Knight Shift (8 page)

Ice’s whole body froze, realizing that their secret had been exposed.

Unaware of the danger a few feet away from her, Penny continued, “They chased me for a long stretch…boy can they run. I know they could have pinned me instantly, but they let me go until I couldn’t run any longer. When they finally cornered me, they shifted back to Human. I have to tell you, they’re both fine specimens of the male gender and I can confirm without a shadow of the doubt that they’re truly identical from the tip of their head to the bottoms of their feet.” Penny giggled. Remembering that her ghost was also male and she didn’t want him to be jealous, she quickly added, “But they can’t be as attractive as you were when you were alive. Somehow I know that you made every woman stop and stare.”

Ice took a step forward and said to himself, “
You’re right. They stared and then screamed in terror, which is what you’re about to do in a few seconds when you see the real Casper
.” He began to stretch to loosen his muscles as if preparing for battle. When he was standing directly beside the tub, he took in the view one last time. He sighed knowing what he must do, but he decided to make it quick. He couldn’t bear the thought of hearing her scream or cause her any unnecessary pain.

Penny, not knowing her life was measured in seconds, said, “The twins warned me about Ice.”

Ice paused at the mention of his name.

Penny continued, “He’s that guy that I told you about who brought the twins out west. Well, they warned me that he would rip my throat out if he found out that I know, so this has to be our little secret.”

He was about to prove her fears true.

Penny heaved a sigh and said, “I wish I could meet him so that I could tell him he has nothing to fear. I honestly love those two crazy Changelings and consider them my brothers. I would rip out my own throat before I would betray them or any of their family. Maybe if I offer to talk to Ice in a location of his choice, give myself up to him, and show him that I’m willing to do whatever it takes to protect their secret, he’ll find it in his heart to give me time to prove his trust in me.”

As Penny continued her plea into the night, Ice found his feet frozen in place. Listening to her talk so affectionately about the twins and her genuine excitement about learning of their true nature made him delay his plan. Although the insignificant Human was lying completed exposed and at his mercy, he knew how much her death would impact Taylor and Tadd. If he was totally honest, he would have put himself on that list as well.

In the end, he stepped back into his shadowed corner and decided to confront the guilty parties about them breaking the first rule of the magical world. Since the twin’s betrayal impacted more than just them, all of Sam and Susi’s family must be made aware of their secret being revealed. If, in the end, they as a group determined that she must die, he would carry out that order as he had done so many times before. Although he would kill her if necessary, this would be the first kill that he wouldn’t enjoy.

Ice stayed at Penny’s side until she finally went back to bed and fell into a deep sleep. While he watched her chest heave with every breath, his mind played out the various outcomes—all leading to one conclusion. Human and magical worlds can’t mix and Penny would inevitably die one way or another.

Ice spent the next day walking through the woods and continuing to argue with himself over how he wanted to approach the Penny issue. As the sun was going down, he finally returned to the house. As soon as Susi and Sam rose for the night, he called everyone together. Once they were assembled in the living room, Ice began to pace the floor with an expression that none of them could read. Never having seen him openly showing emotion, they waited silently until he began to speak.

Finally Ice stopped in front of the group, took in a deep breath, and announced, “A Human has found out our secret.”

Everyone, except the twins, jumped to their feet and asked, “Who?” “How?” and “When?”

Ice glared at the twins and asked, “Do the two of you have something you want to share with the rest of us?”

Taylor knew there was no point to lying so he asked, “How did you find out?”

Ice replied, “There isn’t anything that goes on within this group that I’m not aware of, so spill it all.”

Tadd said, “Our friend Penny saw us change when we were in the woods.”

“Who’s Penny?” Sam asked.

Tadd answered, “She’s the Assistant Manager over at Gone Wild… the outdoor store that we like. We met Penny a couple of months ago and…well…we’ve become friends. We’ve been spending a lot of time together. She likes to hike and, when she was out in the woods, she saw our hidden nature.”

Taylor took over the conversation by jumping up and saying, “I swear we had no idea she was there. We were way up near Brighten Gulch. Humans never hike that far into the woods.”

Ice replied, “I guess you underestimated your little explorer.”

Susi asked the twins, “What did you do after she saw you?”

Tadd said, “We initially were going to take her out as Ice has instructed, but we couldn’t. She’s like family to us.”

Taylor added, “When we approached her, she wasn’t even afraid. She promised to keep our secret and I believe her.”

The twins stared at Ice with an expression of fear and Tadd begged, “Please, she doesn’t need to die. She’ll keep her word or you can take our lives in punishment.”

Any other time, he would have laughed at their reaction to a mere Human, but he wasn’t in a position to talk. He had spent almost every night for many weeks watching her. Ice said, “The decision impacts us all so we’ll all have a say in how we move forward. And depending on the decision, I’ll carry out the sentence.”

