Shifters (Shifters series Book 1) (6 page)

Kai turns to stare at Chucky, wide eyed. He’s suddenly very engaged in this conversation. “Tanner
’
s Apts shouldn
’
t have kicked in yet. Not if he
’
s not Shifting. What exactly can he do?”

I frown before answering. “It
’
s nothing, really.” I say. “Technology and Tanner just don
’
t get along. Everything goes haywire when he
’
s around.”

Kai looks lost in thought for a moment. “It might be nothing,” he says finally. “Shifter energy can throw off tech.”

I nod, unconvinced. He thinks he
’
s figured something out, but he doesn
’
t want to say what. He doesn
’
t trust us yet.

“When do you find out what your Apts are?” I ask.

“Some Shifters don
’
t have any,” he replies. “They usually start to kick in after you begin Shifting.”

“How will I know?” I ask, concerned. What other freakish mutant thing can I do?

He looks me up and down, considering. “I think I know what yours might be,” he says slowly.

Chapter 8

Anybody Have a Rope?

–TANNER–

I
’
m still kind of groggy from not getting enough sleep for, like, ever. Well, at least the last couple of days. Ryland and Melinda are standing over by the TV. Like before, the news has the story all wrong. They show Melinda
’
s parents crying. Her dad is blaming my sister. Typical.

I see Kai staring at this one suit guy with a look of pure hatred. I ask him if he
’
s one of the Keepers Kai told me about. He nods and a chill goes through me. I can
’
t imagine seeing the guy who murdered my parents, or the people I thought were my parents. Oh, man. I never even thought about that. Who were my parents? Did they really die trying to save Ryland and me?

Frederick and Chucky are watching the TV and joking around like this is some sort of vacation. Seriously, don
’
t they know what
’
s happening here? Alice is still lying on the floor trying to ignore what
’
s going on, like that
’s possible.

When she hears this guy talking on the TV, Alice sits straight up and focuses in on the screen like a hawk spotting a mouse. I look back and forth between her and the TV. Wow, I think. That must be her dad. He looks so much like her. I
’
ve never actually seen him before. Instead of looking worried or homesick like I expect, she gets upset. Not like sad or crying, but angry. She turns and walks straight out the door. I look at my sister, who looks back at me in surprise, and I immediately follow Alice.

She’s walking quickly down the sidewalk past all of the other rooms.

“Alice, are you okay?” I shout to her.

She turns around abruptly and says sharply, “Leave me alone, Tanner,” then continues walking away without even pausing.

She disappears around the corner. When I catch up with her, she’s squatting in the corner of an alcove with a couple of sparsely populated vending machines. People actually pay to stay here? I guess I can
’
t talk; we did.

“What
’
s wrong?” I say as compassionately as I can. I realize I must sound like a total dork.

“
I don’
t want to talk about it. Leave me alone,” she says.

I can tell she’s about to cry. God, don
’
t let her cry. She’s so pretty.

I muster up whatever courage I can and slowly sit down beside her. I expect her to jump up and run away from the loser sitting next to her, but she doesn
’
t. Instead, she lays her head on my shoulder and starts to cry.

Oh, my God! What do I do now? Unsure, I slowly lift my arm to put it around her shoulders. Surely, this will make her run away from the dorky mutant loser boy, but she doesn
’
t. She grabs my hand and holds it, pulling herself into me.

I have no idea what to do now so I say, “That was your dad, wasn
’
t it?”

She pulls away and looks at me with tears and anger in her large brown eyes. Idiot! I think to myself. Now you totally made her mad.

“He
’
s not my dad!” she yells.

Before I can even say I
’
m sorry for misunderstanding, she goes on, “
Dads don’
t run off with younger girls and leave you! Dads don
’
t forget your birthdays and Christmases and daddy-daughter dances, do they? Dads don
’
t leave you with a mother that only thinks of you as a nuisance, like an inconvenience that just gets in the way of her social life. Why would I care what he thinks?”

