“Yes, sir.” The giant man by the door quickly stepped out, speaking into his old, dusty walkie-talkie as he went.
“Gloria,” the president continued to a well-dressed older woman on his sofa, “you’re up.”
She clicked a pen and readied a small notebook on her lap. “Go ahead.”
“We need a list of any groups that have formed recently. Take a look at any school clubs, any kind of sports organization. Heck, give me a rundown of any groups of friends in the high school. I don’t rightly care. If they travel in tribes, I want to hear about it.”
Without a word, Gloria stood and walked quickly out of the room. The president turned back to Grey. “And you, young Wiseman,” he continued, stepping closer to him and smiling just a little with just one corner of his mouth. “I’m curious. Do you think you could get a taskforce of airbornes together to take to the skies?”
Grey’s heart instantly jumped up in his chest. It continued to jump in measured leaps as he nodded vigorously. “Sir! I mean, yes sir. I’m sure I could. We’ll give you an update every hour.”
The president reached into his pocket and peeled several paper bachmanns from a huge money roll. The blue and white bills were so new and crisp they looked as if they’d been printed just that morning. Grey froze at the sight of them. Then, when President Bachmann held a large amount of money out to him, he had no idea what to do.
“Mr. Wiseman,” the president said, shaking the money in his face. “I believe any group of flying shifters will be far more motivated if they’re handsomely paid.”
“Oh. Yes, of course.” Grey stepped forward and took the money gingerly, sure the president would yank the bills from his hand at any moment, but it never came to pass. Instead, he was allowed to fold it and put the chunk of money in his pocket. He stood and waited for further instructions.
“What are you waiting for? Shift into a bird and flap on outta here!”
The president’s loud yell shocked Grey into bird form, and he quickly flew out the window, hardly able to believe what was happening.
CHAPTER 10
HARPER IN HIDING
From her spot in Tina’s bed, Harper looked around the house for the thousandth time. There was the door. There was the remains of their last fire. There was the chair. And back behind her was the wall. No clothing, no books, and no possessions.
Harper lie back on the soft but worn out bed and brushed the strands of her curly wig out of her face. She was sure no one would see her, but she felt safer with it on. As she took in her surroundings, she wondered why shifters lived in this manner. Why had the shifter families turned down the pre-built houses that her father and his staff spent so much time and money building? It seemed to be a short-sighted move. The houses they all had now were so odd and so poorly made. She loved the wild, ramshackle style that the structures had, but she was sincerely concerned. These houses all looked ready to tumble to the Earth at any moment.
She heard a knock at the door and quickly feigned sleep.
“Hello? Traxon family? It’s tax day.” A large man moved into the house. Harper opened one eye as minimally as possible and took him in. He filled the doorway with his shoulders alone. He peered over at her.
“Tina?”
Harper made a big show of waking up and then yawning. “I’m her friend, Evelyn. I just moved here.”
“Oh, I see. Is anyone from the Traxon family here? I need to collect their taxes today.”
“Don’t think so.”
“Okay. Please let them know I’ll be back.”
Harper nodded sleepily and nestled back down into her soft pillow. She kept her eyes closed until the man had moved on out of the house and then waited about a minute. Harper opened her eyes and threw off her blanket to check her leg. It was still very black and blue, and she was sure she couldn’t stand on it. She frowned; she had to get out of there. That last shifter hadn’t recognized her, but there was no reason to push her luck. Eventually, she would have to get going.
She pushed herself up with her arms and swung her legs over the edge of the bed. She tried to straighten both legs out in front of her, but only one of them actually extended out as it should. The other just hung limply.
“Come on. Move!” She willed her leg to raise, but it refused to comply. She tried to slide forward onto her good foot and try hopping, but just as she rose on her good leg, Tina’s mother, Faye, walked in.
“Oh, Evelyn, sit down darling. What on Earth are you thinking?” She ran up to Harper and gently pushed her down and turned her body so that she was facing the room again and right back where she started. Harper took a breath and assured herself she wouldn’t have gotten anywhere had she started hopping. She forced herself to smile and say a thank you to Faye.
