The Shifter's Secret Baby Girl

by T. S. Ryder

  Thea picked up her purse and left her dorm room, locking the door behind her. She walked out of the building and down the street three blocks, then over two blocks until she reached the gray house. It stood tall and eerie before her, its many dormer windows reaching into the sky.

  Maybe it only seemed creepy to Thea because she knew what went on inside the huge house. It was full of college students, like most houses on campus, but this one was a bit different. Each of the six students who lived there was a dragon shifter. This was not public knowledge by any means, but since she herself was a witch, also bound by secrets and magic, Thea was in on it. Though she wasn’t allowed to live here. It was exclusively for shifters. The “nest”, as her best friend Elise called it.

  She walked to the front door, where they had brazenly and ironically installed a dragonhead door knocker. Clearly they found humor in their secret keeping. Thea knocked and waited. Elise was expecting her, and just a few moments later, she opened the door and smiled at Thea.

  “Morning!” Elise said, rubbing her eyes.

  “Or afternoon, but whatever,” Thea said.

  “Oh.” Elise yawned and looked at her watch, then shrugged. “We were up late.”

  They hugged and Thea followed her into the house.

  “So, what were you up late doing?” Thea asked.

  They went to the living room, where all the windows were covered in thick curtains. Their purpose was to keep anyone from seeing in, so the shifters could shift whenever they wanted to, but it also made the whole house feel very dark and spooky. The curtains, a stiff burgundy fabric, glowed blood red in the afternoon sun, sending a red tint over everything.

  “We were working on a spell.” Elise flopped down on the couch and Thea sat beside her. “Want some coffee or something?”

  “Sure. What spell?”

  They both did magic, like all dragon shifters and witches did, but the shifters could often do more powerful spells. Something in their blood connected them to the magic more strongly than it did for their purely-human counterparts. Thea was always slightly jealous of this, but also knew the hassle and dangers that came with being a shifter.

  So many times she’d had to sit with Elise through the night when she couldn’t shift back for some reason. Either she’d gotten too emotional or drunk too much, and she couldn’t get her head in the right place to make the shift. Or there were the times when she accidentally shifted, the worse being in the middle of class in high school, when Thea had had to cast a memory spell on all the students to make it seem like nothing at all had happened in class that day. The moon affected her, as did certain foods and spices, and being out in nature was always dangerous. Anything that tied back to nature, which was the root of all magic, could affect dragon shifters if not handled correctly.

  Most shifters, by the time they reached their twenties, had gotten a good handle on shifter life. They stuck together closely, helped each through it and relied on their witch allies to help as well. And the dragons often worked with witches to do more powerful spells. It was a big advantage for them both that they were best friends. Even if she didn’t have the increased magical ability that Elise did, Thea had to admit that many times she was glad she didn’t have to deal with the hassle of shifter life. Her world was much simpler.

  Elise padded into the kitchen to make coffee. “We’re working on levitating objects.”

  “Whoa.” Thea followed her, leaning on the counter to watch as Elise yawned again, then poured coffee grounds into the filter. “Did you get very far?”

  “We didn’t do too badly. Little things are easy now, but bigger things are still difficult. We did manage to move the furniture around.”

  “That’ll make moving much easier.”

  Elise chuckled. “Sure will. People are next. Lifting living objects is pretty hard, though.”

  Thea groaned. “Not as hard as my calculus homework.”

  Elise gave her a look. “It is way too early in the morning—err, afternoon—to be thinking about math. I need at least two cups before I pull out any books.”

  “I have a test Monday. Guess I’ll be studying all weekend.”

  Elise leaned back against the counter while the coffee brewed. “I’ll help.”

  “Elise!”

  Thea recognized Logan’s voice, coming from the basement. Her heart jumped at the sound. So he was home, after all. Not that she didn’t love just hanging out with Elise, but having her older brother around made things extra special.

