Shifters (Shifters series Book 1) (19 page)

Chapter 30

Yes, It Gets Worse: You Know, Than Being Hunted by Feds and Aliens with Superhuman Abilities

–TANNER–

Under FBI headquarters? How are we supposed to do that? It
’
s not like we can just walk in the front door and get in an elevator. Down please. Oh, which floor? The one with the super secret alien observation and containment division please. Which, by the way, is also covertly staffed by descendants of ancient aliens. No problem? Well, thank you, kind sir. My day? It
’
s been a fine day, and yours? That
’
s great to hear. Tell the wife and kids I said hello.

Sorry. I tend to get slightly sarcastic when I
’
m nervous. Did I say slightly?

“We need supplies. You up for another round?” Kai asks loudly from the front seat.

He must be talking to me, so I ask loudly, “Where?”

“Wilmington isn
’
t far,” Devon speaks up.

I smile at her. She seems to be more comfortable now that she
’
s away from home. She smiles and looks away like she’s still unsure of herself.

“Okay, I
’
ll find someplace for you to do your thing,” Kai says.

Devon gives me a questioning look. I shrug my shoulders, not sure how she
’
ll react to me basically stealing from an ATM.

“So, what
’
s your thing?” Kyle asks.

I look up to see Kyle and Solé both turned around in their seats staring at me like they
’
re expecting me to reveal Houdini
’
s best-kept secrets.

“It
’
s not really that cool,” I tell them.

“I bet it is,” Devon says lighting up.

There are those perfect green and copper eyes looking at me expectantly. “I can kind of control things. Not anything, just like electronics and stuff,” I tell them, hoping nobody will ask what Kai meant.

“Seriously?” Kyle says. “So what does that have to do with supplies?”

Solé is staring at me doing her lip-biting thing like she
’
s expecting something amazing. You know it
’
s weird, but I used to think she was the most beautiful girl. Don
’
t get me wrong, she’s pretty, but with Devon right next to me, she kind of pales in comparison.

I feel a hand slap my leg and hear Devon say, “Well, you have to tell us now.”

She has an expectant smile on her face. Oh, man! What if I tell her, and she thinks I
’
m terrible? I am wholly aware of her hand on my leg. I’m looking directly into her brilliant green eyes, falling into their depths. She’s so beautiful. Please, don
’
t move your hand. I imagine every possible response.
You
’
re a thief? Stop the car! Take me back home. You people are awful. You just go around taking other people
’
s things? How do you live with yourself?

Here it goes!

“Kai says I
’
m a Controller.
” I say, completely unsure of myself.

“And…?”
Devon asks.

“Sometimes we need money, so I,” I
’
m not sure if I should go on. “I mean . . . I tell the machine to—”

Kyle blurts out, “You tell the ATM to give up its goods? Awesome!”

Solé gets this huge smile and says, “So, we can go shopping again?” She claps her hands excitedly, “I
love
shopping.”

I hesitantly look over at Devon, waiting for the bomb to drop. Instead, she wraps her arms around me and plants a kiss on my cheek, saying, “I knew it! I knew you would have an amazing Apt. It
’
s kind of like my brothers
’
, except they can only understand it. Theirs is useful, but it only helps them to work with it. You can control it!”

I’m totally dumbfounded. She slowly unwraps her arms from around me, and, instead of moving completely back to the other seat, I feel her hand run down the inside of my arm and her fingers tickle my palm. When I open my hand, she interlaces her delicate fingers with mine.

Oh, my God!

She
’
s holding my hand. She slowly brings her eyes to meet mine, and I can
’
t help but smile at her. She smiles back shyly and lays her head on my shoulder. We sit there for a long minute before she quietly asks, “You haven
’
t Shifted yet, right?”

“Not yet,” I whisper. “Why?”

She doesn
’
t answer for a few minutes. She lifts her head and says, “That means it
’
s a powerful Endo. Your parents must’ve been strong.”

