Wyatt's hand slipped to the pommel of his battle baton. Lucy showed a bit more restraint and didn't light the guy on fire, but my super-shifter senses told me she was tensed and ready for action.
I smiled and held up a hand. "Whoa, dude. Kill is a very strong word."
Elyse broke away from the crowd surrounding her mom and strode over. She placed herself between the council and us.
"Is there a problem?" she said. "These people are my guests. They are also directly responsible for helping me bring my mom back." Elyse paused, glancing over at Mrs. Kelly. It was clear that while everyone was happy Mrs. Kelly was somehow back among the living, the situation still had everyone freaked out. Elyse turned back to the Cranes and said, "I expect my guests to be treated with respect."
Roxanne placed a hand on her husband's shoulder. "Of course, Elyse. We extend a welcome to you and your friends. But there are many questions that need to be answered. Starting with the dead man back beyond those trees, the one with the knives in his back.”
Crap, how were we going to explain dead Marcus? I wondered if any shifters had seen the other, very much alive Marcus escape through the portal? If there was a witness, we were probably screwed.
Roxanne said, “You will need to formally present yourself to the council."
"I understand," said Elyse. "Can I request the use of the store and the restaurant? We've had a really long day."
The Cranes turned to the other council members. They couldn't exactly have a whispered conversation, not with the hearing abilities of our group. I wondered how anybody in the compound ever had a private conversation when all the neighbors had super-hearing?
Daniel spoke quietly to the others. "It's not normal protocol, but we need to understand what happened here today and how it may affect us in the future. Agreed?"
The other council members silently nodded their consent.
Daniel turned back to us. "Okay then, you're welcome to anything you need."
"If I may speak?" I said.
Daniel inclined his head toward me.
"Um, for the moment we'd like to remain off the radar," I said. "And I'm assuming that right about now there are probably a dozen mages casting location spells looking for us?" I figured it had just slipped everyone else's mind what with dead and possibly cloned blood-mages running loose.
Lucy arched an eyebrow at Daniel and Roxanne, she was deferring to them for the answer, but she didn't seem worried—strange.
"The compound is un-plottable," said Roxanne.
"Un-what-able?" Wyatt asked.
"The Society's location spells don't work here, or in other shifter controlled areas," Elyse explained. "It's part of the original treaty."
"Wow," I said. "Okay then, never mind."
"Ollphiest!" A voice I instantly recognized screamed from the crowd surrounding Mrs. Kelly.
It was Tommy French. I had last seen the prick at Society HQ. He had been raving about the danger I represented and was trying to convince Cynthia and the Paragon Society Council to terminate me. Of course, I had just recently ripped his son, Kyle's, arm off, but Kyle had sent a trio of blood-mage assassins after me, so I didn't feel all that bad about it. The night at Society HQ had ended with Tommy threatening Lucy and then me slapping him into unconsciousness.
"What the hell is he doing here?" I asked, because the last I had heard he and Kyle had disappeared.
Tommy was striding toward us, his fists clenched. I switched on my sight and wasn't surprised to see his aura pulsing—he was going to shift and attack me. I stepped to the side, not wanting to endanger my friends and rolled my shoulders. If he wanted a fight, I would give it to him.
"Stop," said Daniel. He didn't shout, he didn't even raise his voice, but I could tell that when he spoke people listened.
The crowd around Mrs. Kelly went silent and all eyes turned toward the possible throw-down.
Daniel said, "Thomas, these people are our guests. You will stand down."
"This is the Ollphiest," Tommy spat. "This is the one I've told you about. He is an abomination. We need to restrain him immediately."
"You are no longer a member of the council," said Roxanne. "You don't have a say in this matter. There will be a meeting later. If you wish to attend, you will be heard then."
Tommy stopped a few feet away from us, his eyes locked on mine. Did Tommy really think he could intimidate me? He was so far down the list of things that I was worried about it was almost funny. I decided to play with him a little. I shifted my eyes into their scary, glow-y state and smiled. Some of the gathered crowd gasped. I got that kind of reaction a lot, my shifter powers were very not normal.
