Shifters (Shifters series Book 1) (15 page)

Chapter 24

Tire Iron and Dream Time

–TANNER–

I hate to admit it, but Kyle is a genius at programming. As it turns out, he’s the most popular programmer for the Enforcers game, which I would totally be into . . . if I could play games without frying them. And if it
’
s sole purpose wasn
’
t to hunt me down and kill me so the players could brag about slaughtering me . . . literally.

Wow! That just gave me the creeps.

Anyway, Kyle creates a secret passage on one of the screens in level twenty. He says that level has a boss you can fight without having to be in the presence of a Shifter. I guess the bosses only come out on some of the levels when one of us is around. Somehow, they can detect us because of a small electrical current that surrounds us. That
’
s also why the game doesn
’
t really work on phones. When detected, the iPod gamers are told to get to a Wi-Fi zone. They say it
’
s to call in your friends to play online, which it does, but what it’s really doing is sending your location so the Keepers can narrow down where you are.

That is seriously disturbing. Regular kids will play it without even knowing what they’re really doing is leading real life assassins to innocent kids.

He also placed it there because level twenty was a level he built a few months ago and it’s one of the only levels that has young Keepers in it. He asks Solé about the prophesy as he feverishly types it all in. I really don
’
t understand what they’re talking about, but Solé does.

Since I
’
m not really helping and it
’
s so late, I leave them to do their thing. Marcus and Alena are in the back room looking out the window holding hands. They don
’
t even know I
’
m behind them.

“Do you think it could be them?” Alena says hopefully.

Marcus just stares out the window without saying a word. I look out and see Ryland sail across the yard. OMG! She is amazing. And Kai is a fighting genius. Somehow he can Shift on demand. She actually does it too! Watching them at this moment, it dawns on me that Ryland could actually be the One. I always thought it was Kai, and it still could be, but it actually might be my sister. She’s always been a leader. Not just because every guy thinks she’s the hottest girl ever, but because she always knew what the best thing to do was. Even though she tries to maintain a tough exterior, she really cares about people.

Marcus puts his arm around Alena and pulls her close to him as he says, “I pray they are.”

I don’
t want them to think I’m spying, so I purposefully kick the doorway as I walk in.

“
Come in, Tanner,
” Marcus says with a pleasant smile.

“Have you trained many?” I ask, watching Kai and Ryland move like superheroes through all of the cool props.

“I
’
ve trained my share,” he says, watching out the window.

“What about them?” I ask, looking up at Marcus. “Are they good?”

He starts shaking his head. My heart sinks. I knew it. There
’
s no way we can do this. The prophecy must be talking about someone else. They’re going to kill us.

“How long has she been training?” he asks.

I’m so disappointed. I look at my feet, feeling totally defeated. “We didn
’
t know we were Shifters. We never trained.”

“She’s quite spectacular,” he says. “She may be the best Flyer of our generation, a natural fighter. And he appears to be well trained. He’s quite good.”

I stare up at him with a stunned expression. I must look like a total idiot.

“You look tired,” Alena says, reaching out to take my hand.

I am really tired. She takes me upstairs to a bedroom and points me to the bathroom. I didn
’
t even think about it until now, but we lost all of our stuff and our car. Alena opens the drawer of an old dresser and pulls out some clothes and tells me I can take whatever I want. I look around. There are several dressers and beds in this room. We must not be the only ones that have taken refuge here.

I don’
t even remember going to bed, but I’m startled awake by Alena shaking my shoulder and whispering.

“Get up!”

I
’
m groggy, and the sun’s shining right through the window. As soon as she sees me open my eyes, she moves on to another bed, shaking them. Marcus is doing the same thing. I sit up and see Kyle and Solé are sitting up in the beds across the room while Kai and Ryland are frantically gathering things into some gym bags.

I ask, still sleepy, “What
’
s going on?”

Marcus goes to the window and says, “They
’
re surrounding the house.”

What! I jump and grab whatever I can and stuff it into a bag Marcus throws at me.

“Listen . . . down the stairs. There
’
s a stairway behind the fridge. Go to the far side behind the furnace,” he says quietly.

“We
’
ll fight!” Kyle says sharply.

“You won
’
t,” Alena says. “You’re our only hope. Go! There
’
s a panel that’ll slide if you push on it. It’ll lead to a tunnel to the west side of the property. Close it behind you.”

