The Aberrants Box Set (Books 1-5)

by Sarah J. Stone

  “Sounds like a typical Friday night out on the town.”

  “Does it?” she asked primly, sliding out of the car. “I wouldn’t know.” She gave him a brief nod then strode off into the night.

  The animals still had not returned, lending an eerie quiet to the forest as she strode through it, but thankfully the bugs hadn’t quite got the memo. Fireflies flickered around her, popping in and out of view, while crickets went about making noise to their heart’s content. They were probably thrilled to have a break from all the birds and other critters that liked to make a meal out of them. Who knew, maybe if she ever got enough time, she would hunt down a bunch of them and make some fried ones like her mother used to in the summers.

  Jaelle smiled at the thought. Most people would gag at such a primitive meal, but to her it just brought back warm memories of times before she knew how truly terrible the world could be.

  If little Jaelle had known that one day she would be walking alone through the woods, listening to the absolute stillness of the world while she waited for a mass-murderer to drop in on her, she would have laughed and laughed.

  Funny how time made some things that used to be impossible into uncomfortable realities.

  But uncomfortable or not, she walked. And walked. And walked. Apparently, she was in a nostalgic mood, because it reminded her of her first anniversary with David.

  It had been a beautiful night, somewhere between summer being too hot and autumn being too cool. The sky was cloudless, a thick black comforter over the world with little pinpricks of starlight to emphasize the depthless wonder.

  He had packed a picnic basket. An honest to goodness, made of actual whicker, picnic basket that he had stuffed to bursting with different foods that he had learned she liked over their year together.

  They had walked together into the woods, hand in hand, until they found a clearing where David had laid out a thick blanket. A smile came to Jaelle’s face as she realized that recalling the memory didn’t have the same sting that it usually did when she thought of David’s kind face. Instead, she was filled with a warm sort of melancholy. One that made her grateful for what had passed while missing it just slightly.

  Thinking of something pleasant?

  Jaelle nearly jumped out of her skin, whirling to see where the Shifter thought-speak was coming from. It took her a beat, but she spotted a hawk circling in the sky before descending rapidly toward her.

  By the time it hit ground, it was human, and of course none other than Creed himself.

  “Your ketones smell sweet for possibly the first time since I’ve ever met you. Thought you might have nice thoughts going on in that head of yours.”

  “Just memories,” she responded, crossing her arms. “You wanna tell me why you found it necessary to slaughter an entire town? You can’t even pretend that they did anything to directly hurt you or any other Aberrants.”

  “Really? The first time we see each other in a couple weeks and your initial impulse is to lecture me?”

  “Well someone has to.”

  He smiled smarmily, so sure of himself. “You may have a point. I’m sorry if you didn’t like my little punishment, but I saw an opportunity to learn vital information about my enemies, so I had to take it.”

  “But we don’t necessarily have to be enemies. When you were in the city, you gave me an option to find you a new plan, and I have one.”

  “Now, now. I said a plan better than mine.”

  “And this one is! It involves almost zero death and could be exactly what we need to clear our kind! You say you want to save all Aberrants, those currently in hiding and those yet to come, then this is the way to do it.”

  He strode to her, and for a moment, she thought he was going to strike at her, but instead, he offered her his arm once more. “Let’s go for another walk, shall we?”

  She had no choice but to loop her own arm through his. “Let’s.”

  They strolled along without saying anything for a bit before the silence got to be too much for Jaelle. She needed to say something or she feared she might burst. “There might be a place, a sort of hidden facility where Shifter experiments happen. Bradley thinks he might know where and he’s willing to try to find a way in.”

  “You’re talking about that ‘hospital’, aren’t you?”

  “So, you know about it then?”

  “Of course. After reading all those notes that initially opened my eyes to the truth, I was able to do some investigating and put two and two together. But if your Bradley thinks he knows where the location is, then I’m all ears.”

  “But if you knew about the hospital, why are you killing everyone? You can just use their studies from there to clear us! Bang, boom, everyone goes home.”

  He let out a mocking laugh that made her blood run cold. “Really? That’s the plan you think is better than mine?” He pulled his arm from hers and whirled to face her so that they were almost nose to nose. Looking into his eyes, she could see the bloodlust standing stark within the manic gaze. “Get your hands on some research from a trial that’s only halfway done and the people know nothing about, then try to show it to enough important people and hope they believe it enough to maybe do something about it? Maybe it’ll actually go before a council of Clan Leaders and see a trial, or maybe it’ll be shoved under the carpet like all the preliminary findings have. Meanwhile, more Aberrant children meet their ends in the years that your plan takes. Not to mention the fact that you and anyone who starts on your side will be either turned or assassinated before a single Clad Leader decides what will or will not be.”

  “If the people knew—”

  “The people already know! They can sense it! You can’t tell me that a mother, looking down at her child, wouldn’t know that the beautiful being in their hands was innocent, as all children are.

  “They know, and so they must be punished. They all deserve to be punished.”

  Jaelle shook her head, taking a single step back. “You never planned on changing anything. You were just humoring me.”