  Elise walked to the top of the basement stairs and called down, “Yeah?”

  “Can you come down here a minute?”

  Elise gestured for Thea to follow her and they walked down the creaky basement stairs into a dim room. This was often where they shifted and did spells. The floor was cement, and dirty with bits of plants and herbs. There was no outside light at all and, where there had been small windows high on the walls, they were now covered with cardboard and lots of black duct tape. The walls were lined with long, narrow tables full of miscellaneous bottles and containers. Potions, plants, magical elements. Many candles as well. In one corner there was a sofa with a large tear on one side, probably from a claw or spike from someone getting too close while in dragon form.

  Logan stood in the middle of the room, watching them walk down. Thea smiled at him and tried to act cool. But every time she saw him or was near him, her body went into overdrive. Her pulse sped, palms sweat, the whole bit. She’d known him for years, of course, and it seemed like every year he got hotter and hotter. And he was the coolest guy she knew, too. She’d had a crush for a long time, but then their friendship had grown when they had gone off to college. Many times it had been just her and Logan having a deep conversation late into the night, while Elise and the other dragon shifters were asleep upstairs. She wanted something to happen with him so badly. But she thought his primary hesitation was Elise.

  “Oh, hey, Thea. I’m glad you’re here,” he said. “Would you be up for helping me out for a minute?”

  “Always,” she said.

  “Are you still levitating?” Elise asked.

  “Yeah.”

  Thea looked him over while he talked to Elise. His dark hair was in short spikes today, glistening with some sort of product. He wore a close-fitting t-shirt that showed off his arms nicely and his jeans hung just right on his hips. His bare feet stuck out the bottom and he looked chill and relaxed like he always did.

  “So, Thea,” he said.

  She snapped her attention from his body to his words.

  “Yes.”

  “After Elise casts her spell on me, would you be willing to be my object?”

  She raised an eyebrow at him.

  “I want to try levitating a person.”

  “Okay, sure.”

  “Thanks.” He smiled at her and she thought he could have asked her just about anything and she would have agreed to it. “I’m going to shift now.”

  She stepped back to watch him. First, he cast a spell over himself, raising his arms and speaking the magical words. This, Thea knew from what Elise had told her, took care of the tangible physicals, as Elise called them. In other words, it made sure that anything he was wearing at the moment of transformation would be there when he changed back to human form. Shredding your clothes wasn’t necessary when you had magic to take care of that for you.

  He stood tall and then grew taller as the change started. His skin darkened and broke out into diamond-shaped scales as his limbs morphed into dragon shape. He landed on all fours on the floor, his hands and feet now clawed paws. His arms and legs were covered in red-orange scales that led up to his thick chest and body. His neck stretched and his nose and mouth reached forward into a snout. His back rounded, the spikes of his spines popping free and running down to his back and beyond, along with the tail growing out from behind him.

  When the change was complete, he shook like a dog does when getting water from its fur. Even in dragon form, Thea thought he was ho
t. He was now powerful and strong, and something about his animal side was just as sexy as his human side. She wished she could run her hands along his smooth scales and feel just how sharp his spikes were.

  Elise began her spell, a ball of green energy forming in her hands. She shouted the final word of the spell and threw the ball at Logan. It broke over his chest and was absorbed into his body.

  Logan took a paw and spread herbs from a pile into a small circle in front of him. He tipped over a small bottle of liquid, mixing it with the herbs. Then he bowed his head slightly and the mixture began to smoke, releasing a faint yellow wisp.

  He stood and turned to her.

  “Move more to the middle,” Elise said. “In case you fall.”

  She gulped but took a step forward. She really hoped she didn’t fall. Not that the ceiling was so high in the room that she’d fall far, but it would surely be embarrassing.

  Logan faced her, and after a moment the yellow wisp came and swirled around her feet. She felt the ground slip away. She almost toppled over as she rose into the air a few inches. With nothing to stand on, she was rather unsteady. But her body rose higher and she was floating now, a few feet above the ground. She reached up and touched the ceiling.

