by Holly Martin
I had to get to Quinn; he would know what to do. I suddenly realised how conspicuous I was as a lioness, the guards stationed at the entrance to the fort would hardly hold the door open for me. I needed to be something smaller, but something fast. I thought of a spider and no sooner had I thought about this, then the melting feeling rode through me again. It hurt, but not as much as the first time. I scuttled up the hill as quick as I could.
As I approached the front doors, they burst open and Seth ran straight past me with Cassidy running as quickly as she could behind him. I thought about waiting for him, hoping he would make the connection between my disappearance and the pile of torn clothes on the floor, but he might not. I turned and scuttled through the crack in the door just as it was about to close. The stairs would be tricky to negotiate as a spider, so I crawled up the walls instead, my black furry legs sticking to the vertical surface easily. I cursed the distance I had to travel up the walls, and how long it was taking me. As a lioness I could take the stairs in a matter of seconds but that would bring down an inordinate amount of attention on me. How could I explain who I was, when I was trapped in the body of an animal? I just needed to get to Quinn, he could help.
I finally reached the top of the stairs near my corridor. As I crawled into my corridor, the guards posted at the end didn’t even register my arrival. Spiders were fairly common up here, especially as the weather was now getting warmer. I was disappointed that they hadn’t been more protective but at the same time filled with the utmost relief that my journey hadn’t been cut short. The corridor seemed so long and Quinn’s bedroom door didn’t seem to be getting any closer.
I heard heavy footsteps behind me and I tried to press myself as close to the wall as possible. The footsteps passed me and I looked up at Isaac as he walked by, relieved that he also hadn’t given me a second glance.
About ten steps away from me he suddenly stopped and looked back at me, his eyes narrowed. He slowly advanced on me, on the balls of his feet, slowly removing his knife from his belt.
Crap! I immediately wanted to be something else, anything else but a spider, a spider was too slow, too obvious, I thought about being a bug, something like a woodlouse, and immediately I shifted, the walls and floor seemingly growing before my eyes.
Isaac hissed as he watched me change. He lunged for me, ready to crush me. I quickly scuttled along the edge of the wall, back down the corridor, in the direction I had just come. His foot came down close to me, but it couldn’t get into the crack between the floor and the wall. I scuttled on.
‘Shape shifter!’ Isaac yelled, and the floor shook with the footsteps of the other Guardians as they came running.
Isaac slammed his fist down just in front of me and I jerked back, turning back down the corridor towards mine and Quinn’s room.
Amongst the chaos of the other Guardians gathered around Isaac and the others still running to join him, I saw Quinn appear from his room looking anxious. I nearly wept from relief. But in the next second he shifted into a great bear and came galloping down the corridor towards Isaac and me, growling and snarling.
I suddenly found a tiny hole in the wall and scuttled into it, the darkness of the cavity closing round me. I turned back to face the corridor and was met with a great paw, and snarling teeth trying to get at me through the tiny hole. I backed away into the darkness, my heart hammering against my chest.
In all the times I had spoken to Quinn about shape shifting, he had never mentioned it was like this, with people trying to kill you, and being unable to get back into your own body again.
I looked round the hole and the snarling, vicious teeth didn’t relent at the entrance. There seemed to be some kind of tunnel leading off from the back of the hole. Other creatures had been here before, possibly a woodlouse or some kind of spider, judging by the old webs that were around this cavity. I made my way along the tiny tunnel, the sound of snarling and growling almost disappearing behind me. There was nothing but darkness around me now, that and the smell of old wood. I kept going, making slow progress through the darkness until I could see light ahead of me. I pushed my way through the tiny hole and realised I was back in the corridor again. Quinn was still growling at a hole a bit further down whilst the Guardians stood around helplessly, checking the floor around them for any stray bugs.
I scuttled as quickly as I could back to the entrance to the corridor. I passed the one guard left there, without him even noticing me; he was too busy looking at what was going on in the corridor behind him.
As soon as I reached the stairs I felt the need for a bit more speed. Though changing into something bigger would surely bring a lot more attention down on me, I stood more chance of getting away quicker.
