Shifted (The Undari Trilogy Book 1)

by Sarah Reeves

  “So,” began Oliver. “You are a shapeshifter, but not a normal one. And you can control fire, but not normal fire?” When Alex nodded, he let out a breath. “Can you show us again?”

  Alex looked at Adrien, who shrugged and gave her a look that said, well you’ve already told them everything. Nodding, Alex raised her hand and flames burst forth, still as dark as they were before, with the gold center. Hannah gave a small gasp and leaned forward.

  “Holy shit,” she breathed. “You can actually use fire.” She looked up at her best friend. “Can you, like shape shift, or whatever?”

  “Yeah,” said Alex. “Just not in here. Every time I Shift, I get bigger. At least until I get fully grown. But, I can Shift halfway, too. Hold on.” She stood and closed her eyes. The familiar sensations built until they got to where she knew they needed to be. Twin shouts of surprise made Alex open her eyes to see that both Oliver and Hannah were on their feet as well. Hannah came forward, as did Oliver. Alex kept her wings tucked close, but opened them a little bit to let them see. Her stomach was jumping. She had no clue what was going to happen from here. It would be all too easy for them to run away, screaming. Alex hoped desperately that they wouldn’t. Oliver took a step forward.

  “Can I touch your wings?” he asked. When Alex nodded, he closed the distance between them and stroked a hand down the main ridge on her left wing. A smile broke out over his face, and he walked around to Alex’s back. Alex couldn’t see what he was doing, but she heard him suck in his breath. “What color were your scales, originally?” At this, Hannah joined Oliver behind Alex. Alex felt a hand running toward the base of her wings, and shivered violently, once, before turning hastily to face them.

  “Sorry,” she said. She shrugged ruefully, her face warm. “It just feels weird, sometimes, people touching my wings. To be honest, I still haven’t even wrapped my head around the fact that I have them to begin with.” She met Oliver’s gaze, and something there made blood rush to her cheeks. She coughed, and broke away, running a hand through her hair. “My scales were green, to begin with. Then the Unseen attacked, and when I broke free from his possession, they started to turn black. Just like my flame. Adrien says it’s because I’m supposed to be able to use more than one power.” She glanced over at her mentor, who was watching Oliver with narrowed eyes. She coughed again, making Adrien look over at her. “Which is why we have to leave, soon. Otherwise, you guys are in danger, and I can’t properly train enough to take the Unseen out.”

  “You said you were headed to the fire realm?” Hannah had still been staring at Alex’s wings, but made eye contact when Alex turned her head towards her.

  “Mhm. I need to get somewhere safe, and away from you guys. The Unseen needs me. There’s no sense in killing you, now that he’s realized that. Mainly because he wants to use me to kill you. If he does it himself, then there won’t be anything to use against me. That doesn’t keep him from kidnapping you to get to me, though. So, once we leave, I need all four of you to go into hiding, until I can get back to you.”

  “Okay,” said Oliver slowly. “But when will that be?”

  “I couldn’t tell you.” Alex made to put her wings away, but stopped when Hannah protested.

  “Sorry,” she said. “But can you completely Shift? I’ve never seen a real dragon before.” She shrugged apologetically when Oliver gave her a look. “I mean, can you blame me?”

  Alex shook her head. “It’s dark out, you won’t be able to see much if I do,” she answered. “If you guys want to stay here tonight, there are a couple extra bedrooms, and you can be there tomorrow during my training. Would that be okay?” Both of her friends murmured their consent, and Alex added, “I know you guys just got here, and that’s really great, but I am exhausted. I think I’m going to shower and go to bed. I’ll show you guys where you can sleep though, first.” She beckoned for them to follow, and went upstairs. Hannah was first, going into her room and shutting the door behind her after giving Alex a hug. Nothing was said, though. Alex looked at the closed door for a moment, then continued down the hall. Oliver’s voice behind her made her stop.

  “It’s a lot for her to take in. You know how she gets when big things happen. This is, well, a different kind of situation.” Alex didn’t say anything until she had gone into the room Oliver would be sleeping in. She turned to face him.

