Change (The Shape Shifter Series) (10 page)

“No. You think that Marie needs you, but she doesn't. Liam will cure her, or at least try, but it won't be easy. So I don't want you here. You would only be in my way and that doesn't help Marie.”

Something flashed in Faol’s eyes and Sofia swallowed. She was hiding something from her but there was no way she could force her mother to tell her anything. She narrowed her eyes and so did Faol.

“Then you'll have to carry me down the mountain,” Sofia stated slowly, “because I'm staying and you can't force me to go.”

“But I can,” Baz said from the doorway.

Sofia looked angrily at her dad, but had to lower her gaze quickly. She couldn't defy him and he knew it. Even David knew it, and said nothing. He just stood quietly and waited for her to join him.

Baz's gaze softened and he touched her hair. She lifted her eyes and felt her lips shaking. She hated herself. What was wrong with her? She was a grown-up.
An almost two hundred-year-old shape shifter. She wasn't supposed to shake in front of her parents. However, Baz's word was the law here, and even if Marie's life was at stake, she couldn't stand against him. She had decided to bring Marie there, so now she had to live by their rules, and that wasn't easy.

“Can you at least give me a hint about what happened?” she pleaded.

Faol looked worried and she glanced quickly at Baz. He nodded slowly. “Marie did something,” she whispered wearily.

“What?” Sofia asked suspiciously. “What did she do?” Faol didn’t answer and Sofia felt panic rising inside of her. “You can't send me away like this! Mother, you have to tell me! Please, you have to!”

“I can't,” Faol sighed. “I wish I could, but I can't. All I can say is that Marie did something she shouldn't be able to do in the first place, and now we'll have to deal with it.”

“No!” Sofia shook her head. “You can't do this. You'll have to give me something more. She’s my daughter, for God's sake! You can't just expect me to walk away and leave her here. Not before you tell me everything.”

“I already said I can't. But luckily she did nothing we can't fix. And Siobhan won't say anything. She’s on our side. Otherwise … well … we wouldn't be here talking.” Faol tried to smile.

Sofia's head was aching. She didn't understand anything. She could feel her mother's hands as she pushed her forward and somehow she knew she had to leave immediately. But she couldn't.

“Marie will be in good hands, I promise,” Baz said comfortingly. “No one will know how special she is.”

“Special?” Sofia asked in a small voice. “What do you mean?” A cold fear filled her. Was there something wrong with Marie? Something she didn't know? Was it her epilepsy that was progressing or something worse? And what did Faol mean by saying Siobhan was on their side? Shouldn't they all be on the same side?

David looked at her hesitantly. Obviously, he was having second thoughts about leaving, too, and he didn't know what he should do.

Baz touched her hand and nodded. “Of course she's special. After all, she's my granddaughter. Don't worry, Fia, I'll personally be in charge of Marie's situation. You'll have to trust me on this.”

“You really should go now. Especially you, David,” Faol said and hurried them away.

Sofia sighed and took David's hand. She glanced at her mom's eyes suspiciously, but found nothing alarming there. So, whatever it was that Marie had done couldn't be deadly serious, right? And yet somehow she felt fooled, but as she felt David pulling her hand she finally gave in.
             

Faol was quiet. This hadn't gone the way they wanted, but they couldn't take the risk of anything happening to David. Isabel's attack on Marie had shaken them more than they wanted to show. Some of the shape shifters were horrified, but unfortunately most of them were glad. They wouldn't disobey Baz openly, but one thing was sure: David was not safe there. He was a tall, strong man, but he could never fight a grown-up wolf, not to mention a whole pack. So this was the only way to keep him safe. She hoped Sofia would understand and begged she would obey. She had hoped things would be different, but wolves had a long memory and they weren’t as forgiving as she had thought. The truth was that Sofia could stay there if she wanted, but she’d have to fight for her rights all the time, and now was not the time to fight that battle. Marie had awoken the interest of the elders and that would be enough to get them to help her, but if they had to deal with Sofia, too, they might suddenly forget Marie and remember that, technically, Sofia had broken more than three of their holy laws. So as much as she wanted her to stay she couldn’t allow that now.

