I had been here for two weeks. I’m about to go insane. I wasn’t meant to be normal. I never was and I never will be normal. Just because I love seeing my real self in a mirror doesn’t mean I’m meant to stay in this body forever. I miss my old looks so badly and I couldn’t change into them because I now lived with people that didn’t know about my kind. Why did it have to be me? Why did my parents have to die? Why am I now responsible for this? I’m sick and tired of taking all the blame. I knew that those injector people blamed me. They blame me for screaming so loud and getting caught. It’s all my BLEEP fault. Yes, I know it’s kind of weird considering I’m a killer and all, but I don’t cuss. Instead I say bleep. I sighed as I fell back against my bed. This is my main source of happiness here. This bed was so comfy compared to those little bitty cots. I moaned and closed my eyes as the door squeaked open. I knew it was Will and said, “Ever heard of knocking?”

He chuckled, “Get used to it.”
“I find that rude.”

“I don’t care what you find rude.”
“Wow, somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed.”

“Shut up.”
“Make me.”

“Don’t tempt me.”
I giggled and sat up, “What do you want, Will?”

“Come on, mom’s making me bring you with me to grab something to eat.”
“Woohoo, thanks mom!” I yelled with half sarcasm half seriousness.

Will rolled his eyes, “You’re different, Kali.”
“Heard it before if it’s supposed to be an insult I don’t think of it as one.” I got out of bed and added, “I’ll be out in five minutes.”
“Hurry.”

“I am I am.”
Once I heard the door shut I jumped up and locked it. I needed to shape shift and I felt like I was gonna burst without my medication that I made sure to hide from everybody. Sometimes that was hard with Will. He seemed so…protective. I understand that I’m still a stranger in his home and I came from a weird place, but still…something’s a girl needs to keep to herself. Like for instance this medication. They can’t find out about it. I mean I want to be honest with them, but if they took this away from me…I’m good as dead. I sighed and popped the pill in my mouth and started to get changed. I decided on a black skirt with my red sneakers and a black top with my leather jacket. I ran down as I was running my fingers through my hair. Will looked at me and chuckled. I looked at him, “What?”

“Why?”
“Why what?”

“You’re outfit?”
“What can I say I like black.”

He chuckled as we ran out. We got to a doughnut shop and sat down with our cheap coffee and started to eat. Will started talking with his mouth full, “So, tell me about life before the…place?”

I looked away and shrugged, “Fine I guess, I was like any other kid.”
“Don’t like talking about it?”

“My parents died two years before I got taken. I was living with they’re most trusted friends…Will, I didn’t have a choice.”
“What do you mean?”

“They gave me to these guys, I was never kidnapped. They gave me up and I’ve been paying their debt and my parent’s debt ever since. I’m not gonna be normal for long Will, I can guarantee that.”
“You think they’ll take you?”

“I don’t think, Will, I know.”
“I’m not gonna let that happen.”

I muttered, “Then they’ll kill you.”
“What?”

“Nothing, never mind, can we move on?”
“Sure.”

Will glanced up and a smile spread across his face as he stood up and patted a guy’s back and said, “Hey man, what’s up?”
“Not much, buddy.” He looked at me, “Who’s this little cutie?”

I hated with a burning passion when people called me a little cutie. I’m not kidding that enraged me and right then I wanted to punch his face out, but I remained quiet like the “good” little girl I am and muttered, “I’m Kali.”
“Jack, so tell me Kali how did a little hottie like you get mixed up with a little dope like him.”Jack said nodding towards Will.

I rolled my eyes I’ve heard this one too many times in my life. So I looked at Will and grabbed the keys off the table and said, “Come to the car when you’re done.”
Will nodded and looked at Jack as I walked away and said, “Man, I can’t wait until I move out!”

“Why? That chick’s hot!”
“Yeah, but she’s messed up. I wonder how she’ll act when we bring her to church. I mean she doesn’t know what a lot of things are and she seems to do whatever she wanted to when she wants to.”

“That’s probably what she’s used to.”
“I guess, it’s just…it’s gonna be weird around here.”

“Not denying that.”
I had heard them and decided to continue walking into the car and ignore them. I had been to the church before. I could act normal…couldn’t I? Of course I can! I mean that’s my job blending in or standing out. Whatever the injectors told me to do. I sighed as Will got into the car and said, “Sorry about Jack, we’ve been friends forever and he used to call my sister a hottie too…he does it to get on my nerves…he’d even do it to my girlfriend’s I mean it’s just…him.”

“No worries, can we just get home?”
“Uh, sure.”

Will drove us home and I went into my room and locked the door. I started looking through the drawers for some sweat pants and a t-shirt. I heard a knock on the door and unlocked it and continued to look for the clothes. It was Will, wow big shocker, huh? I glanced at him and saw that Jack was with him, great! I looked at them and I asked, “What do you want?”

