The Shifter’s Prisoner

by T. S. Ryder

Chapter Two

  Kiara couldn’t wait to get home from school and get into the woods. She’d been making lists all day in her notebook of which spells she’d try with her new powers. After spending almost the whole day as a dragon after getting the gift she’d felt the increase in the strength of her magic, and it was addictive. She hadn’t wanted to change back to come home for the night, but was running out of excuses for why she was gone so much. Well, the potion she was making would help with that. She could tell her mother anything and have her believe it when she used the potion.

  “Have you even heard a word I said?” Erica asked from her seat beside Kiara at lunch.

  “Mmm,” Kiara said.

  “Hey!” Erica smacked her palms on the table to get her attention.

  “Sorry, Er. What?”

  Erica blew out a sigh. “I think Spencer might like me. I mean, I really like him and he’s been really nice to me lately. Talking more than normal.”

  “That’s awesome,” Kiara said. Oh, she’d need to do some sort of detection spell when she got to her clearing before she started casting so she’d know if anyone came near. She couldn’t risk someone seeing her in the woods accidentally and getting killed because of it. She jotted down “detection”, and looked back up at Erica. “So, what are you going to do?”

  “I don’t know. Find a way to get his attention, I guess.”

  “How?” Kiara was fairly clueless when it came to boys. Most of them didn’t appreciate her bigger size, and she had a low tolerance for stupidity. Most boys at 18 were still too goofy and immature for her taste. What she dreamed of was a wizard. She knew plenty of witches, and those who were lesbians were lucky enough to find love amongst the covens, but no wizards. She sometimes fantasized about a bad boy in a leather jacket, showing up to cast some magic on her heart. They could do spells together in the woods. In between makeout sessions, of course.

  Erica shrugged. “Maybe I’ll start a forest fire.”

  Kiara raised an eyebrow at her.

  “What? His dad’s a forest ranger.”

  “Umm, your dad is a forest ranger,” Kiara said. “I don’t think he’d approve. Isn’t there some kind of rangery event both your dads will be at that includes families?”

  “Not really. Ooh, we need to have a forest ranger family party!”

  “There ya go. You could start a yearly tradition.”

  ***

  When Kiara got home from school later that afternoon she collected her things in a hurry, eager to rush into the forest. Plants, potions and her magical stones all went into a tote bag that she slung across her body before taking off at a run into the woods. She’d left a note for her mom saying she’d walked to the library to study—her usual cover. Her mom must have thought she was the smartest teen at her high school.

  She reached her favorite clearing and set down her bag. There was a large rock in the center of the clearing that she used as a work space and spread her plants, potions, and magical items over it. She cast a detection spell first so she’d see if someone approached, then she started working on the cloaking spell. What Sindri had said stuck with her. She didn’t want to be responsible for anyone’s death, but she wanted to spend plenty of time as a dragon.

  Kiara paused to look around before shifting. Her detection spell, which was cast in a wide circle around her, would glow yellow if a human presence neared it. She saw nothing, so she closed her eyes and felt her body morph into her dragon.

  Though she loved being in dragon form, she was still getting used to her massive body and unwieldy tail. When she moved, she often knocked over small trees and plants. All the vegetation in the area at the edge of the clearing had been smashed by her tail or large feet. She tried eating some plants and small animals, just to see what it was like. Surprisingly, her animal instincts took over and the mouse she ate for a snack was rather delicious, though catching the mouse had been a struggle. She moved too slowly to chase it. In the end, she cast a spell to bring it to her and paralyze it, then snatched it up with her paw.

  First, she practiced some simple spells to see how her dragon magic changed the process. A potion to let her stay up all night, and another to help her study faster. She practiced her transformation spells. A rock became a mouse on her first attempt. She’d been working on that spell for months, with only mild success. Usually, the rock grew a tail and feet and she had to chase it down before it ran off. It gave a new meaning to the idea of a pet rock.

