Seeking Shapeshifters

by Rebekah L. Purdy

  Yes.

  I didn’t realize I’d stopped dancing until Matt interrupted me.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  “Um yeah, sorry I thought my shoe was slipping off,” I lied.

  When we started moving again, I looked for Talon but he was nowhere to be found. It was like he’d disappeared. Another slow song started and I moved closer to Matt as if he alone shielded me from the world.

  His hand brushed against the small of my back where the dress scooped low leaving my bare skin exposed. I inhaled deeply becoming too aware of my dance partner. The scent of his cologne made me heady, the soft glow of his eyes assured me everything was okay. My skin grew warm as I tried to focus on the decorations and people in the room but soon found myself gazing at Matt.

  His eyes shifted down, meeting mine. “So do you want to test the theory as to whether or not Carsen’s over you?” he said.

  I took a staggered breath, my heart skittered out of control. What did he mean by that? He bent down toward me and my blood thundered in my ears. I closed my eyes not sure what to expect. But his lips didn’t touch mine, instead I felt them brush against my throat like a whisper. A strange burning, electric like jolt went through my body. I trembled against him, gripping tight so I wouldn’t fall. Best friends were not supposed to stir sensations like that. My eyes shot open in time to see two people rushing toward my date.

  Carsen skidded to a stop as we both noticed Talon running full force at Matt. Matt pushed me back out of the way right as Talon slammed into him. The two of them fell into some tables and that’s when Talon began swinging. Carsen moved to aid his friend and Matt merely stood knocking the two friends to the ground with little effort.

  “Stop it!” I shouted, wondering what had gotten into everyone.

  “You want to take this outside?” Talon snapped.

  Matt threw his head back with laughter, his gaze darting back and forth between Talon and Carsen. “Do you think either of you could stop me? Why don’t you boys go back to dancing?”

  I’d never seen Matt like this, so regal, and scary. He seemed to emanate power. For an instant, I almost didn’t recognize him.

  “Matt,” I said, touching his arm.

  His gaze softened as he turned to look at me. “I’ll be right there, Ima. It seems my theory is right on more than one account.”

  I gave him a bewildered glance, trying to understand what he meant. But then I realized Talon had been the one to attack Matt, he got there first. My breath caught in my throat as I remembered our kiss on Halloween night, all the whisperings and voices. Something tugged at my mind and at my heart, but I ignored it. There’s no way Talon liked me. He spent most of his time yelling at me or making me feel bad. Besides, I was sure he’d only come after Matt in order to help Carsen.

  The chaperones rushed over, directing the boys to go their separate ways. Matt caught my arm, leading me toward the edges of the dance floor away from everyone else.

  “I’m sorry if I upset you,” he said. “But I was trying to make a point to Carsen, and well, let’s just say I wasn’t expecting the other one to attack me.”

  “I’m not upset.” I leaned my head against him not daring to glance about the room any longer because I wasn’t sure if my heart could take it. Carsen and Talon had both gotten jealous. Did that mean they liked me? Confusion wrapped itself around me like a scarf. “Just don’t let me go,” I whispered.

  Matt held me with such tenderness and didn’t leave my side for the rest of the night.

  The lights were all off when we got home, which surprised me. I thought Dad would’ve waited up to hear about the dance. I let Keetah out as we pushed into the living room then turned to hang up my coat when Matt caught my arm. I felt his warm breath on my cheek as he bent down.

  “Ima,” he whispered in my ear. “I fly out again tomorrow.”

  But he’d just gotten here. When he left, I’d have no one again.

  “I thought you were coming back for good.” It was hard to hide the disappointment dripping from my voice.

  His hands cupped my face as he stared down at me in the dark. “I’ll be back on Wednesday and I promise I won’t go away again, okay? No matter what happens this week, know everything happens for a reason.”

  I wanted to ask him what he meant, but couldn’t form the words. Instead, I embraced him, uncertain of what the coming week would bring.

  “I’ll miss you,” I said.

