Shifters (Shifters series Book 1) (11 page)

Chapter 16

Solé and the Adventure

–TANNER–

I can
’
t believe Ryland left this part out. I think she was just happy to finally get somewhere that wasn
’
t a tiny town off a back highway. Anyway, Solé kept telling us which way to turn, and Kai just kept doing it. Seriously, I don
’
t think any of us knew where we were or if she even knew where we were going. She did act like she knew though. She was pointing out everything and telling us about all of it.

“You must have been a lot of places,” I asked her.

“No, just the gas station and my mom
’
s shop,” she told us. “Our visitors go everywhere,” she said with a smile on her face.

Kyle leaned forward asking, “You really see things, like in peoples
’
minds?
”

She laughed, saying, “No, silly. I can
’
t read minds.” She looked at Kyle who had a confused look and said, “Just where they
’
re going.”

When we crossed the Hudson River into New York, not the city, the state, we all got excited. None of us had ever been out of Connecticut. It was totally boring though. We didn
’
t go anywhere near the city. Instead, we just kept heading west. Once we were far enough, Solé told us to go south.

When we finally got to Pennsylvania, Kai asked, “What now?”

Solé pointed out a McDonald
’
s billboard and said, “There.”

“We came all the way to Pennsylvania to go to McDonald
’
s?”
Kai snapped.

“Oh, I didn
’
t even think of that,” Solé said. “
Can we? I am hungry.
”

“What?” Kai gritted his teeth. “I just want to know where we’re going!” Kai was tired and angry.

Solé looked dejected. “I
’
m sorry. It
’
s on the sign. I was looking for the sign.”

“It
’
s a Philly Cheesesteak,” Kyle said flatly. “Philly, you idiot. We
’
re going to Philadelphia.”

Solé seemed so pleased that Kyle knew what she was trying to say. So, we did stop to eat. Then, we headed to Philadelphia.

There. We
’
re all caught up.

So, she tells us to drive right into the city, and she hangs her head out of the window pulling her head back in to tell us a bunch of useless facts. “Did you know this was the capital of the United States when George Washington was president? Did you know the first newspaper was here? The first zoo? The first university? The first library?”

We all just look at each other, except for Kyle. He almost seems interested.

She goes on, “The first museum in America? The first piano? The first flag? Soda water and mustard?”

“Mustard?” Kyle asks.

“Yeah, and the first computer. Not to mention the Liberty Bell. Did you know they misspelled Pennsylvania on the bell?” She says excitedly.

“Seriously?” Kyle asks.

“Yeah, can you believe it?” She directs us right to Penn Square and tells Kai to pull over. She jumps out of the car and up onto the sidewalk. She starts spinning around saying, “Isn
’
t this amazing? I can
’
t believe I
’
m actually here.”

I turn around and see a Dunkin
’
Donuts right next to a Quiznos. Oh, yeah! I’m totally ready to eat.

“Should we be right out in the open like this?” Ryland speaks up.

“Oh, you don
’
t have to worry today, silly. They don
’
t find us until tomorrow,” Solé says as she walks toward the donut shop with an excited expression.

–RYLAND–

“Great,” I mutter as we walk into the Dunkin
’
Donuts.

As depressing as it is to think about what might happen tomorrow, I must admit I am excited to be inside my favorite donut store. There are rows of Boston Kreme chocolate éclairs and strawberry-filled powered sugar confections. My mouth begins to water.

Kai looks bored. “Donuts are really not the type of food we should be eating. We need vegetables and protein. We
’
ve got fights coming up.”

I shake my head. “Shut up, Kai. After the last few days, we all deserve a treat.” I think I forgot to mention I have a huge sweet tooth. I mean, if you are what you eat, I
’
m probably 95% sugar right now. That
’
s why I
’
m so sweet.

I order two maple bars, three chocolate éclairs, one strawberry-filled, and one with pink frosting and sprinkles. I also order myself two chocolate milks, one strawberry, and a Red Bull. I have no idea what anyone else orders because I’m too busy gorging myself on the spread before me.

I’m in heaven.

Mom always did grumble when I ate like this and still had a perfect figure. I always thought I
’
d better keep this up while I can. I
’
ll gain the freshman fifteen plus fifty when I get into college. I guess now I know that it
’
s something to do with being a Flyer.

My metabolism must be much higher than normal. Not to mention, I
’
m still growing, and all the normal human reasons people have a higher metabolism.

