The Shifter’s Prisoner

by T. S. Ryder

  “She used to like Spence and he chose me,” Kiara said. “Girls get mad over that stuff all the time. In fact, I’m lucky she’s still my friend.” Of course she might not be if they hadn’t used magic on Erica to remove the fact that she’d liked Spence in the first place.

  Spence spoke up suddenly. “You’re not going to hurt her, are you?” He shifted closer to Kiara and put an arm around her protectively.

  They had said all that stuff about not letting shifters live. She’d almost forgotten about that. It was the least of her problems at the moment. The bigger problem was how to make sure everyone who knew about the secret survived this.

  “No, of course not,” Mrs. James said. “We would never do that to her mother. She’s a very important witch in this town.”

  Kiara shook her head. “I can’t believe she never told me. Or that I never saw her doing magic.”

  “You probably did,” Mrs. James said. “And she probably charmed you into forgetting.”

  “What do we do now?” Spencer said.

  “We make sure no one else finds out,” Mr. James said.

  “Erica is on her way here, and her mother and I will talk to her.”

  “Has anyone talked to my mother about all this?” Kiara asked.

  “Not yet,” Mrs. James said, “but we sure will.”

  “Perfect,” Kiara said. So everyone who knew would all be in one place at one time.

  The front door opened and Erica hobbled in on crutches, her mother helping her. Erica looked at her and Spencer, wary and afraid.

  “Is this everyone who knows about the dragon thing?” Kiara asked.

  Erica nodded. “I think so.”

  “Yes,” Mr. James said. “Erica was charmed to prevent her from saying anything at the hospital.”

  “Good. Because I know a way to keep my secret,” Kiara said.

  She stood up and, with a slow, deep breath, pulled the ring from her finger and set it down on the table. When she let go of it, something shifted in her chest, almost like something had woken up and come alive. It stretched and spread through her whole body in minutes. Her fingers, her toes, every inch of her felt liquefied, like her insides had been turned to jelly and were being held together by her skin alone.

  “What are you doing?” Spence grabbed the ring and tried to shove it back on her finger. “No, Kiara, you can’t do this. You can’t!”

  “It’s done. I can feel it.” She kissed Spence with tears in her eyes and leaned forward to whisper to him. “They won’t remember anything about this. We need to erase the photo from her phone, and then you can live a happy life without being hunted.”

  “No, Kiki.” He took her face in his hands and kissed her.

  “Okay, okay,” Mr. James said. “It’s only magic. Let’s not get all dramatic. No one is going to be mad at you for being seen casting spells. So many of us in this town are magic casters, and memory charms are easy. We just need to talk about you getting better at keeping the secret from non-magic people. For everyone’s safety.”

  If only memory charms undid the curse, she wouldn’t have had to take the ring off to erase the secret of the dragon shifting. And she wouldn’t have just started the timer on her own death.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Spence’s parents cast spells on Erica, the only non-magical person in the room, and made sure she forgot that anyone could do magic.

  Kiara said to Mr. Graham while Mrs. Graham was casting a spell, “Can I see her phone a minute? I want to check something.”

  He handed it over and Kiara found the photo then deleted it. She checked the text messages to make sure she hadn’t sent it to anyone or saved it anywhere, then gave the phone to Erica.

  “Let’s get home,” Mr. Graham said. “It’s been a long night.”

  They exchanged goodbyes as the three of them left. Mr. James let out a loud sigh when he came back into the room after seeing the Grahams out. “It has been a long night. Kiara, I think you’d better get home too.”

  “No!” Spence said. “Just let her stay a little while longer.”

  Mrs. James shook her head. “She needs to talk to her mom, and we have a few things to discuss as well.”

  “It’s okay.” Kiara wrapped her arms around him. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  He stood up as Kiara waved to his parents.

  “And no sneaking into or out of windows tonight, okay?” Mrs. James said. “I sure do hope you two are using protection.”