"Orson," Elyse said, placing a hand on my back.
"I'm cool," I said, letting my eyes shift back to their natural grey color.
Tommy was sputtering mad. "You see? He mocks us."
Daniel was eyeing me warily, but he backed his wife up. "Tommy, you heard Roxanne. If you have an issue, come to the council meeting tonight."
"You're making a huge mistake," Tommy said, before turning and stalking off.
Even after he was gone people kept staring at me. Maybe I shouldn't have let Tommy get to me, but the guy was a total dickhead.
Daniel cleared his throat and gave a forced smile. "After you have taken time to freshen up, please join us in the town hall. I also need to request that none of you wander off on your own. Please stay with Elyse at all times."
"Sure, no problem," I said.
The others nodded.
"And we will take care of the body," said Roxanne. "We have a small clinic where it can be stored until we sort through everything."
"That's much appreciated," said Elyse.
We were left alone after that. We still received suspicious, sidelong glances, but nobody bothered us. Elyse spoke to her parents and gave her mom one last hug before gesturing for us to follow her. She had us pile into a rugged-looking golf cart that sported mud tires.
"It makes it easier to get around," she explained. "Especially if there's snow or rain."
The shifter compound was huge. It was more like a small town than the summer camp I'd imagined when Elyse had told me about it. There were clusters of cabins around a communal square. These included a restaurant, a town hall and a massive general store that rivaled Walmart.
The entire compound was accessible by an interconnected web of dirt and gravel roads, and even though everyone who lived on site or visited were shifters, there were golf carts available to get around in.
"I don't get it," Wyatt said to Elyse. "Why all the golf carts? I mean, everyone here can turn into animals, right? Aren't you all faster running on all fours?”
"Yes," Elyse replied. "But it isn't cool to show up at the restaurant or a friend’s house naked. We're not nudists."
"Oh, right. Of course, silly question."
I noticed something odd about the buildings and asked, "How come nothing has a name? The signs are all generic—restaurant, store, town hall."
Elyse pulled to a stop in front of the store and said, "Because nobody owns them, they are all communal property. Volunteers take shifts to keep everything running smoothly."
"So, technically speaking, these aren't really businesses, because they don't charge money?"
"Exactly," said Elyse.
The store provided everything a resident of the compound could possibly need—food, clothes, home furnishings, even video games.
"Who pays for all of this?" Maddie asked.
"The shifter council," Elyse explained. "One of the major benefits of being so long-lived is the accumulation of wealth. Every shifter in the U.S. pays a portion of their income to keep the compound running, and there are similar compounds in other countries around the world. When we're here, we're free to be ourselves without risk of being seen by the world."
"I knew shifters pulled together and helped each other out, but this is . . . way more than I expected," I said, impressed.
Elyse looped her arm in
mine. "These are your people. You're one of us."
"Well, then I guess I need to start paying my taxes or whatever."
Elyse laughed. "You're good. Nobody expects you to contribute, yet."
"While the tour has been very informative," said Lucy. "I'd really like to get out of this hospital gown."
Lucy, Maddie, Wyatt and I went shopping for clothes and the basic essentials. While we shopped, Elyse and I took the time to explain to Maddie who Tommy was and why he was so pissed off.
"So, he's your uncle?" Maddie asked Elyse.
"Not by blood, no. But I've known him my entire life. He and my parents go way back."
"What was that word he called you, Orson?" asked Maddie.
I glanced over at Lucy, who was picking through Levis, looking for her size, and she nodded. Maddie was a member of the team, she deserved the entire story.
"He called me Ollphiest. It's an old word, a kind of name for what I am."
Maddie looked confused. "But you're a shape-shifter, like Elyse."
"He's a bit more unique than that," said Elyse. "The Ollphiest is—well was—a scary story that shifter parents would tell their kids. Sort of the boogeyman of the supernatural world."
"Oh." Maddie still looked confused.
