The Body Shifters (Book 1 Body Shifters Trilogy): A Novel (The Body Shifters Trilogy)

by Leslie O'Kane

  Ellie had been sitting there, inwardly raking herself over the coals at how, a couple of hours earlier, she’d grudgingly accepted the money that Fiona had insisted on her taking. The question snapped Ellie out of her reverie. Alexis’s father, she noted, was currently gnawing on his pork-chop bone. She smiled at her mother. “No, everything’s really delicious. I’ve just lost my appetite.”

  “You don’t want that to happen,” her father said. “You’re still skin and bones.”

  “I’m regaining the weight I lost in the hospital pretty fast.” She returned her gaze to Alexis’s mother. “Thanks to all your great cooking.” Ellie tried to ignore her deep-seated guilt in order to maintain her dopey smile. This forced sweetness was, literally, the least she could do, considering how devastated the poor people would be by her plans for midnight. Both of the Bixbys were now beaming as if they couldn’t get enough of her, which made Ellie feel all the worse.

  Their oldest child had died; they’d thought they’d reclaimed their youngest child from death’s door. Now “Alexis” was about to run away from home. Jake and the McGavins had created this situation, yet she was the executioner dropping the ax; Ellie was horrified to be so cruel to them.

  Alexis’s parents had a way of gazing at Ellie with goofy smiles on their faces. It reminded her of the awestruck expression on her mother’s face in a photograph they’d kept on their piano. Her mother was smiling down at Ellie when she was an infant. Their love for Alexis was truly all-encompassing. Ellie desperately wanted to be able to give them that, to be the person they loved.

  “How was school today?” Mr. Bixby asked.

  “You asked her that three times,” Mrs. Bixby scolded.

  “I’m really struggling in art class,” Ellie answered quickly. “My amnesia has affected my ability to draw.”

  “It’ll come back to you in—” He bit off the rest of his typical response.

  “I hope it does come back to me in due time. Alexis was—” She winced at her gaffe. “I can’t remember doing any of the artwork that you’ve had framed. Even just the sketches in my room are really amazing.”

  “Yes. You’re going to be our claim to fame. Our daughter. Our very own artist extraordinaire.”

  Except that I can’t draw. And I’m not your daughter. “How about if I do the dishes tonight,” Ellie said, rising.

  “No, sweetie. I’m sure you’ve got homework to do.”

  “I finished my homework this afternoon at Fiona’s,” she lied. “It’d make me feel better . . . I’d just like to do the dishes tonight. Okay?”

  Teresa Bixby looked at her husband and said hesitantly, “Well, I guess if it would make you feel better . . . .”

  Ellie did the dishes. Then she watched television with them for an hour or so, but paid little attention. Later, not knowing for sure if she’d ever see them again, she gave them each a hug before she went to her room. She was sure that would be a dead giveaway, but they each said good night and clearly didn’t suspect a thing.

  She packed a batch of Alexis’s clothes into a duffle bag and wrote a note emulating Alexis’s handwriting as best she could:

  Dear Mom and Dad,

  I’m so sorry to hurt you like this, but I have to leave for a few weeks in order to discover who I am now. This is something that I know I absolutely must do, if I’m ever going to give myself the chance to be happy. Please, please don’t try to find me. That will only make things harder for me. I’ll contact you when I can, and I’ll return as soon as I can. Please try not to worry. I couldn’t have asked for better parents, and I’m eternally grateful for all that you’ve done for me. Alexis

  She left the note on top of her bed. Using Alexis’s laptop, Ellie did some Internet research and located her own obituary notice. The obituary had noted her academic achievements and awards, that she was “an accomplished pianist,” that she’d been accepted at Stanford, and that she was survived by her mother and grandmother.

  Ellie read the final paragraph three times: Elony Montgomery had a big heart, a radiant smile, and an irrepressible love of life. She will be dearly missed by the many people whose lives she touched. She was guessing that her mom had written those words, but if that had ever been an accurate description of her, it was no longer true. Both her smile and her heart were stolen property that belonged to Alexis Bixby, and her “love of life” had failed to make the transfer into this body.

