by A. R. Cooper
It was a descending door, like a garage door, and groaned when I pulled on it. Inside, I sneezed from the dust and dirt. “Let me know if you see any more of the goop anywhere. It should lead us to Amar.” At least I hoped it would.
“I’ll find a light switch.” She scrambled off.
Banging my shin against a crate, I cursed. Yes, light would be good as my eyesight wasn’t the best in the dark. Fluorescent lights hummed overhead and I took a quick look around.
“There’s some more doors upstairs.” Jacqueline pointed and I dashed over there weaving through crates, metal pipes, and oxidized engines.
The metal stairs led to the second floor and what looked like offices. So much for an ambush, he probably already knew we were here. Just in case, I put my finger to my lips and then eased up the creaking steps as quietly as I could.
I had to believe Amar was still alive. If I let the images flashing through my mind of his neck broken… I wouldn’t be able to fight the sorrow that even now caught in my throat and squeezed my heart.
At the top of the stairs, I motioned Jacqui behind me. In case I was able to get my octopus ability to work, I didn’t want to have to worry about her dodging my invisible arms as well as keeping Amar safe. I tried the door, but it was locked. Dust coated my hand and I rubbed it off on my shorts. If Amar had come this way, there would be either cucumber guy’s slime along the cracks or they would have had the dust wiped off when they turned the knob.
I gestured to the office across from us with office chairs, two tables and a bookshelf in the corner. Two more doors locked, and even a cobweb trailed across one at my chest level, so I knew we didn’t have to search that one.
Jacqui sneezed behind me and I jumped. Great. If anyone was here, they would have heard that. The sound echoed through the warehouse. We needed to hurry. Every second put Amar in further danger or he could be halfway to who knows where by now. I was almost going to tell Jacqui that maybe we’d missed something and to head back outside, when a black feather caught in the steel mesh crossway above us caught my attention.
Amar!
Dashing ahead, Jacqueline hissed behind me to slow down.
He was here. I didn’t know how I knew for certain, but I did. Now I just had to reach him in time.
At the end of the hallway was a corner office. A droplet of the slime smeared with a bloody handprint lay across the wooden panel. This was it. I motioned to Jacqui to be ready as I pointed to the mark.
She nodded.
When I tried to ease the lock open, it didn’t budge. Okay. I’d kick it down.
“Allow me.” She put a hand on my shoulder as I lifted my foot. “Raccoon, remember? We can pick locks, memorize symbols, and all sorts of clever other stuff.”
“Hurry.”
With a huff, she bent down and examined the lock. “Go grab me that pen from the first office.”
Pen? What pen? I jogged back to the office. Sure enough, there on the floor was a ballpoint pen. I snatched it up and as I dashed back. The office opposite us had a large window facing the fenced yard.
She unscrewed the pen, removed the inside cylindrical tube, and took off the spring. Then she broke the metal clip off the outside and bent it until it was an ‘L’ shape with the bottom of the letter being short. Not even looking at me, she fitted the pen’s clip inside the top part of the lock, then the ink filled piece in the bottom portion. Her fingers wiggled the pieces for a few minutes and I leaned down to watch her.
“Just another minute. I feel four edges inside and I just need to hit them all and turn this top piece.”
She made it sound so simple. But I doubted I’d be able to unlock this door with a hundred attempts.
“There.” The lock clicked open.
I pushed past her into the room and it took my eyes a moment to adjust to the darkness. Amar lay on a dust and dirt covered floor. Was he breathing? My heart fisted in my chest as if it had become encased in lead.
“Well, well, well… looks like my plan worked.” Creepy shifter guy stood in the corner of the room, his dark eyes watching us. “And I’ll have three to take to town with me.”
“Why are you doing this?” I took a step closer to Amar. If I could get him out of the way, maybe Jacqueline could drag Amar to safety. I just needed this guy distracted long enough. “You’re a shifter like us… why are you working for the enemy?”
“Money and power. Ms. Moor and other of the Blood Spirits pay to finish your kind off.” He grinned. “And I get more than money in the bargain.”