Everyone was left speechless with Ice’s calm demeanor. They expected him to automatically decree her death or tell them after the deed was already done. He had never allowed a vote and had never shown mercy to a Human.

Seeing the reaction to a Human woman, Sam stood and said, “We all understand the potential dangers if we let this woman live, but I can’t make judgment on someone I’ve never met. Since she already knows our secret, bring her to the house so that we can meet her. Ben can use his mental gifts. We can let him read her thoughts to judge her honesty. Then we can decide her fate.” He turned to the twins and asked, “Do you think you could convince her to come?”

The twins barked out a laugh and Taylor replied, “I know that she’ll come more than willingly.”

Sam turned to Ice and said, “To ensure the location of our home is kept secret, the twins can blindfold her so that she won’t know where we live. Would that be acceptable to you?”

They were already so far over their heads Ice had no choice but to agree. He turned to the twins and commanded, “Make the arrangements.”

Taylor nodded and said, “We’ll talk to her after she gets off work tomorrow.”

Without saying another word, Ice walked away and disappeared into his room.

Susi saw Ben watching Ice with a very confused expression. She approached him and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Ben replied, “I’m not sure. The feelings I felt from Ice are confusing me.”

“What do you mean?”

“When Ice found me, his mind frightened me. It was so full of hate it was actually painful for me to be around him. Over the last few months I’ve noticed a gradual change. Several mornings when he arrived home I sensed that he was almost happy. Do you think I’m going crazy?”

Susi shook her head. “You aren’t crazy. I’ve also noticed a difference in him and then tonight he showed mercy to a Human. There’s much more going on that he isn’t telling us and I think this Penny is somehow a part of it. I’m now even more eager to meet her.”

Ben said, “If she is somehow connected to making this kind of change in someone like Ice, I can’t wait to meet her as well.”

*~*~*~*

After work the next day, Penny found the twins waiting for her at her car. She called, “Hey fur balls. I’m so glad to see you.”

Taylor asked, “Can we pick up a pizza for dinner and come over to your cabin tonight?”

“No nickname today?” she teased. When Taylor stared at her with an extremely serious expression, her smile faded and she replied, “Sure. You know my doors are always open to you. Is there something wrong?”

“We need to talk.”

“Okay.” Now that she knew their secret, she feared that they were planning to tell her that they couldn’t see her any more. She headed home and, shortly after she settled in, the twins walked in carrying a large pizza. As they sat down to eat, Penny fidgeted nervously and said, “I’m assuming this isn’t a social call so out with it. What’s wrong?”

Taylor’s shoulders slumped as he said, “Ice knows.”

Penny’s body stiffened. “How? I swear I haven’t talked to anyone unless you count my ghost Casper. I tell him everything…but he’s invisible and doesn’t have a mouth.”

Tadd rolled his eyes. “It wasn’t your imaginary friend. We should’ve known we couldn’t keep a secret from Ice.”

Taylor added, “He knows things. We’ve speculated that he has mind reading abilities like Ben, but none of know for sure and he isn’t about to share his secrets.”

Penny asked with concern growing on her face, “So what are we to do? You said he would kill me if he found out.”

Taylor said, “For some unknown reason, he’s letting us be a part of deciding your fate. The family wants you to come over to the house so that they can meet you before placing judgment.”

Penny jumped to her feet and said, “Let’s go right now. I’ll drive.”

Tadd said calmly in an attempt to curb Penny’s enthusiasm, “Slow down a little. We aren’t going tonight. When do you get your next day off?”

“I don’t work Sunday or Monday.”

Then how about we pick you up after work on Saturday.”

Penny replied excitedly, “I’ll pack a bag so that I can stay overnight.”

Taylor groaned at her fearlessness and said, “Let’s take this one step at a time. How about we focus on making it through Saturday evening?”

Penny sat back down and said, “Sorry, it’s just that I really want to meet your family and this Iceman. I think if I could talk to him, I could convince him that I’m not a threat.”

Tadd said, “The idea of you and him in the same room scares the shit out of me.”

Taylor added, “While there, please keep as far away from him as physically possible. I would even avoid making direct eye contact as well.”

To change the subject and lighten the mood, Tadd asked, “So your imaginary lover is back, huh?”

Penny exclaimed, “He isn’t my lover—he’s invisible! But he’s my friend and I missed him. His presence is so calming. I feel completely protected when he’s nearby.” Seeing the disbelief in their eyes, she said, “You change into an animal so you of all people should believe in the supernatural. Someday I’m going to find a way for Casper to communicate back to me. Then you’ll see that I’m not crazy.”

