Shifters (The Neturu Chronicles Book 3)

by Sarah Carter

  Damien crosses his arms. “How quickly can you do that?”

  Smiling, Dr. Galliger says, “We’re a technologically advanced race. About thirty seconds.” He walks over to the computer. “Let me just punch in a few things and here we go.”

  A panel appears on the screen with five lines. They are all a mixture of different colors. Mr. Paulson steps towards the screen. “Do you see that green coloring in those five strands? That is the same marker. There’s Neturu, a type of tree, fruit, animal and then the other half of you. Everything has the same marker.”

  Ariel puts her hand to her chest. “Oh my god.”

  Mr. Paulson turns and looks at Xander. “You are definitely something that came off of Jiub. There were only two higher life forms.”

  Xander’s heart stops.

  Chapter 10

  Claire

  Everyone is silent and then Damien finally says, “I think I need to call my Dad.”

  Dr. Galliger replies, “That may be a good idea.”

  Damien shakes his head and whistles through his teeth. “Never thought I’d be telling him this.”

  Claire sees Aurora smile. “Will we get to meet him?”

  With a frown, Damien shakes his head. “No, for security reasons.”

  Aurora gasps. “You think we’d hurt him?”

  “No, actually I don’t, but we have to be careful. You will probably have a video conference with him.”

  “Is he nice?” She asks.

  Jumping in, Claire states, “He’s super cool. You’ll like him. I think this will shock him more than the succubus thing. I wish I could see his face when you tell him.

  Nodding, Damien says, “I should do that now. Mr. Paulson, please come with me.”

  “Yes sir, Master Damien,” Mr. Paulson replies.

  Damien declares, “We’ll be right back.”

  There is heavy silence in the air. Claire sees Aurora nervously shuffling her foot. Finally, Ariel says, “So, I have an idea.”

  Dr. Galliger responds, “What’s that?”

  “Scan Xander while he’s moving something. His energy must fluctuate drastically. Maybe we can learn more about how our energy works. You can scan us combining with each other too.”

  Claire raises her eyebrow. “You just come up with that?”

  Throwing her hands out, Ariel says, “Okay, I’m secretly a science geek. This is all really fascinating to me. I love it. I just think if we have different energy, we should see how our bodies react to it.”

  “Well, you know what you can go to school for,” Claire laughs.

  Ariel puts her hand on her chest and gives her genuine smile that Claire really hasn’t seen much from her. “That would be a dream come true.”

  Xander says, “She knows so much already. I think that’s why Mason is so attracted to her. Great minds think alike.”

  With her cheeks turning red, Ariel says, “I don’t know about that.” Claire grins.

  “I’m being serious,” Xander says. “You read everything you can. He gets you whatever he can. Why would he do that if that’s not one of the things he’s attracted to?”

  She crosses her arms. “I still say it’s a phase and he really doesn’t care.”

  “Ariel…” Xander counters. “What does the guy have to do? We couldn’t actually say it. The Collector wouldn’t have punished him but he may have punished you. I doubt Mason would have risked that.”

  “I never thought about that,” Ariel whispers.

  “Trinity said Mason was going crazy because he couldn’t find you. Not us, you.”

  Ariel is quiet for a minute and stares at the floor. “I guess we’ll find out soon if that’s true or not.”

  “What are you going to do if it’s true?” Aurora asks, putting her hand on her sister’s shoulder.

  With a nod, Ariel says, “Convince him to switch sides.”

  Claire asks, “Could we fully trust him though?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “That may be a problem. We wouldn’t be able to take him anywhere. He may turn on us.”

  “Unless…” Ariel starts.

  “Unless what?”

  She looks up at Claire with a serious look. “I know you want to make gloves that shock him, but what do we do when he’s awake? He will disappear and then be loose in one of your ships.”

  Dr. Galliger asks, “Do you have a suggestion?”

  Ariel gestures with her hands. “It would have to be something like a cuff he couldn’t take off. But maybe a certain wave length that distorts our energy. Like how the humans have machines that distort signals.”

