by Mel Todd
A smile creased the sides of his face. "Oh, really? I get to stay with friends? I thought I’d have to do after school care."
"Nope. Toni and I talked. I’ll pay her for her time, and you just have to promise me to try to not make her life too difficult. But you and the twins play together well. So, I don’t think she minds much." McKenna chuckled. "If anything, you keep them occupied. Hmm, maybe she should be paying you?"
Charley laughed at that and relaxed. "I like them. They don’t seem like little kids and we talk a lot." She thought he was about to say something else, but he shook his head and took a bite of food.
~He’s right, they don’t act like first graders, they seem older, more mature. How much of that is the experience and how much is shifter?~
[Kaylid do mature faster. It is a side effect of the animal. While not drastic, they tend to mentally advance at a higher rate.]
~Which means?~
She saw Charley tilting his head and figured it meant Wefor spoke to him also.
[That because of the length of time spent as animals, they probably matured mentally another year past their current age.]
~So they are closer to eight mentally?~
[Yes, though you will note their physical appearance is also changing. Not drastic and there are no health issues associated with this, just a condensed growth spurt.]
"Why don’t I feel different?" Charley’s voice had a questioning tone and McKenna knew he’d been following along with the information and she wondered if that was normal for a ten-year-old.
[From the information gleaned about your childhood you have already matured due to life experiences. While being Kaylid will solidify your stability, you just need time to finish growing.]
McKenna would have sworn Wefor’s voice held a hint of sorrow. But how did an AI know sadness?
"Huh," Charley said, then went back to eating. This time with a bit more energy.
With that she dropped the subject, if the child care needed to be changed she’d deal with it then, but for now it seemed it would work out well. If the last month had taught her anything, this was all small crap that could be easily handled. And small crap just didn’t matter in the long run.
In the car and headed to the school office to get him registered with her as guardian he looked around curious at his new school. One of the newer ones in the area, it had good ratings and had the added advantage of being only ten miles from her house. Worst case Charley could change and run all the way home in an hour.
"Remind me to go over the route for you to get home if something happens. It’d be a long run, but your wolf could do it easy. And we’ll make sure there is a key hidden outside the house if you need to get home."
He glanced at her and nodded slowly. "Okay. I’d like that."
The fact that any child understood the importance of escape routes created a sour tasted in the back of her throat, but there wasn’t anything she could change about the past.
Toni’s house ended up being further than the school, but she had no worries about Charley being home by himself until she could get there. He’d been left alone a lot in his life, and while she’d try not to ever do that, she knew he could handle being alone for a while.
Pulling into the school parking lot, she parked then made sure she had the folder with all the documents that said she had the right to register Charley for school. Roy Wallace had mailed them to her the next day.
She walked in, Charley next her as they went into the office. A woman looked up, then back down to the computer screen in front of her.
"One minute, I’ll be right with you." Her voice dismissive as she focused on something she worked on.
McKenna waited, there wasn’t a hurry with this, but still the attitude annoyed her. But maybe her temper rode a bit too short these days. But really, how hard was it to be polite?
"Yes?" The woman looked up and McKenna walked over and set down the folder with all the paperwork on the counter. "Hi, I need to register Charley Davis for school?"
The woman took the offered forms glancing at McKenna frowning, something flickering in her eyes. "This says his last school was in Yuba county. Why hasn’t he been in school for the last," she glanced back down calculating, "three weeks?" Her eyes darted to him. "He doesn’t look like he’s been sick. And Yuba is on year-round school just like we are, but this isn’t one of the normal breaks."
Was this normal, do they get to ask this?
Off balance, McKenna shrugged. "Reasons. But I’m registering him now." Telling people about the last three weeks of Charley’s life wasn’t something she would do in public. Some things should stay private and Charley had the right to determine who knew.
"What reasons? Why do I know you?" The woman glanced at the paperwork again, reading as she went through and her eyes widened. "You. You’re that animal cop. Who let you be responsible for a child? Don’t they know you’re dangerous, didn’t they see that video?" Her voice started to rise, and she drew back as if McKenna might bite her. To McKenna’s astonishment the woman made the sign of the cross as she took another step backwards.
McKenna just looked at her. She couldn’t even get upset because she just didn’t know how to react. She glanced over at Charley to see how he was taking it, but he just rolled his eyes and shrugged.
Is she serious?
"The state gave me responsibility. He’d my foster child, and I’d like to enroll him in school." Her voice stayed calm even as a slow burn started deep inside.
"You shouldn’t be allowed a child. You’re an animal and put him at risk. I’m calling CPS, you shouldn’t be allowed to have a child." Her voice had taken a hysterical note, and she’d backed up enough that she bumped into the desk behind her.
"If you look at the paperwork, you will see it is all in order, and you do not have the right to interfere with state granted custody." McKenna kept her voice cool, pulling on her professional cop persona, the one that took nothing personally.
