Shift (The Pandorma Adventures Book 1) (7 page)

Chapter 7

School has been over for three days. Long days. I skipped graduation, preferring to burrow myself under the covers instead. The house is depressingly empty in the mornings and eerily quiet at night. I have a large, black stuffed-dog named Shadow. I hug her tightly at night. I don’t care if it's childish; I just need something concrete; I’ve never wanted a hug or to be held so badly.

I mostly keep to myself unless I’m with Fawn. But ever since school let out Fawn’s dad has kept her busy being the store’s cashier—and so has someone else. I’m guessing it’s a boy, but I haven’t run across him. I tuck myself away behind the library’s computer a lot of the time, searching for ways I can track down Dad. However, I’m mainly trying to avoid Darklily stalking me. I feel bad for evading her, but my aching heart demands my undivided attention.

Ryan still won’t meet my eyes, and when he thinks I’m not looking he’ll disappear. I need to approach him and find out what’s wrong, but every time I take a step in his direction my brain freezes. I have no idea what to say.

But I want this over with; I don’t care if Ryan never speaks to me again. I just need to clarify whatever Lexi told him, because Ryan deserves the truth. If he’ll believe it. So I corner him in the cereal aisle of our grocery store
.
Ryan nearly jumps out of his skin when I approach him. I find it hard not to laugh at his shock.

“We need to talk.”

“Yes we do,” he says, relieved. “Let me just pay.” Ryan pays for his items then follows me to where I lead him, a bench in the park.

“I’m sorry I’ve been avoiding you. Lexi told me about something you did a few years ago . . . and I just don’t know if I want a friend like that,” he rushes out, fiddling with his grocery bag.

I look ahead of us and watch a lady wearing a long, flowing purple dress struggle with her St. Bernard as it pulls her forward.

“Did she tell you I copied all the pages of personal things I’d written that people had told me, then distributed them all over school?”

“Something like that.” Ryan looks at me for a second then looks away.

The St. Bernard stops pulling and starts digging while the lady tugs desperately at the leash.

“It wasn’t me.”

Ryan looks at me hard. “It was your journal, you wrote the things down. You were the only person who knew, you’re the only person who could’ve done it.”

“I know, but I would never do that! Lexi stole my journal when she slept over three days before everything got out. It was missing, then she broke into my house and returned it!”

“I don’t know Lissa,” he says slowly.

“I’m telling the truth!”

“Can you look me in the eye and promise you didn’t do it?”

“I promise I never copied a single page or hung it in the school or even breathed a word,” my voice is desperate, pleading.

Ryan continues to hold my gaze and the energy between us intensifies. Finally he breaks away and says, “I believe you. No wonder everyone at school is rude to you.”

I slump down with obvious relief. “Yeah. No one ever even doubted that I did it. I thought someone would stand up for me—” my voice breaks and I take a few deep breaths.

“I would’ve stood up for you.”

A policeman walks over to the lady and starts pointing to the hole. She gives a helpless shrug. The policeman pulls at the dog’s collar.

“No, you wouldn’t have. You probably would’ve been hit too. But it's over and I know the truth.”

Ryan doesn’t say anything. A deep bark makes us both look over at the lady and her dog. The St. Bernard has stopped digging, but sees a squirrel race across the grass. The dog bolts after it, dragging the woman into the dirt.

“I burned the pages.” I look at Ryan. “Every single one. To be honest I haven’t written anything since. It all stays up here.” I tap the side of my forehead.

Ryan gives me a look I can’t decipher and I look away.

The policeman marches over to the lady and helps her stand up. She’s covered in dirt and grass from head to toe. The lady begins snapping at the policeman. Then out of nowhere the St. Bernard runs up and crashes into the police officer. The man crumples to the ground in a heap, the dog racing off once his victim is entirely towed over.

Ryan and I simultaneously burst into laughter. The policeman stands and shakes his fist at the lady, roaring at her. All the while she covers her mouth with her hand. I clearly hear “menacing dog” and “ought to be put down.”

I can no longer see the dog and am surprised when it lies down at our feet.

“Hey boy.” Ryan reaches down and strokes the dog’s big head. I grab the dog’s thick leather collar.

“You’re a trouble maker,” Ryan says.

“He’s a boy, I’m sure it comes naturally.”

Ryan snorts. “We usually do it on purpose. To impress girls like you,” Ryan says mischievously.

“Ah, of course,” I tease.

Ryan chuckles and I laugh along with him. It feels so good to laugh after the terrible things that seem to be tacking themselves up in my life. The dog’s breathless owner comes to stand in front of us.

“Thank you. He’s a lot of dog to handle alone sometimes, but he’s a big baby. He’s dug so many holes this year I’m getting blisters from filling them all in,” she says breathlessly.

“What’s his name?” Ryan asks.

“Lucas.” She clips on Lucas’s leash, waves at us then drags him back to the hole. The policeman holds out a shovel. I can hear her sigh from here.

Now that I’ve fixed things with Ryan I need to find Darklily. I’ve been avoiding her long enough. I know she’ll be upset that I didn’t keep my promise to talk to her days ago. Besides, I don’t want to get flipped off my bicycle again.

I’ve been calling Darklily for over half an hour. Annoyingly and amazingly she still hasn’t appeared in front of me. I’m about to give up when a shadow flits through the trees. “Dark?” I lean closer to get a better look.

“
GRRR!”

I fly backward and yell so loud I’m sure the whole town heard. Darklily rolls on the ground with laughter.

“
You should have seen your face!”
Darklily screeches with amusement.

I put a hand on my hammering chest. I wait for my heart to stop racing before answering, “Would you stop trying to give me a heart attack! Now I’m definitely going to scare you back.”

