Shift (The Pandorma Adventures Book 1) (10 page)

Ryan is staring out the window, his gaze focused on something only he can see. He jumps when I come in.

“Do you have any paper and pencils or pens?” Ryan asks, his voice somewhat unsteady.

“Yeah.” I go to my shelf and open a black box. I hand him a pad of paper and a tin box of pencils. Ryan’s eyes widen a bit after he takes off the lid.

“I can’t use these.”

“Why not?”

“These are really good drawing pencils,” Ryan says, his voice verging on anticipation though he’s trying to hide it.

“I hardly ever use them so it’s fine.”

Ryan doesn’t need anymore convincing. He eagerly takes them then lies down on the floor, spreading the paper in front of him. He’s dead still for a moment then starts making gentle lines. I go to my bookshelf and pull out
Black Beauty
, just opening it to a random page. I lean against my bed, opposite Ryan. His eyes are glued to the paper. I try to concentrate on the words, but my mind won’t settle. I feel like I have to talk to him. Ask him things. Get his opinion and perspective on everything. I feel like if I don’t take the opportunity now I won’t get another.

“Ryan?”

“Yes?”

“What is your family like? If you don’t mind my asking,” I add quickly.

Ryan looks up at me. “My family . . .” Ryan picks at the edge of the paper. “It’s not something to be envied. My father is kind of messed up and he’s all I’ve got left.”

“Oh. Ryan you don’t—”

“No. I want to. Everyone always makes assumptions, but has never out right asked. They always give me these looks of pity. And I understand—but I still . . . it doesn’t help.” Ryan pauses, taking a shallow breath. “Dad’s a drunk, abusive. An hour rarely passes by when he’s not drunk. He seems to live for making life miserable for me.

My older brother, Randy, he moved out when my mom got married to Dad but he would always visit . . . then one day he just stopped coming—I don’t know why. Then Mom died and Dad seemed to wake up after that—for a while anyway. He was able to curb his drinking enough so that he only drank a few hours a night. He got a part-time job. He was even able to get us an apartment. I stayed with him. I had no other choice. I was young I had nothing. I was afraid of being by myself. Afraid of . . .”

My hands clutch the book harder. I want to take his hand. I should. But the strong force that had pulsed between us earlier makes me hesitant. The more I touch, think about, and create memories with Ryan; the deeper I sink into this unfamiliar world.
But Ryan needs to be comforted.
True. The last thing I want to do is hold back comfort if I can give it to someone who needs it.

I close the book and reach out to take one of Ryan’s clenched hands. Ryan opens his hand and begins lining our fingers up and messing with them.

“I think someone tipped off the police that Dad was abusing me because one day they were knocking on our door and the next we were skipping town. We traveled for days, years. Living off whatever I could come up with. After a while I started putting money aside to buy food and stuff, but when Dad found out . . .” Ryan trails off and sits up, releasing my hand. Gingerly he lifts his shirt a ways, revealing a long, angled scar that runs an inch above his belly button, snaking beneath his jeans.

“That’s horrible,” I breathe.

Though the wound is long healed it looks like the gash would’ve been excruciating. Ryan lets his shirt fall back in place, his pained eyes seeking healing from mine.

“I don’t think he meant for it to happen, he was too drunk to even remember. Anyway, we finally stopped in Cardinal City, but Dad decided it wasn’t secluded enough and took me, plus as much whiskey he could pack in the car to out here, Abandon. He was hoping the name fit the description of the town, and it does, almost to a T.”

Ryan’s eyes travel around my face before resting briefly on my lips. To think I thought my life was terrible.

“I thought my life was hard. It's nothing compared to yours.” I want to say that I’m sorry, but it feels irrelevant.

“Your life might not be like mine, but I have a feeling, Lissa, that you are just as hurt and alone as I am.”

I rest my chin on my knees and give him a faint smile. Tentatively Ryan picks my hand back up, draws a few more lines on the paper then looks back at me.

“That cat—you said she was taking you to her planet, right?” he asks.

I can tell he is trying to change the subject to something lighter. “Yeah. She is adamant that it’s a whole different world but I’m sure it's just somewhere in the mountains . . . or beyond.”

“Are you going?”

My eyes float away from his. I told Dark I would and I can’t back out now. “Yes.”

Ryan stares at me calmly. “I’ll go with you.”

“What? Why on earth would you want to go with me?”

“Because I want to and I think I should.”

“What about your dad?” I ask uncertainly.

“My dad wouldn’t notice if I moved to Alaska. He won’t worry.” Ryan’s voice takes on a hard edge.