“I wouldn
’
t know. They didn
’
t make it,” I tell her. “Ry said you would make a good spy. What did that mean?”

She lifts off of me and wraps her other hand around mine, and asks, “You saw me . . . on the porch, I mean . . . the first time?” I nod, and she continues, “You looked right at me, didn
’
t you?”

“Yes,” I ask, not sure where this is going.

“What did you see?”

“I saw you.”

“What did I look like? To you, I mean?” she asks.

“Eyes that flashed between bright green and copper.”

“And?” she prods.

“A perfect silhouette with amazing glowing red hair.”

She wrinkles her forehead like she
’
s trying to figure out a puzzle. She asks, “What did my mom look like?”

“
I don’
t know. A mom. Kind of light brown hair. Way too revealing outfit for her age,” I tell her.

I hear Kyle blurt out from the seat in front of us, “Are you freaking kidding me? She’s totally hot! Like supermodel hot!”

Solé punches his arm and gives him a look. He shrugs his shoulders and says to her, “Not like you. You
’re beautiful.
”

I can see Kai and Ryland exchanging glances. Obviously, they both know what Kyle
’
s comments are about. I have to hand it to Kai. He
’
s certainly not as dumb as Kyle when it comes to knowing when to keep his mouth shut. Not that Ryland has any right to be jealous since she won
’
t even admit to liking him, but she
’
s a violent little thing.

Once when she was probably in fifth grade, Bryce had this horrible girlfriend. She was really rude to our whole family, but especially to Mom. So anyway, Ryland got sick of her being mean to Mom, and even though she was just a little kid, Ry slapped her right across the face. When Bryce started laughing, she stormed out, and we never had to see Candice or Candy or whoever again.

Devon just smiles at me and says quietly, “You
’
re amazing. You can see right through our Apts.”

“What?” I say, totally not following.

“I
’
m a Ghost. Well, not like I
’
m dead or anything. I mean I can hide from people, like their direct vision. They can see me from the side and stuff, I can
’
t figure that part out, but if they look straight at me, it
’
s like I
’
m either unnoticeable or completely invisible,” she explains.

“That
’
s why Ry thought you could help,” I say, finally catching on. “I thought it was just because you
’
re a computer genius or something.” I notice her smiling when I say that. “You’re amazing. How did you learn all of that?”

“I taught myself to help my brothers out,” she says. “Since I never really had any friends, I spent a lot of time with them learning how it all works.”

Kai pulls into a small strip mall in Wilmington, and in a few short minutes, we are loaded with cash and ready for shopping once again.

–RYLAND–

I really don
’
t need to shop. As much as I hated Aleksandria, I have to admit her clothes were killer, and she has loaded me up. Some of them are a little dressier than I would wear pretty much ever. I mean, she gave me at least fifteen ball gowns and evening dresses. She also gave me designer jeans, T-shirts, blouses, jackets, coats, and shoes. Kai and Tanner are not exactly happy that I’ve taken up the entire trunk with my new wardrobe.

The nice part is that most of it will fit Devon. She
’
s exactly my size. I wonder again why her mother would like me so much more.

We
’
re really here for Solé. She doesn
’
t have a lot to wear. Before we go inside, she tells the boys to make sure they buy tuxedos. They look at her like she is insane, but she makes them promise.

“Why exactly do they need tuxes?” I ask suspiciously.

Solé
shrugs,
“
Not sure.
”

Devon glances at me quizzically, then follows Solé inside. Solé finds more skinny jeans and Steve Madden scrunch boots then heads for the evening gowns. “What are we looking for?” I ask.

Solé turns to grin at me, “If we
’
re going to a ball, I want to look like a princess.”

I roll my eyes. She tries on every dress in the store. Finally, we find the perfect dress in a size two. It
’
s a soft A-line tulle ball gown in pale green with silver embroidered vines and roses. She looks lovely.

We find her some beautiful silver Aldo stilettos to match. I
’
m still not sure why we need all of this, but I play along.

