Shift by Emily Zimmerman. (best fiction books to read txt) 📖

as she walked slowly towards the glass doors and put her hand on the handle. She turned the handle and swung the door open. My last thought before I blacked out was ‘what is going on?’

Chapter sixteen. (Jenna’s P.O.V)
I heard a rustling noise in the forest below, I walked cautiously over to the railing, looking over it. I saw animals down there, but they didn’t seem friendly. My ears picked up a noise and I froze, my dream, I was standing at the railing. I slowly turned around, only to scream. A pile of bodies lay on the ground where I once walked, I listened for heartbeats, anything, I didn’t get anything. The one thing that caught my attention was orange hair with black streaks. I sat beside the body of Lamina, she lay lifeless beside me. Then blonde hair caught my attention. I stumbled over to Drake; he lay in the door way, dead. I put my hand on my mouth as I lowered myself in front of him. I choked on a sob as I touched his once full of life face. “Enjoying the view?” Garrison and a few of his soldiers were standing in front of me and Drake. I growled, my inner animal showing in full, I changed and roared a booming roar that shook the building “you! I am going to rip you limb from limb!” I roared, pouncing on him. He changed into his tiger and started attacking me, I clawed and bit him, and made sure to really rip him up, I knew I couldn’t kill him, but I would try. I was thrown off him, and suddenly I was in my human form, pain was coursing through me, like fire through my veins, I looked down at my stomach, this was how the dream went, I die with my love, and everyone else dies. My stomach was bleeding, and I had a knife through my heart. I pulled the knife out and fell to my knees in front of Drake “this is how it ends then? I die, and you get what you want” I said, my voice stronger than I felt. Garrison cocked his head to the side, as if considering something “hmm, no, that’s not how its going to work, what I want is to rule, not to kill everyone off, I want to rule, and you dying would not help that, I am going to let you suffer for a while, and let your mate suffer too” he said. He looked at Drake, and as my vision started getting blotchy, I watched as his eyes opened and he jerked up, he was panting and sweating as he clutched his heart. I fell on my side, gasping for air as my heart rate got faster. Drake looked at me, and he panicked, “Jenna!” he shouted. I had my hand over my heart, leaving my stomach to bleed. “oh god Jenna, it will be alright, I’ll make sure of it, don’t close your eyes, don’t you dare close your eyes, look at me” he ordered, tears streaming down his cheeks. I strained to keep my eyes open, to keep him with me “I- I don’t want to die” I whispered. He kissed my forehead “you won’t Jenna, you will be alright!” he insisted. I coughed “I’m sorry Drake, I love you” I whispered. I closed my eyes, and blacked out.


Chapter seventeen.