  Every spell she tried came off easily and better than it ever had before. The power of the dragon magic flowed through her, so strong that she could feel its hum in her veins. She moved onto spells she hadn’t yet attempted. They involved more intermediate-level magic for a human. The cloaking spell, which was one of highest-level spells, was her top priority. She practiced it over and over but was only able to hide herself for a few seconds at a time. Well, that was still an improvement.

  All week Kiara ran to the forest after school and stayed for hours doing magic in her clearing until she knew her mom would be coming home from work. She tried not to be gone too late in order to avoid questions. With her increased speed spell, it now took her only a few minutes to travel back and forth. She ran like a flash and didn’t get out of breath. Most days, she beat her mom home.

  Saturday morning, she got up early and packed her tote bag full of magical elements. The plan was to get a full day of magic in without having to rush home or face the impending evening’s darkness.

  “Hey, Mom, I’m going out! Going for a walk, then the library for a while, then to Erica’s.”

  “Okay, keep your phone on!” her mom called from the living room, where she was watching TV and drinking her morning coffee.

  “I will.”

  As soon as Kiara was in the cover of the trees, she cast her spell and tore to her clearing in a flash. She had so much extra time today and she wanted to practice the cloaking spell for most of it.

  She set up her usual protections and was about to begin when she saw a human presence detected. Whoever it was, was far away, but she still couldn’t change. She snuck behind a rock to wait and watch. No one appeared, and after a while she got bored. She would stay human, but she had to do some kind of magic. There was no sworn-to-secrecy pact when it came to witches. They didn’t make their existence well known, sure, and everyone generally understood it needed to be kept a secret, but if someone found out they wouldn’t die. Not like they would if they found out she could shift to a dragon.

  The yellow glow of the detection spell was so faint that the person had to be pretty far away. She kept the spells small and practiced some basics. She did try the cloaking spell and was happy to find that she could now hold it for a few seconds in human form. As a dragon she was up to several minutes.

  After a few hours, she was getting tired and needed a break. Casting so much magic was mentally exhausting. She strolled out of the forest, taking her time to appreciate the day and nature. Kiara enjoyed just being in the woods, walking and exploring. Being a witch made her feel part of nature and connected to it. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that so much magic required nature—plants, certain moon phases or celestial events, water or fire. The more she increased her magic, the more in tune she felt.

  Chapter Three

  Kiara knocked on the door to Erica’s house and heard her mom call out, “Come in!”

  Kiara opened the door and called back, “Hi, Mrs. Graham!” as she walked up the stairs to Erica’s room.

  “Oh, my goodness, Kiara, you are not going to believe this.” Erica pulled her into the room and closed the door. Then she dropped her voice to a whisper. “There is something crazy happening in the woods.”

  Instantly, Kiara was on alert. Her pulse doubled in speed. Had she seen something? “What do you mean?”

  “Have you heard rumors that there are witches at school?”

  “Yeah, so? Everyone knows it’s crap.”

  “Right? But I think it might actually be true.
So, I was in the woods today with my dad. He wanted to take me along for some kind of nature experience, I don’t know.” She rolled her eyes. “It was totally lame. But there is this huge patch of forest where all the grass and plants and even, like, small trees and stuff are totally smashed. My dad said something has been damaging vegetation and eating a bunch of small animals recently.”

  Kiara tried not to react. But Erica was talking about her in dragon form. And Erica’s father, the forest ranger, was on to her.

  “So we were in there walking around, and I took off on my own. You’re never going to believe what I saw. I can’t even believe what I saw. Some kind of magic thing. Like, someone was there in the woods, and I swear they were casting spells. It was like Harry Potter with colors flying all over. I tried to watch, but then whoever it was stopped.”

  “You know you sound crazy right now?” Maybe Kiara could convince Erica that she hadn’t seen what she thought she saw.