“Are you hungry, darling? What do you like?”
“Oh, anything really.” Harper racked her brain for any memory of Tina talking about food – her favorite foods, things shifters ate – but she came up empty. Her stomach was empty, but she was reluctant to request anything that might give away her humanity.
“Wonderful,” Faye said. “I brought you some treats from the food stand.” She turned around grabbed a paper bag, then whirled around quickly to hand it to Harper. “Eat! Eat!” She pointed at the bag as she walked around the house finding scraps of clothing. “You must be starving.”
“I am. Thanks, Faye.”
“Oh, just call me Mom. I always wanted another daughter.” She smiled over her shoulder as she worked, then turned back to her search in any nook and cranny she could find. “Let me know if it’s too oily or too crunchy. Scorpion can be tricky to cook.”
“Scorpion?” Harper gingerly opened the paper sack and looked inside to see a big, fat, fried scorpion on a stick staring her in the face. She looked up and saw Faye smiling down at her in anticipation.
“Go on. Try it. I’m dying to know if you like my cooking.”
Harper pulled out the stick and flashed back to her first Victory Day banquet when she had to eat duck for the first time and how she’d been scared to cut into the dark, oily meat. She had survived the duck, and now she would survive fried scorpion.
She clutched the stick in her hand and smiled at Faye, then took a big, crunchy bite out of the huge insect on the stick.
In her mouth, the cooked, solid exoskeleton broke into shards and flew in every direction as the odd, fluffy flesh bounced around on her tongue. The taste wasn’t that different from walnuts or fried chicken, but the texture was very insect-like. She could almost feel the legs dancing around on her tongue.
“Mmm!” She forced a smile as she finished chewing and then swallowed it down only partially chewed. “Just like my mom makes.”
“Hey,” Faye said, concern written across her forehead, “now that you mention it, we really should get word to your family that you’re hurt. They must be worried.”
“Oh, my brother stopped by while you were at work. They know.”
“Your brother?” Faye tilted her head and narrowed her eyes a little. “I’m sure someone in the neighborhood would have told me if a new boy had come around my house. But no one–”
“Hey, Mom!”
Both Harper and Faye looked over to the door to see Tina blowing through the entrance with her usual gusto. “Hey, Evelyn,” Tina continued with her eyes extra wide, “you won’t guess what happened today.”
“Oh, what?” Harper was genuinely excited for some news. Looking at the same walls all day had been wearing her down. She beamed at her friend, only to see Tina give just a minimal head shake; she did not have good news.
“Well,” Tina said, joining the other two on her bed, “apparently the president’s daughter was kidnapped last night.”
Slowly, the blood slid down and away from Harper’s face and then lower as she thought of her father, of the insane efforts that were surely in place in the name of finding her. There would be helicopters, closed circuit cameras, random searches of different houses, different people being
locked up in secret cells. Her father would insist on more and more of this until she was found. She had to get home. Even if he did actually kill her, it meant saving everyone else’s life.
“Oh, dear,” Faye said, shaking her head at her daughter. “You’ve upset her terribly! Tina, talk about something else.”
“No!” Harper grabbed Tina’s arm. “Tell me everything.”
“You sure, sweetheart? You look awful.”
“Oh, yeah. It’s fine. Tina, what happened?”
Tina gave her mom a little smile and mumbled for her not to worry. Her mother moved back to her efforts with the clothes. The two friends waited a beat, then put their heads together and spoke in whispers.
“Okay, remember Larissa?”
“Yes.”
“Well, apparently she planted evidence of your kidnapping in your car. Something about a group called The Order of Camus hauling you off. None of the humans know you were at the party.
“Tina,” Harper whispered urgently, “you have to get me out of here! The president will go insane until I – I mean, his daughter – appears again. I mean truly, evil maniac insane!”
