by Rian Harper
I felt a push on my back. It was Everett, herding us toward the bedroom door. I flung the door open and we all piled into the room together. The smoke and fire hadn’t penetrated the bedroom yet. We all coughed and gasped, taking in the cleaner air, trying to expel the choking fumes we had inhaled. I stumbled backward until my back was pressed up against a wall, my eyes watering as I heaved and puffed. I felt the crunch of the broken glass under my shoes from the window we heard shattered earlier as I stepped on its remnants.
A sharp, stabbing pain in my right shoulder prompted me to let out a guttural yowl. I instinctively reached up to where the source of the pain was originating and wound up touching course fur. I realized there was a giant paw on my shoulder with claws dug into my bone and muscle. One of the shifters was waiting outside the window, ready to attack when we entered. This was only the second time that I had touched a shifter since discovering my ability, and immediately, I could feel the cells of my body changing as I absorbed that power. Seconds later something changed when I felt a hand on the back of my neck. A tingling jolt flew through my body, erasing what I felt while I was only holding onto the shifter.
Everett stood next to me, letting me draw from his power now. I looked down at my left hand still holding onto the paw that was stuck to my body as it started to glow from the energy I willed to collect at that one spot. The cat hissed, then howled as I delivered a steady flow of electricity through him. Before long, I was holding a dirty human hand instead of a paw. The pain in my shoulder subsided as the wounds started to heal. I felt a smaller hand hit my back, followed by a familiar sensation coursing through me. Jasmine was allowing me to funnel her power as well. I looked at the now human form just outside the shattered window, stumbling backward, still leering from the pain of the shock he suffered through. It was Declan.
I quickly formed a ball of static electricity and pushed it toward him. When it made contact, he flew backward, down the slope of the mountain as arcs of electricity danced across the surrounding trees until they dissipated. The lights in the house flickered when I discharged the sphere. I felt Jasmine’s hand fall off from my back and her power cease to run within me. Everett wrapped his arm around me from behind until his hand was in the middle of my chest and started to pull me away from the window.
Emma’s face appeared before mine as I labored to keep breathing. She held her fist up to her mouth as she tried suppressing a cough. She gazed into my eyes for what seemed like forever.
“He looks like himself.” She looked back at the others as she spoke.
It took me a second to realize that she was checking to see if the shifting powers were lingering within me like they did the last time. I didn’t feel in my gut, what I had felt before. It all disappeared as soon as I was supercharged with electricity. Those powers must not be able to coincide within my body. Fortunately, the electric power seemed to be dominant, instead of the carnal shifting power that sent me into an unpredictable fury of animalistic behavior.
Emma pushed the sleeve of the t-shirt I was wearing up toward my neck as she examined where the cat had me snagged. The puncture wounds had healed completely.
“I’m fine.” I reassured her as I rubbed the skin on my shoulder.
Everett got our attention and pointed to the space between the bottom of the door and the floor. Smoke was starting to curl up around the edge of the door and invade the room.
“What do we do now?” Jasmine wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her sweater.
“Well we can’t stay in here much longer.” Everett looked around trying to find a viable solution to our problem when there was none.
“Why didn’t we think of this sooner?” Emma was speaking out loud, but really only talking to herself. “Force field.”
I perked up when I heard the words. Of course. I could create a force field around all of us in order to get us out of the burning cabin and keep the cats at bay. At least, that was the hope. As Everett, Emma, and Jasmine gathered close to me and placed their hands on my back, a loud cracking noise came from above. We looked up simultaneously and noticed deep crevices beginning to form and run along the ceiling. The fire was weakening the structure of the house quickly. No sooner had I created the bubble of energy around us than the ceiling above gave way.
The four of us flinched as the debris came crashing down. Pieces of wood, ash, and soot enveloped the space that used to be the bedroom. The force field that I had created around us was transparent, though because of the electricity running through it, everything on the outside of the shape was slightly distorted.
Everett quickly looked in all directions when the ashes started to settle. “Nate, do you think you can move this thing with us?”
“All I can do is try.” The walls of the house were still standing, so I had no idea where we were going to go. Climbing out of the window seemed like our only option, but that was going to be difficult as the force field was fairly rigid. I could make it into different shapes, but couldn’t adjust it to fluidly surround us and fit through the window at the same time. I was going to have to think of something fast, so I could keep everyone safe and protected.
A roar coming from beyond the window reverberated through my bones. We all turned in unison and saw Cade and Keenan, shifted, waiting for us to come toward them.
“I have an idea.” Something sprung to mind as I filtered through any plausible escape ideas. There was only one that would work. I was going to have to drop the force field and blast through that wall. “Everett, let go of me and watch our backs.”
“Wait. Tell me what you’re going to do first.” Concerned piqued in his voice.
I spoke as low as I could, hoping the cats wouldn’t hear what I was going to say, even though I knew better. “I have to drop the force field.” Cade growled with excitement when he inevitably hear me.
“No! Are you crazy? That’s the only thing keeping us alive right now.” Jasmine punched me in the arm with her free hand.
