Shifted (The Undari Trilogy Book 1)

by Sarah Reeves

  “Okay, so maybe I won’t hug her. At least not without introducing myself first.” Hannah scooped eggs from the pan onto a plate, and shoved it under Oliver’s nose. “Here. Alex, you don’t want eggs, right?”

  Alex nodded, scrunching up her nose. “Gross.”

  “Heathen.”

  “Shut your face.”

  Teagan ran into the kitchen, effectively cutting off the banter between the three friends by throwing her arms around Alex. “Alex!”

  “Hey, you.” Alex ruffled her baby sister’s hair and picked her up, setting the little girl on her lap. “ What are you up to?”

  “I smelled food. Is breakfast ready?”

  “Sure is,” answered Hannah for Teagan, setting down another plate in front of her. “Eat up. What are you going to do today, Alex?” Oliver looked up from his eggs at the question, meeting Alex’s eyes. Alex leaned back letting go of a sigh.

  “Training, mostly. I think that Adrien is going to want to start planning our trip to the fire realm. I don’t know how that’s going to work, though.”

  “Me either,” said Oliver. “Like, is there an embassy of some kind? I’m pretty sure that humans would have found some giant building saying, ‘welcome to the realm of fire.’”

  “That isn’t how you enter the realms,” Adrien’s voice made the four young people turn to see her walk into the kitchen. “You enter the realms through portals, hidden away from humans throughout the world where the divide between the realms are thinnest. They only appear in the presence of Undari, and only Undari can pass through. Humans would die if they tried without proper protection.” She pointed at Oliver and Hannah. “You two need to work on finding a place to lay low. You can’t stay here after me and Alex leave.” She met their protests with a steely glare. “No arguments. You put yourselves in danger that you don’t even understand. The same will go for Jennifer and Teagan. You,” she continued, moving her finger to point at Alex, “need to get dressed, and go out back. We’re going to continue your training.”

  “What are we doing?” Alex felt a thrill of excitement when Adrien grinned.

  “You’re going to fly today.”

  Chapter Eight

  It didn’t take long for Alex to finish eating after that. As soon as she was dressed, she raced outside. Close behind her was Oliver and Hannah, who were just as excited as she was. They were probably more excited, if Alex was honest with herself. They had never seen her full dragon form, which also made Alex nervous. What would they think?

  The backyard looked different in the weak morning sun. Alex squinted up at the sky as she joined Adrien, who was waiting in the middle of the yard. It was probably going to rain.

  “Go ahead and Shift,” ordered Adrien. Alex nodded and gave herself some space. Oliver and Hannah stood next to Adrien, undisguised excitement on their faces. Then everything went dark as Alex closed her eyes. She began the Shift, ignoring the murmurs coming from her friends and focusing solely on the feeling of her bones breaking and stretching, her muscles growing and the scales forming on her skin. Distantly she heard Hannah frantically asking if her friend was in any pain. Finally, she opened her eyes.

  Alex towered over her friends by a good five feet. She was a bit larger than she had been the last time she’d Shifted, and it staggered her for a moment. Adrien hadn’t reacted at all, which led Alex to believe that what was happening was normal. She wondered how much contact she’d had with young Undari before everything happened to her and Alex’s father.

  Her two best friends’ reactions, however, were a different story. Hannah had taken several steps back, hands over her mouth, eyes wider than Alex had ever seen them. Oliver’s hands were in his pockets, but his mouth was open in shock, and he was staring at Alex with a mixture of awe and fascination. He came forward a couple of steps, and Alex lowered her now huge head to watch him stand next to her leg. His head came to about a foot below her shoulder, and he leaned his head back to meet her gaze.

  “So you were smaller, last time?” he asked. His voice was slightly hoarse, and he cleared his throat. Alex nodded. On a whim (she had no clue how he’d react, but she also had no other way to communicate), she moved so that she was nearly nose to nose with Oliver. She stared into his eyes, honing in on how they looked like the ocean, and tried to connect with his mind.

  Yeah. I was smaller. Oliver stumbled back and tripped. I’ll get bigger every time I Shift until I’m fully grown.

