Shift by Emily Zimmerman. (ebook reader for laptop txt) 📕

something for us!” she insisted. I took my hand off the piano and shook my head; I hadn’t played since he died. “No, that’s alright, I’d rather not” I said quietly. Maria frowned, but nodded “okay, that’s fine sweetheart” Sadness flowed through me as she called me that. Sweetheart is the nickname dad gave me; he never called me anything but that. I just started walking away from the piano, not answering her. I heard them walking behind me, no one spoke, all was quiet. “What happened?” William asked softly, worry in his voice.
“I don’t know” Maria sounded as worried as William. I heard someone sigh. I stopped and looked back at everyone “do you think we can…you know… introduce me to everyone tomorrow?” I asked, not really in the mood to be in front of a bunch of people right now. Maria, Laurence, William and Drake all looked confused and worried “sure…” Laurence said. I smiled in thanks and started walking past them. “I’m just going to…explore” I lied. I heard Drake snort at my lie. I walked back into the music room and looked at the piano. I walked slowly toward it, afraid of playing it, it always brought back memories of me and my dad, and I was afraid of those memories. I was afraid that I might cry for him again. But I had to play, just once more; we sold my old piano after he died, so I never got to play again. Something was telling me to play it, my dad’s encouraging words sounded in my head “go ahead, if you don’t do it now, you’ll never do it” his words made me sit down at that bench and put my hands on the keys. I started the song dad reluctantly taught me-reluctantly because he thought it was a bad song to teach a seven year old –Almost lover- A fine frenzy-
Your fingertips across
The palm trees swaying in the wind
Images
You sang me Spanish lullabies
The sweetest sadness in your eyes
Clever trick
I never ‘wanna see you unhappy
I thought you’d want the same for me
Goodbye, my almost lover
Goodbye, my hopeless dream
I’m trying not to think about you
Can’t you just let be?
So long, my luckless romance
My back is turned on you
Should have known you’d bring me heartache
Almost lovers always do…

Chapter nine. (Drakes P.O.V.)
Everyone went their separate ways after Jenna left, which was strange. I heard the Piano, and then that voice…that voice was so beautiful, so soft, yet it had so much distance. I knew it must have been Jenna. I walked quietly to the doorway of the music room and watched her as she played so much emotion in her voice, sadness in her eyes as she sang the song she knew well.
“We walked along a crowded street
You took my hand and danced with me
Images
When you left you kissed my lips
You told me you would never ever forget these images! No...
I never ‘wanna see you unhappy
I thought you’d want the same for me
Goodbye, my almost lover
Goodbye, my hopeless dream
I’m trying not to think about you
Can’t you just let me be?
So long, my luckless lover
My back is turned on you
Should have known you’d bring me heartache
Almost lovers always do

I cannot go to the ocean
I cannot drive the streets at night
I cannot wake up in the morning
Without you on my mind
So you’re gone and I’m haunted
And I bet you are just fine
Did I make it that easy
To walk right in and out of my life

