Faye
Piper hauled me back behind a tree as an Electi prowled by us, not even thirty feet away. It had a curving pair of horns like a bull, with hair falling into its eyes and around two wide nostrils. A large hump was erupting from its back and its legs were crooked, as though bent from its weight.
“I only see four,” she said in a voice above a whisper. “I wonder where the other two are.”
“Who cares?” Soraya said, landing next to us. “Four is enough.”
Svetlana and Drax reappeared. I couldn’t help but see the Head in a completely different light now, as did Piper and Soraya from the guilty looks on their faces.
All of our comments over the years seemed to mock us as we actually spent time with him. Not to mention, he’d been invaluable over the last four days, possibly saving the lives of some of the elder Heads, including Hassun. He and another were supposed to meet up with us later after we'd escaped HQ with Andrei.
But we’d been too late. The guards had been talking about a prisoner transfer to Bear Springs. With sinking certainty, I'd met the eyes of the others and we'd known it was Andrei.
Once again, I fruitlessly wondered why Frost wanted him. Piper had opined it was because of the Zima name and everyone else had agreed.
I’d kept silent, fearing there was something else in the wind. Something far worse.
Since Thursday, it seemed as though we had not stopped moving. That night we’d seen Tisha, Hiro, Elias, and the babies off. The next day, we’d waited in anticipation for the burn order to go out and had been relieved when we saw it was indeed an evacuation order.
More than one shifter in the Order had contacted my friends, trying to figure out what was wrong. Everyone who called was urged to flee. But they weren’t leaving fast enough…
Keon had been worried about that very thing and had gone downtown to a café to send out another alert. He’d insisted he could not risk someone tracing the IP address to the Lafi’s. It had worked and he’d been on his way back when he’d vanished.
That’s when all hell had broken loose. Panic ensued, as Order members reported their families missing. The Heads were trying to figure out what was happening all throughout the night.
No one slept.
By Saturday morning, the worst had been realized. Though stymied by the altered burn order, Frost had gone ahead and managed to kidnap the inanis, as well as child shifters of the Order’s families. Not only that, but she’d taken over Bear Springs and HQ, effectively silencing all communication, until she sent out a message late last night.
Join me at 11 a.m. Easter Sunday for a toast to the Shifters of Anubis in Bear Springs.
It is the time of both the Reckoning and Chrysalis. A new age for shifters.
Be prompt or heads will roll.
– L. Frost and the TLO.
It was now almost eleven and with each passing minute, my anxiety grew.
Come now, don’t be shy! Chimed an exultant voice through the loudspeakers of the town. All of us flinched at Frost’s glee. Shifters gather round! I've so much to tell you about the Reckoning…
The Time of Ashes is over and the Chrysalis now commences. Listen to what I have to say and your family members will be returned to you… Quite safe.
Piper lifted her head as the Electi prowled away and I could tell she was thinking fast. “She must be in the town center – there’s a dais there, with that bear statue to the left and an Order barracks to the right. There’s also a tree line to the west side that should give a clear visual.”
“Let’s go,” Drax said, shifting and taking off. We followed, running in a large loop and listening as Frost continued to coax the Shifters of Anubis to the town center.
When we’d made our way around, I was the first up the trees and I looked at my watch.
11:01.
“Where is my daughter?” came a roar and I looked up to see a wolf shifter striding into the center, his eyes fixed on Frost and two Electi snarled at him from either side.
More shifters, in various states of dress, some wearing nothing but workout clothes, some in gear and some even shifted, flooded the square.
I studied the roofs and saw that there were masked men up there, aiming guns at the crowd. My heart was in my throat, but I also saw several shifters had noticed as well.
“All I ask is a bit of patience – all will be explained in time as I have promised,” Frost said, her smile evident from here. “First, welcome. Welcome, brothers and sisters. Thank you for coming.”
“No hybrid is a sister of mine,” shouted an angry voice from the crowd.
Drax let out a hiss of air, shaking his head. “No one is thinking straight.”
“How can they?” Piper murmured quietly. “Their families are in danger and from all appearances, the Order has fallen.”