  “We have much more advanced technology than that.”

  “Then could it be possible?” Ariel inquires curiously. “Then we don’t have to hurt him.”

  He nods. “You may be on to something.”

  Continuing, Ariel says, “We run on an almost low frequency, energy frequency. What if you sent out a high one and see if you could bring it to the middle? Maybe it would distort it enough to make him not be able to jump.”

  “You seem to be a very gifted young lady. Maybe with the proper schooling you could work for the Neturu. Though this is more Mr. Paulson. We can wait until he gets back.”

  Xander says, “We do have an education. An extensive education.”

  Claire replies, “I believe you. We will put you through some testing to see where you are.”

  “We?” Dr. Galliger laughs

  Startled by herself, Claire actually takes a step back. “Wow. Yeah. You’d think I was already married to Damien.”

  “So, why doesn’t anyone know about you two?” Xander asks.

  “I don’t want to be gossiped about. My past would be scrutinized. I already was the butt of a lot of gossip. I don’t want to go through that again.”

  Aurora says, “Would it be worse than Damien’s past?”

  Biting her lip, Claire thinks about that for a moment. “Well…no.”

  “Then would it be so bad?”

  “Probably not.”

  Crossing his arms, Aurora says, “See.”

  Realizing she has a point, Claire says, “I guess we need to come out one of these days.”

  “Throw a party!” Aurora exclaims.

  With a snort, Claire asks, “What?”

  “Throw a party to announce that you’re together.”

  Claire shoves her hand out. “See, that’s what people expect. The Merjyet line is such a big thing. I will pretty much be a princess.”

  With a snort, Aurora says, “So?”

  Gesturing down, Claire says, “Look at me. You’ve seen me interact with people. I don’t scream princess.”

  Aurora playfully dances side to side. “So, bring some spice to line. Don’t change who you are.”

  She puts her hands on her hips. “Throw a ball and wear leather?”

  Completely stopping, Aurora’s eyes widen. “Can I come?”

  With a raised eyebrow, Claire says, “Sure.”

  “I’d pay to see you in leather,” Aurora states, with a curt nod.

  Laughing, Claire replies, “Ask Damien. I think he has some pictures on his phone.”

  “Sweet. No seriously. Come out to people but stay true to who you are. Ignore the princess part. Unless you get a tiara. Then rock the tiara.”

  Claire jerks back. “Oh god. I hope I don’t have to wear one. I’d tell Damien where to shove it.”

  Xander tilts his head in obvious confusion. “Shove it? Where would he shove it?”

  With a click of her tongue, Claire says, “Ummm, it’s a saying. You tell people to shove it in an orifice. A very painful orifice.”

  An appalled look sweeps across Xander’s face. “Why would you tell people to do that? That sounds horrible.”

  “It’s a saying,” Claire replies, defensively. “I’m not the one who made it up. You just tell people to shove it if you’re angry.”

  “But a tiara!” Aurora yells. “That would cause damage.”

  Sh
oulders falling, Claire says, “You don’t mean it seriously. It’s a figure of speech.”

  “How mean.”

  “One day you’ll say it. I promise you that.”

  Aurora shakes her head. “I don’t know. That’s really mean.”

  Reemphasizing, Claire says, “You don’t actually mean it. It’s just a saying.” She pauses for a second and looks to the side. “Okay, that’s a lie. When I told my ex-boyfriend to shove it, I meant it.”

  Xander asks, “Why?”

  Claire crosses her arms and glares. “Found him with his tongue down this chick’s throat that I hate…at my prom.”

  Everyone is silent. Claire watches all three of them stare at her in confusion. Xander opens his mouth and then closes it. “How do you…shove…your tongue down someone’s throat? How does that even work? Like…just what? It’s not even physically possible.”

  “No, no, no,” Claire says, waving her hands. “Like hard core French kissing. It’s another saying.”

  Ariel throws her hands up. “See! We are going to look stupid talking to people.”

  “I’ll use as many sayings as possible.”

