Shifter Magick (22 page)

Maddox pulled a few suit cases inside the small dorm room to clear a path for his exit. “Don’t forget our plans Kera.”
He shot her a stern look.

No going out alone. Stay close to campus and walk with the crowd. Take the campus bus, keep up the façade that her ankle was still hurt. And the list went on and on. Kera scowled at him. “I remember.”

His eyes softened. “The other plans too Kera. Your birthday surprise, remember?”

“Oh.” She looked at her fingers for a moment.

Maddox took a few steps, and then gently brought up her chin in his fingers. He knelt down and kissed her lips.

Kera wrinkled her nose. She hated kissing him before she brushed her teeth.

He kissed her wrinkled nose and chuckled. “I’ll pick you up at four.”

She watched him leave, then took a deep breath and popped a mint into her mouth.

“Oh my god that is so not fair.”
Rebecca abandoned her things and plopped on her bed. “If I’d known what was happening I wouldn’t have stayed at home another week. My mom was pretty crazy though. They still haven’t caught that animal.”

Kera sat up and smoothed out her hair. “I don’t think they will.” She glanced at the door that Maddox had just gone out. He left her every day to go look for Andrew with no luck. It was like he vanished.

The last two weeks were tedious and filled with tension. Yeah, it had a lot to do with Andrew threatening her then disappearing. Tori had stopped by a few times to see if Rebecca had shown back up. Kera figured she also did it to nose in on her and Maddox. Everyone talked about it. Kera hated that Maddox could hear every word like she could. It made her sick to know that not one person thought she measured up to his standards. Girls could be very cruel.

If Rebecca was thinking the same thing, she didn’t show it. Kera got the picture that she considered it a good thing that a girl like Kera could catch the eye of someone as obviously gorgeous as Maddox. Kera still wasn’t sure what she thought of his attraction to her. She wasn’
t ugly.
She considered herself classically pretty. More natural. Long blond hair and green eyes. She was tan and had an athletic body. But she wasn’t supermodel pretty either. Then again, supermodels were delicate. Because of her mom, Kera wasn’t.

“So it’s your birthday?”

“Yeah.” Kera got out of bed and started going through her clothes. She had one class this morning, then she would be free to spend the weekend with Maddox.

“Twenty one or two?” Rebecca hefted her suitcases onto her bed and began unloaded the contents. Kera noticed that the clothes all still had tags on them. Now that she looked around at her roommate’s belongings, she realized Rebecca’s parents must be well off.

“Twenty one.” She answered.

Rebecca smiled at her and then winked. “
Twenty-
first birthday surprise
huh?
Maybe Maddox is
gifting
you with
a bottle of wine and a bow
around his neck. Tell me if that happens
okay
? It would be so awesome.”

Kera squirmed at the image. She was an adult, but very innocent adult. She had her imagination but absolutely no experience other than what she and Maddox had indulged in this past two weeks. That alone left her hot and needy. She knew her mother tried to instill in her a guideline she wanted her to follow. She wanted her to keep things platonic until marriage. But who else would she ever be with other than Maddox. A piece of paper didn’t matter. Even if he moved on she wouldn’t ever find someone else. She knew that deep down inside of her.

Maddox was her everything.

She didn’t tell him that though. He told her he was attracted to her and that he liked her. He told her she was beautiful and that he missed her when they weren’t together. That wasn’t love. It wa
s… she didn’t know.

“Earth to Kera.” Rebecca prodded. “I need a promise from you on this one. Oh, and you have to tell me, have you two slept together yet?”

Kera’s head jerked up, a flush colored her cheeks.

Rebecca giggled. “Please tell me that’s a yes and this display of platonic cuddling is just a break from the juicy moments.”

She couldn’t say otherwise. Kera felt her mouth move, but nothing came out. Then she straightened her spine and clamped her lips shut.

Rebecca frowned.

“He’s respectful.” Kera told her. “I’m a virgin.”

Rebecca’s eyes went wide. “Oh.”

“Look
..
.” Cheeks heated, Kera changed quickly and tossed her hair up in a ponytail.
“It’s none of your business.”

“I was only kidding.”

Kera looked up to see Rebecca’s hurt
expression.
“
Sorry. You wouldn’t believe the things people say about me now. I didn’t expect to come here an
d
meet him you know. It just happened.”

Her roommate nodded. “I like you Kera. Don’t shut me out like those other girls. I need a friend too.”

“Yeah.” Kera agreed
absently. Even if she needed a friend, who could Kera talk to about what was going on in her life?
“I’ll see you later. I have class.” She grabbed her things and limped to the door, doing a good job faking a still healing ankle.

Before it shut behind her, Rebecca called out
,
“Happy birthday.”

Halfway through the
morning lecture
, a student walked
through the doors in the back of the classroom. Most students who had been zoning out took this opportunity to shift in their seats and watch the
student aid
make his way down the center aisle. He strutted as he past and even winked at a few. His messy blond hair and ocean green eyes were playfully animated. A boy in the back of the classroom called out to him.

“
Yo
Garrett.”

More students laughed at the disruption.

Garrett fanned himself with a yellow piece of carbon paper.

The professor had to clear his throat a few times before he was able to retrieve the piece of paper from
him
. He read it quickly
and then
looked dire
ctly at Kera. “Mrs. Conway, you
are needed in the
Ridge View Hall to speak with Professor Larson.”

The room was silent for a few heartbeats before
murmurs
began
to spread.

“Can it wait until after lecture?” Kera called down to him.

