Shift (The Neturu Chronicles) (74 page)

               
“If I were so lucky,” the girl murmurs, pulling the bag off the pole. 
“You will see the light soon, Miss.”

               
“There’ll be no light at the end of this tunnel,” Kayla retorts, crossing her
arms.

               
“Mmmm,” the girl hums as she starts to walk to the door.

               
“How did you meet William?” Kayla asks curiously.

               
The girl turns around.  “He rescued my sister and me off the
streets.  We would be dead without him.”

               
Kayla frowns. “Well, that’s a nice thing.”

               
There is a moment of hesitation and then the girl says, “Yes.”

               
“What’s your name?” Kayla asks.

               
“Trin,” the girl answers.

               
“Trin, I’m Kayla.  Hopefully I get you from now on and not that big guy
that usually comes in here.”

               
Trin quietly giggles.  “That’s Patrick.  He’s William’s sidekick, so
to speak.”

               
“Well, you are much nicer,” Kayla replies.

               
“Is there anything I can get you?” Trin inquires.

               
“Food,” Kayla says.

               
Trin shakes her head.  “That I cannot do until tomorrow.”

               
Kayla screams. “William is a douche bag.”

               
The girl’s eyes widen.  “Miss…”

               
“Sorry,” Kayla mumbles, crossing her arms.  “You can go.”  Trin nods
her head and leaves.

               
The rest of the night is uneventful.  Kayla watches the news, and she’s on
it again.  Her eyes tear up when her family comes onto the TV.  When
Tracy, Jackson, and Damien appear, she scrambles to the TV and puts her hand on
it.  They talk about her and how important she is to them, which sends
Kayla into hysterical tears.

               
She cries for the rest of night.  Sleeping is nearly impossible, so she
sits up in bed.  Suddenly, a thought pops into her head.  Closing her
eyes, she quickly goes to Shima.

               
When she gets there, she turns in circles.  “Damien!  Jackson! 
Anyone!  Please help!”  Nothing but silence responds. 
“Jackson!  Please!  Where are you?”

               
Instantly, William is standing next to her.  “You’re a silly girl. 
Do you think that I don’t have people monitoring you?”

               
“Damien is strong enough to get through to me,” Kayla yells.  “DAMIEN!”

               
William just laughs.  “You think he’s powerful, but he’s not. He’s nothing
compared to me, and you’re not strong enough to block me out yet.  You may
as well give up.”

               
Kayla crumbles to the ground and starts to cry.  “I want to go home,
please,” she whimpers.

               
“Your resolve is starting to slip.  Poor Kayla.  You will side with
me sooner than you think.”

               
She sits on her knees and cries.  Kayla eventually lets her energy go and
she’s back in her body.  Grabbing the blankets, she pulls them over her
head and tries to go back to sleep.

               
The next day, she doesn’t even get out of bed.  Trin comes in with food,
but Kayla doesn’t touch it.  William comes in towards the end of the day
and demands that she eat something.  Annoyed, Kayla gets up and does as he
asks, but immediately goes back to bed afterwards.

               
This goes on for a week.  Finally, William comes in and says, “You are
taking a bath right now!  Even if I have to make you do it myself. 
This is disgusting.”

               
“No,” Kayla mumbles, pulling the blanket over her head.

               
He yanks it away and grabs her wrist.  “Come on.”  William starts to
pull her to the bathroom.

               
“Wait, wait!” Kayla exclaims.  “I’ll do it.  Just let me do it
myself, you sick pervert.”

               
“Then get in there and take a shower.  Put on a fresh pair of
clothes.  You’re eating with me tonight!”

               
Crossing her arms, Kayla mumbles, “I’ll get cleaned up.”

               
“Good,” William snaps.  “I’ll be back in half an hour.”  He turns and
leaves the room.  Kayla flips him off as he goes.

               
The shower feels good, but she cries most of the time.  She drags herself
out of the shower and dresses. When a soft knock sounds on the door a while
later, Kayla is sitting on the bed. Without waiting for an invitation, someone
opens the door.  Trin comes in.  “Master William wants you to come to
the dining room.”

               
“Whatever,” Kayla exhales.

               
She follows Trin to the dining room.  When they get there, Kayla sees two
boxes sitting on the table.  “All your stuff came,” William states. 
“We will take it to your room later.”

