Knight Shift

by Paulette Miller

  Tadd added, “Our laws say that we have to kill you or risk you exposing us.”

  “Are you going to kill me?”

  Taylor shook his head. “We like you too much to ever hurt you, but Ice is a different story.”

  Tadd added, “He’s already angry that we’re friends because he knew that, in time, you would learn our secret. Since you’re standing here in front of us, I guess he was right. And if he finds out that you know, he won’t hesitate killing you and he doesn’t know the terms ‘quick’ and ‘painless’.”

  Taylor replied, “I’m actually surprised he hasn’t killed you already. I thought for sure the day that he found out we were friends that your life was measured in hours.”

  Penny squared her shoulders and said, “Then we need to make sure he doesn’t find out. It’ll be our secret.” After debating both sides of the issue, Penny ended her side of the argument with, “Don’t make me walk away so that I never see you again. I honestly can’t imagine life without you two in it.”

  Seeing her eyes well up with tears, the twins had no other choice but to agree. She was special to them as well. Taylor said, “For this to work, you must keep this a secret from everyone—including your family out east. If they knew, it would put them in grave danger.”

  “I promise not to tell a living soul.”

  Seeing the curiosity on Penny’s face growing, Tadd asked, “I’m assuming that you have a lot of questions for us?”

  Penny nodded but said, “They can wait. Right now, I have one question.”

  Tadd said, “Fire away.”

  Penny asked, “Where’s your camp?”

  Taylor’s eyes opened wide as he replied, “That’s an odd question.”

  Penny gave him a crooked smile. “To be honest, I’m finding it extremely difficult to stand here and talk to the two of you while you’re buck naked. Although I do like the matching flame tattoos on your backsides.”

  The twins started to laugh and pointed her in the direction they needed to head. As they walked, Tadd leaned in and asked her, “Now that you have seen all of our secrets, which body do you think is better looking?”

  Taylor leaned toward her other side and added, “Maybe you should strip naked so that you wouldn’t be so uncomfortable being the only one with clothes.”

  Penny whacked his chest and couldn’t hold back a laugh. Now that the tension in the air had eased, she started asking them non-stop questions, wanting to learn everything she could about them. After they made it to their camp, she even made them shift forms several times in front of her just so she could watch. Her questions didn’t stop for the rest of the day and continued at her cabin that evening. By the time she finally let them go home, her voice had become hoarse. When she crawled into bed that night, she had wonderfully vivid dreams about magical creatures.

  *~*~*~*

  As the night went on, Ice appeared back in his favorite shadowed corner. He had found it extremely difficult to stay away from the object of his visual obsession. Although he was back, he promised himself that he could look, but he was never going to touch her again until it was time for the final hunt.

  It had been over a week since Penny had felt Casper’s presence, so when she woke at her normal time, she didn’t even glance over at the shadowed corner. It was a hot day that carried into a muggy night. When she saw the full moon shining through her window, she crawled out of the opposite side of the bed and walked directly to the window to take a look.

  Ice waited anxiously to see what color she was wearing tonight. He secretly hoped that it was the pink one he liked so much. With his eyes open wide, he stared unblinkingly at his target. The moonlight reflecting off her body made her sweat twinkle like stars, enhancing her figure, which he was memorizing, since she was completely naked. She turned and walked toward the bathroom with Ice locked on her figure.

  As she passed him, a huge smile lit her face and she exclaimed, “Casper. You’re back! God, I missed you.” Her expression quickly changed to an angry scowl. “You really pissed me off disappearing like that. My nights were so long without you and I was afraid you were never coming back.”

  Ice was shocked to sense real anger from her. Although he felt guilty for making her mad, the scolding would’ve had more impact if his eyes weren’t still locked on her fully exposed body.

  Penny turned in a huff and stomped toward the bathroom.

  Ice took a moment to regroup. He shook like a dog trying to get the image of Penny’s body out of his mind and thanked the heavens that she left to put something on.

  When she returned to the door a couple of minutes later, his face fell as other parts of his body stood at attention. Penny stood naked in the doorway and, as her face quickly softened, she said, “Sorry for being so cross. I really did miss you terribly. Come join me while I take a cool bath so that we can talk. I have so much to get you caught up on. It was an amazing day.” She turned back into the bathroom and started the water.

  Ice repeated to himself, “She’s only a Human,” over and over before gaining enough mental control to join her. After taking several deep, calming breaths, he entered a dimly lit bathroom. He stepped through the threshold and said to himself, “I hope there are bubbles.”

  His hunters eyes instantly adjusted to the lack of light and he found Penny stretched out in the tub with her wet skin glistening in the candlelight. His shoulders slumped as other parts continued to jump for joy as he said to himself, “No bubbles.”

  Once Penny felt Casper’s presence near her she started talking. “First I wanted to thank you for taking care of me the night I got drunk. Although no one believes me, I know you helped me into bed. I also want to apologize for any dancing or singing that I may have done while in your presence. My behavior filter disappears when I drink and I do some truly embarrassing things.”

  His heightened senses could feel the extra heat coming off her cheeks and he knew she was blushing, which he thought was very funny since she was lying in front of him naked.

