Chapter 12
Harper said goodbye to Black Feather as he fumed at Grey. The two of them would leave through the hole in the fence in the back and walk through the grove to the Open Zone. From there, they would walk in the open and allow themselves to be seen. Grey and Harper agreed on the details; they had to keep her whereabouts over the past few days a secret, or she would be taken again. The two of them would quickly deflect any questions in the name of her safety. She would comment on how the only help she’d received had come from a shifter, after a horrible group of humans had taken her from her car.
“So,” Grey asked her as they walked away, “what will you say if someone asks about your night out? What’s your reason going to be?”
“Well,” she sighed, “I guess I’ll just go with, I’m a rebellious teenager who couldn’t stand another night under her father’s supervision.”
“Sure, but it’s clear you were headed to the compound. What if someone asks if you were on your way to a shifter friend’s house or some kind of event?”
“I’ll just say I lost control of the car and ended up on the wrong road,” she shrugged. “No one knows I can drive perfectly well.”
The two fell silent as they walked through the scrubby, twisted trees of the grove. Harper looked to the sky several times but saw nothing. She furrowed her eyebrows but didn’t comment. Grey kept moving forward, sure that an LEO would meet them around the next corner or pull up on a motorcycle, but the landscape was silent. They reached the Open Zone unseen and wondered at the silence around them.
“Something’s wrong,” Harper commented. “This place should be crawling with LEOs.”
“I know. Let’s walk out on the road and see if we draw anyone out.”
The two wandered out onto the street and saw nothing but open, flat land around them. There were no cars or motorcycles in sight. The two continued, but both were extremely tense. The day was pleasant and cool as the sun lowered, meaning they would get to the palace just before nightfall – the perfect time to be outside, but neither could enjoy it. The silence pounded in their ears, and they wondered at their strange surroundings; how was there no security in the Open Zone?
“I wonder if they’re raiding some poor settlement in the city,” Harper wondered aloud. “Maybe some innocent people are being shot in the head right now. Thanks to me.” Tears made her voice pitch higher, and Grey quickly walked over to comfort her.
“You can’t think like that,” he told her. “Sure, you made a mistake, but you didn’t kill anyone. You didn’t even write that stupid note. If you take on the responsibility for everybody’s actions, you’ll lose your mind.”
“That’s just it,” she said, still blinking tears from her eyes, “my family is responsible for everything that happens. We made the city, we made the laws, and we created the law enforcement. It’s all us. I can’t ever say that something isn’t my fault. It’s all just an extension of me and my family. There’s no escape.”
Grey looked over at her face and remained silent. The pain he encountered there stabbed him right through the heart.
He thought back to the president, who also had a face full of pain. He knew both people were carrying with them the weight of responsibility and regret, but he could already see the joy that would cover Bachmann’s face as his lost daughter ran into see him, arms wide to hold him. Her return would set his existence back to a normal pattern; he would go on ruling and doling out the occasional kindness, all the while believing that life was going on as it should.
Harper wouldn’t do that; Grey could see this as well. No, something was very different for her now. She would never look out her window to the same world after this. Now she would read newspapers without the tunnel vision glasses that other humans seemed to wear. She would know that no shifter ever really attacked a human. That only humans went around killing one another. Shifters were never really asked their opinions, given fair trials, protected, or respected. When her father retired, he would hand the leadership of the state to her. What kind of leader would she be?
“Harper,” he said to her, “let’s walk a bit faster. If no one’s here, we should get to where they can find us.”
She nodded, and the two of them walked with fast, urgent steps. As they neared the presidential mountain, the force of it seemed to increase and grow with its size.
The mountain where Harper’s family had their presidential palace had – Grey had learned – once been filled with wildlife, covered in green trees and sources of fresh water. According to the stories, that had been before anyone knew what a shifter was, possibly before they existed. Grey always found himself fascinated with the idea of a time before him, before his type of body had come onto the earth, evolving from the forces around it.
A lot of humans said that shifters were an insult to God, whatever that meant. Shifters tended to stay away from any kind of church – too dangerous.
They reached the base of the mountain pathway that Harper had taken in her stolen car and looked up.