               
“Can I send a message to my parents?  To let them know I’m okay.”

               
“Actually, since you have been so melancholy, I will show you the messages they
sent back.”

               
Kayla darts over to him. “Messages?  How did they get me messages?”

               
“They sent them to the email address I used to send your messages to
them.  We made sure they couldn’t track them back, and I retrieved them
for you.”

               
“Can I see them?  Please, I want to see them now?”

               
William points at her chair. “Sit down and eat first.”  Kayla complies and
starts scarfing down food.  “Slow down, you’re going to make yourself
sick.”

               
Glaring at him, Kayla slows her bites and takes her time.  An eternity
later, they finish eating.  “Now?  Can I see them now?”

               
He wipes his mouth.  “Yes, come on.”  Kayla is quick to follow him
into his office.  “Sit down,” he instructs.  Kayla obeys. 
William bends over and clicks on a few things on his computer.  “Which one
do you want to see first?”

               
“My parents.”

               
Her mom and dad appear on the screen.  Her mom is crying, but her dad
says, “I hope this gets to you, sweetie.  We got your videos.  It
seems as though you’re unharmed, but we don’t know what to believe.  Our
people are doing everything in their power to find you.  Please, just stay
strong.  We will find you soon.  Then you can come home.  We all
miss you so much.  Just stay strong.  Don’t let him break you. 
Do what you need to stay alive.  We love you, my precious baby girl. 
We are thinking of you every second of every day.  Remember that.  We
will see you soon, honey.”

               
Her mom looks up at the camera. “I love you, Kayla!  I want you home,
sweetie.  Stay strong.”  Her dad hugs her mom and then the video
ends.

               
Kayla didn’t even realize she’d started crying.  William hands her a box
of tissues again.  She yanks it from him.  “Do you want to see
Damien’s now?”  Kayla nods.

               
When Damien comes onto the screen, he looks horrible.  “Kayla, babe, I’m
so sorry.  This is entirely my fault.  I told you that you were safe,
and I let you slip through our fingers.  I can’t even come close to
telling you how sorry I am.  I love you, babe, and nothing matters right
now, except finding you.  We plan to increase the reward.  Someone,
somewhere has to know something.  As soon as we find you, I will kill
William.  I’ll do it personally, I promise.  I only hope that you’re
okay.  We will find you soon, babe.  I promise.  Just stay
strong.   Please, just stay strong.”  With that, Damien puts his
head between his knees and the video cuts out.  Kayla cries even more.

               
“All right, one more video,” William declares.  “This is from
Jackson.  I’ve watched it a few times.  You guys have the weirdest
friendship.  I don’t understand the point of bringing up cute stories
about you two.  Makes me nauseas.”

               
“Cute stories?”

               
“Something about being ticklish, I don’t know.  He’s a moron, just like
Damien.  Here, watch the video.”

               
Jackson appears on the screen.  He smiles. “Hey, I hope you’re okay. 
Damien and I are working together and doing everything we can to find
you.  Yes, we’re working together and getting along.  We finally have
something to agree on.  I hope that makes you happy at least for a
second.  I only want to say that I care about you, sweetie.  I just
want you home.  I’m taking care of Tracy.  I understand about
protecting her from herself.  I have been staying with her, keeping her in
check and out of trouble.  I’m just holding onto our last memories. 
What you said to me in the bathroom…” He pauses and then continues, “And me
finding out how ticklish you are on your thigh, right by that birthmark. 
I just can’t stop thinking about it.  I miss you.” 

               
Jackson’s clue is like a ton of bricks hitting Kayla all at once.  She is
screaming,
“
THE TRACKING
DEVICE,
”
in her
head.  Trying to act coy, she continues to watch the video.

               
“What a stupid thing to bring up.” William snorts.  “You’re being held
captive and he’s talking about freckles.”

               
“It’s a joke between us,” Kayla retorts sharply.  “We’re both ticklish
there.  He probably wanted to put a smile on my face, and by him saying
that, he succeeded.  He’s my friend.”

               
Jackson continues, “I hope to see you after you get this video.  We are
going to
track
it to get to you.  Keep that in mind when you go to
sleep tonight.”

               
“I will,” Kayla exhales.

               
“See you soon, babe,” Jackson declares with a little pep in his voice.  He
kisses his fingers and holds them out.  “Since we were so rudely
interrupted in your video.”