  “With that said, let me tell you about my week.” To entice him into staying until she finished her story, she added, “I guarantee the ending will knock your socks off… assuming you’re wearing socks or even have feet. I promised not to tell a living soul, but since you’re dead and don’t have a mouth, I think it’s okay to tell you.”

  No teasing required. Short of being sucked out a window by a freak cyclone, nothing would make him leave his current viewing spot.

  Penny talked non-stop about every day he was gone without missing even the smallest of details. He really didn’t care what she said…he enjoyed hearing her voice again. When she talked about going into the woods alone because of how lonely she felt without him, he was shocked that he was hit by a pang of guilt.

  As he marveled at yet another new sensation for himself, Penny became very excited and started to tell him of the strange animals she saw while in the woods. She took in a calming breath as her pulse began to raise with anticipation. “Well, you won’t believe this, but the animals changed before my eyes and guess who they were?” She knew she wouldn’t receive an answer, but paused for a moment just in case. When she could wait no more, she blurted out, “It was my twins, Taylor and Tadd.”

  Ice’s whole body froze, realizing that their secret had been exposed.

  Unaware of the danger a few feet away from her, Penny continued, “They chased me for a long stretch…boy can they run. I know they could have pinned me instantly, but they let me go until I couldn’t run any longer. When they finally cornered me, they shifted back to Human. I have to tell you, they’re both fine specimens of the male gender and I can confirm without a shadow of the doubt that they’re truly identical from the tip of their head to the bottoms of their feet.” Penny giggled. Remembering that her ghost was also male and she didn’t want him to be jealous, she quickly added, “But they can’t be as attractive as you were when you were alive. Somehow I know that you made every woman stop and stare.”

  Ic
e took a step forward and said to himself, “You’re right. They stared and then screamed in terror, which is what you’re about to do in a few seconds when you see the real Casper.” He began to stretch to loosen his muscles as if preparing for battle. When he was standing directly beside the tub, he took in the view one last time. He sighed knowing what he must do, but he decided to make it quick. He couldn’t bear the thought of hearing her scream or cause her any unnecessary pain.

  Penny, not knowing her life was measured in seconds, said, “The twins warned me about Ice.”

  Ice paused at the mention of his name.

  Penny continued, “He’s that guy that I told you about who brought the twins out west. Well, they warned me that he would rip my throat out if he found out that I know, so this has to be our little secret.”

  He was about to prove her fears true.

  Penny heaved a sigh and said, “I wish I could meet him so that I could tell him he has nothing to fear. I honestly love those two crazy Changelings and consider them my brothers. I would rip out my own throat before I would betray them or any of their family. Maybe if I offer to talk to Ice in a location of his choice, give myself up to him, and show him that I’m willing to do whatever it takes to protect their secret, he’ll find it in his heart to give me time to prove his trust in me.”

  As Penny continued her plea into the night, Ice found his feet frozen in place. Listening to her talk so affectionately about the twins and her genuine excitement about learning of their true nature made him delay his plan. Although the insignificant Human was lying completed exposed and at his mercy, he knew how much her death would impact Taylor and Tadd. If he was totally honest, he would have put himself on that list as well.

  In the end, he stepped back into his shadowed corner and decided to confront the guilty parties about them breaking the first rule of the magical world. Since the twin’s betrayal impacted more than just them, all of Sam and Susi’s family must be made aware of their secret being revealed. If, in the end, they as a group determined that she must die, he would carry out that order as he had done so many times before. Although he would kill her if necessary, this would be the first kill that he wouldn’t enjoy.

  Ice stayed at Penny’s side until she finally went back to bed and fell into a deep sleep. While he watched her chest heave with every breath, his mind played out the various outcomes—all leading to one conclusion. Human and magical worlds can’t mix and Penny would inevitably die one way or another.

  Chapter 8 - Deliberation

  Ice spent the next day walking through the woods and continuing to argue with himself over how he wanted to approach the Penny issue. As the sun was going down, he finally returned to the house. As soon as Susi and Sam rose for the night, he called everyone together. Once they were assembled in the living room, Ice began to pace the floor with an expression that none of them could read. Never having seen him openly showing emotion, they waited silently until he began to speak.

  Finally Ice stopped in front of the group, took in a deep breath, and announced, “A Human has found out our secret.”

  Everyone, except the twins, jumped to their feet and asked, “Who?” “How?” and “When?”

  Ice glared at the twins and asked, “Do the two of you have something you want to share with the rest of us?”

  Taylor knew there was no point to lying so he asked, “How did you find out?”

  Ice replied, “There isn’t anything that goes on within this group that I’m not aware of, so spill it all.”

  Tadd said, “Our friend Penny saw us change when we were in the woods.”

  “Who’s Penny?” Sam asked.

  Tadd answered, “She’s the Assistant Manager over at Gone Wild… the outdoor store that we like. We met Penny a couple of months ago and…well…we’ve become friends. We’ve been spending a lot of time together. She likes to hike and, when she was out in the woods, she saw our hidden nature.”

  Taylor took over the conversation by jumping up and saying, “I swear we had no idea she was there. We were way up near Brighten Gulch. Humans never hike that far into the woods.”