  “I know that. It’s just… this is hard for me, too. What I want more than anything is for you guys not to be scared of me, or think any differently of me for what I am. I’m still me. I just have wings now. Honestly, I would have rather told you guys later on.”

  “When?” Asked Oliver, stepping forward. “When things got less dangerous? Or would you just let your mom tell us, after you made it to the fire realm?” He came closer and took her hand. “You could die, Alex. You could die, or get captured, or be possessed. Permanently this time. And telling us wouldn’t have put us in any more danger than we already were. The Unseen would have tried to use us against you, too, you know that.” He ducked his head so that he was looking Alex directly in the eye. “We care about you. The fact that you sometimes grow scales isn’t going to change that.” Alex huffed out a laugh. “Come here,” he said, pulling her into a hug. Alex felt him rest his chin on the top of her head. “I’m glad we found out. And I’m glad that you told us the whole truth.”

  He pulled away, but kept a grip on Alex’s shoulder with one hand. With the other, he tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. The atmosphere around them seemed to tighten, and warm up. “Can I see your wings again?”

  Alex couldn’t say anything, so she nodded. Oliver’s hair stirred slightly as her wings spread out, disturbing the air around them.

  “They’re beautiful,” he said. He reached out, placing a hand on the upper ridge. Alex’s face grew hot again. “I wanted to say that when you showed us that first time. What does it feel like when someone touches them?”

  “They-” Alex’s voice cracked slightly when Oliver ran his hand along her scales, toward the base of her wing. She swallowed hard and tried again. “They’re sensitive in places. That’s why I turned around so quickly when-”

  “When I did this?” Oliver’s voice was little more than a whisper, and Alex’s breath caught when she felt his touch on the part of her back where her skin ended and her wings began. The resulting jolt in her system made her knees buckle slightly. All she could do was nod. “That’s interesting,” he said. His hand left her wing, and Alex released the breath she hadn’t realized she was holding. She froze again, though, when that hand cupped her face. “That’s very interesting,” he repeated. His head lowered, and the last thing Alex’s mind registered before Oliver kissed her was how very blue his eyes were.

  His lips were softer than she imagined. That thought ran through her mind briefly, then nothing else mattered to her. His arms slid behind her back, pulling her closer to him just as her hands raised to entwine behind his neck. His lips opened, deepening the kiss, swallowing Alex’s gasp when his fingers started rubbing small circles on her back, right in between her wings. Heat pooled in her belly, and her arms tightened, bringing him closer. Her eyes opened, dazed, when he pulled back, keeping his face close to hers.

  “Damn, he whispered, mouth twitching into a crooked smile.

  “Yeah,” breathed Alex, and then they were kissing again, more urgently now. Alex was unsteady on her feet, constant shocks of sensation coming from wherever Oliver’s hands touched her wings. Oliver backed her up until she was against the wall. Little alarm bells started to go off in Alex’s mind, telling her that Oliver was her friend, she shouldn’t be making out with him, but she didn’t care. This felt too good. The ball of heat in her chest grew in intensity alongside that of Oliver’s lips. It was only when Oliver’s touch reached under her shirt that she broke the kiss, breathing hard.

  “We need to stop,” she said, still trying to catch her breath. “I need to go to bed, and you,” she took another breath, feeling her heart race, “ you nee
d to sleep too.” Inwardly she cursed herself for how lame that sounded.

  “Okay,” answered Oliver. His expression was regretful, but he backed away. “You’re right. You’re right.” When Alex took a step away from the wall, he cupped her face and kissed her again, softly, just the barest press of his mouth against hers. “Good night, Alex.”

  Alex walked to the door on shaky legs. Then her mind caught up to her and registered what Oliver had said. She whirled, over balancing because of her wings and throwing her hand against the doorway for support. Alex thought for a moment that her face had caught fire, and ducked her head. “Good night,” she mumbled, and left quickly, bolting for her room. She didn’t see Oliver’s legs give way when he made it to his bed, nor did she see him run a shaking hand through his hair. She only knew that she was embarrassed and jittery, to the point where she knew she wouldn’t be falling asleep for a while.