Obviously, she does care what he thinks, but I
’
m sure not going to say that. She sinks back into me and starts to cry again. I just hold her and let her cry for a while, caressing her shoulders.

“You
’
re right. He
’
s no dad,
” I say softly. “
I don’
t see how anyone could ever leave you.”

She looks up at me and says, “Shut up. I know I
’
m usually a B.”

“What? You? No way!”

She smiles at me and says, “It
’
s really ‘cause I don
’
t know how to be nice to people. You know . . . if I
’
m mean, I know what to expect.”

“I think you
’
re nice, Alice,
” I say.

“I know you really don
’
t, but thanks anyway, Tanner. By the way, Ry doesn
’
t really hate you. She
’
s just a sister, you know? Sisters are supposed to get annoyed with brothers. I think you
’
re actually pretty cool.”

“Really?” I ask with my eyebrows raised.

“Yeah,” she says as she lays her head back down on me. “I wish you were my brother.”

I can
’
t believe what just happened. I not only talked to the prettiest girl in school, but she actually talked to me. Just when I thought everything was going great . . . brother status! Oh, well. What can I expect? I
’
m about six inches shorter than her. More like her
little
brother.

I start to say, “We should get back,” when my voice jumps up about two octaves. I clear my throat and try again, “We . . .” There it goes again.

You’ve got to be kidding me! Now? Right now my voice has to start freaking out. She sits up and giggles at me. I’m totally humiliated.

She bites her lip in the most adorable way—God, her lips are pretty—and says, “It looks like my little brother is growing up.”

Just when I
’
m about to respond to try to redeem some of my dignity, this guy holding two boxes of vending machine stuff walks around the corner. All three of us jump slightly. He calms down and, realizing he interrupted an intimate moment, starts to apologize. But then he stops and stares at us. Fear is drawn across his face by some unseen artist, and he drops the boxes directly in front of him.

“It
’
s you!” he says as he turns and starts to run.

Alice and I look at each other and realize simultaneously what he meant. He recognized us!

We both say, “Oh, crap!” and jump up to try to stop him.

The guy’s running as fast as he can toward the front office. It
’
s a good thing he
’
s out of shape. Alice and I tackle him just a few doors down from our room. He scrambles, scooting himself up against the wall and puts his hands up in front of him like he
’
s trying to stop us from hitting him.

With terror in his eyes, he says, “Oh, God! Don
’
t kill me! I swear I won
’
t tell anyone! I swear. Please don
’
t kill me!”

Seriously? He thinks we
’
re killers? Is that what everybody thinks?

Alice gets in his face and yells, “What are you talking about?”

“Please!” he pleads, huddling down like a frightened puppy.

I
’
m trying to think! He is so scared. Of course, he
’
s going to tell someone he saw the crazy school bomber kids. Why wouldn
’
t he? What would Kai do with this guy? Geez . . . I have no idea what Kai would do, but Kai would.

“Take him to the room!” I yell to Alice with my newly out of control voice.

She grabs him by one arm while I grab the other, and we head toward the door.

He keeps pleading, “Oh, God, no . . . please!” as we throw the door open.

–RYLAND–

What the heck is Tanner thinking?
Oh, we
’
re already being hunted for murder, we might as well kidnap some random people.
And Alice, I know you were just blown away by seeing your dad for the first time in like eight years, but you
’
re way smarter than Tanner!

So anyway, Tanner, Alice, and some random guy burst into the room. The guy’s yelling and crying and pleading. “Please don
’
t kill me! I swear—I swear I won
’
t tell!”

Kai bolts up off the edge of the bed. Tanner slams the door shut behind him. “What do we do?” he snaps at Kai.

I want to scream. As if Kai has kidnapped people before! Tanner is such an idiot.

Kai looks like he’s about to lose it. “Who the heck is this?” he snaps.

“
I don’
t know!” Tanner yells.

Alice steps between him with—are those tears on her cheeks?—a look of grim determination. “We have to kill him,” she says it so flatly I almost believe her.