Jack chuckled, “You’re a little snappy, aren’t you?”
“What are you doing here?”

“Does it really matter? Come on, and hang out with us.”
I looked at them and Will shrugged in agreement. I rolled my eyes, “I’ll pass.”

Will chuckled, “Sorry Jack, I told you she’s stubborn.”
I looked back at him, “So now you’re talking about me, huh?”

“Maybe a little.”
“Whatever, I’m gonna change and go out for a walk.”

“Alright be home by five no sooner no later.”
Will and Jack left the room and I started to change. It just turned twelve. I probably wouldn’t be out that long, but I knew Will wanted me to make friends before I started school. What can I say if I have no friends in high school? If I wanted to I could be the most popular kid and if I wanted to then I could be a nobody. I could be anyone I wanted to be. Or I could shift what I am each day. Huh, that could be interesting. I might do just that. Actually that’s exactly what I’m gonna do. I decided to just change into my cookie monster t-shirt with my jeans and ran down stairs and grabbed my sunglasses and crocs and ran out. I knew Will was most likely watching me so I waited a little bit before I took a turn and ran back to where I used to be. I needed more pills. I was on my last one. Oh how I hope I won’t get caught!

I was ten feet away from the building and I closed my eyes and strained to hear the scream that you would ever so often hear at this time of day. Nothing. I shook my head; it’s weird to think of this place as empty. I sighed and walked in and yelled out, “Hello?”

My echo was the only thing that sounded. I walked and heard every step bounce off the walls. This was so weird to not hear screams, I shrugged, I was one of the lucky few that weren’t constantly getting powers they would over a hundred people residing here and everyday people were getting more and more powers. Meanwhile Thoren, Vincent, Aphrodite, and I were the only four that were never harmed that bad. I walked into my old room and looked around; I had an eerie feeling that somebody was following me. I was about to turn around when something clamped my mouth shut. I realized it was a hand almost immediately and bit down as hard as I could on it. Whoever it was they grunted and lifted me up and set me down in a chair as I struggled against that person. It still had it’s hand on my mouth and turned me around to face it and said, “Shhhh, shhhh, Kali, calm down, please.”

I looked up into his pleading eyes and said, “Vincent?”
He grinned, “It’s nice to know you remember me.”

“How could I forget you? After everything we’ve gone through…I could never forget you even if I wanted to.” I whispered as my frown slowly turned into a smile.
He whispered back, “I’ve missed you, Kali.”

“I still can’t believe they had sent you away from me.”
“I know, I know, but we’re together now.”

“You saying that makes it sound like we’re dating.”
Vince cringed at the thought then chuckled, “You’re right…I said that the wrong way.”

I smiled, “It’s been two years.”
Vince smiled and hugged me, “Wow, you’re actually you for once.”

“Yeah, I liked it at first, but I’m stuck like this for awhile.”
“Why?”

“We got caught, Vince.”
He smiled weakly, I was the only person he’d let call him Vince. He was still concerned so I continued, “I’m living with a family…they’re son is my target though.”

He groaned and I smiled weakly as he asked, “Who are you living with?”
“A boy named William—he’s my target, he had a sister named Ally, but she died of cancer, and then there’s his mom and then I haven’t met his dad yet, so I don’t know if something happened to him or not.”

Vince sighed and said, “I don’t want you getting hurt, Kali.”
“I won’t get hurt, Vince…do I still have to kill Will?”

Another male voice rang out, “Yes.”
Vince and I both looked the other way and I nodded and spoke his name in disgust, “Hey Liam.”

He quickly walked towards me and slapped me. I groaned and clenched my eyes shut; it took all of my willpower to not hit him back twenty times harder. I saw Vince clench his fist; getting ready to strike. I stood up and grabbed his arm so he didn’t. Vince looked at Liam with his jaw clenched and spoke harshly, “If you hit her again, I will hurt you.”

“She knows not to call me by my first name or to speak to me in that tone.”
I gulped and looked up at Liam, “Okay, whatever, do I still have to kill him?”

“Yes, they didn’t throw down the whole operation down only this building, we will be contacting you, Kali; come on, Vincent.”
“If you think I’m leaving her you’re insane.”

“Oh, is there a little love connection going on here?”
Vince and I both looked at each other disgusted by the thought. Vince looked down and muttered, “Yeah, something like that I guess.”

“Fine, you may stay with her, but shape shift, Vince.”
He nodded, “Can do.”

Liam left and I looked down at my watch I had been here for one hour, it felt longer. Vince looked at me and asked, “What are you doing here?”

“I need more pills.”
“Come on let’s go find them.”