“What about you?” Solé asks. “We can
’
t just leave you.”

“Go!” Marcus says.

We run down the stairs, through the kitchen, and down to the basement. I can hear Marcus walk outside and start to talk to the visitors. Kai runs behind the furnace and starts searching for the panel.

“
Hurry, Kai,
” Ryland says, looking back at the staircase.

Kai finds the panel and slides it open. I can hear someone yell, “We know they
’
re here!” Then, there are several more shouts. We all start walking through the tunnel. I can hear footsteps running across the floor above us as I slide the panel closed behind us.

–RYLAND–

My heart’s in my throat when I realize the people fighting Alena and Marcus are not Keepers. They’re not perfectly fit FBI agents. They don
’
t look similar at all really.

They’re in what appears to be black track suits, although some of the women are in yoga pants. They’re all very attractive and moving very fast. Inhumanly fast.

I realize with a start that we aren’t being attacked by Keepers. We’re being attacked by Shifters. This is by far the most danger I’ve ever been in.

One of the women slips past Alena and follows us through this secret underground Shifter railroad. We’re running as fast as we can, but the woman leaps forward and tackles me to the ground.

I fly forward, face scraping the ground and ankle twisting in her hands. I kick back and hit her pretty pale, freckled nose. Her auburn hair’s pulled into a tight bun, and I realize why.

She lunges forward and grabs my loose brown hair, pulling my head back. I scream, whip around and scratch her right across the face, snagging her left eye.

“
Kai!
” I yell.

The others have continued sprinting away, completely unaware I’m now almost a quarter mile behind. Kai snaps his head back. The next thing I know, he’s ripping her off of me and tossing her down like a rag doll.

Then she vanishes. I don
’
t know where she’s gone, but she’s no longer an immediate threat. Kai pulls me to my feet.

We sprint after the others, breathing hard. I’m so frightened and full of adrenaline I hardly notice his hand wrapped around mine, gripping me fiercely.

He looks at me and pants, “
Shift.
”

I’m not sure if I can. What if he Shifts while holding my hand and sprinting? Will I get dragged down onto my face? Then I realize we
’
ve already Shifted.

We’re easily catching up with the others, who have essentially frozen. When we reach them, they begin to move again. I turn back to see the house and stop dead.

Because my hand is still in his, Kai stops. The others slowly turn to see what we’re looking at, and Solé stifles a sob. The house is in flames. Everything is burning.

“Where are they?” I ask because not only do I not see Alena or Marcus, I don
’
t see anyone.

“Ry!” Tanner screams as a blinding pain erupts in my left temple.

I fall to my knees, the earth shaking and shuddering and spinning beneath me. A buzz begins in my ears. I look up through slitted eyes, the world on a slant.

Kai is fighting two women. I think they must be the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen. Their matching silver hair floats around them in perfectly straight halos. Their athletic bodies flow like dancers rather than fighters, and their violet eyes flash. Jealousy tickles at my stomach. Did I say jealousy? I meant fear.

Kyle has been pinned to the ground, face first, by a large man in Nike shoes. He’s zip-tying Kyle
’
s hands behind his back.

As red floods my vision, my eyes blur and burn. Is that blood?

Tanner’s weakly trying to fight the same woman who tackled me earlier. She twists his wrist so far I’m sure it’ll break, and he cries out in pain.

Solé is disappearing and reappearing along with a small, wiry man. When she does appear, I can never tell if she’s winning or losing. She’s pinned him on the ground then he’s driving his knee into her abdomen.

I shakily try to rise to my feet. The one step I take makes my head spin. I feel bile rising in the back of my throat, and I lose whatever inconsequential contents were in my stomach.

I shake it off as blood spatters to the concrete. I realize it’s mine, and my stomach turns again. I’m bleeding from a head wound. That means I’m almost guaranteed a concussion.

I push past the pain and dizziness and dive toward Tanner
’
s opponent. In the haziness and adrenaline, I’ve almost forgotten my twisted ankle, but now, it falters. I nearly collapse onto her as I tackle her, freeing Tanner at last.

I smash my fist into her face as quickly and violently as I can. She attacked my brother. She threatened my family.

I continue to smash until I realize she’s bleeding and only half conscious. Tanner’s talking to me. For the first time, I realize I can hear again.