I shifted into a cat and ran flat out down the stairs. I heard shouts behind me as they saw me running away. I increased my speed, desperate to escape. There were suddenly a lot more legs and feet on the stairs as the Guardians tried to catch me. I darted through several legs, hands and knives and reached the floor below, with the legs and feet hot on my heels. I tore down the next flight of stairs, but more legs were running up them towards me. I backed into the wall, my ears flat against my head as legs and feet and knives descended on me from all directions.
I leapt up onto a curtain, sinking my claws into the red velvet as I tried to scale it, if I could reach a certain height, the Guardians below wouldn’t be able to reach me. But as I desperately tried to climb the curtain, strong hands were suddenly round me.
I wailed my protest and clawed and bit at them in a desperate bid to defend myself, but the hands didn’t release me.
The hands tucked me under his arm and I watched as he tucked his knife back into his belt.
‘For goodness sake, Eve. We’re all running round trying to kill a shape shifter and then I realise it’s you. You could have warned us before trying out your shape shifting abilities for the first time, we nearly killed you,’ said Lucas, shaking his head with amusement. He took me from under his arm and held me up to his face. I saw the other Guardians filing away, mumbling under their breath with annoyance.
If cats could cry I would have wept buckets of relief then.
‘Oh,’ said Lucas, suddenly realising that this change in my appearance wasn’t really my fault and how terrified I was.
He cradled my trembling body in his arms as he quickly ran back up the stairs, stroking my head in what he probably hoped was a soothing way.
He moved into the corridor. Isaac, the other Guardians and Quinn who were still gathered round the hole, suddenly turned their attention on me and Lucas.
Quinn tore down the corridor, growling savagely and was snarling at Lucas’s feet a few seconds later.
Lucas held me over his head. ‘Quinn, it’s Eve, she’s shifted.’
The growling stopped immediately and a short second later, he shifted from bear to a dog, to my dog. Isaac was suddenly at Lucas’s side, with his knife out threateningly. He leapt up to grab me from Lucas’s grasp, but Lucas shoved him back and Quinn grabbed his sleeve in his mouth.
‘Isaac, its Eve, its ok, put your knife away.’
Isaac looked furious. ‘It’s Eve?’
Lucas nodded, tentatively bringing me back down into his arms.
‘For goodness sake, is this some kind of stupid joke? We’re all running round trying to defend her from some shape shifter and she’s having a laugh at our expense.’
Lucas sighed, angrily. ‘Isaac, look at her face. Does it look like she’s having a good laugh right now, she’s terrified. This isn’t something she’s got any control over; ever since that shape shifter injected her with those drugs, her body has been going through some changes and she’s trying to adapt to them.’
Isaac walked off angrily and Lucas watched him go, shaking his head. He turned and walked to Quinn’s room, with Quinn by his side. As soon as we were in Quinn’s room, Lucas put me down gently on the bed. Quinn disappeared off to the bathroom and came back out a few seconds later with his j
eans on, pulling a t-shirt on over his head. He sat down next to me and pulled me onto his lap.
‘Eve, are you ok?’ Quinn asked gently.
My heart was pounding so hard against my chest that I thought I was going to vomit.
‘Erm, I think that’s a no Quinn,’ said Lucas.
Quinn gave a wry laugh. ‘I know, the first time it happens, it is terrifying.’
Even more so when everyone, even my brother is trying to kill me.
‘Yeah, she’s not exactly happy that you tried to kill her, especially when she was on her way to you for help,’ Lucas explained, sitting down on the sofa.
‘I’m so sorry. I can’t believe I was trying to kill you. I would never have forgiven myself if I had hurt you,’ Quinn stroked my ear, absently. It felt weird sitting on his lap like this. I clambered off it back onto the bed again.
‘Ok, you just need to think about being human again. In the same way that you changed from a spider, to a woodlouse, to a cat, you can change back into being a human again.’ Quinn nodded, encouragingly.
