The Transformed Box Set: Books 1, 2, 3, 3.5

by Stacy Claflin

  I rubbed the mark on my stomach. What happened? There had to be a very good reason for my being back in Delphic Cove with my adoptive family and such a long period of time having been erased from my memory. Had I been injured in battle? If something had happened to me physically, then I could understand the lapse in memory.

  But it still didn't explain why I was there. I should have been at the castle. Even if Francine had won the war, which didn't seem likely, I would have been imprisoned in the castle dungeon. She wouldn't give me the freedom of living my old life again. Unless Cliff had cut a deal with her. That would explain my memory loss. She would definitely have insisted upon my forgetting about the war and whatever else might have happened.

  I was sure that I could come up with as many theories as there were stars in the sky, but I had a graduation to get ready for. I'd have to deal with that first and then figure out what was going on afterward.

  In my room, I managed to find my speech on a tablet. I read through it, hoping for a clue about my life or why I might have forgotten everything. It was an excellent speech of course, but it didn't leave me any clues. I had also left myself a detailed schedule for the day, which included time to hunt. I got myself ready, grabbed everything that I needed and walked to Clara's room, which had been turned into a guest room. Sighing, I went downstairs for breakfast, which had already been prepared.

  "How are you feeling?" asked my mom.

  "I'm doing great," I said, in between bites. I was determined not give them any reason to admit me to a hospital. "I've got everything that I need, including a detailed itinerary. You know me, prepared for everything. Today should go off without a hitch. I'll see you guys at the ceremony?"

  "Of course," my mom said. "We wouldn't miss it."

  I looked at the clock. "I'd better be going. I'll see you guys later!"

  My mom got all teary and gave me a hug. "I can't believe that you're graduating!"

  "Me neither," I said, for a completely different reason.

  My dad joined in on the hug. "I'm so proud of you, honey. You know that we couldn't be more proud of you."

  "Thanks, but I don't want to mess up my makeup."

  They laughed.

  "Go get ready for your big day," my mom said. "Your meeting is at the school. And then you'll drive yourself to the stadium?"

  I nodded. The ceremony was being held in the next town over, in a stadium at its fairgrounds. Delphic Cove didn't have anything big enough to hold all the people. The stadium wasn't huge, but it was a lot bigger than anything we had.

  Driving to school, I felt a heavy weight and a lump in my throat. Why was I back in Delphic Cove with no other vampires? So far as I could tell, there wasn't a single other one left in town. I was in no mood to go hunting. I pulled into a parking lot and looked to see if I still had Dr. Robinson's card. I was surprised to find that it was still in my car. I dialed his cell number and someone else answered. Of course he didn't have his cell phone. I called his office number and asked for him.

  "Dr. Robinson is on a sabbatical. We're not sure if he's even going to come back. Sorry."

  "That's okay, thanks." I'd actually been willing to drink gross bagged blood, but even that wasn't available. Had I been living happily as the only vampire in town? That didn't seem likely. How long had I been back at home? When had I returned from the castle?

  My mind was supposed to be untouchable, but with the Fyrsturae having been awakened, it was possible that everything had changed. Alrekur was the first vampire. It made sense that he could be more powerful than any other. Being a Fyrsturae myself, I would have thought that I would remain impervious to mind control.

  Why had my vampire parents allowed me to be sent back here without anyone to help? Had they somehow discovered what I'd done with Cliff and banished me? If Alrekur had found out, he could have banished me back to my human life. Or maybe he, or they, wanted me out of the way while they searched for the rest of the Fyrsturae.

  I didn't even let myself think about what he might have done to Cliff. I told myself that Cliff was strong and that he could take Alrekur.

  I sighed, hating the fact that I was back to square one again, knowing absolutely nothing about my vampire life. Just as I was starting to get everything figured out, everything changed. Again. Was this going to be my lot in life? I wanted to cry my eyes out, the feeling of loneliness and confusion was unbearable.