“It’s pretty steep,” Harper said as her eyes searched the road. Grey looked up the hill with her. Where was everyone?
“Yeah, and not too safe. We’ll have to work our way around and then take the main road up. That will give us more chance of being seen, I imagine.”
The walked up along the steep path, then took the right turn that would swing them around to the other face of the mountain.
“Hey,” Harper said, smiling a little, “I have a question for you.”
“Ask away.”
“Would it be at all possible for you to, I don’t know, fly me up to the top of the mountain? Like, if you shift while we hold hands, will I change at all or shrink or anything?”
“We could try,” Grey responded, still walking and looking ahead. “I doubt it will work, but it would be nice if it were possible to shrink you down and put you on my back.”
“I can’t imagine,” Harper said, smiling. “You’re not too big as a bird, are you?”
“No,” Grey said, kicking a piece of petrified wood, “American kestrels aren’t too big. I could probably sit on your shoulder.”
The two continued chatting and walking, all the while keeping their eyes on the road. Each of them was sure that a gang of motorcycle LEOs would round the corner at any moment, but there was still no sign of anyone. They wondered what could have happened. Maybe some random sighting had led them all away to some random spot in the city? Perhaps the president was in hiding, and the whole palace was empty.
Grey looked over at Harper and saw the sunlight hitting her hair the same way it did when they were children. He smiled at her, and she narrowed her eyes.
“What? What’s funny?”
“Nothing is. This is a very serious situation.”
“Shut up.”
He tossed a little chunk of petrified wood at her. “I will not. You shut up.”
She quickly grabbed the hard chunk and zinged it back at him. Her aim was perfect, and he grabbed his arm in pain. He could tell already that he would have a small, but deep, bruise.
“Geez!”
“You deserved it. I mean, really? Throwing things at a president’s daughter?” She winked as she said it, then stuck her tongue out.
“Yeah,” Grey retorted as he laughed, “so fancy.”
Harper laughed to herself as she took in the empty mountain. “Do you remember,” she mused, “playing together in the park when we were little? How I would pretend you had died, and then I would be the minister at your funeral?”
“You were a very good minister. I always enjoyed hearing all the nice words about myself.”
She looked at him with her big, sad eyes. “I meant them. You were the only kid I ever got to play with and only because we annoyed my father enough that he sent us away.”
“I was so shocked when I saw that garden,” Grey remembered. “That first day? Remember?”
“Yeah,” she nodded. “Well, don’t be too impressed. Most of it is fake.”
“Really?”
“Oh, sure,” she said, shrugging. “I mean, they’re good fakes, and they’re pretty, but real plants take a lot of water and a ton of care. Besides, most people alive today have never had to take care of a living thing. There was no one we could hire to help out.”
“Wow,” Grey breathed. “I really thought the president was the only person left with a garden. He really fooled me.”
“Dad’s good at fooling everyone,” Harper agreed as she grimaced. A big sigh of frustration came out of her. “This is insane. There should be law enforcement on this road. Even if I wasn’t missing, people should be here. Where are they?”
“I can only imagine there’s a massive effort to find you. I’m sure everyone got roped into that. You need a drink?”
She nodded, and the two of them moved over to a boulder to sit and rest. Grey took his canteen from his back and unscrewed the top of the nozzle. Each took a swig and held it in their mouths as both had been taught to do since the day they were small. All humans and shifters had spent years hearing about the preciousness of water, no matter how dark or brackish it was.
“Thanks,” she said, nodding her confirmation that she was hydrated and feeling better. Grey swished the water around his mouth, feeling it against the inside of his cheeks and around his teeth. He never liked to drink directly, but rather allow the water to slip down his throat almost by accident. It was a trick he had learned to do as a means of making a tiny sip feel like a big gulp of liquid.
The two friends were reluctant to continue on their way, and stayed where they were, taking in the road. Harper stared off into the distance at all the tiny, twisted trees and up to where she knew the palace stood, but couldn’t quite see it. Grey leaned to the side to look as well and bumped her shoulder.
“Oh, sorry.”
“No, it’s okay.” She smiled at him but then went back to her search. “I was just seeing if I could see my home.”