“Ry!” Tanner’s shouting, but it sounds muted as though it’s coming to me through water. “Ry, let
’
s go!”

He pulls me up, and Kai scoops me into his arms.

“Alena and Marcus?” I mutter meekly.

Solé smiles down at me. “They’re okay. They led the others away.”

I nod softly, which only makes my head ache all the more.

We reach a car, and Kai lays me gently in the third row of seats with my brother. He hops out. Kyle and Solé jump into the seats in front of me. I can’t see Kai, but I assume he’s driving as we pull away.

Sirens blare all around us. The fire, I think. It
’
s only the fire. They can
’
t be looking for us. The Keepers don
’
t know we
’
re here.

We pass the truck as it barrels down the road toward the house, and I breathe a sigh of relief. I let my eyes roll into the back of my head and surrender to unconsciousness.

Unfortunately, even unconsciousness doesn
’
t let me rest. The pain from my head follows me into my bizarre dreams, tainting what peace might lie there.

I open my sleeping eyes to see that same strange orange sky. This time though, there’s no gray smoke or screaming or noise. Everything is quiet and soft.

I realize I’m lying down with a soft, white blanket wrapped tightly around me. A woman is singing. Her blond hair is swaying as she dances next to me.

A peaceful, happy feeling begins to fill me at the sound of her voice, but the pain in my head makes the world shudder and darken.

I awake as Kai slams on the brakes, and my head hits the seat in front of me. Tears stream down my face as the world shudders violently. For a moment, the strange woman and orange sky flash before my eyes, but they’re gone before I can even think.

“Be careful,” Tanner grumbles, irritated. “You just threw Ryland onto the floor. Besides, we don’t want to get pulled over.”

Tanner pulls me back onto the seat, pain exploding with every tiny movement. “Ugh,” I groan.

“She wasn
’
t asleep, was she?” Kyle snaps back at Tanner. “She has to have a concussion. You can
’
t let her sleep.”

“I
’
ll keep her awake.” He sounds frightened for me. What a nice brother.

Does it seem as though lately I’m always the one who is injured or unconscious or whatever? This is really and truly unfair. It
’
s not as though I’m the worst fighter or the slowest or even the best target.

“What happened?” I mutter.

“That lady who was fighting me attacked you. She was a Shifter. She came out of nowhere.” Tanner says cooly, calmly.

“Did she hit me with a bat?” I ask, somewhat angry, but slightly impressed by her resilience. Not that she won.

Kai laughs at that. “Nope, she hit you with a tire iron from the cityscape. No bat could take you down.” He winks at me in the rearview mirror.

I can
’
t help but smile. Even though my head hurts worse than ever before, even the time I jumped off the roof or broke my two front teeth or busted my patella. I know I look a mess with dingy brown hair and a blood-stained face.

“So, what now?” Kyle asks, interrupting. “She obviously needs to see a doctor.”

Chapter 25

We Meet the Nicest Nurse Ever

–TANNER–

My sister makes me sound like a total wimp. Seriously, I was doing just fine. I think I can take some gorgeous redhead in a fight. Even if she is an alien with superhuman abilities.

Anyway, when Ryland pulled her off of me, I was relieved. But she went kind of crazy beating the attacker senseless. The alien woman was barely conscious. Ryland is a total fighting machine. I mean, seriously bad-A. My sister’s totally going to be some kind of warrior leader if—I mean when—we destroy the invaders.

That sounds kind of weird since we’re actually aliens, too.

For some reason, Kai leads us straight to a car hidden in the trees. He has keys for it and everything. How did he know about this? He puts Ryland into the back seat, and we all put our new gym bags in the trunk, back seat, or wherever we can, as quickly as possible and jump in. Kai peels out and screams onto the road like he knows exactly where he
’
s going.

When Kyle tells Kai Ryland needs a doctor, he doesn
’
t even change course. I thought he liked her? I mean, really liked her. What’s he doing? Doesn
’
t he even care that she
’
s hurt?

Solé is sitting unusually quiet. She’s staring out the window, watching the trees fly by.

Kai pulls a paper out of his jacket pocket, hands it to Kyle, and orders, “Line one. What does it say?”

Kyle takes it and gives Kai a deadpan stare.

“Read it!” Kai yells.

Kyle reluctantly looks down at the paper and says, “Where did you get this?”

