Shifters (Shifters series Book 1) (14 page)

Chapter 22

Kyle and the Artifacts

–TANNER–

Getting shot by FBI guys is definitely not on my list. I can
’
t believe how much it hurts, even though it was just a rubber bullet. I sure hope I never find out what a real one feels like. I can totally feel every bump this bus hits.

Somehow Marcus avoids all police. It
’
s like they don’t even see the bus. Weird. I guess this’s what you would call an express. To where, I don
’
t know.

I’m so lost. I sure hope he knows where he
’
s going. We head out of the city and down a tree-lined street.

“Aren
’
t you supposed to be picking people up or something?” Kyle asks.

“I called in for a replacement as soon as I saw you,”
Marcus explains.
“I have to return it to the yard soon, but I
’
ll drop you off first.”

He pulls off the street onto a long driveway. Way back in the trees, there’s a large white house. It reminds me of something from
True Blood
. It
’
s cool, but kind of creepy. He pulls up to the front of the house and stops.

Marcus opens the bus door and says, “Go on inside. Alena will know what to do.”

“So, we just go in?” Ryland asks.

“Yes, yes, go on,” he answers, motioning toward the door. “I have things to do. Go on, now.”

We all look at each other and hesitantly get off the bus. He closes the door, and without a moment to lose, turns around and drives back until he’s out of sight.

Solé starts skipping ahead, saying excitedly, “I can
’
t wait to meet Alena.” She looks back to see us all standing still. She runs back, grabs Kyle
’
s hand, and says, “Come on, slowpoke. We
’
re going in.”

We stand there for a moment, watching Solé drag Kyle to the door. We all shrug and start walking toward the creepy house.

When we get to the porch, we see a curtain on the door sweep aside to reveal a pretty woman
’
s face. Her eyes are a brilliant copper that seem to glow. At first, she looks suspicious. She looks at Kyle with a concerned expression. When she looks at Solé and Ryland, her expression warms, and she opens the door. She comes out and wraps her arms around Solé.

Kyle clearly doesn
’
t know what to think about the friendly stranger. The woman releases Solé, and Kyle takes her hand back into his.

The woman embraces Ryland and says, “Please come in. My name is Alena. Did Marcus pick you up?”

“Sort of,” Ryland answers cautiously.

She takes us all inside the house and offers us a seat.

Ryland asks, “Is Marcus your—?”

“Husband?”
Alena interrupts.
“Oh, no, we just take care of each other since . . .”

“Oh, I
’
m so sorry,” Solé says. “For both of you. That must’ve been terrible.”

“Yes. Well, we have each other now,” she tells Solé. “So, you’re a Seer?”

“What happened?” I ask.

“That
’
s not important. May I get you some hot chocolate?” Alena asks, walking toward the kitchen.

“
I love hot chocolate,
” I say as Ryland hits me in the shoulder. “What?”

Ryland gives me a stern look.

I watch her walk into the kitchen and turn a knob. She waves her hand over the burner, and it immediately ignites. I look at Kai and ask in amazement, “Did you see that?”

Kai leans over and quietly says, “Pyro.”

“Wow,” I say.

A few minutes later, she comes back in with a tray of several steaming cups and a bag of tiny marshmallows. Everybody takes a cup and thanks her.

I can
’
t help it. I ask, “How did you do that?” Ryland punches me again. This time, I almost spill my hot chocolate, which is the best thing ever invented. “Ouch! What?”

Again, she just gives me a look. Seriously, how am I supposed to know what I did if she doesn
’
t tell me? I
’
m not a mindreader.

“Oh, this,” Alena says as she holds her palm up, and a tiny flame appears to float just above her hand.

“Yeah, how do you do that?” I ask again.

“Oh, that
’
s my Endo,
” she explains.

I look at Kai remembering he said that before. I look back at her and ask, “What’s an Endo?”

“Didn
’
t your parents tell you?” She asks.

Ryland points to me and explains, “Our mom and dad were killed during the escape. We were raised by Ordinaries.”

Alena looks back and forth between Ryland and me. She asks, “Both of your parents?”

Ryland answers solemnly, “Yeah, our mom and dad.”

For some reason, Alena has a puzzled look on her face. She points to both of us and asks, “You two are brother and sister?”

That
’
s a weird question. We may not look exactly alike, but she’s definitely my sister.

Kai interrupts and explains, “Endos are like Apts you get from your parents, like Endowments. Something handed down. The tradition of your Apt is spoken about during your conferment ceremony. I mean, if you actually had a ceremony.” He looks at us apologetically. “Growing up with Ordinaries may have left some things out.”

