Shifters (Shifters series Book 1) (30 page)

“No!” I yell, but she’s already gone.

She appears right in front of the captives, and I look into the leader
’
s eyes. Navan smiles widely and looks at Devon who’s untying our parents.

I yell out, “No!” in desperation, and I sprint as fast as I can. I feel my heart beginning to burn with a fire I’ve never felt before. I run.

Navan puts his hands in a cupping shape toward her and some kind of glowing blue orb begins to surround her. I reach her as she’s completely engulfed in the strange blue gel.

I pound on it and see her screaming, but I can
’
t hear her. Navan has a wicked smile on his face as he watches me. I pound. I pound. I pound with every ounce of strength I have, and he savors every moment of my torture.

“
Devon!
” I yell desperately. “
Devon!
” I cry, my heart pounding in agony. “
Devon!
”

He takes his hands and acts like he’s throwing something in the air. The blue gel surrounding Devon begins to lift off of the ground. I try to grip it, but my hands slide off. I can see her inside screaming. I can see her desperately trying to dig her way out. I can see her screaming my name. I can see her screaming “Tanner!” But she keeps rising higher. I can barely reach her now. I’ve never seen such a desperate look. I’ve never felt such desperation.

She’s now out of my reach. In anguish, I try to reach her. I jump and swing my arms futilely. She’s screaming. She rises quicker. She’s screaming. I’m screaming. She’s flattened herself against the bottom of the orb. Rising. Screaming. Rising. Getting smaller. Still screaming. I’m on my knees. She’s rising. Screaming. Rising quicker. Screaming. She completely disappears. Not to the floating city. Above that. She goes through the sky. She disappears. My love disappears. Into the sky.

The pain in my heart is like a fire in my soul—burning, roaring, out of control. I slowly get up and face the leader.

He grins at me.

I look back at Ryland, who’s now standing with our friends and family. My entire family is there. They’re safe. But not Devon. The Shifters have been stopped, but their leader is still smiling. He’s surrounded by the Young and the Tyros, and he
’
s smiling.

“Why are you so happy?” I spit. “Look around you. You’re done here. Where is she?”

“This is just the beginning,” he says. “You think this little skirmish means anything? We may have underestimated you slightly.”

“Slightly?” I ask. “Where is she?”

“Let
’
s just say she
’
s going home,” he says with a smirk.

“What does that mean?” I yell.

“Right now, I
’
d say she’s better off than you,” he says.

“What does that mean?” Ryland yells.

“Now, we’ll show you our real power,” he says more seriously. “Maybe a demonstration is in order?” He looks around at our family and friends standing with us; then, his eyes settle on Peanut. His eyes fill with hatred as he raises his large, calloused hands and pushes them in her direction.

A piece of debris flies from behind him and hits Peanut directly in the chest. She stands as it slowly works its way through her little, shuddering body. Her eyes open wide, and she looks at me, brown eyes round with shock. A red flower blooms on the front of her little dress, and she drops to her knees.

She doesn
’
t cry out in fear or pain. She doesn
’
t make a sound. She just stays there, on her knees. She looks down at the growing blossom on her chest, and then, her huge brown eyes bore into mine.

I turn to attack the Shifter, but he’s almost completely surrounded by the blue gel. He laughs as he becomes enveloped. I can
’
t hear him anymore as he quickly rises into the floating city.

We’re alone now.

Everyone surrounds us as the ground begins to shake again. This is it. He took Devon! He attacked Peanut! My heart is screaming. Explosions begin to erupt around us. The ship begins to rise with an awful sound. Now, no one is safe. They’ve evacuated. Everything is a target. Everyone is prey.

People are screaming. People are dying.

He took everything! My heart’s burning! He took my love! He took my sister’s life! Peanut! I feel like exploding. I scream out in pain as I fall to the ground.

Suddenly, everything stops. There’s absolutely no sound except for my labored breathing. Everything’s completely frozen.

Chapter 44

The Girl

–RYLAND–

They’re going to kill us all. They’re going to bomb the whole planet, destroy everything. If they can
’
t defeat us, they’ll wipe this planet from the map. Do you call it a map if it
’
s an image of the whole universe?

They took Devon. They stole her, which means I failed Tanner. I didn
’
t protect her, despite what I
’
d promised myself.

And Peanut . . . I can
’
t even think about Peanut.

Suddenly, just as all is lost and everyone around me is screaming and dying, something strange happens to Tanner. He’s still there, still standing. He hasn
’
t moved, but he’s shimmering in and out of my vision. He’s blurred.

