Shifter Magick Read online

  Table of Contents

  Prologue 3

  Chapter One 7

  Chapter Two 15

  Chapter Three 22

  Chapter Four 33

  Chapter Five 42

  Chapter Six 50

  Chapter Seven 59

  Chapter Eight 70

  Chapter Nine 78

  Chapter Ten 86

  Chapter Eleven 95

  Chapter Twelve 104

  Chapter Thirteen 111

  Chapter Fourteen 124

  Chapter Fifteen 132

  Chapter Sixteen 145

  Chapter Seventeen 151

  Chapter Eighteen 161

  Chapter Nineteen 169

  Chapter Twenty 179

  Chapter Twenty One 189

  Chapter Twenty Two 197

  Chapter Twenty Three 209

  Chapter Twenty Four 214

  Chapter Twenty Five 220

  Chapter Twenty Six 228

  Chapter Twenty Seven 238

  Chapter Twenty Eight 248

  Chapter Twenty Nine 258

  Prologue

  Kera’s new sandal snagged on another jagged root littering the forest floor. The state park surrounded the lake. Her friends would already be there waiting. She had never done anything like this before. Her heart still pounded from the initial shock that she actually went through with it.

  She snuck out of the house.

  Her parents would probably know by now. Her mom, Laura, liked to exaggerate and since her exaggerations came true sometimes, she always used it as an excuse. “I don’t have a good feeling about it Kera, you’re not going.”

  Kera rolled her eyes just remembering it. “I have gone to the lake every summer by myself for the past three years.” She had practically yelled at her mother. “I’m sixteen now. I can go where I want.”

  “Really?” Her mother closed up and Kera could tell she was done arguing. “Just because it’s your birthday doesn’t mean you don’t have to be careful. Anything could happen, you…”

  “Could die!” Kera cut her mother off with a dramatic shout. “Hi I’m Laura Conway and I think everyone is going to die because I can psychically predict the future with my strange feelings.” She felt only a twinge of guilt for mocking her mother now that she looked back on it. Her mother had looked hurt.

  That’s when her father intervened. “Go to your room young lady.” Dad was a military brat that never dropped the act. His strong athletic build was paired with cropped sandy blond hair and rich brown eyes to complete a down to earth look. Really, everyone loved her father.

  So did Kera. She was a daddy’s girl.

  She didn’t like being on the wrong side of her dad’s favor so she had huffed to her room. In the middle of her bed she saw her stupid birthday present and that’s when she had decided to do it.

  Kera stumbled out of her musings and fell to one knee. Jagged rocks cut into her knee and palms of her hands. “Great.” She hissed. This had to be the worst birthday ever. Her foot snagged on something and when she stood up the strap to her new sandal snapped.

  Her anger surged.

  Then, it was like a dam inside of her broke and released a tidal wave of confusion into her mind. The muscles in her body tensed. Her chest tightened and her breath came out in short pants. Kera tried to see but hot tears flooded her eyes. The loud pounding of her heart beat in her ears like a war drum. Her veins ran hot and panic began to creep into her thoughts. She could die. Wait, could she die from this? What was this?

  Had she been poisoned with some weird plant? Was she allergic to something she stepped on?

  She closed her unfocused eyes and tried to feel her way down the path she had taken a million times. She felt trapped. It felt like someone was watching her, laughing maybe. It was just her self-conscious thoughts, she knew that, but on top of the fear was embarrassment.

  What was happening to her?

  A sob broke free from her chest and Kera wanted to get angry. She hated to cry. But here in the forest Kera lost control over her body and her emotions.

  The loss of control resulted in a full body pain that had her screaming in agony. She saw things she didn’t understand. The smells around her made her sick and everything was loud. Too loud.

  Amidst the chaos, Kera hallucinated. She saw her hands distort and her nails grow into claws. She felt something awaken inside of her that was stronger than herself.