  Ice replied, “I guess you underestimated your little explorer.”

  Susi asked the twins, “What did you do after she saw you?”

  Tadd said, “We initially were going to take her out as Ice has instructed, but we couldn’t. She’s like family to us.”

  Taylor added, “When we approached her, she wasn’t even afraid. She promised to keep our secret and I believe her.”

  The twins stared at Ice with an expression of fear and Tadd begged, “Please, she doesn’t need to die. She’ll keep her word or you can take our lives in punishment.”

  Any other time, he would have laughed at their reaction to a mere Human, but he wasn’t in a position to talk. He had spent almost every night for many weeks watching her. Ice said, “The decision impacts us all so we’ll all have a say in how we move forward. And depending on the decision, I’ll carry out the sentence.”

  Everyone was left speechless with Ice’s calm demeanor. They expected him to automatically decree her death or tell them after the deed was already done. He had never allowed a vote and had never shown mercy to a Human.

  Seeing the reaction to a Human woman, Sam stood and said, “We all understand the potential dangers if we let this woman live, but I can’t make judgment on someone I’ve never met. Since she already knows our secret, bring her to the house so that we can meet her. Ben can use his mental gifts. We can let him read her thoughts to judge her honesty. Then we can decide her fate.” He turned to the twins and asked, “Do you think you could convince her to come?”

  The twins barked out a laugh and Taylor replied, “I know that she’ll come more than willingly.”

  Sam turned to Ice and said, “To ensure the location of our home is kept secret, the twins can blindfold her so that she won’t know where we live. Would that be acceptable to you?”

  They were already so far over their heads Ice had no choice but to agree. He turned to the twins and commanded, “Make the arrangements.”

  Taylor nodded and said, “We’ll talk to her after she gets off work tomorrow.”

  Without saying another word, Ice walked away and disappeared into his room.

  Susi saw Ben watching Ice with a very confused expression. She approached him and asked, “What’s wrong?”

  Ben replied, “I’m not sure. The feelings I felt from Ice are confusing me.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “When Ice found me, his mind frightened me. It was so full of hate it was actually painful for me to be around him. Over the last few months I’ve noticed a gradual change. Several mornings when he arrived home I sensed that he was almost happy. Do you think I’m going crazy?”

  Susi shook her head. “You aren’t crazy. I’ve also noticed a difference in him and then tonight he showed mercy to a Human. There’s much more going on that he isn’t telling us and I think this Penny is somehow a part of it. I’m now even more eager to meet her.”

  Ben said, “If she is somehow connected to making this kind of change in someone like Ice, I can’t wait to meet her as well.”

  *~*~*~*

  After work the next day, Penny found the twins waiting for her at her car. She called, “Hey fur balls. I’m so glad to see you.”

  Taylor asked, “Can we pick up a pizza for dinner and come over to your cabin tonight?”

  “No nickname today?” she teased. When Taylor stared at her with an extremely serious expression, her smile faded and she replied, “Sure. You know my doors are always open to you. Is there something wrong?”

  “We need to talk.”

  “Okay.” Now that she knew their secret, she feared that they were planning to tell her that they couldn’t see her any more. She headed home and, shortly after she settled in, the twins walked in carrying a large pizza. As they sat down to eat, Penny fidgeted nervously and said, “I’m assuming this isn’t a social call so out with it. What’s wro
ng?”

  Taylor’s shoulders slumped as he said, “Ice knows.”

  Penny’s body stiffened. “How? I swear I haven’t talked to anyone unless you count my ghost Casper. I tell him everything…but he’s invisible and doesn’t have a mouth.”

  Tadd rolled his eyes. “It wasn’t your imaginary friend. We should’ve known we couldn’t keep a secret from Ice.”

  Taylor added, “He knows things. We’ve speculated that he has mind reading abilities like Ben, but none of know for sure and he isn’t about to share his secrets.”

  Penny asked with concern growing on her face, “So what are we to do? You said he would kill me if he found out.”

  Taylor said, “For some unknown reason, he’s letting us be a part of deciding your fate. The family wants you to come over to the house so that they can meet you before placing judgment.”

  Penny jumped to her feet and said, “Let’s go right now. I’ll drive.”

  Tadd said calmly in an attempt to curb Penny’s enthusiasm, “Slow down a little. We aren’t going tonight. When do you get your next day off?”

  “I don’t work Sunday or Monday.”

  Then how about we pick you up after work on Saturday.”

  Penny replied excitedly, “I’ll pack a bag so that I can stay overnight.”

  Taylor groaned at her fearlessness and said, “Let’s take this one step at a time. How about we focus on making it through Saturday evening?”

  Penny sat back down and said, “Sorry, it’s just that I really want to meet your family and this Iceman. I think if I could talk to him, I could convince him that I’m not a threat.”

  Tadd said, “The idea of you and him in the same room scares the shit out of me.”

  Taylor added, “While there, please keep as far away from him as physically possible. I would even avoid making direct eye contact as well.”

  To change the subject and lighten the mood, Tadd asked, “So your imaginary lover is back, huh?”