  “I’ll miss you too. Now, get some sleep.” Matt ushered me toward my room. “I’ll let Keetah in for you.”

  Tonight had been bizarre, and I had no idea what to make of it. But the one thing I knew was Carsen might still care for me.

  Chapter Twenty

  Trouble

  Matt left early Sunday morning, and I already missed him. A part of me wished he could’ve stayed longer, yet he promised he’d be back on Wednesday, which was only a couple of days away.

  Dad dropped me off at school again, since he didn’t have any flights scheduled until Thursday. It was nice having him home with no worries about being alone.

  Pushing through the school doors, I was instantly aware of the whispers about the dance. The girls chatted about how yummy my date was, and how he was way better than Carsen. Others whispered about the fight and how lucky I was to have guys fighting over me.

  I rolled the combination on my lock, clicking my new locker open. My other one couldn’t be repaired so they gave me a different one. I went to shut my door when a shadow fell over me and I peered up to see Ferren glaring at me.

  “Why the hell did you bring a date on Saturday? Do you know how much trouble you caused,” she seethed.

  “Matt surprised me. Besides, why should you care who I bring? It’s not like we’re friends anymore.” I slammed my locker shut.

  Ferren bumped me into the lockers, and opened her mouth to say more when Mr. Cavanaugh happened by.

  “I think you ought to get to class, Ferren Shinew,” he said, gripping her by the arm and leading her away from me.

  I sighed with relief. The last thing I wanted was to have another confrontation with Ferren. I pushed through the hall to first hour where Carsen sat waiting on my desk, his face masked with rage.

  “It didn’t take you long to replace me,” he said with a sneer.

  Oh. No. He. Didn’t. I clenched my fists at my side. “I’m not the one who walked away Carsen, that was you. Besides you had Kendra hanging off your arm within two seconds of dumping me.”

  “She’s a friend.”

  “A friend with benefits! I bet you brought her to the sod house too, pouring your heart out and telling her how much you love her.”

  Carsen snapped, bending down until we were nose to nose. “The only girl I ever have and ever will bring up there is you,” he said.

  His statement left me confused, and I staggered away from him until I found myself sitting in my desk. “And for your information Matt’s a friend—nothing more.”

  I spun around and faced the front of the class in time to watch Mr. Cavanaugh wheeling in a TV.

  “Okay class, we’re going to be doing something a little different today,” he said with a smile. “As most of you know we’ve got a celebrity in our midst.”

  Oh no, I sure hoped he wasn’t about to do what I thought he was going to do. He smiled in my direction, and I groaned. Great, I knew he meant well but this was so going to end badly.

  “Ima Berry’s been a part of a paranormal and supernatural investigative team since she was child. Her dad is the infamous Lou Berry, lead investigator and founder of Berry S.I., a long running TV show. I’ve got here this season’s last episode which revolves around an investigation of Bigfoot.”

  I slid down in my chair trying to ignore everyone’s stares and whispers.

  “Ima, is there anything you’d like to add?”

  “Er, not really, just that I’ve been traveling with my dad since I was baby.”

  “Where’s your mom?” Kevin asked fro
m the back of the room.

  “Sh—she, died in childbirth,” I stammered.

  “What kinds of things do you guys hunt or look for?” Carsen said with animosity.

  My eyes went wide. “We mostly look for ghosts, sometimes we’ll go out to prove the existence of creatures like Bigfoot, Loch Ness, the Dogman, Champ, the Jersey Devil, that kind of thing.”

  Mr. Cavanaugh noticed the look on my face then flipped off the lights. “Let’s hold the questions until the end of class. That way we have time to get through the show.”

  He pushed the DVD in, and I listened to the familiar theme music for the show. It was strange sitting in class and watching my face pop up on the screen, introducing me as the youngest Berry S.I. member. At the beginning of every show, they did a flash of all the crew. I recognized the greenery of the Modoc National forest as me, Matt, and Brady came on screen goofing off with a rubber snake, which we’d put in Jefferson’s equipment bag.

