Shifters (Shifters series Book 1) (7 page)

Chapter 9

Call Me Maybe

–TANNER–

That was probably not the best idea I
’
ve ever had. I would have said that kidnapping a vending machine guy and scaring him so much that he
’
s begging for his life wouldn
’
t make my list of things I plan on doing, but that
’
s not exactly possible now. Ryland is a genius, but watching Alice play a perfect renegade and ruthless outlaw was pretty badass. I must say I’m getting a little worried about my friends though. Chucky and Frederick are enjoying this a little too much, if you ask me.

We all run out of the room carrying what we happened to have at school yesterday. We’re all dirty, hungry, and scared.

Frederick and Chucky bolt for the panel van, but Kai yells, “No! Leave it! I have another idea!”

They both stop, shrug their shoulders, and turn in our direction. All of us head toward the main street. Kai tells us to stop running, and we walk down the street like we
’
re supposed to be there.

“Look natural, like we
’
re just a group of kids headed to school,” Kai says.

Sure. We can do that. We are just a group of kids walking together. Just an ordinary group of kids that blew up a school, killed some FBI agents, stole a couple of cars, kidnapped an ordinary vending machine guy just because he was there, and are now walking down a street trying to avoid aliens and people sworn to exterminate us from the planet. No problem.

We all follow Kai, like he knows what he
’
s doing when Melinda finally breaks the silence.

“Were you really going to kill him?”

“Were you?” Chucky chimes in.

Alice, Ryland, and I all look at her incredulously.

Alice speaks up, “No! Geez . . . I can
’
t believe you thought that!”

Melinda looks relieved, “I knew that.”

Chucky joins in,
“Yeah . . . I knew you were just bluffing.”

Frederick agrees, “Me too. Pretty smart though. That guy isn
’
t going to say anything. For a while anyway.”

Kai is ignoring the whole conversation. He
’
s looking for something. We turn a corner and relief spreads across his face.

“There,” he says pointing to a used car lot. “I thought I saw it on the way in last night.” He stops and says, “Stay right here. They probably have security cameras.”

“We
’
re going to steal another car?” Melinda whines.

We all just look at her. She turns her palms up like she
’
s saying
what
?

Frederick excitedly says, “Oh, yeah! You
’
re going to do that shadow thing!”

“Cool!” Chucky says.

Alice and I must look completely confused because Frederick explains, “While you and your girlfriend were out kidnapping some guy, Kai told us about the Shifter apps.”

“
Not apps. Apts
. . . like aptitudes. Endos you get from your parents. I
’
ll tell you later. I have to do this before they open,” Kai says as he turns and jogs across the street.

I
’
m still lost. I don
’
t know what Apts or Endos are. Kai is acting like it
’
s something completely normal that everyone would know. And did Frederick really just tease me about Alice being my girlfriend? That
’
s just what I need. She already thinks of me as a little brother.

Kai checks the lock on the fence before deciding to scale it and drop on the other side. The whole thing looks completely natural, like breaking and entering is something he does on a regular basis. He runs toward the small sales building on the far side of the lot and disappears around the corner. After about a minute, I see him inside the building through a small window. I look around and see several cameras focused on the building and other places on the lot.

“He shouldn
’
t be doing this. They
’
ll get him on surveillance,” I say with a worried expression.

Chucky speaks quietly, like the nonexistent people around us might hear, “Its okay. He
’
s a shadow. The cameras won
’
t see him.”

“Huh?” Alice and I both say.

Kai pulls a pair of gloves out of his backpack and puts them on. We all watch him as he casually walks up to a van, gets in, and drives up to the fence opening. He gets out, easily unlocks the gate, drives the van out, then gets out, walks to the inside of the gate, and locks it. We all are standing in amazement as he runs back to the sales building, disappears for a couple of minutes, and walks out, scales the fence again, gets back in the van and drives it over to us.

He opens the window and says, “Get in.”

We all jump in, and he starts driving. Kai looks pretty pleased with himself.

Ryland, who grabbed the front seat, asks him, “What was that all about?”

“What?” he smiles.

“Putting the keys back.”

He smirks and says, “I
’
d like to see them explain that to the police
if
they actually report the stolen vehicle.”

She gets a big smile on her face and says, “You really think you
’
re something, don
’
t you?”

“Yeah, I am,” he says, grinning back.

