Shifted (The Undari Trilogy Book 1)

by Sarah Reeves

  Kieran pulled back, letting her down onto her feet. “You can’t tell me you don’t feel anything,” he repeated in an unsteady voice, cupping her face. “You and I both know that’s not true.”

  “Okay,” Alex answered, the words coming to her brain sluggishly. “Okay, you’re right. Everything else holds true though.”

  “And I can respect that, I promise.” Kieran stepped back, keeping his hands on her shoulders. “Just don’t lie to me, okay? We’re Companions, if nothing else. We need to trust each other, especially with everything happening right now.” With a final squeeze, he released her.

  Alex didn’t know what else to say, so she nodded and walked with Kieran along the path toward the Arena. Behind them, in the bushes, hid the creature that had put Alex on alert. It watched them intently, following the two teens as they walked. Black eyes, shot through with grey veins, tracked their movements before the creature melted into the shadows and was gone.

  Chapter Seventeen

  The Unseen had been tracking the abomination for a while, until he had ended up in the Realm of Fire. The creature’s mother had trained her offspring, while the Unseen bided his time, waiting for the right time to set the next part of his plan into motion. Finally, that opportunity arose in the form of a willowy girl that seemed to make friends with the beastly one. The Unseen watched as the girl met the abomination’s mother, and chose that moment to let her see the imprint of himself that was left in the mother, a rather convenient side effect of possession. It had worked, and he revelled in the terror he’d caused in her. He watched the mother be taken by the Guard, watched as she was sentenced to exile and then, as the Portal dragged her in, he Shifted into shadow and snuck through with her into the Realm of Nightmares.

  Once inside, he tracked the mother down. Now was the fun part. He paused behind her long enough for her to sense his presence, then pounced before she could scream.

  The King and Queen addressed the public the next day. Kieran, being the prince, accompanied them. They offered to let Alex stand with them, but she politely declined, opting instead to stand with the other Undari in the crowd. The people pressed a little too close, but she took it as the lesser of the two evils. The thought of standing up in front of everyone made her stomach clench uncomfortably.

  Thankfully, the speech was short, and not as ceremonious as Alex thought. They had flaming projections on either side of the royal family broadcasting the address for those who were too far away or too young or old to attend, and a crowd had gathered below the simple platform the three monarchs stood on. They spoke to the Undari calmly, telling them what happened with honesty. Alex was surprised to hear no detail left out. She expected some facts to be a need-to-know kind of thing, but the monarchs were very open about what was happening. I wonder if that’s ever come back to bite them. She studied Kieran, marvelling at how calm and… princely he seemed. It was very different from the man who had kissed her the night before. He caught her gaze then, and a small smile curved one corner of his mouth. He then turned his attention back to his father, who was wrapping up the speech.

  “We would like for everyone to keep an eye out for anything that seems out of the ordinary, and to report it immediately to the Guard if you do. The faster we can resolve this, the faster life around here can return to normal. Are there any questions?”

  “Who escaped from the Portal?” someone called.

  “As we’ve said before, there isn’t a way to figure out who escaped, but it should be assumed that they are dangerous. If you see them, do not engage them. Leave it to the Guard. We don’t want any senseless casualties from this.” King Titus bowed his head slightly, then stepped back. “We want you to resume your duties as before, there’s no reason for anything to change quite yet. Take whatever precautions you feel necessary, and remember, do not engage the escapee. We’ll take our leave now. Good day to you all.”

  With that, the royal family turned and left. The crowd dispersed, talking amongst themselves. Alex didn’t know what to do, so she started in the direction of the Arena, only to change her mind and turn to follow the monarchs. Kieran seemed to sense her approach and paused to let her catch up. “How did we do?” he asked when she reached him.

  “Pretty well, all things considered.”

  “Meaning?”

  “Your mom and dad really didn’t skimp on the details, did they?”

  Kieran frowned. “Were they supposed to?”

  “I mean, I expected them to hold back just a little. There’s only so much that people not in a position of power need to know, right?”

  “Is that how they do things in the human realm?” Kieran cocked his head to the side. “I feel like that’s not a very good way for people in the government to build trust in it’s people.”

  Alex thought for a moment. “I suppose. In the human realm, the governments of each nation are a lot more secretive than this. Then again, humans and Undari are pretty different. And there are a lot more governments involved with politics.”

  “Politics here is basically just foreign diplomacy. If there’s a problem with another Realm, we fix it, end of story.”

  Alex’s laugh was short. “Politics in the human realm is code for let’s see what we can get away with without the general public catching on. Don’t get me wrong, there’s a lot of good there, too. Most of the time though, it seems like there’s more negativity than anything. People that shouldn’t be in office that are making laws, good laws being undone, so on and so forth. The United States is pretty divided, but in other places it’s so bad that it makes me glad I grew up there rather than anywhere else.”

  “It sounds horrible. How does anyone trust a government system like that?”