  The class laughed when Jefferson screamed on camera and Dad got after us for playing around. I relived last summer through the TV. The coolest part was Matt, Brady and I rushing through the woods after what we thought was Bigfoot. I also got to witness my dad’s freak out moment, when he found the camp in shambles our last morning investigating. His anguish was easy to pick up when the camera did a close up. Since I hadn’t seen the episode yet, I was startled to see they included the portion where I reamed Jefferson out and Brady’s dad had to tell me to calm down.

  The episode ended with the crew, saying goodbye and I almost teared up remembering that day—the day Dad informed me we were going to Alaska.

  Mr. Cavanaugh switched on the lights and lucky for me the bell rang. I rushed from class before anyone grabbed their torches and pitchforks. I so wasn’t sure why the teacher thought this was a good idea. If anything, it’d only remind everyone why I was dangerous to them.

  The day needed to hurry up and be over.

  ****

  “How was school?” Dad glanced up as I slumped into the truck seat next to his.

  “Fine, Mr. Cavanaugh brought in this season’s last episode of Berry S.I. to watch in class today.”

  “And how did it go?”

  I shrugged. “I’m still alive aren’t I?”

  “Maybe he was just trying to help everyone understand you better.”

  “I know, but I’m not sure it was such a great idea.”

  I sighed. At least Carsen didn’t say anything after first hour. In fact, he avoided me for the rest of the day. But I did have a few girls actually talk to me today, which was nice. They wanted to know how I knew Matt and if we were serious. I played it up the best I could enjoying the social interaction.

  “I thought we might play scrabble tonight.” Dad pulled into our drive. “We haven’t done that in ages. Besides, it looks like we’re in for one heck of a storm later on.”

  “Yeah, that’d be fun. I can make some popcorn and crackers and cheese,” I said eyeing the darkening, slate gray sky.

  Keetah’s ears perked when we came bounding in from outdoors and he leapt off the couch knocking me down.

  “Hey,” I said laughing as he licked my face. “Enough! I’ve only been away to school.”

  I climbed up off the floor wiping the snow from the butt of my jeans.

  “Keetah, you don’t jump on people.” Dad scolded him. “If you keep it up you’re going to go lay down in the spare room.”

  The dog skulked into the living room, where he laid his head on his paws, giving me sad looks.

  “Oh, honestly.” I plopped down next to him. “You’re nothing but a big spoiled baby.” I scratched his head and belly until his tongue hung out of his mouth.

  “If you baby him, he’ll never learn.” Dad sat in his recliner with a magazine.

  “He didn’t mean it, did you, boy?”

  After petting my dog some more, I went to figure out something for dinner. I fetched a pack of hotdogs and a can of chili then grabbed a box of macaroni. I set the table as I waited for dinner to finish then hollered for Dad to come sit down.

  “You didn’t have to do dinner tonight,” he said loading his hotdog with chili, onions, and shredded cheese.

  “I don’t mind. You usually do the cooking when you’re home so I thought I’d give you a break tonight.”

  “You’re the best daughter, you know that?”

  I snickered. “Yeah, I kind of thought I was.”

  We’d just finished dinner when the shrill ring of the phone echoed through the house.

  “I’ve got it,” Dad said, sliding back from the table. “Hello?”

  Lifting my cup to my lips, I took a sip of milk and watched the color drain from Dad’s face. The phone shook in his hand. His eyes went wide as he peered at me.

  “I’ll be right there,” he said, hanging up the phone.

  “Dad, who was it?” I stood.

  “Ima, I know what happened to that stolen camera,” Dad said, his voice hoarse. “Jefferson took it when he was here visiting. He saw the footage of your friends shifting on it and he’s at the airstrip in Point Hope with his men.”

  My whole body quaked with rage and fear. The very thing I’d been trying to avoid all along was coming true. I’d put Carsen’s people in danger. With tears streaming down my cheeks, I tried to form some semblance of a thought process.

  “Dad, what are we going to do?”

  “I’m going to take your Jeep and go pick Jefferson and the others up. I’ll tell him it was a hoax. That you and your friends played a joke on me.”