I
’
m actually glad to see him looking happy, especially after hearing what he
’
s been through. For the first time in the last couple of days, I actually feel safe. I
’
m surrounded by friends, and at the moment, nobody
’
s chasing us. Even Melinda is talking excitedly to Alice.

Frederick says, “
So, Kai?
”

“Yes . . . Uh . . .?”

“Frederick.”

“Yes, Frederick?”

“Ryland said you
’
re the same age as Tanner,” Frederick says.

“Yeah, and?”

“How long have you been driving?”

I see him shrug as he casually says, “Since yesterday.”

–RYLAND–

It almost seems like everything is normal now. We
’
re laughing and talking as we cruise down the deserted country highway. The scenery is breathtaking with its forests and greenery.

We
’
re joking around, having a good time, when Alice gets this devilish look in her eyes. I know what
’
s coming. She
’
s about to interrogate Kai, see if he
’
s boyfriend material for me. Great.

“
So, Kai,
” she says, deadpan as usual. “We know you
’
re fourteen and new to driving—as if that wasn
’
t already obvious, but what else can you tell us? A secret Shifter girlfriend? Maybe a Keeper? A little
Romeo and Juliet
thing?”

Kai blushes slightly. I try to hide my glances toward him behind my hair. I told you, I
’
m like the queen of subtlety or something like that. I know he doesn
’
t know any other Shifters and wouldn
’
t date a Keeper, but there are tons of Ordinary girls.

I shake my head. What am I thinking? Who cares if he has a girlfriend?

Kai laughs, obviously embarrassed. Did he just glance in my direction? “No girlfriends. Juliets or otherwise.”

Alice doesn
’
t react, but Melinda giggles nervously. Chucky and Frederick look like they
’
re going to be sick way in the back, and Tanner squirms in the seat next to Alice. He doesn
’
t have to strain so far to be away from her. It
’
s not like she has cooties or something.

“I
’
m just a regular kid,” he says. “You know, except for the Shifter thing. I knew about it ahead of time, though, so it wasn
’
t so bad. Even knew my Apt.”

“How did you know your Apt?” I ask, now interested. (No, I was not interested before. I just happened to be sitting next to him and overheard the conversation.)

He shrugs, like it
’
s obvious. “Endo from my dad. Mom
’
s was different, but Dad was a shadow like me.”

“So, Apts are hereditary?” Tanner chimes in from the back.

“Sure,” Kai says. “It
’
s a mutation in your DNA, after all. Makes sense that the helpful ones would be passed on. Of course, they aren
’
t always. Sometimes they
’
re brand new and spring up all on their own.”

“Will Ry and I have the same Apt?” Tanner wonders aloud.

“
I don’
t see why you would,” Kai frowns, confused.

“Well, with us being siblings and all,” Tanner finishes meekly.

Kai looks even more confused. “Adopted siblings, yeah.”

“No,” I say, trying to help Kai out. “Tanner and I were both saved by our adopted parents when our real parents died.”

Kai nods slowly, but I see that look in his eyes again. He knows something he doesn
’
t want to say. I look back at Tanner, and for the millionth time in my life, I wonder if we could be related. This time when I wonder if he is some sort of alien, mutant freak my parents adopted who couldn
’
t possibly be my real brother, I know at least half of that is true.

“What was your Mom
’
s Apt?” I ask, trying to change the subject before I lose every ounce of sanity.

“She was what
’
s called a Flyer.”

“What
’
s a Flyer?” Chucky peeps up from the back, extremely interested.

“It
’
s kind of hard to explain. They can
’
t fly, exactly. That
’
s impossible, but they have stronger, lighter bones and greater muscle density than Ordinaries or even regular Shifters.” He furrows his brow as he tries to explain. “So, when they jump, per say, they . . . they sort of soar.”

“Essentially,” Frederick says, “they fly short distances?”

Kai shrugs. “Like I said, hard to explain. You
’
ll just have to see it for yourself.”

“How can we . . . when . . .
your mom
. . .” Tanner struggles to find his words, and I realize Kai must have told Tanner about his parents. He must have told Tanner something awful.

“Not my mom,” Kai says tightly. I wonder how long ago it must have happened. Not too long. The wound is still so fresh.

“Then?” I ask, confused.

“We
’
ll see,” he says and then shuts down.

“Okay,” Alice continues after a moment of tense, awkward silence. “So how exactly does this Shadow thing work, anyway? Why do you call it Shadowing?”