               
Kayla kisses her fingers and puts them on the computer screen.  William
groans. “Oh, that is ridiculous.”

               
When the video disappears, Kayla smiles.  “I’m so happy to hear from
them.”

               
“You were crying a few seconds ago and now you’re happy?” William retorts.

               
“Yeah, I’m loved and I know it.  Can you say the same?  I bet not.”

               
William stares down at her and narrows his eyes.  “You will love me, you
just wait.”

               
“No, you just wait and keep on waiting because it’ll never happen. 
Anyway, I want to go take a bath in that awesome bathtub.”

               
“You need your next dose of Kiej soon.  Take a bath and we’ll put a new IV
in.  That’s fine.”

               
“Will you answer me an honest question?” Kayla inquires.  William
nods.  “Are there cameras in the bathroom?”

               
With a disgusted look, William says, “No, I’d never let anyone see you
naked.  No, there are no cameras in there.”

               
“Good to know, that’d be awkward.”

               
“Unless you want me to watch,” William murmurs, stepping closer to her. 
“In that case, I’ll just come into the bathroom with you.”

               
“I would kick you between the legs if you did that.”

               
A smirk passes over William’s face.  “One day you will beg me.”

               
“One day I’ll kill you.”

               
“Go, take a bath,” William says. She walks out of the room and he follows
her.  When she gets back to her room, William says, “Enjoy your bath.”

               
“I will, don’t you worry.”

               
William shuts the door.  Kayla casually takes her clothes off, and strips
down to her underwear.  She needs to make it as believable as
possible.  Slowly, she makes her way into the bathroom and shuts the
door.  As soon it’s closed, she frantically turns on the water.  As
it runs, Kayla sits on the edge of the tub and starts looking around her
leg.  She has to bend over, but she finds the birthmark.  Kayla presses
down on it and counts.  Sixty seconds seems to take forever, but she holds
on for an additional minute.  Finally, she let’s go.  “Please be
looking for it,” she whispers.

               
The water runs and she sits on the edge of the tub, not knowing what to do. The
bathroom door suddenly flies open and William stands in the doorway. 
“WHERE IS IT?” he screams.

               
“Don’t you wish you knew,” Kayla retorts smugly.

               
He brings his hand back and strikes her across the face.  Kayla falls to
the ground, hitting her head on the tile.  When she rolls over, she sees
William pointing a gun at her.  As soon as the dart hits her, unconscious
welcomes her.

               
Kayla is startled by another slap to the face.  “Wake up!”

               
Kayla groggily opens her eyes.  William is standing over her.  “Ow,
that hurt, you ass!”

               
“I don’t care.  Where’s the tracking device?” he yells.

               
“Don’t have a clue,” Kayla replies, rolling over onto her knees.  William
kicks her square in the side, which forces her back over. 

               
“Tell me now or I’ll kill Tracy!”

               
Kayla clutches her side and glares up at him.  “Good luck with that. 
I’m not telling you where it is.”

               
William holds up a scalpel.  “You either tell me where it is, or I start
cutting you up.”

               
“Go ahead, I would rather bleed to death than stay here with you.”  She
looks around to see where they are and realizes they’re on a plane.

               
“I can make that happen.”

               
Turning to William, Kayla spits out, “I dare you.”

               
He reaches down and slaps her across the face again.  Kayla screams
out.  William drops to his knees, towering over her.  He brings the
scalpel up to her neck.  “Want me to call your bluff?” he hisses. 

The point of the scalpel
enters Kayla’s skin.  She screams again. 

“Tell me where it is,” he
snarls.

               
“In my leg,” she breathes out.  “It’s in my leg.”

               
William lets out a roar.  “That tickling thing was a message!”

               
“You aren’t very bright,” Kayla growls in return.

               
“Hold her down,” William demands his security guard. The guy comes over and
pins Kayla’s upper body down.  William scoots down on her legs. 
Kayla tries to clench them close, but he pries them open.  “Get off of me,
you creep.”

               
“This is going to hurt a little,” William snickers.  “Now, where is
it?”  He starts to trace the scalpel down her leg.  “Ah, wait, I bet
this is it.  Let’s find out.”  He cuts her skin.  Kayla screams
at the top of her lungs.  “Oh yes, what do we have here?  This would
definitely be a tracking device.”

               
Kayla is in so much pain, she can’t even think straight.  “Please, it
hurts,” she whimpers.

