I can no longer see the dog and am surprised when it lies down at our feet.
“Hey boy.” Ryan reaches down and strokes the dog’s big head. I grab the dog’s thick leather collar.
“You’re a trouble maker,” Ryan says.
“He’s a boy, I’m sure it comes naturally.”
Ryan snorts. “We usually do it on purpose. To impress girls like you,” Ryan says mischievously.
“Ah, of course,” I tease.
Ryan chuckles and I laugh along with him. It feels so good to laugh after the terrible things that seem to be tacking themselves up in my life. The dog’s breathless owner comes to stand in front of us.
“Thank you. He’s a lot of dog to handle alone sometimes, but he’s a big baby. He’s dug so many holes this year I’m getting blisters from filling them all in,” she says breathlessly.
“What’s his name?” Ryan asks.
“Lucas.” She clips on Lucas’s leash, waves at us then drags him back to the hole. The policeman holds out a shovel. I can hear her sigh from here.
Now that I’ve fixed things with Ryan I need to find Darklily. I’ve been avoiding her long enough. I know she’ll be upset that I didn’t keep my promise to talk to her days ago. Besides, I don’t want to get flipped off my bicycle again.
I’ve been calling Darklily for over half an hour. Annoyingly and amazingly she still hasn’t appeared in front of me. I’m about to give up when a shadow flits through the trees. “Dark?” I lean closer to get a better look.
“GRRR!”
I fly backward and yell so loud I’m sure the whole town heard. Darklily rolls on the ground with laughter.
“You should have seen your face!” Darklily screeches with amusement.
I put a hand on my hammering chest. I wait for my heart to stop racing before answering, “Would you stop trying to give me a heart attack! Now I’m definitely going to scare you back.”
“You couldn’t scare me if your life depended on it,” Dark snickers.
“I thought you had something really important to tell me. But since I was mistaken I’ll be leaving.”
Her whiskers twitch. “I do.”
I don’t want to go home yet so I take her to my special spot. The rock is just barely big enough for the both of us to sit on.
“So what is this important thing you have to tell me?”
“It isn’t easy to explain but I’ll do the best that I can. I live on a planet called Pandorma and the only way to get from there to here is by portals, which can only be found by animals. A few years ago a man and woman came to our world and began—”
“I thought only an animal could find it.”
“They basically are an animal. Don’t interrupt. The man’s name is Xavier and the woman is Medusa. They have the ability to change into every animal on Pandorma.”
I open my mouth, but Dark gives me a warning look then continues. “They’ve recruited a large army and began a war. They want to rule the planet—so I’ve been told. We were winning, but then the tides began turning against us. As if things weren’t bad enough, they can destroy a whole army together, which makes it even harder to beat them. And Medusa is worse than Xavier. She’s not afraid to force animals to join their army. Medusa has spilled more blood than ever before. They’re terrible and if they’re not destroyed our planet—our home will be shattered.
I can’t watch my home get destroyed anymore. I came to Earth to find you. Now that I have, we need to return to Pandorma. Time is running out.”
Dark’s emerald eyes cut into mine. I slowly digest the information. I think my brain is still in overdrive from being abandoned.
After a bit of silence I finally think to ask, “Why me?”
“Because you are like them. You can shift into every creature just like they can,” she explains.
“How? I’m human. I can’t turn into anything and even if I could . . . no. It’s not possible. My parents are normal so how would I be able to turn into animals?”
She flicks her tail dismissively. “Perhaps they didn’t tell you they can shift?”
“No,” I say firmly. “My dad would tell me something like that.”
“Well, someone in your family had to be able to turn into an animal or else you wouldn’t be able to.”
“Okay then say you’re right. How do you know I can shift?”
“Would you believe me if I told you?”
“Not really,” I say slowly.
“I can sense it.” Dark cocks her head when I give her a confused look. “It’s like when you can sense someone will do you harm, or that someone is lying to you. In this case, I can sense your power. Being a shifter like Xavier and Medusa, you hold a certain kind of power.”