  Kera ran. She ran from the thing inside of her. She ran until she saw her mother’s car pass on the street ahead of her. Everything calmed inside of her like nothing had happened.

  Only then did Kera remember where she was.

  It was her birthday and this was her forest. She played in this forest when she was a kid and nothing had ever happened to her before. Her mother would make her go home if she saw her and Kera needed to go out with her friends now more than ever.

  It happened suddenly, the unexpected boom of metal crumpling on impact with something stronger than itself. Dread propelled Kera forward. She ran toward the sound as bird’s fled from it. The silence after the crash was deafening.

  The underside of her mother’s Explorer was the first thing she saw. Shock confused the scene in her mind. Surely her mother wasn’t the only person to own a cherry red Explorer.

  “Mom?” Kera yelled.

  She didn’t know what happened next or how she got to her mother, but what she saw inside the car would never fade away. It sizzled as it imprinted in her memory. She fell from the car and wondered momentarily how the driver’s side door had come clean off the car.

  Next, she blinked, and the gruesome image of her mother’s mutilated and broken body came into view full force. Kera’s stomach revolted and she retched. Even as she purged the contents of her stomach, Kera couldn’t purge the image from her mind. Her mother was dead. The last thing she would ever remember of her mother was the blank stare of a woman whose head was detached from her body.

  Chapter One

  With final goodbye’s to her father, Kera hung up the phone and stared at the dorm room until the sun completely set. Cloaked in the night she pulled her bags from her jeep started for her dorm room. She had the key in her purse and her scan ID card that would allow her in the lobby. She was on level D, the fourth floor and room 15. It was a shared room. Even though she enrolled as a junior, the college didn’t have any single rooms available at the time.

  She procrastinated too long.

  As she walked, she diverted her eyes from the other college students in the parking lot. Once inside the lobby she noticed everyone looking at her. After dragging her luggage up three flights of stairs, the stairwell was empty and Kera picked up her bags with ease and ran the last flight. When no one was around, she didn’t have to pretend to be normal. She found 15 D a few doors down and listened at the door and found nothing.

  Relieved, she unlocked the door and flipped on the light. Her nose wrinkled in disgust. Her roommate wasn’t there but her stuff was. “Cute.” She thought sarcastically. The first thing she would see all year was pink. The brightly colored bedspread and throw pillows matched the rubber tubs and fabric wall peg board with a collage of pictures. Kera was far removed from wearing dresses and she didn’t own anything pink. The color was too perky.

  Kera really didn’t do perky well.

  Kera put her things down on the empty bed. It was the smallest room she had ever seen. There were two of everything; closets, beds and desks. There was one sink and one microwave in a little kitchen corner.

  It didn’t take her long to unpack. She fitted the bed with her new green sheets. She had to say that the colors were complementing each other. Maybe the pink wasn’t as bad as she first thought.

  “I can’t believe they are having another party toni
ght.” Someone said right outside the door.

  Kera listened for their footsteps to continue but the door knob jiggled as a key was inserted.

  Another girl laughed. “I know, they’re so cool.”

  Kera realized by this small event that there would be more for her to get used to than she originally imagined. She would live the rest of the year with the nagging feeling that at any moment someone could walk into her room and bring anyone they wanted.

  Because it wasn’t just her room anymore.

  Great.

  Two girls made a sudden halt in the doorway when they saw her. One was about five foot two and Asian. Her hair was short and shiny black. She wore brightly colored clothing that matched the bedspread.

  Hello roommate.

  The other was covered in freckles and had fiery red hair. She was probably Kera’s height but her body was curvy where Kera sported an athletic build. They were gawking at her with open curiosity.

  “I didn’t mean to surprise you.” Kera moved forward to shake their hands. “I’m Kera Conway.”

  The red head looked at her hand for a moment before she took it. “Tori Burr.” She said. Her pale freckled hand was cold and limp. Kera shook it and retreated as quickly as she could. Tori was dressed up like a Barbie. She even looked plastic with the amount of makeup she had on.

