To Be Like the Guardians

Part 1: The Plan, Chapter 11: Shifted

Whisper knelt on shiny pink and gold mosaics, Fracture's tooth box in her hands. A flutter of chirping feathered Mini Fairies darted around her, though she could've sworn that they were flying slower than usual, delivering teeth and messages from North about the Globe and taking coins. North still hadn't figured out what was wrong with his globe, and it was beginning to worry him.

"Did you find anything that could help?" Tooth asked beside Whisper. Whisper had tried to see Fracture's memories, but apparently since she wasn't the owner of them, she couldn't.

Whisper shook her head. "Nothing."

"I wish I could help you more, but there's nothing else I can do."

"I understand." But Whisper had to find Beatrice and Fracture soon and help them if they knew of her prove to their family that she existed like she had to some of the L.E.R. agents' families and their friends, showing that they weren't insane. She hadn't gone on TV or anything so that not too many people would believe in the dark armies and their Pitch and be in danger, so Beatrice's parents and other relatives still wouldn't know the truth yet. "Thank you for your help. I'll have to find them another way."

*}{/*}{/*}{/*

Beth lay in her bed, her heavy lids shut. She and Agent M. Bennett had spent hours trying to get her to learn how to control her power, and she was supposed to come train tomorrow night as well. She was allowed to sleep in, at least.

According to Bennett, Beth had made great progress in using her power. It still felt familiar, the way she had used it, though, as if she had used it before. She hadn't, however, as far as she knew. And Bennett still hadn't told her what it was he was going to have her do.

A dull pain pulsed through her veins that eerily felt like the one she had experienced for no particular reason after losing the memory of that one summer. According to Bennett, when the Power-Inducer ability was used when the person had high levels of adrenaline, it was like taking two different medications with the same active ingredient at once: too much. Although unlike the simile, adrenaline made the power somewhat easier to control, it still made Beth's veins burn. It wasn't harmful unlike the medications, and Bennett no longer felt it because it had been in his body for so long, but it was still painful. And she hadn't even tried to use it in battle yet, she reminded herself. Adrenaline from frustration probably wasn't as bad as adrenaline during a fight.

Beth sat up in her bed, her limbs aching. She couldn't sleep right now, both because of the pain and because of the creepy familiarities. She wished she could talk to Irene about this, but Irene had already recorded her YouTube video for the night and was most likely asleep. So instead, Beth walked over to her laptop. Maybe she could try to sort out her thoughts while she waited for the painkiller she had taken to kick in.

She opened up her laptop, typed in her password, and created a new document on Google Drive titled "Weird Things." Then, using bullet points, she made a list of everything that was bothering her: the episodes she had whenever she looked at that one spot on the wall, the way the pain felt similar to what she had felt after losing her memory, how she feared Agent M. Bennett for no reason, the itch she had had when first hearing about the L.E.R., her Power-Inducer ability feeling familiar, and how Mallory setting her up to something and then coming to train had also felt familiar.

Beth stared at the list. How was everything connected? They all seemed to have something to do with the L.E.R., but the L.E.R. hadn't even existed yet during the summer she had lost the memories of.

She pushed her rolling chair away from her oak desk and sighed. Faint sparks from her fingers lit up the darkness of the room before fading. And then fear struck through her; she thought she had seen a face in the illuminated dark.

Trying to take deep breaths to calm herself down, Beth walked over to the light switch and flicked it on. She squinted in the brightness, looking around. No face, no enemy. What had it even looked like again? She couldn't remember.

She walked out her bedroom door and turned on the lights in the kitchen, living room, and everywhere else in her apartment, but she still saw nothing terrifying. She was probably just tired, that was all.

Turning off all of the lights again, she turned off her laptop and lay back down in bed. She needed to rest.

*}{/*}{/*}{/*

Mallory watched with tired eyes as Howard continued to practice using her power. She seemed to have a knack for it, learning faster than most.

"You haven't stolen a Power-Inducer and used one before, have you?" he joked. Howard froze, her haze purple- though Mallory knew she hadn't actually stolen one- before turning to glare at him. Her haze turned red again.

"No, sir." She turned away and continued to practice, trying to make the electricity reach farther and farther, it seemed. Her power appeared to rely on anger, which she had plenty of. Mallory had made a good decision when picking her.

"You're really improving at controlling it."

"Well, I'm always angry. Or so my friend Agent I. Flynn tells me. It's not that hard." But there was something hidden in her voice: a bit of fear. What was she afraid of? Mallory's guess would be controlling her power. She could make the electricity come out, but she couldn't make it stop. Perhaps she was afraid of herself or hurting others.

She needed to know why she was training.

"Agent B. Howard, would you like to know what I'm gonna have you do?"

She looked at him, her haze orange. Surprise. "Yes, sir."

"Kill Pitch."

Her haze turned a dark shade of purple. Terror. Not what Mallory had been expecting.

"These attacks are getting more dangerous," he said. "If we take out Pitch, then the attacks will lessen. The Fearlings and Nightmares will likely disperse since they'll have no one to command them. They'll be easier to take down. If you kill Pitch, then you won't be in as much danger anymore." Howard's haze lightened a little. It wasn't like Mallory didn't know that most L.E.R. agents were afraid of the attacks.

"Why can't you do it?" Howard asked.

"My Power-Inducer ability isn't strong enough." And Pitch hadn't threatened to kill her if he saw her.

"Is that the only reason why?"

"Yes."

There was a pause, and suddenly, Mallory's toes tingled all over, feeling like they were going numb. The sensation soon made its way to his head, covering him entirely. He could barely feel the clothes on his body or the ground beneath his feet, just the odd tingling sensation. What was this?

"I'll be right back." He raced out of the training room and off to the nearest bathroom at the end of the hall. He wanted to try to make this feeling stop, and he didn't want Howard to see him do anything weird. But when he caught sight of himself in the mirrors, he nearly gasped. His figure was shifting into something else. His hair grew longer and darker, his face more angular and his body shorter.

"What the heck?" The voice that came out of his mouth was higher and lighter.

He was no longer staring at himself, but at Beth Howard.