Kai smirks a little, pleased with this new line of questioning. “Basically, I can control my electrical energy to the point where I become invisible to modern Ordinary tech. For all intents and purposes, I’m untraceable. The one problem is that my shadow is not. I can
’
t control that because it has nothing to do with my electrical energy. That
’
s just a trick of the light.

“So, if you watched the tapes on the news back closely, you would see a separate and distinct shadow running from that building. No one usually notices, and it
’
s impossible to prove even if they do.”

“That’s awesome,” Chucky grins.

I notice Melinda and Alice are huddled together on Melinda
’
s side of the van, and Tanner is trying not to notice. What’s with him? First, Alice has cooties, now he
’
s annoyed that he
’
s being ignored.

Suddenly, Melinda goes white. I hear “Call Me Maybe” blaring from the backseat. Seriously, Melinda
’
s ringtone is awful.

She answers the phone slowly. “Mom?”

I hear the voice faintly from the seat behind me. It comes out in a low hiss. “Sorry to disappoint you, but I
’
m not your mother. She is here, though, with us.”

“Who are you?” Melinda
’
s voice is so small, childlike.

“Who is that?” Kai snaps.

Melinda shakes her head, but I can
’
t hear what he
’
s saying anymore.

“Please,” she begs. “Let them go.”

“Give me the phone!” Kai snaps.

Melinda’s crying now, pleading incomprehensibly through her sobs. Kai reaches into the backseat and snatches the phone from her hands. He immediately ends the call, mutes the phone, rolls down his window, and chunks it into the bed of a pickup truck next to us.

It isn
’
t until the pickup exits two miles up that he begins to relax, but then, we hear the faint sounds of a chopper overhead.

Chapter 10

We Need Some Cash—Like Now

–TANNER–

I’m sitting right next to Alice when she starts flirting with Kai, asking if he has a girlfriend and all. I know she wouldn
’
t be interested in me, but does she have to rub it in my face?

Oh, my gosh, why is my shirt so tight? Of course, she would like him. He
’
s like perfect. Oh man, my pants too. I totally have a wedgie. I hope Alice doesn
’
t notice. This is kind of embarrassing.

Kai tells us about Apts. That’s so cool. What
’
s an Endo? I
’
ll have to remember to ask him about that. Maybe I have some kind of special power like a superhero. I bet Alice would like that. Maybe I
’
m a Shadow! That would be so cool!

Just then, Melinda stops giggling about Kai and quietly says to Alice, “Oh, my gosh, I totally forgot!”

Now what are they talking about? Seriously, I know I haven
’
t showered, but why is my shirt so tight? I hear Melinda
’
s phone chime as she powers it up.

“Remember the picture I took yesterday? Hang on. It
’
s right here,” she says excitedly. “I knew it.”

“What?” Alice asks.

Melinda points at the picture. “Right there.”

Alice leans over saying, “Oh, my gosh . . . you
’
re right! He
was
there.”

Just then, her phone starts playing “Call Me Maybe.” I love that song! Carly Rae Jepsen is so cool.

We immediately know it
’
s not her mom. Kai totally freaks out, grabs it from her, and throws it out the window, right into the bed of a truck that has been driving next to us for a while. Kai keeps looking in the mirror. What is he looking at? When the truck takes an exit, I hear a loud pounding sound.

“Whoa! Did you see that?” Frederick says pointing out the window. “That chopper was right above us.”

“Get down, everybody!” Kai yells. He turns his head around and yells directly at Melinda, “Who told you to turn on your phone?”

Melinda shrinks in her chair, and Alice defends her immediately, “Stop yelling at her! Who made you the boss anyway? Seriously, why are we listening to him?”

“Uh, guys?” Chucky says quietly.

Kai loses it. “Do you have any idea what you might have done?”

“Guys?” Chucky says a little louder.

“What we
’
ve done? What the heck are you doing?” Alice asks.

Chucky loses it, grabs Alice
’
s shoulders, and shakes her, yelling, “Guys!”

Now, Alice is totally pissed, “Get your hands off of me, you little freak!”

Then, we feel the road under the van shake. Kai slams on the brakes, and the van spins around as all of the cars on the highway slam on their brakes. Right out of the front window, we see a huge explosion. The chopper that just passed over us is hovering around a huge plume of smoke. In the middle of it, we can see the back end of the truck that was right next to us a few seconds ago.