  At ten minutes before midnight, she tiptoed out through the front door, locking it behind her, and walked to the park. She spotted Jake’s black car waiting for her.

  She tossed her duffle bag and her backpack into the backseat and got into the passenger seat.

  “You brought your cellphone with you, right? And you turned it off?”

  “Yeah. I couldn’t leave it here. I called your number from it. I brought Alexis’s computer with me, too. I didn’t want anyone tracing the history of my searches.”

  “You haven’t told anyone about me? Mentioned my name, or anything?”

  “I told Alexis’s best friend that I was leaving town tonight. But I didn’t give her any specifics. She won’t tell anyone else.”

  “Yes, she will! What general information did you give her? Alexis’s best friend is going to be the first person they talk to.”

  “I’m not stupid, you know! All I told Fiona is that I’m leaving town with someone named ‘Jake.’ I told her that you were ‘responsible for doing this to me, and ‘the only person who can possibly help me.’ That’s an exact quote. Alexis’s mother will put it together that you drive a black sedan with Virginia license plates, so we’ll have to get rid of this car.”

  He punched his steering wheel with the heel of his hand. “The license plate is going to lead them to Washington.”

  “No, it won’t. They’ll think that I’m in Philadelphia. I doubt the police or the FBI will focus all that much energy into hunting down a seventeen-year old girl who left a note saying she was going to return in a few weeks. Even if they ask my mother to list everyone I knew who might drive a car with Virginia plates, she isn’t going to connect that to ABTC in Washington. Besides, we want the help of the authorities. If they start looking at ABTC as complicit in my dad’s and my murders, that’s a good thing.”

  “Yeah, but we don’t want anyone making that link before we’re ready to release the information ourselves. The instant the McGavins know the authorities are sniffing around, they’ll destroy evidence. And, in the meantime, I don’t want to wind up in jail for abducting a minor.”

  “I’m not actually a minor. I’m eighteen. So guess whose fault that is. Furthermore, there is zero chance that someone’s going to locate me in Washington, D.C., faster than the McGavins are going to locate you. They know exactly what you look like. They know you’re a loose end. They murdered two people just so they could get away with a medical experiment. You’re the living result of that experiment! And you helped design the experiment in the first place! Trust me, Jake. Having a runaway minor in your car is the very least of your problems.”

  Jake grimaced and stayed silent for a while. “Yeah. You’re right.”

  “Glad you realized that. Because we’re driving to D.C. by way of Philadelphia.”

  “Meaning what, exactly?”

  Ellie pulled her hood of her parka to cover her eyes, already too annoyed with Jake to continue the conversation. “We’re making a stop in Philadelphia.”

  “You can’t talk to anyone there.”

  “I realize that. Don’t worry. Thanks to you, my mother got a restraining order against me. But Philadelphia’s on the way, and I need to go there. Briefly.”

  Jake quit talking, which was great as far as she was concerned. She shut her eyes and eventually dozed off. Hours later, she awoke when Jake was refilling the gas tank. She bought herself a protein bar from the convenience store. Both of them paid in cash. In addition to the eighty-some-odd dollars that Fiona had on hand, Alexis’s mother had given her two hundred dollars for “art supplie
s” on her first day back at school. Apparently Alexis’s past “reckless behavior” had been nicely enabled by a slush fund for art supplies.

  “Do you have a driver’s license with your new photo on it?” Ellie asked when they got back into the car.

  “No, just my old one. I’m going to get that handled the same time I get phony records for you. And before you ask, yes, all my bank accounts are frozen because I’m dead. I managed to cash in an overseas investment of mine. Just so long as the trunk of the car doesn’t catch fire, we’re well-funded.”

  “Or as long as we don’t get pulled over. Do you want me to drive?”

  He snorted. “No, thanks.”

  “I, at least, have a valid license.”

  “Which is helpful until the name ‘Alexis Bixby’ starts showing up on police missing-persons’ reports. We’re both going to need new identities.”

  As much as Ellie didn’t want to give Jake the pleasure of asking him questions, she did need some answers. “So how are we going to get these new identities?”

  “It’s under control. Let’s just say: I know a guy.”