Goodbye, my almost lover
Goodbye, hopeless dream
I’m trying not to think about you
Can’t you just let me be?
So long, my luckless romance
My back is turned on you!
Should have known you’d bring me heartache
Almost lovers always do
She stopped the song and smiled sadly, looking down at the piano keys. “Well dad, I hope your proud of me” she murmured, so quiet, I didn’t know if I heard it right. She looked around the music room at the high ceilings painted to look like a ballroom; we used it for events like celebrations and things. I got up and walked quietly away, as not to alert her to my presence. “Drake, I know your there” she called. I stopped and turned around, smiling sheepishly. ‘Busted’ I thought to myself. I walked into the room and leaned against the wall. “Where did you learn to play like that?” I asked her. She was still sitting at the bench; looking down at the piano keys “my dad taught me” she said quietly, not quietly enough, I could hear the sadness in her voice. I looked away out the floor length window that showed the praise yard. “You loved your father” I said. She nodded “he was my life, how could I not?” she asked me. I sighed “would you like to take a walk with me? I could show you around” I asked her. She smiled slightly “sure, that sounds fun” she said, getting up from the bench. She walked over to me and smiled shyly, I held out my hand to her, smiling “come on, I want to show you the garden” I said. She took my hand and I led her through the hallways, we went to the “back yard” as it’s called, I call it the garden, it was like a castle garden, with flowers of every kind, apple trees growing in a little field, orange trees growing in another, this was a fairytale garden, or at least…that’s what my sister called it. Sadness flowed through me as I looked at this garden; Jenna walked in front of me, amazement the dominant expression on her face. She looked around and then turned around to face me, I leaned down and stroked the soft petal of my sisters favorite flower, A giant White Calla Lilly, Lamina disappeared along with seven others one night, they were up late, and he had stayed up with them, but fell asleep. When he awoke, they were gone. Lamina reminded him of a Calla Lily, she was delicate, with snow white skin, these beautiful Golden eyes, and she was a Tiger, only ten years old when she changed, a very premature change. He always called her his little Calla lily, she loved the flower. He hadn’t realized Jenna was sitting beside him, looking at his saddened face until she reached out and touched his hand that was still stroking the lily. “What happened?” she asked him gently, trying not to pry. He looked at her in the eyes “This was my sisters favorite flower, a Calla lily, I used to call her my little lily, she was ten years old when she changed, a little tiger growing to be as fierce as her brother, she was only fifteen when she….” He couldn’t say it; he couldn’t bring himself to say the words that he knew were not true. She was still alive, he knew it. “When she disappeared” she whispered. He nodded “her along with seven others, I was there! If only I could have stayed awake! I could have stopped him” I whispered, tears threatening to break through. She wiped the lone tear that trailed down my cheek away with her thumb “you think that Garrison took them” she said, not a question, a statement. I nodded “I taught my sister never to trust the lemur” he said. Confusion took over Jenna’s face “I don’t get something, I thought you only changed into the fiercest of creatures, why didn’t he change into something other than a lemur?” she asked. I looked out at the forest “I found out that night that he can change into many creatures, no other shifter that we know of in the world has ever been able to have multiple inner animals, we think that is why he went rogue, his inner animals are controlling him now, I think he changed into something else to lure them out, I just don’t know how he got Lamina to leave without waking me first, I will never understand” he murmured. Jenna’s eyes seemed to be staring at something far away, something he couldn’t see as she looked out at the forest, her eyes were unfocused, she was listening intently to something “what is it-“ she shushed him, making him close his mouth instantly. She got up from the ground next to me and started walking slowly, she heard something, and she was going to find out what it was, it seemed.

Chapter ten. (Jenna’s P.O.V)
I heard breathing, out in the woods, my hearing picked it up easily out of all the sounds, this breathing wasn’t right though, not a regular animal, but human, it was ragged, and I could hear whimpering. “Help” it whispered, as if it was too tired to do anything else. I shifted and broke into a run for the second time today, only this time it was to find and help whatever was calling for her. She ran through the forest as the sound of breathing got louder the closer she got. She heard footsteps behind her, one set, she knew it was Drake. She skidded to a stop and shifted as she caught sight of the injured boy in the middle of this clearing. She ran at inhuman speed to the boy, stopping at his side. “what happened to you?” she asked, immediately going into a strange “doctor” mode as she looked at his deep claw wound. “a-a ti-“ he stopped to cough, blood ran down his chin. “a tiger, it- it was a man..b-but then all of the sudden, he changed and attacked me, I h-have been laying h-here f-for hours” he coughed up more blood, his body was trying to heal itself, but his bones were broken and his wound was deep. She ripped the cloth from her jeans and wrapped it around his stomach wound, blood ran down his sides and he coughed up more blood. Drake was standing there, watching as I took charge and looking for a sign of another attack. “It’s alright now; do you have any parents here? Anyone that might be looking for you?” I asked him. He shook his head “m-my family disappeared two months ago” he whispered. I picked the boy up carefully and looked at drake “we should get him to the hospital wing, it’s neither safe nor good for the wound to stay here” I said. Drake nodded, still watching for Garrison. We started running, still in our human forms. I carefully cradled the boy in her arms, careful not to jostle him. I got him back to the garden alright, I ran through the doors leading inside, “I- I can’t breathe” he gasped. I stopped running and listened to his breathing, he was wheezing, but I hadn’t heard any gargle sounds, his blood wasn’t choking him, but I think he ruptured a lung. “you might have ruptured a lung, just stay with me, were almost there” she said, running again. We got to the hospital wing, everyone was buzzing around me and the boy, I set the boy down on an operating table and looked up. “Where is the doctor?” I asked. They all looked at each other, and then looked back at me “he is not on the island, an emergency came up and he had to tend to a shifter off the island. “you mean you don’t have another doctor around here?” I asked incredulously. Everyone flinched at the anger in my voice, except for Drake, who seemed to be watching me intently to see what I would do. I took a deep breath and looked down at the boy “okay, I have a small bit of experience