Shift (The Neturu Chronicles) (33 page)

               
“Obviously.” She sighs.  “Where’s Jackson?”

               
“Not here,” Damien snips.  “Although I think if it were Jackson you found
wrapped around Kayla, you would’ve had no problem with it.”

               
Kayla smacks him hard and hisses, “Shut up, Damien!”

               
Mrs. Blakely sighs again and rubs her temples.  “I don’t think it’s
appropriate for anyone to be making out in the Jacuzzi.”

               
“Then we’ll go to my room,” Damien says with a grin.

               
“Damien,” Kayla exclaims.  “Stop.”

               
He pulls away from Kayla to sit next to her.  “There, no more touching,
happy?”

               
“Why don’t you guys get out of there?” Jackson’s mom suggests. 

               
“Yeah, Jackson will be back with our food soon,” Kayla murmurs to Damien. 
“Come on.”  She climbs out of the Jacuzzi and walks over to get a
towel.  “I really am sorry, Mrs. Blakely.  This is embarrassing.”

               
She gives Kayla a look.  “I don’t think your parents would be too happy
about this.”

               
“We weren’t having sex or anything, and I wasn’t planning on it,” Kayla mutters
quietly.

               
“Things are different with us, Kayla.  You should talk to your parents
about it.”

               
Looking at Jackson’s mom, Kayla whispers, “Why?  So they can tell me that
I should be with Jackson, just like you do?”

               
It’s like a verbal slap in the face.  Mrs. Blakely goes white.  “Who
told you that?  How do you know?”

               
“So it’s true,” Kayla snaps.  “Wow, if you didn’t just seal the fate
between your son and me, I don’t know what did.”

               
Shaking her head, Mrs. Blakely says, “It’s not even like that.”

               
“Don’t worry. I will be asking my parents about this, and we always promised
not to lie to each other, so we’ll see what they have to say.”  Kayla
takes in a deep breath to calm down.  “Anyway.”

               
Mrs. Blakely looks at her.  “Your mom called us because she couldn’t reach
you on your cell phone.  Did Damien tell you?”

               
“Yeah, I don’t mean to be a nuisance.”

               
“Oh, Kayla, my dear, you are more than welcome to stay here.”

               
“Thanks.”

               
Damien comes up behind her.  “Come on, let’s get you dry and into your
clothes.”

               
Giving him a look, Mrs. Blakely says, “I really hope you plan on showing Kayla
more respect than you do other girls.”

               
“Don’t forget whom you’re talking to?” Damien cautions.

               
“Damien!” Kayla exclaims.

               
He looks at her.  “Kayla, please understand, I‘m a representative of the
council.  My actions should never be scrutinized, especially in a manner
like this.”

               
Kayla looks at him with a kind expression.  “She’s looking out for me,
okay?  Relax.”

               
“I’m sorry, Master Blakely.  I meant no disrespect,” Jackson’s mom says,
not meeting his eyes.

               
“Emma, you’re family.  I’m sorry if I got angry.  I don’t intend to
use Kayla like a toy.  I
am
being respectful to her.  She
knows exactly what’s going on and what my intentions are.  There are no
hidden motives.  There isn’t going to be
any
sex of
any
kind, so you don’t need to worry about that.  The only thing you may need
to worry about is a dog running loose in your house.”

               
Mrs. Blakely looks up. “What?”  

               
Kayla elbows Damien in the stomach.  “Shut up, you jerk!”

               
“What about a dog?”

               
“When I shift, it’s into a dog and I’m doing it spontaneously.  So really,
he’s making fun of me,” Kayla says, clicking her tongue.

               
“Oh.” Mrs. Blakely laughs.  “Damien, leave the poor girl alone.  Did
he ever tell you what he first shifted into?”

               
“Emma,” Damien says sternly.

               
Looking back at Damien, Kayla laughs. “No, what did he first turn into?”

               
“An orange tabby cat.”

               
Damien puts his face in his hand.  Kayla bursts into giggles.  “That
is fantastic!  You are never going to live that down.”

               
“I was five,” Damien interjects.  “I couldn’t very well turn into a
tiger!”

               
“It was cute,” Mrs. Blakely tries to say seriously.  “He couldn’t shift
into anything else for years.  Jackson, on the other hand, turned into a
dog when he was five and then a monkey.  Yup, that’s my boy, a dog and a
monkey.”

               
Kayla giggles even more.  “I feel so behind.  You shifted when you
were five?  That’s insane.”

               
“Most children shift when they're older but not these two.  They were fast
learners.  Damien here is more daring than my Jackson.  Damien’s
bloodline is also a lot less restricted on what it can do.  Jackson has to
be careful of how many creatures he shifts into.”  Mrs. Blakely turns her
attention to Kayla.  “And then there is you. You are a miraculous
creation, young lady.”

               
Blushing from embarrassment, Kayla whispers, “I don’t think that’s true.”

               
“Nonsense, your family has wanted a girl for so long—generations.  Your
parents were so excited about having you, and I don’t mean just because you
were a girl.  Your mom and dad always wanted to have children, and your
dad always wanted a little girl, and I don’t mean for shifting reasons.”

               
“If you knew my parents so well, why have I never met Jackson before?” Kayla
asks.

               
Mrs. Blakely smiles. “You have.”

               
“What?”

               
“When you were, oh I want to say, six, I think.  You met.  You played
together for hours.  You wouldn’t even take a nap.  It was quite
adorable actually.”

               
Kayla shakes her head. “I don’t remember that.”