               
“Oh,” William says.  “I forgot about this, silly me.”  He holds up a
syringe.  He places it in Kayla’s skin around the cut and shoots a liquid
inside.  Instantly, the pain starts to subside. “Can’t have my wife in
pain.  Dress up her wound, while I destroy this.”  William gets up
and leaves.

               
Trin suddenly appears next to them with a tray of medical items.  “You
shouldn’t have done that,” Trin says.  “This is going to hurt.”

               
“It hurts already, you idiot,” Kayla growls.  She screams as Trin cleans
her wound.

               
A few minutes later, William walks back in and looks at Patrick, his
sidekick.  “It has been properly destroyed.”  Moving his gaze back to
Kayla, he says, “We will be landing momentarily.  Then we’re driving from
there.  They’ll never find you now.  You’re a stupid, stupid
girl.  You will pay for this.”

               
“Like cutting me with no painkillers isn’t bad enough?” Kayla shouts. 
“You had to have known I would try something!”

               
“But not something so risky,” William retorts.  “I’m surprised.  I
never would have guessed there was a tracking chip in you.  You caught me
by surprise, but that won’t happen again.”

               
“They will find you now,” Kayla spits out.  “They will find you and kill
you!”

               
William squats down next to her.  “They won’t be able to get close enough
to me to kill anyone.”

               
“Don’t be so sure about that.”

               
“Then you’re taking a stupid bet,” William snidely remarks.  He looks down
at her leg.  “You’re still bleeding.”

               
Kayla grimaces. “Maybe you should just let me die.”

               
“No, of course not, we’re going to be married.  A dead woman can’t have my
babies.  Trin, apply pressure to that, you stupid girl.”

               
Trin nods and walks over by Kayla.  She takes more gauze and holds it
against the cut.  “If you hold still, Miss, it’ll stop bleeding faster.”

               
“Screw you.”

               
“Watch how you talk to the help,” William chastises condescendingly.

               
“Do any of you realize how much money you will get if you turn him in?  I
can double what they’re offering,” Kayla exclaims.

               
William steps over her. “You really are Damien’s girlfriend.  No one would
have the audacity to say what the Merjyet line would or wouldn’t do.”

               
“He loves me and would do anything to have me back,” Kayla snarls.  “Which
means he’ll kill you in the end, and he’ll probably make it quite painful.”

               
“You think I am afraid of Damien?  I’m not, not even close.”

               
Kayla moves and is unable to hold back a scream as pain shoots through her.

“Hold still, Miss,” Trin
urges.

               
“Shut up, you witch.”

               
“Just shift,” William sighs.  “Enough of the Kiej is out of you.  I
can’t give you anymore right this moment.  Just know that we can shoot you
faster than you can get to me.”

               
Kayla moves her leg. “I thought that was just if you got hurt while shifting.”

               
“No, for a laceration like that, shifting will help you heal.”

               
“Laceration?  You left a gaping hole in my leg!”

               
“Technicalities,
”
William
waves her comment aside.
“
Just
shift.”  With a groan, Kayla closes her eyes and changes.  She shakes
her head as she sits up on her haunches.  The security guard and William
both hold up guns against her.  “A lioness! That is what you chose? 
I will shoot you where you stand.”

               
Kayla quickly shifts back.  “I just pick random things.  I don’t give
it much thought.”

               
“Look at your leg,” William instructs.

               
She stands up and looks down.  “It’s healed,” she confirms.  Crossing
her arms, Kayla asks, “Can I have some clothes, or is this a free underwear
modeling show for everyone?”

               
“We didn’t have time to grab you clothes,” William retorts sharply.  “You
can wear a dress shirt that I have in here.”

               
“Ewww, gross, I don’t want to touch anything of yours.”

               
“I bet you like wearing Damien’s things.”

               
Kayla laughs. “Yeah, because it’s been on his killer body.  I don’t want
anything to do with your body.”

               
“Then deal with being nearly naked.”

               
“Whatever, give me a dress
shirt.
”

               
William smirks and walks over to a closet.  “We will be landing in about
ten minutes, so you can sit in a chair until then.”  He tosses her a shirt
and she puts it on.

               
“I liked it better when she was in her underwear,” Alexander whispers.

               
William decks him in the face.  “You don’t say a word about her.”

