Shift (The Pandorma Adventures Book 1) (33 page)

My blood rushes with exhilaration. This is powerful. This is not giving up. Medusa had ground me into the dirt before. She had pitted her strength against mine, and not only would I match it next time, I would surpass it. Because now I am ready, I’m prepared for whatever she has to throw at me. I won't be caught off guard, won't be gutted like a pathetic coward. I will not tremble in a corner or turn tail and flee.

The glowing orange sun has half sunk into the ocean. I run and jump as high and as far as I can,
dolphin,
and dive into the glassy waters.
The ocean is not off limits, neither are the forests, deserts, or stars.

The world is my playground.

Chapter 26

My knees are tucked tightly against my chest. I’m watching waves continually slap themselves against the shore like a broken record. But that would be to the average person. My hearing is so acute now that I can hear some variations with each slap. The beach I rest on is like out of a fairy tale book.

The sand is a beautiful white, peaceful palm trees gently wave in the breeze, their shadows skillfully etched onto the sand and tufts of grass. A magnificent, large full moon hangs just above the serene waves—as if it too wants to sink itself into the mysterious waters and bathe in the palpable tranquility.

“Hey.”

The gentle voice makes me nearly have a heart attack. I’m so in tune with everything around me that it is the only thing I can see, hear, and smell. He chuckles softly and sits next to me. My heart skips with beats of overwhelming joy at who it is. I slowly turn my head hoping it’s not an illusion.

Ryan sits next to me. He doesn’t disappear, doesn’t dissolve. The wind tussles his hair like it does mine and the moon shining off his face makes his features appear more grown up, hiding the boyish characteristics I’m so familiar with.

I spring into his arms before I can stop myself and we fall back onto the sand. Names that I can call him for running off run through my head, but not one makes it out. I pull back and stare into his torrential brown eyes.

“Where have you been?” I don’t mean to sound so accusatory, but it sounds that way anyway.

“It took longer than I thought for us to get back.”

“Uh, yeah. You were gone for almost five days.” Though it felt like five years.

“I’m sorry.”

“Did you find Shiver? Was she okay?”

“Yes she was okay and very happy to see me. She would
not
stop talking,” he laughs. “We should get some sleep. We have to get up before sunrise so that we don’t miss the portal.” Ryan stands and brushes his pants off.

“I’m going to stay here for a little longer.” I want to stay here forever, because these kinds of moments are so short and they never repeat. I don’t want this moment to slip through my fingers until I’m ready for it to.

Instead of arguing, Ryan sits back down and stays with me to watch the moon dip its feet in the luminous ocean water.

* * * *

“Hey, wake up,” a hushed voice whispers in my ear. I don’t want to wake up so I try to force sleep to come back. It jubilantly scuttles away when Dark speaks again, telling me to wake up. Reluctantly I open my eyes and stare into her large emerald ones.

“Get out of my face,” I mumble and sit up.

Dark pulls back and starts prodding Ryan. “He doesn’t wake easily does he?”

“Nope.”

“Hey Lover Boy, if you don’t wake up now, Lissa is leaving without you.” This does the trick. Ryan’s eyes snap open.

“Dark where do you get these people sayings from?” I ask as I stand. I start brushing off the sand sticking to my skin and trying to get it out of my clothes.

Dark grumbles, “I
was
stuck on Earth for a time. I just picked them up.”

It's still relatively dark, but sunlight is starting to trickle across the sky. Ryan stands and we follow Dark off the beach.

“Do you have any idea where we’ll end up?” I ask somewhat nervously.

“Not a clue,” she says, her voice emotionless.

Great, so we could plop onto the middle of a busy highway, or in a classroom filled with kids, or into a crocodile infested lagoon—

“We’ll need some money so that we're not stranded.” Ryan interrupts my runaway thoughts and opens the door to a different problem. The idea of a money tree growing here isn’t that farfetched is it? Ryan seems to be thinking the same thing but Dark crushes any hope.

“Money?”

“Yes. It's green and rectangular—”

“No, there’s nothing like that.”

The idea of getting dropped anywhere on Earth without a single penny is not very appealing.

“We might have to use a different type of money,” Ryan says.

“Like what?” I ask puzzled. The only other kind of money I can think of is coins and I don’t feel like carrying around pounds of them. A mysterious smile spreads across Ryan’s face.

“Come on, I’ll show you.” He takes my hand and begins leading me to the unknown place. A muttering Dark halfheartedly trails behind us.

We have to fight through a thick tangle of vines and weeds, but when we get past them I see that Ryan has lead me to an undreamed of place. It is made entirely of gleaming gold. The grass is gold, the trees and bushes, with their palm sized four-petal flowers and strawberry-like fruit, and every single leaf and rock. The only thing that is not gold is the dirt.

