Time's Daughter (12 page)

Minutes later the door opened and light poured in.
No silhouette blocked it this time. I craned my neck to see who was
waiting out there but saw nothing.

Huddled within the corner I remained. I wasn’t
foolish enough to fall for this trap again.

“
You can come out now.” Alex
appearing around a corner. He held a downturned knife in his right
hand. “You have to come out if you want me to cut the
rope.”

I didn’t know why I trusted him enough to listen but
I did. Into the light I crept and stopped in front of him with a
deep breath. I knew Alex could have hurt me with the knife in the
dark if he’d wanted to.

A swift movement freed from the bind. He stepped
around me and gestured forward. We walked across the cut stone
floor into the broad room they’d first dropped me.

The leader stood with a hand to his chin and another
wrapped around his middle. There were decidedly fewer people in the
room now. The older male remained in his position directly beside
the leader along with the younger male and one of the women. The
room was empty of all others.

“
I apologize for the rough handling,
Miss Still.” The leader bowed his head to me. “The most important
thing to me is the protection of my family. I had to know we were
safe.” His arms dropped and curled behind him. “Clan Chattan would
like to extend the olive branch to you.”

Something told me Clan Chattan didn’t want to but
the few people in the room did.

The leader adopted a grave tone. “But we think it is
important that you know of the danger you wield. My father would
like to say a few words.”

The older man nodded once then began in a gravelly
voice. “Should you learn the art of Time travel you need to take
care not to alter anything in the past. As you’ve no doubt seen in
popular culture, it can have major ramifications on the
present.”

My stomach flipped sickly at the thought of time
travel. I didn’t want to go to the past or the future. The present
was frightening enough.

“
Additionally, each time you freeze
Time, you send a shockwave across the world,” the older man added.
“Those shockwaves can be felt by anyone who is immune to the
affects. They can also be traced.”

The leader took over from there. “We came here to be
free from witches and have no wish to bring them to our door. You
must curtail your power. In exchange, we offer you protection.”

I eyed him warily. First they’d kidnapped me and now
they wanted to help me? All I had to do was not use the power I’d
barely realized I’d had all this time. It seemed too good to be
true…which meant it was.

“
What do I need to be protected
from?”

“
Rogue witches, vampires who would
enthrall you—”

“
Vampires? They’re real?”

The leader’s dusky pink lips turned down in a frown.
“Unfortunately.”

My eyes widened yet further because that was
unbelievable! But then, if I really
could
stop time and my
father really was a god, vampires would be easy to believe. “Are
there any in Junction Hill?”

“
Not that we’ve seen,” the older man
said.

“
Which of those are you?”

The leader grunted in annoyance. “We are none of
those.”

I stared at him in silence but a dozen questions
swirled in my head.
They could protect me from vampires and
witches?
What did that make them? I glanced at Alex. His gaze
met mine for a moment before he looked at the leader. The
expression on his face was grim.

“
I will show her,” he said in a
tight voice.

“
Alex—”

“
How can we expect her to trust us
if we hide ourselves?”

“
I had hoped it wouldn’t come to
that.”

“
You had hoped she’d blindly follow
us out of fear.”

“
Alexander! Do not speak to your
father with such defiance,” the nearby woman said in a motherly
scold.

But the leader’s lips lifted slightly a moment
before he gave a small chuckle. “He is right.” There was a short
pause. “But you may serve only to frighten her further.”

Alex’s shoulders squared as he glanced at me then
back at his father. “It’s a chance we have to take.”

The leader waved a dismissive hand toward me. “Very
well then.”

The woman sighed wearily. “Do it outside.”

“
Yes, Mom.”

I glanced between the three, marveling over the
likeness between them.

“
This way.” Alex stepped in front of
me and gestured in the direction we’d come.

Unwilling to stay in the room with four strangers, I
followed him through the hallway and out what looked to be the
front door. Fixtures beside the door cast light on a nearby black
utility van. Now I knew how they’d gotten me to wherever we
were.

“
Gah, it’s dang cold,” Alex said
while tugging at his sleeve.

A second later the shirt was pulled over his head
and dropped to the ground. My eyes widened. Then his fingers went
to the waistband of his jeans. I turned away with a blush and
covered my eyes.

“
You kind of have to watch otherwise
you won’t believe me,” he said with a wry tone.

My mouth dropped open in horror. “I’m not watching
you get naked!”

Alex let out a quick laugh. “Fine, I’ll hide behind
this bush if you’re so worried.” He took several steps on the
cement. “Okay, all hidden.”

Slowly I turned back and peeked between my fingers.
“You’re not all hidden,” I said because I could still see him from
the waist up behind a dwarf evergreen tree.

“
Like I said, you have to watch or
you won’t believe me.” His lips spread into a small grin. “You got
a problem with seeing me shirtless? Am I that ugly?”

The problem was that he
wasn’t
. The shirts he
wore to school concealed a collection of defined muscles across his
arms, chest and stomach that weren’t all that common with guys his
age. I forced myself to look at his face rather than note them.

“
I’m watching,” I said without
answering his questions.

“
Good, cuz I’m freezin’ my bare butt
off.”

Crimson filled my cheeks again at the mention of his
bare
butt.

It earned me a laugh. He went serious a moment
later. “Okay, here we go. Watch carefully.”

I didn’t know what I was supposed to be watching for
but I watched all the same.

Alex held up his hands in front of him as if he
wanted me to look at those as well. He grunted once, then after a
movement that was little more than a powerful sneeze his bronze
body disappeared and in its place was only gleaming black…fur? I
could barely make out the shape of a black back in the light cast
by the fixtures behind me.

