Vincent, Rachel Shifters 5 Shift

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.The groundraced toward me, then the second birdgrabbed my ankles in midair, halting ourplummet.The birds flapped in unison, andwe bobbed for a second jarring my entirebody before soaring down again at a terrify-ingly sharp angle.Three flaps later, they letgo of my arms.I fell the last yard or so toland hard on my feet.I squatted to absorb some of the impact inmy knees, and to avoid falling over face-first;I couldn t afford to catch myself with my badarm and risk hurting it worse.I straightened just as the flyboys landed intandem in front of me, and though they bothwatched me with evident disinterest maybeeven outright disgust neither said a word. Jeez, could you two hold it down? I m get-ting a headache from all the witty banter.416/839They only blinked.We stood in a narrow valley between twosmall mountains foothills, if I had myguess.When I turned, I saw that the nest wasat one end of the valley, built on an outcrop-ping jutting from the juncture of two hills.Behind Cade and Coyt, far beneath the nest,the gravel road ended in a huge pile of rocks,obviously fallen from the hills.Probablyknocked down on purpose, to make the pathto the nest inaccessible to humans.Whichmade choosing a direction a real no-brainer. So& where does this road go? I gestured tothe gravel trail leading away from the nest,and finally one of the flyboys spoke. North. Wow.Thanks. I squinted at them, shield-ing my eyes from the setting sun, and no-ticed that I was virtually eye to eye with both417/839thunderbirds they were the tallest I d seenyet. Could you at least tell me where we are?How am I supposed to get to Appalachia if Idon t even know which way to walk? We re in New Mexico, said the bird on theleft.His partner hadn t even bothered toShift his beak. East of Alamogordo.Now that, I could use. Thank you. Two days, the vocal bird warned.Then theyboth took off, their powerful wings blowinghair back from my face.I turned to watch, again shielding my eyesfrom the sun, until they landed smoothly onthe front porch.They didn t look back, andno one came out to watch me leave.I wastruly on my own, for the first time in my en-tire life.418/839Wait, is that right? While I was in college,my father always had someone watching me.Even when I d been kidnapped by Miguel, I dhad my cousin Abby for company, and mybrother Ryan to manipulate and spy on.Now I had nothing.No company, no plan,and no transportation.Fortunately, I had my cell, and already knewthere was reception on the side of themountain.What are the chances I can get a signal inthe valley, as well?Two bars.It could have been worse.I walked as I autodialed, and again my fatheranswered on the first ring. Faythe? Yeah. My boots crunched on gravel, andthe rumble from my stomach reminded me419/839that I hadn t eaten in& it had to be nearly fif-teen hours. I m on some tiny gravel road infront of the nest, somewhere east ofAlamogordo, New Mexico.Any idea how farit is to the nearest town with a car rentalplace? Also, I need a plane ticket to Ken-tucky.As near as you can get me to Malone sproperty. Whoa, slow down&. Leather creaked as mydad sank into the armchair in his office.Iwanted to be there with him.I wanted to beplanning things behind the scenes, instead ofhiking my happy ass across New Mexicoalone in search of the nearest Hertz.Not tomention a restaurant.Fortunately, I d visited the birds bathroombefore I left. I don t have a lot of time here, Dad. Twigssnapped beneath my feet when I stompedover fallen branches, gone brittle with age.420/839 Faythe, you cannot go looking for proof ofMalone s guilt in his own territory.I kicked a broken stick out of my way andstepped over a rain-filled dip in the road. They re going to kill Kaci in less than forty-eight hours if I don t. You really think they ll go through with it? There s not a doubt in my mind. I shovedhair from my face, where it had come loosefrom my ponytail. They re not like us, Dad.They re fanatically loyal to their Flight mem-bers, but won t put themselves out on anyoneelse s behalf unless it will directly benefitthem.They don t care if Kaci lives or dies,but they know we do.And they know they reonly as good as their word.They ll gothrough with it.His pause was heavy with thoughts I couldonly begin to imagine.He had to think about421/839all of us.About what would be best for thePride.Kaci was just one member, but shewas ours, and she was defenseless. Okaythen, we have to get her out.If they won t ne-gotiate, we ll have to go in by force.I shook my head again, though I knew hecouldn t see it. Won t work.There re toomany of them.And if we invade theirhome where their children are they ll fighteven more fiercely.Unfortunately, they re not limited by spacein their own home, like they would be inours.Their nest is cavernous, with plenty ofroom to swoop and dive.And, anyway, wecan t get up the side of the mountain in hu-man form, and in cat form, we can t carryweapons.Glass clinked over the line.Scotch.I couldcertainly have used a drink right about then.422/839My father sighed. I didn t say it would beeasy.But it s better than taking Malone on. I m not talking about fighting him, Dad.Notyet.This is a total covert op.I ll be in and outbefore they even know I m there. As soon asI figure out what I m looking for& No.You re too vulnerable on your own. So send me backup. I stepped over a rot-ting log lying across the gravel road and si-lently cursed the fading daylight.I wouldn tbe able to travel very well or very quickly inhuman form, but if I Shifted, I couldn t carrymy clothes or my phone.And it was cold inthe foothills in February, yet I had nothingbut my jacket to keep me warm. Put acouple of the guys on a plane.I ll wait forthem. If I ever find an airport& Marc and Jace are already on the way.423/839My initial massive surge of relief was ec-lipsed almost immediately by confusion [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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