Shift

Thirty-Nine

Jace

  I blinked awake. My vision had improved- I Shifted? I thought, stretching out my back. I couldn’t remember anything.

Shrugging it off, I raced into the rainforest, the part of the island where the most animals were. My wolf was hungry.

           Once I was near the center, I spotted a lemur perched on a tree branch. It wasn’t facing me, which gave me an immediate advantage.

           The lemur hopped off the branch and onto the ground, going completely still.

           I pounced.

           I shifted back and grabbed the torn remains of my clothing on my way to Finn’s house. It had been raining, leaving the clothes soaked.

           “Jace, you have to…“ began Finn as soon as I walked in the door.

           Ava walked out of the bedroom. She was wrapped in a towel, her hair wet and slightly curled. Her eyes widened when she saw me, her jaw firm.

           “Get the **** away from me right now,” she spat, walking up to me and pounding her fist against my chest.

           “Ava, what did I-“

           “Go. Away,” she demanded. 

Ava

            Anger controlled me. I shoved Jace backwards until he stumbled back, nearly falling off the bridge. He grabbed my hand and pushed me back into the wall outside Finn’s house.

           I wanted to throw him out into the depths of the ocean. How could he do this? My tears mixed in with the rain.

           Noticing the extra water falling down my face, he pulled me close to him. I let myself sob into his shoulder.

           “What did I do?” he whispered, voice muffled against my hair.

           I sniffled, trying to hold back the tears- this, of course, resulted only in a small series of hiccups. “Why did you tell her? You promised you wouldn’t tell anyone. I trusted you, Jace. I trusted you, and you just told her everything. And now everyone knows it all. Those are secrets I’ve been keeping practically my entire life. Thanks to you, now there are people that know my secrets who I barely even know.”

Jace

           God, I wanted to throw myself into the ocean. I buried my face in her hair. “It was **** without you. I needed to tell Finn everything I could. She’s one of the reasons we came here. She knows her stuff. We don’t know what the **** you are-“

           “She told me that I was a necromancer,” she said, her voice a small whisper.

           I took her hands in mind and looked into her eyes. “Are you serious? Ava, that’s absolutely amazing. You-“

           “I don’t even know what that is!” she cried.

           “You can see the dead. And bring them back to life.” I sniffled.

           “Jace… There’s something else.”

           “What, Ava?”

           “I can… talk to her.”

           “Who-“

           “Natalie.”

           “I-“

           “I know.”

           “I’m really sorry I told her.”

           “There’s something else,” she whispered.

           “What?”

           “We don’t know,” was her answer. I growled in frustration.

           I demanded, “What do you mean you don’t know?”

           “There’s something else… to me…. But we don’t know what it is.”

Alex

      I was just walking along the shore, letting the ocean’s little waves crash and meet my feet, which were sinking into the wet sand.

           There was something about the ocean that calmed me. Or maybe it just helped me get my thoughts sorted out- I don’t know.

           The only thing I do know is that I was trying to figure out everything- my entire life. I was thinking about me- something I haven’t done in too long.

Ava

           Roman called to David, “Are we ready to go?”

           I raised my eyebrows and dropped the wood I’d been collecting onto the sand. “Roman, where are we going?”

           He spun around, face red and eyes wide. I crossed my arms.

           “Oh no, she’s crossed her arms. Roman, looks like you’d better just give up now. Whatever you two are fighting about, s**** win,” Jace announced, walking out of the door.

           I tried to hide my smile. “Where are you going?”

           “Uhh…”

           “To the mainland,” Jace called.

           “The- what? Why?”

           Jace pointed out, “We have a boat. We need supplies and to get in touch with the rest of our pack. Hence, the mainland.”

           “Well, why wasn’t I invited?” I protested.

“We didn’t-“ began Roman.

“You know, there’s an extra space on the boat. If she doesn’t mind getting wet, that is.” Oh, Jace.

I didn’t dare admit that I was just a teensy bit scared to climb on a boat again after what had happened. I just didn’t want to be left behind. I wanted in.

I smiled. “Thank you, Jace. Looks like we’re going on a little trip,” I said, pulling my hair out of the ponytail.