               
“Jackson does.  He never told you?”

               
“No, I wonder why not.”

               
Mrs. Blakely just starts to laugh.  “He is going to kill me for saying
this, and I swore never to mention it, but I am a mother and feel the
need.  You were Jackson’s first kiss.”

               
“Excuse me!  What do you mean?”

               
“When we were leaving that day, you leaned in and kissed him good-bye.  I
don’t think he was ever the same after that.”

               
In shock, Kayla retorts, “I don’t remember any of this.  Are you sure it
was me?”

               
“Quite sure. I’m not sure why some of your memories are blocked.  You
would have to ask your parents about that.”

               
“Okay, okay, okay, enough of fond childhood memories,” Damien interjects. 
“We need to dry off so we can eat.  We did a lot of shifting today, and
I’m starving.”

               
Mrs. Blakely nods her head.  “All right, Jackson’s probably back with the
food.  We’ll be going away for a few days.  I expect I can leave the
house in your hands and come back to find it in one piece.”

               
“We won’t burn it down, I promise,” Kayla articulates with a smile.  “No
parties either.”

               
“Yeah, huge shifting population to have a party for,” Damien groans.  “We
aren’t in LA.”

               
Suddenly, Kayla gets a cramp and doubles over.  “Ouch, ouch!”

               
“Okay,” Damien instructs. “Sit down.”  He helps Kayla to the ground. 
“Now close your eyes and try to harness your energy, okay?  Remember, deep
breaths.”

               
Kayla clenches her eyes shut and tries to take deep breaths.  “It hurts,”
she whines.

               
“Come on, baby,” Damien says, sitting down behind her.  “Feel your
energy.  Your energy is building up and that's what is causing the pain.
You need to release it.  If you go to Shima, you can expel it.  You don’t
have to shift.”

               
Taking in a deep breath, Kayla holds onto the energy in her body and is sucked
through and shot into Shima.  She lands on her knees and breathes a sigh
of relief.  Damien appears next to her a few seconds later.  “You did
it.  Are you okay?”

               
Nodding, Kayla says, “Yeah.  Now what?”

               
“Now nothing, you expelled your energy.  You’ll be fine.”

               
“I just expelled it?  I thought I came here to gain energy, not release
it.”

               
“Shima levels you out, balances you.  It can help one way or the
other.  Are you ready to go back?”

               
With a smile, Kayla whispers, “Show me someplace cool.”

               
“Like where?” Damien inquires back, pulling her against him.

               
“I don’t know.  Where is your favorite place in the world that you’ve
been?”

               
“That’s easy.” With that, they appear in a snowy yard. 
It’s
night and the stars are out.  A log cabin sits behind them with big
snow-covered pine trees surrounding it.

               
Kayla turns around and laughs.  “Where are we?”

               
“At the family cabin we used to have in Switzerland.  I learned to shift a
lot here.  My dad would take me into the woods.  This is where I
learned to shift into a bear and such.”

               
“It’s so beautiful.  Look at the sky.  The stars are so pretty!”

               
Damien laughs and looks down at her.  “I’m looking at something much more
beautiful.”

               
“You make me blush all the time with your words,” Kayla bashfully murmurs,
looking back at him.

               
He puts his hand on the side of her face and kisses her gently.  Kayla
gives in and kisses him back.  They embrace each other for a minute,
before Damien pulls away.  “We're about to be interrupted.”

               
“What?” Kayla breathes out.

               
“Jackson’s here.  I’m going to let him in.”

               
Jackson appears next to them.  “Is she all right?”

               
“Yes, obviously she’s fine,” Damien sighs.  “Can we help you?”

               
“My mother was concerned.  I wanted to come and make sure you
weren’t…well…never mind.”

               
Damien grabs the bridge of his nose with his fingers.  “I think I’m going
to rent a house for us.”

               
“What!” Kayla and Jackson gasp at once.

               
“We have no privacy and everyone seems to think I’m relentlessly trying to get
down your pants, so I may as well just get us a place of our own.  Then
they can make all the assumptions they want.”

               
Kayla’s eyes widen, and Jackson steps up to Damien.  “That’s
not
going to happen.”

               
“It’s not
your
call to make,” Damien retorts harshly, straightening
up.  “Kayla is under my care, not yours.”

               
“Damien, stop it,” Kayla interrupts, stepping between them.  “We are going
to stay at Jackson’s.  I don’t trust myself enough to live alone with you. 
That’ll just be a bad situation.”

               
Damien replies, “I’m over all of this.  Half the time Jackson is all over
you, and yet I’m the one whose character is always being questioned.”

               
Jackson states, “It’s not like that with us.” 

               
Those words sting Kayla’s heart.  She shakes her head and agrees. “Yeah,
nothing is going to happen.  I’ll slap him if he kisses me again.”

               
“Promise?” Damien asks with a smile.

               
“Yes, I promise, I will slap him.”

               
Nodding, Damien says, “Fine.  If a girl kisses me, I won’t slap her,
though.  I will just nicely push her away.”

               
“I’ll punch her,” Kayla exclaims.  She quickly covers her mouth in
shock.  “I didn’t mean that.”

               
“Yes, you did.  I think that just made you my girlfriend.”

               
“No, no boyfriend-girlfriend yet.”

               
Damien grins at her. “You can call it what you want, and I will call it what I
want.  I’ll see you back on the other side.”  With that, Damien
disappears and so do their surroundings.

               
“Kayla, are you going into this too fast?” Jackson asks, putting his hand on
her arm.