Shift (The Neturu Chronicles) (37 page)

               
“What?” Damien exclaims. “You drive like my grandma!  This goes from zero
to sixty in five seconds.  You didn’t go faster than thirty-five, and you
did it so
slowly
.  That was ridiculous!”

               
“Shut up, who asked you?”

               
Damien palms his forehead.  “We should just get you a Ford, then it
doesn’t matter if you go thirty-five.”

               
“No!  I want this sooo badly.  I’ll get used to it and then go a
hundred miles per hour down the highway.”

               
“You will do no such thing!  You’ll kill yourself.”

               
Raising her eyebrows, Kayla snips, “Then don’t make fun of my granny driving.”

               
“Point taken. All right, what color do you want?”

               
“Red.”

               
“Let’s get out,” Damien says with a laugh.

               
As they climb out of the SUV, the dealer says, “Any specifics you want.”

               
“Dual motor all-wheel drive,” Damien replies.

               
“That’ll make it even faster,” the dealer informs them.

               
Looking at Kayla, Damien snorts. “I don’t think that even matters.  Not
when you go zero to sixty in a minute on purpose.”

               
“Shut up!” Kayla yells, shoving him.  Suddenly, she feels a twinge. 
“Hey, where’s that shake? I feel kind of funny.”

               
He turns to the salesman. “Do you want to go get everything together so I can
sign it and send it to my father?  I’ll be in in a minute.”

               
“Sure,” he replies.  “Is she okay?” the dealer asks curiously.

               
“Yup,” Damien replies.  “Come on, hon.” He takes Kayla’s hand and pulls
her to his car.  “Okay, drink the shake and then get in the car. 
Meditate and I will meet you in a bit, okay?”

               
“What if I have to shift?” Kayla squeals.

               
Looking up, Damien says, “Run in here and lock yourself in the bathroom as fast
as you can.  You can shift and then shift back.”

               
“Okay.”  Damien kisses her and hands her his keys.  Kayla takes them
and gets into the car.  She finds the shake in a bottle on the
floor.  “I can’t believe I
’
m
drinking something green in this car.  Don’t spill, Kayla, or Damien will
kill you.  Here it goes.”  She grimaces and chugs the drink
down.   The pain stops, but she decides to meditate anyway.  She
closes her eyes and quickly arrives in Shima.

               
It's the first time she's been to Shima by herself.  She stands in the
light with her arms crossed.  “So,” she whispers.  “I can go
anywhere.”  An idea comes to mind, and she closes her eyes. A whole
different world appears.  It is the landscape from her dreams when she was
a kid.  She laughs and starts to walk amongst the trees.  She reaches
her hand out and touches the leaves.  They are super soft.  “This is
incredible.”

               
A voice breaks through the silence. “So you came back to our home planet.”

               
She spins around and finds a guy standing behind her.  Startled, Kayla
takes a few steps back.  “Who are you?  What are you doing
here?” 

               
The guy studies her.  “That doesn’t really matter.”

               
“Yes it does,” Kayla argues.  “Who are you?  I thought no one could
come in here if I didn’t want them to.”

               
“Obviously you aren’t strong enough to block anyone out yet.  That doesn’t
matter…Kayla.”

               
Her heart rate accelerates.  “What…how do you know my name?”

               
“I know a lot about you.  I know that you are very…special.”

               
Kayla takes another few steps back.  “Do you know Damien?  He’s going
to be here any minute.”

               
“Ah yes, Damien, the young, domineer, rich son of the Merjyet line. Who doesn’t
know him,” the guy says softly.  “You know what he’s really like,
right?  He eats girls up and then spits them out.  It will be no different
for you.”

               
“I know about his past,” Kayla snaps.  “He is nothing but a gentleman to
me.”

               
The guy smiles at her.  “Maybe he is different with you then, but
him
and his family do want something from you…your talent.”

               
“He likes me for me, regardless of what the council wants.”

               
“Oh no, it’s not the council. It’s his father.  The council doesn’t care
who you have babies with as long as it’s one of the five families.  I’m
just saying that so you keep your options open.  Damien is a player; he
won’t ever be anything else.”

               
  Staring at the stranger, Kayla says, “Keep my options open how?”

               
“There are four other families.  Just saying, it doesn’t matter to me in
the end.  We just need your bloodline to continue.”

               
“I think you should leave; you’re making me uncomfortable. Damien will be here
any second.”

               
A smirk spreads across the guy’s face.  “I will feel Damien arrive in
Shima before he gets to us, so you don’t need to worry about our paths
crossing.”

               
“What’re you going to do to me?” Kayla whimpers, backing up farther.

               
“Me?  Absolutely nothing. I just wanted to talk.”

               
Narrowing her eyes, Kayla says, “We’re done talking now, so you can go.”

               
“We aren’t done talking.  Sorry to disappoint you.  I just want you
to know the truth.  Drake, Damien’s father, will do anything to have you
join his family.”

               
“I know that.  Jackson’s family is doing the same thing.”

               
The guy’s eyes widen in surprise.  “Jackson, as in Jackson Blakely?”

               
“Maybe.”  She backs up a few more steps.

               
“No need to be afraid of me.  You should trust me and what I say,
Kayla.  Now, back to Jackson, if his family is pushing for you to get
together, they have to have hidden motives.  I don’t know what they could
be, but there has to be some.  Of course, any bloodline would love for you
to join them, but no one knows about you yet.”

