Shapeshifter's Struggle

Chapter 11: Visiting A Stranger

"I must be cruel only to be kind. Thus bad begins and worse remains behind." ~Hamlet from Hamlet by William Shakespeare

I woke the next morning to knocking on my door. "Who is it?" I called sleepily. A soft whistle. Logan. "What?" I asked. He peeked his head in, then pointed to his wrist. I looked at the clock. It was 8:35. I groaned. "Thanks, Logan." He flashed me a grin, then was gone.

I got up, showered, dressed, and was down stairs in no time flat. Okay, it was fifteen minutes, but still, Rachel couldn't have done it. Logan had breakfast already made when I got there. He even had David and Rachel rousted from their beds, granted they were still in their PJs. We sat down to scrambled eggs and bacon.

"Do you have any idea what he's going to show you?" Rachel asked.

"Nope," I answered.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" David asked.

"Nope," I answered. That made David grin.

"Excellent," he replied. Not at all sarcastically. David was the king of daredevil.

Jared rang the doorbell at 9:01, but no one was counting. I pulled open the door. "Ready to go?" he asked me.

"Sure," I answered.

"Peter will be along shortly to take your friends on a tour of the compound," Jared said.

"Hear that guys?" I asked. Rachel and Logan nodded. David called, "got it!" from the sofa in the living room. "Get dressed and be nice, David!"

"Yes, ma'am!" he called back to me.

"You make sure of it, Rachel," I told her. She grinned at me.

"Do I have permission to use whatever means necessary?" she asked. I pretended to think about it.

"Whatever means necessary," I said. "Hear that, David?"

"Yes, ma'am! I'll be good. Don't let her do anything drastic!" David called.

"Be good and she won't have to," I told him. Rachel grinned.

"Logan, you make sure she's on time," I told him. He nodded. Rachel rolled her eyes at me. "Bye, guys."

"Bye!" from both Rachel and David. A wave from Logan.

"Lead on, cousin of mine," I told Jared. He smiled and started down the stairs.

"The way you interact with them," he said as soon as we were out of earshot of the others. "It's amazing."

"Why?" I asked, genuinely confused.

"They respect you on the field, don't doubt your judgment, yet still tease you like you were an equal."

"Oh, they doubt me plenty. They just know better than to do it on the field. Besides, they trust me. And I've trounced them all in a fight. Well, except Logan."

"Why not Logan?"

"Because I haven't had the time."

"Is he better than you?"

"He may be. I've only seen him work a few times. He's good, that's for sure."

"Yet he still follows you. Why?"

"He doesn't have a choice. Besides, I think he trusts my judgment too. He doesn't argue like David and Rachel."

"It's a beautiful thing, that trust. I envy you that."

"Why?"

"James and Peter don't always like to do as they're told. Don't tell them I said this, it will get us all in a lot of trouble. They'll do it if I tell them to, but they won't like it."