Sapphire Stone - The Story of Survival

Chapter 1

It was a month later that I walked into the house to find my mother seated on the couch in the living room with a grief stricken look on her face. It would have been scary if I wasn't so relieved to actually see some kind of emotion on her bleak face. She's been mumbling to herself and pacing the living room practically every day since my father passed away. It was like a knife to my heart just watching it. Honestly, I thought parents were there to support the kids and the kids would support the parents in turn, but that was never the case with me. No, when my father passed away, my mother turned into a lunatic that only looked at me, and realized I was there, when she was really concentrating on her surroundings.

Now, stepping into the house was like a breath of fresh air when I could actually see some kind of emotion on her face. Though as soon as I saw the dagger on the table in front of her, I knew something was seriously wrong with this picture.

"Sapphire, I need you to come take a seat so we can have a talk."

My mother's voice was too calm for my liking but it was one of the reasons I obeyed her order.

The last time she was this calm, she threw my ex-boyfriend out of the house by the collar after he came over to tell me he was cheating on me with my best friend. It was the same day my father died and that's about the time I cut everybody out of my life.

I watched as her eyes switched from mine to her hands and then back up again. By the way her hands were twitching, it was clear that whatever she was about to share with me, was going to be very important.

"Alright, I think the best way of starting this is by mentioning a few things you already know."

I nodded slowly before folding my hands on my lap and keeping my back rigid against the backrest of the chair I'd chosen to sit on. I kept my gaze focused on my mother's.

"You spent a lot of time with your father so I assume he has told you about the magic in the world and how you'd one day be a part of it, just like your father and I once was."

I frowned at her statement but nodded even as the confusion grew. I always thought that's just stories parents told their kids to broaden their creative minds.

"I believe it's almost time for you to take your role among our kind. Even so, you will be different."

My frown deepened but her face remained stoic while she explained.

"This will sound crazy and I do hope you keep an open mind because this is very important. We are part of a shifters community that's set up all around the world in small towns. Your grandmother is part of the pack that used to be your father's home. Your father and I both turned rogue the day we decided to be together and we never told your grandmother that I was like them. We led her to believe that I was a mere human. In a quick summary, your father and I were destined to be together and to have you, even though we never understood how special you'd turn out to be."

"Mom, not to be rude, but I think I'd know if I was a shifter, or whatever you think I am." I mused.

My mother gave a tight smile before shaking her head. The way she looked at me made me feel like I was nothing more than a teenager with no sense of what life could hold.

"Honey, that's what makes you special. Both your father and I only shifted our first time when the parent who gave their gene to us, passed away. I believe your father was eleven when his father passed and my mother passed away when I was twelve, so we were able to slip under the radar. You see, normal shifters go through their first shift from the age of ten up to thirteen. You turned seventeen a week ago, so you are very late. That's because you have two parents who gave their genes to you. I can't explain why we're different because that's something you'll have to find out on your own, but I can tell you that your time has come."