to bring Neil to her shop tonight. I’ll be waiting for you.”
Before I had a chance to argue, he added, “I’m your Shield. It’s my duty to protect you. And that’s final, Your Majesty.”
Nothing would change Jasper’s mind, not when it came to his role as my protector. This was one area he would not flex on, and I’d only be wasting my breath if I tried.
“Fine! I’m getting Neil, and then I’m coming straight there.”
I was so distracted I nearly missed the turn to Neil’s club. The smell of burnt rubber filtered through the air vents as I slammed on the brake pedal and yanked the steering wheel right. At this rate, my tires would be bald by the end of the day.
Neil stood gaping as he watched my erratic turn down his road. I plowed through the field and skidded to a stop so he could get in. “Sorry about the grass.” I glanced in my rearview mirror at the missing clumps that were probably still stuck to my tires.
“Oh, pish,” he said. “Grass smash, easily replaced. But that’s some fancy driving.” He winked, and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Thanks for coming, Neil. I’m sorry to ask for your help again, but something terrible is going to happen if I can’t stop it.”
Neil put his hand on my arm. “I’m always here for you, my little queen. Let’s go kick some butt. And by that,” he added, “you know I mean that you’ll be doing the actual butt kicking.”