"I can do things that other shifters can't," I explained. "And I wasn't born a shifter. In shifter legend a person who isn't born a shape-shifter, but becomes one later in life, is considered Ollphiest, a monster."
"And that's why all the other shifters seem wary of you?" asked Maddie.
"Yeah, I'm the unknown, so they're all weirded out by me."
"Hey," Elyse said, indignant.
"Almost all of them are weirded out by me."
Lucy let out a long sigh. "Don't you guys have any leather? A jacket—pants, something? This is all lumberjack clothing. And I'm not a big fan of flannel."
"Sorry, this is it," said Elyse. "But you could always stay in your hospital gown."
"Oooh, burn," said Wyatt.
Elyse and Lucy stared at each other, and they weren't smiling. Uh-oh. I kept forgetting that Lucy and Elyse hadn't spent too much time getting to know one another. The first time they met, Lucy had been trying to kill me, and the second time we had all been stuck in Lucy's subconscious, which hadn't left a lot of time for bonding. And there was the fact that part of Lucy's brain had flirted with me when we'd gone in to save her. I didn't need the two of them going at it, not now.
"Who's starving?" I said loudly. "I need to eat, preferably steak and lots of it."
Elyse smiled at me. She could read me like a book and knew exactly what I was doing. She waved for all of us to follow her. "Come on, the restaurant has pretty decent food."
Lucy stepped behind a clothing rack for privacy and quickly changed into Levis and a sweater, balling up the hospital gown and dropping it into a trashcan. She slung a pair of hiking boots over her shoulder and followed us.
The restaurant was more of a cafeteria. We all grabbed trays, plates and silverware, then moved down a food line. Elyse hadn't exaggerated, there was a ton of food.
"Buffet style, my favorite," said Wyatt, as he piled his plate high with fried chicken, mash potatoes, and two pieces of pie.
The restaurant wasn't crowded, so we had our pick of tables. The few other patrons stared at us openly, but all of their whispered conversations were about Mrs. Kelly and her miraculous return.
I chuckled at the lack of privacy and finally asked Elyse, "Do you ever get used to the fact that everyone can hear anything you say?"
"Not really. It's weird at first, but eventually you just get used to it."
Lucy placed her hand on the table and mumbled something. "There, we are now in a private conversation."
"What?" Elyse asked.
"I spelled the table," Lucy said. "Nobody can hear us."
Elyse glanced around nervously. "You shouldn't do any magic. People here aren't really fond of spell-casters."
Lucy was indignant. “Spell-caster? I'm a mage."
"You know what I mean."
"Lucy," I said. "We're guests. Let's try not to piss off the locals. But we do need to talk, so a little privacy right now is good. Elyse, what can we expect at the council meeting?"
"It's a formality, really. They just want to make sure you understand that this compound is under shifter jurisdiction." Elyse looked at Lucy. "And things like magic are frowned upon. You have to remember that many of these people have had bad experiences with the Society."
"Why is that?" Maddie asked.
Wyatt snorted around a mouthful of potatoes. "Because of the war."
Elyse frowned. I had read about this subject in the books Lucy gave me to study, but I was far from an expert.
"Elyse," I said. "Do you want to tell the story, or do you want me to take a whack at it?”
"No, I'll do it." Elyse looked down at the table, gathering her thoughts before beginning. "Shape-shifters weren’t always welcome members of the Paragon Society."
Lucy perked up at that. I caught her eye and shook my head. I had read the histories from the Society's perspective, so I knew that in their view shape-shifters were the cause of the war. Lucy rolled her eyes and went back to eating.
"And there was a war?" Maddie was stunned. "How would something like that not make the news? I mean mages and shape-shifters going at it would cause a pretty big mess."
Elyse chuckled. "Yeah, it would. But this war took place a long time ago, around 1768. And it's not the kind of war that makes it into normal history books. But like all war it was brutal, a lot of people died on both sides."
"What was it over?"
Elyse glanced at Lucy. Even though Lucy had been born almost two centuries after the fighting had ended, she was still an enforcer for the Society. She willingly upheld the law that the Society imposed.
