Shift (The Neturu Chronicles) (77 page)

               
“Mom, I’m so worried about Damien.  I really hurt him.  I will never
forgive myself if I don’t get to talk to him again.  I have to explain
some things.  He has to understand.  He just has to!”

               
Her mom tucks Kayla’s hair behind her ear.  “Kayla, sweetie, give him
time.  He will come around.  Why don’t we go see Jackson?  He’s
been asking for you.”

               
“No, I can’t.  It’s not fair to Damien.”

               
“Honey,” her mom starts. “You have to think about yourself too.  Jackson
has been waiting for you to come visit him.  He did take a bullet in the
stomach.  Do you know he actually got into a fight to be able to go and
rescue you?  You need to go see him.”

               
Kayla fidgets with her fingers.  “I can’t.”

               
“You love him, Kayla,” her mom whispers.  “You have to go to him.”

               
“How do you know that?”

               
Gazing down, her mom replies, “We watched the tapes from the hanger.  We
needed to know exactly what happened.  I needed to know who took you.”

               
“Wait, William is dead, right?”

               
“Yeah, he’s dead.  So is the other guy that was there.”

               
“What about Trin?” Kayla inquires.  Her mom gives her a confused
look.  Kayla explains, “Trin was the girl that was there with us. 
What happened to her?”

               
Kayla’s mom frowns.  “She was taken into custody.  They aren’t sure
what they’re going to do with her yet.”

               
“I think she was brainwashed.  They should take it easy on her.”

               
“We’ll see,” Kayla’s mom sighs.  “Please, try to eat something.”

               
Staring down at the food, Kayla asks, “Does it have Kiej in it?”

               
“No, we thought you’d had enough of that lately.  You need to be as free
as possible.  They also have some counselors they want you to talk to.”

               
“I don’t need to talk to anyone,” Kayla mumbles.  “I’m fine.”

               
“Honey, you were kidnapped and went through a very violent situation. 
Anyone would need help dealing with that.  It would be good for you.”

               
Kayla shakes her head. “No, I’m fine for right now.  I just want to go
home.”

               
“You need to eat and be given a clean bill of health, and then we can take you
home,” her mom tells her.  She pushes the tray towards Kayla.  “Eat.”

               
Begrudgingly, Kayla picks up the bowl of soup and starts to eat it.  They
sit in silence for a while.  When Kayla is finished eating, she sits
back.  “Can I have some time to myself?”

               
“Sure, if you need anything, just call out.  We can hear you.”

               
 Kayla snorts.  “Wow, that’s great. No privacy again.  I just
went through this.”

               
With a heavy sigh, her mom murmurs, “We don’t want anything to happen to you
again.”

               
“But William is dead.  We don’t need to worry about him anymore.”

               
“That’s true.  Fine, I’ll see what I can do about the microphones being
turned off.  Just try and rest.”

               
Kayla nods. “Okay.”  Her mom gives her a kiss on the cheek.  When she
leaves the room, Kayla dials Damien’s number again.  This time it just
goes straight to his voice mail.  Kayla hits end.  Completely broken,
Kayla brings her knees up to her chest and cries.

               
A week later…

               
Kayla is staring down at her phone, trying to decide if she should try Damien’s
number again, when she hears a light knock on her door.  “Yeah,” she
yells.

               
“Tracy is here to see you,” her mom says.

               
“You can send her in.”

               
Her door flies open and Tracy tackles Kayla on the bed.  “You’re
alive!  Oh
my gosh
!  I thought you were
dead!”

               
“No, I’m fine,” Kayla replies with a smile.  “I was just kidnapped.”

               
“JUST KIDNAPPED!” Tracy yells.  “Everyone in the country was looking for
you.  Damien’s family put up millions as a reward.”

               
“I know, I saw it on the news.  I’m so glad you’re here.”

               
Tracy gets up to close the door.  When it’s shut, she turns around. 
“What in the world is going on?  Where is Damien, and why aren’t you
talking to Jackson?”

               
Kayla snorts.  “Damien has fallen off the face of the earth, and I refuse
to talk to Jackson.”

               
“You haven’t talked to him since you’ve been back?”

               
“I haven’t talked to Jackson since I was rescued.  I can’t.”

               
Tracy sits down on the bed next to Kayla. “Why not?”

               
“It’s a long story.  I’ll just say that I really hurt Damien and doing
anything with Jackson would just be salt in the wound.  So I’m staying
away.”

               
“Jackson won’t stop calling me.  He desperately wants to talk to
you.  You won’t return his phone calls.”

               
“Just like Damien isn’t returning mine,” Kayla sighs.  “Damien did so much
for me and confessed his love for me and I…I hurt him terribly.”

               
Tracy puts her arm around Kayla. “Tell me what happened, from the beginning.”