The lack of illumination had made it nearly
impossible to understand what had happened to him. From behind the
bush I heard a menacing sound. It was a growling hiss the likes of
which I’d never heard in person. But I’d heard it on television—on
shows about jungle cats attacking lesser creatures.

With a dull thump the miniature tree shook. I could
hear sniffing as if something were trying to smell my scent in the
air. My heart pounded faster. Instinctively I took a step back.
Three additional dull thumps echoed against the cement drive.

I stood frozen, staring in horror at the thing in
front of me. The black back that had been hiding behind the bush
had stepped into the light.

In front of me was a three-foot tall black
panther
with its steel blue eyes trained on me.

CHAPTER TEN

The black panther
took a step forward. I took two backward. The creature advanced
once again. I retreated until I smacked into something behind me.
The obstacle had me nearly falling over before two hands set atop
my shoulders to steady me.

“
He won’t hurt you,” a deep male
voice said. I recognized it as their leader. The assurance meant
little when faced with a wild animal.

The panther lowered its haunches to the ground and
stared at me. Its broad black nose shimmered with moisture in the
light and several long whiskers stretched out on either side of his
mouth. That mouth opened, revealing two large white canines and a
wide pink tongue. The creature blinked its steel blue eyes while
making a grunting noise.

His father laughed. “What did you expect her to
do?”

“
Is that—”

“
Yes, that is Alex,” he assured me
as he released my shoulders.

“
What is he?”

“
We are shapeshifters.”

I visibly shivered but said nothing.

“
You had better shift back.” The
leader’s firm voice soothed little.

The black panther stood on all fours once again.
It’s mouth closed with another grunt before it stepped back behind
the evergreen. A cat-like sneeze started the process in reverse.
The black fur disappeared until the back I saw peeking over the
evergreen was bronzed. Several curses in a growling tone followed.
Alex stood to his full height once again.

“
It’s stupid cold,” he whined in a
more familiar voice.

The figure behind me moved away. The door creaked
open and shut. Apparently the leader had returned inside.

Alex’s hands lowered, no doubt to put on his
clothes. I dropped my eyes to the ground in front of me to avoid
seeing it. His bare feet soon stepped into view.

I could think of nothing to say. My shock was too
great.

“
I’m sorry,” he said tentatively.
“It isn’t really something I could explain.”

As it stood, I wasn’t sure I believed what I’d seen.
There was no way he’d
turned into
a giant cat!

He breathed noisily through his nose. “I totally
freaked you out, didn’t I?”

The answer would have been “
Yes. Yes, you
did
” but I wasn’t about to admit it to a guy who could scratch
me in half. So I said nothing.

“
Come on, let’s go back in where
it’s warm,” he said.

I was quick to start for the door to avoid him. He
followed me in then walked past me toward where the others had
been. The large room I’d been brought to first was now empty. Alex
continued through it into a sitting room that held actual
furniture.

The four people who had remained were congregated in
a more familial grouping among the sofa, love seat and chair set
instead of menacing lines in the stone-floored room. Their leader
sat in a high-backed chair beside a crackling fire while his wife
rested against the right side. The older man sat on the far edge of
the couch nearby while the younger man stood warming his hands over
the flame.

The youngest faced us. “She didn’t run
screaming?”

“
No,” Alex said flatly.

“
Damn it.” The younger male jerked
his head down.

“
Pay up, Drew.” The leader’s father
made a grabby gesture, grinning as he did.

Alex’s eyes narrowed into fine slivers. “You had a
bet on her reaction?”

Drew shrugged his larger shoulders in mock-innocence
but he
did
pull his wallet out. Seconds later he was walking
to the older man.

“
Like taking candy from a baby.” The
older man laughed as the younger placed a ten-dollar bill in his
outstretched hand.

“
I’m embarrassed to be related to
you,” Alex said.

A sound of displeasure came from the beautiful
raven-haired woman who stood behind the leader.

Alex grumbled an apology.

That was when the leader cleared his throat for
attention. “Since she didn’t run screaming, perhaps we ought to
cease our rudeness and introduce ourselves.”

The younger man was the first to step forward. He
held his hand out to me. His mouth spread, revealing a white smile
of perfect teeth. The expression reminded me so much of Alex that I
had to glance aside to make sure it wasn’t him.

“
Andrew Chattan, the coolest member
of the clan.” After Alex snorted, he added, “But everyone calls me
Drew.”

I looked at his hand for a moment then took it
tentatively.

He dropped my hand like a hot potato. “Dang, you’re
freezing!”

The leader stood from his chair, closed the distance
and offered his palm. “Please excuse my son’s insult. We’ve yet to
adjust to New England weather. I’m Arthur. I apologize for how we
began the evening. I hope you can forgive me.”

I shook his hand in good faith but I wasn’t certain
I was ready to forgive them.

Arthur stretched his arm behind him and waved a hand
forward. “This lovely creature is my wife Anna.”

The woman hesitated forward and stopped three feet
in front of me. She gave me a brusque nod in greeting. She was
indeed lovely despite her slight frown.

Arthur gestured behind him. “That incorrigible man
is my father Arnold. He is the wisest of us all.”

“
And don’t you forget it, scamp.”
The older man chuckled while folding his ten dollars in
half.

Arthur nodded to the person beside me. “And you
already know my youngest son Alexander.”

They all stared at me for several moments before I
realized that it was my turn. “Hello,” I stammered. “I’m Aeon
Still.”

“
That is such a cool name,” Drew
said.

“
May we call you Aeon?”

I nodded at Arthur’s question.

He bowed his head. “It is a pleasure to meet you,
Aeon.” He took his original seat and his wife followed him.