  “Who’s my roommate?” Kera asked.

  “Me!” The Asian exclaimed and then introduced herself. “Rebecca Whitney.”

  “Nice to meet you.”

  “Tori is going to help me dress like a skank.” Rebecca announced.

  Tori spun on her heals holding one of Rebecca’s low cut shirts and gasped. “I am not.” Her face had turned bright pink.

  “What would you call it then?” Rebecca asked. She sat down on her bed and planted her face in her hands.

  Tori stood taller at the challenge. “Cute.” She began before she turned around and continued digging through Rebecca’s clothes. “Desirable, eye catching…”

  “Whatever you want to call it.” Rebecca brushed her off playfully before she turned her attention back to Kera. “She is helping me get a date.” Her smile blossomed into a fairytale dreamy look that Kera associated with the little mermaid and Cinderella. Rebecca acted like she was waiting for someone to tell her the princess kissed the prince and they lived happily ever after.

  “Kera you should come.” Tori said. “I could use another girl on the team.”

  Already shaking her head no, Kera put it into words. “No thanks. I don’t party.” The smells, the crowd, the mix of people her age without inhibitions made her squirm just thinking about it. High school had been bad enough. Kera couldn’t and wouldn’t put herself through that again. She didn’t deserve to be jealous of normal. She accepted herself as abnormal and got on with life. That didn’t mean she had to watch others flaunt it.

  Rebecca stood back up when Tori tossed her an outfit. “Come on, everyone parties. We don’t do drugs or anything, just a few drinks at a frat house or something.” Rebecca dropped her pants and pulled on a pink mini skirt.

  Kera looked away quickly. Guess her roommate wasn’t shy about her body. “I don’t drink.” Kera told them as she stared at the ceiling.

  “What?” Tori exclaimed. “Never?”

  “Nope.” It wasn’t that shocking was it? Surely there were other reasons not to drink other than being… different.

  “Then you have to come!” Rebecca proclaimed. “You will have a blast. If you do something stupid we’ll be there to cover for you. Plus all you have to say is that you’re drunk and everyone understands.”

  Tori huffed. “You promised I wouldn’t have to babysit you tonight.”

  Rebecca smiled. “I’ll behave but Kera didn’t promise anything.”

  “I thought you were trying to find a date tonight.” Kera tried to change the subject as butterflies began to fill her stomach to a painful level.

  Tori turned to the mirror and applied lip gloss to her lips. When she finished she turned to Kera with a serious expression. “I have my own date to find.” She informed her. “But don’t worry, we know some pretty prestigious guys.”

  “Don’t think about going for Nick, Tori has dibs on him.” Rebecca announced.

  “Shut up.” Tori hissed. She turned to Kera with a pained smile like she wanted her to believe Rebecca was making things up.

  Kera couldn’t imagine trying to keep up with these girls for a whole night. She was already exhausted. “I have an early class and I drove all day. I really just want to hit the sack.”

  Rebecca laughed. “Next time.” She made it sound final.

  “Maybe.” Kera retorted.

  Tori shrugged her shoulders and checked herself out in the full length mirror before they left the room.

  Kera found herself smiling over the carefree nature they had. She had been like that before. Her mood turned sour quickly. Never again. Kera had to follow logic and reason and worry about the consequences of her actions.

  Kera dressed for bed and hesitated to put away the last thing she needed to unpack. She looked at her almost empty suitcase and knew she was being silly. How else would she explain the dread she felt for the object inside, or the closeness she felt to it? She reached in and opened the old box and ran her fingers over the cold metal that was casted in the shape of an old key. Since her mother’s death, she hadn’t the courage to look at it.

  On her sixteenth birthday she had ripped off the ribbon and scoffed at the present. Now she wished she had been grateful. Gifts weren’t about the object but all about the giver. Her mother deserved to be thanked for her kindness.

