Shift (The Neturu Chronicles) (20 page)

               
Kayla rolls her eyes. “Funny.”

               
“No, I'm dead serious.  It’s their fault that you had to endure that
hell.  They can clean my car,” Jackson states, opening the back door for
her.  “I don’t think you want to sit in the front seat.”

               
“Let me think about that…
no
.”  She climbs into the backseat and
Jackson shuts the door.  Kayla leans her head against the cool glass.

               
When Jackson gets in, he looks down to the center console where his cell phone
sits.  “I didn’t lose it.  I have thirty missed calls.”  He
looks at it.  “Four are from Tracy.  Six are from Damien.  Ten
are from my parents and the last twenty have to be from your parents.”

               
Reaching down for her purse, Kayla brings out her phone.  “Hey, I got you
beat, I have fifty.”

               
Jackson presses a number on his phone and holds it up to his ear.  “Hey,
Dad, we’re on our way back.  What?  Really? What do you think happened? 
No, we went for a walk, had some ice cream…KAYLA SHIFTED!  Don’t give me
that.  Damien and I kept saying this was going to happen.  No one
listened to us, because we’re just kids and have no idea what we're talking
about!”  There is a pause.  “Whatever,
Father
, I’m hanging up
now.”  He hits end and growls.

               
“Your dad is mad?” Kayla asks quietly.

               
“No, not really. I am, though,” Jackson spits out as he starts the car. He hits
the gas pedal and speeds off down the road.  “Since we got here and I
found out you didn’t know anything about where we come from, I warned
them.  You were at the age where it really couldn’t be stopped, but nooo,
no one listened to me.  I told them the Kiej wouldn’t totally suppress it,
but, obviously, I don’t know anything.”

               
Kayla laughs as they turn a corner and she is thrown to the side. “Don’t you
think I should be the one who’s angry?”

               
“Aren’t you? You just found out you’re a shapeshifter!”

               
“I still think I’m dreaming.  I’m waiting for you to take your clothes
off, because then that would be a
good
dream.”

               
Her reaction breaks Jackson’s bad mood.  “A good dream for you is me being
naked?”

               
“I didn’t say naked.  You could take your shirt off.  That would be
nice.”

               
“Make you a deal.  I’ll take mine off, if you take yours off.”

               
“
No
!” she exclaims back.  “This is
my
dream.”  Before
she can say anything else, her phone rings.  It says it’s her mom. 
Answering it, she says, “Hey, Mom!  Guess what?  I changed myself
into a dog.”

               
Her mom responds with a moment of silence before cautiously proceeding. “That’s
what you have to say?  No screaming, no yelling, just hey, I turned into a
dog?”

               
“Do you want me to scream?  Anyway, as I keep telling Jackson, this is a
really messed up dream, so I don’t really care.”

               
“Kayla, honey, I think you’re in shock.  This isn’t a dream.  You
really did shift.”

               
The smile on Kayla’s face disappears when reality sets in.  “This isn’t a
dream.”

               
“No, honey.” Her mom sighs.  “I am so sorry.”

               
Kayla drops the phone to the floor.  “Oh my…” And with those words, she
passes out.

               
Later she hears, “Kayla, come on, wake up.”

               
“She may not wake up,” she hears another voice say.

               
Kayla finally makes out Damien’s voice.  “You guys are ridiculous. 
Let her sleep.”

               
“We need to make sure she’s okay,” her mom snaps.  “The first shift is the
hardest.”

               
“Like we
don’t
know that,” Damien retorts.

               
“Damien, watch your mouth,” Jackson’s dad yells.

               
“Don’t tell me what to do!” Damien growls.

               
She feels a cool washcloth brush across her forehead.  Finally able to
speak, she mumbles, “Will you all shut up?”

               
“Oh good, oh honey, how do you feel?” her mom asks.

               
Opening one eye, Kayla says, “Horrible.  I had the most messed up dream.”

               
Her mom sighs loudly.  “Kayla, I’m sorry, but it wasn’t a dream.”

               
“Yeah, honey,” her dad interjects.  “You shifted.”

               
“Oh please, don’t say that,” Kayla groans, rolling over.  She falls off
the couch and lands on her knees. “Ow.”

               
She feels two hands on her sides, and she is lifted into the air.  Turning
around, she finds Jackson there.  “Hey, you doing okay?” he asks.

               
“No, you all suck,” Kayla grumbles.  She looks down at her outfit. 
“Wow, I really need to change.  I look like a prostitute who was digging
through a dumpster.”

               
“I’ll get you some clothes,” Jackson’s mom says.

               
Her dad comes up next to her. “Honey, we have a lot to explain.”

               
“Oh really?” Kayla replies sarcastically.  “I shape-shift into a dog in
the middle of the woods after profusely vomiting all over my new friend's car,
and then I'm told I'm a member of an alien race.  I'm pretty sure I've got
it covered, thanks, though.”

               
“Kayla,” Jackson whispers. “Come on.  Give them a break.”

               
She turns to him.  “Traitor.  You were just as mad when we were in
the woods!”

               
“I’m furious,” Damien interjects with attitude.

               
“Thank you!” Kayla exclaims.  “I hear that you were pushing for me to
know.”

               
Damien nods. “Yes, that’s partially why I’m here.  The council sent me.”

               
“The council?” Kayla asks, confused.

               
“Why don’t you sit down,” her mom says.  “Let us explain a few things.”

               
Crossing her arms, Kayla snidely retorts, “No.  I want to change my
clothes and tell everyone to—”

               
“Kayla Marie!” her dad yells.