Sofia sighed and looked at Faol. She could feel her fear for David. It felt strange, but as so many things there seemed strange and different, she got over it. She would find a way to come back, but first she needed to get David away from there. “Let's go then. I'm sure there's a cabin somewhere we can stay in.” She looked at Faol, hurt. Faol nodded and Sofia breathed, “I thought so.” She turned to her father. She knew she couldn't demand anything and yet she said in a demanding voice, “I assume that you'll update me as soon as possible.” Baz smiled and nodded. “Good,” Sofia snapped and dragged herself to their car.

David followed with his head down. Neither of them said anything, and when they reached the car, they passively packed themselves in. She forced herself not to look back. Her heart was bleeding and she felt betrayed, and yet she knew she couldn't take David back there. She knew there was a reason her parents had shooed them away. A reason that might get David killed. She also knew that if anything happened to him, she couldn't live with herself. Not if she knew she could've prevented it. So, stubborn or not, she knew when she had lost the game.
             

They drove down the narrow mountain road in silence. The beauty of the valley might as well have been invisible, as they saw nothing. Their minds were full of questions and Sofia was screaming inside her head. This was not supposed to happen. She was supposed to be there for Marie and help her, and now she could do nothing but wait. She had no idea what the cure was or if
there even was a cure, but she had come. She had brought her loved ones and now she couldn't do anything to stop the elders. Here she was only a child among the others. Not an alpha female and certainly not an adult. Here she was their child and she had to obey.

She glanced at David. He looked rough. They both knew Adam had been right. Without David, Sofia could've stayed with Marie and her parents. They couldn't change the fact that here he was a burden. 
A dear one, yes, but definitely an unneeded burden. She sighed deeply. She wanted to touch him, but she didn't know what to say. She loved him, but it had been wrong of her to bring him here. She should've been wiser and stopped him from the beginning. This place was not like it had been before. Something was wrong, she could sense it, and she was going to find out what it was. Senja had been a safe, peaceful place before, but now she could sense coldness and evil under its surface. The hostility against David was more than normal hatred. It was like a witch hunt in the old days. Burn first, ask afterwards. The desire to sneak back and find out what was going on burned her soul, but she had to make sure David was safe first. But after that … well … she would go back and this time there wouldn't be any mysteries. She would drag all their secrets out into the daylight, and God help them if she found anything that could hurt her family.

Marie woke up to eerie silence. Tiamhaidh hadn't come to bed with her but had slept on a lounger next to it. The sun was peeking out from behind the mist that was slowly fading away. She got up as silently as she could, but before she reached the door, Tiamhaidh opened his eyes.

“How are you?” he asked, concerned.

She stared at him. What did he mean? She was fine. Why wouldn't she be?

Tiamhaidh yawned. “You don't remember, do you?”

Marie shook her head slowly and tried to remember what had happened last night. They had argued and then she had gone to bed. Then she had searched the minds of the elders and he had gotten mad. But after that … well … everything was all black. “Nope. Can you give me a hint?”

“You had a seizure. A bad one,” he said carefully.

“Okay. I've had bad ones before. What's the big deal? I'm alive, right?” She looked at him doubtfully. “Why? What have you done?”

Tiamhaidh was quiet for a few minutes and then sighed heavily. “I told the elders about the seizure.”

“So? That's not news to them.”

He rubbed his short hair and looked uneasy.

“What else have you done?” she breathed with her arms crossed.

“Look, I know you don't like this, but Siobhan contacted me last night,” Tiamhaidh blurted.

“Hell no, I don't like it!” Marie snapped. “Why would she contact you in the middle of the night?” He said nothing and she yelled a bit louder than she meant to, “Answer me! What was so important it couldn't wait
till the morning?”

“They're going to start your cure today,” he said, but didn't look happy.

“And? That's what we came here for. So that's a good thing, isn't it?”