  “Simple. There are people who are fanatically loyal to the government, most of the others are easily swayed by the media and other sources. Almost anyone else that openly opposes the government is written off as crazy, or if they escalate into violence, they’re put in prison by the police.” Alex caught the confused expression on her Companion’s face and added: “Police are like the Guard here.” They fell silent, continuing to walk toward the castle behind Kieran’s parents. Alex glanced over at her Companion, then away again. “Hey Kieran, about the escapee…”

  “What about them?” Kieran turned his head to look at her.

  Alex ran a hand through her hair. “You don’t think… I mean, is there a possibility it could be Adrien that escaped?”

  Kieran stopped walking, and reached out to grab Alex’s sleeve when she didn’t pause with him. Gently, he turned her to face him. “It couldn’t have been her. That thing was a monster, we couldn’t even tell if it was Undari. It couldn’t have been her.”

  “She told me once that the Realm of Nightmares distorts Undari until they’re unrecognizable.”

  “Their minds, yes, but the Unseen is the only creature that has the ability to warp someone’s physical form. Nothing else can do anything to her like that.”

  Alex nodded. She couldn’t shake the feeling that she’d gotten when she had first seen the creature before it attacked, though. It was familiar to her. It was like there was an image that she couldn’t quite recall, on the edges of her memory. Every time she tried to connect what she saw to how it was familiar to her, it slipped away. Damn it. She wasn’t completely sure, so she wasn’t going to voice her concerns just yet. But she knew something was going on. I should investigate later, she decided. It was risky to go back to the site of the explosion alone, and she wasn’t sure what she was going to find, but she needed answers. There had to be a clue, something to let her know she wasn’t just crazy. And Kieran wouldn’t let her do it by herself if she said anything, so she refrained from doing so. There was no way she was going to put him in danger on a hunch she had. That, and finding any kind of clue would most likely prove to be unfruitful, and she didn’t want to go to him with anything less than a sure thing.

  Later, Alex made an excuse to go to the Library alone, before going to the site of
the explosion. Kieran had things to do with his parents anyway, so it worked. She walked among the vast array of books, looking for the sections labeled in English. When she found them, she worked her way down the aisles, searching for the subjects she needed. There, she thought with a sense of satisfaction. She took the books from the shelves, and sat at the nearest table. Casting a furtive glance in each direction, she opened the first book and began to read.

  The Unseen: Non-physical entity capable of possession of other creatures, distortion of physical forms. Originated in the Realm of Water, the Unseen’s original name is as of yet unknown. The Unseen’s rise to power was the result of Necromancy, which is forbidden in the Realms… Alex skipped ahead a few pages; she already knew that the Unseen got his power from Necromancy. It did come as a small shock to her that he’d come from the Water Realm. Wasn’t that power rooted in peace?

  Other sections in the book touched more on the suspected abilities of the Unseen (Nobody seemed to know exactly what he could do at full capacity), and how he had gotten his power, without going into specifics. Necromancy didn’t seem to be a widely discussed topic. The book listed the names of each royal that was murdered (sacrificed?) by the Unseen, save for the one from the fire realm. The only mention of that particular Undari was in the description of how the Unseen gained that last bit of power. But what are his powers though? What did he gain by sacrificing all those royals? It didn’t make sense to her. All she had seen of his power so far was that he was able to possess Undari, that he didn’t have a corporeal body, and that he was able to distort the physical forms of the Undari race (except she hadn’t seen that last part for herself). She could very easily recall the feeling of possession though, the helplessness she felt before she was able to break free. Sympathy on behalf of Adrien and others surged; Alex couldn’t imagine having to endure that feeling for years at a time, let alone the ten minutes she’d experienced. It was no wonder minds and bodies alike broke under the Unseen’s influence. It seemed to Alex that there wasn’t a way to stop him, either, and that frustrated her.

  She stood, stretching her arms toward the ceiling. It was as good a time as any to go to the palace and examine the breakout site. Nerves were already trying to sneak into her. Walking outside, Alex Shifted and launched herself skyward, gaining height quickly. The dark helped conceal her, which was nice, but it didn’t do anything for her state of mind. Thankfully, the flight was short now that she knew the way.

  The landing was rough. Alex’s legs were beginning to shake, and her knees buckled nearly as soon as her feet hit the ground. The woods next to the castle were strangely silent, as though the creatures normally chattering in the trees were mourning the tragedy along with the rest of the Undari. For an absurd moment, Alex got the feeling that she was in the middle of a video game where she was surrounded by enemies. The whole situation - her stealing away in the night, investigating something dangerous, trying to figure out if her mother was in any way involved - seemed surreal to the point that she nearly laughed out loud. Get a hold of yourself. Alex took a deep breath and started forward.

  The castle wall was just visible through the trees, so she knew immediately that she was on the wrong side of the building. This time, she did let out a laugh before slapping a hand over her mouth. It had occurred to her that there was probably security around the castle, more so now than there was. Alex began to hurry around to the other side, careful to keep far enough back in the woods to be concealed.

  Finally, she caught sight of the ruined wall. There was security around it, but it wasn’t Undari. Alex crouched next to a tree by the edge of the woods to observe the fiery line that encircled the damaged area. It floated roughly two or three feet above the ground and gave off a soft glow that threw the damage to the castle wall into sharp relief. Taking a deep breath, she moved forward slowly, waiting for the line to react. And react, it did. Tendrils of flame lashed out, searing the front of Alex’s shirt and making her jump back.