  Chapter Two

  Elise clapped and shrieked in excitement. Thea waved down at them. Then her body lowered to the floor and the yellow wisp stopped.

  Logan changed back into human form and Elise ran to hug him.

  “You did it!” she exclaimed. “That was awesome. Wait until everyone hears about this.”

  Logan beamed. “Thanks. Thea, how did it feel?”

  “Weird. It got better when I got higher because I didn’t feel like I should be standing anymore. Then I felt like I was closer to flying.”

  “Awesome. Thanks for your help. Now I just need to be able to do it without the extra spell boost.”

  “You’ll get there,” Elise said. “We’ll keep practicing. Honestly, we all came so far last night. I’m sure that by the end of next week we’ll be pros.”

  “That seemed like a pretty advanced spell,” Thea said. She was genuinely impressed.

  “It was,” Logan said. “A level four.”

  “Whoa.” There were five spell levels in the magical world. Only masters who’d been casting for years could do fives. They wouldn’t be at that level until they were in their thirties or forties most likely. She was just mastering most of the level three spells, and some on the upper end were still too difficult for her. It would be another three or four years at least until she could attempt a level four. But then, Logan was three years older than them, and being dragons gave them more power, so they were both ahead of her. She was ahead of most of the witches her age, in large part due to spending so much time with Logan and Elise, but she always felt a little behind. It wasn’t until she hung out with witches her own age that she felt advanced or powerful in any way.

  “I’d be on level fours, too, if I had the extra years of practice you did,” Elise said.

  “Hey.” He ruffled her hair. “Older brothers gotta have some sort of benefit. I taught you a lot, too. You know more than I did at your age. I didn’t have an amazing big brother to teach me more complicated spells.”

  “But you have an amazing little sister to help you not be a total dork, so it all works out.” Elise tickled him and he jumped.

  Elise dashed up the stairs, screaming and laughing, to get away from him. Thea followed and, by the time they reached the kitchen, they’d reached a tickle truce.

  “I made coffee,” Elise said.

  “Ah.” Logan went to the pot and poured himself a cup. “I guess little sisters are good for something after all.”

  Elise smacked his arm and poured a cup for Thea, then herself. They stood in the kitchen, blowing the steam from their mugs and taking sips.

  This was her chance. Coffee was strong enough to hide any potion taste. She just had to be close enough and stealthy enough that no one would see her do it. She kept her eyes peeled for the perfect moment.

  “What do you guys have going on today?” Logan asked.

  “Calculus studying for Monday,” Thea said.

  Elise nodded in her direction. “Helping her and writing an English paper and maybe some fall shopping. I need more sweaters.”

  “I’ll help you with that,” Thea said. “You know, in exchange for helping me with calculus and all.”

  “Perfect,” Elise said. “What about you?”

  He looked down at his watch. “Not too sure, yet, actually. Sophia is on her way over, then I think we’re getting lunch. I have a paper to write, too, so we might end up at the library. Want to meet there later? We can study and work together.”

  “Yeah,” Elise said.

  Thea nodded and tried to hide her disappointment. Sophia was Logan’s girlfriend, and the newest addition to their small group. They’d started dating several months ago. She was the reason Thea needed to slip Logan the love potion. He was falling for Sophia. She could see it. And she couldn’t let that happen.

  He set down his mug. “Gotta pee.”

  Perfect. Thea put her hand in her pocket and her fingers closed around the thin, glass vial. She just had to distract Elise now.

  Logan left the room and Thea moved closer to where his mug sat on the counter. Elise was looking at her phone, but she could look up at any minute.

  “Hey, do you have any ibuprofen?” Thea said. “I have a headache.”

  “Oh, sure.” Elise set down her phone and went upstairs to her room.