"I don’t care. You can’t have a child. You’ll," she broke off in horror as she started at Charley who had gone from bored to a complete what the hell look on his face. "Oh God, is he an animal too?" She crossed herself again stepping backwards around the desk as her voice cracked on the last word in a high-pitched tone.
A door opened behind her and an older man stepped out, dressed in a polo shirt and slacks, he screamed principal.
"Is there an issue here, Dolores?" His voice low but curious as he glanced back between the woman backed up from the counter and then to McKenna.
McKenna tamped down on her temper and seriously thought about calling the police, but it wouldn’t be worth the paperwork she’d have to do. However, she made a mental note to tell Toni all about this.
"She wants to register an animal for school," the woman stammered out and the man went icy still and a strange scent hit her, one she knew was familiar but couldn’t place.
I swear if he backs her up I am calling dispatch and I’ll suck up the paperwork.
"Dolores, please go home. I don’t think you are feeling well." The woman looked at him eyes wide. "Now, Dolores, go home. You are taking a sick day."
Her face white the woman spun grabbed her purse and headed out, making sure to keep a very wide space between herself and Charley. The door banged behind her and the man turned to them.
"I apologize, and I will be dealing with that. My name is Donald Lewis, I’m the principal here. Am I to understand you wish to register this young man for school? Please be assured your ability to shift or not shift has no bearing on how we treat our students." His eyes tracked to the door for a moment then back to McKenna a grim look on his face.
Tension slipped out of her back, and she glanced at Charley who just rolled his eyes and shrugged.
~I’ve had worse treatment for being a foster kid. It’s not the first time someone didn’t like me, now at least's it's a real reason. I guess.~
His voice carried too much experience in it, and she found herself reaching
out a hand to ruffle his hair.
"Yes, please. This is Charley Davis. He’ll be going here. He’s in fourth grade."
"It would be my pleasure. Let’s get this paperwork taken care of." With that, what she expected to be a routine boring process was. But the fear on the woman’s eyes lingered in her mind the rest of the day.
Chapter 12 - True Calling
Sociologists have been studying this shift in society with something approaching glee. And while any substantial information is still years out, they have produced some interesting observations. People who were already prejudiced against a group based on skin color or sexual preference or similar are much more likely to have a prejudice against shifters. What is fascinating right now, is that they are also more likely to switch their prejudice. For example, if you hated homosexuals, you might now find them better since they are still ‘human.’ As society continues to adapt the studies will in theory measure these changes. ~TNN Science News
McKenna fully expected the face of the woman at the school would haunt her dreams in ways that the men she killed never would. Standing looking at her bed she toyed with the idea of shifting. Curling up as her cat would make the night pass fast and in deep slumber, but taking the easy way out because she dreaded her dreams seemed a bit stupid.
You don’t need to burn the calories. Just go to bed. You’re going to face people like that, get used to it.
With a shake of her head, she pulled on a t-shirt and dropped into bed. Tomorrow she would go and pay her respects to the Mansours. The idea stressed her out. She’d never lost another cop since she’d been on the force and she had missed the funeral. At least her excuse couldn’t be doubted, but it didn’t change the fact that she hated she’d missed it.
She chased sleep and finally caught it with a pounce then sank into its embrace.
"Right flank advance," the flat order echoed in her head and she found herself responding automatically, her eyes scanning for the enemy. Their mission required them to destroy any buildings left behind by the enemy, kill any Drakyn found. Even as she repeated the orders mentally an image of a Drakyn appeared in her mind. A long lizard like creature with arching elegant neck and large eyes that looked like fire opals. No pupils were visible, but the way it held its head and manipulated an object with long delicate fingers with claws on the end told her it could see just fine.
"Remember to target the head of any Drakyn you see. That is the weakest part of their anatomy, the head is their vulnerable spot." The order from their controllers reverberated in her skull and her eyes closed for a second as she dealt with the echo of the words in her skull.
She acknowledged the message mentally and kept moving. As she swept from left to right, making sure everything in their way had been reduced to rubble, she caught sight of her team mates, her pack. All in warrior form with tactical armor on, long sleek weapons in their hands, they flowed over the landscape like a wave of death. All shapes, sizes, animals from multiple worlds. Names flitting into her mind but weren’t relevant, so she let them go as she continued to pace forward, her fur covered claws holding her weapons lightly.
"Right, 30 miesen out a structure is still standing. Air support, knock it out." Her voice called out over the com implanted in her jaw.
"Acknowledge, kinetic incoming, in three." The remote voice, devoid of any personality responded on the com.
~Halt.~
She sent the command to all her troops via their mental links and the blanket of living death halted, backing away from the structure. A light broke through the cloud cover of the day, small, bright, like a candle flame, came streaking down and impacted the structure.
Part of her noted at one time it might have been elegant and even beautiful with arches, columns, spires, and balconies. As the dust cleared from the precisely calculated kinetic weapon all that remained lay exposed to her as chunks of dust and dirt stained stone.
~Continue~
Nothing else mattered but the mission and she continued forward, looking for the enemy.