Lucy dropped her fork, sighed and looked at Elyse. "It's okay, you can tell her. I won't be offended, I wasn’t even there."
Elyse continued, "The original American colonists were shape-shifters. They came here to get away from what they perceived as injustices committed by the Paragon Society in the Old World."
"What?" Maddie said, further shocked. "What about the Pilgrims?"
"They were the Pilgrims."
"No way."
"It's wild, isn't it?' said Wyatt. "The first time I heard all this I couldn't sleep for days. Wait until you hear about the Moon landing."
"What about the Moon landing?" Maddie squeaked.
"That's a story for another time," I said, glaring at Wyatt.
"The war here in the colonies lasted sixteen years," said Elyse.
I watched Maddie's face. She was smart, and it only took a few seconds before her brow furrowed and she said, "Wait. If it started in 1768 and lasted for sixteen years, then . . . Holy crap, are you telling me the Revolutionary War was between the Society and shape-shifters?"
"Bingo," said Wyatt.
Maddie sat back in her chair, mouth hanging open.
Elyse said, "When the histories were written, 1775 was picked as the date for the start of the war because it was only a year before the Declaration was signed and it made more sense to the world governments of the time. But the war was about the Society trying to regain control over the shifters."
"Who won?" Maddie asked quietly.
"Well, the Society claims victory," said Elyse. "But many changes were made to laws pertaining to shape-shifters, and so we like to think of it more as a compromise than a win for either side."
"That's why the shifters here at the compound are wary of us," I said. "In their minds you three," I indicated her, Wyatt and Lucy. "Represent the Society. And I'm the legendary freak from the stories they tell to scare each other."
"Wow," said Maddie. "This is a lot to digest. So are we, the Society, the bad guys?"
Elyse was nice, she just shrugged in response. I looked at Lucy, who had remained quiet during the history lesson.
"What do you think, Lucy?" I said.
"You want to take that question?"
"The answer," Lucy said to Maddie, "is yes and no. The Society does a lot of good. It stops rogue magic-users from running wild in the streets, causing chaos and mayhem. But, like Elyse explained, it also has a dark history. And there are some within the Society that wouldn't mind seeing those dark times return, because they crave the power they feel has been lost."
"You're talking about the Cabal," said Maddie.
Lucy nodded. "Mostly, yes. The Cabal seems to want to destroy everything the Society has built, but there are also others, people like Tommy for instance, who would love to see changes made."
"But Tommy's a shifter." said Maddie.
"Yep," Lucy agreed. "But it has been centuries since the war and some shifters have become just as corrupt as the Society members they fought against. They only care about the acquisition of power and the subjugation of those weaker than them." Lucy held her hand out to Elyse. "You risked your life to save me, and that makes you family."
Elyse took the offered hand and they shook. It was a start.
Lucy asked Elyse, “Besides your parents, who else do you think we can trust?"
"The Cranes are good people, they'll be fair," Elyse assured us. "I'm more worried about Tommy showing up at the meeting. He's very persuasive and I don't know how many people he's been able to sway against Orson."
"Maybe we should ask your dad?" said Wyatt. "He can't still be on the hate Orson bandwagon, not with your mom, you know, showing up."
Elyse bit her lower lip.
"What are you thinking?" I asked her.
"We definitely need to talk to him before the meeting, but I wouldn't count on it being pleasant. Sure, he's happy about my mom, we all are, but you're still . . . you."
I sighed. "I'm still the monster that even monsters fear."
Elyse nodded.
Chapter Two
We hopped back in the golf cart and Elyse drove us to her parents’ cabin. At least the crowd had thinned out. It looked like only family was left inside visiting with Mrs. Kelly. Of course, they all hated me as much as Mr. Kelly, so I wasn't holding my breath for a warm reception.
After a quick discussion we decided the best course of action was to let Elyse do all the talking. We followed her to the front door. She took a deep breath and reached for the doorknob.
Cabal Page 2