  "Pull yourself together," I said, giving myself a pep talk. "Look at everything you've done. You can handle this, too."

  I scrolled through the contact list on my phone, which was new of course, and confirmed my suspicion that no vampires were listed.

  Then I remembered Gessilyn, the witch who had given me back my sun blessing. She wasn't a vampire. Maybe she was still living nearby. I looked at the time and thought that I would be able to see her and still make it to school in time. I drove to her apartment building. I couldn't remember the last year and half, but I remembered that her apartment was number 563. I buzzed her apartment.

  "Who is this?"

  "This is Alexis Ferguson. Does Gessilyn still live here?"

  "Alexis! Come on up, sweetie!"

  The gate opened and I hurried to her apartment. I never thought that I would be so relieved to see her. I refrained from throwing my arms around her when I saw her in her yoga outfit and blonde ponytail.

  She smiled when she saw me. "Come on in."

  I walked in and we sat in her living room.

  "How are you? I haven't heard from Clara in some time either."

  "Nor have I, apparently."

  She gave me a questioning look. "Apparently?"

  "I woke up this morning with no memory of the last year and a half."

  She looked shocked. "How's that possible? You're from the royal bloodline. Your mind is supposed to be safe from manipulation."

  I shrugged my shoulders. "All of the vampires in town are gone. I've got my high school graduation today, so I don't have much time, but I was desperate to find a supernatural that I know. You're the only one that I can find. Not that I've looked for any werewolves yet."

  "You know werewolves? Is that how your friend was bitten that one time?"

  "Yeah. It's a long story."

  "I'd love to hear it when you have time. Meanwhile, I'll do some digging and see what I can find. Give me a call in a few days and we'll discuss what either one of us finds."

  "I don't have your number," I said.

  She handed me a card. She really was a fitness instructor.

  TWO

  I sat on stage with my classmates. It was hard to focus because everyone kept talking and goofing off. If this was what they had been like in class, I was glad that I had only taken honors classes, where everyone was serious about learning. I would have thought that they could at least sit still for one hour and appreciate the fact that it was our graduation ceremony.

  I tuned them all out when I heard my name. The principal introduced me, boiling my life down to a laundry list of details. "Alexis is a remarkable, rare student who has everything together. She'd had a perfect attendance record until she was abducted last year. She and her friend, Tanner Monroe, who sadly wasn't able to make his own graduation last year, were kidnapped as you likely know from the news coverage. Even in her absence, she helped our community come together. After she returned, she put together an anti-bullying campaign which has helped many students already. She was president of our Honor's Club for two years, the only time that a junior was ever president. She has also been a top member of the CSI club, and was homecoming queen." He went on to talk about the various awards that I'd won. I ignored the sighs of boredom around me. In fact, I had to stifle one myself.

  I stood up when the principal beckoned me to the stage. To my shock, my classmates gave me a standing ovation as I walked by. It startled me so much that I nearly tripped. The parents and families in the crowd mirrored the graduates, rising to their feet and applauding. I had to wait for the noise to quiet down befor
e I could speak.

  Deciding to begin the speech from my heart, I pulled out my tablet and set it on the podium, not wanting to forget anything, even though vampires have such good memories. My memory is the reason that I was standing there ready to give the big speech in the first place, as shown by my perfect grades and the number of accomplishments that I couldn't have achieved without my vampire memory. It was the reason that I hadn't even been popular among the nerds; I was the curve-killer in my honors classes.

  "Thank you all so much. I really appreciate the support, and I know that Tanner would too, if he were here. It saddens me beyond words that he's missing and that he wasn't able to attend his own ceremony. We had become the best of friends while I was being bullied. Part of the reason for our friendship was because he'd been picked on himself. We connected because we both knew the pain of being bullied." I paused and looked around the audience, then continued.