"Attention Blue 312. Enemy detected approximate five miesen to your right, proceed there and eliminate the target." That inhuman voice providing the directions.
"Acknowledged," she said through the com.
The connection cut off, and she directed her thoughts to the connections of her pack, no squad, no squadron. That term clicked. They moved across the landscape, the occasional shot and scream of pain background music she no longer noticed except in its absence.
Up ahead the building they were targeting appeared in the distance, fleeing Drakyn running from their approach even as defenders prepared weapons. Part of her admired the beauty of the building. Her eyes landed on people running away from them. If Drakyn qualified as people. None of that changed anything she needed to do.
Various Drakyn were rushing away from them, young ones in their arms. Some were some carrying large white-ish round objects.
~Enemies sighted, proceed right, prepare to engage.~
In unison her squadron lifted their weapons, sighting down range and flowed to the right, death on two feet.
The lavender sky shown down through the break in the clouds the kinetic weapon had created, and she yearned to see it, to admire the unique color, but her body kept moving. The animals that might have existed on this planet were either dead, fled, or scared into hiding.
The sound of aircraft flashing by overhead had her glancing up, verifying what she already knew. Drone ships attacking the Drakyn ships. She’d never seen one whole, only flashes of color in the sky, brilliant against the flat metal colors of the drones.
Questions were not allowed, so she didn’t question, simply followed the commands imprinted in her mind.
Bright colors glinted off a body covered in scales ahead, running away from them, two smaller beings running alongside. They were in range and her squadron slowed, weapons flowing like water to aim at the movement. Her mind snapped out the command.
~Fire at will.~
Light pulsed out of weapons, aimed for the only weak spot identified. Screams erupted, but the firing didn’t stop, and soon the screams stopped, bright colored bodies fell to the ground in heaps, reflecting multicolored light into rainbows.
~Proceed~.
No pride, no emotions, nothing except marking the lack of targets. Her squad continued moving across the landscape, their goal in sight. Tall towers of a stately manor their objective.
"Kill every creature inside and remove all crystal data storage."
The implanted orders rang clear in her head.
None of her squad even hesitated as they moved closer to the building. Her eyes dropped and scanned the motionless bodies as she passed them. Adult, two children, unarmed, the facts cataloged in her head. The young ones lay slumped against the adult, body and claws wrapped around it, trying to hide, even as the bursts of pure energy had punched through skulls to leave empty holes, with pale purple blood trickling out of them.
Something deep inside screamed, but that part of her had not been allowed any input for… her mind tripped for a second and she almost stumbled trying to calculate time. Orders overrode everything, and her stride smoothed out and she continued towards the building, the running and screaming from up ahead familiar music to her existence.
Her squad moved in, firing at targets as they appeared. She felt links drop out as members of her squad were killed by return fire. She noted it and moved on. When losses exceeded twenty-five percent she reassessed. Drakyn only had small subsets of their population that would fight back, but if a Wyrm appeared they would have to retreat. However, when assessment had been completed, she had verification that most resistance had been eliminated. With a mental nod she shifted the formation, creating small teams to kill every living creature in the building.
A small team went with her as she wound her way deeper in. Plans for similar buildings fed into her mind to let her know where the most likely location for crystal data storage would be.
Each room
was cleared and the occupants eliminated. A running tally in her head as they went through, for reports later. Ten adults, three younglings, four domestic animals, and five eggs. Idly she noted her eyes had liquid seeping out of them, but she dismissed that thought as irrelevant.
Liquid tones issued behind a door, and her gun snapped up, destroying the lock, before two of her team kicked it in, one going left, the other right, as she entered the room behind them.
"Stop, don't do this."
The words had liquid music under them, but she understood them even as she had no idea what language they were spoken in.
"Where are the data storage crystals? You are the speaker for this area, I required the data." Her voice had no emotion, and she wanted to put the gun down, explore the room, talk to the being behind the desk, find out about this creature. Elegant, with gold and purple tiny scales covering the body, eyes whirling with colors she wanted to catalog, and claws sinking into the desk as it addressed her.
"Will you stop killing my people if I do?" The liquid music of his language caused pain in her heart, but it also was irrelevant.
"No. It will make my mission over faster."
"Damn you and damn the Elentrin for creating you." The music voice became hard, sharp tones that hurt.
"Yes, I agree." She raised her weapon, instantly adjusting her aim to target the skull and pulled the trigger before the Drakyn could react. The impact from such a close distance exploded the head, and her last image before it disappeared were sparks of fire in the night sky of its eyes.
"McKenna, McKenna, wake up." Charley's voice and her body shaking dragged her up from the depths of the experience. Her eyes flew open, and she stared at him unseeing.
"McKenna? Kenna?" His voice started to rise, and she could hear the panic, but all she could see were sparks of fire disappearing in a spray of violet.
~Kenna?~
The voice in her head made her blink, and she refocused actually seeing him. His eyes were wide, face pale, hand still on her shoulder as he looked at her.