“I know. Larissa’s got everyone looking in the wrong direction, so I think if we get you out of here as fast as we can and put you somewhere that law enforcement can find you, we’ll be okay.”
Both girls paused to look up and check to make sure Faye wasn’t listening. She had wandered to the door to say hello to passing neighbors as they returned home. She had her arms full of old clothes and seemed entirely uninterested.
“How are we going to do that?” Harper flicked the blankets off her lap and showed Tina her leg. “I can’t even stand!”
Tina looked down on her friend’s leg and bit her lip. “We need to get you a healer.”
“I don’t have any money.”
“No one here has any,” Tina assured her. “We’ll have to trade something.”
The two quickly exchanged glances; they each had something precious to them. Would it be valuable to anyone else? Tina briefly imagined giving away her precious book, while Harper thought about surrendering her cheap, everyday shoes that she loved so much. Or maybe her purse with the secret pockets. What else could she trade? She had left her home with so little. She’d honestly believed she would drive home before the sun was up, crawl into bed and insist to her helpers that she was still sick and then sleep all day. She had planned so carefully, and now she was stuck in a shifter compound.
As they were silently contemplating the fate of their possessions, the two heard someone approach Faye and chat with her. They looked up to see the same big man who had come by earlier.
“Graham!” Tina gave him a friendly wave but he looked away from her after just a nod. She watched as her mother held up one piece of clothing after another for him to inspect, but he shook his head at each.
She excused herself from Harper’s bed and walked up to the door. “What’s going on, Graham?”
“Well,” the large bear answered, blushing a little, “I got a new job.”
“Oh?”
He cleared his throat. “Yes. I’m working for Human-Shifter Relations. I’m here on a tax collection.” As he spoke, he pulled a large, gleaming pair of scissors from his pocket. “I need a sample of your best fabric.”
“Graham. You?” Tina felt her heart break a little. She knew that tax collection was one of the highest paying positions a shifter could hold, but that was no excuse as far as she was concerned. How could one shifter turn on his own community? It was disgusting. “I thought you were a good guy.”
He kept his eyes down and held his scissors in his big, meaty hands. “Just turn around.”
Tina shook her head at her one-time teacher and then slowly turned to show him her back. “This is my last shirt. I’ll have to go around topless soon.”
“It’s this or jail. You choose, Tina.”
“I choose to be loyal to my community, Graham.”
The bear shifter didn’t respond, silently cutting a large rectangle from the back of her shirt and leaving her back entirely exposed. Tina felt the blades of the scissors as if they were slicing through her ribs or her spine. Having the clothing literally taken piece by piece as she became more and more naked was one of the worst feelings she’d ever had to bear. The worst part was that it was renewed anytime she reached for a butchered top or sliced up pair of shorts. Soon, it would be her underwear and bras. Then what would she do?
“You’re up, Faye.”
“Now, Graham,” Faye attempted, “I can give you an entire apron. Look at this lovely print! I barely wore it. You can see all the little flowers and the original colors are still lovely. Surely this will cover my tax.”
Graham consulted a little handbook of material samples. The most valuable textures were in the front and then got cheaper as the pages progressed to the back. He compared the apron to his book, then noticed the fabric of Faye’s skirt.
“Stand still, Faye.”
Tina’s mother froze in horror as Graham moved towards the hem of her skirt with his big, metal tool, cutting up her leg to her hip and then down again to make a big, obnoxious gouge in her once practical clothing. Her muscular, dependable leg was now completely exposed up to her underwear. Graham stood with the soft green fabric in his hands and nodded to mother and daughter.
“The state thanks you for your donation.”
“Go shove it up your crack, Graham.” Tina got a little smack on her arm from her mother for the profane comment, but Graham just pretended not to hear it. Tina watched him leave, but her mother quickly ran back in the house and grabbed some fabric to patch up the hole in her clothing.
“I can fix yours, Sweetheart,” she said quickly. “Just give it to me, and I’ll cover it.”
