Shifted

Chapter 6: Possibilities

Once I got back to the hotel, Eleanor was just waking up. I double-checked the clock and was completely unsurprised to see that it was already 11:55 am.

"How on God's green earth do you sleep so long?" I said, throwing a pillow at her.

"I go to bed late, you know that. A lot was going on yesterday," she laughed, throwing the pillow back.

"Oh, that's right, you had a long phone call, and afterward I'm assuming a long chat with Dillon. Who was on the phone anyway?" I asked curiously.

"That was just Finn. He told me that he missed me," Eleanor chirped.

"Really? I knew Finn was into you," I said.

"It kind of sucks we had to leave when we did. I told him that you and I would be out of town for a while too, before I came looking for you the other day on the mountain," she mentioned.

"So you're going to let Finn go and have Dillon take his place?" I pressed.

"I won't say I'm expecting anything to happen with Dillon but he is really hot," Eleanor giggled. "Are you sure you don't mind me talking with him? He is your Regulator, aren't you kind of meant for each other?" She looked at me out of the corner of her eye.

I walked over to her bed and sat down right in front of her, I needed to be clear and upfront. She deserved my honesty at least.

"Eleanor, I think I really like him. Every time I'm close to him, I don't want him to leave. It just feels right when I'm near him, except for when he's trying to be annoying. I'm so frustrated though, I barely even know him! When did I become so cliche?" I sighed, falling back on her pillow. "I get the feeling he likes you though."

"Oh Bri, I couldn't-" she stopped mid-sentence. I jumped up so I was sitting again and looked her in the eyes. Her eyes were distant, seeing something I couldn't, just like Dillon had earlier. I hadn't seen her have a vision yet, and I was intensely curious about what she was seeing. It took a solid couple of minutes before she began blinking out of it.

"Elle, are you alright?" I asked.

"So... my shifter is a man," she started, still blinking to gain her vision back. "I think he's in London, I could swear I saw Big Ben. He was going to meet someone at The Eye, and he seemed nervous. He bought like 8 bags of fries and drowned them in ketchup and began eating his feelings," she laughed.

"Wow. Dad said it was pretty rare to live close to your Shifter. He made it sound like it normally takes a couple of years to find them," I said.

"I guess I'm lucky," she shrugged. "And, now I know where I need to go. Dad taught me how to activate a Shifter's power so I'll be ready when I meet him."

"I guess I hadn't had time to think about there being a process to activate a Shifter's power. Is it hard to do?" I asked curiously.

"Dad said it depends on how well you're connected spiritually with each other. You've got to spend some time together and get to know each other. Only when you truly mutually trust each other can the Regulator give the Shifter their abilities," Eleanor started.

"Spiritually?" I questioned skeptically.

"Yeah, as in, you have to get to know your Regulator and he needs to get to know you on a moral and spiritual level. Dillon mentioned that you'd been seeing auras though, so I'm assuming you have some power that goes beyond what typical Shifters can do," Eleanor said with both admiration and possibly a little jealousy.

"He told you that?" I asked, turning to hide my cheeks. My freckled skin was pale enough that she could read me like a book. If I was upset, angry, sad, embarrassed, or even a little tipsy, my cheeks and chest always flushed red.