This makes sense in a way—even if I’m having trouble believing it. “What if you’re wrong?” I ask.
“I’m not,” she says certainly. A guilty look suddenly crosses her face. “I watched your parents leave.”
I sit up straighter. “You saw my parents leaving?”
“I didn’t wake you because you were in pain and your mother—she seemed to be doing her best not to wake you. And I thought it was normal, all young have to leave their parents at some point.”
There’s a difference between leaving and being left behind, I retort silently. I don’t know whether to be angry or grateful. If she’d woken me I’m positive it would have started a big fight. “Never mind,” I say dejectedly.
“There’s something else. I was tracking you one day because I was bored and watched you talking to this large male with yellow fur.”
“It’s called hair.” I think for a minute. “And I think you mean Trevor.”
“Well I spotted him in the woods. And guess what happened?” Dark’s eyes sparkle.
“Um . . .”
“He turned into a wolf!”
“What? That . . . that’s impossible. People turning into wolves only happens in movies and books.” Except Dark just told me that I can turn into animals. I quickly revise, “I know, you just told me that I can shift! But I’ve known Trevor most of my life. There’s no way he can turn into a wolf. I am extremely tired, so if you don’t mind I’d like to go to bed.” I slide off the rock. The orange sun sparkles through the trees, making everything below turn to rusty gold. I stand and watch the colors for a minute. I love watching sunsets and the summer always possesses the most radiant ones. “I’m going to go home,” I say, even though the idea isn’t very appealing.
“Can I go with you? Since your parents are gone I could stay inside.”
What’s the worst that could happen? At least I won’t be alone. “Sure.”
“Are you hungry?” I ask Dark as I search through the diminishing contents of the refrigerator.
“No I had a deer earlier.”
I shut the fridge door. Talk about a way to lose weight. Forgetting dinner, I go into the living room and open the drawer under the T.V., pulling out Jurassic Park, my favorite movie. At least Mom didn’t take everything with her. I sit in the middle of the couch. Dark lays down on the floor her front paws stretched out, head between her paws. Dark flinches when the sound turns on.
“That’s loud,” she says.
I turn the volume down, a bit. Scary movies were made to be loud.
We’re at the part right before T. Rex escapes. Dark has been fidgeting ever since the dinosaurs showed up. I told her to stop asking questions at the start of the movie and just watch. I can tell it’s difficult for her. And right now I have a feeling some questions are going to escape.
Minutes later Dark finally bursts out, “Those are on my planet. And why do they look so . . . unreal? And how were they put into such a small space?”
I blankly stare at her.
Darklily goes up to the screen and jabs a paw at the T. Rex, which has now escaped and is bellowing a frightening roar.
“Those.”
I give her a dubious look. I doubt Dark could be telling the truth, I mean Tyrannosaurus Rex still aliv
e? Kind of hard to swallow. “Tyrannosaurus Rex live on your planet?”
Darklily nods her head. “Nasty, frightful creatures. Best to stay away from them, especially their young, if they have any.”
“Those things have been dead for centuries.
“Dead? But it’s right in front of you. A little worse for wear but still alive,” Dark says insistently.
“Its computer generated. It’s not real.”
“Computer generated?”
“Yes. That means . . . well—” I pause. I have absolutely no clue how it’s generated except that they use computers, so I revise, “I actually don’t really know how they make it. Is there anything else I should know about your planet?”
“It's very different from yours.”
That’s helpful. I fixate my gaze back on the movie, watching as Ian Malcolm lights a flare of his own. How different could our planets be? If they are even separate planets. She could just be talking about a jungle in India for all I know.
* * * *
I open the door to the library and just barely keep myself from running up the stairs like a mad person. I’d thought very hard last night about what Darklily told me and it adds up to only one thing: truth. As a cat what would Dark gain by lying? Not only would no one believe her, but she’d be locked away as a science experiment the second she spoke to the wrong person. So against all logic stored inside me, I decide to believe her. But I still want a second opinion.