“And when there are no shifters left?” I waved my hand out. “Then what? Ms. Moor and her goons will come after you. Join us an—”
“Sorry, sweetheart, but you picked the losing side.” His eyes flickered to Jacqui as she took a step towards Amar. “Stay where you are.”
He drew an odd looking pistol, plastic with a long barrel, like maybe it had tranquilizer shots in it. It didn’t look real. But I wasn’t going to count on that. Besides, us knocked out was just as bad as getting shot.
“And by the time I’m done collecting all the totem animals from all the shifters including you and your friends, I will be invincible. Ms. Moor or anyone won’t be able to defeat me.” He took a step toward me. “And yours, the rarest of all, will serve me better than all the rest.”
I flipped my hair over my shoulder to appear nonchalant, but inside I was terrified. “Oh? I would think you’d find a fox or octopus shifter nearly anywhere.” I didn’t add that my mom and dad where those shifters.
He waved the gun at me. “Bah… I’m talking about your spirit totem.” He cocked his head as though reading the shock on my face. “You don’t know, do you? Interesting.”
Damn it! I hoped he’d tell me so I could tap into that elusive power of whatever animal that was. I didn’t have a poker face and it made me lose the gamble.
“So why don’t you tell me?” I shrugged as I took a step closer.
“No. I think I’ll whisper it to you as Ms. Moor kills you and I absorb it.”
How was such a thing even possible? Jacqui was an arms’ length from Amar when the evil shifter turned to look behind him.
I sputtered, “I-Is this something all shifters can do? Absorb another’s power?”
He raised his gun toward me, and my throat dried. “Only a few. Mine is from my sea cucumber being able to liquefy and reform its body, and Ms. Moor honed my ability so that I can.”
I had to keep him distracted. “How are you able to detect another shifter’s animal? No one else I’ve met has been able to that.”
“Ms. Moor can taste it.”
What the hell? “She’s a shifter too?”
“Not exactly. But she can taste it in the blood, though she wasn’t sure about yours until I confirmed it.” He smiled and chills raced through me. “As a cheetah shifter, I have a phenomenal sense of smell… I could catch you blindfolded.”
I huffed. Just what was Ms. Moor?
“Enough of this chatter, it’s time to go.” He lunged.
Jacqueline shrieked, and his attention—and the gun—turned in her direction.
I dove forward. My instincts and the self-defense classes my mom and I had attended, took over. A pop sounded as my shoulder crashed into his stomach. The gun. He landed with a grunt on his back, but still gripped the gun. It was only my momentum and his surprise that allowed me to knock him down. Jacqui dove for his arm and the gun.
“No!” I screamed.
She clasped both hands on his forearm, forcing the gun to the side. He backhanded her. I elbowed him in the throat and he choked, but he released the gun. It skittered across the floor.
“Bitch!” He grabbed a handful of my hair and smacked my head against the concrete floor.
I blinked back stars. My vision doubled. I heard Jacqui’s light steps scamper away and I assumed she was going for the gun. But his booted heavy steps told me he’d raced after her. He had the speed of the cheetah.
She’d never reach the gun i
n time.
Chapter Twenty-five
My head pounded like a jackhammer as I rolled to my side to sit up and help Jacqui fight the evil shifter. But Amar, still unconscious, blocked my path. My best friend and the cucumber guy wrestled along the warehouse office floor. He jerked her by her hair and she elbowed him in the throat. Dread and fear for my friend made my skin cold and a pain radiated from the center of my chest. I didn’t even know where the gun was among their tangled arms and legs.
After I struggled to my feet, I thrust out my octopus power, imagining extending my will to knock him off of Jacqui. It was like trying to move a cement wall without touching it. My head felt cleaved in two from focusing my power. Sweat trickled down my back as I tried again. Nothing. And my vision remained blurry.