  “Maybe. Maybe I truly thought that an outside perspective might find an easier path. After all, you are a bit older than me and you have survived this long on your own. You must have picked up some tricks along the way.”

  “Tricks to survive, not wipe out an entire people. And what do you think you’re going to do? Kill every single Shifter over the age of twenty?”

  “Why not? Of course, I will leave the children and adolescents alive. They haven’t had time to learn about the world, or vote, or perpetuate the rules that slaughter us by the dozen.”

  Now, it was Jaelle’s turn to snort. “Right. So, with that population of only consisting of Aberrants and children, who is going to treat us? That’s the end goal of this, right? To get us equal rights so we can get the medical care that could give us a normal life?”

  Some of the viciousness in his face faded and he seemed to contemplate that for a moment. “That’s actually a very good point. We’ll need some Shifter doctors, especially for the little ones. And a midwife. Some other specialties.” He nodded, rubbing his chin like they were planning a camping trip rather than discussing the genocide of an entire race. “We should make a list, shouldn’t we, of all the professions we’ll need, and then we can have people swear fealty to us.”

  “We’re not doing anything,” Jaelle said, breaking away from him. “I told you before, I cannot get behind the mass murder. So, if you’re rejecting my plan outright, this is where we part ways. Permanently. No more of these secret meetings. No more conversations off by ourselves. We will be enemy and my goal will be stopping you before you ruin things for all Aberrants to come for generations!”

  Instantly, his face went red and the veins bulged out at the side of his neck. She could practically smell his fury billowing off of him, warm and violent.

  “Really?! After everything they’ve put you through, you’d still side with them?”

  “No, Creed!” Jaelle knew she was yelling but
she didn’t see a reason not to. He was already incensed, so there was no need to cushion his feelings. “I side with me, and every other little boy or girl whose body is suddenly doing things they shouldn’t be able to. I want to give them a future, where you just want revenge.”

  He let out a wordless roar, one that shook her to the very center of her being, then lunged forward. Jaelle dodged to the side, settling into a half-shift similar to the one she had seen Javi use, and snarled.

  He spun on a dime, lashing out and his hand connecting with her face. Jaelle stumbled back, gasping, only to have his strong, clawed fingers wrap around her throat.

  “You are an idiot, and a traitor,” he hissed, yanking her to his face. His voice was a low, murderous rumble that fought through his jagged fangs. He looked like no half-shift I had ever seen, but that only made him that much more terrifying. “Give me one reason I shouldn’t kill you right now.”

  “Rutabaga,” she wheezed, air becoming more and more difficult to draw in around his vice-like grip.

  And yet somehow, it was enough to distract him from throttling the life out of her. “What was that?”

  “Rutabaga,” she repeated, keeping her face as expressionless as she could be considering that he was squeezing the life out of her.

  “Are you trying to be funny, or is this some kind of—” He stopped mid-sentence, his eyes going wide. “You’ve set a trap. Look who’s become a clever girl,” he stated, his head turning this way and that, looking for some sign of attack. It was exactly the distraction she needed.

  With all of her strength, she rammed her shin right into his crotch. He crumbled like a sack in front of her and she took off, shifting as she went.

  Her arms grew long and spindly as her spine quickly changed its axis. Rosetta like spots bloomed in a wave across her skin, followed closely by fur until she was fully completed and sprinting on all fours.

  It was one thing to know that a cheetah was the fastest animal in the world, it was another thing to be the fastest animal in the world. Her heart pounded in her narrow chest as her new body zoomed toward the road. Despite the insane amount of distance that she was able to cross, she didn’t get far before she heard an earth-shaking roar from Creed.

  Someone wasn’t happy.

  And neither were Jaelle’s new musculature. In perfect condition, cheetahs could sprint about three hundred and thirty yards before total, debilitating exhaustion set in. Of course, her enhanced Shifter nature allowed her to push the boundaries of what was and wasn’t possible in her animal body, but she didn’t want to go too far and wear herself out.

  Because with an angry Aberrant on her tail, getting too tired meant certain death.

  Just when fatigue began to set into her bones, Jaelle let go of the feline form, tumbling forward into her sweat-covered and very human body.

  She gave herself a singular second to heave a sigh, then picked herself back up again. She could hear heavy footsteps rapidly approaching her, but the strides were very far apart. Cocking her head to the side, she recognized it just as she slid into her next form.

  Ostrich. He was a goddamned ostrich again.

  While the birds didn’t necessarily sound like the most terrifying thing to have running toward you, they were both surprisingly fast and deadly. She remembered seeing them at the zoo and being surprised when she read that they could reach speeds of around forty-five miles per hour. Sure, it wasn’t the seventy that cheetahs could crank out, but the difference was that the giant birds didn’t tire out within a single minute or two.

  If only Jaelle could call upon the form herself. But she had always been a bit nervous about the fact that ostriches could kick a man through his chest and had procrastinated too long on acquiring their form. Instead, she settled on another quadruped that had never let her down.

  Golden paws stretched out in front of her, reaching down until they hit ground then propelled her forward. A lion might not be as fast as its smaller cousin, but the fifty to sixty miles an hour it could maintain for a short while was nothing to sneeze at, either.