When I
’
m finished, I head over to Quiznos, where Kai has been for the last half hour. There, I order a Little Italy grilled flatbread with Cheetos and a root beer. Kai looks at me like I
’
m some sort of monster.

“What?” I ask, cheese hanging perilously between my mouth and sandwich.

“Do you normally eat this much?” he asks, picking at his baked potato chips.

“Nah,” I say. “But I’m totally starving today. I feel like I haven
’
t eaten at all.”

He nods. “Yeah, I think all the Shifting and Flying and lack of sleep is forcing your body into starvation mode.”

I stop eating for a second. “Is that normal for Shifters, for us?”

He shrugs. “I saw my mom do it a couple of times, particularly after Flying. I think it
’
s a common thing with Flyers. Birds eat a lot.”

“So,” I say with a little bit of an attitude. “You
’
re comparing me to a bird?”

“I
’
m just saying that kind of movement requires a lot of energy.”

Tanner, Kyle, and Solé finally join us. Solé is covered in powdered sugar, like she was in the Great Donut World War or something. “What happened?” Kai laughs, finally letting loose.

Solé looks down, embarrassed. “I have never had a jelly donut before. They’re delicious.”

“She ate three of them,” Tanner says, wide-eyed.

“Three, wow,” I say, somewhat embarrassed by how many I ate.

Kyle grins, “Where to now?”

Everyone looks to Solé who’s beaming. “Can we go see the museum? Or maybe—”

“Where are we supposed to go?”
Kai interrupts, impatient.

“Oh,” Solé says, disappointed. “334.”

“What is 334?” I ask, trying to clarify.

Solé
shrugs.
“That
’
s his address.”

“Whose address?” Tanner asks more patiently than I would have.

“The leader of the group here. He has something important—”

“How do we find him?” I ask.

Kai looks interested and interrupts before she can answer me. “What does he have?”

Solé just looks lost and confused, far away. When her eyes clear, she shrugs. “We just go to 334.”

“Great, Solé,” Tanner says encouragingly.

Kai looks like he
’
s about to blow a gasket. “That’s really not at all helpful.”

“I say we just swing into a neighborhood, knock on 334
’
s door, and ask if he
’
s a secret Shifter,
” I say, only half sarcastically.

“Oh, that
’
s a great plan!” Kai snaps, but Solé is beaming.

“Oh, yes!” She grins. “That
’
s it! A real adventure!”

Chapter 17

Shopping and Lifting and Shoplifting

–TANNER–

So we have to go find some mystery guy at some mystery address because he has some mystery thingy. And we really have to try to do it today because somebody is going to find us tomorrow and that doesn
’
t sound like it’ll be fun at all. 334? Another mystery. I have to admit this is kind of fun. Well, it would be if we didn
’
t have aliens and the FBI trying to kill us. It’s been forever since I had Dunkin
’
Donuts. And Sol
é has never done anything
, so watching her is cool.

“Can I see Kyle
’
s iPod?” Solé asks, holding her sugary hand out to Kai.

Kai just smiles at her and starts reaching his hand in his pocket. “Why?” he asks while she reaches across the table to take it from him.

“They have a Wi-Fi thing on the window,” she says, wiping and blowing the donut powder off of the screen. “I
’
m going to see if I have any emails.”

Ryland leans over to Kai and says quietly, “Can I see yours?”

Kai glances up and discreetly reaches into his other pocket and hands it to Ryland. She takes it and starts looking through Internet pages.

“Oh! They said you
’
re on the news again. Mom wants to FaceTime at,” she glances up at the clock, “now.” She closes the Mail app and clicks the FaceTime icon. It immediately launches and we see her mom on the screen. “Hi, Mom!” she says excitedly. “Is everybody there?”

“Of course, they are,” her mom says. We see her turn around and call everybody to the room. They all crowd around the computer and start talking at once. It’s kind of hard to understand, but Alice is mad. Melinda says she was so worried. Chucky’s saying something about being famous, and Frederick is saying “I can
’
t believe you left us” or something.

Kyle looks over Ryland
’
s shoulder at what she’s looking at, not really paying attention to the FaceTime. Ryland puts the iPod down on the table and starts talking to Melinda and Alice. Kyle picks it up and starts watching the news footage as he walks away.

“I
’
m so sorry. Please don
’
t be mad,” Ryland starts to apologize. “I didn
’
t want to. We aren
’
t safe to be with right now.”