Just then, I hear a car door slam, and Marcus comes through the door.

“Ah, I see you’ve met Alena,” he says happily.

He walks over to her and kisses her on the cheek, grabs the last cup of hot chocolate, and sits down in an old rocking chair.

“It seems you were in a bit of a jam when we found each other,” he says, taking a sip from the cup.

–RYLAND–

“What’s going on?” Tanner asks.

Again, he can
’
t seem to keep his mouth shut. And he
’
s asking all the wrong questions. The right question would be how do we win over the Keepers, how do we defeat the Shifters, why does everyone question our siblingship (I know that’s not a word), or do you have anything that could possibly help us. Tanner, Tanner asks what’s going on. Useless.

Marcus sighs. “Lately, there have been incidents.”

“Incidents?” Kai pipes up, intrigued.

Alena nods. “The Young are beginning to Shift. Most have done so less publicly than you, but they’ve been emerging.”

Tanner finally asks the right question, “They
’
ve been caught on video, you mean?”

Marcus nods. “Most people attribute these films to hoaxes or copycats, but the Keepers, and I
’
m sure Shifters, have been watching. They’re being hunted down.”

I shake my head in horror. How many of us will they kill? How many of us will suffer? When is enough enough?

“So, they
’
re basically on red alert?”
Tanner asks.

Kyle nods now, confirming this. “We’ve been running drills constantly. They were preparing us for a full-out war, if necessary.”

“And somehow, the general population finds themselves blissfully unaware of the atrocities happening right under their noses. Can you say World War II Germany?” I snap.

Alena shakes her head sadly. “These are perilous times.”

Solé nods, eyes distant and sad. “Beliefs will need to be shattered, many broken, before the lost will rise.”

“The Keepers,” I say suddenly. “The Keepers are lost.”

“What do you mean?” Kyle asks, confused as to just what I’m accusing him of.

“Marcus, do you know the Prophecy?” I ask, slightly more excited.

Marcus nods, not quite following my line of thought.

“Do you know the history behind it?”

Again, he nods. “Our home world, Gaia, sent twelve great ships to colonize the universe. Eleven prospered, but the last one, number 7, was lost.”

I know I’m onto something here. “And the Prophecy says something about, ‘Hidden amongst the lost and lies,
’
right?”

“Yes,” Alena says patiently. “Most of us, over time, have come to believe the lost in the prophecy refers to the lost planet, to Earth.”

I shake my head. “That isn
’
t it.” I say, sure now. “That lost colony does exist. So, what is the likeliness the descendants of those original colonists exist?”

“They may well exist,” Marcus agrees.

“
They’re
the lost. It isn
’
t the planet. It
’
s the Keepers,” I say, unable to contain my excitement.

“Then what are the lies?” Kyle wonders.

“Don’t you get it?” I ask.

Tanner finally catches on. “The lies are your beliefs. We
’
re hidden here, among you. We reside and survive and run from your lies—”

“It isn
’
t until we rise above them, with the lost, that we’ll be able to fulfill the Prophecy,” I finish.

Kai shakes his head. “No.”

“Kai, you know I
’
m right. The Keepers are the lost colonists,”
I argue.

“They’ll never be convinced they’re wrong,” he answers sternly. “They
’
re killers.”

“You convinced me,” Kyle says quietly.

“
We don’
t need to convince them all,” I say. “We need the Young.”

“The artifacts,” Kyle quietly breathes.

“What artifacts?”
Tanner asks quickly.

Kyle shakes his head. “They must be using the artifacts to manufacture advanced technology.”

“What artifacts?” I demand, and Kyle snaps out of it.

“The Keepers have artifacts,” he says. “Weapons and other technology. It must be from the original ships.”

“The ships,” Tanner asks hesitantly. “Are there any intact?”

I shake my head, thinking who on Earth cares, when I realize what Tanner is thinking. If the Shifters won
’
t stop, he wants to take the fight to them. He won
’
t let them ruin his home.

For the first time in my life, I find myself really and truly impressed by my brother. I wonder, perhaps for the first time, if he’s the prophesied Shifter. Then, I think how ridiculous that is.

“Where are these artifacts?” I ask.

“All over the world,” Kyle shrugs.

“
DC,
” Solé says. “What we will need is in DC.”

“What
’
s there?” Tanner asks.

“Keeper headquarters,” Kyle says deadpan.

Chapter 23

We Work While They Play

–TANNER–

I can
’
t believe what I
’
m hearing. Alien ships? This is so cool. And my sister, she
’
s like a freaking genius. She just figured out the entire prophecy that stumped a whole race of people on thirteen planets for the past twelve years. Not even Solé saw that one coming.