I closed my eyes, and envisioned being a human again. I felt the change happen almost immediately, the curious fizzy feeling as I melted but grew bigger at the same time.
I opened my eyes and Quinn and Lucas were both looking away with embarrassment. Quinn stood up quickly and held up the duvet in front of me. I took the duvet and wrapped it round me, then sat down on the bed again. My arms and legs were still tingling and I was shaking from my brush with death.
Quinn, realising that I was now decent, sat down next to me and put his arm round me.
‘I was just saying to Lucas this morning that now you had changed once, it might mean that you could change again. How did it happen?’
‘I’ve been feeling funny over the last few days, ever since Sophia forced me to change. But I didn’t really put the two together. I just thought I was coming down with some bug. I was so hot, sick and dizzy. It felt like my insides were melting.’
‘Oh hun, the first time I shifted I was ill for days before hand, running a temperature, and feeling dizzy, I felt like I was made from jelly. Luckily my Dad recognised the signs, and he explained to me what was happening. When I shifted I knew what to expect. I wish you’d said something to me. If you’d told me how you were feeling I would have known straight away what you were going through.’
‘I just thought I had the flu or a sick bug, I didn’t want to make a fuss. I thought it would pass. Today was weird, like I couldn’t retain my form anymore, like my body was struggling to stay solid. I was with Seth and my legs wouldn’t work properly. He went off to get Cassidy and then I melted. It was horrific. I didn’t have a clue what was happening,’ I shook my head. ‘I still feel really wobbly now.’
‘Yeah you might change again in a minute, try to stay calm,’ Quinn said.
My heart suddenly leapt. ‘Seth, he’ll be worrying where I am…’ My words trailed off as I melted again. I looked down at my golden paws again and wanted to cry. Was I going to spend the rest of my life changing at the most inappropriate moments? I was supposed to be getting married today.
‘It’s ok Eve, I’ve already told him, he’s on his way up here now,’ Lucas explained. I looked across at Quinn who was grinning at me.
‘I know this is all a bit scary for you now, but it won’t take long for you to be able to control it. Then you can have some real fun with it. Being a shape shifter really is one of the coolest things ever.’ He wrapped the duvet around me.
He was right. From when I found out that Quinn was my brother, I’d been so jealous that he could shape shift and I couldn’t. Now that I could, it would be cool to run with him as a cheetah or fly with him as a bird. As long as I could control it. The nakedness could get embarrassing if I couldn’t.
The door opened and Seth, Eli and Cassidy walked in. Seth sat down tentatively on the bed next to me.
‘Eve?’ he said, warily.
I nuzzled against him, a strange purring noise coming from my throat. He chuckled. I closed my eyes and envisioned being a human again. Instantly I felt myself melt, as Quinn held the duvet tightly round me, trying to give me some privacy.
Eli sighed with relief and Seth pulled me tightly towards him, also relieved.
‘Baby are you ok?’
I nodded.
‘You had me so scared there for a while, I had just got to the infirmary when I felt your signal go out. And when I came out and you were gone, I didn’t know what to think.’
‘Yeah, I felt your signal go out, and then Isaac told me there was a shape shifter in the corridor and half of us was looking around for you, the other half was trying to kill the shape shifter,’ Eli said.
‘I thought you had been kidnapped, I was tearing through the woods looking for you, when Lucas called me to explain what had happened,’ Seth said.
I looked at them with confusion. ‘My signal went out?’
They nodded.
I turned to Lucas. ‘But you knew it was me?’
‘Yeah but it’s not your signal I can feel, it’s something different, like when you astral project. I felt your signal go out too, but I could still feel you, I still knew where you were, I just couldn’t slide to you.’
‘So when I shift, you can’t feel me anymore?’
They all shook their heads.
I thought about this for a moment. ‘I wonder if I can still communicate telepathically or use my powers.’
Immediately, my body giving me what my mind wanted, I shifted again, into a lioness. Eli eyed me warily, even though he could see me, he didn’t like that my signal had gone out. I tried to reach out for Seth’s mind, his mind was always easier to find than anyone else’s but there was nothing there. I reached for my powers but again I came up empty handed. Being an animal meant I was completely alone, completely defenceless. Unless of course I shifted into something bigger like a bear, I could defend myself then.
