listen closely

16

{Callum}

I open the door. A person stares at me, someone else in their arms.
"Please help us..." They cough, "He passed out a few minutes ago and I..." They stop and cough again.
"Yeah, come in," I say, "What happened?"
"Our town was destroyed but we... we weren't there and we went back and-" They cough, "I need to find Ky."
"Ok, you guys are..?"
"Shapeshifters."

Jack hits my arm.
"Ow, what?"
"Jack, no hitting people!" Pax calls. Jack leads me over to a pile of rubble and starts moving the small rocks away to reveal someone curled up and a small dome under the mess. Pax and I move the bigger pieces until the pile is clear.
"Ky! Kyle!" He looks at us and the dome disappears. "Are you ok?"
"Yeah." A small black cat jumps out of his arms and chirps. Em rushes over and scoops it up quickly.
"This is Shelby's cat," She says, "Which means she was here." Pax helps Kyle up slowly.
"There were a bunch of Chasers here," He winces as he shifts his weight into his left leg, "And this crazy girl with glowing eyes. She was with the cat."
"That'll be Shelby." Em looks at the cat, "Do you know where Shelby is?"
"Jack can talk to animals." Jack shakes his head quickly. "Jack could talk to her in private." He nods in agreement.
"Ok, let's get everyone back to the base first," I say, "Then we can talk to animals."

"We were there for the beginning of it," Pax says, "And then we got the hell out of there as soon as possible."
"Did you see what they did?" They shake their head.
"We weren't there for that, but we heard some of it while we were leaving and it sounded awful." I sigh.
"I should've been there."
"If you were there, you would be dead with everyone else," They say, "We didn't stand a chance."
"Pax," Lizzie walks in, "How old is Jack?"
"He's fifteen," They say, "But mentally he's eight."
"Ok." Lizzie walks back out.
"A lot happened to him when he was younger and that set him back a few years." Jack walks out holding Starlord and sits down next to Pax. "How's it going Squirt?" Jack leans against Pax and closes his eyes, Starlord jumps out of his arms and curls up in his lap.
"Are you hungry?" I ask quietly
"Nah," They say, "No need to whisper, he's completely out."
"So are the four of you that last shapeshifters?" Em asks
"There's more in other parts of the world, but we're what's left of our kind." I say
"So the crazy girl," Pax says, "She's the Savior?"
"Yeah," Em says, "She was captured."
"Em," Will says urgently, "We need you."
"What's going on?" Will shakes his head, they both disappear.
"So do you guys just sit around when you're not doing anything?"
"Someone's always doing something," I say, "I'm just not doing anything right now- I just jinxed it."
"What?" The alarm starts going off.
"There it is." Jack sits up and clings to Pax's arm.
"It's ok Buddy." I walk over to the table as everyone else appears. Pax walks over with Jack who's shaking.
"Where's Liam, Will, and Em?" Lizzie asks
"They're with Graser," Lauren says, "They're saying goodbye."
"Oh..." We stand silently for a minute.
"Anyways-"
"Sorry, could we maybe turn that off?" Pax asks, "It freaks Jack out."
"Uh..." Scott walks up to Jack and bends down.
"You wanna go outside? We can explore the woods." Jack looks at Pax for a second and nods. "Great, let's go." He looks at Lizzie who nods. The two of them disappear.
"Ok," Lizzie says, "There's dark movement up the east side.
"That's where the more peaceful towns are," Lauren says, "If they get through there then they can get to anywhere else."
"Then we go out there and defend the towns."
"We won't be able to." I zoom in on the map, it shows hundreds of Stormers and Chasers.
"The Fire Fairies live around there," Pax says, "The Shapeshifters with fire origins and them worked together a lot and they're powerful little things."
"With then we can hold the off." I say
"Great, we'll let you two do the talking." Lizzie says
"Will Ky be able to come? He's friends with a lot of the fairies and could help us convince them."
"Talk to him," Lizzie says, "If he says he's up for it then he can come."
"Ok." Pax disappears. Lizzie looks at the map again for a second.
"Ok, let's go."