  She could hear herself gaining ground again, which gave her a bit of hope. She just needed to make it to the road. The road was her salvation. All it would take was the flat, tarry plane and then she would have him exactly where she wanted him.

  Provided he didn’t get her exactly where he wanted her first.

  He was getting frustrated, she could smell it in the air as much as she could hear it behind her.

  How are you a lion!?

  She nearly stumbled as his shifted voice reached into her skull and blared like a foghorn. But if he was talking, that was good. It meant he was trying to distract her, to have her falter so he could catch up.

  Good. She liked being the one ahead of things for once.

  Well you see, when an Aberrant likes an animal very much, it can study how an animal moves and maybe actually take on its for—

  You know what I mean. I’ve seen you take on over a dozen forms by now, and we don’t even get to hang out that much. What, did you eat an animal encyclopedia?

  Kinda. she thought back. I lived in a zoo for a short bit.

  But still, to remember all those shapes, all those abilities. We could really be amazing together if you would just give up on those murderers you’re allied with.

  Hey, those murderers as you call them have a body count barely a tenth of yours, so what does that make you?

  Although they were not speaking with voices, she could still hear the genuine surprise as he answered. The hero, of course. I’m taking down evil, bit by bit. You’re the one who’s sympathizing with the enemy.

  What a strange view of the world you have. Finally, Jaelle reached the road. The first part of her task was done.

  Now, for the hard part.

  Panting hard, she slid back into her human form and dropped to her knees. That last part hadn’t been intentional, but her calves refused to support her. She didn’t know whether it was from exhaustion, or her body being confused after running in two quadrupedal forms back to back, but it didn’t matter. Because she was about to take on yet another one.

  Leaves rustled, twigs snapped and then finally Creed erupted from the woods at the side of the road, still that damned giant bird. He didn’t stay that way for long, however, as his form began to melt then reform.

  Jaelle watched, biding her time for the perfect moment, only to see the impossible. As far as she knew, Aberrants had to return to human form between shifts. It was like hitting the reset on their biology that allowed them to take on the spirit of whatever animal they cataloged in their mental space. But Creed never returned to his generic, male form. Instead, the bird shifted down and outward, turning sleek and furred until a panther stood just a few feet from Jaelle’s very human face.”

  “How the hell did you do that?” she gasped, too shocked to be upset by the revelation.

  You have your gifts, and I have mine.

  That was all he said before lunging, but Jaelle remembered her plan at the last second. Letting out a feral cry, leapt forward as well, right toward his awaiting jaws. But her soft, squishy human form didn’t stay that way for long. Once more, her mass exploded outward in a wave of grey, thick skin. By the time the two of them collided, panther teeth bounced off of the thick skull of none other than a bull elephant.

  The moment almost seemed to hang in the air between the two, time suspended by Creed’s surprise and Jaelle’s fleeting trumpeting of victory. But then, her tusks tucked up under the sleek cat and her trunk wrapped around his waist before flinging him right back into the trees.

  He went flying, yowling almost comically, but his form shifted again before he could collide into the branches, and he took to the sky as the same giant bird that had chased Jaelle when he first found her.

  He rounded on her, pinwheeling in the sky until he was directly above. For a brief moment, she wondered what he was doing, but then be tucked his wings and started to swoop into a dive-bomb.

  Sh
e almost laughed at the thought of him trying to hurt her as a bird, before realizing that he could jump directly to a new animal form. Sure, there weren’t a whole lot of creatures who could hurt an elephant mano-a-mano, but attacking from above with all the speed of a twenty food drop certainly increased the available options.

  Sure enough, she watched his feathers recede into a ripple of dark hide. She didn’t need to stick around and see what he was planning, instead, she let go of her form and leapt backwards, flopping to the ground in her human body several feet away from where she had been just previously.

  But it was far enough. Right where she had been, a rhino crashed into the ground. It seemed she hadn’t been the only one who had spent some time in a zoo or two.

  But without her massive elephant form to cushion his landing, Creed was hurt, too. His animal form rippled then rolled back, until he was a groaning human just like her.

  “Wow, we are really irritating to fight,” he said between pained gasps.

  “Yeah…” Jaelle admitted, barely able to draw the breath to speak. “I’m starting to get that idea.”

  “It’s not too late for us, you know. We would be basically unstoppable together.”

  “I’ve said this like, three times at this point, but if you wanna work together, come up with a plan that doesn’t involve mass murder. Think about it, when has any mass murderer gone down in history as the hero of the tale?”

  “Um, try all of American history? Or did you not learn about that while being a child on the run from execution?”

  Well, he had her there. “Bad example. Because that only worked because they had power, prejudice and the government on their side. You have none of that.”

  “I know. That’s why I’m going to change it, and all of them will know what it’s like to be condemned merely for being alive!”

  “You are one hard-headed idiot, you know that? Too stubborn to even realize you’re sick with the madness.”

  “I’m not mad!” he snarled, his sheer vehemence enough to propel him to his feet.