“When you were playing on the computer with your girlfriend, Marcus and Alena gave it to me,” Kai spat.

“We weren
’
t playing,” he argues as he looks down at the paper. “Holy crap! Is this all of them?”

I ask, “All of who?”

Kyle looks back at me then down at my sister who
’
s moaning and laying across my lap. “You,” he answers.

What? I thought nobody knew where all of us were living, I mean hidden. Wow. I never really thought about that. This, I mean we, are some kind of huge cover-up. Like some kind of secret group planning to overthrow an evil dictatorship, kind of like a plot to kill Hitler or something. Except in this case, Hitler is a universal ruler invading Earth to kill the Young. Us!

“Not all,” Kai says. “Just around here. But it does lead to other leaders who have the same kind of information for their areas.”

“Like a network,” Solé says, finally breaking her gaze. “Look at sixteen. Sixteen is where we need to go,” she says as she gently plays with Ryland
’
s newly brown hair. “I like it natural better. Yeah, she is so beautiful with her natural hair.”

“Sixteen,” Kyle says frantically looking over the paper. “Where is sixteen?”

“Just find it, Kyle!” I shout looking at my sister whose eyes open and close as she drifts in and out. How hard can it be to find a number? Geez! She needs help.

“It
’
s not that easy!” Kyle shouts back at me. “They
’
re not exactly numbered.” He flips the paper over and mutters, “C fifteen.” He flips the paper back and says, “Here it is. Take a left up here.”

Kai follows his instructions turning left then right onto a busy road.

“There!” Kyle shouts. “It says to pull along the right side and go to a door marked ‘Employees.’”

We pull up to a large building that has Presbyterian General Hospital across the top.

I yell at Kyle, “We can
’
t just go in. They know we’re in Philadelphia. They’ll be looking for us.”

“
We don’
t just walk in the front door, you idiot!” Kyle says.

I
’
m not an idiot!

“Don
’
t worry,” Solé says with her naturally calming voice. “She’s expecting us.”

Seriously, how does she do that? I was totally freaking out, and somehow, she just instantly calms me. Is that a Seer thing? Okay, then. I guess we
’
re just going to walk into a hospital even though the FBI has been putting our picture up on every newscast and electronic billboard in the country. How in the world did a fourteen-year-old boy and his twelve-year-old sister ever end up as
America
’
s Most Wanted?
We haven
’
t really even done anything, aside from being born at the wrong time.

Born? OMG!

“What’s the date?” I ask everyone.

“What?” Kyle asks. “Who cares what the date is?”

“This is April, right?” I ask again, “What date is it?”

Kyle looks at his watch and answers, “The twelfth. Why?”

“
I‘m so sorry, Ry,
” I say, holding her across my lap.

“What is it, Tanner?” Solé asks.

“I totally forgot,” I say. “It was her birthday yesterday. She
’
s thirteen now.” I shake her again, “Ry, wake up!”

She comes around again and says, “Why? Leave me alone. I
’
m so tired.”

“So, you
’
re fourteen, and she
’
s thirteen?” Kai asks from the front.

That
’
s a strange question. Why is everybody so concerned with our age?

“Happy birthday, Ryland,” Solé says.

Ryland smiles up at her and says, “I love birthdays.”

“It says to knock on this door and ask for . . . that
’
s weird
. . . Betty Crocker,” Kyle says.

Kai gets out and runs up to the door. Some lady comes out then goes back in, and the door closes. Kai just stands there, waiting. The door opens again, and two people come out with a wheelchair. Kai opens my door then tells me to get out. I do, and the two women put Ryland in the chair; then, we all go through the door.

Ryland wakes up and starts asking them where she is and what
’
s going on.

–RYLAND–

I know Tanner feels bad he forgot my birthday. I know exactly why. Tanner has never forgotten my birthday before. Mom would’ve never allowed that.

My birthday was like a national holiday in our house. I was her oldest girl, her daughter. We would skip school, go shopping, get our hair and nails done; then, we would come home to eat pizza and Rocky Road ice cream. Every year, Mom would talk about it for days and days.

So, yeah, I love my birthday. It
’
s the best. I love spending time with Mom during the day and watching—I know this is silly—
The Lion King
with the family while we eat.