“Oh, my God,” Melinda says quietly.

Alice just stares in shock at the carnage.

“That
’
s what I was trying to tell you,” Chucky says. “They were trying to force it off the road. Then, they just started shooting.” He breaks off in a horrified whisper.

Kai says quietly with his teeth clenched, “They can track cell phones.”

Melinda
’
s lip starts to quiver. She looks right at me, then at Alice, then my sister, and with a small voice says, “I . . . I
’
m so sorry.”

Frederick stares out the window and resolutely says, “They
’
re going to kill us.”

Kai looks at my sister and says, “We have to go.” He turns the van around, drives around the cars parked on the highway, and dodges all of the people now standing on the road watching the helicopter land by the wreckage.

–RYLAND–

So, now we
’
re driving backward on the highway. I know, super dangerous. Kai gets off at the next exit (which is actually an entrance), and we take the back roads from here on out.

I feel myself drifting off as we drive through several small towns named things like Meriden and Milldell and Waterbury. We are all exhausted, dirty, and done running. This seriously sucks.

Chucky
’
s stomach grumbles so loudly the whole car turns to look at him. We all laugh a little, finally breaking the tension. “We need to eat,”
Kai sighs.

“Anyone have any money?” I ask.

Everyone searches their pockets, purses, and bags. Of course, we come up with a total of $3.19. Unfortunately, that’s not nearly enough money to feed seven hungry teenagers and rent another motel room.

We all look quietly out the windows, pondering our predicament. After a moment, Kai finally says, “I think I have an idea.” Of course, we’re all relieved. None of
us
had any ideas.

We drive another thirteen miles into a town called Greenville. This is, of course, one of those little nothing towns with a movie theater that only shows two movies. This, we
’
re hoping, is a good thing.

If we are in a small enough town, maybe they won
’
t have heard about us. Doubtful, but there’s a small chance, right? I sure hope so. It
’
d be nice to relax.

Kai drags Tanner over to what must be the only ATM in this tiny town. It
’
s old too, like, crazy old. It must be from the sixties. Were there even ATMs in the sixties?

He tells us all to stay back, hang out across the street. We watch as he takes Tanner over to the ATM and starts talking to him. We
’
re all clueless about what the boys are up to until the ATM starts smoking.

Smoking!

I didn
’
t even know it was possible for an ATM to emit smoke. What on Earth has Tanner done to this poor antique machine? Kai is yelling something I can
’
t make out.

It seems like whatever his plan was isn
’
t working, but then, they both walk across the street, grinning ear to ear. Kai is patting Tanner on the back, saying, “I told you, you got this.”

“What happened?” I ask, concerned.

“Tanner got us some cash,” he says, smirking slyly at me.

“Tanner?”

Tanner is beaming. When he meets Alice
’
s eyes, he blushes. What?

“I think my techno-fritz is finally going to pay off,” he says meekly.

He’s holding what appears to be the ATM
’s entire contents.
“How much money is that?”

“An ATM holds roughly $50,000. This one, probably less so, since it
’
s in a small town like this,” Kai says confidently.

“So, we have like $30,000?” Frederick asks, wide-eyed. His family isn
’
t poor or anything, but that
’
s still more money than he
’
s ever seen.

“We just robbed an ATM?” Melinda asks weakly, concerned about our records.

“Don
’
t worry,” Kai says. “I Shadowed him.”

“You can Shadow other people?” Chucky asks, round eyes wide.

“It
’
s harder,” Kai shrugs.

“What about fingerprints?” Alice asks blankly.

“We didn
’
t touch anything,” Tanner says.

“You got all of that money without actually touching anything? How?” I ask.

“I told you,” he says with a small grin. “I think my tech thing may actually be helpful.”

“You mean, when you fritzed the machine out, you got all of that?” Frederick says in awe.

Tanner shrugs, embarrassed. “Actually, when I fritzed it out, it started smoking, and I almost broke it. It wasn
’
t looking good, but Kai told me to focus really carefully on what I wanted. So, I just thought about the money coming out, and it worked!”

He looks so happy and proud. I don
’
t know if I
’
ve ever seen him look so pleased with himself. “Sweet,” I say, grinning back at him.

“Now what?” Alice asks flatly.

“Food!” Chucky practically roars. “I
’
m starving.”

“Okay,” we all laugh.