               
With a groan, Kayla exclaims, “I wish I could tell you, but I can’t!  The
only two people I can talk to about it are Jackson and Damien, and they’re in
the middle of it.”

               
“Why can’t you tell me?”

               
“It’s, like…a huge secret,” Kayla whispers.  “I could get into a lot of
trouble.  I would seriously disappear from your life if anyone found out
that I told you, so I would rather keep it a secret.”

               
“Come on, just tell me,” Tracy murmurs back.  “It will never leave this
room.”

               
Kayla leans in close to her friend.  “I mean it, Tracy.  If I told
you the truth and someone found out, you would have no memory of me ever
again.”

               
Tracy looks at her and smirks. “Good thing I’ll keep my mouth shut for the rest
of my life.  If you can’t tell it to me directly, then make up a really
convincing story that will make sense to me.”

               
“What?”

               
“
Make up
a really good story.  You know, one that would be so far
from plausible, how would I ever believe it?”

               
A light bulb goes off in Kayla’s head.  “Okay,” she whispers ever so
softly.  “Let’s say there’s a girl name Krista and she finds out she is
from another world…”

               
After an hour, Tracy is sitting in front of Kayla with her jaw gaping. Dead
silence settles between the two of them.  Finally, Tracy leans forward and
says, “I want to see.”

               
“No,” Kayla hisses.  “It’s a made-up story!”

               
“Yeah, I know.  Doesn’t mean I don’t want to see it.”

               
Giving her a stern look, Kayla snaps, “No!”

               
“Fine, I’m going to the local news then,” Tracy quips, standing up.  She
turns around and whispers, “That’s a lot of memories to erase.”

               
“You suck!  Fine,” Kayla grumbles.  “If I never get to talk to you
again, I will be so mad!”

               
Tracy rolls her eyes. “Who would ever believe me anyway?”  With a heavy
sigh, Kayla shifts down.  Tracy just stares at her like a deer caught in
headlights.  “Oh, dear God,” Tracy whispers. “You weren’t kidding.”

               
Shifting back to herself, Kayla hisses, “You can’t say a word to anyone. 
I mean it!  They’ll probably make us move and disappear.”

               
“I’m not going to tell anyone,” Tracy groans.  “Anyway, so, like, your
parents and Jackson’s whole family…they can all do this?”

               
“Yeah.”

               
“And you’re some sort of super shifter,” Tracy says slowly. “That’s why you
were kidnapped, by the guy that you ate.”

               
Kayla stomps her foot.  “I did not eat him!”

               
“You should have.  I would have.  You should have let the boys maul
him to death,
or
you could have reversed roles and had sex with the boys
in front of
him
and then killed him slowly.”

               
“TRACY!”

               
“Wwwwhhhhaaat,” she draws out.  “It was just an idea.”

               
Tracy’s phone rings.  She runs over and picks it up.  “Oh,” she
mutters. “It’s Jackson.”  Looking at Kayla, she asks, “Can I get this or
do you want me to let it go to voice mail?”

               
Fidgeting with her fingers, Kayla says, “You can get it.”

               
Tracy taps the screen of her phone to answer the call. “Hi, Jackson! 
Mmmm, I’m all right and yourself?  That’s good.  Well, yes, actually
I have seen her.  She’s sitting right next to me.”  Kayla reaches
over and smacks Tracy on the leg.  “What?” 
she
hisses. “I’m not going to lie!”  There is a pause and then Tracy looks at
the floor.  “I don’t think she
wants
to talk to anyone right
now.  I don’t know if it necessarily has anything to do with you.”

               
“It has everything to do with him,” Kayla sighs.

               
“Hold on a second,” Tracy says.  She covers the mouthpiece.  “He
really wants to talk to you, Kayla.  You have to at least explain why you
aren’t talking to him.”

               
Kayla gives her a look.  “He very well knows why I’m not talking to him.”

               
“All right,” Tracy exhales.  Talking back into the phone, Tracy says,
“Sorry, Jackson, I can’t get her to budge.”  She looks up at Kayla. 
“I don’t know if she’s going to school tomorrow.”  Kayla looks away and
nods.  “Yeah, she’ll be there. All right, I’ll tell her.  Yeah, have
a good night too.  Bye.”  Tracy hangs up the phone.  “He says
he’s going to talk to you at school tomorrow.”

               
“Not if I hide from him,” Kayla grumbles, crossing her arms.

               
That makes Tracy laugh.  “You sit next to him in three of your
classes!  How in the hell are you going to hide from him?”

               
“I don’t know, maybe I’ll just ignore him.”

               
“That’s so rude,” Tracy emphasizes.  “He’s your friend, no matter what’s
going on.”

               
Kayla throws up her hands in defeat. “What am I going to do then?”