  “Alex,” breathed Oliver.

  “What’s going on?” Hannah strode forward, helping Oliver stand and watching Alex with huge eyes. “Are you okay?” Alex turned her head to meet Hannah’s teal green eyes. She was dismayed to see a small amount of fear mixed with the excitement in her best friend’s eyes. Alex heard Hannah’s heart speed up when they locked eyes, and Alex reached out with her mind, hoping to soothe her.

  Don’t worry. This is how I talk to people when I’m in this Form. Quite the opposite of helping, Hannah screamed and covered her ears.

  “Oh, god! What was that?” she shrieked. Oliver jumped and turned to face her.

  “It’s Alex, Hannah! Calm down, she’s telepathic as a dragon. Right?” he added, turning to the dragon watching them. “You’re using some kind of telepathy?”

  Not trusting herself to say anything, Alex nodded. The fact that Hannah was afraid of her hit her hard. Oliver had taken a more studious approach to her changes, which Alex appreciated. Hannah’s fear was understandable, though. Neither of her best friends had a lot of time to adjust to all of this new information.

  “Alex, Shift back halfway, so that you can talk to us normally, please,” requested Adrien. Alex nodded again and complied, watching the world around her get larger as she shrank back down to a normal size. Her wings were still out; the tension she felt in the air made her keep them tucked close. Hannah had taken her hands from her ears, but her face was still white with shock. Her chest rose and fell rapidly, and her hand gripped her bracelet tightly enough for Alex to see her knuckles turn pale.

  “Hannah,” said Alex softly, taking a step forward. “Hannah, it’s just me. You know I wouldn’t hurt you, yeah?”

  “Yeah,” she answered just as quietly. Her hand let go of the bracelet, and she gave Alex a small smile. “It’s just a lot to take in, all at once. One second, you’re rescuing your best friend from death by statistics, and the next, well. She’s a shapeshifter that can turn into a huge dragon and speak with her mind.” She laughed nervously. “I’m just feeling really really small right now, you know?”

  “It’s a lot,” agreed Oliver. “But at the same time, this gives her an edge over the guy that’s after her. She’s still the same Alex though.” Hannah nodded, but didn’t look convinced. Alex took a calming breath, tamping down the irritation she felt and trying to replace it with logic. Hannah had never dealt with anything like this before, neither had any of the rest of them, for that matter (besides Adrien). Fear was bound to be a reaction. Alex had already gotten it from Teagan. Alex only grew more irritated at that thought. How was a seven year old girl able to recognize that Alex was still the same person, despite what she was, and Hannah wasn’t? Turning away, Alex rolled her shoulders and let out her breath. She addressed Adrien, avoiding eye contact with either of her two friends.

  “Okay, so I’m learning to fly today. How do I do that without ending up in a tree again?”

  Adrien raised her eyebrows. “It’s all about thrust, to begin with. And it’s not just straight up and down movement, either.” She walked a short distance away and turned to face Alex. She flexed her shoulders, and suddenly her wings were there. Alex jolted a little, disoriented because she had never seen her mentor’s wings take form before. They were just as scarred as the first time Alex had laid eyes on them, in that brief moment the day before. Other than that, they were nearly identical to her own, save for the fact that they were quite a bit larger. Two small gasps of amazement echoed from Alex’s right. Alex blinked when Adrien began to speak again. “W
hen you start to flap your wings to take off from the ground, you want to move your wings like swimmers do. Come down in a sort of circle. Like this.” Adrien demonstrated, and as a result, came about fifteen feet off the ground. She hovered there, and looked down at her student. “Try it.”

  Obediently, Alex raised her wings, moving them back slightly, then arced them down and forward sharply. She came off the ground, but barely had time to adjust to her new height before she remembered that she forgot to flap another time to stay in the air. She dropped to the grass, letting out a grunt. She heard stifled laughter and turned to glare at Oliver, who wasn’t even trying to hide the grin on his face. He stopped when he saw the look on Alex’s face. Hannah had gone back to sit on the porch steps.