I pluck a golden leaf, wondering if it will disappear in my fingers. It doesn’t.

“How did you find this place?”

“Ran across it while I was going to get Shiver.”

“Better hurry, sun’s coming up,” Dark tells us unenthusiastically.

Ryan tosses me a leaf pack that he seems to get out of nowhere. I don’t waste time asking him where he got it. The sun seems to be rising more swiftly, challenging us. I stuff leaves, rocks, flowers, and fruit until its overfull and I have to dump some out to close the top. The pack, which has a single middle strap, is light green. It looks like a duffel bag in every way except for the color and if people look close enough they will find the material very odd.

“Hurry,” Dark mutters.

I look up to see Ryan attempting to put his sword in his bag, but it won’t fit. Yeah, we are definitely going to stand out. Good thing he decided to leave his bow at the tunnels.

“Just carry it and follow me,” Dark says impatiently.

Easier said than done. Dark plows through the leafy wall and leads us over the forested hills that create a second barrier around the golden spot. Dark races over hills as if they aren’t there, finally coming to a stop at the top of one. Trevor is sitting in the grass nearby, but now stands. Shiver jumps up as well. Dark sniffs the ground and air then sits down. I give Shiver a hug and listen to her story of everything that had happened since we left her.

Dark cuts her off by saying, “The portal is opening.” Dark blinks rapidly and turns her head away. I’m surprised that I can tell exactly where the portal is. I can smell Earth. The air is dry, slightly salty, and oh, the wonderful smell of exhaust. That is something I have not missed.

“What if we stayed here?” I ask.

“We should find out if Medusa is telling the truth about your father,” he says quietly.

I look down. Last night I told him about Medusa saying she killed my father. I told him that I’m sure Dad is still safe with Mom—but deep inside I’m afraid he’s not. And I’m afraid to find out the truth. I ask Dark, “We won’t end thousands of feet up or in the ocean right?”

“Only ocean portals lead to the ocean and sky portals to the sky,” Dark answers briskly.

Somewhat of a relief. I look at Ryan.
“It’ll be okay,”
he mouths.

“I wish I could go with you Lis, but I belong on Pandorma,” Shiver tells me sadly.

I give her a kiss on her head. “Don’t worry, I’ll be back.” I turn to Trevor.

“I’m not going,” Trevor says flatly. I had expected this, but hearing it makes me sad. “Tell my mom something so she won’t worry okay?” he says and then swallows hard.

“Like what?” I ask.

“Make something up. You’ve always been good at that.” Trevor takes my hand and stares at me for longer than necessary, reluctantly letting go at the sound of Ryan shifting his weight. I give Trevor a quick hug goodbye before crouching next to Dark. I take a breath to say something but Dark cuts in. “Don’t. If you make me cry in front of these knuckleheads well . . . I’m sure we’ll need you soon and when we do, I’ll come get you,” she finishes, her voice sad.

“I’ll be ready.” I hug her tightly, then gritting my teeth I get up and stand in front of the portal. The portal rests inches above the ground on the sloping side of the hill. Closing my eyes and gripping the bag tightly I step through.

I land on my feet. It’s drizzling. I slowly open my eyes and look around. I stand on the edge of a road. A truck roars past, whipping smelly air into my face. I wrinkle my nose and hold my breath.

Remembering that Ryan is right behind me I quickly move aside before he steps on me. He appears seconds later, a sigh of relief coming from him when he sees that we’re not somewhere dangerous.

We’re on the outskirts of a big, loud city. I take in the numerous tall buildings and when I look at our surroundings more carefully, I realize that we must be in New York City.

Chapter 27

My senses are killing me. I’m used to the sense overload in Pandorma, but this is insane. This is like a constant screeching, roaring, chattering, pounding sound. It’s a huge jumble of scents: smoke, concrete, food, sweat, car exhaust; sounds: people talking and yelling at each other, the hum of electricity, car horns, tires squealing, sirens; and I can pick out the glow of neon signs, billboard lights, the unnatural, harsh white glow of light bulbs.

Ryan takes my hand. “Come on,” he says.

He leads us through the confusing maze of pristine, tall, windowed buildings and as we get deeper into the city I take in the charged energy and I feel myself relax. Memories of the last time I was in New York City with my dad bounce through my mind and everything I had felt then rushes through me.

Ryan stops in front of one of the buildings and we head inside.

“Do you want to wait here while I exchange this?” he asks, gesturing to the bags of gold.

“Sure,” I say and hand him my bag. I sit down in one of the chairs and stare outside, watching the people pass by, trying to guess what their life is like.

It’s not long before Ryan’s back. “We’re good to go. They had to make sure I didn’t rob a bank or anything,” he laughs. “When they asked where I got it from I told them my wealthy aunt recently passed away.”

“It’s a good thing they don’t know where you really got it from,” I remark.