“Remember those girls,” Frederick pipes up, “at the KFC?”

I step in front of the camera, and he says, “Whoa, dude! You look . . . different,” as he shakes his head. “Anyway, they were on the news talking about us!”

“Yeah!”
Chucky interrupts.
“They were all like, Tanner is so nice and so cute.” He puts his hand on his hip and starts acting like a girl as he goes on, “He actually let us eat with him, and he listened, like he totally cares about us.”

Ryland looks up at me, raising one eyebrow. Seriously, she thinks she
’
s so cute when she does that. Actually, it is pretty cute, but I
’
m not gonna to tell her that. “My little bro? The new Bieber?” she teases.

“They were showing off the pictures of them kissing you,” Chucky says. “Seriously, it
’
s all over TV and the Internet.”

Ryland actually looks proud of me for once. My face gets all warm, and I think
Please don
’
t blush.

Too late.

Solé puts her arm around me and says, “You shouldn
’
t be embarrassed. You are pretty adorable. Your girlfriend is too,” she says, smiling as she takes the iPod back and asks for her mom again.

What? Girlfriend?

Solé just goes on like it was nothing. It’s seriously not cool to drop a bomb like that and go on like nothing has changed. Ryland is now raising both eyebrows and staring at me. Okay, it wasn
’
t just me who heard that. Ryland slowly begins to smile, pulls me down on the bench next to her, and wraps her arms around my arm. She
’
s kind of freaking me out acting all nice like this. Kai doesn
’
t seem to notice the whole thing.

“Okay, Mom. I love you,” Solé says, as she air kisses toward the camera. “Mom says we should stay next door. We need our rest ‘cause we have a lot to do tomorrow. But I
’
m not really tired though. Can we sightsee?”

“I
’
ll get a couple of rooms next door. I saw a Marriot before we came in,” Kai says as he gets up and walks out.

Ryland watches him go out and walk back past the window right next to us. He doesn
’
t look at us when he walks by, but she is sure watching him. I can
’
t tell if she likes him or what. She does watch at him a lot.

“Do you like him?” I ask her.

“No,” she answers, too quickly. “Why?”

Solé is smirking as she puts her elbows on the table and props her chin up on her hands like we are the most fascinating things she’s ever seen.

“
I don’
t know,” I say. “You seem like you do.”

Ryland shakes her head and says, “Too damaged.”

I shrug my shoulders, not really sure if I believe her. I notice Kyle is off sitting by himself at another table, messing with the iPod.

After a few minutes, Kai comes back in and hands Ryland a key card and says, “We
’
re both on the fifth floor. I got adjoining rooms.” He yells, “Kyle, come on,” waving Kyle over. “We need some stuff. There
’
s a Macy
’
s right over there,” he says, pointing past the donut place.

Solé gets a huge smile on her face and says, almost squealing, “I
’
ve never been shopping before.”

Watching her is so totally cute. None of us can keep from smiling at how excited she gets over everything. She grabs Ryland
’
s hand and nearly drags her out the door, saying, “Girl time!”

I have to admit I’m kind of excited too. The clothes Alice gave me are the very first clothes I
’
ve ever had that Bryce didn
’
t wear before me. Ryland always had new things because she was the oldest girl. I know that
’
s not totally true because Peanut got new clothes even though there was nothing wrong with Ryland
’
s old stuff. I think Mom just really wanted girls.

The three of us guys smile as we try to keep up with the girls. This creepy old guy bumps right into Kyle as we’re crossing the street.

“Watch where you
’
re going,” the guy says, like it wasn
’
t his fault.

“Whatever, jerk,” Kyle says as he turns around trying to catch up with the girls.

This old guy just stands there staring at us like he
’
s measuring us for a new coffin or something. I don
’
t know what it is, but something about him just gives me the creeps. I turn around and keep walking toward the Macy
’
s, but when I look back, the old guy is still standing there watching us. “Maybe it
’
s just people in Philadelphia,” I think as I shrug it off and go inside.

I catch up with the guys and ask, “Where are the girls?” They both smile and point over to the girl
’
s underwear area. Solé is jumping up and down like it
’
s Disneyland or something.

“Come on, we have to get stuff too,” Kai says pointing to the men
’
s area on the other side of the store.

–RYLAND–

So, Solé has never been shopping before. I guess her parents like make their own clothes and stuff, which explains the hippie outfit. I can
’
t imagine.