               
“Then how do you?”

               
“A little birdy.”

               
Kayla looks at him closely.  “What’s your name?”

               
“You can call me anything you want.”

               
Giving him a look, Kayla says, “How about jackass?  Does that work for
you?”

               
“Ooh, a girl with spunk, I like that.” The guy laughs.  “How old are you?”

               
“Seventeen.” As soon as Kayla says it, she wishes she hadn’t.

               
The guy stares at her for a moment in silence.  “Just think before you
jump into anything.  There are many other options, many other guys.”

               
“Like you, I take it,” Kayla sarcastically replies.

               
He shrugs his shoulders.  “If you so choose.”

               
“Since you won’t even tell me your name, I doubt that will ever happen.”

               
“William,” the guy finally says.  “My name is William, William Caster.”

               
“And you would be?”

               
William crosses his arms. “An option.  I just don’t want you to get sucked
into Damien’s games.”

               
“I like Damien.  He’s kind and sweet to me.  I don’t know you at all,
so what makes you think I would ever listen to you?”

               
With a heavy exhale, William replies, “You will learn on your own, a sad, hard
lesson.  Trust me and run away from him as fast as you can.”

               
Emotions rip through Kayla, but in the end she says, “Go to hell.”

               
“What?”

               
“I don’t know you.  I don’t care to know you.  Don’t talk about the
guy I’m dating like that.  He is a representative of the council, and he
can have you punished for your behavior.”

               
A smile spreads across William’s face.  “Well then, I guarantee this won’t
be the last time we talk, but I have to go.  Bye-bye, Kayla.”  The
guy vanishes.

               
As he disappears, Damien appears next to her.  “Hey, lovely, you did it on
your own.”

               
“Where in the hell have you been,” Kayla yells.

               
Damien jumps back. “What?  I was doing your car stuff.  Why? 
What’s wrong?”

               
Kayla grabs her chest and can’t seem to catch her breath.  “There was some
freaky guy here telling me how big of a douche bag you are.”

               
“What?” Damien snaps.  “Who?  What are you talking about?”

               
“I was here, walking around, and some guy appeared!”

               
Grabbing her arm gently, Damien calmly asks, “What did he look like?”

               
“I don’t know, blond hair, blue eyes, about your build, not ugly but not as
cute as you.”

               
“Aww, thanks.”

               
Bringing her hand back, Kayla punches him.  “It’s not funny!  It was
creepy and scary and I couldn’t do anything about it!”

               
“Did he do anything to you?  Did he hurt you?”

               
“No,” Kayla says, shaking her head.  “He didn’t come near me; he just
babbled on about you.”

               
“Did he tell you his name?”

               
With a jerky nod, Kayla answers, “William Caster.”

               
An odd expression crosses Damien’s face.  “William Caster…he’s been dead
for, like, forty years.”

               
“This guy had to only be like twenty or twenty-one, and he wasn’t dead. 
Who was William Caster?”

               
“The Caster family is one of the overseeing families, but William was the
grandfather.  He passed on a long time ago.  He was a strong botanist
for our people, quite well-known actually.  He’s not a twenty-one-year-old
blond guy.”

               
Kayla says, “What about someone our age, did he have a grandson our age?”

               
“No, they only have girls.  Girls who throw themselves at me.”

               
Screaming, Kayla yells, “Now is not the time for gloating!”

               
“I’m not gloating,” Damien sternly articulates.  “I was just saying that
there are no guys.  They want more power, hence why the girls throw
themselves at me.”

               
“Still, I never want to hear about girls throwing themselves at you.  I
have a feeling I will be a jealous girlfriend if that is the case.”

               
Damien pulls her into his arms and kisses her head.  “Okay, no more talk
about girls, but I want to figure out who this guy was.  What did he say?”

               
“That you’re a slimy piece of crap for the most part, and that I have
options
,
lots of
options
.  He said it’s your dad, and not the council, who
wants you to marry me.  Be honest with me, is that the truth?”

               
“Not that I know of. I promise you, all that I know is what I have heard from
council meetings.  If you want, you can ask them yourself.  We can do
a video call when we get back.”

               
“Really, you would do that?”

               
He nods his head.  “If that’s what it takes for you to know the truth,
then of course.  I’m not blowing smoke; I will make the call with you.”

               
“Will you think less of me if I want you to do that?”

               
“No, we can do it as soon as we get back.  I’ll call my dad and set it up. 
No one would want you to believe anything that jerk said.  I really want
to know who he was.  I don’t get it.  If he wanted you to take him
seriously, you would think he would give you a legitimate name.”

               
Kayla shrugs. “I don’t know.  He was very creepy, and he rubbed me the
wrong way.  He sure wanted me to think less of you, a lot less.  What
did he say, oh yes, something along the lines of how you will chew me up and
spit me
out.
”

               
Damien gets a sad look on his face.  “Is that what you think I’m going to
do?”

               
“No, I think that guy just wanted me to think the worst.  William Caster
is a shmuck.”

               
“I just don’t want you to think that I’m going to use you, and I don’t think
his name is William Caster.  He's giving the real William Caster a bad
name.”

               
Pulling him close, Kayla hugs Damien.  “It was just weird and
frightening.  No more letting me come here alone, okay?  You need to
teach me how to block someone.”