As we head out of the building and back into the crowd he asks, “Should we find a hotel and shower or get new clothes first?”

I think for a minute then answer, “Let’s get new clothes. If we showered now we wouldn’t have anything clean to put on.”

“Clothes it is then,” he says, picking up my hand.

* * * *

Ryan follows me around as I scan through the clothes.

“Here.” Ryan hands me a dark blue knee-length dress; the slit sleeves hang off the shoulders. Starting at the waist, deep blue leather strings lace up the front, fanning out at the top. “Or,” Ryan pulls out a different dress; this one is green also having sleeves that hang off the shoulder. Ryan teases out another dress, this one is light blue. The bottom has numerous pleats and again the sleeves are hanging off the shoulder.

“I think I see a pattern here.”

Ryan shrugs.

“I’d rather have jeans,” I say. “Knowing me I’ll probably trip and fall and everyone will see my underwear.”

Ryan throws back his head and laughs. “Lissa, it’s not like you’re a clumsy person.”

“I know. It’s just the kind of thing that would happen to me.”

We don’t find any jeans though, only dressy pants.

“Looks like I’ll have to wear a dress.” I take the dresses from Ryan’s hand and a pale yellow dress that feels like silk. Last of all I pick out a pair of decent silk pajamas. After picking clothes we head to the shoes but I can only find polished high heels so we head to the register.

Once paid for, I eagerly scamper into a dressing room and change into the dark blue dress—forget showering, I just want to get out of my torn, dirty clothes. I notice Ryan has changed into his new clothes as well.

I throw my old clothes in the first trashcan we pass once we exit the shop. Next we go on the hunt for shoes. We find Saks Fifth Avenue to have the best selection. Ryan gets some boots and I only look over a few shelves of shoes before I just pick a pair of black sandals.

Ryan and I consolidate our clothes into two shopping bags. While we’re doing this I realize he no longer holds his sword.

“Where’s your sword?”

Ryan pats the right side of his pant leg. “I wrapped some of the fabric from my old jeans around it,” he says.

We walk a few blocks of absurdly crowded streets before I ask, “So . . . how do we find my dad?”

He gives me a sympathetic glance before answering, “We should start by checking the news, see if anyone has recently turned up dead. If there’s nothing then we should track down your mother and see if she knows where he is.”

“Okay,” I say unhappily.

“Lissa, you should find out whether or not Medusa is telling the truth.”

“I know. I’m just afraid that she is. Can’t we try to find Medusa first?”

Ryan stiffens. “I think we should leave Medusa alone. Isn’t your father’s death warning enough?”

“Yes but if he really is dead then what else can she do?”

Ryan glances around then takes my hand, pulling me along until we reach the edge of a park, Central Park. Ryan sits on a wood bench and I do the same, just more slowly, unsure of what to expect. Ryan looks ahead so I do to. In front of us is part of a pond, the water rippling and reflecting the blue sky and shadowy tree figures among its murky-brown color. I turn and look at Ryan when he starts speaking.

“She can do plenty. She nearly killed you and next time she’ll make sure she does.”

“I wasn’t ready for her, that’s all. Next time I will be. I can train more. I can train myself to shift faster.”

“No. You’re not going to face her again,” he says firmly.

“I
have
to. She killed my father and she needs to be stopped.”

Ryan clenches his hands into fists and stands up. “You know what she did?” he asks, the anger and frustration in his voice just barely contained. “She found me
hiding.
She told me that you were basically dead but that if by some miracle you were alive, I needed to keep you far, far away from her. If she feels threatened by you in even the smallest way she’ll come after all of us. Then once she’s done with us, she’ll come after you.”

This silences me and Ryan sits back down. Medusa has reached a whole new level of heartless if she’ll go after little Shiver.

“We can’t let her win,” I say.

“I can’t lose you. That’s more important to me than finding her and trying to stop her.”

Well not to me. I can’t just let her get away.
Surely I can go after her without all the people I love getting hurt, right? She can’t be everywhere at once and Trevor and Dark can take care of themselves. They’ll keep Shiver safe and I can keep Ryan safe. I glance at Ryan. It doesn’t matter what I say, he’s not going to agree. “We’ll talk about Medusa later,” I say.

He nods and runs his hands through his hair. “I should be able to protect you,” he mumbles.

I want to point out that I’m more than capable of protecting myself—maybe not facing off against Medusa but definitely in other situations. Instead I realize this is a perfect opportunity to tell him he might be able to shift. “Ryan . . .”

“Yeah?” He looks at me when I don’t finish.

I nervously play with my dress and I don’t look at him as I say this. “What if you could shift too? I know it doesn’t seem possible at first but . . . I didn’t think I could but I can.”

“I can’t shift,” he says, his voice closed off.

“But—”

“No,” he says harshly.