The guy is hysterical now, on his knees, begging for help. Kai looks horrified. Alice does sort of sound like a serial killer. Tanner looks half-horrified and half-amazed. Hopefully, he
’
s not psycho too.

The guy is probably in his early twenties. I wonder briefly if he played football in high school. He has a pudgy-ish baby face that would be cute if he weren
’
t scrunching it all up and crying. He
’
s huge, like he would have been a defensive linebacker or something. He could probably take us all if none of us had superpowers and he wasn
’
t so terrified.

“Okay,” I say hesitantly. “Okay, how?”

Alice looks me right in the eyes. She’s up to something. I know it.

“W-w-we can
’
t!” Melinda cuts in. She’s so scared and upset she
’
s shaking.

“
I don’
t care what you say,” Alice says and slaps her across the face.

Melinda
’
s head snaps back, and I can already see the dark red handprint appearing on her cheek. Everything in the room goes completely still and silent, save for Melinda
’
s quiet sniffling. “We do what we have to do,”
Alice continues.

“You
’
re just kids,” the guy begs. His words are almost impossible to understand because he
’
s sniffling so much. His navy blue work polo is covered in mucus and tears. Gross.

Tanner’s looking at me, confused. He knows now that something’s up. He may not always like me, but he knows I
’
m not a killer.

“What do we do?” he asks again, calmly this time.

“Please,” the guy says. “Please, my name is Connor Jensen. I live at 755 Bentley Terrace. If I tell anyone, you can come and find me. Please.”

Alice grins. This is really her plan? What’s to stop this guy from telling the cops the minute he thinks we
’
re gone?

Then I realize. He won
’
t tell the cops until we
’
re not around, not a threat. When he feels safe. But we
’
ll be long gone.

“Can we trust him?” I ask Tanner, looking as doubtful as I can manage.

“
I don’
t think so,” Tanner bluffs, playing along.

Melinda is still crying softly when she says, “He won
’
t tell. I
’
ll make sure.”

I shake my head at her. I know what she
’
s trying to do. She
’
s trying to stay behind, knowing she
’
ll be caught, to save him.

Melinda may be one of the shyest people you will ever meet, but she’s brave. She’s brave precisely because she’s selfless. She’ll do anything to help someone else. Even if, in this case, she goes to jail. To jail!

I told you, my friends are awesome. Anyway, I
’
m trying to shake my head no. She needs to see we can
’
t leave her behind. But our bluff won
’
t work if she keeps this up.

Alice nods slowly, smirking. “As if I would trust you to take care of it. You
’
re no killer, Melinda. You don
’
t even belong with us. You
’
re only here because Ryland has a soft spot for you. She didn
’
t want you to get hurt.”

“Shut up!” I snap. Making our group appear fractured. This will help us stay ahead of the game. “Melinda, you are not staying behind. Period.”

Chucky and Frederick finally chime in. Simultaneously, they say, “Let
’
s tie him up.”

Somehow, this solution hasn’t occurred to the rest of us. They’re smart kids. I always forget that when they
’
re drooling over me or tripping over themselves. They did get us out of the school full of FBI-agents-slash-Keepers. They also used to help me on my homework when we were little. Before they lost the ability to speak around me.

Kai nods. “If we tie him up and leave him here in the room, we
’
ve got a few hours head start. Then we won
’
t be killers.”

“Have you forgotten?” Alice sneers. “We already are!”

“Shut up!” Kai snaps, and we all turn to face him. He’s obviously our leader, and we defer to his advice. “We need to get out of here. Like, now. We don
’
t have time to kill a guy and dump his body.”

I nod in agreement. “Where do we get the rope?”

Kai grabs his bag and, of course, pulls out thirty feet of rope.

I shake my head in wonder. Is he prepared for everything? Is that even possible given the circumstances? Probably not.

Chucky and Frederick grab the rope and giggle as they tie the poor guy up. The rest of us gather the supplies and backpacks and whatever we have. We turn to survey the room. We
’
ve left nothing behind except the poor vending machine guy.

We walk out the door and shut it behind us.