“Don’t be getting all heroic on me,” I tease to keep the mood light and he laughs a bit. “I’m sure you have much better things to do than traipse through the woods looking for wherever.”

“I don’t and I’m not being heroic.”

I cock my head. “Sure.”

Ryan gives me his lopsided grin then resumes drawing. I pick my book back up, not even bothering to find the page I had left off on.

Thirty minutes later, before I can stop myself, I surrender to the lulling sounds of Ryan’s pencil strokes.

* * * *

Something tickles my nose. I sleepily brush it away. I don’t want sleep to leave me because I am still really tired, but it scuttles away. As my senses start to gear up, the first thing I realize is that I’m not lying in bed, I’m lying on the floor, and the second thing I notice is Ryan sleeping parallel to me only a few feet away. That jolts me awake like a cup of caffeine never could.

Fur tickles my nose again. I glance up. Darklily’s tail hangs off the bed and is twitching, tickling my nose in the process. I brush it away again and roll into a sitting position, taking care not to touch Ryan, unsure whether or not I’m dreaming. Ryan lets out a soft snore. No, not dreaming.

I stretch, arching my stiff back, trying to loosen the muscles. Ugh, my floor might be soft, but after a night laying on it, it no longer feels that way.

I stand and watch Dark stretch. She arches her back then extends her front paws forward as far as she can. Dark nimbly springs out of bed, despite just waking up, something I’ll never be able to do.

“I’m going to go get breakfast before we go, you should probably eat too.” Dark silently stalks out of the room.
Go?
I rub my eyes and sit on my bed.
Right.
Even though Ryan said that he’d come, I’m unsure whether or not he meant it.
Trevor.
A small part of me hopes he might come with us if I ask him.

My legs still feel heavy with sleep as I step over Ryan and go down to the kitchen.

“Hey Trevor,” I say cheerily.

I open the fridge and take out the orange juice.
Wait—Trevor?
I slam the door closed. Trevor is casually leaning against the counter.

“What are you doing here?”
And how did he get in?

As if reading my mind Trevor responds, “Your friend let me in. I was out last night thinking about everything you told me when I bumped into that cat. She told me where you’re going. I’m going with you.”

“Really?” I give him a questioning look.

He shrugs. “Yeah.”

I walk over and throw my arms around him in a hug. “I’m glad you’re coming but what about your Mom?” I have to step back a bit to see into his eyes. Trevor is so tall compared to Ryan.

“I told her that I was going to see my uncle,” Trevor says.

“But won’t she—”

“Uhum.”

At the sound of Ryan clearing his throat I quickly let go of Trevor and move away. Ryan stares at us, or me, with uncertainty.

“He’s coming with us!” I say with a little too much excitement. Trevor’s eyes narrow slightly at Ryan.

I’m about to introduce them, just in case they don’t know each other, when Trevor says, “We already know each other.”

Trevor’s voice is light, a little smug even. Ryan throws him a look and I stand there puzzled. When had they ever met? Trevor is always in seclusion, at least that’s what I thought since I never see him, and I know for a fact that he doesn’t go around introducing himself. Dark banging on the door breaks the stiff silence that hangs over the kitchen. I go to open it.

“We should leave now,” she tells us.

“Okay. I’m going to grab some stuff. Are you guys going to bring anything?”

“We won’t be gone that long will we?” Ryan asks and I shrug. I’m sure the last thing he wants to do is go home. I think of Dad. Hopefully we won’t be gone too long.

“Eat anything you can find. I’ll be right back.”

I race up the stairs and plug in the automatic fish feeder, fill it, then set the timer. I throw on some jeans and a dark green shirt with an outline of a thick, messily drawn black heart on the front. I pull out a backpack from my closet and look around my room. I’m not really sure what I should bring. I wish I knew where we were going exactly.

I take one of my sweater jackets out of my closet and shove it in the bag. I dig a flashlight out of a box full of odds and ends and throw it in the backpack as well. Do I need anything else? I could bring extra clothes but with two boys coming along I’m not sure I want to do any changing. I go over to the drawer with my shirts, but when I open it my dad’s box glints up at me. I’d forgotten about it. I gingerly touch the initials.

“Lissa hurry up!” Dark yells.

“I’m coming,” I call back. I’ll have to open it when we get back. I tear out a piece of paper from the pad I had given Ryan last night and fold it in half. I grab a pen then take a deep breath before going back downstairs.

Ryan is sitting at the table; Trevor is still leaning on the counter, but with an apple in his hand. I go to the fridge, grab the last peach, and then I grab two pieces of bread and butter them. I set them on the counter next to the paper. Darklily watches curiously while I scribble down words.

