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

about our boy here” I told him. His eyes went unfocused and he nodded to himself as he listened. I looked at the boy as he shifted in his seat, groaning. “He’s awake” I said, just as mom and some other person came into the room. “oh my god Jake! What happened to you?” the young girl asked worriedly. Jaikoren groaned again “I was attacked by… a tiger, this girl found me and saved me” he said, pointing at me.
“Excuse me, but who are you?” I asked, trying not to be rude.
“I’m his best friend, Teila, he didn’t tell you about me?” she asked me. I shook my head at her, then looked at Jake, he looked sheepish “I didn’t want her to worry, so I didn’t tell you” he told me. I crossed my arms and sighed “I asked you if you if you might have had anyone looking for you, you were almost dead and you were worried about someone worrying?” I asked him incredulously. He shrugged. I sighed and looked at Teila, “I’m sorry, I would have called you immediately after I made sure he was in stable condition” I apologized to her. She held her hands up as if in surrender “hey, you saved his life, and I am in your debt” she said, smiling in gratitude. I smiled back and nodded “well, I have to… we’ll just leave you two alone” I said, not able to come up with an excuse for why we are leaving. We left the room and Maria turned to me “that was very brave of you dear, what you did last night, I’m glad he’s alright” she said softly to me.
“Thanks mom” I said, not realizing what I said. Maria stared at me a second, and that’s when I realized what I said “I mean! Uh…” I trailed off. Maria patted my back “it’s alright, I know what you meant” she said. I blushed as she walked away. Drake chuckled “I was wondering when you would finally cave” he teased. I blushed deeper and changed the subject “hey, do want to have that date tonight? Since it was ultimately canceled last night?” I blurted. I heard his heart skip as his eyes lit up “yeah” was all he said. I smiled as we approached the lunch room. “So what do we do here?” I asked him. He shrugged “we hang around, do the things we like” he said. I nodded, walking over to the edge of the balcony and looking over the metal bars at the forest. “I have been wondering, do you remember the first night I found you here?” he asked me. I nodded “yes I remember” I said quietly.
“You were watching something intently, what was it?” he asked me. I froze, the lemur, I was watching the lemur, it flew through the trees as I watched it, expertly weaving its way through the branches. I had no idea what that lemur was capable of, it could have seen me, and that might have been the end of my life “Jenna? Jenna, are you alright?” Drake asked me, a worried look on his face. I snapped out of my thoughts and looked up at him “oh, sorry, I was just thinking” I whispered. It was all I could do, whisper, I couldn’t raise my voice any more than that, because it would break “no, you weren’t just thinking, you were afraid, and you are afraid, what did you see?” he asked me. I sighed and looked away, the forest stretched on for miles, it was beautiful, but oh so scary at the same time “I saw him, in his lemur form, he seemed to be circling around the building, he didn’t see me, and I thought at the time he was just a lemur” I whispered. Before he could answer, he was gone, everything was gone, I was standing in what seemed to be a cave. I stood there, terrified, afraid to call any names or anything. I started walking, my feet carried deeper into the cave without my permission, like a nightmare you can’t control. I suddenly fell down a steep bottomless pit in the ground. I felt like screaming but I couldn’t, I wondered if this was a nightmare. I landed on my feet without any pain, and decided this was a nightmare. I started walking again, and a far off light made my feet push faster. When I finally got to the light, I found that it wasn’t the end of the cave, it was a gruesome sight, I watched as kids probably my age –and a few younger than that- were beaten, I looked at a small pile of three children on the floor, dead. Tears ran down my cheeks as I looked at the sight. I watched as a boy raised a whip to strike another boy, he slashed him in the back as the boy cried out in pain. I looked over at a small girl, sitting with her knees up to her chest, she had this strange orange-ish hair, with black streaks like stripes, and she had these big golden eyes that seemed to glow. The resemblance to her brother was like they were twins, this was Drakes sister, she seemed to be about sixteen, and her hair had grown allot. I took a step toward her, and suddenly I was back at the sanctuary. I awoke with a start; Drake had me in his arms, tears in his eyes. My heart was racing and my breathing was hard. “Jenna? Oh thank God” he said in relief. I looked around, everyone had crowded around, worried looks on all of their faces “where am I?” I whispered. Drake helped me up and sat me in a chair, making sure I wouldn’t fall over. “We’re still on the lunch deck” he said. I rubbed my forehead for a second, then the memory of his sister came back and I gasped “Drake! I had a dream…or a vision…or something, but I was in this horrible place, and there were children who were my age and younger, some were torturing others, three children, no older than fourteen lay dead on the floor and I saw her! I saw your sister, she is alive! I know it!” I told him. He stared at me for a long time before he answered “you…had a…vision of this?” he asked me, a tiny glint of hope in his eyes. I shook my head slowly “I don’t know what it was, but one minute I was here, and the next I wasn’t” I told him. He gently grabbed my arm and pulled me up, leading me down the hall. We walked to a couple of doors that were big and wooden. He knocked on the door and Maria answered. “Hello Drake, Jenna, what are you two doing here?” she asked us both.