People look our way and I swallow. “Okay,” I say quietly.

“Let’s go find a hotel,” he says.

I follow him quietly, hurt by his harshness. We walk out of the park and Ryan flags a cab, giving the driver directions, he screeches away from the curb, throwing me back against the seat.

* * * *

Our cab stops in front of the hotel.

“Thank goodness,” I mutter, glad we’d reached our destination in one piece.

Ryan laughs quietly then pays the driver and we get out of the cab. I look up at the building's gold lettered name. The Waldorf-Astoria. Ryan pushes open the metal-framed glass door and we walk into the lobby. In the center is a large, ornate clock; a gold lady on top extends her arm toward the ceiling.

As I stare around I wonder if he’s made a mistake coming in here. This is the most magnificent place I’ve ever been in. Ryan stops at the front desk and asks the man for the best room available. While Ryan signs us in I walk over to the clock, gazing at the design.

“Lissa,” Ryan calls softly. I turn to find him waiting by the elevator. I jog over to him and hop on, catching the clerk’s befuddled look before the doors close. It takes me a few minutes to realize why. Here we are asking for the best available room, but all we have are two shopping bags.

The hallway we walk down is carpeted cherry-red, the walls a pristine eggshell white. Gold Egyptian-like hieroglyphs run along the rims of the doors. Ryan opens an attractive door and gestures for me to go in first.

The very expensive-looking room completely blows me away. It’s like a house—a very expensive designer kind of house.

I walk through an open door into the bedroom, which holds the biggest, tallest bed I’ve ever seen. At the back, glass doors open onto a balcony. And the partly open bathroom door hints at a splendidly large bathtub.

Ryan, who had followed right behind me, opens the balcony doors and goes out. Noise filters through the open doors and into my ears. I trail him. We’re not in the busiest part of town, but the noise is still raucous to me. Buildings, noise, and people are not a shortage around here.

“I’m going to go back to the front desk to get newspapers. We should start trying to find your dad.” Ryan pauses before leaving and looks back. “I’m sorry I snapped at you,” he says.

“That’s okay,” I say with nonchalance I don’t feel. I still feel stung. He leaves and I go back in, closing the doors behind me. The noise is somewhat cut off.

I noticed that he flinched at several loud noises. I go over to the plush bed and climb onto it. The material hugs my body as I slowly sink into it. I lay still, thinking. Maybe he’s just not used to the noise? Pandorma is awfully quiet most of the time—nature isn’t that loud. This must be the reason. If it’s not then that means he’s lied to me, which doesn’t make sense because how could he know he’s a shifter? It’s not something you can just know without being told. I had absolutely no clue until Dark told me.

I shake my head. His ears just aren’t used to the noise and Earth is loud.

* * * *

We’ve been sitting here for several hours. Pouring over every newspaper Ryan could get. Every time we get through a newspaper and we find nothing about my father, my hope that he might still be alive grows stronger.

Ryan sighs, sets down his newspaper and rubs his face. “Let's get something to eat.”

“Great,” I say quickly. The faster we get out of here the better. We haven’t found anything yet and I don’t want my hope to get squashed. I force myself to walk instead of run out of our room and outside.

* * * *

Ryan suppresses a yawn and continues flipping through channels even though nothing is on. Dinner didn’t take nearly long enough. Ryan tried not to show it, but I could tell he was eager to get back as soon as we sat down at our table at the restaurant. I inwardly sigh. I think he was afraid that if we were out too long Medusa would see us. I guess just eating or walking through the streets could be a threat to Medusa.

The scenes flashing across the television are all that light up the room—glowing light and dark, off and on, like various flashlights being messed with.

I catch a glimpse of a man transforming into a wolf. Ryan sighs. “Here.” He hands me the remote then stands up. “I’m going to go to bed. I’m exhausted,” he adds when he sees my disappointed face.

The couch evens out and I’m no longer tipped to the side. I lie down.

“Goodnight,” his voice floats to me from inside the bedroom.

“Goodnight,” I call back.

Nothing catches my attention so I reluctantly stop on the news. I’ve always wondered if everything they report is completely true. I prefer to avoid the news but there’s nothing else on.

“Police are still baffled by the gruesome mauling that took place Sunday afternoon. It seems that a large cat was either let into the healthcare center or somehow accidentally wandered in. Nearby zoos were asked if any of their large cats had recently escaped but so far nothing has turned up. Some have suggested that possibly an exotic pet cat escaped but that can’t be confirmed either. Police are still seeking any information to this man’s real identity as he was admitted to the center under a false name. If anyone has any information please call the number at the bottom of the screen.”

The newscaster goes on to talk about other things, but I don’t hear a single word. I sit paralyzed. The picture of the man had been somewhat blurry, but that didn’t matter because I’d know his face anywhere.

The man is my father.