As though hearing Piper, Frost went on, shaking back her gleaming white-blonde hair, “As you have seen, the Order, the Shifters of Anubis, is ended this day.” A murmur rushed through the crowd like an angry wind and I saw several shifters poised as though to attack. “Come for me and your families pay the price!” Frost said sharply. “And why spill your blood for that poisoned thing?
“It was my mother who recognized the Order was corrupted beyond any salvation,” Frost continued, and angry murmuring came from the crowd. “She was one of you, some forty years ago. But she soon grew tired of the rules and the blind obedience. Troubled by it, too. Nor did she understand why the Order was kept a secret in our secret world.” Frost’s voice lowered and the crowd seemed to hold its breath. “In fact, had shifters become so accustomed to secrets that they could no longer recognize the truth?”
“Blasphemy!” came an angry roar from the crowd. “What would you know of the thousands of years of lore and legend of the Shifters! Of the Order of Anubis!”
“We keep our secrets to ensure the world order and not exercise undue advantage over the inanis!” cried someone else. “The Order does the same! It is not a position of glory or an arm of the Tribunal. It only concerns itself with protecting shifters.”
“Sometimes from themselves,” came a dry, loud voice and I saw Finni glaring up at Frost.
“How quaint you all are if you think the Order so pure!” Frost crowed in a loud, laughing voice and the crowd of shifters fell silent. “Do you know how easy it was to infiltrate and twist your ends for my own? How your ends should align with the Tapetum Lucidium if your true goal is peace and prosperity for all kinds?” Her smile was triumphant. “Hear me now! I have tested the best among you Shifters of Anubis and found you wanting.”
Soraya’s fingers suddenly dug into my arms. “What is she talking about?”
“No,” Piper whispered, her entire body tense. “Oh, no! No!”
My entire body seemed to go numb in anticipation of Frost’s next words.
“I speak of course, of Andrei Zima,” Frost said and Soraya’s grip became so tight I began to lose feeling in my arm. But I hardly noticed, I was leaning forward, trying to hear every word. “Oh, the prince of the Zima family, the precious, top-level agent who could do no wrong. Always worked his hardest and his best for the Shifters of Anubis. Never questioned his orders as a spy.”
“Zima is a good man!” someone shouted from the crowd. “You’re mad!”
“Lies!” Snarled someone else.
“Always did the right thing,” said another voice, sounding sad and troubled. “Didn’t he?”
My jaw dropped as Mirois joined Frost on the dais. Several shocked and mutinous cries came from the crowd. Drax let out a low growl and he wasn’t the only one.
“Traitor!” came a woman’s scream. “You sold out your own!”
“The Order has betrayed us all!” Mirois said, her face drawn. “I would know better than anyone – I have served it almost a lifetime. And what good has it done? It breeds rivalries between the High Families, breaks us apart and leaves too many orphans. In trying to do good, we have created a cancer in the world of shifters, one most know nothing of! I, too, was blind… Until…”
“Until your beloved Head learned the truth about your Order,” Frost interjected in a silky voice. “It is beyond saving and must be reborn into the TLO.” She paused, smiling down at the angry faces. “Still you don’t believe me, yes, I see that. Helene, why not tell them what happened to the favorite daughter of the TLO? The brave orphan with a big heart and sweet smile…”
Piper, Soraya, and Drax looked at me. My head shook, lips parting as Mirois answered.
“Faye Knight was killed by Andrei Zima.” Shouts and cries raised up from the crowd, disbelief and anger alike. “We’d received faulty information she was a traitor…” Suddenly an audio recording played, silencing the crowd. “I take blame – I sent him undercover to the Foundry…”
Mirois’s voice rang out, desperate and angry on the recording.
I am sending you to kill one of our own – the traitor who faked death to escape justice, who even now plots against us and ensures our halls aren’t safe. Fills us with distrust. Brings down our carefully built walls, the work of thousands of years! It is a terrible betrayal and that’s why I want this done quietly.
Who is it? came Andrei’s voice, devoid of any emotion.
Faye Knight, she replied.
My blood was running cold and I began to shake.
It was not an easy decision, Mirois’s recorded voice was now a whisper. We believe Faye’s betrayal would deal the Order a serious blow. Morale is already low. We want to take care of this quietly. That’s why you’re here, she concluded.
And I always do the right thing. Andrei sounded cold, calculating and I clenched my jaw.
