Shift

Cold As Liquid Helium

After pranking the guards a few to many times and being moved to solitary, the ship finally docked. The temperatures had slowly fallen the whole way and both girls were shivering, trying to keep warm.

The prisoners were walked up a large, rocky mountain, frozen waterfalls and green plants that were encased in ice. This was the work of Enchanters. Eira was walking up the freezing mountain, grumbling that if only she had turned into a snake of some sort instead, they would have been to scared to grab her.

"Well," Laria said, trying to make her feel better "you know what they say; hindsight's always 20/20, besides, it might be a fun experience!"

"Yeah, living in the freezing cold for the rest of my life without proper food of my Shifting abilities sounds so fun." Eira responded sarcastically, turning around to look at the ocean one last time before being locked away for the rest of her life.

If I were in a story, she bitterly thought, I would have escaped the police and continued living normally. She snorted. How ironic would it be if it really was just one messed up book?

The prisoners shuffled towards the imposing prison of ice and snow in front of them, the stairs leading to ultimate doom. The temperatures there were cold enough to freeze a tear if it left your eye.

They were both lucky and unlucky. They had arrived at night, so the snow and ice wasn't reflecting sun into their eyes, but was even colder seeing as there was no visible sun. Eira sighed, pulling the ratty prison clothes closer to keep her warm.

A haughty man walked up to the group, he was wearing a blue and white parka whereas the guards were wearing red and white parkas. "I am the Warden" he said in a cold, no pun intended, voice. He had black hair that swooped across his face, ice blue eyes that could almost be called silver. He would have had women falling at his feet if it weren't for the cold and unkind air around him that sent shivers down Eira's spine.

"you will never disobey a direct order" he continued "from me or one of the guards. You are no more important than pigs. You are here for a reason, wether that be theft or murder."

Wow,  Eira thought, way to be harsh. The man, the Warden, lead them into the prison, the guards stating behind to watch the entrance. It couldn't very well be called an exit, but Eira doubted that many people entered either. There were three people other that herself and Laria in this shipment of delinquents (or so the guards called them).

They entered the cold and unwelcoming foyer, where assistants threw ratty and worn out jackets at each of us, ushering is on our way. When we got into the courtyard, another guard came up to us.

"right now is free time. Dinner is at 7:30 sharp. You will be in the cafeteria for all meals. Everyone has a cell, the guards will direct you to your cell at 8:30. You are aloud to leave your cell at 9 o'clock and go directly to the cafeteria for breakfast. You have free time until 10:45 and from there, guards will escort you to the gym where you can run, lift weights, or do any other gym related things. At 12 o'clock, you will come to the cafeteria for lunch. At 1:30, you will have free time and at 3:00, you will go to the labour area." he said quickly, taking a deep breath. "at 4:45, you have free time and this schedule will repeat for the rest of your time here." and he left.

Eira walked over to Laria, ushering her towards an empty corner. The handcuffs they had were replaced by small bracelets that sucked the power out of them. People looked their way as they passed by, hushing as they saw the iron bracelets adorning the girls' wrists.

"more Shifters?" came a voice "one was enough" another person said.

'there are more?' Eira mindlinked Laria. It seemed to be the only power left unaffected.

'I wonder where she... he.... is?' Laria's worried voice echoed through her head.

'indeed. I hope our cell is with the other Shifter, because we'll probably be beaten up if we're with humans' Eira responded, looking at Laria.

A young man came up to them, cracking his knuckles. He was well muscled and had a group of people following him. "Look, freaks" he told them, smirking "we have strict rules with your kind. You don't talk to any of us normal people, you don't associate with us, you don't toutch us, and you sure as hell don't get closer than five metres from us. You have three strikes, then you get a punishment." they were starting to gather a crowd.

Suddenly, Laria's face started scaling up and fangs were apparent instead of canines. She hissed in pain as the bracelet started glowing. 'calm down-no. You know what? Don't calm down. But stop trying to Shift. It's only hurting you worse!'  Eira linked her, causing her to pause and making the scales slowly disappear.

"Come, Air. We don't have time to deal with them" Eira told her, leading Laria away. Laria started following her when the man spoke up once again.

"Yeah, that's right. Be a coward and run away from a fight, you overgrown lizard!" he yelled. Eira whipped around, quickly losing her temper.

"Laria. Stay here" Eira told the girl.

"But Ire!" Laria protested, trying to get to him.

"No. I'm older than you, I'll deal with this idiot myself. I can't have you getting hurt" Eira cut her off, forcing her backwards.

She walked towards the man and spat directly in his face. He wiped her spit from his face and looked down at her.

"Strike three" he whispered, putting his hand around her neck and lifting her against the wall.

He could use some poison from a poison dart frog, she thought, making her skin excrete the same poison as poison dart frogs. He screamed in pain and let go, dropping to the ground in pain. Eira was also in severe pain as the bracelet was almost glowing blue.

The middle aged woman standing beside the man walked threateningly up to her. "What did you do to him?" she demanded, grabbing Eira and immediately regreting it. She fell to the floor in pain as Eira walked away.

'what did you do? Laria asked Ire, looking at her in wonder.

' I let my skin secrete batrachotoxin like a poison dart frog' Eira responded, rubbing the back of her neck and trying to keep the red hot bracelet from touching her skin.

"Wow" Laria said aloud, looking at Ire in shock, "well, that's a new one, Ire!" she continued.

"it was the first thing I thought of, truthfully." Eira told Laria, and then looked at the single clock on the side of the wall. It was 7:26. "C'mon, we should get to the cafeteria" she continued and followed everyone else.

—¯—

Me: They're in the prison! Yay!

Eira: I'm sorry, what? 'yay'?

Laria: oh be quiet. It's better than being dead, don't you want to meet Ha-

Eira: SHUT YOUR TRAP AND STOP SPOILING THINGS!!

Me: Guys. Stop fighting!

Ire and Air: *keep fighting*

Me: I got pizza!

Ire and Air: PIZZA!

Me: haha, jk

Eira: Seriously, that was just cold

Hayden: no pun intended

Me: GO AWAY AND GET READY FOR NEXT CHAPTER, YOU BAT-BRAINED SLEEP KING!!!

Hayden: Okay, okay, jeez!

Eira: just go away. This is girl time!

Laria: Ire. That sounds stupid.

Me: Anywhore, before these two idiotic fluff heads make this book crash, BA-

*book crashes*