  Dad moved to the closet, throwing on his heavy parka and boots.

  “Let me go with you,” I said.

  “No, you stay here with Keetah.”

  “But Dad,” I said trying to hide the trembling in my voice.

  “Honey, let me handle this okay? I love you.” He grabbed my keys from the dish on the coffee table and rushed out the door.

  I heard him pull out then I stared at the clock. My stomach knotted as I kneaded my hands together trying to remain calm.

  Terror enveloped my every thought as I contemplated how we’d convince Jefferson it’d been fake. What if he didn’t believe us? Oh God, I couldn’t breathe.

  Keetah got up and came to stand by my side as if to guard me.

  “Thanks buddy,” I said.

  I waited for forty minutes, but Dad didn’t return. I even dialed his cell phone, which went to straight voicemail at least a dozen times.

  Fear pummeled me, and I couldn’t take it any longer. Grabbing Dad’s truck keys, I threw on my parka and boots. Keetah moved to go with me.

  “No boy, you stay here and watch the house,” I said before rushing out into the blustery, cold wind.

  Snow spiraled everywhere as the winds whipped across the yard. Big fluffy flakes made it nearly impossible to see two feet in front of me. But I had no choice but to venture into the harsh conditions. I started the truck then moved my seat up to reach the pedals.

  “Come on, defrost all ready.” Irritated, I slammed my hands down on the steering wheel.

  I turned the windshield wipers on trying to scoop away some of the snow and frost. After about five minutes, I felt I couldn’t wait any longer and grabbed the snow scraper. Once I had cleared a square big enough for me to see out of, I hopped back in the truck.

  Gripping tight to the steering wheel, I headed away from town and toward the airstrip. Most of the time, I couldn’t tell where I was going and had to slow down to fifteen, twenty miles per hour.

  I drove past Old Town, which meant I grew closer.

  “Come on, come on.” My body trembled as fear set in. It felt like I was moving in slow motion.

  When I arrived at the airstrip, I gazed around, only to find my Jeep wasn’t there. I felt like I was going to be sick. Bile burned the back of my throat. This couldn’t be happening. I turned on my bright lights, which did very little in the blinding snow. I was about to turn around when I saw something on the ground.

 
Throwing the truck into park, I jumped from the vehicle. I wasn’t sure what drove me, but I sprinted across the frozen ground. As I got nearer, I realized it wasn’t a something lying in the snow, but rather someone.

  “Daddy,” I shouted.

  Blood saturated the snow around him, so much blood. I couldn’t think straight. I knelt down, touching his cheek, which was ice cold beneath my warm fingers. I searched for a pulse and sobbed. It was faint, barely discernable. His glasses were broken, his face bleeding and he had a chest wound that’d seeped through his heavy parka.

  “Daddy.” I sobbed trying to figure out how to get him to the truck.

  He was too heavy; I couldn’t lift him, so I was left with one alternative, dragging him across the frigid tundra. As gentle as possible, I grabbed him by his underarms, pulling him along, leaving a trail of blood behind.

  It took me several minutes to get him to the vehicle and at that point, I climbed up into the passenger side then leaned down to grip his arms. I braced my legs against the frame, tugging with all my might.

  He moaned in pain, making me bawl. I couldn’t lose him. He was all I had! With every bit of strength in me, I got him into the cab. I found an extra shirt on the backseat and wadded it up, placing it over his chest before seat belting him. I knew I had precious little time. He was fading fast.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  The end…

  The scent of Dad’s blood made me nauseous as I fought to keep the truck on the road. The snow billowed in front of me like miniature cyclones, making it impossible to see where the street started and ended.

  “Come on!” I said in a loud voice, reaching up to adjust my rearview mirror. I cringed at the sight of the bloodied handprint I left on the glass and tightened my grip on the wheel. My dad’s blood—I had his blood all over my hands and clothes.

  He groaned next to me; his breath grew more ragged by the moment. Tears blurred my vision. This wasn’t supposed to happen, not to him.