  She got to her room and shut the door, leaning against it. “Holy crap,” she said, touching her still tingling lips. “What just happened?” The memory of the past few minutes played itself back in her mind, making her stomach flutter. She went to her bed and sat, drawing her knees up and resting her chin on them. “Okay. He kissed you. You’ve been kissed before, Alex. No big deal.” Not like that, though. Unable to sit still, she jumped up and paced in a circle next to her bed. She was full of nervous energy, so much so that her hands were shaking, and her fingers were glowing slightly. Alex let out a sharp breath and sat again, on the floor this time. Cupping her hands together, she manifested her fire. It had more gold this time, and Alex sighed in relief when the heat in her chest died down a little bit. Was she going to have to burn off her power every time she made out with a guy now? She wanted to ask Adrien, but there was also no way she was going to ask Adrien.

  Alex lifted her hand to her face, trying to let her mind zone out by watching the flames in her palm dance. After a moment, a thought came to her mind. She wasn’t going to be able to sleep for a while, she knew that. So why not experiment? What if…

  She stood and walked out of her room, taking the stairs silently and sneaking out into the backyard. It was surrounded by a fence and lined with trees, so there was a good bit of cover. Alex paused, thinking about the risk of getting caught by her family, or attacked again. But she also couldn’t try what she was about to try and not burn the house down. So, outside it was.

  Closing her eyes, Alex concentrated. It was easy for her to make fire appear in her hands, but what if she could manifest it all over her body? She could essentially make herself untouchable by any physical enemy, and if what Adrien said was true about how she was possessed, there would be no shortage of those in the future. A grim expression settled over her face as she thought about everything she might go through in the future. She shook her head. Concentrate, dummy. Don’t think about that.

  Fire erupted in her palms. Alex ran her right hand over her left arm, letting the flames lick her skin. Nothing, only a faint tickling sensation. She knew that she would be fireproof, but it was still good for her to check. Nothing worse than unexpected pain.

  “Okay, so, if I just do this…” Alex muttered to herself. She focused, bringing her power to the forefront of her mind. Instead of imagining the source, she created a mental image of what her hands currently looked like. Slowly, she willed it to spread. It took a couple of minutes, but ever so slowly, it started to crawl up her forearms. Alex opened her eyes, and a triumphant smile lit her face when she saw the result. Her arms were pillars of golden black flame. She was glad that she was still in her training clothes, because she knew for certain her old ones would be ash at this point.

  “Hmm…” Alex raised her arms until they were parallel to the ground, and spun, delighting in the ring of light the flame provided. In the darkness, it was beautiful. She turned once, twice, three times, and abruptly stopped, breathing hard and peering into the darkness between the trees. She had seen something, she was sure of it. A low growl rumbled in her chest, and scales grew on her arms as her mind narrowed it’s focus. Alex coalesced her power to just her hands again, stalking toward the trees. “Who’s there?” she said, bringing her hands up. “Come out, now!”

  Nothing happened, and fear began to take over, making Alex’s hands shake slightly. “I said, who’s there?” She came to a stop roughly ten feet from where she’d seen the movement. “I’m warning you- AAUGHH!” Alex screamed and leapt backwards, tripping over a knot of grass and landing hard as whatever was in the shadows jumped toward her. Something furry hit her in the face, and she shrieked again, hitting at the thing with fire-covered fists. Whatever it was gave a cry of pain, and it fell off of her head, landing next to her. Alex rolled over in time to see the rabbit take off, streaking for a gap in the bottom of the fence. Wisps of smoke followed it. She dropped back onto the grass, panting, and covered her face. She bolted upright again, though, when she heard laughing.

  Adrien was standing a small distance away, doubled over and wheezing. Alex groaned and laid back down on the ground, putting her arms over her face again. She heard footsteps, then Adrien sat next to her, still guffawing.

  “I never thought I could laugh that hard again,” she said when she had stopped long enough to speak. “I didn’t think you hated rabbits so much.”

  “I don’t,” snapped Alex, embarrassed. “It scared me, that’s all. After what happened yesterday, you can’t exactly blame me for being jumpy.”

