Shifters

Chapter 18|The Shifters Cup

Dana------------------------------------------------

"What is your plan?" I asked hopefully. Maria looked around. "What are you doing?"

"There's cameras in here. I feel the electromagnetic vibe." Maria said.

"Ok so let's go somewhere where there isn't an electromagnetic vibe." I suggested. Maria nodded and began to walk out of the room. Maria looked distracted, she was looking up at the ceiling and moving her head around.

Eventually we came across a closet with no "electromagnetic vibe" and we entered it.

"So explain." I said.

"Ok so the reason my mom left was because of the Shifters Cup, right? So obviously it was pretty bad. But we can't exactly leave because of the guards and butlers. So what you need to do is-"

"Can you get to the point?" I interrupted.

"I was getting there." she rolled her eyes. "Anyways so if you pack a backpack with everything you need we can get out of here. We just have to plan it out a little more. It's almost curfew so meet here at midnight sharp okay?" Maria looked around then opened the door and left. I sat there for a minute then ran back to my room. I laid on my bed contemplating the situation. I couldn't shift into some big animal thing and wreck the house because eighty percent of this house is filled with shifters. Not even Maria and I combined could take them on.

I eventually gave into the pressure of my eyes closing and allowed myself to get enveloped in sleep.

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"Dana, Dana, wake up we have to talk." I was shaken awake by Maria. "You didn't come so I came to get you." I looked at the clock an noticed it was one am.

"Sorry, I was just so tired." I replied groggily standing up and following her back to the closet.

"So you have to put up with the training and do everything that he says." Maria explained "He needs to trust us if we want a chance to escape."

"Who is he?" I asked.

"Chase. I refuse to call someone who made me to use me dad." Maria looked deeply hurt. "So like I was saying, gain his trust. If he trusts us we can escape easier."

"Maria, what kind of shifter are you?" I asked getting off topic.

"Half blood. I can turn into anything I've come in contact with. I can also see ghosts because my mom had that gift." she replied.

"Are there any with us?" I asked getting scared.

"I block them out so I can only feel them and not see them, because some of them are really creepy but yeah there are always ghosts around, but for some reason the energy here is stronger." she said shrugging.

"Like this mansion here, or this closet here?" I asked getting nervous.

"Mansion. It's extremely stronger than my home back in Pennsylvania." Every hair in my body stood on end and I looked around cautiously.

"Ok so how long do we have to put up with da- Chase." I asked.

"Until we know he trusts us. Until then we need to prepare. We can't keep coming into this closet or people will get suspicious. So here is where my plan comes in. Every night at dinner sneak some food. This will be your food supply until we figure it out. Then have a small backpack with some essentials in it at all times because we never know when the time is right. Lastly, ask to shop."

"Shop? Why?"

"Money! We need money to survive."

"Okay, I'll tell the others our plan." I said turning to the door.

"No! Don't tell them. They can fend for themselves." Maria whisper yelled.

"I won't come with you if they can't come."

"Then don't come." Maria suddenly got extremely bitter.

"What? We're sisters! You can't just block me out." I said getting angry

"If they're coming then they have to leave when we do because we're not going back."

"Fine, I'll talk to them. Can I go now?"

"Yeah I will leave notes in the top drawer of your dresser in a little brown box and you do the same for me." Maria finished and left the closet. I followed her.

It was a sleepless rest of the night and at six am one of the butlers came in with my freshly laundered training outfit. After about ten minutes my alarm went off and scared the living daylights out of me. I got out of bed excited to get this plan over with. I remembered the electromagnetic vibe Maria was getting and found a way to change without showing any skin. Once I changed I looked out the window and saw a flock of birds flying over the mansion. Why not join them? It would get me away from here. I touched the latch on the window and tried to undo it. Just my luck, jammed.

"Dana, its time to train" Phillip, I think was his name came in my room to get me. I followed him out the door and down to the horrible basement.

Something was different today than yesterday. There was a few strangers in the stands near the ceiling and some teenagers standing in groups around the edges. When I saw my dad I rushed over to question him.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Today is the Shifters Cup." my dad said nonchalantly.

"We trained for one day!" I exclaimed.

"Not you silly!" my dad patted my head. "There is a Shifters Cup qualifying tournament every month and an official one every year. Today you and Maria are just watching."

"Oh ok. I'll wait for Maria and then find a seat." I said before turning away.

"Good there is an elevator outside the door to get to the seats."

I walked outside and met Maria. We rode the elevator in silence and we soon reached the top. We took a seat in the first row and waited for a half hour as more seats filled up. In an hour the show started with my dad announcing.

"Welcome to the Shifters Cup everybody! Today we will be having the qualifying tournament! First up from New York, Emily Cannavan and from Georgia, Alex Layford." A girl no more than eleven came out to the middle of the floor then from the opposite end of the stadium, a boy around sixteen came out. "Take your forms, and you know the rules." Emily shifted into a gray wolf and stood poised to attack. Alex shifted into a brown bear and looked Emily in the eyes. Emily sprang at him and knocked him to the floor, causing scratch marks in his coat. Alex quickly retaliated and trapped Emily underneath him. Alex used his sharp incisors to bite Emily's throat leaving teeth marks and staining her gray fur with blood and spit. Despite the fact that she was bleeding, Emily kept fighting and got up. Alex swiped one of his massive claws at Emily and knocked her out. Emily's body lay on the ground as a human again. She had scratch marks on her forehead and bite marks on her neck still. Her clothes were tattered and bloodstained along with Alex's uniform. I heard Maria gasp next to me and I turned to her.

"What?" I asked worriedly as people carried Emily out of the stadium.

"She's dead." Maria choked out.

"What?'' I asked my voice becoming weak.

"I saw her spirit leave her body."

That's when I figured out the seriousness of this situation and realized we had to escape sooner rather than later.
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Happy new year! This book is coming to an end :( but I don't want it to be gone forever so there will be a sequel :) I hoped you enjoyed and I decided to stick to the cover on it right now. I'm going to try and write the next chapter in the next week so stay tuned.
<3HG4S