“Yes. It's definitely a good thing.
But there’s more.”

Marie was confused and she suddenly felt a hard stab of jealousy in her heart. So this was the moment. The moment when he would tell her it was over. She bit her lip and felt her body starting to tremble. I won't cry, she decided, but couldn't help a tear starting to stream from her eye.

Tiamhaidh stared at her with his mouth open. Then he seemed to find his balance again and leaped next to her.
“Hey, there's nothing to worry about. Siobhan will not reveal your secret.” He wiped her tear away. “No one will ever know what you can do.” She puckered her forehead, not understanding. “Mind searching,” he explained.

“Oh, that!” Marie was relieved and abruptly the light came back to her face as she smiled. “So you're not mad at me anymore?”

“How could I be mad at you? I was mad at myself.” Tiamhaidh cupped her face with his hands. “I left you alone and that almost killed you. Everything is so new to you and I should've told you more about this place. About these people and their manners. So it was all my fault, and if anyone should be mad, you should. I wasn't there for you last night and I shouldn't have yelled at you when I was. I'm sorry.”

“And there’s nothing going on between you and Siobhan?” Marie asked, as she needed to know the truth. He shook his head, but before he could hide it she saw something like guilt in his eyes. “Are you sure?”

He nodded and smiled. “I’m sure.”

She still had some doubts but she didn’t want to push him, so she touched his cheek and smiled.

“So we're cool?” he asked hesitantly.

“We're cool.” Marie kissed his cheek.
“Let's go out and find Mom and Dad and tell them about my new gift,” she said and started to get dressed.

“
They're not here anymore,” he said quietly.

Marie panicked. “What do you mean? Mom wouldn't leave me here! Ever!”

“They were sort of forced to leave,” he mumbled.

She sat on the bed. She was there alone. Mom and Dad were gone and she didn't know where they were. Tiamhaidh was there, of course, but she needed her parents. She couldn't go through this without them. This couldn't be happening! She breathed heavily.

Tiamhiadh was concerned and kneeled in front of her “Are you okay?”

She was quiet. No. She was not okay. But if Mom had agreed to leave she must have known something t
hat she didn't. Either that or - a thought quickly popped into her mind - she had a plan that she didn't want the rest of them to know about.

Tiamhaidh took her hands in his. “Marie?”

She stared at him suspiciously. He had known that this would happen. Hadn't he? Something in him screamed he was guilty. Had Mom known, too, or had she been ambushed? All this came too suddenly after everything that had happened. He was looking at her, waiting, but she couldn't answer. Her throat hurt and she didn't even know what to say. She shook her head and breathed heavily.

“Marie?” Tiamhaidh asked again.

She pushed him away and shook her head with disbelief. She had trusted him and he had let her down. He had let all of them down. How could he? “You knew, didn't you? You knew they would never allow them to stay here. Where are they? Where are my parents?” she screamed in horror.

He stood up, approaching her like she was a wounded animal, but before he could answer, someone knocked on the door.

“I think we should open the door,” Marie snapped, as Tiamhaidh didn't move.

Her eyes were full of hurt and all he wanted to do was take her in his arms and tell her that everything would turn out well. That he was on their side and had never meant for anything bad to happen. Things had just slipped out of his hands. He looked confused, but when she started to walk towards the door he pushed her gently back onto the bed. “I'll open it. Stay here and remember that I love you. Okay? Whatever happens, I love you.”

She nodded. She was really scared. Tiamhaidh looked so guilty and she had no idea what he had done. What could be so horrible that he had acted the way he did? She tried to search his face, but he turned his back to her. As if he couldn't stand to look at her. A terrible thought filled her mind. Had he given her to the elders? Delivered her to them like she was a guinea pig? After all, she was something that had never been. A freak. So wasn't it obvious that the elders wanted to examine her? She had this awful feeling that Tiamhaidh had betrayed her, but that couldn't be true. She was sure he loved her, so why did she have this feeling of falling? A feeling that whatever would happen with the elders would not be a good thing? She glanced suspiciously at him.