  Spence covered his face with his hands, and Kiara felt her cheeks go warm. They hurried to the door and stood outside on the porch, their arms wrapped around each other.

  “This is insane,” he said. “I can’t let you just go home. Not like this. What are we going to do?”

  “Enjoy our time together.” She was surprised at how resigned she sounded about the whole thing. But maybe, after coming so close to losing him, after all that had happened, after finding out about her mother and the town, maybe it was too much for her brain, and she’d feel something later. Maybe in a few hours she’d start to freak out over dying.

  “I’m going to figure something out.” He looked at her with eyes frantic and wild. “There has to be a way.”

  “It’s over, Spence. It’s okay. You’ll be okay.” She kissed him and hugged her arms around his neck so tight that his shoulder choked her.

  “Don’t say that. I’m not going to lose you.”

  She released her arms. “I do want to talk to my mom, though. I’ll text you later?”

  “Okay. And I’ll see you first thing in the morning.”

  “Sounds good.”

  They kissed again and she walked away slowly, looking back at him several times. As she walked home Kiara made sure to notice everything around her. The way the stars twinkled in the sky, the way the trees smelled when she walked by them, the way her legs bent and moved her body forward. How much longer would she experience each of these things? How long did she have? A day? Two? She wanted to appreciate everything she could before she got too sick to enjoy it.

  She paused to look up at her house before unlocking the door. She walked inside and locked the door behind her. Her mom sat in the living room, watching her. She motioned for Kiara to join her.

  “Hey, kid,” she said when Kiara walked in.

  “Hey.”

  “I just talked to Spencer’s parents.”

  “And?”

  “Well, they told me the magical cat is out of the bag.”

  “Yeah.” She let her bag fall to the floor with a thump. “You could have told me sooner.”

  “No, I couldn’t. Mr. James said they explained all that.”

  “I guess.” She slumped onto the sofa across from her mom.

  “So now that you know and we can talk about it, do you have any questions?”

  She swallowed and noticed that her throat hurt. Her eyelids drooped with exhaustion and she wanted to sleep. But this could be the last time she had a serious talk with her mom. Her last chance to get answers to any questions she might have. “How often did you use magic on me?”

  “Oh, often enough. You’ll find that the children of magical parents are surprisingly well behaved.” She chuckled. “You’ll see when it’s your turn. Don’t be mad about it; we all do it. When your baby won’t sleep or your toddler is throwing a fit or your ten-year-old gets made fun of at school. You just want a way to make them feel better, and when all it takes is one spell there’s no reason not to use magic.”

  Kiara nodded. If she’d lived long enough to have her own kids then she probably would have done the same. It seemed like a much easier way to parent. Would her and Spence have stayed together that long? Would they have had kids and grown old together? Tears came to her eyes at the thought and she just wanted to be alone to think and cry.

  “I’m really tired, Mom. And I think I’m getting sick. Can we talk more tomorrow?”

  “Sure.” Her mom walked over to hug her and feel her forehead. “You do feel warm. I’ll bri
ng you something.”

  Kiara trudged up to her bedroom and got into her pajamas, adding a sweatshirt to keep away the growing chills running through her. Her mom came up later with some medicine and water. She cast a spell over her, and it did make her feel a little bit better. But she knew even her mother’s more practiced and powerful magic wouldn’t last long against this curse.

  “I do have one more question,” Kiara said as her mom pulled her blanket up to cover her. “Was Dad a wizard?”

  “Yes, and that’s how he died. A powerful spell went wrong.”

  “What kind of spell?”

  “That’s not important.”

  “Mom. What kind of spell?”

  Her mom sat at the edge of her bed. “When you were little, you fell into the ocean from a fishing boat. He jumped in to save you. You were under for too long and he cast a spell to give you oxygen because you were so far under the surface. It pulled all the oxygen out of the water and surrounded you so you could breathe, like being inside a giant bubble of air. But it took that oxygen from anything close to you. Including your father. He was too far down to make it up in time, but since you were in a bubble you floated to the surface.”