This year, though, I honestly didn
’
t even remember between running from, well, everyone and being away from Mom and Dad. I wonder now if this even is my exact birthday. If I was handed to Mom and Dad in the craziness and chaos of some sort of coup, they wouldn
’
t exactly have had time to find out when my birthday was.

At least I didn
’
t get this horrible concussion until the next morning. That means on my birthday, Tanner got shot, we jumped on a random bus, and we figured out the importance of the Keepers in all of this prophecy mess. On the positive side, we had an amazing breakfast, and I got to train with Kai. I’ll admit that was really fun.

Today, however, not so much. I basically drift in and out of consciousness for the rest of the drive, although—thank God—
I don’
t have any more strange dreams. When I do wake up, we’re in a hospital. Nurses are wheeling me down a hallway, and I
’
m strapped into the wheel chair, like a prisoner.

“Where am I? Where
’
s Tanner? Tanner!” I yell frantically. We must have been captured, I think. The police have hospitalized me, but the Keepers will show up soon to destroy me. Is it too late for Tanner?

I Shift in my panic. The wheelchair freezes, but the restraints are still perfectly functional, even if they are frozen in time. My head surges in pain, and I nearly black out, breaking my shift.

I collapse back into the chair as Tanner pushes forward, putting his hand on my shoulder. “I
’
m right here,” he says. “Hush.”

I would sigh in relief, but my head is pounding so I grimace instead.

“Dear,” the nurse whispers harshly, “there are other people in the hospital who might have heard that name in a less positive manner.”

I furrow my brow, feeling the dried blood crinkle on my skin. I must look a mess.

“Can you make it stop?” I ask meekly.

She laughs this time. “That depends entirely upon what you mean, dear. I can make the pain stop, yes, but I can’t make them stop chasing you, causing new pains.”

I sigh in frustration. She’s answered my question, but she’s also greatly depressed me. Why on Earth would that be funny? It
’
s funny that people are constantly trying to kill us?

So, she takes me into the strangest hospital room I’ve ever seen. “Is that an MRI or something?” Tanner asks in confusion.

Kyle, who just followed us into the room, balks. “That
’
s not an MRI, Tanner,” he says in awe. “This isn
’
t even Earth tech, is it?”

“Very true, dear,” she replies absentmindedly to Kyle.

She’s pressing buttons on a huge black machine that buzzes and whirs under her deft control. “This,” she says, explaining to me now, “is a machine from Gaia.”

“What does it do?” Kai asks with a raised eyebrow. “And how did you get it?”

“This . . . well, I can
’
t really explain all it does. Shifters aren
’
t typically trained for this sort of work.” She shrugs. “I sort of stole it off of our ship after it landed.”

“So,” Tanner starts incredulously, “you stole a powerful piece of medical technology from other refugees even though you don
’
t really know how to use it?”

“I learned!” she snaps back at him. “And I share it with others at great personal risk, I might add. Someone could catch me with you. You’re fugitives.”

If my head weren
’
t pounding as though it were going to implode in mere moments, I would get up and walk out. Her selfishness and righteous indignation about the aforementioned selfishness, makes me sick.

“Can you help Ry?” Tanner asks, sounding like he has no confidence in this whatsoever.

“Of course!” she snaps again, all her pleasantries gone.

She walks over and slaps a sticky thing on my forehead, making me cry. My head hurts so badly. She walks back over to the machine and presses a few buttons.

Suddenly, the pain and pressure in my head eases then, disappears. Even my ankle is feeling better.

“H-how did you . . . ?”
I stutter.

“I told you I could,” she mutters bitterly.

It occurs to me that she’s probably called out often by other Shifter refugees. Her selfishness and attitude won
’
t have gone unnoticed, which is exactly what she was hoping would happen.

Tanner asks about his bruised ribs, and she reluctantly helps him. After that, she promptly kicks us out of her hospital, afraid of being caught with us. Ridiculous.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention. She charged us. $1,000! Insane.

When we get in the car, I immediately demand breakfast. Kai laughs at that. “As soon as you
’
re better, it
’
s time to eat,” he says with a grin.

We stop at a drive-through donut store, ordering four dozen various donuts, hiding our faces while Kai speaks to the cashier from the driver
’
s seat.

While we
’
re stuffing our faces with sugary goodness, I turn to Solé. “Next time, can your magic powers take us to someone nice?”

We all laugh. It feels so nice to laugh.