*~*~*~*

As planned, the twins borrowed a car from one of the members of their make-shift family and drove over to Penny’s cabin. After blindfolding her, they drove a little over an hour into the mountains to their home. As they turned off the winding road onto a gravel path, Taylor announced, “You can take your blindfold off. We just turned onto our property.

Penny watched out the window excitedly, waiting to see what Taylor and Tadd called home. After driving down a private dirt road that was at least ten miles long, they finally turned a corner to reveal a home built directly into a cliff face. Between the massive trees and the fact that the sun had gone down, the design was difficult for Penny to make out. The scene changed completely the moment they stepped into the house.

All nervousness for the evening’s events left Penny’s mind as she scanned her surroundings. She screeched, making everyone jump, and exclaimed, “This home… it’s astounding!” She forgot this was a life and death situation for her. Her fate was in the hands of those assembled, but she couldn’t stop herself. She wanted her sketchbook to capture the artistry of blending nature with modern living.

She scanned the room. Instead of simply building a normal home tucked into a mountain, their home was designed to directly incorporate the nature surrounding them. As she caressed the cool stone of the walls, she noticed that the structural part of the house was a beautiful mix of the dark native stone of the cliff with large supporting wooden beams so wide that Penny knew her arms would barely wrap half way around them. If the modern furniture was removed, the effect would have made her wonder if she was still in the forest outside.

When she looked up, she found a ceiling of stone several stories tall. Straight ahead was a nature-made spiral staircase that led up to an outcropping of stone that served as a balcony. This ledge connected to the ground floor by a massive flowstone. She speculated to herself that there must have once been a waterfall that flowed down this mountain at that very spot.

Resting on top of the ledge was a catacomb of cave-like archways leading to several other rooms. She loved that the openings were not all at the same height. It was as if they worked with what nature had already provided. She snapped her head to Taylor and asked, “The rooms upstairs… they were made from the existing cave system?”

Although Taylor never really thought about it, he shrugged and said, “I guess so. Tadd and I have bedrooms up there and there are also several guest rooms.”

“How did you find this place? Did you build it? Is this all natural cave or did you have to excavate?”

Tadd interrupted her to stop her non-stop barrage of questions and said, “Penny, take a breath before you pass out. We brought you here to meet the family.”

Penny’s eyes finally focused on the group assembled in front of her, who were waiting patiently. She gasped and said, “I’m so sorry. It’s just if I were to dream my perfect home, this would be it.”

Sam stepped forward and said, “I’m glad you like it.” He cleared his throat and said, “Hello Penny. My name is—”

Penny’s excitement at meeting so many Changelings got the best of her. Before he could finish his introduction, Penny blurted out, “You must be Sam.”

Sam smiled at her enthusiasm and nodded. When she caught sight of his set of fangs, her mind instantly focused on the real reason for her visit. Although he kept a gap between them so that Penny had a moment to adjust to his pale white skin and less than Human appearance, she closed the gap and held out her hand.

After a moment’s pause, Sam wrapped his hand around her small fingers.

As she gave his hand a tight squeeze, she said, “I’m honored to meet you. I’m Penny.”

Tadd whacked his twin in the shoulder hard and said, “I told you she wouldn’t be afraid.”

Sam led Penny forward to introduce his adopted family, but Penny interrupted him again by saying, “Let me see if I can guess who’s who. The twins speak so highly of all of you, I feel like I know you already.”

She looked at the woman with features similar to Sam’s and said, “You must be Susi.” She then caught the smile of a man that looked around eighteen and said, “You must be the newest addition, Ben.” When he nodded, she scanned the room and asked, “Where’s Chad?”

Tadd answered, “He’s around here somewhere, chasing something. You’ll meet him later.”

Penny’s gaze shifted to the last person in the room who was leaning against a wall. She was shocked to find that she recognized him. When her eyes locked on the man, her body involuntarily shuddered. Even with the distance between them, she could feel his strength and commanding presence. She announced, “You’re Ice, the one that rescues Changelings in distress.” Although she was initially intimidated by his physical size and striking face tattoo, his eyes called to her and she found him quite intriguing. She was dying to touch him and see if his skin was as cold to the touch as the twins said. She quickly regrouped her thoughts and said, “I don’t know if you remember me, but we’ve actually met. You came into the store several months ago and looked at climbing shoes.”

The twins stiffened, knowing the only reason Ice would have been in the store was to scope out his potential prey.

Knowing Ice was the one allowing the group to decide her fate, she said to him, “Thank you for allowing me to come here tonight and talk to all of you, and I’m sorry for interrupting your lives.” Forcing herself to break eye contact with Ice, she scanned the group and said, “Just tell me what I must do to prove to you that I mean you no harm. I know that Humans have treated your kind terribly, but I’m not like that. Instead of embracing you as our future, they cling to their fears and ignorance. It makes them do stupid things. We could learn so much from you.”