  “He suffocated himself to save me?”

  “Basically, yes. I don’t think he realized what would happen, but he did it to save you, yes.”

  Kiara stared at the wall, where the photo of her and her dad hung. She was a toddler in the photo. She didn’t remember the place it was taken or anything about her father at all. Maybe when she died he would be there—wherever it was she was going—and maybe she’d finally get to know him.

  “Now you know why I never wanted to give you details about how he died. Saying he drowned was a much easier explanation. And technically, that is what happened.” Her mother kissed her forehead. “Get some rest.”

  Kiara’s eyes closed quickly and she fell into a dreamless sleep.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “Kiki, wake up.”

  She heard his voice and peeled open heavy eyelids to see a blurry Spence looking down at her. Her whole body ached. She pushed herself up in bed and covered her mouth, her eyes wild as she realized she was about to throw up. Spence, sitting on the edge of the bed, handed her a trash can and helped keep her hair out of the way while she threw up.

  When she’d finished, Spence handed her a glass of water and took the trash can into the bathroom. The smell in the room didn’t fade enough, though. She could just reach her tote bag on the floor and pulled out her wand, then pointed it at the window and cast a spell to open it. The breeze felt nice on her clammy skin.

  Spence came back in and took his seat beside her again. “Everything is going to be okay.” He beamed at her and handed her a small glass bottle filled with a red-brown potion. “Drink this.”

  “What is it?”

  “Just drink it. It will cure you.”

  “Spence. What is it? Where did you get it? What does it do?”

  He closed his eyes briefly and looked frustrated. “I will explain everything after you drink it.”

  “Well, I’m not drinking it until you do.”

  “Kiara!” He punched the bed with his fist. “I went through a lot to get this, now just drink the freaking potion before I hold you down and pour it down your throat.”

  “You went through a lot?”

  He groaned and rubbed his face. “Yes. I had to convince Sindri to make it, okay? I went to the haven—and boy that was fun—but he made it and he said it’ll cure you.”

  “What did you have to do for it?”

  “I gave him my blood.”

  “That’s it?”

  “That’s it. Now drink.” He pulled the stopper out of the glass bottle and handed the bottle to her.

  She poured the liquid into her mouth and swallowed. It wouldn’t matter at this point if what he said wasn’t true. She was dying anyway. No potion could do worse damage than that. The liquid tasted horrible, and she could taste the blood he’d mentioned. The thought made her want to throw up again.

  She closed her eyes, still holding the bottle in her hand. Within seconds she started to feel better. She smiled at Spencer. “I feel better already.”

  He beamed and kissed her.

  “I can’t believe Sindri made a potion to cure me! Wait, how did you know his name?”

  “Ah, you slipped up once when you were talking about him.”

  “And all he wanted was your blood?”

  “Yup. Well, sort of.”

  She sat up straighter and pushed the covers back. Her stomach didn’t feel like it would turn anymore, but there was a new sense of dread that settled there. What had he done? “I knew it. I knew it couldn’t be that simple. What did you do?”

  “It’s not that big of a deal, relax. He took my ability to shift. And yours.”

  “What?” She sat back against her headboard, stunned. She couldn’t change into a dragon anymore and neither could he? If it meant she was going to live it shouldn’t matter that much, but this felt like a huge loss. Her heart felt hollow, as if someone had just reached in and ripped out a piece of her. She hadn’t been able to become a dragon for more than a few months, but she loved it and it felt like part of her. She’d been powerful and special. And now she was just a witch again? A witch with limited, human senses and human power?

  “I’m sorry I tricked you. I should have told you, but it was the only way. I was able to convince Sindri to make the potion because none of the dragons liked that I was more powerful and was basically a freak of nature or whatever. So I gave it up and unfortunately they said that because we caused too much trouble together you had to give up your powers, too. Honestly, I think they were kind of happy to make that exchange. Though Sindri said he’ll show up at some point and wipe our memories so we don’t remember any of this.”