Then, I realize what’s happening. Tanner’s shaking; he
’
s shuddering. While he
’
s Shifted.

The huge ships—they must be ships even though they look like cities—stop creating their infernos. The smaller ships stop firing at us.

The screaming on the ground fades from a roar as loud as the ocean to the babbling of a small stream. Everyone stares up into the sky. Something’s happening to the enemy ships.

There are ominous, metallic groaning sounds reverberating through the air. The whole Earth seems to ache and shudder with the sound, fearful of what might be coming next. Perhaps, this is where they drill into the planet
’
s core and create a black hole like in
Star Trek
. Perhaps, this is where they launch animals created and designed specifically to hunt us down and slaughter us, defacing our bodies and leaving them as a warning for the people of Earth. Never think to rebel against Shifters because they are coming.

Instead, something unexpected happens. I notice a blue shimmer around the ships. It engulfs them, surrounds them. It surges outward, toward us. I hear screaming. People duck and dive, but it vanishes before it ever reaches the ground.

Was that a weapon? A warning?

Then, the ships begin to fire. Everyone is panicking, running, screaming. The whole world is noise and fear and death.

Only . . . only the ships are no longer firing at us. They’re firing at one another. The smaller ships are shooting at the city-like mammoth structures. This time, the weapons are not exploding in the air around the ships.

Flames erupt as explosions echo and reverberate through the huge cities. Small guns are firing blue lasers. Larger ones are firing huge metallic spheres that hit the structures and tear holes in the surface.

Debris is falling now. Large flaming chunks are falling to the ground. People dive into the reflecting pool for cover. Others run screaming from the battlefield.

Shifters are falling from the ships, too. Some of them are Shifting in and out of vision, but they fall to the ground all the same. I tear my eyes away from one man before he splatters on the concrete.

Then, a groan emits from the closest of the two massive ships so loud I have to cover my ears. It doesn
’
t matter. I feel the weight of that sound through my whole body. I feel the world ending in the weight of that sound.

Then, the ship begins to move. It isn
’
t moving purposefully as a dancer on a stage; it’s careening wildly—if slowly—out of control. It falls diagonally away from us.

As it picks up speed, I realize with a start that it’s going to crash. It’s going to crash in the middle of Washington DC. As it falls, a monument looms in the sky, jutting jaggedly into its path of death and destruction.

The Washington Monument stands resolute, immovable in the sky like a lighthouse illuminating our way in the darkness, reminding us of our strength, our unity, our humanity. The ship falls toward it, the symbol of all that we have come to hate. The crash is imminent; war is coming.

Humanity cannot endure under oppression. Humanity must make a stand. War is necessary; war is coming to our home. War is coming for Gaia.

The ship hits the Washington Monument, and the whole world shudders. It shakes so violently I’m thrown off my feet. I hit the ground with a thud as I see the top sheared clean off. It’s falling to the earth, crashing into the crowd.

The ship has continued on its path, colliding with the earth in an explosion whose light echoes through the sky, bright enough to rival any nuclear weapon. Suddenly, a cloud is racing toward us, brown and horrid.

The weight of it hits me and knocks me flat on my back just as I’m trying to rise. The dirt is so thick in the air I cough and sputter. I can
’
t breathe. I can
’
t see.

This is it. This is death. This is the end of the world.

But then, the dust begins to clear. A few seconds later, noise again reaches my ears. I realize the blast must have made me temporarily deaf.

People are screaming, groaning, calling for friends or family. I wonder how many are dead.

When the sky is clear again, I see several of the small ships have crashed. The others are fleeing. The only thing left in the sky is a damaged, flaming city.

Wait, there are things in the distance, flying toward us. Jets. Military.

They fly in perfect unison, never breaking formation. As they approach the ship, I see missiles launch from their wings, flying toward the one remaining enemy ship. Their missiles hit, bringing more explosions.

This ship makes a sudden violent jerk downward like the first. I realize if it crashes, it’ll crush us all. We’ll die here. We’ll win this battle, but we will die. We’ll be like the three hundred Spartans against Xerxes
’
s army, sacrificing our lives to give our people a chance in the coming war.

Slowly, the ship begins to rise. It climbs into the sky, lifting through the clouds. Military jets pursue it, but eventually, it disappears into the sky, and all is quiet.

Then, I hear a tiny voice calling my name. Tanner’s stopped vibrating. He’s collapsed onto the ground next to a body. A small body in the cutest little dress. A dress I recognize.