               
“Whatever,” Kayla mumbles, flopping down on the couch.  She tries to pull
her skirt down, but since it
’
s
ripped, she ends up showing a lot of leg.  Everyone stands around her,
staring at her.  “Well, are any of you going to talk?”

               
Her mom sits down next to her.  “Okay, well, to start, you aren’t human.”

               
“No, really?”

               
“We are an alien race from a dying planet.”

               
Blinking her eyes, Kayla says, “Hmmm…dying planet.  I see.  So we
came to take over Earth?  We’re kind of doing a crappy job.”

               
“No, we came here to live.  We actually use our knowledge to help the
human race.”

               
“Oh, good for us then.  So, like, everyone can shape-shift?”

               
Her father nods. “Yes, honey.”

               
“How many of us are there?”

               
Damien answers, “Roughly, a few hundred thousand.”

               
“What can I shift into?” Kayla asks.

               
Everyone exchanges looks before Jackson’s dad finally says, “Most of our race
is limited on what they can shift into.  It really varies, but some people
can only shift into ten things, others twenty.  Some can only shift into
mammals.  Some can shift into sea animals but no land animals.  It
depends on the bloodline.”

               
“Okay,” Kayla exhales.  “How do I know what I can do?”

               
“Well,” her mom says gently, “you are a little different.”

               
Slumping down, Kayla says, “I’m even weirder?  What else is wrong with
me?”

               
“There is nothing wrong with you.  It’s the exact opposite.  With
your bloodline, you can shift into anything,” her dad declares.

               
Kayla raises an eyebrow. “Why can I shift into anything?”

               
“Because you are the first girl born to the bloodline in a while, and the great
thing is you will pass the trait onto your children,” her dad declares happily.

               
“That’s
if
I marry one of our kind,” Kayla retorts. “Right?”

               
The whole room gets eerily quiet.  “Why would you marry a human?” Damien
stutters in disgust.

               
“What if I fell in love with a human?”

               
“You couldn’t have children with them,” her mom replies.  “And if you
marry a human, they could never find out.  It could be disastrous.”

               
“What happens if they find out?  They could probably keep a secret,
especially if they love me.”

               
Damien clears his throat.  “If you marry a human and he finds out, the
council steps in.  They would erase his memory entirely from the moment he
met you.  It would be a permanent case of amnesia.  He wouldn’t
remember you at all.”

               
Her jaw drops.  “That is awful!  What is the council?  They
sound horrible.”

               
“The council is the governing body of our people.” Jackson sighs.  “I
would give you the titles in our language, but they would be hard for you to
pronounce.  Let’s say, there is kind of a…king, so to speak. 
Underneath him, there are four overseeing families.  The overseers help
the king decide things.  The five families, including the king and his
immediate family, all get a vote, but in the end, the king has final say.”

               
“So…this council rules our people,” Kayla inquires, a little perplexed.

               
Jackson nods. “Yes.”

               
“And who is the king?”

               
Everyone turns and looks at Damien.  Damien takes a deep breath and
states, “My father.”

               
Kayla’s eyebrows go up.  “
Your
father is the king!”

               
“Yes,” Damien replies.

               
“So you’re a prince?”

               
With a smirk, Damien says, “Technically, yes, I am.  We don’t use those
terms, but in essence that is my title.  I am a representative of the
council.”

               
“So the council sent you here to see me because my parents were hiding this
from me?”

               
“Yes.”

               
Giggling, Kayla exhales. “I was going to go on a date with a prince of an alien
species.  Holy…yeah…my life is messed up.”

               
“I promise next time we go on a date, it won’t end in total chaos.”

               
Nodding, Kayla sighs. “That would be nice.”

               
Jackson’s mom reappears in the room.  “Here, I brought you some
comfortable clothes.  Why don’t you change?”

               
“Thanks,” Kayla grumbles as she stands up.  “My clothes are ruined.”

               
“Yes, well, I didn’t want to ask, but my curiosity is peaked.  Why are
your clothes all ripped?” Damien asks.  “When we shift, our clothes shift
with us.”

               
Kayla looks down.  “Jackson did it.”

               
Everyone is quiet, and Damien turns his gaze to his cousin.  “You did
what?”

               
“Not like that!” Jackson exclaims.  “She lost her shoes and I had to carry
her.  She couldn’t jump on my back with her skirt on, so I ripped it.”

               
“Is that all that happened?” Damien inquires slowly.

               
A blush sweeps over Kayla’s face.  Jackson looks at her and says, “Yes,
that was it, nothing else happened.”

               
“Im going to get changed.” Kayla groans as she stands up.  “Excuse
me.”  She brushes past everyone and goes to the bathroom. She shuts the
door and exhales loudly.  “I’m dreaming.   I have to be
dreaming.  This is insane.”  Kayla shakes her head and
undresses.  She throws everything in the garbage because there is no hope
to save it.

               
When she finally makes it back into the living room, Kayla finds everyone
staring at Damien.  He is on the phone.  “Father, that isn’t
necessary.  She's fine.”

               
Looking at her mom, Kayla sees that she is wringing her hands with a worried
look on her face.  Kayla asks, “What’s going on?”

               
Damien groans. “Really, I’m representing the council.  I can take care of
this.  Those actions aren’t necessary.”  He pauses and then rubs his
forehead.  “All right, I will send them in the morning.  I am not
happy about this.  Well, you should care.  You should care about what
Kayla thinks.  Whatever, Father, I’ll talk to you later.  Bye.” 
Damien hangs up the phone and stares down at the carpet. “You’re being called
before the council,” he mumbles.  Kayla’s mom gasps.  Damien looks at
her.  “I tried to convince him otherwise, but I only have so much pull.”