  This couldn’t have gone any better. Thea took the vial from her pocket, popped out the cork stopper and dumped the liquid into Logan’s mug. She stirred with her finger and put the vial back in her pocket as the toilet flushed. Logan walked out a minute later and took a long swig of his coffee before dumping the rest.

  “I should go brush my teeth real quick, I guess,” he said, breathing into his hand. “Where’d Lise go?”

  “Right here.” Elise handed Thea two pills and resumed her place against the counter.

  “Thanks.” Thea popped the pills and washed them down with coffee.

  She tried to calculate. Okay, he had drunk some, but not all of it. Her stomach turned in disappointment. Was it enough? She had brewed a large batch, though. If this didn’t work, she’d just do it again. As many times as it took to make him hers.

  There was a knock on the door and her stomach tightened further. Logan grinned and walked in this super-happy, hopping step to the door. Thea wanted him to be that happy when she showed up.

  A moment later, a smiling Sophia and Logan reentered the kitchen. Logan popped a mint quickly into his mouth, then kissed her. Sophia giggled.

  “Hi,” she said cheerily.

  “Hey,” Thea muttered, forcing a smile.

  “Heya,” Elise said. “Want some coffee? It’s fresh.”

  “I’d love some.”

  Elise poured Sophia a mugful and handed it to her. Sophia put her hands around it and sipped, and Logan stood beside her, his arm around her waist.

  Thea hated the way he looked at her like she was the best thing in the world. She was pretty. And skinner than Thea. Usually, Thea didn’t pay attention to that sort of thing. She loved the way she looked and her thick, curvy body. But what if Logan didn’t? What if he thought Sophia was much better looking and that was his type? That wavy blonde hair and those long, stick-like legs. Maybe she could learn a spell to make Sophia uglier.

  Thea sighed. Anything like that was darker magic and she didn’t mess with that. None of them did. It was too risky and too dangerous. Those spells often went wrong and, even when they didn’t, they turned the caster wrong after a while. There had been one boy in their senior year of high school who couldn’t resist. He’d gone into dark magic and the change in him was obvious. They had all known what he was up to when his eyes started to be red all the time and he turned mean. They tried to help him, but he’d fallen for the dark side.

  Of c
ourse, as teens, they’d all tried it and been tempted to do more. But she and Elise had done just a little thing. They’d cast a spell to kill a bug. It'd been shocking at first, how powerful they felt. But the residual spell feeling in their souls felt gross, and they quickly regretted killing the spider. Neither of them had been tempted again. Luckily, most magic casters didn’t get into it. But those who did were usually easy to spot for their darkness inside and out.

  Logan leaned forward and kissed Sophia, who then giggled again. Ugh, that giggle was so annoying. She tipped her mug so he could take a sip of her coffee.

  How could he like her? She wasn’t even a witch or a shifter. Which meant, also, that she didn’t know his secret. That couldn’t make for a very strong relationship, or a very healthy one, keeping secrets like that. He would be much better off with someone like Thea, who could share his secret and help him to do magic, and who was already like a part of his family. They were a perfect match.

  And the love potion? Well, it really only worked if there were some feelings there already. It wouldn’t just create something out of nothing. Her magic wasn’t that strong yet. So it wasn’t really anything so wrong. She’d tell him eventually, anyway. He’d probably roll his eyes and think it was cute. Hadn’t they joked about it when they were kids?

  “Just wait until we get old enough,” he’d said when they were something like twelve and nine, “I’m going to give you a love potion and make you fall crazy in love with me!”

  At the time, she and Elise had squealed and made ewww noises. At the time, the thought had disgusted her and that’s why he said it. But then, at the time, the thought of loving anyone like that was so foreign to her. Over the years, they joked about it once in a while.

  “I don’t have a date for prom,” she’d whined in their junior year.

  “Better get working on that love potion,” he’d said.

  “It’s close,” she’d joked. “And don’t worry, you’ll be my first victim when I get it right.”