  "I see a lot of young people in the audience. You're probably our brothers and sisters, cousins, nieces, nephews, and friends. You have people in your life who love you, even if you don't feel it. Please remember that. Everyone feels alone at one time or another. Someday you may feel like nobody likes you, but know that even if you don't think you have a friend in the world, I promise you that there are people who know exactly how you feel, and they want to help you. I found Tanner and you can find someone as well."

  When I had finished the speech, everyone gave me another standing ovation. I went back to my seat for the rest of the ceremony. Before I knew it, I was in line to receive my diploma and then I found myself getting pictures with my family. It was surreal, which was saying something after all that I had been through. I couldn't believe that I was actually graduating. I'd missed my entire senior year and most of my junior year. I was determined to find out what was going on, and I couldn't let myself think about it or I'd start crying.

  "Do you have everything you need for the school party tonight?" my dad asked.

  "Yeah, thanks. It sounds like I won't be home until the morning, so don't wait up."

  "We'll keep our phones close if you need us," my mom whispered. "We know how difficult these lapses are on you. Are you sure that you even want to go? If you're worried about it, you can just stay home with us."

  I shook my head no, thinking of Natalie's comment about how they would send me to a mental hospital if I brought up the subject of vampires. What had I said and done in the past to warrant that threat? I had to play it cool. "I'm fine, really. I'm sure it's just the stress, and that everything will come back when I have had a chance to relax. Besides, it's a school sponsored event. There will be plenty of teachers around, not to mention my friends."

  As if on cue, Amanda ran up to me, towing Mark behind her. "There you are! I haven't been able to get to you all day! They're loading the busses; you better get your bag! Where did you park?"

  "I'm not far. I got here early."

  "Let's go!" she said, looking anxious.

  I gave my parents and sister a hug and ran to my car with Amanda and Mark. I threw my cap, gown, and diploma in the back and grabbed my bag for the party. The school was taking us to a mystery location in school busses. That mode of transportation was going to be a big change for me, my last memories had me spending a month and a half being driven around in a limo with my vampire family. And because of my memory lapse, it felt like those weeks were my recent history, not a year and a half ago.

  When we got to the busses, Amanda gave such an enthusiastic goodbye to Mark that I was embarrassed to watch. I had to turn away because I felt like I was intruding. When she finally turned to me, I waved to Mark, who couldn't go with us because he didn't go to our school.

  "Oh look, there's Emma and Hailey," Amanda said, looking happy.

  I wanted to ask if we were all friends now, but I didn't want to let her know that I was having a memory lapse.

  She grabbed my hand. "Let's go say hi!"

  I didn't budge. After everything those two had done to me, they were the last people that I wanted to see.

  Amanda gave me a funny look. "What's wrong? Don't you want to see them?"

  "I…can't a girl just want to be with her best friend on such a big day?" I gave her the biggest smile I could muster.

  "Best friend?" she asked. "It's been, what, like a year since you've called me that? What's going on? Wait a minute. Are you having another amnesia spell?"

  I raised an eyebrow at her. Spell. Why hadn't I had Gessilyn give me a spell to bring back my memory? I needed to find out if what everyone was telling me had really happened or if vampires had implanted fake memories into the minds of the humans. That seemed like the more likely case. But what did I know?

  She sighed. "Oh, man. You are! Why didn't you say something? What's the last thing you remember this time?"

  Someone whistled and yelled for us to get on the busses immediately. Emma and Hailey ran up to us.

  "Let's grab seats together," Hailey said, giving me a friendly wink.

  I wanted to bite into her flesh. Instead, I smiled.

  "Is it okay if I sit with Alexis alone?" Amanda asked. "There's something that I need to talk with her about. Do you guys mind?"

  Emma and Hailey both pouted. "Only if we can all hang out as soon as we're off the disgusting bus," Hailey said.

  "Yeah, of course!" Amanda said, eyes wide with excitement. That's when I noticed that she wasn't wearing her ever-present glasses and that she was dressed stylishly.