Immediately, I grew and caught sight of myself in the mirror and almost smiled when I saw the great grizzly bear sitting on the bed, towering over Quinn and Seth.
Quinn chuckled as he tried to wrap the duvet round my gigantic form.
I concentrated on being human again and felt myself shift back, shrinking so I was back to my normal size.
I shook my head, as I held onto the duvet again. ‘It really is the most bizarre feeling; your whole body just melts.’
‘You’ll get used to it.’ Quinn grinned. I could see he was loving having another shape shifter with him.
‘Why do I change into a lioness? All the other animals I think about changing into, but the lioness happens almost automatically.’
Quinn shrugged. ‘All shape shifters have an animal that they shift into the easiest or when they shift for the first time or when they’re ill or tired they have one animal that they seem to be drawn too. Mine’s a lion too.’ I looked at the lion necklace, the amber eyes glinting in the warm sunlight streaming through his window. Was that why our Mum had given him the lion? ‘Well actually I have two,’ Quinn pressed on. ‘The other is the dog. That’s rare though, most will only have one. Some shape shifters can only change into that animal and nothing else.’
‘What about people?’ I remembered Quinn changing into me the other day. Sophia had too, but she had taken some of my blood to help her. Quinn had done it all by himself.
‘People are very hard, not many shape shifters can do it, and most of those that can do it, do it very badly. Whereas, when you shift into a rhino, you just have to think about what a rhino looks like, to be a convincing person, to pull off an identical replica, you have to look at every part of that person: how their hair is styled, the shape of their eyes, the contours of their shoulders, you have to physically think about changing every part. For me, changing into people has been a recent acquisition; I practised shifting into you for ages, until I got it right. Now I can do you, I can do others as well, more easily,’ Quinn explained.
I snuggled into my duvet, yawning. �
�I feel really tired and weak.’ Seth put his arm round me.
Quinn nodded. ‘Yeah you will be, the first few times you shape shift, and it’s painful and really exhausting. I spent days in bed when I shifted for the first time. I thought I was actually going to die at one point. My parents couldn’t come anywhere near me as every time they tried to kiss me or hug me, it was agonizing. That’s how I knew I was about to change, because when anyone touched me it felt like they were stabbing me. I bet you found that this morning if Seth was hugging you, I bet it was excruciating, like his fingers were digging into your skin. You’re going to be shattered today and probably tomorrow. You’ll be hot too. You’ll shift without wanting to or realising it and then shift back without any control, but it won’t take you long to learn to control it.’
‘I’m supposed to be getting married today,’ I said, quietly.
‘We can always do it another day,’ Seth suggested, his voice strange, strangled almost.
I shook my head; I didn’t want to hide anymore. If I held out any longer my lies were bound to trip me up eventually and I wanted my wedding ring back on my finger. ‘No, but maybe we can limit the number of guests or the whole fort will be seeing me naked by the end of the day.’
Quinn chuckled. ‘Yeah the nakedness is an unfortunate side effect. I’ve ruined so many clothes when I’ve burst out of them and then you have to wait until you’re back in your room until you can shift again. You’ll get used to it.’
I smiled to myself. It was really quite exciting; the possibilities of what I could change into were endless.
‘I might go and have a rest for a while, before the wedding,’ I stood up.
‘Eve,’ said Eli. ‘Can I ask that if you shift again, try and stay something big like a lion or a dog? I’d hate to accidentally tread on you.’
I nodded. ‘I’ll do my best Eli.’
‘I’ll keep an eye on her,’ Seth said. Didn’t he always?
I walked back to my room with Seth at my side. As soon as I was back in the privacy of my room, I shrugged off the duvet and pulled on my pyjamas. I sat next to Seth on the bed, leaning against him sleepily. After a while I realised his arm wasn’t around me, like it normally was. I looked up to see his face. His jaw was clenched angrily.