  Ellie rolled her eyes. “You don’t exactly match the image of someone with street cred, you know.” More like an Abercrombie and Fitch model. “But, hey, I’m glad it’s all under control. Provided we don’t get rear-ended and wind up with fifty-dollar bills littering the highway.”

  “They’re mostly twenties, and they’re in a pair of zippered gym bags.”

  “Diabolical. It’s like I’m partnered with James Bond.”

  “Which reminds me. Be careful. The power button for the radio turns my Honda into a missile launcher.”

  She laughed a little in spite of herself, but gave no reply. A light snow was falling. After several minutes of the monotonous drive and the rhythmic thump of the windshield wipers, she fell back into a restless sleep.

  She jerked awake again later and looked at the clock on the dashboard. It was a quarter after four in the morning.

  “You woke up almost on cue. We’re near Philadelphia.”

  “I woke up a couple of times. I just didn’t bother to let you know.”

  “Are you planning like treating me like crap forever?” he asked.

  “No. Just for however long I know you.”

  He sighed.

  “The thing is, Jake, if you’d put all your efforts into getting away and going to the police two or three weeks sooner instead of into swapping my memory card with Jane Doe’s, Alexis and my dad might still be alive. I might be asleep in my bedroom. Call me self-centered, but I’m holding a grudge.”

  “I was too physically weak! I would have died. And you, your dad, and Jane Doe would have died, and Alexis’s parents would be faced with having to authorize surgery for a gastric feeding tube.”

  “Just follow my driving directions, okay? Exit twenty-two. It’s not for another fifteen miles. I’ll need some privacy when we get there. I’ll show you where you can park.”

  #

  Some thirty or forty minutes later, Ellie was standing in front of her father’s grave snow-covered grave. It hadn’t been difficult to locate; there were only the two temporary grave stones in the immediate area, near her grandfather’s burial plot. She studiously avoided looking at her own grave, yet she spotted the red roses by both of the aluminum markers. She closed her eyes and pictured her father clearly, sitting in his favorite chair, his reading glasses halfway down his nose and the slight grin that he wore when he was engrossed in a book. Silently, she apologized for her role in his death. She felt too overcome to remain standing, so she sat down on the hard-packed snow, and wept.

  With effort, she collected herself. “It’s been five minutes,” she whispered to him, rising. “I’ve been crying my eyes out, just like you told me to do when I was little. And, I’ll try my best to find something to look at that makes me happy. For your sake. And Mom’s. Goodbye, Daddy.”

  Chapter 12

  The two-hour drive from Philadelphia to D.C. was taking more than four hours, thanks to rush-hour morning traffic. Ellie hadn’t felt like talking. When she’d returned from the gravesite, Jake had simply handed Ellie a packet of tissues without saying a word, and they’d maintained their silence ever since. She had the same dreary, stuffy-headed feeling she always had with long car rides, exacerbated by her inability to find a comfortable position. The passenger seat and Alexis’s buttocks lacked much-needed padding; till now, Ellie had assumed that calling a thin girl’s ass “bony” was just sour grapes.

  They reached a warren of apartment buildings south of the Beltway and on the Virginia side of the Potomac. Jake muttered, “I’ve never actually been to Daniel’s apartment, where we’re staying. I should warn you: the guy’s a total sleaze. But his talents for forging documents and hacking computers will come in handy.”

  “Who is this guy, exactly?” Ellie asked, trying to massage a kink in her neck.

  “Daniel Peterson. We grew up in the same neighborhood. He’s a former friend.”

  “He’s going to let us crash in his apartment, even though you two are no longer friends?”

  “I think so.”

  “You think so? Does he even know we’re coming?”

  “No, but he owes me,” Jake replied with a shrug. “Big time.”

  “So . . . he’s a low-life who can get us fake IDs and documents, help you hack into ABTC’s data bases to collect evidence, and help you hide from whatever henchmen the McGavins have hired to hunt you down. Which means Daniel Peterson is basically the key to how we can stop Jennifer and Ethan McGavin.”

  “He’s not the ‘key.’ Just the first step.”