  “I know, right! Totally. I thought I was going nuts. But I saw it. I’m gonna go back and see if I can find the person again. Or see what was there or something.”

  “Don’t do that. Think, Erica. If someone is casting magic, they could like, turn you into a toad or something.” Maybe she should work on that, actually. Just in case.

  “No, this is the perfect thing! My dad said he would pay me to sit in the woods and try to find out whatever animal is destroying everything. So I can look for this animal and the sorcerer at the same time. And the best part is I can take Spencer with me!”

  “You’re going to sit in the woods waiting for a giant animal that can knock down trees? And you’re going to stop it from crushing you how, exactly?”

  “Oh, my dad gave me his tranq gun. I’m not going to get close to it or anything. Something that big will make a lot of noise, so I’d know it was coming way before it saw me. I do have some forest training, you know. My dad has taught me this stuff since I was a kid.”

  Kiara shook her head. “Don’t be an idiot. Is he going to track where you go? No. Take the money and just sit at the stream skipping rocks. You do not want to mess with some huge animal or someone casting magic. That’s insane.”

  Erica sighed. “But Spencer… It’s the perfect plan!”

  “You’re an idiot.”

  “Hey.” Erica put her hands on her hips. “I’m starting to get offended, here.”

  “Well, you should. It’s freaking stupid. You can find some other way to get Spencer to pay attention to you.”

  Kiara could sense that Erica was getting mad. She wanted to stop and fix it. They’d been best friends for five years now and she didn’t want to mess that up. But she had to keep Erica out of the woods. If she saw something by accident, she was in huge danger. Better she get mad at her and not go into the woods than get herself killed.

  “Well, I already told my dad I would, and Spencer is meeting me tomorrow, so sorry if you think it’s stupid. I’m doing it.”

  They sat in silence, giving each other half glares, brooding in the quiet.

  “I’m just gonna go,” Kiara said.

  “Fine.”

  Kiara walked out and ran as fast as she could back to her clearing. She had to nail this cloaking spell and fast. She worked for hours, switching from dragon form to human, trying different methods and practicing again and again. She’d gotten up to a half hour of cloaking in dragon form and she held it while she practiced other spells that would increase her overall magic ability.

  When she was getting too tired to continue she changed back into human form, let the cloak fall and cast a few final spells for her week ahead. She started packing up her things and turned around, then saw that the circle of magic around her, the one she used to detect a presence, had a spot of bright yellow. It had been behind her this whole time and she had been too focused to notice.

  She panicked. What had they seen? Who was it? Well, she had checked around her before becoming a dragon and there had been no one, and while she was in dragon form she’d stayed cloaked. The more she thought about it, the more she decided whoever it was—and maybe it was even Erica—likely did not see her dragon shift. But they had to have seen her casting spells.

  She packed up her things and marched towards the place where the presence was indicated. She couldn’t see who it was past the yellow glow and the large bush they sat behind. “I know you’re there,” she said.

  She heard hushed whispers and then feet pounding as they ran. She chased after them, using her magic to run much faster than normal. But when she caught up enough to see who it was, she stopped. Erica and Spencer were running fast, glancing back every few feet to see if she was coming after them.

  With a resigned sigh, she stopped chasing them and went instead to Erica’s house. She used her cloaking spell to make herself invisible, then levitated up to Erica’s window. She climbed in through the window and waited for her to return.

  ***

  Erica must’ve spent a lot of time with Spencer, because Kiara had to wait for hours. When she finally came into her room, kicked off her shoes and lay down on her bed, Kiara cast a silencing charm then stepped out of her cloaked state.

  Erica screamed, but no sound came out of her mouth.

  “I’m going to take off the silence charm, but you can’t scream, okay?” Kiara said.

  Erica nodded and Kiara spoke another spell to release the silence charm.

  “It was you!” Erica exclaimed in a hushed whisper. “We saw you in the woods. You’re a witch!”

  Kiara nodded. “Yes. I am.”