I awoke in a small square room, my back was hurting, and I my stomach was on fire. Of course that could be because I was breathing hard. I sat up and looked around. ‘Where am I?’ “Jenna!” Drake’s voice came from the corner. I looked over in time to have his arms go around me, he hugged me tightly “Jenna, I thought you were gone!” he said, tears were running down his cheeks. I wrapped my arms around his waist, my hands splayed across his back. “Drake” I whispered, relief flowing through me as I realized he was alive.
He seemed thinner than last time I had seen him, and I could feel his rib cage. I pulled back and looked at his handsome face, his cheeks were slightly sunken in, and he was thin. I put my hand on a scar on his neck, it was a pink line now, but there was no telling when he got it “Drake, where are we?” I asked him.
“were at Garrisons hide out, he is holding everyone hostage, he stuffed us in a room, making me sit with what I though was your dead body, I had to look at you night after night, he would leave me food, but I didn’t want it, you were dead, there was nothing I could do, you had no heartbeat, nothing, I think that is one of his powers” he said thoughtfully. I looked at him quizzically “powers?” I asked him. He stared into my eyes for a long time, contemplating something “I might as well tell you, when you shift, you slowly start to develop a power, and the power gets stronger the older you get, and Garrisons has three, he can stop your heart for as long as he wants without permanently killing you, his second is mind control, but he has to be touching you, like a touch to the hand, or shoulder, something like that. The third is infection, he can infect your wounds, without killing you, or he can kill you by infecting your wounds, luckily he hasn’t done that to you, your wounds have healed just fine” he said, staring into my eyes. I nodded “and that is what you talked to my father about? I have some sort of power?” I asked him. He studied me a little while longer before answering “You have three powers in one, you can tell the future, past, and present just by thinking about it, of course the price is that while you are looking at those things, your conscious body is left behind and you are vulnerable, of course that roar of yours that you used on me in the cave could be a power too, I have never seen one that powerful before” he explained. I was about to reply when a clanging noise from the door interrupted me, followed by it swinging open to reveal Garrison and a few of his guards. I growled but Drake held me back from trying to rip him apart again. Garrison smiled wickedly at me “why hello Jenna, it’s nice to see you’re awake, it’s time to move you outside with the rest of them, both of you” he said, his voice dark and menacing. I realized that I couldn’t feel my inner animal inside of me anymore, when I got angry my inner animal didn’t growl like it used to. I looked at Drake with a worried look as they put chains on our ankles and hands ‘I can’t hear or feel my inner animal!’ I said through his mind. He nodded sadly ‘they made me take the pills, but I don’t know how they made you swallow them without me seeing, I had thought you were dead up until now’ he thought back. I nodded, desperately trying to find my inner animal. After a little bit of searching, I found a faint part of her deep within me, she was trapped inside whatever these pills did. I looked around the cave as they chained me up, my eyes landed on Lamina, my mother, my father, and my brother, all chained up across the room. They watched in silence as they brought us in. I looked over at Drake as they chained him to the wall on the other side of the room. I sat on the stone floor in defeat, there was nothing I could do now, except stop taking the pills and try and strengthen my inner animal. But Lamina already tried that, and she was caught. I studied the locks on the shackles around my wrists; it didn’t seem I was going to get out of this one alive. “Listen to me Jenna, I have a plan, but I am going to need your help” Drake whispered to me as the guard made his rounds, he was across the room, but I could hear him. I didn’t look at him, ‘tell me in my mind, I don’t want you to get in trouble’ I told him.
‘Lamina stopped taking the pills, she crushed them up under her foot and let the water leakage from the cave dissolve it on the floor, the reason they caught her was because she spit the pills out too late and the guard was already coming her way, she told me the whole thing’ he explained, watching as the guard made his way past us.
‘So you want to repeat Lamina’s plan, but be a little more tactical about it?’ I asked him.
‘Exactly’ he nodded ever so slightly.
‘Okay, so what is the plan?’ I asked him.
‘First, we stop taking the pills, but don’t even put them in your mouth, just make it look like it, use your strength to crush them in your hand, and then throw them down that drainage pipe’ he said, discretely pointing to a small hole in the ground, water was all around it, so it would dissolve and drain. I nodded ever so slightly ‘okay’ I said to him. A few guards walked over with a small tray, ‘get ready’ he told me. I watched as they gave Drake and the rest these little white pills, I searched for my inner animal again, and I could feel her fear. The guard gave me some pills and watched as I faked popping them in my mouth, I hid them in between the creases in my fingers when he looked at my hand, I opened my mouth to show him that I swallowed them, and watched as Drake did the same. I waited until the guard walked away and then crushed the pills in my hand; I threw the remains into the drainage pipe as discretely as I could. I nodded at Drake and he nodded back. I looked at the others, and watched as they did the same, he must have told them the plan, how? I have no idea. Drake had told me before that I could see the past, present and future, I decided to try and see the past to see if I could figure out how the pills worked. I closed my eyes, working to see if I could use my power without my inner animal helping me. I exerted myself trying to use my power. I finally just gave up and opened my eyes. I gasped, realizing I was not in the cave anymore. I was on the beach, the waves were high, and the moon was up. I looked around, and found two people standing on the beach about twenty feet away. This time I had control of my feet, I walked cautiously over to them, afraid they would see me. I stopped when I realized it was Garrison, and a strange young man, about nineteen or younger, and he was holding a briefcase. He had brown short spiky hair, but I couldn’t see his eyes. I listened in as they spoke “have you completed it?” Garrison asked him, smiling wickedly.
“Yes, the tests have proven positive, it will weaken their inner animal, but not remove it completely, but I must warn you, you cannot mix it with anything, it will kill them” he warned seriously. Garrison raised an eyebrow, but nodded “great, so do you have them now?” Garrison asked, eyeing the briefcase. The man nodded “of course, but you have to uphold your part of the deal, remember? Jenna is mine, I don’t care how you get her to me, I want her”