  “Again!” came the shouted command from above. Alex picked herself up, and spread her wings. This time, when she rose up off the grass, she brought her wings down a second time, and a third. She quickly ran into a new problem, however: she had no idea how to hover. When she’d reached Adrien’s height, she met her mentor’s gaze with a panicked expression.

  “How do I hover?” she asked, panting slightly. She hadn’t thought about the physical toll on her body as a result of trying to fly for the first time, either.

  “Move your wings in a figure eight motion,” replied Adrien. “Do it quickly enough, and you’ll maintain your height.” Alex did so, feeling her chest, back and shoulders burn from the strain. It was clumsy, but she stayed in place. “For now, though, you should try to land. We’re going to practice taking off and landing for a while, let you get used to that, then move on to more difficult things. Make sense?” Alex nodded, and Adrien continued. “To land standing straight up, just slow your downstrokes until you lose enough height to fold your wings completely, and land on your feet. Like this.” Alex watched as her mentor lowered herself perfectly to the ground. She followed suit, but landed hard enough to stagger sideways slightly.

  “Good. Do it again.” And for the next few hours, Alex did just that, until she could take off and land almost as steadily as Adrien could. Towards the end, the strain on her muscles nearly caused her to take off sideways, so Adrien called it off, telling her to rest. At some point in those few hours, Jennifer and Teagan had joined them in the yard, watching Alex take off and land repeatedly. When Alex stopped, Teagan came forward excitedly.

  “Carry me, Alex! It’ll be fun!” The little girl’s demand made Jennifer chuckle, and Alex cracked an exhausted smile.

  “Not this time, kiddo. I am way too tired, I don’t want to drop you by accident.” Alex stooped, lifting Teagan into her arms and squeezing her. “Maybe some other time, when I get really good at it.”

  “Can I fly?” she asked as Alex put her down. “I really wanna.”

  “No, sweetie, you can’t.” Jennifer stepped forward, reaching for Teagan’s hand. Alex looked up to see that Hannah had gone inside, as did Oliver. A tiny spark of jealousy surprised Alex, and she shook her head, focusing back on her family.

  “But why?” Teagan’s voice rose plaintively. “I wanna be like Alex and fly!”

  “Because it’s time for lunch,” replied Jennifer in her Mom Voice. “And I need you to go inside and wash up before you come to the table.”

  After much whining, and about ten minutes of making sure Teagan washed her hands properly, Alex sat with her at the table, which had an abundance of food on it. Apparently Jennifer had been feeling like Italian, because a huge serving platter of baked ziti sat in the middle of the table, surrounded by plates of aromatic garlic bread. Small bowls of salad sat in front of every place setting, along with glasses of water for the kids, and wine for the two adults. It struck Alex as funny suddenly that there were only two adults here having to corral three teenagers and a seven year old girl. Then again, the whole situation was pretty out of the ordinary, whereas two adults and four children living together wasn’t altogether outlandish. Alex looked to her left, where Jennifer sat talking to Adrien in low tones, and then across at Oliver. He met her gaze and gave a small smile. They still hadn’t talked about what happened between them, and Alex sort of hoped that they wouldn’t. She smiled back, then looked over at Hannah, who had dug into her food.

  They ate without much conversation, save for Adrien letting Alex know that they would be working on forward flight in the morning, then training with her power, and preparing to leave in the evening.

  “What day are we leaving?” asked Alex.

  “Within the next couple of days. We need to get there quickly.” Adrien, plate clean, stood with it to put it away. “I suggest you start to pack tonight, if you haven’t already. We also need to figure out what to use for your amulet. Your father’s necklace won’t work for you, and you need all the protection you can get.” Alex had never really even unpacked totally (she hadn’t had the time, what with all the near death experiences), but she didn’t say so, choosing to nod and take the last bite of her pasta. Standing, Alex gave a quick stretch and followed her mentor into the kitchen. Oliver followed close behind, and tugged on Alex’s sleeve.