“What are you doing?” she asks.

“Leaving a note for Kelly.”

Ryan comes to my other side. “Who’s Kelly?” he asks.

“She’s the maid. I’m just going to ask her to check on my fish for me.”

Kelly,

I’ve decided to take a trip to see Grandma Pearl. Since nobody’s here, just come every three weeks or whenever you think is best to check up on things. If it’s not too much trouble can you check the fish feeder in my room? The food is in the green box beside my dresser. I’ve left money on the counter for more food if you run out. I
usually buy the tropical flakes. Do not unplug it just take the top off and fill it up. Then watch them for a few minutes to make sure they look healthy.

Thank you SO much Kelly.

I pause then add,
for everything
. I never once thought I’d be so grateful to our maid. She never did anything big, just little things like cook a fun dinner or hide desserts, she didn’t run around town telling everyone that our family was falling apart, but she could have.

“How would they look if they weren’t healthy?” Ryan asks, sounds genuinely concerned.

“Dead,” Trevor pipes up in a mocking voice.

Ignoring Trevor I say, “They’d be listless, not eating, lying on the bottom—”

“Dead,” Trevor repeats.

I mentally shove Trevor and say, “I’m sure they will be fine.” Ryan opens his mouth to say something but Trevor cuts him off, “She said they’ll live. I thought we were in a hurry.”

I stick the note under a cow magnet, then re-read it to make sure I hadn’t missed anything. Grandma Pearl is fictional but Kelly doesn’t know that and besides how would I explain the truth? Hopefully Mom won’t call Kelly. If she does and Kelly mentions my visiting a Grandma Pearl I hope she doesn’t blurt out that I don’t have one. According to Mom I have no family outside her and Dad. I insisted that there must be someone out there related to us. Mom just laughed saying there wasn’t—alive anyway.

I go to the pantry and grab as many energy bars as we have. I zip the backpack up and put it on. Picking up my peach and pieces of bread, I turn to Dark. “Alright, let’s go.”

“Finally.” Dark leads us into the woods.

Chapter 8

Darklily takes us to my special spot. Her paws are at the edge of the drop and she’s taking deep breaths.

“This is incredible!” Ryan's voice is full of awe as he stares at the scene before us.

The rising sun glows a soft pink, but tints the sky a soft orange. The dewdrops of water look like a million little crystals sparkling on the forest trees where the sun touches them. The light glittering on top is a sharp contrast to the misty, gray-black shadows that haunt the forest floor. Dark’s eyes are squinted against the sun and she continues sniffing the air.

“What are you sniffing for? You know, I’ve been here and explored these woods a thousand times. There’s no planet around here.”

“You know about this place?” Ryan asks.

“I come here almost every day in the summer. To think and escape if I need to.”

“If only I had paper and pencils,” Ryan says wistfully. Trevor mutters something. I make a mental note to bring Ryan here again.

“All right.” Dark’s tail is bushed, the fur along her spine risen in excitement. Ryan and I look at each other in confusion but Trevor looks vaguely excited. I forgot he was a werewolf. And if he’s like all the werewolves I’ve read about in books, then he should have heightened senses.

Suddenly there’s a forceful
whoosh
of air. I take a deep breath. It's like nothing I’ve ever smelled. The air is just
different
. Laced with so many rich scents I have trouble picking out individual ones.
An abundance of oxygen, plants, sweetness like pineapple, volcanic lava and steam, flowers, trees, grass and dirt—
the list seems endless. Just as soon as it blows over us, it ebbs away. Leaving an upsetting vacancy of smells behind it.

“What was that?” I breathe.

Darklily purrs proudly. “That was my world, Pandorma. We must hurry before the portal closes. Jump,” Dark commands.

We stare at her like she’s crazy. Jump where? To our deaths? This ledge has to be at least a hundred foot drop, maybe more. Dark’s emerald eyes glitter.

“See this,” she waves a spotted paw in a large circle. I can faintly see a disturbance. A shimmery veil hanging about six feet away. I lean closer to see it better. It’s almost like water. The sunlight streams through it, but reflects back causing a faint glistening pool of light.

“Go. But whatever you do, do
not
leave until I am there.” Darklily’s voice is urging but dead serious. Trevor nods and steps to the ledge. I have no doubt that he’ll make it, but when he jumps fear for him clutches my chest. The veil shudders and spreads like a splatter of paint then goes back to its original form. It happens in a split second.

Dark indicates with her tail that I’m next. I feel myself automatically gulp. It has to be at least six feet away. I’m 5’6. I’m no super jumper. Even with a running start it’s nothing impressive.