  "You don't get to hog Alexis the whole time," Emma said, grabbing Hailey's arm.

  We walked to the bus behind Hailey and Emma. I didn't know how I would be able to pull off acting like they were my friends. In my mind, not even a month ago Hailey had been kissing Tanner to spite me.

  "What happened to your glasses?" I asked Amanda after we'd sat on one of the smelly green seats.

  "I can't believe that you've lost your memory again," she whispered, shaking her head.

  "I know," I said, sighing. "It's been so long, and today of all days."

  She laughed. "I guess your parents said the same thing."

  "You could say that. So fill me in on everything."

  "What's the last thing you remember?"

  My mind raced. What was the last non-vampire memory that I had? I folded my arms. "Hailey kissing Tanner," I said, narrowing my eyes. It had actually been the other way around, but I didn't care.

  Amanda's eyes widened. "Oh my. I can't believe that's the last thing you remember. You have to forget about all of that because you and Hailey are besties. Unfortunately."

  "I don't see how that could have possibly ever happened. Not in a million years. What did happen?"

  "It started when Tanner freaked out after you went on your little foreign exchange trip. I did like you said and told him that you were eaten by wolves. He totally freaked out, by the way. I didn't think that he would believe me, but he totally freaked. Then when other people told him you were just traveling, it was like he could only hear wolves. He and Hailey became close while you were gone, and she helped him deal with whatever it was he was going through. He convinced the two of them that you aren't the evil biotch they thought you were. By the time you came back, you and Hailey had made up. But, that was after Tanner had disappeared again. You were both pretty upset about it and she apologized for everything she did to you. I don't know what Tanner told her, but she went from hating you to being your best friend fast. It was like you had some special connection through Tanner or something."

  I sighed. "I hope this day doesn't get any weirder. I couldn't take it."

  "A lot has changed since what you last remember. My dad remarried and my mom has a boyfriend. You're headed to that new Ivy League school. Oh wait, that's not surprising." She smiled.

  "How on earth could you and I not be best friends? How could I be Hailey's BFF? I feel like someone is playing a horrible joke on me."

  "I know, right?" She looked really sad. "Tanner disappeared, Brooke's family moved, and
Cliff and Clara went back to their families."

  "So, I don't have a boyfriend or anything?"

  Her eyes widened and she stared at me, covering her mouth.

  "What?" I demanded. There was no way that I could deal with another guy in my life. "What aren't you telling me?"

  She shook her head. "We can't talk about this here. New topic."

  "Are you kidding me? You have to tell me! You can't say that and then not tell me!"

  "We can't talk about it now. Not here."

  "Why not? What's going on? Tell me!"

  She looked around, leaned in and whispered into my ear. "Mr. Foley."

  I raised an eyebrow. "What does he have anything to do with anything?"

  She stared at me and then whispered, "He's your boyfriend."

  "Shut up! There's no way!" I glared at her. "Now I know this entire day is an epic joke. You're a liar."

  She laughed. "I think those were my exact words when you told me!"

  "How can you laugh about this? My entire life has been turned upside down." Again. "When did I get back from my trip?"

  "Right before the school year started. You barely had enough time to go school clothes shopping."

  "The beginning of the school year?" I exclaimed. "I thought you said my little trip."

  "I was totally joking, but I guess that was lost on you."

  "I can't believe that I was gone for nine months."

  "Yeah, I'm sure you can imagine the rumors that went around after that," she said, rolling her eyes.

  "Oh my gosh. Are you serious?"

  She nodded. "It didn't last long. You showed up at Hailey's pool party in that hot pink bikini and shut everyone up with that freakishly perfect body of yours. Nobody, not even one of those celebs with 24/7 personal trainers could look like that right after having a baby." She giggled.

  "What's so funny?" I asked.

  "Just thinking about how all the guys took pictures of you. You were the screen saver for like every boy's phone for months. You're probably still on some of them."