I remember going to the store with my mom when I was younger, trying on every single dress we could find. I remember buying my first bra, getting my ears pierced—and spending who knows how much on earrings I never wear.

Those are memories I made with my mom that I
’
d never trade for anything. That
’
s what I always tried to do for Peanut, shopping, girl time, and Cinnabon.

Solé has understandably different tastes than I do. I head straight for the Miss Me jeans and bright tank tops. Solé looks for floor length skirts with strange prints and weird hats that block half of her line of sight. I grab her to steer her in the right direction.

“You would look great in skinny jeans,” I tell her, only slightly jealous. “With your willowy figure and long legs, you
’
ll have the boys
’
jaws on the floor.”

Solé wiggles her nose, unsure. “Do you wear skinny jeans?”

I shrug. “I
’
m more of a boot cut girl. Skinny jeans make my hips look too wide.”

She looks at the jeans, pinching them between her thumb and forefinger. “I guess they will work. Will they fit?”

I laugh. “We
’
ll try them on. Do you know what size you wear?”

She looks dazed for a second. She focuses her attention on the sales associate behind the counter to our right. She walks over to the lady, takes her hand, and a tear falls from Sol
é
’s left eye. “I’m so sorry, but you need to leave right now. You need to go home; something terrible has happened.”

The woman, probably in her early thirties, looks startled. Her bright blue eyes widen in shock. She reaches for the phone in her back pocket and grabs it right as it begins to ring. “Is everything okay? Is Tucker okay?” she asks, already hysterical.

Crying, she runs from behind the counter and outside.

Solé turns back to me very solemnly. “That poor woman.”

“What happened?” I say, completely dumbfounded.

“Her son. He was only three years old.” She begins to cry softly.

I don’
t know what to do. I walk over and put my arm around her. “It
’
s terrible, isn
’
t it?” I ask. “Seeing what you see?”

She wipes her tears away and quiets her sniffling. “Sometimes,” she admits quietly. Then, she smiles weakly. “Sometimes, it
’
s wonderful.”

I nod and return her smile. “Like what?” I ask, trying to encourage her.

“I will love these jeans in a size 0.” She grins.

“Fabulous,” I say. “What else?”

We shop for a long time. We both end up with new bras and matching panties, three pairs of jeans, and four shirts. I get a new gray leather jacket, and she gets an army jacket. We
’
re finally finished and ready to leave the store, giggling and happy.

The minute we set foot outside, we are surrounded by security. I instantly panic, thinking Keepers or Shifters or police. “Ma
’
am, please empty your back pockets,” the guard says to Solé.

“Excuse me?”
I demand.

Solé pulls a pair of three-dollar plastic hoop earrings out of her pocket. I want to scream. “Did you pay for those?” I ask.

Solé looks confused. “Pay?”

“You
’
ll need to wait outside,” the goons tell me. “We
’
ll have to take your friend inside.”

“You don
’
t understand,” I beg, batting my eyelashes. “She
’
s my cousin, and she
’
s autistic. I always pay for her. She doesn
’
t really understand the concept. Please, I
’
ll pay for them.”

Solé frowns. “I
’
m autistic?” she asks, confused.

I dig my nails into my palms. She is so not helping. “See what I mean? She
’
s completely . . .” I circle my finger next to my temple.

The guards glare at me. “She needs to come inside with us or we
’
ll have to contact the police.”

I grind my teeth. I can’t believe this. Solé is so stupid, and these guys are such jerks. We’ve got to get out of here.

Think. Think! THINK!

Suddenly Kai, Tanner, and Kyle appear around the corner. “What
’
s going on?” Kai asks.

The guards are beginning to look concerned. “Your friend is a shoplifter.”

“What?” Kyle is astounded. “But we have all that money.”

The guards raise their eyebrows.

“I tried to tell them,” I say. “Solé is autistic. She didn
’
t understand.”

Tanner frowns at me, disapproving of my lie.

“That
’
s ridiculous. We
’
ll pay for it, but she
’
s autistic. You shouldn
’
t discriminate,” Kai says, sounding an awful lot like a lawyer.

One of the guards reaches for his radio, and suddenly Solé’s gone. I realize she must’ve Shifted, but she
’
s just gone.

The guards blink and stare at us like we
’
ve somehow hidden her. Magically. As if that’s even possible.

“
Well,”
I say. “We
’
ve got to go.”

“
Wait,
” one of the guards says, but we
’
re already walking. They
’
ve got nothing on us and absolutely no way to explain this.