“You couldn’t scare me if your life depended on it,” Dark snickers.

“I thought you had something really important to tell me. But since I was mistaken I’ll be leaving.”

Her whiskers twitch. “I do.”

I don’t want to go home yet so I take her to my special spot. The rock is just barely big enough for the both of us to sit on.

“So what is this important thing you have to tell me?”

“It isn’t easy to explain but I’ll do the best that I can. I live on a planet called Pandorma and the only way to get from there to here is by portals, which can only be found by animals. A few years ago a man and woman came to our world and began—”

“I thought only an animal could find it.”

“They basically are an animal. Don’t interrupt. The man’s name is Xavier and the woman is Medusa. They have the ability to change into every animal on Pandorma.”

I open my mouth, but Dark gives me a warning look then continues. “They’ve recruited a large army and began a war. They want to rule the planet—so I’ve been told. We were winning, but then the tides began turning against us. As if things weren’t bad enough, they can destroy a whole army together, which makes it even harder to beat them. And Medusa is worse than Xavier. She’s not afraid to force animals to join their army. Medusa has spilled more blood than ever before. They’re terrible and if they’re not destroyed our planet—our
home
will be shattered.

I can’t watch my home get destroyed anymore. I came to Earth to find you. Now that I have, we need to return to Pandorma. Time is running out.”

Dark’s emerald eyes cut into mine. I slowly digest the information. I think my brain is still in overdrive from being abandoned.

After a bit of silence I finally think to ask, “Why
me
?”

“Because you are like them. You can shift into every creature just like they can,” she explains.

“How? I’m
human.
I can’t turn into anything and even if I could . . . no. It’s not possible. My parents are normal so how would
I
be able to turn into animals?”

She flicks her tail dismissively. “Perhaps they didn’t tell you they can shift?”

“No,” I say firmly. “My dad would tell me something like that.”

“Well, someone in your family had to be able to turn into an animal or else you wouldn’t be able to.”

“Okay then say you’re right. How do
you
know I can shift?”

“Would you believe me if I told you?”

“Not really,” I say slowly.

“I can sense it.” Dark cocks her head when I give her a confused look. “It’s like when you can sense someone will do you harm, or that someone is lying to you. In this case, I can sense your power. Being a shifter like Xavier and Medusa, you hold a certain kind of power.”

This makes sense in a way—even if I’m having trouble believing it. “What if you’re wrong?” I ask.

“I’m not,” she says certainly. A guilty look suddenly crosses her face. “I watched your parents leave.”

I sit up straighter. “You saw my parents leaving?”

“I didn’t wake you because you were in pain and your mother—she seemed to be doing her best not to wake you. And I thought it was normal, all young have to leave their parents at some point.”

There’s a difference between leaving and being left behind,
I retort silently. I don’t know whether to be angry or grateful. If she’d woken me I’m positive it would have started a big fight. “Never mind,” I say dejectedly.

“There’s something else. I was tracking you one day because I was bored and watched you talking to this large male with yellow fur.”

“It’s called hair.” I think for a minute. “And I think you mean Trevor.”

“Well I spotted him in the woods. And guess what happened?” Dark’s eyes sparkle.

“Um . . .”

“He turned into a wolf!”

“What? That . . . that’s impossible. People turning into wolves only happens in movies and books.” Except Dark
just
told me that I can turn into animals. I quickly revise, “I know, you just told me that I can shift! But I’ve known Trevor most of my life. There’s no way he can turn into a wolf. I am extremely tired, so if you don’t mind I’d like to go to bed.” I slide off the rock. The orange sun sparkles through the trees, making everything below turn to rusty gold. I stand and watch the colors for a minute. I love watching sunsets and the summer always possesses the most radiant ones. “I’m going to go home,” I say, even though the idea isn’t very appealing.

“Can I go with you? Since your parents are gone I could stay inside.”

What’s the worst that could happen? At least I won’t be alone.
“Sure.”

“Are you hungry?” I ask Dark as I search through the diminishing contents of the refrigerator.

“No I had a deer earlier.”

I shut the fridge door. Talk about a way to lose weight. Forgetting dinner, I go into the living room and open the drawer under the T.V., pulling out Jurassic Park, my favorite movie. At least Mom didn’t take everything with her. I sit in the middle of the couch. Dark lays down on the floor her front paws stretched out, head between her paws. Dark flinches when the sound turns on.

“That’s loud,” she says.

I turn the volume down, a bit. Scary movies were made to be loud.

We’re at the part right before T. Rex escapes. Dark has been fidgeting ever since the dinosaurs showed up. I told her to stop asking questions at the start of the movie and just watch. I can tell it’s difficult for her. And right now I have a feeling some questions are going to escape.

Minutes later Dark finally bursts out, “Those are on my planet. And why do they look so . . . unreal? And how were they put into such a small space?”

I blankly stare at her.

Darklily goes up to the screen and jabs a paw at the T. Rex, which has now escaped and is bellowing a frightening roar.

“Those.”

I give her a dubious look. I doubt Dark could be telling the truth, I mean Tyrannosaurus Rex still alive? Kind of hard to swallow. “Tyrannosaurus Rex live on your planet?”

Darklily nods her head. “Nasty, frightful creatures. Best to stay away from them,
especially
their young, if they have any.”

“Those things have been dead for centuries.

“Dead? But it’s right in front of you. A little worse for wear but still alive,” Dark says insistently.

“Its computer generated. It’s not real.”

“Computer generated?”

“Yes. That means . . . well—” I pause. I have absolutely no clue how it’s generated except that they use computers, so I revise, “I actually don’t really know how they make it. Is there anything else I should know about your planet?”