Grey leaned a bit closer, placed his hand behind her back, and propped his chin on her shoulder. “It’s really hidden.”
“Yeah,” she sighed, sadly. “It’s designed to blend in with the surroundings. As if everyone didn’t already know where we live.”
The two stayed like that for a moment, Harper looking forward and up and Grey very close to her. He could feel the heat coming from her body and smell the perfumed shampoo she used in her hair. A little tendril blew up into his face with the help of a soft breeze, and he closed his eyes as it tickled his face. He had never thought too much about Harper’s hair, but now he was consumed with it.
“Do you want to be my secret boyfriend?”
“What?” Grey straightened up and spun around to look at her. “Your secret boyfriend? What do you mean?”
“I mean,” she said casually, “do you want to be in a relationship with me? We couldn’t tell anyone, but we could, you know…” She blushed and smiled. “Do boyfriend and girlfriend stuff. When no one’s looking.”
“Harper,” Grey began, but her sweet and amused expression stopped him. He wanted to kiss and hold her very badly, but suddenly found himself unable to speak or move. How would they hide an entire relationship? She seemed very confident it could be done, but he was terrified. His mother’s voice echoed in his mind: “Don’t ever correct Harper. Not even when she’s wrong.”
“Yes?” She tilted her head. She looked so confident that he would say yes. People usually said yes to Harper; she didn’t have much reason to worry. “What do you think? You want to?”
“I think I would,” he answered. “I just didn’t know that you had any secrets.” He stepped closer to her as he said it, and she moved just a little closer to him.
“I have a lot of secrets,” she said, taking another tiny step across the space between them. “I’m good at keeping things close to me, hiding them. I taught myself to drive without anyone finding me in the car.”
He reached out to touch her face. “That’s impressive.”
“I’m a virgin, you know.”
Grey startled a bit. “What does that mean?”
“It means I haven’t had sex yet.”
“Oh.” Grey blinked at her and thought for a moment. “Is that something humans talk about?”
She nodded. “Yeah, we do.” She cleared her throat and looked off to the side as she chewed her lip for a moment. “I thought maybe you wouldn’t like it if I didn’t have any experience.”
“Why does that matter?” her friend asked, pulling her into his arms. “I’ve never found it changes much of anything. Sex is the same if you’ve had none of it or a lot of it; our bodies just come together.”
She wrapped her arms around his waist. “Dad always tells me it’s important, being a virgin.”
Grey just shrugged. “I’ve never heard of it before.” Now close together in one another’s arms, the two regarded each other’s faces through lowered eyelids. “So,” Grey said, his mouth dry and his heart pounding, “are you a good kisser?”
Harper nodded her head. Grey reached out and touched her lower lip. “How are my lips?”
He chuckled a little. “What do you mean?”
“Are they nice? I mean, do you want to kiss them?” Grey nodded and slowly lowered his head towards hers. She tipped her face up, pointed her nose straight at him, and the two of them slowly, gradually closed their eyes and parted their lips. Beneath him, Harper went up on her toes just enough to touch her mouth to his, and Grey allowed himself to close his eyes completely.
As soon as he relaxed, she was gone.
With just a quick little “Oh!” Harper was suddenly no longer in his arms. He felt the motion as she was whisked away from him with a hard, quick pull, but was unable to respond. Her fingers briefly grabbed his, but she didn’t get a good hold on him. By the time his eyes were open, she was disappearing into a dark, tree-filled shadow.
Grey stood by the boulder and looked in every direction in the quiet space around him, then screamed at the sight of her in the jaws of a huge, hungry fossa.
The wild creature stood as tall as Grey. In its jaws was an unconscious Harper, being held by the collar of her shirt. The sight of the cat and Harper passed out, took his breath away and froze his feet to the ground. The cat blinked at him once and then bounded off into the woods and straight to the palace. Behind it, Grey stood open-mouthed as he watched the shifter he’d been so sure he knew so well go straight into the hands of the most hated man of the entire state: President Bachmann.
In seconds, Harper and the fossa were gone. A set of footsteps approached Grey from behind, and he spun around to see another shocking vision: the mole shifter from OSCPP.