Afterwards, we find a Cinnabon. I eat three. I know, but I’m starving all the time now.

The boys return with mostly jeans and T-shirts, but they do have the tuxedos Solé demanded they buy. They seem annoyed at having to get dress clothes; Solé, however, is not to be disobeyed. She and her powers are not to be ignored.

So, we take off on our drive toward DC. As we’re driving, I play with the radio. I stop when I hear my name. “Despite the fact Ryland and Tanner Ascunse have not been captured, the preparations for the annual FBI ball are taking place.”

I turn to lock eyes with Devon. “Solé?” I ask, “are we going to the FBI ball?”

“Oh, can we?” she beams. “That sounds wonderful!”

“Oh, my God,” Tanner groans. “We
’
re going to try to sneak into FBI headquarters while it
’
s completely full?”

“This totally sounds like a James Bond movie,”
Kyle grins.

“Awesome,” Kai smiles.

“Or dangerous . . . or insane . . .” Tanner mumbles from the backseat, not as excited as everyone else.

The radio continues, “This year, the ball is a masque—”

“That
’
s stupid! They
’
re inviting all these people into FBI headquarters and letting them wear masks? What kind of idiot—” I start to say, but stop myself. “We
’
re going to need masks.” I grin.

Tanner finally looks excited. “This really is like a James Bond movie.”

“Yay!” Solé squeals from the middle seat.

Kyle grins at her. I can tell for an absolute fact that he
’
s thinking she’s incredibly cute.

“We
’
ll make it to DC tonight,” Kai says as we pass a highway sign.

“That means we can do makeovers tomorrow,” Devon smiles shyly.

“Ummm . . . won
’
t we need to spend tomorrow preparing for . . . ?”

“Silly, Tanner,” I say. “You boys can handle the plans. We girls will need tomorrow to get ready.”

“The whole day?” Kyle sounds shocked.

Solé kisses him on the cheek playfully. He blushes and drops out of the conversation.

“It
’
s okay,” Kai admits grudgingly. “Kyle is the one we really need to plan.”

I
’
m so excited about the ball tomorrow that my worries seem to float away. Maybe that
’
s why I
’
m excited. It
’
s easier not to think about everything we have to do and my family being who knows where when I have something fun to look forward to.

We find this crazy little New Orleans-type store on the side of the road. It seems really out of place, but we all find fantastic masks that will hide our identities from the evil all around us. Even Kyle thinks this might work.

As excited as I am, I never thought I would fall asleep in the car, but I did. I have a dream about my childhood. I dream about finding the house we grew up in. I dream about my mom and dad. I wake up with tears in my eyes to the sound of Sol
é’
s panicked voice.

“Where are they?” she asks.

“Who’s she talking to?” I mouth at Tanner.

“Her parents,” he mouths back.

“What do you mean they ran away?” My stomach drops. Please don
’
t be talking about whom I think you
’
re talking about.

“What is it?” Devon whispers to Tanner.

“Mom, you were supposed to keep them safe.” Solé’s almost in tears. “I told you what would happen if . . .” she stops and looks around the car.

Tanner
’
s face is completely white. I imagine mine’s the same. “I have to go,” Solé says quietly.

“What’s going on?” Devon asks, confused. She
’
s the only one capable of speaking.

“Ryland and Tanner
’
s best friends,” Kai answers slowly. “They
’
ve run away. My guess is they
’
ll try to follow us, to help.”

Solé looks at her lap. She
’
s completely deflated.

“What would happen?” I demand when my voice comes back. “What happens to them?” My voice is angry. None of this is her fault, but I can’t help it. Melinda and Alice are my best friends in the whole world. Nothing can happen to them. Not now. They were safe.

Solé looks at me, her silvery eyes glistening with tears. “They,” her voice breaks, “they don
’
t have our advantages, abilities. They
’
re being hunted, too.”

“What happens to them?” Tanner snaps from the backseat.

“They’ll find them!” she shouts back, crying now.