  Kera wiped her eyes. She quickly shut the box and tucked it into the inside pocket of her purse. She was exhausted.

  That night the dreams started up again. She dreamed of strange abilities and monsters. This is where her beast roamed, when she wouldn’t let it out to run free. She tossed and turned but only the memory of her mother’s voice finally comforted her. She sang a lullaby.

  Kera woke up the next morning without an alarm. She dressed without stirring Rebecca from her obvious coma. She was tempted to pull a blanket over her or at least put the other foot on the bed with her. She probably had drunk too much despite her promise.

  After glancing at her schedule, then the clock, Kera realized she still had time before she had to leave for class. She sat in front of the mirror and flipped on the flat iron. It wasn’t hers but she didn’t consider an appliance something she had to ask to use.

  Call it vanity or nerves, but Kera was embarrassed at the lack of makeup and style she had. Rebecca had two bags full of eyeliner and shadow and Kera hadn’t worn the stuff since she was fifteen.

  Hair though, was a happy medium. She straightened her hair and realized the outcome made her look different. Her hair fell below her shoulder blades. She smiled softly and made a note that she looked better with straight hair rather than a messy pony tail.

  Kera grabbed her things and locked up before she headed out. In the stairwell she could hear different noises from the other floors. She was usually really good at blocking out the clutter but with all of the new sounds, she found it was harder to ignore.

  It made her wonder if they had reverse hearing aids. Maybe she could stick cotton in her ear to bring her super hearing back down to a normal level.

  Shaking her head, Kera pushed the lobby doors open and walked out into the early morning air. The sun hadn’t fully made its way into the sky yet leaving a gorgeous red glow on the morning clouds. The mountains surrounded the college in almost all directions creating a sort of solitary nook for the school to operate. The trees and other greenery that grew at the base of the mountain crept all the way up to the edge of the campus. The breathtaking sight of nature relaxed Kera. Her father couldn’t have picked a more beautiful place for her to reside for the next two years. Even if he had done it in a way she wasn’t happy with.

  She found her class earlier than she expected. She could make another
round of the campus but she decided to find a seat instead. She pushed open the door and immediately sucked in a breath of surprise. There were almost one hundred seats in the room. Would all of them be filled? She hadn’t thought about how difficult it would be to listen to a professor while one hundred hearts beat in a room. All her previous credits were from online classes.

  Standing for a moment for the shock to wear off, Kera wondered where she should sit. She rolled her eyes and picked a seat next to the door. Just in case she had to leave. She pulled out her text book and groaned. Her voice echoed around the room. Clamping her teeth shut she flipped through the pages of the same course book she used for one of her online classes. The college accepted her quickly just not all of her credits. She should be a senior. At only twenty and a 4.0 GPA, the dean had said she would need to redo her junior year to be able to graduate with a degree in psychology.

  She had an exceptional memory and didn’t see anything so far she needed to redo.

  The door opened and slammed shut behind her. The force propelled a scent toward her. Kera closed her eyes and inhaled. It was sweet and masculine. Ponderosa pine and motor oil. Kera smiled and looked behind her. Her breath caught and she turned away quickly.

  Compelled, she looked again, this time more boldly.

  Her eyes lingered on him as he walked. He was over six feet tall and walked with grace that a man usually didn’t possess. He walked like he was trained to be proper but tried to hide it. His brown hair was cut short and he wore jeans and a simple black shirt that molded to his chest. Kera lingered on the defined muscles as she took a deep breath.

  He glanced her way as he walked by but didn’t linger like she had.

  Somewhat offended, Kera looked back at her book and stared at the words without reading them. She stayed like that until the class was almost full. Pretending to be busy was one of her gifts.

  “Hi Maddox.” Kera heard the sweet preening voice and looked up. A few rows down, next to her attraction, was a pretty girl dressed in a jean skirt and low cut sweater. She had tall boots and long brown hair. Kera frowned at the realization that this girl was the opposite of her in every way.