Shapeshifter *ON HOLD*

Chapter Twenty

Agnes couldn't believe her eyes. 

It was her own mother that was on the ground, the Pegasus wings disappearing from her back.

For a moment, it seemed as though her brain was muddled, her senses were mistaken, her vision was awry. But it was too clear.

Her mother was a Shapeshifter.

"No..." she ran straight away, without a glance back. Gripping her head with pain and perplexity, she thumped down on a fallen log, the wood creaking under her weight. Her sight blurred, dreary and hazy. 

"I don't understand..." she murmured to herself, "How can my own mom be a frickin Shapeshifter?"

"Are you okay? Agnes?" 

Karmen's voice.

Agnes fortified herself for what she uttered next. "My mom is a Shapeshifter."

"There's no surprise," Karmen tossed her head.

"What do you mean?" Agnes appeared even more flabbergasted.

"Never mind."

Why? Why are her questions always answered half? What is it that they have to hide? Agnes bitterly stomped away.

"Wait! Agnes!"

"What?" Agnes rolled her eyes.

"I came to ask you something," Karmen's voice wobbled slightly, "If you beat Devan with such ease days before, why couldn't you beat him yesterday?"

"I wasn't feeling well," the lies just kept piling up.

"Agnes, I know you more than you think. You wouldn't purposely lose. That first day you had grace, skill, as if you had been battle training for years. Don't tell me that it was luck," Karmen said sternly.

Agnes swallowed nervously. She was torn, not sure whether to tell or not. Karmen was her friend, she shouldn't be afraid to let her in on her secrets. "This is awkward to say but..." she coughed, "I have had a...a voice in my head that just...tells me what to do."

Dread played across Karmen's face, and she went pale, her skin white as snow. "Oh no..."

Agnes didn't ask, as she knew the answer wouldn't be a full one. Has Kyle been hearing it too? I better ask him, she thought instead.

The woods flowed past her as she looked for Kyle. The stench of decaying leaves was now mordant, assaulting her nostrils. Silver clouds had began to scurry across the sky, obscuring the sun. The humid breeze whistled past with warning of rain. Nary a sliver of green remained in sight, as the deep browns and brilliant golds sprawled over the ground.

Agnes couldn't remember where Kyle's house was, but luck was coming her way today. She spotted him on a bench by a fountain.

"Oh hey Agnes!" Kyle called once he saw Agnes, "Come sit."

Agnes sat down beside him, hands in her lap. "May I ask you something?"

"Of course!"

Chained by reluctance, Agnes took some time to form the words. "Did you ever...hear a...a voice...in your mind...?"

Kyle's jaw fell slack. He nodded slowly, bewilderment nesting in his aquamarine eyes. "You did too?"

"Yes," Agnes admitted.

"Do you know what that means?"

"No idea," Agnes shrugged, "I do know one strange thing though...my mom is a Shapeshifter."

"What?!" Kyle jumped to his feet. Two passerby regarded him weirdly, whispering to one another. He grabbed her hand tenaciously. "Does she know you can Shapeshift?"

"Unfortunately, yes."

*          *         *

Agnes went off to find Karmen after chatting with Kyle about the manipulating voice. She found her at the place she had met her, that day where she was still immensely frightened of her.

"Karmen? What happens when one becomes a Warped again?"

Karmen was startled. "They are stuck in that form. But for...uh...certain Shapeshifters who haven't been born with their powers, they will be trapped in the form that they first shifted into. For example, if the first creature you have ever shifted into was a pelican, and you weren't born with your powers, when you Warped you would be a pelican."

Agnes's mind prickled with curiosity. "How could one get their powers if they weren't born with it?"

"I don't know. Their is just some way," Karmen avoided her gaze.

Suspicious. She's definitely hiding something, Agnes's eyebrows raised.

"I've got to go! See you tomorrow!" Karmen left in a rush.

Agnes strolled home, thinking about the secrets Karmen had. Theories exploded in her mind, colliding with hatching thoughts.

Was Karmen really an ally?

*           *          *

"Hello?" Agnes creaked the door to her house open. Like she predicted, Ethan was out playing with his neighbours. However her mom was nowhere in sight.

"Caw!" A guttural call of a crow.

"Who's there?" Agnes asked, alarm hammering her. Her heart jerked in her chest, pounding like a fist.

A volley of caws bore down on her from above. She stared into the darkness of upstairs, catching a glimpse a of a large crow—no—a raven.

"Mom there's a bird in the house!" 

No reply. The raven fluttered closer, and Agnes saw a glint around its neck. The raven's glossy black feathers glimmered, its piercing dark eyes exploring Agnes's face.

Peering closer, Agnes could make out that the glint was a necklace around its neck, made of braided gold with a small ruby diamond. Agnes knew who that necklace belonged to, and she stopped cold.

It couldn't be true, she thought as her blood iced over.

Yay another chapter done! Those of you who read, please vote and comment! It mean so much to me as the writer. Surprisingly, Shapeshifter is still #481 today. I thought it would drop, since there were only eighteen reads yesterday. 

WARNING: I WILL NOT BE UPDATING FOR THE JUNE 20,21,22,23 AS I WILL BE AWAY CAMPING. I PROMISE I WILL UPDATE ON THE 25 AT THE LEAST.