               
Alexander rubs his chin. “Yes, sir.”

               
“He can admire me in my underwear if he wants.  I’d rather him gawk than
you.”

               
“No man will see my wife naked,” William growls.

               
“So I can’t post naughty pictures of myself on the Internet?”

               
He points his finger at her.  “Stop it.”

               
“Whatever,” Kayla sighs as she sits down.  William sits opposite
her.  “How long have we been flying?”

               
“I’m not going to tell you,” William declares.  “I don’t need you to know
where you are, and there’ll never be a message sent to your family again.”

               
Getting up, Kayla yells, “I didn’t say anything.  Jackson did.  My
parents need to know that I’m okay.”

               
“You should have thought of that before you activated your tracking device.”

               
She flops back down in her chair.  “You’re a piece of work.  What
happened to not hurting me, anyway?  You sure hit me like you mean it.”

               
“I’m sorry for that, but you deserved it.  You should’ve known there would
be a punishment for your behavior.”

               
“Did your dad hit your mom?  Is that where you got it from?”

               
William narrows his eyes.  “My father would never strike my mother. 
He loved her too much.”

               
“So you’re just sadistic on your own then.”

               
“I am not sadistic.  I’m just determined to get what I want.”

               
“I get to look forward to a life of being beaten. Wonderful,” Kayla mutters.

               
William leans forward. “You won’t have to worry about that again because you
don’t have anymore tricks up your sleeve.”

               
“I’ll kill you if given the chance,” Kayla states with a huge smile.

               
“Good thing you won’t get a chance then.  You will be a good little wife.”

               
Kayla raises an eyebrow. “I don’t cook or bake, and you can pick up after
yourself, because I won’t do it.  Plus, I will never sleep with you, so
again, have fun with your hand.”

               
He taps his fingers together.  “I would love to be able to court you appropriately. 
I think you would like me more.”

               
“You aren’t even my type,” Kayla yells.  “Damien. Jackson. They are the
type of guys I go for—super-hot, super intelligent.”

               
“I am intelligent,” William counters.  “Obviously I am, if I’m pulling
this off.”

               
Kayla glares at him.  “You’ll fail.  I promise you that.”

               
A smirk passes over William’s face.  “You silly girl, you have no idea
what you’re in for.”

               
“Yeah I do, a loveless, unhappy life.”

               
“Mmmm,” William hums.  “You’ll see the light.”

               
“Whatever,” Kayla says, staring out the window.  “There isn’t going to be
any light.  I can guarantee that.”

               
William rolls his eyes, but doesn’t say anything else.  The pilot
announces their descent a minute later.  “I’m going to blindfold you.”

               
“Why?  I’m not going to be communicating with anyone.  You’ll shoot
me and knock me out if I try to run.  Blindfolding me is pointless.”

               
“I thought maybe you would like to be blindfolded,” William purrs, coming over
to her.  “One day you’ll let me do this for fun.”  He takes a cloth
and ties it over her eyes.  “There you go, my dear.”

               
Kayla gives him the finger.  “Don’t call me dear.  You can only call
me Kayla.”

               
“I’ll come up with some little pet name for you one of these days.” William
sighs.  “And you’ll like it.”

               
Annoyed, Kayla just shakes her head.  “I’ll cringe every time you say it.” 
The pressure in the cabin changes and her ears pop. 

“We’ll be on the ground
momentarily.  I’ll have Patrick carry you.”

               
“Take the blindfold off and I can walk.”

               
“Nope, sorry.”

               
From the overhead speaker they hear, “Master William, we have an aircraft
approaching to the right of us.”

               
“What?” William’s face fills with rage as he pulls his arm back and slaps Kayla
across the face. “This is your fault.  People will die now, and I can
guarantee it won’t be my crew.”

               
“No, please. Don’t hurt anyone!”

               
“Too late, darling.” William laughs.  “I will show you how far I’ll go to
make you my wife.”

               
Kayla reaches out blindly, her fingers clutching at him, her family’s safety
her only concern. “I will marry you!  I swear I’ll marry you.”

               
“You’re just saying that,” William growls.  “Nothing you do will stop me
from taking down the guards.”

               
Kayla whips off the blindfold.  She leans over to William.  “I’m
telling you the truth.  I will marry you.  Just don’t hurt anyone.”

               
William narrows his eyes.  “I don’t believe you.”