Trevor is tucked in his corner headphones on, head bent over his pad. I take a deep, relaxing breath before saying, “Trevor.”
He jumps slightly. Hah. Trevor slips the headphones off and gives me an annoyed look. I glance at his picture. A barn owl is in the middle of the paper. Behind it, jaws wide ready to kill the bird, is a black wolf its eyes dripping with hunger. Trevor has a very disturbed mind indeed.
“What is it?”
I try to gather my scrambled thoughts. I can just out right ask him but it's how I ask him that matters. If I want a straight, truthful answer I need a straight face. My best approach would be to dead-on ask. If I say it like I’m thinking right now, jokingly, he’ll use it to his advantage. I take another breath, erasing my mind and looking him straight on.
“Are you a werewolf?”
Trevor's face is stricken for a split second then instantly it goes back to being guarded.
“No lying Trevor. A friend of mine saw you transform and I’ve heard a wolf howling at night.”
“Don’t you mean coyotes? And what friend is that? Your current one isn’t much of an outdoors fan.”
I purse my lips. That is true. Fawn dislikes anything beyond civilization.
“Unless you’re throwing your boyfriend into that category.”
“Ugh, Ryan is not my boyfriend and you know it. Now are you or not?” Trevor looks out the window, his body tense.
“There’s no point in lying. I already know you are.”
“Then why are you asking?”
“Aha! So I’m right,” I say, but it still slightly sounds like a question.
“I didn’t say that.”
“Look Trevor, we can go in circles all day or we can walk in a straight line and get this over with.”
Trevor just sits there, stone still, working his jaw, his midnight eyes chaotic.
“You know I can sit here all day pestering you.”
Trevor chuckles, slightly. Virtually shoving his things off his lap he walks to the window. “My uncle came to visit Mom and me a few weeks before I turned sixteen. He brought this box jam-packed with books about werewolves. He gave me the box and told me to read them. When I was done with about half of the books, I skimmed through most of them, he asked me what I thought about shifting and I said that it sounded cool. But I meant cool in a sense, not like actually being able to.
One day he took me into the woods and started telling me all these facts about werewolves. After a while I got fed up and asked him if there was a reason he was telling me all this stuff. He stopped walking, looked me in the eye and told me that he was one. I laughed. I mean who wouldn’t? Werewolves are fictional. But he insisted. Then right in front of my eyes he changed. He went from human to wolf in seconds. I ran away.”
I can tell Trevor is still ashamed about running away, but before I can say anything he continues.
“I avoided him as much as I could but one night he came in my room and told me that I would shift soon and there was nothing I could do to stop it. I scoffed and ignored him as best as I could, but he continued prepping me for my first shift. It didn’t matter how much I denied it because in the end I shifted.” He pauses before adding, “It’s not like in stories where you have to be bitten to turn into a werewolf. I was born one and I guess my father was one too but didn’t get the chance to tell me.”
Trevor shrugs then turns to look at me, his eyes weighing my expression. I’m stuck between disbelief and understanding. Something significant that he had no control over had changed his life, I could relate. But I couldn’t grasp the possibility of him shifting into another form.
“Is that why you pushed me away? You look the same. No one even knows.”
“It's one of those things that changes you on the inside,” Trevor says.
A silence settles over us. It's neither totally relaxed nor entirely strained. Trevor’s secret is out, his burden somewhat lightened. I can tell. But there is still too much unsaid for us to become the friends we were before.
Trevor is a werewolf. I test the words in my mind then sigh inwardly. Was that number six or seven on my growing list of changes that have been thrown at me?
“I believe you.”
There’s a pause then he asks, “So who is this friend?”
“Her name is Darklily. I call her Dark. She’s,” I clear my throat, “that panther I was telling you about.”
