Shifters

Chapter 4

I followed Max out into the cold air and he gestured towards a black jeep, "Oh now you want me to get in a car with you? I hardly even know you! How am I supposed to know that you aren't going to kidnap me?" I questioned him. He laughed and replied, "First of all, why would I want to kidnap one of the few people like me that I know about. Second of all, I delived the letter to your house myself I could have just waited around until you and your parents were sleeping, then grabbed you." "That's a comforting thought." I observed wryly. He chuckled and I climbed in the car.  

Once he had turned the car on I asked, "So where are we going?" "Somewhere where no one can see us." He replied. I rose my eyebrows, "Why?" I asked. He sighed, "For the last time, I'm not going to hurt you or kidnap you. It's just I could tell how hard you were concentrating on not shifting in the cafe, I know how uncomfortable that is, so if we go somewhere where no one can see us, you won't have to worry about shifting, because I don't care if you do. Does that make sense?" He asked, "Yeah, I guess so. This is just all so new and weird right now." I replied. He nodded his head and his blue eyes seemed simpathetic.  

The rest of the drive was quiet, I looked out the window, and he looked out the windshield. After a while he pulled the car to a stop on the curb outside an abandoned wherehouse. Great, I thought as I climbed out of the car, "This is sort of a place where shifters hang out." Max explained as we walked toward the building, "Like a club?" I asked, "No, just a hangout, you know, where we don't have to hide." I nodded my head as I wondered if any shifters were there.  

As soon as we stepped in the door, three boys lept out from behind the door and tackled max. I leaped backwards in surprise, but from the sound of their laughter, I knew the were shifters too. Max shoved them off and stood up. As he Straightening his jacket he said, "Great, you scared her, good job, really guys make sure I don't have a newbie with me the next time you decide to be funny." they turned and smiled sheepishly at me, "sorry." they all muttered, "it's fine, you didn't really scare me." I replied as I blushed, "and your going to tell me that you are not embarrassed right now?" Max asked, "I'm no embarrassed." I said quietly, blushing more, "Evelyn, you bright red litterally, your hair, your eyes, your skin." he paused as I glanced down at my hand and gasped, "this has happened to almost every shifter I have met, when they were brand new to shifting." I gritted my teeth and concentrated on a picture of myself. After I shifted back I looked up, "whoa, is that your cover face? You know the one you use in public? You did a really good job on creating it!" one of the boys exclaimed, "no guys, this is how she really looks, now get out of here, go talk to Gabriel, he looks lonely." the boys chuckled and looked at me with longing as they walked away towards the back of the wherehouse, "Sorry about that, hey loosen up a little bit, smile don't look so scared!" Max said to me. I smiled quickly and he laughed a big booming laugh. 

"So what are we here to talk about?" I asked Max, "You, as a shifter." he leaned back up against the wall and crossed his arms, "why me? Did you choose me?" I asked. He chuckled as he replied, "I don't know why you were chosen, but did I choose you? No, definately not. God, yes, he chose you." I looked at the ground, "Do you live here?" "here? In Ohio? No, I live in New York." "oh, then why are you here?" he reached out and touched my cheek very briefly so I would look up, "Why did I come? To see you. I believe you would make an excelent member of our gang." "You want me to join your gang?" "Gang is a term we use for group, nothing scary or anything." I looked at the ceiling, "Oh, why do all the guys have long hair?" he laughed quietly, "to hide the mark." I rose my eyebrows and before I could ask he continued, "The mark is the source of your power, it looks like a silver diamond on the nape of your neck." in one fluid motion he had turned around and pulled his hair out of the way. At the base of his neck, there was a strange silver diamond. When the light hit it, it reflected off. Curious, I reached up and touched the base of my neck. It was there, I could tell, "so how is it the sourse of our powers?" I asked, "if you were to watch a person shift in super slow motion, their entire bodys would turn silver, then fade into their new appearence." I bit my lip, "that's cool." He stared at me, just observing for a few minutes, "so you understand this means you are going to have to where your hair down from now on, no pony tails, braids, buns, or any other updos you can think of." he said after a few minutes. I nodded in agreement then asked, "when will you leave?" "In a week, this the main things I wanted to talk to you about. I would like to offer you a place in my gang. I'm the leader, so I get to decide who gets to join. You would have to come to New York, seeing as that is where the gang usually lives. But you would get to learn how to control your shifting." I looked at the floor, "What's the rest of the gang like?" "You tell me, they're all here."  

I looked up and around the room, the three guys were in the back, talking to another guy, who I assumed was Gabriel, there were a couple girls leaning up against boxes talking to each other, and a few people sitting alone on a box doing something or another, "So, what do you think?" Max asked. I turned back around to find him standing up now, close behind me. I looked up into his electric blue eyes, "When do we leave?"