  “But I’ll live?”

  “Duh. You think I would have bothered otherwise?”

  She tried to let that sink in. Slowly, little pieces of what this meant came to her. There was one thing that would be better. “And now you can be in the moonlight without having to worry.”

  “True. I guess there’s one positive. And my dad won’t freak out about us crushing nature anymore with our giant tails.”

  “Can we still do magic, though?”

  “Of course. You can’t lose that ability, it’s in our blood. And you were right. I asked my dad. There’s no way to give anyone the ability to use magic. It only comes through the bloodline. Not even a blood transfusion would work because their real blood would replace it, though they could technically do spells while they had the magic blood in them. It’s complicated, but anyway. We’re just a witch and wizard couple now from magical families.”

  “Okay.” She nodded her head slowly. She still felt sad about losing her dragon form, but it meant they would live, and they wouldn’t have this awful secret to keep anymore. And if they could still do magic, it wasn’t that bad. “I can live with that. So long as we’re alive and together.”

  “We’re alive and we’re together.” He leaned forward to kiss her forehead. “I was thinking about something.”

  “What?”

  “Do you know anything about the bonding ritual?”

  “The one that bonds two people forever through their blood?”

  He nodded. “And allows them to better sense each other and know each other?”

  “Yeah. It’s like having a part of that person inside you.”

  He pulled his lips into a sly grin. “Not that I don’t like having other parts inside of you, but what if we did it?”

  “You want to do the bonding ritual with me?”

  He nodded. “It’s more powerful than marriage. Though I guess we could do that eventually, too. If you wanted to.”

  “I wouldn’t dare miss my chance to wear a white dress and throw a huge party.” She giggled. “You really want to do this?”

  “Yes.” He took out a knife and looked at her questioningly. “As long as y
ou want it.”

  “Yes.” She took a long, deep breath. “This is huge, Spence. You know that, right? People get divorced, but there is no undoing this spell. Once we’re bonded, we’re bonded for life.”

  “For all of the eternity, actually.” He winked. “Kiara, I love you more than anything. More than dragons or magic or even life itself. When you were sick, I thought about what it would be like if you died. Then I started thinking of how I could go with you, because I don’t want to live without you. You sacrificed to save me, I sacrificed to save you. It’s clear we’d do anything for each other. I want to be connected to you forever.”

  Tears came to her eyes at his words. She never thought she’d have someone want to be bonded with her. Not even all married couples did it because it was so permanent.

  “I love you, Spence. More than anything.”

  He held her gaze for a long, intense moment before he made a small cut in his right wrist and cut hers in the same place. They pressed their wrists together and said the words of the spell in unison. She felt a new warmth enter her body and then a strange, minty taste in her mouth.

  She raised an eyebrow at him. “Are you chewing gum?”

  He smirked and pulled back his lips to reveal a white clump of gum. “Can you taste it?”

  “Yes.” She giggled. “Wow. So weird.”

  “Drink this.” He handed her the cup of ginger ale her mom had left her earlier. He closed his eyes while she drank. “Wild.”

  “I wonder how it would feel…” She bit her lip and looked over at her bed, then back at him.

  He raised an eyebrow at her. “You sure you’re up for that?”

  She nodded and grinned. “Definitely.”

  He put a hand to her cheek. “I love you. So much.”

  “You gave up power, strength, riches, and increased magical ability for me, then bonded your life to mine. How could I ever doubt your love?” She kissed him and they didn’t let go for a very long time.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Kiara walked into the forest and past the small clearing where she usually did her magic. The snow crunched beneath her feet, echoing in the silence of the winter blanket that lay over the forest. She raised her hood up and looked around the clearing, her breath curling in soft, thick vapors in front of her face. She walked up to the stump where she usually performed her magic and with one swipe of her hand pushed the piled snow off it.