Kyle suddenly gets a wide-eyed expression on his face. I swear it
’
s like I can almost see the light bulb above his head, so I ask, “What is it Kyle?”

Kyle gets a huge smile on his face, looks right at Solé, and says, “You
’
re a genius.”

Solé beams.

“Do you have a computer?” Kyle asks Alena.

“Yes,” she replies, not quite understanding why.

“Please say it
’
s a Mac,” he says hopefully.

“It is,” she says, still not understanding. “It
’
s in the kitchen.”

Kyle jumps and heads to the kitchen, saying, “I know why we need to go to Keeper Headquarters.”

All of us sit here, staring at each other for a long second before we rush into the kitchen following him. He sits down in front of the screen and starts typing. Solé stands right next to him with a proud expression on her face as he launches some website.

“What’re you doing?” Ryland asks.

“You need the young Keepers, right?” he asks.

Ryland nods, “Yeah.”

“
Like me
. . . the young Keepers,” he says as he clicks on links and begins several downloads. We all watch as he launches a dmg install processes. “It
’
s the game,” he says not even looking up. “The leaders use it to . . . well . . . find you guys. But they figured out if they don
’
t keep it interesting, then people stop playing it.”

“So?” Kai asks.

“Don
’
t you see?” Kyle says, now sounding slightly frustrated. “It
’
s obviously not just a game. We use it for everything. We communicate through it.” He stops what he
’
s doing, stares at his hands on the keyboard, and says quietly, “To tell about kills.” Still looking at his hands, he says, “Like real life kills.”

Kai pulls out his iPod, starts messing with it, and moves a few steps away.

Kyle looks up at Solé who has a pained expression on her face and says apologetically, “I didn
’
t know. I
’
m so sorry.” He takes her hand and says, “If I would have known . . . I swear . . .”

She squeezes his hand and tells him, “It
’
s okay. I know you didn
’
t.”

She takes one hand and wipes a tear from her cheek. I have no idea what she
’
s thinking, but I’m shocked. They’ve been bragging about killing us. What have they been saying? Are we like bugs or Nazis or something? Kai must be thinking the same thing. I can see the anger rising in him. He stays quiet though.

Kai walks back over asking, “These are all real?”

“Not all of them,” Kyle answers. “Most are just regular gamers telling stories. They just kind of copy the real ones. Here look,” he says, taking the iPod and touching some on-screen button. “We can filter by user type. If I narrow it down to actual Keepers,” he says typing on the screen, “there . . . these are real.” He hands it back to Kai who starts to read them.

Kyle turns around and launches a window that looks just like an iPod touch screen. He starts typing some more stuff, and all of this gibberish shows up on the screen. I seriously have no idea how anybody can understand all that. From the looks of it, Kyle knows exactly what he
’s doing.

“So, you think you can just send them a message?” Kai snaps. “That
’
s all we had to do all along. ‘Hey guys, maybe you should stop killing those kids.’ And they
’
re gonna be like, ‘Oh, sorry. I guess we should stop slaughtering you.
’”

Kyle says, “It
’
s not that simple. Our communications are monitored and categorized. But to keep the games fresh, they launched a new development program. They let us build game patches and updates and stuff.”

Ryland says, “So you can just change the game? Make us the good guys or something?”

As he’s feverishly entering code, he explains, “I can
’
t just change the game.”

Ryland deflates slightly.

“But,” he goes on, “I can hide something in it.”

Solé bites her lip and smiles. “Like a secret?”

“Yeah, it kind of has to be,” Kyle says, not even stopping his fingers. “When we submit updates, there’s this kind of big review process they go through. You know, to make sure it doesn
’
t break other things or change the message the leaders want out there.”

This all sounded good to me until the review part. “How long does that take?” I ask.

“When Solé said we have to go to DC, I realized,” he says, smiling at Solé, “if we can get into the headquarters, we could bypass everything.”

“Put it straight into the next update?” I ask. “If we put it straight in, why did you say we have to hide it?”

“If it
’
s obvious, they’ll shut it down right away.”

“But if it
’
s hidden,” Ryland says, catching on.

“Right,” Kyle says. “If only the young can find it, then we can tell them the truth, and the leaders won
’
t even know. The one thing I don
’
t know about is how to get in to the servers. They have surveillance everywhere.”

“I think I know how to get around that,” Ryland says, looking at Kai.

Kai starts shaking his head. Ryland stands up and gives him her adorable one raised eyebrow look. Seriously, no guy could resist that. Naturally, he gives in.

