Dangerous

Chapter 2 - Distemptress

I glanced up at them, my vibrant blue eyes scornful. "What are the rest of them doing? They know Skygge isn't going to hurt them." Luka glanced up from his fingernails long enough to answer. "Skygge would very well hurt them. They're scared Stella wouldn't be able to stop her in time." That caused me to go silent with a loud sigh. Luka, whose sleek, black hair was dripping wet from a shower, scowled at me. "Don't blame me for my honest answer." Kaelen, who was the day part of Luka and Kaelen's night and day, furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. His fluffy blonde hair was sticking up all over the place. His mother probably made him blow dry it. If he doesn't, it turns into a blonde rat's nest. Kaelen glanced at Luka. "Are we supposed to be sitting around? I mean, yeah, Skygge is a freaking murderer and all, but there have been a bunch of shapeshifters getting kidnapped lately." Skygge grinned slyly at his murderer comment, obviously pleased. I rolled my eyes. "The age group has been 5-10 years old. I'm 17, Skygge's 17, Stella's 19, Kaelen's 18, Luka's 21, and Celeste's 19. I think we're okay." Celeste's bright, glaring green eyes burning into my face. "That was last year, dumbass. You really need to get caught up on your news." I scowled. "Well, what's the age range this year?" I snapped. Celeste nearly spat at my feet. She was turning red, "17-21!" I nearly jumped up bolt right at that. "Wait - What?!" Celeste looked triumphantly at me. Celeste, while cool, was bossy and arrogant at her worst. I seethed furiously, angry that I had lost the argument. Kaelen coughed abruptly. "Not to stop your little cat fight here, but I really think we should go. Like. Somewhere where we aren't alone." I nodded. Stella and Skygge agreed, but Luka sat there, his bold black eyes staring into space. Like always. I yawned. "The zoo?" I said jokingly. Let me explain. Shapeshifters still don't have a lot of rights. I mean, it's better here in Atascadero, California than in other places, but shapeshifters are still treated like crap. My joke was, there is a shapeshifter exhibit in the zoo. My mom took me there when I was 5, and was horrified to see some shifter my age locked in a cage for everyone to gawk at. We don't get forcibly removed from our houses, like in other countries, but it was still horrifying. The shifters in the zoo are usually orphans, or unwanted. Poor things. Skygge glowered at me. "Let's take a walk through the forest. None of the kidnappings have happened there, and I can defend us. Without staring at trapped shapeshifters - not that I pity them." We all nodded, except for Celeste. She snarled. "See if I care if you all get kidnapped! Because I'll still be alive!" she spat, running home. I was shocked. Kaelen mouthed 'distemper?' with horror. Okay, shut up. No, we don't get the dog distemper! We get this disease called distemper. It causes our personality to change completely, and causes you to always seem tired. In the end, there's a 50-50 chance you'll die of lack of DNA, or your shifting powers are stripped of you. The thing is, if you're very attached to your shifting, the virus attacks the shifting part of you. The beast, the monster. So, if you're very attached, the DNA between the human and the animal is tied so tightly the virus can't distinguish human from beast. So it destroys it all. If you haven't shifted as much as a usual shifter, the DNA isn't so tangled, and the virus can distinguish the animal DNA from the human DNA. So it destroys the animal DNA, leaving you a normal human. I would rather die than lose my shift. I sighed forlornly. I hoped Celeste didn't have distemper. She was a nice friend.