“Uh, can Ryan go first? I mean, shouldn’t he go first?”

Ryan gives me a mischievous smile. “Ladies first.”

“Everyone knows that that is a guy’s first excuse when he’s scared.”

“I’m not scared, just trying to be polite. Are you scared?” Ryan taunts.

“No.”

“Waiting,” Dark meows.

Despite Ryan saying that he isn’t scared I can tell that he is. I can see it in his eyes and he’s tense.
Like you aren’t scared too,
the voice in my head scolds.

Darklily breaks the silence. “When I say hurry, I mean
go.
”

I give her a pleading look; she throws me a stern one. So I suck in my fear. Maybe if I just stare at the landing spot I’ll land there. I zero in on what I hope is the edge of the veil. I go back a few steps. I give myself a few seconds to gather some bravery then take off. Everything seems to slow down once my foot leaves the ground. I watch as the veil draws closer. As it does, I can make out obscure gray shapes inside the veil. I feel the tip of my shoe hit the edge. Then slip.

My scream comes out as a choked gurgle. I think I hear Ryan yell, but everything is muffled. As my arms catch the frame of the veil it quivers and stretches. There isn’t an edge that I can use to pull myself up, just a smooth, flat surface. It’s very solid for something that has a liquid appearance. I dig my elbows in as best I can and pull.
Don’t fall, don’t fall, don’t fall.
Adrenaline pumps through me as I desperately pull the upper half of my body up. I can hear a slight whoosh coming from the veil and feel myself being sucked in.

Using all my strength I pull one leg partially in then I’m wrenched in the rest of the way. I must have closed my eyes, although I don’t remember doing so. When I open them I’m lying in dirt. I push myself into a sitting position. That was not like I expected. I thought there’d be a long ‘hall’ that I’d be in. Flying past space and stuff like that. But there wasn’t. It happened in the blink of an eye. If I traveled through a tunnel or anything, I didn’t see it.

I look around. Leaves are everywhere. Not regular leaves though. These have to be eight feet wide and twenty feet tall. And the color—let's just say that I’ve never seen leaves like these. The middle of the leaf is a dark green, the edges a deep plum purple.
Where’s Trevor?

I hesitantly call his name. No response. I’m about to call him again when Ryan appears at my side, his side brushing against mine. A few millimeters more and he’d have been on top of me. Ryan instantly stands and offers me a hand; I take it. Darklily barrels into us. Knocking me back to the ground and Ryan into a grove of leaves, which close behind him. He reappears seconds later, his face stormy.

“Darklily!” he growls. She gives him an innocent look.

“It’s not
my
fault you guys were standing in the way.” I try to smother a giggle as I stand back up. Dark glances around. “Where’s Trevor?” she asks.

“Here.” Trevor comes out of a cluster of leaves to my right.

I look up at the perfect blue sky then back at the leaves.
I can’t believe it.
We are actually on a different planet—not somewhere in the mountains or another country. The fact that we are on a different world blows me away.

Dark is looking around uncertainly. “I think we need to head this way.”

Ryan seems to process this faster than I can. “You think?” he asks disbelievingly.

Darklily flinches at his tone, but hers is firm, “It’s a big planet and portals never appear in the same place twice. I haven’t been everywhere on my planet, have you been everywhere on yours?”

Ryan purses his lips. He moves closer to my side and looks around. He looks amazed like me but also nervous.

“We’re safe right now,” Dark assures, picking up on his apprehension.

Ryan looks at me to see if I believe her and I shrug. We don’t really have the choice of whether we should believe her or not. I look at Trevor to see what he thinks but he’s staring at the sky. He looks down, his eyes narrowed, his chest moving in and out as he breathes deeply.

Dark walks over to him. “We’d better get moving. It’s always best not to stay in one place for long. An extra nose would be really helpful.”

Trevor gets the hint and goes behind the leaves. When he reappears he’s a wolf. His fur is dirty blond like his hair, although the brown seems to be darker and more prominent than the blond, the exact opposite when he’s human. I crouch down in front of him.

“That is amazing.”

Trevor gives me a wolfish grin. “Thanks.”

I look at him surprised. “You can talk? I thought werewolves could only communicate to others in their head or something like that.”

“Am I talking to you in your head?”

Before I can answer Ryan asks, “What? He’s a werewolf? Why didn’t you tell me that? Is there anything else I should know?” Ryan sounds betrayed like we’d purposely kept Trevor’s secret from him. We hadn’t—at least I hadn’t, but I know how he feels.