“Mom, it’s okay. Focus on your own clothing.”
“No, really! I’ll get some of this nice yellow and I’ll just…I’ll sew it to the back and the sides and…” Her mother slumped onto her bed and let her old clothing tumble to the ground. Tina took a seat next to her and put her arm around her mother’s shoulders.
“Don’t worry, Mom,” she said. “I’ll come up with something.”
“What can we do?” Her mother’s tears fell softly onto her marred skirt. “They won’t stop until we’re walking around naked. We’ll die of exposure. We won’t be able to go to work anymore. Is that what they want?”
Tina let out a little snort of disgust. “I don’t know what any of this is about, honestly. As far as I know, there’s just piles of cloth in the Human-Shifter Relations office. It’s nonsense.”
She turned to see her friend watching them with her mouth open just a little. She had clearly seen everything, and yet she seemed to be desperately searching for an explanation for what she was witnessing. For some reason, shifters weren’t allowed to have complete outfits. She had noticed the chopped up clothing at the party but just shrugged it off as the latest fashion. This idea of their fabric being valuable was news to her; she didn’t know of any project that used their secondhand pieces of clothing in any way.
Harper laid back down as quietly as she could and closed her eyes. She could feel every inch of the fabric she was wearing against her skin and wriggled around in it uncomfortably. She knew something was very wrong, but she couldn’t explain why it was happening. Something had gone very wrong at some point in time, and now she was seeing the fallout, but she could not even begin to react.
She stayed in her spot while Tina and Faye moved around her for the next couple of hours, all of them avoiding one another and keeping their eyes on anything that distracted from one another’s clothing. Even the sight of the pile of blankets on top of Harper was too much for them to bear. Harper pulled one of the thinner blankets over her face and prayed no one would breathe a word about scissors or cloth or ask why she magically possessed an unblemished outfit.
As her keepers moved around her, Harper fell asleep without really meaning to. She had the odd experience of blink
ing and seeing the sky go from a warm, lit space to a dark spot through the hole in the ceiling as if she’d travelled through time by accident. She pulled the covers of her cot down a bit lower and sat up to see Tina and Faye working by their fire and roasting small animals on a spit.
“Hey, sleepyhead.” Tina had a brave face on, but Harper could see right away that nothing had been resolved. They were still in clothing with large pieces missing, living in a ramshackle building, and cooking extremely small portions of food with an intensity that spoke to their hunger. “Hungry?”
“Oh,” Harper shrugged, ignoring the emptiness inside her stomach, “I’m still full from that scorpion I had earlier. And I’m pretty tired. You two have mine.”
“Don’t go back to sleep,” Faye warned her. “The healer’s on her way, and she wants to talk to you.”
Harper shot a look at Tina who just gave a casual shrug. They had to get her better, and of course Faye was just going to worry about her more and more the longer she took up space in the house. Harper sighed and turned to the other side to look through her meager belongings.
The best two things she had to offer were her shoes and her purse. Neither were worth more than a few bachmanns, but here on the compound almost no one wore shoes or carried purses. She hoped the healer would like to be one of those few.
As Tina and Faye finished their food, a small, dark-haired and dark-skinned woman appeared at the door. “Hello? Did someone need a healer?”
“Dr. Jade. Hello, come in.” Faye rose to greet the small woman, and the two hugged like old friends.
Harper noticed a few things about Dr. Jade from across the room. First, she had her entire dress intact. Apparently, healers were exempt from the fabric tax. Also, the doctor had large, cheap rings on both hands. From where she laid in her bed, Harper was hit with a reflection of firelight that bounced off a flat, ovular mirror that was perched on top of her small finger. She did wear shoes, but they were mismatched, plastic sandals that barely fit her. Harper could see Dr. Jade’s small toes curling over the front edges and appeared to hold on for dear life as the woman above them.
Shifter's Heart: A Paranormal Shifter Romance (The Hills Book 1) Page 11