“We realized we might have been wrong and I immediately called Andrei… Told him I wasn’t sure, to stand down, but…” Mirois let out a sob.
There was a crackle in the absolute silence.
Then, his recorded voice came again. Too late now.
You sound pleased with yourself, Mirois replied. In spite of the content, I could still hear the satisfaction in her voice, even if no one else could.
Anything to protect the Order. Andrei replied coolly.
“Lies,” I whispered savagely, tears burning along my lids. “They altered it – made it sound…”
“Made you a martyr of the TLO and Andrei an enemy of the state, a blind, cold-blooded soldier,” Drax responded grimly. “Disgustingly brilliant.”
“But Andrei did do the right thing,” Soraya said, sounding agitated and I almost smiled, thinking of how tickled he’d be to hear it. “Faye is here, she’s alive thanks to him.”
I was about to reply when Frost's voice rang out. “If you will not take that as proof, what of this? For years now, the Order has fed you lies about the TLO. Warped our mission to keep their own secrets. The High Families are proof enough. For if the pride of the Zimas’ in accomplishing their tasks is second to none, what of the Weslarks and their precious intellect?" Next, to me, Piper started. “Surely you’ve heard of Kai Weslark?”
“You kidnapped him! Tortured him!” I heard a shrill voice interject, but it sounded uncertain. “Forced him to become a shifter…”
We looked at Piper who'd gone pale with wrath. “That bitch.”
“Oh no, no. Kai came to us – he was tired of his life as an inanis in the Weslark family. And though my experiments were dangerous, Kai was willing to take the risk! He was as brave as any of you and now he’s a true shifter – a black jaguar. The first success!
“Listen to me, my friends,” Frost said, sounding empathetic and persuasive. “I have delved into the mysteries of shifting. My mother started this quest to help me, an inanis born into a shifter family. She was worried for my safety in this uncertain world. She knew the impulses of violence were strong in those who did not have the shifter blood. And she sought to engender a way of peace…
“Thus, the TLO was born and our science is not to harm shifters, but elevate them!
“Why should only a few have the gifts of lion, wolf, and bear? Why do we allow the inanis to rule the world, with their wars, pollution, and hatred? Hearken to me – my mother solved this. If we give the gifts of shifters to the world, no longer will we have to hide. No longer will there be these borders and threat of ecological catastrophe… No longer will there be fear!”
Absolute silence had fallen.
I couldn’t tell if the shifters were stunned or contemplating her words.
“The Greeks knew it! ‘There can be no covenants between men and lions… Therefore there can be no understanding between you and me, nor may there be any covenants between us, till one or other shall fall.’ So long as we are divided in our kinds, men and lions, inanis and shifters, hate will rule.” Her voice became sorrowful. “Andrei Zima’s actions proved that. He murdered one of your own in the name of his own glory and to uphold his family name.”
I wasn’t conscious of moving, but rage had filled me and I was running across the ground, paws slamming into the dirt. Frost was using me, but worse, she was using Andrei.
My Andrei, with his smirks, his bravery, and his fierce love.
Pitting favorite against favorite, I thought. Mirois, you used my death well.
With a grim satisfaction, I shifted and leaped onto the statue.
Hair falling free, I planted my feet on the back of the bear and stared down at the two dumbfounded women. My old mentor went white with terror and Frost went red with rage.
“Lies!” I said, my voice carrying over the crowd. “Mirois never sent Andrei to the Foundry to kill me, but to try to cover her own tracks! She set up agents there to appear like traitors.” I clenched my fists and tossed my head. “And as you can see, I’m alive because of Andrei Zima.” I met Mirois’s cold gaze and glared at her. “You were right, Mirois. He always does the right thing. He knew I was innocent and he believed me when I told him how you betrayed the Order for power and glory. He is a good man – the best of us!
“Even now, they take our families and we are here! You are here to save them. You do what you have always done – what my parents did. As a Shifter of Anubis, we are not perfect, but in the main, we are selfless and brave. I know you all and I know this to be true! We are a family! We love, honor, and protect each other. No one can end a thousand years of that. Not even a traitor!
“Rise up and fight, Shifters of Anubis,” I cried, turning to the crowd. “Your families are in danger from these power-hungry murderers! Our world is threatened! Fight!”