  “Okay, riding in on a horse. Got it. Shoving it. Painful but to the point. Someday, I want someone’s tongue down my throat,” Ariel states. “We can handle this.”

  Aurora jumps in. “You want Mason’s tongue down your throat.”

  “Will you shut up!” Ariel screams.

  “No,” her sister replies sharply. “I want you to be together. You both light up when you’re around each other.”

  “I’m kind of a bitch to him sometimes,” Ariel mumbles, shuffling her foot.

  Grinning, Aurora says, “You do it with a smile on your face.”

  With her jaw dropping, Arial gasps, “I do not smile.”

  Xander grins with Aurora. “Yeah, you kind of do.”

  Ariel crosses her arms. “I do not.”

  “You don’t smile,” Xander states. “You smirk. This little smirk because you don’t really mean it. I think he loves it. You guys go back and forth but it’s playful.”

  Claire finally says, “You’re flirting.”

  “What?” Ariel says back in surprise.

  “Flirting,” Claire says again. “That’s what you were doing.”

  “I didn’t mean to be.”

  “It it’s the right person, you don’t even know you’re doing it. It just happens.”

  Looking at the floor and shuffling her foot again, Ariel replies, “I didn’t even think we were flirting.”

  “Well, what would he say?”

  She bites her lip and then says, “He would tell me all the beautiful things he’s seen that were the color of my eyes.”

  “How do you not catch on that he’s hitting on you?” Claire asks, dropping her hands in shock.

  “I would tell him I didn’t really care and I doubt he would remember my eye color as he was gazing up on all this beautiful stuff.”

  “What was his reply?” Claire asks.

  Ariel sighs. “That most girls like to be complimented.”

  Gesturing with her hands, Claire says, “Then?”

  There is a heavy pause and then Ariel mumbles, “I would say I’m not like most girls and what he thought didn’t matter.”

  Claire grimaces. “Ouch. Harsh.”

  Xander finally says, “But you smirked. You would smirk while saying it. You would turn away and he would smile watching you go.”

  “Really?” Ariel replies, with a huge grin.

  “Yeah,” Xander says.

  “That’s flirting,” Claire states.

  Shrugging, Ariel says, “I guess it’s just what we did.”

  “That’s actually really cute.”

  Ariel fidgets with her fingers and says, “I sort of…miss him. In this warped way.”

  “You love him. Of course you’re missing him.”

  “I guess.”

  Xander says, “It’s killing me. I miss Trinity so much.”

  “I never really thought about how I felt. I just know when he was gone, I’d constantly be looking to see if it was him walking in the door.”

  Claire puts her hand on her chest. “That’s love. You both are truly in love.”

  “At least Trinity and I can say it now,” Xander replies.

  Shaking her head, Ariel says, “I don’t know if I could tell Mason.”

  “You have to tell him. One, to be honest and two, we need him on our side. You need him on our side. What will you do if he tries to take you back?”

  Ariel replies, “Love him or not, I can’t go back. It’s hell. The abuse alone…”

  “You won’t go back. We will protect you, even if it’s from Mason,” Claire promises.

  “Let me try to get to him first,” Ariel says.

  With a nod, Claire says, “That’s the plan.”

  Damien and Mr. Paulson come walking back in the doorway. “Alright,” Damien declares. “There wasn’t a lot to tell him, so he wants us to see what we can discover.”

  Raising her hands, Ariel says, “I suggested a few things.”

  “You suggested a few things?” Damien asks.

  Dr. Galliger nods. “With the proper schooling, I think she could do great things. Her quick ideas are impressive.”

  She holds up her fingers. “One, we need to see if you can scan Xander while he’s moving things. See how his energy fluctuates. Maybe that disc will do something and gives us info on ourselves, maybe something useful. Two, even if we catch Mason, how do we keep him from dissipating? He would wake up and be loose in one of your ships.”

  “Do you have a suggestion?” Damien inquires, crossing his arms.

  “Distort his energy. We run on low frequencies. Slam him with high frequencies. Make a cuff that sends out a pulse. I can only presume that he pulses, too.”