“Did you know that we’re here to destroy an evil villain?” I’m joking but Ryan doesn’t take it that way.

“No. You only said her world was in trouble,” he answers, irritation briefly flashing in his eyes.

“Well that’s why we’re here.”

“That’s why
you
are here,” Dark corrects. “This way,” she says. She takes the lead, continually disappearing then reappearing; with Trevor in the back that leaves Ryan and me together. We keep looking at each other than looking away. Just as I’m going to say something he says, “I’m sorry I got upset. I just don’t like surprises. I find that they’re usually a bad thing,” he says, his voice turning grim.

“I didn’t mean to. I recently found out that Trevor could shift as well.”

He nods then, after a pause, smiles at me. “Up until a few minutes ago I thought Darklily was insane,” he whispers, his eyes sparkling.

“Well she proved us both wrong,” I say just as quietly.

We settle into silence until Dark drops back to walk by us.

“Do you know what kind of leaves these are? Or do you not have names for different types of plants?” I ask.

“If they have a name it's because—,” she falters, “these are Bingo leaves. They come in many ranges of colors. Not bright like a flower though, always deep and dreary. Some of the plants here have general names, but none are definite,” Dark tells me.

I frown, wondering what she was going to say, but don’t bring it up. “What about certain places?”

“Yeah, nowadays they do,” she says with slight disgust. “Ever since the war started certain places have been named so that there’s no confusion,” Dark pauses and breathes deeply. “If I remember correctly we’re in Shapen. But I’m not positive. The map I was shown wasn’t very detailed.”

“Why not?” That seems odd. If you were battling an enemy wouldn’t you want a very comprehensive map?

Darklily presses forward, her steps caught between uncertain and purposeful. “Have no idea,” she finally says.

“It smells like we’re heading toward something that’s burning,” Trevor says; appearing out of nowhere he looks at Dark uncertainly. I take a deep breath. I can’t smell anything. Darn.

“I can’t tell though—there are too many scents,” Trevor admits.

“It's not fire,” Dark reassures so we keep going forward. The smoky smell increasing with every step we travel.

I can see snippets of light through the thickly grown leaves. My next steps take me out of the leafy forest and I gasp. Spread before us are billowing columns of smoke that blast up into the sky out of numerous fissures in the earth. The steam endlessly rolls upward, creating a smoky blue sky.

“I guess I took the wrong way,” Dark says, sounding a little mortified.

“That’s okay,” I tell her.

“We’ll just go around,” Trevor says affirmatively then looks to Dark for agreement. Her whiskers twitch. I notice he has shifted back into human form.

“We could, but if we go the wrong way we’ll be even farther from where we’re trying to get to and we don’t have a ton of time.”

“Where are we going?” Ryan asks.

“The Vacant Stones,” Dark says simply as if we know where that is.

“What happens when we get there?” I ask.

Darklily swallows. “Uh . . . you’ll get trained . . . hopefully. Then you can go defeat Medusa and Xavier.”

“That’s it? You make it sound so easy. No danger or life-threatening situations? How boring.”

Ryan gives me a funny look. “I’m kidding,” I say.

Trevor says, “You’re welcome to put yourself in danger anytime because I’ll be there to save you.”

“Thanks but I can save myself.”

“Ha. Let's see you face off against a creature ten times more powerful. And when he’s got you overpowered and is about to claw your throat out, who will you be crying for?” Trevor mocks. I shove him as hard as I can and he jumps sideways in order not to fall.

“Certainly not you,” Ryan mutters. Trevor’s eyes narrow.

Dark flicks an ear. “I think Lissa will end up saving you, Trevor.”

“I was only joking. Lighten up, jeez.” He turns away, watching another column blow into the sky.

Dark flicks her tail then turns away. A breeze springs up, brushing my hair across my face along with a blend of smells.

“Perfect,” Dark says. “Strawberries. If we could just ask another animal for directions, then we won't have to go in circles.” Trotting, she sets off in the direction the breeze had blown.

I take breath after breath but I can’t smell anything.
How unfair.
Animals have everything.
Trevor wanders in and out of sight, once again a wolf. Darklily’s rapid pace puts her far ahead, but I glimpse her every now and then.

After several minutes of walking in silence I say, “You know . . . Dark says I’m the one who can help because I can turn into animals.”

Ryan frowns. Twice he starts to say something but changes his mind.

“Medusa and Xavier are the ones destroying Pandorma. Dark says they can shift into any animal on this planet and that I’m like them.”

“Do you believe her? I mean . . . how is it even possible? To be able to turn into animals, I mean.”