His hand locked around Jacqui’s throat, causing a chill to race through me. I had to do something and now. She lay on the warehouse floor beneath him. His weight pinned her down, one hand on her throat and his other holding down one of her free arms. Dashing over, I kicked the arm that was holding off Jacqui’s air. She was clawing at his hand, but he didn’t stop. I kicked as hard as I could, but he grasped my foot and sent me sailing onto my butt. Pain vibrated up my back. Gritting my teeth, I used my other foot and smacked him in the face.
Then a pop sounded.
The gun.
A stricken look passed across his face, then agony. The tranquilizer was quick and he was already fighting to keep his eyes open.
I squared my shoulders and rose. Clenching my fists.
Then the evil shifter made a weird face and his eyes fluttered.
What the hell?
“Get him off me!” She grunted.
My smile broke through. When I reached down, his muscles were slack and his eyes rolled into the back of his head. Using all my strength, I heaved him over.
“Let’s go.” She stood and dusted off her cutoff shorts. “I don’t know how long that drug will keep him under. But I don’t want to be here when the creep wakes up.”
Both of us were panting and searching the room for a trap, the adrenaline from fighting coursing through us.
“Beth,” she tugged on my sleeve, “We’ve got to go.”
“Not without him.” I pointed to the evil dude.
“O-okay.” She flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder. “Amar is still unconscious and both of us wouldn’t be able to drag him out and you want to bring crazy weirdo with us too?”
“He said he knew my totem animal.”
“And you think he’ll just tell you?” She crossed her arms. “There are other ways of finding out, without putting your life and ours in danger. This guy is trash. I say don’t turn yourself into a dumpster by bringing him with us.
A door banging echoed through the warehouse.
At the same time, Jacqueline and I jumped.
“What the fuck was that?” She snatched my arm.
Nerves bounced beneath my skin. We had to leave. Now. My insides churned, and I eased the door open and peeked out. I didn’t see anything but the other office doors and wire-mesh flooring connecting them. The main warehouse door was diagonal from us. I could just make out the top edge of the doorway. So I crouched down in order to get a better view of the entryway below me.
My heart slammed against my chest. Ms. Moor and her shadow goons were chatting. They had found us.
I backed away slowly, then shut the door quietly, bolting it. But I doubted a locked door would keep them out. At least not for long. The urge to flee zinged through me, making my movements jittery.
“What is it?”
“Quiet. Ms. Moor and her squad are here.” I tiptoed on shaky legs towards Amar and leaned over him. There was no way we could bring him with us and I wasn’t about to leave him here for them if I could help it. “Amar, now would be a really good time for you to wake up.”
The office across from us had a large window; we could escape out of there if Amar was able to fly. “Please wake up. We need to get out of here.”
Sure we could make a two-foot drop, but then what? They’d be on us within seconds. When Amar didn’t move, I straightened my back. I wouldn’t let them take him. Maybe if I could stop them, somehow, or delay them long enough for him to wake and escape with Jacqui.
“I’ll stay and fight.” I gestured to the office across the hall. “There’s a window next door; use that to get away and I’ll hold them off for as long as I can.”
“And leave my best friend? Never.” Her chin jutted out.
If she was captured because of me or her stubbornness, I would never forgive myself. “Please,” tears clouded my eyes, but I blinked them back. “I don’t want to lose you. Leave and find a way to get my dad. Maybe the two of you can rescue me and Amar.”
“I-I’m not going anywhere.”
Without waiting, I grasped her shoulders and squeezed. “Listen to me. You must escape. Get my dad… maybe you can track us. I’ll try to find a way to leave clues or something.” When she shook her head, I cursed. “Damn it, Jacqui! I mean it. Leave. Now.” I pushed her toward the window.
Not looking back, I flung the door open and charged forward. At the end of the aisle, a dude in black with bulging muscles sneered. My phantom arms shoved a guy and he tumbled over the wire railing.
“Looks like we got ourselves a shifter who can put up a fight now.” Ms. Moor beamed up at me from the first floor through the wired rack. “Probably because she’s protecting her friends. Get her!”
She’d come prepared. Twelve men, who looked like they were part of a bodybuilder-turned-biker gang, raced up the stairs. But I had the advantage of leverage and a vastly wider space than the narrow steel stairwell. And the thought of them hurting Jacqui or Amar made my invisible octopus arms tingle. I forced the feeling forward, tripping the men on the stairs.
