Shifter's Destiny

Elizabeth looked up and down the street, her heart beating faster than it should have. There were a few people out, running errands or heading back to work, but nobody was looking at them, nobody pointing or making furtive cell-phone calls. The police station didn’t look very impressive: a two-story redbrick building with a small wooden sign outside that identified it, and two squad cars parked at the curb outside. Still, they didn’t have to be an armed fortress to do their job: anything larger than a break-in or vandalism case, and the cops probably relied on the county to handle it, but Patsmilling looked and sounded sleepy enough that it was likely they didn’t have anything larger very often….

“Libby?”

The one word in her sister’s voice said, clearly, Why are you standing there? Why haven’t you gone in yet? Is something wrong?

Elizabeth risked looking over her shoulder. Maggie was sitting, as she had promised, on the bench outside the post office. One woman was forgettable. Two females, obviously sisters… someone might remember that. Maggie should be perfectly safe here, in full view of government employees, right? There wasn’t anything to stop Elizabeth from going inside and asking for help Nothing excerpt her own nerves and uncertainty, anyway.

Maggie talked to animals. Elizabeth dreamed. Unlike her sister’s ability, Elizabeth didn’t put much stock into her dreams. Yes, they told her things that were going to happen, or might happen, but dreams were tricky things and she wasn’t comfortable trusting them. And this wasn’t even a dream, just a feeling that going into that building would be a very bad idea. Involving the police had not been her original plan. She had no proof to give them, only fear and coincidence, and she was terrified that they would think that she was the crazy one, unfit to care for Maggie.

But what were their options? Ray, and maybe all of the Elders, wanted Maggie back at the Community, and were willing to snatch her in a public place to accomplish that. Elizabeth had cash, but not an endless amount, and no way to access their bank account without Ray using that to track them down—the Community didn’t rely on computers and such, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t and wouldn’t use them when needed. And just running as fast as they could wasn’t an option anymore, not with Jordan and his goons so close on their heels—he shouldn’t have been able to find them so easily, but he had. Why should she assume tomorrow would be any different? Anywhere they went, he could find them.

They needed something official standing between them—someone with the ability to hold Jordan off, make life uncomfortable for the Community if she and Maggie weren’t left alone. Her instinct, honed by Community tradition, was to never involve outsiders… but she was about to become an outsider herself. So it made sense, didn’t it?

Yes. This was a smart move. Three generations of good public relations, being known as “that little village of the folk who live off the grid but don’t make trouble,” would be gone if the media picked up a “runaway returned against her wishes” story. No matter how much they wanted Maggie back, the Elders would never let Ray cause that sort of trouble. Once she walked into the police station, she and Maggie would be safe.

Still, she stood there, aware of how rumpled and tired she looked, and couldn’t seem to make her feet move.

“You’re getting a bad feeling, aren’t you?” Her sister’s voice was small and worried, and something inside her shriveled at the sound.

“No. It’s all right, Maggie.”

She forced herself to take a step, then another. Not for herself. For Maggie. Maggie could not go back to the Community. Maggie could never go back there….

She heard Maggie give a chirp, and then an answering chirp from one of the trees that lined the street. Even in plain sight, her sister couldn’t help herself; she would call the birds to her. It was okay. So long as she didn’t call an eagle or a bear, or…

“Stop thinking. Keep walking.”