               
Tracy sits down on the floor next to her.  “You find him, you jump into
his arms, and you maul him sexually.”

               
Kayla bursts out laughing.  “That is not what’s going to happen.”

               
“Why not?  You’re in love with him.  What better way to express it!”

               
“I can’t express or say that I love him.  It’s wrong and not fair right
now.” Kayla sighs and puts her head in her hands.  “I can’t even get
Damien to return any of my calls.  It either goes straight to his voice
mail or he ignores it, because it rings, like, twice.”

               
“Have you been on his Facebook page?” Tracy inquires slowly.

               
Kayla peers up at her friend. “No, why?”

               
“N-nothing,” Tracy stutters.  “I was just curious.”

               
“What’s on there?”

               
She looks off to the side.  “Just pictures of him partying.”

               
“With girls?”

               
“Not anyone in particular or something that you should be concerned
about.  He still has his relationship status with you, so that has to be a
sign.”

               
Glaring at her friend, Kayla scrambles to her computer.  She immediately
logs onto Facebook and clicks on Damien’s page.  “Okay,” Kayla says. 
“It’s not like he looks happy.  These are all tags.”

               
“Yeah, I just said it was pictures of him partying,” Tracy says, coming up
behind her.  “He actually looks depressed.”

               
“Wonderful,” Kayla groans.  “Let’s see if he’ll reply to a message.” 
She clicks on it and types: Please, please, please call me.  I need to
talk to you.  I miss you… Please just call me.

               
Tracy leans her head on Kayla’s.  “He’ll contact you when he’s ready.”

               
“What if he never talks to me again?  He said he loved me, fought for me,
almost
gave up his life for me…only to learn that I loved
Jackson.  I mean, I love Damien, I do.”

               
“But not like how you love Jackson.”

               
Sadly, Kayla shakes her head.  “No.”

               
“But you won’t even talk to Jackson.” Tracy groans.  “So why does it
matter who you love?”

               
“I can’t love Jackson.  It’s not right.”

               
Falling to her knees, Tracy takes Kayla’s hand.  “There’s nothing wrong
with you loving Jackson.  He’s a wonderful guy, who would treat you like a
princess.  You can’t help whom you fall in love with, Kayla.  Damien
can’t blame you for that.  It wouldn’t be fair.  You didn’t cheat on
him, right?”

               
“No, we were only technically boyfriend and girlfriend for an hour before I got
kidnapped, so there wouldn’t have been time to cheat on him, but…”

               
“But, what?” Tracy asks.

               
“Jackson and I…kind of said that we cared about each other…and he said he
refused to hurt Damien, and well…”

               
Waving her hand, Tracy says, “Yeah…”

               
“I said I was going to,” Kayla whispers.  “I made the decision to break up
with Damien for Jackson.”

               
“Only because Damien made you so angry. He was going to have his way with you,
all primal in the middle of a club.”

               
Kayla bangs her head on her table.  “I don’t think it was anything he did
on purpose, but he didn’t stop it either.  We had the conversation just a
little while before it happened, when I was yelling at him about his
ex-girlfriend.  I told him I wasn’t ready.”

               
“But the pheromones—”

               
“Were way too powerful for me…for us.  It wasn’t entirely his fault. 
I asked for it.  It was so overwhelming.  I didn’t know any
better.  Jackson knew, though.  It didn’t affect him.  He knew I
wanted to wait.  Jackson stopped Damien when I couldn’t.  He was only
protecting me.”

               
Tracy puts Kayla’s hair behind her ear.  “He did it because he loves you.”

               
“I don’t know if it’s love,” Kayla mutters.  “That’s my other fear. 
I proclaimed my love for Jackson, Damien proclaimed his love for me, and I have
no idea where Jackson stands.  He said he loves me, but we were in for the
fight of our lives.  I don’t know if he meant it.  I could ruin
everything I have with Damien on the slight chance that Jackson feels the same
way?  And then I’m being a jerk for even considering staying with Damien
for the reason that I don’t want to end up alone.  I do love him, but not
like how I love Jackson.  Jackson shakes me to my core.”

               
“You guys have the most insane chemistry.  You can’t let that slip through
your fingers.”

               
“I love him.  I do, so much, but I have to figure things out with Damien
before I can do anything.  I have to show him that much respect."

               
Tracy takes a deep breath. “How long do you wait, though?”

               
“What do you mean?”

               
Tracy looks at her thoughtfully and answers, “What if he never talks to you
again or
it’s
six months down the line?  Are you
not going to talk to Jackson for six months or ever again?  Don’t you
think you would miss him?”

               
“I miss him now,” Kayla whines as she starts to tear up.  “I miss him so
badly, I can’t even breathe, but I can’t do it.  I just can’t.”

               
“Can I at least call him later and explain what’s going on,” Tracy
inquires.  “Give the man that much?”