“We need to speak with Laurence” Drake informed her. She let us in to what I guessed was their room. Laurence was sitting at a desk, reading a large book. “oh, hello Jenna, Drake” Laurence greeted us with a confused smile. “Laurence, can I speak to you privately for a second?” Drake asked him. Laurence nodded and walked back into the hall with Drake. I stood there awkwardly for a second, waiting for their footsteps to fade before I walked out the door. “where are you going Jenna?” Maria asked me. I stopped and turned to her “I’ll be back in a few minutes, if Drake comes back tell him that my dream is calling, he’ll know what I mean” I said. I really didn’t know if he’d know what I meant, but if anyone would know, it would be him. Maria nodded, looking confused. I gathered my courage and walked down the hall, opposite to where I heard them walking. I shifted while still inside and started running, I ran outside, determined to find these people I saw in my dream, which now I am thinking was real. When I got into the forest, I stopped and listened for anything, I heard bugs scuttling across the ground, and allot of other animals, but nothing else. I ran to the beach, because in the dream, I could hear the beach nearby. I ran along the sandy beach, listening for any indication of being followed. I wasn’t being followed thankfully. All I heard was the water hitting the sand, and more wild animals. I stopped dead when I saw the cave, it was on the side of the beach, covered in moss, and no one would be able to detect it if they weren’t looking for it. I carefully walked toward it, afraid that there would be an ambush. I slinked to the opening, my head peeking inside, it was dark, but luckily I had night vision, I looked around the cave before completely going into it, the cave was mossy and made of complete rock, no water got in from the ocean though, it was too far away from it. I walked through the cave for a long time before my surroundings became familiar, I saw the large hole in the ground, like a bottomless pit, but if I looked closely, I could see the bottom, if I jumped, I would land on my feet, but I would break a leg. I circled around the hole for a second, and then I found a small natural looking stairway made of stone. I put my paw on it, testing its ability to hold my weight. I started down the staircase silently, not making one sound. I finally got to the bottom, having to jump because two of the steps were broken. I landed silently on my feet, and looked around. I saw the light, and headed towards it. I walked for a long time, paranoia making every little sound I heard sound like an attack. I finally arrived at the opening of the hole; I hid in the darkness as I watched what I had watched in my dream. Three children lay dead on the floor, making me want to cry for them, but also take my revenge for them. I looked around to find Drake’s sister, she sat there with her eyes squeezed closed as one of the boys raised a whip. That made me act fast, before I knew what I was doing, I flung myself in front of her and attacked the boy. I didn’t hurt him too bad, but I think I broke his leg, I slinked over to Lamina and looked her in the eye “it’s okay, I’m going to get you out of here” I told her, using my shift language. Tears ran down her cheeks as she stared at me in the eyes. She looked behind me and pointed, I wondered why she hadn’t used her voice, I looked behind me just in time to see a tiger lunging at me, I roared at him and we rolled on the ground, mauling each other, my paw scratched across his bloody and already torn face, I pinned him to the ground and scratched open his stomach. I watched in amazement and shock as he healed completely, in under ten seconds. He took advantage of my shock to whip his paw at me, scratching my face. I roared in anger and lunged at him, we went rolling on the ground again, a fierce lion against a fierce tiger. Suddenly, another tiger jumped in, roaring as well, I guessed it was Lamina, she helped me maul who I guessed was Garrison. “You won’t win! No matter how many you have to help you! I am invincible, because I have three inner animals, all of them together heal more quickly then you ever wished you could!” he growled at me. I roared in his face as an answer. “You are the greatest peace of scum I have ever had the displeasure