Some of the goons vanished into smoke, others crashed into each other and rolled down to the bottom. The phantom men rematerialized and kept coming. Sweat trickled down my back as I unleashed my gift again, knocking them backward. But when they weren’t in their physical human form, my octopus arms went through them.
My legs shook. There were too many. I couldn’t trust my abilities to work just because I wanted them to. Bile rose in my throat. It was just a matter of time before they captured me.
My exit down the wire stairs was blocked. And any hope to dash back to the office to Amar was cut off, as Tattoo guy and Hooknose tossed up a grabble catch, which latched onto the top of the railing, and then they started to climb the rope. I didn’t have time with the others racing up the stairs, to doing anything about Hook. Soon I’d be surrounded, and I didn’t think I was talented enough to stop them from both directions.
I might never see Dad again. Or Jacqueline. I hoped she’d got away. And what if Amar was still unconscious? They’d have me and him. I told myself not to go down without a fight.
There was only one thing left to do, and I hoped it wasn’t the biggest mistake of my life. My first encounter with this monsters let me know what I was up against. This time, I would battle against them until I couldn’t move.
I closed my eyes and thought of my mother and the knowledge of her as a fox shifter while I did a dive-bomb jump.
With their boots slapped the wire railing on either side of me, I opened my eyes and leapt over the ledge.
The concrete ground smacked into my right side, with my shoulder and obliques taking the brunt of the force, and I gasped. My jump hadn’t worked. I scrambled to my feet, wrapping my arms around my injury… it felt as if ribs were broken. Each breath caused hot pokers to stab me inside. My ankle was turned funny and when I took a step, thorns shot up my leg. Still, I had to move.
I had to try.
Ms. Moor was screaming words I couldn’t make out, and pointing at me as I limped towards the exit. The warehouse dust had me sneezing. I knew they’d catch me. Surely they’d search the offices and find Amar, but I hoped at least that my best friend had got away and somehow got my dad ou
t of trouble. Maybe she could get her shifter dad to help too.
Behind me, Ms. Moor’s companions’ chased me. I maneuvered around a group of pallets piled high with boxes and shrink-wrapped. Maybe this would throw them off a bit. I ducked down, so they wouldn’t spot me as easily. Then it was a maze of oxidized machinery and pipes.
I stumbled and grabbed ahold of a rusty forklift to keep from spiraling down onto the floor. Their footsteps echoed behind me.
Please let Jacqui have escaped.
When someone grasped me by my hair and flung me backward, I screamed. My ankle twisted further. Pain radiated up my spine, and I clenched my teeth.
“Bring her.” Ms. Moor called from the stairs. “We have the others as well.”
No, dear God, no!
Ms. Moor smirked from the top of the stairs as she leaned against the wire railing. Tattoo guy and a man with a smaller head than his muscled body glared at me as they squeezed my arms. Pain radiated from their grip and my injuries.
Each breath made me take shallower ones as fire pierced my side.
I was dragged towards the stairs and my vision darkened. My ankle’s sharp jolt at each step made me want to puke.
“You’re too slow.” Hooknose grasped me around the waist.
I screamed. He tossed me over his shoulder, and I blacked out.
***
Inside the office, I came to. I’d no idea how long I’d been out, but I guessed it was only a few minutes because Amar lay where I’d left him. If I’d been out longer, no doubt they would have transported us already. The creepy shifter dude remained in a crumpled pile against the wall. Thankfully, there was no sign of Jacqui. I licked my lips and tasted the copper taint of blood.
I wiped a hand across my mouth and it came back covered with blood and soot. There were few people I hated, but I despised everyone in this room except Amar.
Ms. Moor stood by the door while six of her sycophants formed a semicircle around me and Amar. The other six must be waiting somewhere.
She glared at me with her minions at her back. “I’ll wipe that grin off your face. Just because your friend evaded us, doesn’t mean she can escape for long. We’ll get her.”