  Erica blinked at her. Maybe she’d thought Kiara would deny it. Then she shoved Kiara’s shoulder playfully. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I couldn’t. Think about it. We have to keep it a secret or we’d be hunted. Like we were back in the 1800s.”

  Erica considered this, scrunching her mouth to the side and nodding slowly. “But you could have told me. I wouldn’t have told anyone.”

  “I’m counting on that. You can’t tell a single person; you have to promise.”

  “Well, you know Spencer was with me.”

  “Yeah, and you have to make him promise, too. Erica, people would either kill me or use me if they knew what I was.”

  Erica reached out and gripped her hand. “I promise. Hey, wait, were you the one destroying stuff in the woods and killing animals?”

  “I don’t do animal sacrifice.” It was true enough.

  “Okay, good. Wait, so how long have you been a witch?”

  Kiara shrugged. “I guess my whole life. I started being able to do little things when I was a kid. Move stuff without touching it, make flames go out, that sort of thing. Then I just started doing more and more.”

  “Wow,” Erica said, her voice dripping with awe. “I want to be a witch! Is there a way I can get powers?”

  “Not that I know of.”

  “But then, is your mom a witch, too? Or your grandma? Is it like a bloodline thing passed on from generation to generation?”

  “Umm, I don’t know, actually. I’ve never seen my mom do any magic, and I would have thought she’d have mentioned it by now.”

  “Then how did you get the ability to do magic?” Erica made a pouty face.

  “No idea. Sorry.”

  Erica let out a huff. “Well, whatever. I guess it’s still cool that my best friend has powers even if I don’t.”

  “Right. So, let’s keep your best friend alive and don’t ever tell anyone.”

  “I won’t.” She held up her pinky and swore her secrecy.

  Chapter Four

  Kiara walked home from Erica’s late that night. As she neared her house she saw someone sitting on her front step. When she got closer, she recognized Spencer. Well, she needed to talk to him anyway. At least he’d made it convenient.

  “Hey, Spencer,” she said, when she was close enough.

  He looked surprised. “I didn’t think you knew my name.”

  “I needed to talk to you, actually.”<
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  “Yeah, I guess so.” He slid over and made room for her to sit beside him on the step.

  “I know what you saw today.”

  He gave her the same awestruck look Erica had. “It was amazing. The way you moved and twisted in the air. It looked like you were dancing.”

  “Umm, thanks. So, about that.”

  “Don’t worry, I would never tell anyone your secret if that’s what you were going to say. You can trust me.”

  “Good. That’s really good to know.”

  “Actually…” He twisted his hands together and gave her a sheepish look. “I was wondering if I could…umm…hire your services?”

  “You want to do what?” She raised an eyebrow at him.

  “Well, there’s this girl I like, but I don’t think she likes me. And recently I’ve got to know her better, and I really think she’s the one for me. She’s just so…” His eyes took on a dreamy gaze as he looked at her.

  Kiara rolled her eyes. “Erica likes you, too.”

  “Erica? Oh. Are you sure? Because it’s not Erica.”

  “Oh. Well, that sucks.”

  His face fell. “Yeah, it does.”

  “What were you going to ask?”

  “Well, I’m not looking for a love potion or anything.” He held up his hands to show how serious he was. “I’ve read about this stuff, and I don’t want some fake thing. What I want is to become her dream man. I want her love to be real.”

  “But then you wouldn’t be the same.”

  “I know. But I would become anything for her.”

  “Spencer.” She put her hand on his shoulder. “Why don’t you just find someone who likes you for who you are?”

  He shook her hand off. “Maybe I don’t like who I am, okay?” They looked at each other for a minute. Then he said, “Can you help me or not?”

  “I really don’t think that’s a good idea.”

  “Okay, fine.” He crossed his arms and glared at her. “I didn’t want to have to do this, but if you won’t cast this spell on me I will tell your secret.”

  “So much for being able to trust you.”