  Mr. Paulson finally says, “We would need to know something about him.”

  Everyone is quiet and then Ariel covers her face with her hand. “Oh god.”

  “What?” Aurora asks.

  Ariel looks between her fingers. “You need something of his?”

  Nodding, Mr. Paulson says, “That would be ideal.”

  Taking in a deep breath, Ariel reaches into her pocket. She grasps something in her hand and holds it out to Mr. Paulson. “Here.”

  Aurora steps forward. “What is it?”

  “Everyone needs to leave the room but Mr. Paulson and Dr. Galliger,” Ariel instructs.

  “No way, why?” Aurora creeps closer, trying to see into her hand.

  Her head drops. “He gave me this last year. I acted disgusted and threw it away.”

  “How do you have it?” Aurora asks. Then her eyes light up. “You got it out of the garbage!”

  “Shut up Aurora,” her sister snaps in obvious embarrassment.

  Xander tries to look, too. “What is it?”

  Ariel opens her hand. “A locket.”

  Mr. Paulson gently takes it from her hand. “It’s beautiful. He must have gotten it out here. I’m sorry dear but how is this going to help us?”

  “It will help if you can get it to open up,” Ariel replies.

  “Why can’t you?” Xander asks, going over to see the locket.

  Then everyone walks over to look at it. “Supposedly, Mason designed it…for me. I told you he was super intelligent. I can’t get it open. He told me…”

  “What?”

  She tilts her head back and closes her eyes. “Oh god…” Ariel pauses and then says, “Inside is some of his hair.”

  Aurora grabs the locket and studies it. “No way, why in the hell would he do that?”

  “A few years ago we were watching a movie. A guy did it for a girl and Mason laughed at it. I scowled at him and said that’s why he’s a moron because it was a little romantic.”

  Her sister’s jaw drops. “A lock of hair? My serious sister thinks a lock of hair…”

  “Shut up!” Ariel screams. “It was a movie and a slip of tongue.”<
br />
  Claire walks over and peers at the locket without touching Aurora. “So he had this made for you,” Claire says. “That is kind of super sweet. Like aww. How did you not know he had feelings for you?”

  Ariel shrugs. “I still say it’s a phase.

  “He hand designed a locket for you. Unless he secretly wants to become a jeweler, this says a lot.”

  “Yeah, I guess.”

  “Did he tell you how to open it?” Mr. Paulson asks.

  She shakes her head. “No, he said at the right time I would figure it out.”

  “Let me see,” Claire mumbles, grabbing the locket chain and pulling it from Aurora.

  Crossing her arms, Ariel asks, “Are you smarter than me?”

  “No, probably not, but I just wanted to look.” Claire looks at the seams and then pulls on a few spots. There is no opening or hinge or anything. It’s a heart shaped gold locket with spirals carved into it. “Well, it’s very pretty,” Claire states, giving up.

  Damien asks, “Is there anything he would say to you at all that may be a clue? Something he needed to whisper or privately tell you. He must have given you clues.”

  With a shrug, Ariel says, “I don’t know.”

  “Think really hard,” Claire says. “He must have known you still had the locket. There has to be something.”

  “I really can’t think of anything.”

  Walking up to Ariel, Damien says, “Close your eyes.”

  “Why?” She asks, jerking back from him.

  “Just do it.”

  Ariel closes one eye and then the other. Damien stands by her. “What are you doing?”

  “What?”

  “What are you usually doing when he comes to you?” Damien asks.

  She doesn’t say anything and then whispers, “I’m at my computer studying. It’s in the corner.”

  “Does he come up behind you?” Damien whispers, stepping up to her back.

  “What are you doing?” Ariel snaps, looking over her shoulder.

  “Close your eyes and relax,” Damien says. Ariel glares at him for a second and then does as he says. “He comes up behind you. Does he get really close?”

  “Yeah,” Ariel exhales. “Like touching close.”

  Bending over, Damien says, “Does he bend down and whisper in your ear?”