The professor didn’t look back at the note before answering. “You’re to be instructed to report immediately.”

Garrett smiled at her and winked. A few students in the front row laughed. “I’ll walk you.” He said to her.

Kera frowned as she gathered her things. Her heart started beating erratically in her chest. What could Luke Larson want with her today? Her birthday. The overwhelming question birthed new and
frightening
questions she didn’t realized she had been contemplating.
Someone wanted her here and she might just find out why today. Was her twenty first birthday important like her sixteenth?

Was this day the day someone else would die or that she would change again? She was afraid her insistence that she was only a shifter was coming to an end. What did it mean to be a
sorceress?
She
googled
it a few times, apart from fiction, sorcery was evil. She didn’t want to be involved in something like that.
She wanted to believe that was why her mother left it all behind. She was changing for the better. Maybe that was why she had never spoken about it.
Why else would she keep her heritage from her?

Garrett watched her as they walked out together. Kera rolled her eyes. She’d heard enough of the gossip since she started dating Maddox.

“Say it and get it over with.” She grumbled.

Garrett put his hands up in surrender. “Nothing.”

“It’s not funny.” Kera turned to him on a growl lower than humanly possible. “I’m not in the mood for this. I can take it from here.”

“Look Kera. I am a teacher’s aid. I have to bring you to Professor Larsen’s office or I get mark
s on my record.” His grin was gone now. As was all semblance
of humor
.

“Sorry Garrett.” She said sincerely. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m just not in a very good mood today.”

Garrett smiled. “We all have those days.”

Kera nodded.

When they arrived in the astronomy building Garrett was back to his good mood. He led Kara to room 318 and ran down the stairs after a friend. Kera glanced at the name plate and shivered. It was
strange to see her mother’s maiden name spelled out in bold letters on a name plate.
Professor Larson opened the door after the first knock causing another shiver to trace down her spine.

“Kera.” He exclaimed. “Happy birthday.”

“How did you know?”

Professor Larson laughed. “It’s common for an uncle to know his niece’s birthday.” He winked and motioned her inside his large office. He moved to sit on the edge of his desk and inclined his head to the chair opposite him. “Plus, I am a professor here and it’s within my rights to review student’s files.”

“But I’m not your student.” Kera responded. She stood by the door and ignored his unspoken request to sit in the chair before him.

Professor Larson’s eyes hardened. “You are my niece.”

“As far as I’m concerned your part of what my mother left behind. If she didn’t want me to know you then I’m not sure I want to.”

“That’s not very nice Kera.” He smirked and pushed himself off the desk gracefully. As he stepped around the chair she was supposed to sit in, he
began to chant something in another language. The breath left her lungs and her throat constricted. Kera dropped her bag and grabbed her throat. Her eyes watered. The beast inside her stretched and growled. It began to prowl inside her head, fighting to get out. The harder it tried the louder the Professor spoke. He stood before her now, his cold green eyes trained on hers. She watched his lips move as he spoke. She found herself nodding in agreement to something he asked. Something she couldn’t hear.

Blackness dotted her eyes.

“That’s not very nice Kera.” Her Uncle frowned.

Kera shifted in her seat. “I don’t understand.” She rubbed her temples to try and relieve the dull ache in her head. What was she saying? Oh yeah. “My mother never mentioned you.” She told him.

Luke nodded. “Laura was angry when she left. She wasn’t a bad person Kera, she was my sister and I loved her.”

Kera smiled. “She was a good person.”

“Yes.” Luke pushed himself off the desk and Kera felt herself tense in response.

The beast inside her stretched and growled. “I should go.” Kera stood from her seat and walked to the door, all the while forcing the beast inside her to remain locked away. She didn’t know why it suddenly wanted out, but she couldn’t do it in front of Professor Larson. She didn’t trust her new found uncle. Something was off about him.

Shaking off the last of her headache, Kera limped out of his office. The sun was shining but the breeze was cool. Kera wished she remembered to bring a jacket. The Ridge View Hall was on the edge of campus and the area was vacant. Kera shook her head and mouthed a silent apology to Maddox for breaking one of the rules. She still wasn’t used to being in danger. Before finding out that there were other shifters in the world, Kera felt kind of invincible. She didn’t fear anything but exposure. It would be hell to be locked away in some padded cell but she had been fairly certain that it would be even harder to capture her.

On the way back to her dorm, Kera’s cell rang. “Hi Julie.” She answered.

“Hi.” Her partner huffed. “I just finished reading over your proposal and I don’t think it’s going to work.”

“What’s not going to work?”

“Your research doesn’t fit with mine. How does outlining the first sociopath diagnosis cover the topic? There are so many other theories that need to be addressed and you didn’t even cover those.”

Kera ground her teeth. “Julie. Do you understand the assignment? We are to accomplish one goal. To understand how the human race figured out that some people didn’t have a conscience. How better to reach this goal than by understanding how the psychology scholars presented the case to their peers and collectively accepted to criteria as a model for diagnosing sociopathic behavior?”

Julie made an irritated noise. “Am I to accept that because you refused to work with me from the start, my research is useless? If we had done this as a team we wouldn’t have two completely different projects.”

She was right. Kera took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think about that possibility. I just thought we would find different sources and would be able to compare notes.” Julie remained silent but Kera could hear her crying on the other end of the phone. It was muffled and a normal person wouldn’t have a clue. Kera had never had to work in a group environment before. “We are a team Julie. I take full responsibility for this misunderstanding. We’ll do this on your terms from here on out. I promise.”