  “Can I talk to you for a minute?” Nervous delight and no small amount of dread shot through Alex’s stomach, but she nodded. After putting up her plate, she went with Oliver outside, then stood with her thumbs in her pockets.

  “What’s up?” The wind picked up slightly, tossing her hair around her face. She moved it out of her eyes so she could watch Oliver, who shifted from one foot to the other.

  “We need to talk about what happened last night,” he replied. His sky blue eyes didn’t mirror any of the nervousness he seemed to be demonstrating, throwing Alex off balance. She nodded, and listened as he continued. “I’m sorry if I upset you, I wasn’t trying to. I just… I’ve had feelings for you for a while, and I thought that you should know, especially now that you’re leaving, and all of us are in danger.”

  “As opposed to telling me normally, when we might have had a chance to really do something about it?” asked Alex. “I had no idea that all this time, you’ve thought of me that way. I always thought you were going to try to be with Hannah.”

  “Why?”

  “Because she’s awesome. She’s more attractive, more outgoing, more feminine than I am. She’s magnetic. You can’t tell me you haven’t noticed it.”

  “I have noticed it,” Oliver replied. “But you haven’t stopped to think that maybe you being the way you are is what I’m attracted to. She’s going to find someone who is looking for qualities like hers. That also doesn’t mean that I’m not attracted to those qualities, either. But you’re kind, you’re optimistic and positive. And you’re strong. Not to say Hannah isn’t any of those things,” he added, seeing Alex’s eyes flash. “But not many people can go through weeks of nonstop torture, and possession, and life-altering situations like yours and come out sane. Or at least mostly sane.” He winked. “You’re special, Alex. You just don’t know that yet.”

  “So why now? Why not before?”

  “I just didn’t know how to approach you. You might not know it, but you have some intimidation factor to you. I know it’s a little cliche, but I also didn’t want to risk losing our friendship. You’ve helped me through a lot, and I don’t want to mess that up. I guess now, with the possibility of all of us dying, I’m not so worried about telling you how I feel about you. It’s not as daunting to me. You know?”

  Alex nodded mutely.

  “That being said, I also know that taking this any place deeper than it’s already gone could very well mess up our friendship, so with everything going on, It’s probably better that you and I should stay friends.” Alex didn’t know why, but she felt a huge wash of relief. She nodded again.

  “Hey Alex?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Your eyes are… glowing.”

  “WHAT?” Alex patted her pockets for her phone, cursing to herself when she remembered that it was still sitting in her room. Oliver took his out, swiping to the camera and turning it to the front. Sure enough, Alex’
s irises were glowing gold. It was a weird sight, and as she watched, the glow faded. “Maybe that only happens when…”

  “When you’re technically being broken up with? Sort of?”

  “Shut up,” Alex squawked, slapping at him. “Don’t say it like that!”

  “Like what? It’s the truth.” He was laughing, and Alex was too busy checking for more signs of her power to see that Jennifer had come out onto the porch. When she noticed her mother, Alex felt her face turn impossibly red, and she shoved Oliver’s phone in her pocket.

  “Mom!” she exclaimed. “What are you doing out here?”

  “Reminding you that you should be getting packed, and then sleeping.” Alex hastily went inside. On her way up to her room, Alex passed Hannah, who was coming down the stairs. She had a little bag, and Alex pointed at it. “What is that?”

  “Nothing, just some trash,” she replied quickly. She continued down the stairs, turning right and disappearing from sight. Alex stayed where she was for a quick moment, confused, before hurrying up the rest of the stairs. Ever since she’d seen Alex Shift, she’d been acting really strange. She shrugged it off, and entered her room. She began to do a sweep, picking up the clothes she’d worn over the past couple days and stuffing them in a bag so that she could put them in the wash. She grabbed the toiletries from the bathroom, putting them in their bag. Finally, all that she had to pack were her father’s heirlooms. One by one she put them into the box she’d found them in, until there was one thing left, but she didn’t see it. Alex lifted the covers, then looked under the bed. Panic was setting in slowly. Her father’s necklace was nowhere to be found. She turned, looking desperately for it but didn’t see it anywhere.