  “Okay, so definitely not going to go through it like that.” Alex ran a shaking hand through her hair. “How about this….” She held up her hand, calling on her power to conjure water. She threw the handful at the ring. It hissed when it passed through, and created a gap. Alex cheered silently, but stopped when the line reconnected. “Damn it,” she whispered. She thought back to her training, running through different techniques that she’d learned to use with fire. There was the time she had covered her arms in flames. Could she do that with water, too? Would it work? “‘Course it will. You won’t burn up and die from trying to do something you’re not supposed to. Not at all.” Alex started to spread the water up her arms from her hands, then over her shoulders and torso, talking to herself all the while. “You’ll just trip an alarm and get arrested, no big deal. It isn’t like you haven’t been arrested before.” She coated her legs, then built the layer of liquid until it was almost half a foot thick. She then stood, staring at the circle of flame. “Okay, here you go. Ready?” She rocked back on her heels, already imagining the sizzle of flame against flesh. “One, two, …” she jumped. Her eyes were closed, and she couldn’t help but give a small shriek at the sudden hiss of water coming into contact with the extreme heat. Then she landed, crouching close to the ground. She stayed for a moment, eyes clenched shut, waiting. Nothing happened, so she opened her eyes.

  The inside of the circle was pretty well lit. The gap in the wall was within ten feet. “Oh, thank god.” Alex sat down completely, letting go of her power. “I’m not dead.” She desperately hoped that she hadn’t tripped any alarms. After a few seconds she stood, shaking the pins and needles out of her legs. She didn’t really know where to start (she wasn’t a detective), but she figured the wall of the castle was as logical a place as any to investigate.

  The gap in the stone was close to fifteen feet in length. It had stopped smoking a long time ago, but the edges were still singed pretty badly. Alex could see the wreckage of the Court below, and decided to take a closer look. She leaned into the hole and looked down. The drop didn’t seem to be too bad, not if she used her wings to help slow her fall. She summoned them, and hoisted herself up. She let her legs dangle over the edge for a moment, gathering courage, then pushed off. Wings flared, catching the air and letting Alex control her fall, until she hit the floor of the Court. She straightened, folding her wings, but not putting them away in case she needed to make a quick getaway.

  It was hard to navigate anywhere in that room. Alex found herself climbing over stones and chairs and other bits of rubble trying to get to where the Portal had opened. Soot and burn marks covered most of the wall and there was barely a clear spot on the floor. There was the lingering smell of the Portal, along with a new and sickening scent of burned flesh. Alex tried not to breathe through her nose too much as she got closer to her goal. The stone that had served as the gateway for the Portal still stood. Strangely, it was the one thing in the Court that remained untouched. She reached it, and stared. There were markings carved into the stone. A language mostly, one that Alex hadn’t seen before and definitely didn’t understand. The way the language was written made her stomach twist uncomfortably though.

  Alex examined the area, canvassing the floor as quickly as she dared. Shadows that she wasn’t quite sure were imagined made her jerk her head up more than once, thinking there was someone with her. The back of her neck prickled. The urge to run seemed to get stronger the closer she got to the Portal’s arch. Part of her wasn’t surprised. The other, bigger part wanted to obey those urges and get the hell out of there. Calm down, Alex. You’re fine. She began to expand her search, pausing to pick up pieces of rubble and set them back down. Once she thought she saw something only for it to turn out to be another piece of debris. Finally, close to a nook just below the start of the Court seats, she found something that made her heart drop. Quickly, nearly tripping over her own feet, Alex made her way over to the object that glinted in the light. Once over there, she bent, picking up the object with shaking f
ingers. It nestled in her palm, strangely warm, as though someone had just taken it off.

  Hannah’s bracelet.

  Alex wanted to throw it, or vomit, or both. She stared down at the little piece of jewelry as the world around her fell away. How was this here? The question whirled in her mind. Her breath came in short bursts, and she had to sit down on a piece of fallen stone. Abruptly she looked up, searching the shadows. “Hannah?” she hissed. Her chest ached with the dual pain of dreading an answer, and desperately hoping that Hannah would step out of the shadows. The rational part of her brain knew that it wasn’t a possibility, but her gaze still bored into the surrounding darkness like she could lift it enough to see her. “Hello?” Nothing.

  Her hand clenched around the bracelet hard enough for her to feel the bite of metal against her skin. Tears gathered in her eyes. Standing, she conjured flame in her palm, letting them intensify until the corners of the room were lit. She saw nothing, not even a hint of another creature anywhere around her. Relief and disappointment pierced her like a lance, and it made the tears spill over. Suddenly, she needed nothing more than to get out of there, immediately. She clasped the bracelet around her wrist and took off, rising out of the hole in the wall and automatically coating herself in water to get past the barrier again. She hit the ground outside of it and crouched there, letting the storm of emotion go in ragged sobs that stole her breath. Confusion, anger, and grief that threatened to crush her made her press her forehead to the ground, not caring if she was crying loudly or not. Each sob was dragged painfully from her chest as if with hooks.