  “That’s true.” Adrien sighed and lowered herself until she was laying next to Alex. “You have to admit, though, that was pretty good.”

  “Sure,” said Alex dryly. “It was fantastic.” They lay in silence for a moment, listening to the small critters moving in the woods. It was peaceful, and Alex’s heart rate had come back down to normal by the time Adrien spoke next.

  “Why were you out here, anyway? You need to be sleeping.”

  “I just couldn’t sleep. There’s so many things happening all at once. It’s hard to keep up with it all, you know?”

  “Yeah.” Adrien was silent for a moment. “I’m a little bit worried about your friends.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “They showed up pretty suddenly, didn’t they? That’s not suspicious to you?”

  “It is a little strange. I don’t think the timing has anything to do with our situation, though. Just a coincidence. They had no clue about any of this until they saw our power in use, so they would have no reason to seek us out because of that. Besides, they’re my closest friends, they’d never do anything to me or my family.”

  “Well. I trust your judgement, even if I don’t fully trust them yet. I did see how that Oliver boy was looking at you, though. And how he touched your wings.”

  Alex felt her face get hot as everything else that had happened after that came rushing back. “He just didn’t know that wings are sensitive, that’s all. Hell, I didn’t know either, until Mom touched them yesterday.”

  “Hmm. I still think the way he was looking at you was… interesting. Are you two involved with each other? Romantically, I mean.”

  “No!” Alex’s voice was an octave higher than usual. She cleared her throat and tried again. “No, we’re not. I did have a crush on him for a little while, but then all this happened, and I had already accepted my status as Permanent Friend.”

  “Just friends?”

  “Just friends.” Alex looked over at her mentor. Adrien’s face was unreadable in the moonlight. “Why are you so interested in my love life, anyway?”

  “I want to know you. I haven’t had the chance to really get to know you, and there won’t be a whole lot of chances to do it in the future, between training and… everything else.” Adrien didn’t clarify, and Alex didn’t ask. “So in these moments, when we can let our guard down for just a few moments, I wanted to try to get to know you. You’re my daughter, after all. I know you don’t like to hear me say that,” she added hastily. “But it’s the truth, that’s how I view you. And a mother should
know her daughter.”

  They lay in silence for a few minutes. Alex could feel her eyelids growing heavy, so she heaved a sigh and stood up, allowing a couple seconds for the resulting head rush to pass. “I’m going to bed,” she said. “It’s really late.” She walked a couple of steps, then turned back. Adrien was still on the grass, hands behind her head. “It’s not that I don’t like to hear you say you’re my mother. It’s that everything that’s happening hasn’t given me any time to adjust. I know you’re my mother, my real mother.” Adrien’s gaze snapped to Alex’s face. “I’m just not ready to call you my mother, yet.” Without waiting for a response, Alex walked back into the house and climbed the stairs to her room. Once inside, she shut the door quietly and lay on her bed. Within seconds, she was sound asleep.

  Alex woke the next morning to the smell of bacon. Stomach growling, she got out of bed and walked downstairs, letting the delicious promise of breakfast lead her into the kitchen.

  Hannah was the one at the stove when Alex walked in. The only other person in the room was Oliver, who met her eyes and flashed a knowing smile. Alex looked away quickly, feeling her face burn, and went to where her other friend was.

  “What are we having?” she asked. Hannah glanced up quickly, grinning at Alex before focusing on what she was doing.

  “Eggs, bacon, and french toast. You’re going to love it. Have a seat, there’s orange juice on the table. This’ll be ready in a second. If you want fruit, there’s strawberries in the fridge. Your grandmother really knows how to stock a kitchen, and that makes me really want to hug her.”

  “You don’t even know her,” interjected Oliver as Alex went for the berries. “How would you like it if a random person came up to you and hugged you, and was all like, ‘you have a lot of food in your house’?” This made Alex laugh out loud, and Hannah turned around to smack him with the spatula she was holding. Oliver ducked out of the way, grabbing a cup and pouring himself a glass of juice.