  “What if he slams the door in our faces? Do you have a Plan B? Or were you just planning on holing up in a Motel 8, paying cash indefinitely, skulking around in a disguise, and asking around about hackers who can break into ABTC’s computers?”

  Jake furrowed his brow and, after a brief silence, replied, “That could work as Plan B.”

  Ellie groaned. This is what I get for teaming up, no questions asked, with someone I detest!

  “I don’t have a whole ton of options,” Jake explained. “I can’t contact anyone who actually gives a crap about me. Letting them think I’m dead is the only way I can keep them safe from the McGavins.”

  Ellie’s eyes widened. She hadn’t stopped to consider the fact that Jake’s family and friends were in serious jeopardy. Jake knew the McGavins really well and had invented the human-mind down-loader that they’d heinously subverted. In contrast, Ellie had barely even met either of the McGavins, yet they’d authorized the goon in the ski mask to kill anyone who happened to be in her house.

  “Daniel is basically my sworn enemy,” Jake continued. “When the McGavins dig into my past relationships, they’ll discover that we hate each other’s guts. So Daniel’s place is like a Safe House for us.”

  I just rode all night in a small car with someone I hate, Ellie thought. And now, best-case scenario, I get to move in with two guys who hate each other. What’s next? Earth worms and mothballs for breakfast?

  While Jake was parallel parking, Ellie said, “In order to get hired at ABTC as a part-timer, I’m going to have to pose as a transfer student at a local high school. I want my fake name to be Elizabeth, so if I slip up and introduce myself as ‘Ellie,’ I won’t raise any eyebrows.”

  “Makes sense,” Jake replied. He turned off the engine and pocketed his keys. “Let’s leave our stuff here for now.”

  Ellie gave no objection, although it crossed her mind that if the car was stolen, the thief would have made quite the heist; Jake likely had tens of thousands of dollars in the gym bags he’d said were in the trunk. She stumbled a little as she got out of the car. She still had moments in which she forgot that she was some five inches taller than she used to be. Alexis had really long legs.

  “Apartment two-twelve,” he muttered, indicating the brown-brick building on the corner.

  She glanced at Jake. He looked utterly exhausted. Not
that she cared, but he probably hadn’t slept in more than twenty-four hours. “Does Daniel look enough like me to be my half brother?” she asked him. “So that it’ll be believable that he’s now my legal guardian?”

  “I guess so. He’s twenty, but as far as I know, that’s old enough to be a legal guardian. And he’s tall and athletic like you are.”

  “Like Alexis was, you mean.”

  Ignoring her correction, Jake continued, “He’s more Nordic-looking than you are. He’s got blond hair and blue eyes.”

  “Sounds hideous.”

  Jake snorted. “Don’t let appearances fool you. He wouldn’t get away with half of the bullshit he’s always pulling if he looked like any ordinary Joe Schmoe.”

  The building wasn’t exactly run-down, but the security door to the lobby hadn’t shut properly; the lock hadn’t engaged. Jake mumbled something about Fort Knox and ushered her inside. He held the door to the stairway for her, and they climbed to the second floor.

  “Do you think he’s going to be home at ten a.m.?”

  Being quite the gentleman, Jake once again held open the stairwell door as they exited. “Last I heard, he was going to Georgetown part-time. He’s probably set up his schedule so he can sleep till noon.” They walked down an unadorned corridor with beige walls and forest-green doors. Jake knocked on Daniel’s door. Repeatedly.

  After what seemed like a full minute or two, the door was swung open by a barefoot, shirtless man with messy blond hair. Despite having been forewarned, Ellie was startled at how handsome he was. His eyes were the deepest blue she’d ever seen.

  He glanced at the two of them with a total lack of recognition, obviously with no idea who Jake was. “Can I help you?” he asked.

  “Hey, Daniel,” Jake said. “I know this is unbelievable, but I’m Jake Greyland. Ask me any question you want so I can prove it.”

  Daniel grabbed the edge of the door, about to shut it. “I don’t have time for this shit.”

  “’Nano, nano,’ Jake said. “That was our private catch-phrase in school. It was too lame to share.”