Kai points out the obvious, asking, “If it
’
s hidden, how will anybody ever see it? Or even know to look for it?”

Solé smiles and cheerfully says, “We
’
ll just have to tell them.”

She’s looking right at me as she says that. Why doesn
’
t she look at someone else? Everyone looks just as puzzled as I am. Good. At least it
’
s not just me who doesn
’
t get it, but she just keeps looking with that cute little smile. Oh great, now she
’
s biting her lip with an expectant look on her face as she starts twirling her fingers in her amazing silvery blonde hair. What am I supposed to do with that? Her hair is really pretty. I kind of start to get lost in her beauty when it hits me. I reach in my pocket and pull out the crumpled paper and unfold it in my palm.

“I know how to tell them.”

–RYLAND–

Tanner’s acting like a teenage girl. I must apologize for that. He’s obsessing over every girl he meets like she’s the most incredible thing he’s ever seen. As if he
’
s never seen a girl before.

Although, I will admit that no girl has probably ever looked at Tanner quite like that before. Not that she
’
s even trying to do it. She
’
s clearly more into Kyle. Like—way into Kyle—like they
’
ve been dating for three years already.

And no, I’m not at all acting like either of them. I’ve shown no particular attention to anyone. Especially not a cute boy who basically changed our lives forever, saved us, and introduced us to the best version of ourselves. Who would that even be, anyway?

“
Kai,
” I say as Kyle, Tanner, and Solé settle in to begin their long night of programming.

He turns to look at me with those strange, hallucinogenic eyes. Seriously, do my eyes do that? When people look into them, do they see everything they ever wanted or could be?

His facial expression is dark and unreadable. Anger still burns beneath his skin, hatred and bitterness toward all those who stole from him. Still, he looks at me softly.

“I was wondering,” I continue, not sure of how he’ll react. For the first time in my life, I find myself completely lacking all self-confidence.

He tries to smile—just a twitch in the corner of his mouth.

That’s all the assurance I need. “Will you teach me how to fight?”

He starts laughing. I mean, he
’
s really laughing. He throws his head back and roars with laughter. Even our hosts, cleaning up in the kitchen turn to see what the commotion is.

I find myself blushing a deep scarlet. I can
’
t believe I even bothered asking. Of course, he would think that
’
s ridiculous.

“Sure,” he barely gets out as he doubles over. “God,” he says, “I thought you were going to tell me there were Keepers outside or something.”

I relax then. He thought I had something terrible to say. It wasn
’
t that teaching me to fight was that funny. I really do think I have some potential. You know, with the superpowers and all.

“Let
’
s go out back,” he says. “When I excused myself earlier, I saw they have a good bit of land behind the house.”

When he opens the back door for me, I
’
m grinning and blushing, but stop dead at the sight. The yard is probably two acres and looks like an obstacle course used to train police officers. There’s a high ropes course complete with a zip line and tight rope. There’s a small cityscape with broken walls and abandoned cars. There’s even a small wooded area in the back.

“What on Earth?” I breathe.

Kai laughs and takes my hand.

My breathing stops. Did I ever breathe in the first place? His hand is so warm and sure around mine. It
’
s hardened and calloused like he
’
s worked for years. He probably has.

“It
’
s really common for Shifters on Earth to have spaces like this,” he says, pulling me off the stoop and toward the nearest car. “We need to be ready in case we
’
re discovered. We train constantly.”

I shake my head in awe. “You have to be the One,” I say. “You
’
ve prepared for it your whole life.”

“
Well,
” he shrugs, “our course wasn
’
t as great as all this. My dad just built it in an abandoned warehouse downtown. The same warehouse where . . .”

He breaks off, and I realize I know exactly what warehouse he
’
s referring to. “I
’
m sorry,” I say softly. “At least you got to know them.”

I know it isn
’
t the right thing to say. I sound bitter. I don
’
t sound at all comforting. I sound annoyed he isn
’
t grateful that his parents died when he was fourteen instead of when he was a baby like my parents.

Somehow, though, Kai connects with that bitterness. It
’
s as though he senses a kindred spirit. “Yeah, and now, I know how to fight. Now I can kick your—”

His left foot slams into the back of my knees and I fly forward, hitting the car with enough force to dent it. “Ugh!” comes out of my mouth in the most unladylike of grunting manners.

“Knees!” he shouts from far off, and I look up to see he’s all the way across the green space sitting on the tight rope thirty feet in the air, grinning.

“Oh, you
’
re on!” I say and charge toward him with all of my energy.