“Peanut!” I scream, running toward them.

I dive to my knees beside them to see Tanner cradling her little head, stroking her pretty hair. “Tan Man?” Peanut asks in a tiny weak voice.

There’s so much blood. Oh, my God, there’s so much blood. How did her little body ever contain so much blood?

“Yes, Peanut?” Tanner asks, his voice broken as he weeps over her.

“Why are you crying, Tan Man? You saved the world,” she says.

Something inside me breaks in that moment. We saved the world. We saved the world, but we couldn
’
t save her. I couldn
’
t save her.

Peanut is dying.

My six-year-old baby sister is dying in front of me. She’s bleeding. She’s in pain. And there’s nothing I can do about it. My sister is going to die.

“I . . .” Tanner can
’
t finish his sentence. He has no words for this. How can you explain the world doesn
’
t matter? How can you explain all is lost if she is lost?

“You did it, didn
’
t you, Tan Man? You made the ships fall,” she sounds so happy, so proud even as she winces in pain.

Tanner nods slowly. He can’t speak. He can
’
t explain what he did. But it doesn
’
t matter.

“Tan Man, you
’
re my hero,” Peanut says. She looks at me. “Ryland?”

“Yes, Peanut?” I say through my tears. I didn
’
t even realize I could cry this much. A river of pain is washing through me, escaping my body.

“I love you, but is it okay that Tan Man’s my favorite today?” she asks softly.

I can
’
t answer. I’m weeping so hard my whole body’s shaking. I’m shuddering with the pain of this. What kind of monster could do something like this?

I nod slowly and finally manage, “Of course, Peanut. Tanner can be your favorite today.”

Peanut smiles. She looks at Tanner. “You
’
re my favorite, Tan Man. I love you.”

“I love you too, Peanut,” Tanner says weakly, ruffling her hair softly.

“Tan Man?” Peanut says, her voice filled with pain.

“Yes?” Tanner says brokenly. The warrior that orchestrated this plan, that single-handedly brought down the enemy ships bows to this broken little girl
’
s every wish.

“I
’
m scared,” she says. “Everything is so dark.”

I grip her tiny hand in mine. “Everything’s going to be okay, Peanut,” I say.

“We
’
ll be right behind you,” Tanner says, his tears falling into her soft hair. “Will you wait for us?”

Peanut smiles again, and the world breaks. It freezes around us and leaves us alone in this moment. “Of course, Tan Man, I
’
ll wait for you and Ryland. I
’
ll save you a seat.”

I laugh through my tears. “See you again soon.” I whisper. “I love you so much.”

Her smile brightens; then, a shudder racks her body.

“Peanut?” Tanner cries.

Peanut doesn
’
t answer. Her eyes are wide and smiling, but they’re empty now. The whole world is empty now. There’s nothing left.

“Oh, my God,” someone above me whispers. I look up to see Solé standing above us, tears streaking through her ash-covered face, carving a canyon down her cheeks. “Oh, my God . . . she
’
s the girl.”

“What girl?” I growl through clenched teeth. She’s disturbing this moment, my last moment with my sister, my last memory of the world before it loses its most beautiful piece forever.

“I didn
’
t know. I didn
’
t know what I was seeing,” she stammers, stumbling backward in pain and horror. “I didn
’
t know,” she whispers almost inaudibly.

“What do you mean?” I snap, rising to my feet, following her.

“I thought it was just a girl. I didn
’
t realize. I didn
’
t know it was your sister,” she mutters, staring at Peanut, not meeting my eyes.

“You saw this?”
I scream at her. I shriek.

Something inside me breaks. My tears cease. I’m no longer sad. I’m angry, but there’s no enemy left to fight here.

My fist slams into Solé, knocking her to the ground. Kyle screams at me, but I don
’
t hear him. I turn away from Solé, disgusted with her, disgusted with myself.

I’m full of hatred. I’m full of rage. I am rage. There’s nothing else left of me.

There’s nowhere left for the Shifters to hide. I’m coming. I’m coming for them.

I’ll make them suffer. I’ll find the Shifter leader, and I’ll make him
suffer
. I’ll make him scream and cry and writhe in agony.

I rise to my feet, the fires around me still burning, the screams still echoing. People are crying and pleading. People are dying.

I’m resolved. I’m fire and ash and death and revenge. I’m coming. I’m coming for you. You will suffer at my hands. And you’ll know it.

You’ll know I’m coming.

And you will be afraid.