“Well I can’t get us anywhere until that wall comes down, and the only way to do that is by dropping the force field. Just keep your hand on my back and stay behind me.”
Jasmine grunted in frustrated anticipation, realizing that I was right. It was the only way. Everett pulled his hand off of me and lit himself up with more bands of electricity than I had ever seen him produce. He was ready. Cade and Keenan shifted uneasily, indicating they didn’t really know what to expect next. They were stubborn, however, and weren’t backing down.
Without warning, I terminated the force field, which just flickered a couple of times and vanished out of existence. I saw Cade coil in that instance, ready to jump through the window and attack us. I swiftly formed and built up a ball of energy to send directly in front of me, hoping it would also catch the cats in its wake. When I felt like I had enough to release, I pushed it away from my body with both arms. Shards of wood splintered apart as the logs used to build the cabin ruptured from the immense force I had just liberated.
I threw my arms over my face to protect it from the sharp, flying debris that was backtracking toward me. In that moment, I lost all connection to everyone and everything around me. What scared me, though, was I that I couldn’t feel any powers flowing through my body. For some reason, the girls weren’t touching me anymore. Once I gained my bearings, I looked behind me and saw Emma and Jasmine crouched to the ground with their arms covering their heads. Everett was powered down, picking slivers of wood out of his hair.
“Em—“ Before I could finish, I felt a crushing pressure around my ankle as my legs came out from under me. I landed hard, flat on my back, which took the wind out of me. I rapidly moved away from the group as I was dragged from the smoldering pile of debris out into the open. The stars that sprinkled the sky blurred past and the rocks and sticks dug into my back as I was pulled across the rough ground. When I stopped moving, I finally isolated that feeling I had back in Jasmine’s house when I had my hand around Keenan’s throat and the anger within me exploded
.
The rival that had me in his teeth looked surprised when I broke his grip and spun around on all fours to face him. We growled back and forth. My claws dug into the wet ground as sadistic thoughts of mangling my foe flashed through my mind. We circled as we sized each other up. His eyes shifted to something moving behind me, which gave me my chance. I reached out and connected my huge paw with his jaw. He howled and fell over on his side.
Pain ripped through me and I couldn’t tell where it was coming from. I let out a scream and realized that I was reverting back to my human self. I collapsed onto the ground, trying to breathe through the discomfort racking my body. When I forced my eyes open, I caught sight of my hands as they erratically morphed between human and feline. Then the stinging burn of electrocution came. I knew that feeling all too well now. Everett was clearing my body of the shifting ability and I just had to lie there and writhe through the agony. The shifting power changed my nature when it stayed within me, and that was something we didn’t need to contend with.
I curled up in the fetal position when the burning stopped, but I still felt myself convulse from the electrical impulses flowing through my body. I called out to Emma, hoping she was safe and nearby. When I felt her hand on my face, all the pain I had went away as my ability kicked on and healed my body from the ordeal it had just been through. Everything around me was still hazy when I finally opened my eyes again.
“Nate, get up.” Emma’s voice echoed in my head, as if she were speaking through a wall.
“Buddy, we need you right now.” Everett put his arm under mine and around my back to lift me to my feet. “Force field, man. Force field now!”
I was coherent enough to understand what he was asking me to do, but physically, I was unable to mesh the powers running through my body together to make anything that was going to help us. I fell back to the ground on my knees as Everett released his hold on me. I saw flashes of bright light and heard crackling noises mixed with growling and hissing. They were in a battle the shifters as I basically sat catatonic, useless.
A shiver rippled through my body as more and more feelings and sensations returned to my being. It wasn’t long before I could actually piece together what was happening around me. I rose to my feet unaided and realized why I had gotten so cold so quickly. When I shifted, it tore my clothes to shreds. The gray jogging pants and black t-shirt I was wearing were riddled with rips and holes. I looked around at the chaos surrounding me. Everett, Emma, and Jasmine were doing their best to keep Cade and Keenan away from me.
Jasmine found a window of opportunity to walk up to me and slap me across the face. It stung more than it normally would have because of the wet cold air. She spoke with a fire in her words, “You need to get it together because we need you. Now, power up!”
She grabbed my left wrist, and I drew her shockwaves through me until I could think clearly again.
“Emma!” She shouted out to our right where Emma was sending spurts of current toward Keenan.
Everett figured out what was happening as he was going toe-to-toe with Cade and quickly ran back toward us. Cade and Keenan galloped along at an alarming speed behind Emma and Everett. Emma got to me first and wrapped her arm around my waste. With my tattered clothes, it was easy to find skin for her to contact with. Everett was still a few feet out of reach, so he jumped toward us. He was only inches away when something came from the opposite direction and sent him flying across the yard. Unsure as to what happened, I quickly built a force field around myself and the girls. Keenan slammed into the energy now surrounding us. He backed up and shook his head before he hissed in agitation. Cade was able to leap over us to avoid crashing as Keenan had.