Trevor stares at me skeptically.
“The panther that talked to you is your friend? Are you feeling okay?”
“Trevor!” I exclaim.
Trevor rubs the back of his neck. “Sorry but it's hard to believe that an animal can talk.”
“Says the one who is a werewolf!”
“Alright, alright. So, pretending for a minute that you’re telling the truth and not just seeing things . . .”
I give him a look.
“What did this cat say to you?”
“Don’t make fun of me okay?” I ask even though I’m sure he will. He doesn’t say anything so I continue, “She told me that she’s from this place called Pandorma and that she came here to find me. She said something about a war destroying their planet and that she needs me to help.”
Trevor laughs. “You’ve always had a great imagination Lissa but making up stories about talking cats and foreign wars? That’s a little much even for you.”
“But I’m not making it up!”
“Then why is she asking you for help instead of someone else?’
“Because I can shift into animals.” I look away. Saying it out loud doesn’t make it sound more believable.
“Right. I have to go meet my mom for lunch. Let me know if you decide to go fight this war.”
“I’ll do that,” I say. He lets out a bark of laughter but doesn’t say anything. He packs up his stuff then tosses me a smile as he leaves and I’m left standing there with my thoughts.
I tilt my head up to the sky. It’s a robin's egg blue. Except for the distant gray clouds inching forward like snails. I’m lying in the grass field adjacent to the park. Five benches and five picnic tables are scattered across the grass. The table’s wood is swollen and the top's gunky in spots. There are 20 birch trees; yes I have been lying here long enough to count them. I close my eyes and put my arm over my face.
I came out here to try and stop thinking—just for a bit if possible. I don’t want to think about Trevor being a werewolf or me being a shifter or Dark’s planet being destroyed. I don’t want to think about my parents possibly being shifters too but not telling m
e. I can understand Mom not telling me but Dad? He would’ve told me if he could shift. Maybe one of my relatives could shift but never told anyone and somehow I got their shifter gene.
I shake my head. This is exactly what I don’t want to think about.
Sometimes Abandon seems like less than two steps away from being a ghost town. It can be so utterly still if you come out here at the right time. Right now I don’t want the biting silence. I want to hear the crunch of shoes as someone runs the dirt track circling the grass field. I want to hear children laughing, mothers chattering, the cooing of couples hidden in the intricate world of love. But there’s nothing. Not even the squeak of a swing or chatter of birds—nothing to distract me from fear. I fear leaving by myself with Dark. I don’t fear being alone; it’s being alone in a foreign place that scares me. I’ve always had Dad by my side when I went somewhere new. I rub my eyes, frustrated. Maybe I shouldn’t leave, but I should. And part of me wants to. Before I make up my mind I should ask her why she picked me. Maybe her answer will help me make up my mind.
When the heat that’s warming me starts to dissipate I uncover my face. Instead of a cloud blocking the sun it's Ryan.
“You’re blocking my sun,” I say.
“Sorry.” Ryan lies down beside me, just barely touching his shoulder with mine. “Are you cloud gazing or thinking?”
I’m thinking, but trying not to. But I’m not telling Ryan that because then he might ask what about, so I answer, “Just laying here.”
“Oh. Are you—doing anything tonight?” he asks awkwardly a few minutes later.
I definitely was not doing anything tonight. Home meant having Dark pester me about going to help her world. Staying with Fawn for a night is out of the question because her parents dislike company.
“Nope.”
“No offense, but there’s absolutely nothing to do here. Cardinal City has a bowling alley that’s open tonight. We could go—if you want.”
“There’s also ice skating.” I squeeze my eyes shut. Darn it. I hadn’t meant to say that out loud, it had just slipped out. “I mean they have ice skating as well. Not that we have to do that. Bowling is fine with me,” I say. Ugh. Pathetic. I glance at Ryan. His face is carefully blank.
Shift (The Pandorma Adventures Book 1) Page 7