I looked over to where Everett ended up and noticed a third cat had him pinned to the ground. Declan had found his way back up the mountain slope just in time to join the raucous. Panic flooded through me and a lump stuck in my throat as gazed upon Everett’s still body. I was hoping that what I was witnessing wasn’t real. I was hoping that my mind was just still in a hazy fog and not able to make sense of what I was seeing. The longer I stared, the more I had to accept the reality as it set in…Everett wasn’t breathing.
Chapter 24
Proposition
The orange glow from the cabin that was completely engulfed in flames grew brighter and brighter as I stood still, looking upon Everett lying on the ground without breath, unable to breathe myself. Cade and Keenan circled the three of us who were still safely within the force field that I was still supporting. What Cade did next caught me off guard. He stood on his hind legs as he stepped directly in front of me and morphed back into his human form. He ran his hand up and down the energy flowing between us, examining it for a few seconds before his big green eyes abruptly shifted and met mine.
“You’ve become impressive.” A small smile flashed across his face.
I kept my eyes focused on his as I was finally able to catch my breath. I breathed in and out deeply, anger building up within me with each breath cycle.
“And you haven’t changed a bit. Murderer.” Jasmine tensed up even more than she already was as she spat the words towards Cade. Her fingers tightened around my wrist. Cade turned his attention toward Jasmine and slowly moved around the shimmering shape until he was closer to her.
“You look like her, you know.” His voiced dropped as he quietly spoke the words. “You’re going to die like her too.” He smiled again, which lit his eyes up with a sinister twinkle.
Jasmine’s eyes started to shimmer as his words sliced completely through her. I wanted to draw the attention away from her so that she might compose herself.
“Why are you trying to kill me?” I asked the burning question that had plagued my thoughts for weeks.
Cade’s eyes quickly darted back again and locked with mine. “Because you don’t belong in our world.” He chuckled. “Or at least, you didn’t. But now look at you.” He stepped back and gestured toward us and the force field that surrounded us. “You proved me wrong.” He reached out his hand and touched the energy between us again. “Remarkable.” He whispered the word, truly in awe of what he was seeing.
“I have an offer for you, Nate. The truth is that I could use someone of your talents to help us track down and eliminate the threats to our world.” His tone quickly switched from creepy murderer to business man.
Warmth flashed through my body as the anger within me spread. “You think that after all you’ve done to me and to these people that I love, that I would even think about working with you? You truly are insane.” The force field flashed brighter as I tensed up at the madness of the notion.
“Did you like it, Nate?” Cade bit his bottom lip after he spoke, slipping back into his sadistic way of speaking. My eyebrows bunched together as I thought about what he meant. “When the primal urges overtook you?” He closed his eyes and took in an over-exaggerated deep breath through his nose. “I remember the first time I shifted when I was a teenager and that feeling hit me. Oh, it was magnificent.” He stepped as close as he could get to me and rested his forehead on the shape between us, drilling into me with his intense green eyes.
“You’re sick, you know that?” I tensed again, willing more electricity to flow through the surface of the force field, hoping it would shock him. It became brighter again for a moment, partially obscuring Cade’s face for a split second. Much to my chagrin, he remained where he was, unscathed. What he said, though, struck a nerve deep within me. I did like that feeling of raw, instinctual power that overtook me when I shifted. It was freeing to not having to think about everything that constantly occupied my mind. To just let the beast take over and be in control. Not to mention that feeling of power. When I was shifted, I felt it in every cell of my body. He was right, it was magnificent.
Cade balled up his fist and slammed it into the force filed, causing the spot that he hit to fluctuate with brightness and distortion. “Time’s up!” I jumped at his tone.
“You really want to talk this
out?” I looked at Declan still standing over Everett, then glanced over to Keenan on my other side as he impatiently paced back and forth. “Tell them to shift back to humans.”
Cade took a step back as he pondered my request. Keenan looked over and let out a few grunts and a growl in Cade’s direction, seemingly trying to communicate with him. He held his hand out toward Keenan, indicating that he wanted silence. Keenan let out a low growl, then huffed through his nose as he reluctantly acquiesced to his leader.
“You heard him boys, do it.” Cade didn’t take his eyes off of mine as he snapped his fingers and barked the command to his underlings. Within seconds, both Declan and Keenan were crouched with their hands on the ground, back to their human selves. “Now it’s your turn. Get rid of this thing.” He motioned to the force field.
“Nate, don’t.” Emma hugged herself closer to me.
“Not a chance.” I held my ground.
Cade let out a flustered grunt. “This is about an equalizing of trust. I showed I’m willing to back down. Now you.”
“Don’t let go of me.” I sighed heavily and started to release the energy that was built around us.
“Are you out of your mind?!” Jasmine was more than angry when she shouted at me. She was scared. She had all the reason in the world to be afraid, after all that had happened and not knowing what was going to happen next. I didn’t even know what was going to happen next. I was taking our situation one minute at a time, and currently, what I was doing seemed like the right move.
Keenan and Declan fidgeted in anticipation as the force field fluttered out of existence, but all three of the shifters held their positions. The only thing that was crossing my mind at that juncture was somehow getting to Everett to see if there were anything we could do to help him. I knew if we moved, however, the odd truce that was in effect would end abruptly and another fight would ensue.