I nodded and stood up; immediately Vince put his arm around my shoulder and pulled me closer and kissed the top of my head, “Are you sure your alright?”
“From what?”

“When he hit you.” Vince responded back in anger.
I glanced at Vince. It had been two years since we had last seen each other and I was shocked at the difference in him. He used to be shorter than me. We were both thirteen, but I was handling the changes in our life better than him. I started to look at Vince’s features. He had the same red-ish brown hair as me and dark blue eyes. He was definitely taller than me I’d say he was about six foot maybe six foot one while I was five foot six. He repeated, “Did it hurt when he hit you?”

“I’ve taken harder blows, Vince.”
He looked down and shook his head. I sighed, “What?”

“I don’t want anyone hurting you, Kali.”
“Sadly, it’s a part of the job.”

“But we never chose to have this, Kali, that’s what kills me!” Vince ran into one of the cells and threw some contents on the ground as he screamed out in frustration. For as long as I could remember this is what he’d do when he was troubled and confused. I walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. He looked at me and his teeth were clenched and he shook his head, “I’m sorry, Kali.”

“It’s no big deal, Vince.”
He shook his head, “I should be protecting you, Kali.”

“Why? Give me a good reason why.”
“I’m the man in this family, I shouldn’t let people hit you.”

“Vince.”
He looked at me and I ran my hand through his hair, “I can take care of myself, I’m worried about you. Come on, I’ve had no communication with you in two years, please talk to me.”

“I feel like this is my fault, Kali.”
“Vince, look I’m gonna take care of you. I’m pretty sure I can pull some strings. But no one can find out we’re twins, okay?”

Vince nodded in agreement.
After another hour Vince and I ran back to the house I now lived in and we were playing tag the whole way there. I was a bit ahead of him and ran to the front door and banged on it not wanting to get caught. Vince had almost caught up with me when Jack answered the door and said, “Will, you’re weird new sister is back!”

I ran past Jack ignoring his comment as Vince ran in and grabbed me around the waist and spun me around and smiled, “Your it.”
I laughed, “Let me go.”

“Fine, fine, can you get me a drink?”
“Sure.”

I looked at him when I was getting him some water. He had shape shifted and had jet black hair that swooped in front of his eyes and kept his blue eyes. I have to say this is definitely one of the best looks for him. I have to say if he wasn’t my brother I’d be into him. Ick, did I just think that? Ugh, that’s disgusting and perverted. I shivered in disgust at the thought and handed Vince his water. He rolled his eyes at me and Will asked, “Who are you?”

“I’m uh—”
I cut him off, “He’s Jet.”

Will looked at me and grabbed my arm and pulled me into the other room, “Where did you meet him?”
I looked down at his hand that was pressed down hard against my skin. I said harshly, “Let go of me.”

“Not until you tell me who he is.” He answered in a harsh tone. Fine, it was his choice to get hurt. I got the upper hand and flipped him on his back and kneeled down next to him, “Do not ever do that to me again, got it?”
He nodded and I smirked, “Good.”

“Who is he?”
“A friend. That’s what you wanted for me, right? Well now I got one.”

I pushed up and walked away. I walked back and smiled at Vince. He looked down at my arm and looked at Will as he walked in and chuckled. He knew that I had hurt Will. He noticed Will was trying to do some subtle stretches. Vince muttered to me, “What did you do?”

I smirked. We had our own little code names for what we did to people so I responded in a nonchalant tone, “The flying butterfly.”
Vince chuckled, “I remember when you first did that one to me.”

I grinned back mischievously remembering when I did. We had just gotten into that prison and Vince and I were scared to death. We had been separated and we only saw each other during classes and lunch. We normally sat together. The death of our parents was hard on us and then when we got handed over to these people it hurt him even worse. Vince would break down and I had to stay strong for us…for him. He didn’t know I broke down at night. I couldn’t handle it he didn’t know I went to a counselor. The counselor helped a lot, but I don’t know if it was a real counselor I mean she knew the stuff that was going on and I knew what was going on wasn’t right. Whatever, she helped me get through it. Anyway after one of my sessions with her I had gone into class when we were learning what Vince and I liked to call “the flying butterfly”. Vince and I watched in awe as they did this. For some reason we were both fascinated with this type of stuff. We always had been fascinated with it since we were really little. I was put in a mixed martial arts class when I was eight. Anyway we had learned it and I was the first girl to achieve it perfectly. I had had this one boy who was begging me to go out with him. You know wanna know what my answer was every time? No, nope, no way, and HECK NO!

Anyway, one day this guy had already followed me to every single class and I was getting kinda freaked out. So, Vince just happened to sneak up on me that day. Well…he didn’t really sneak up. He ran up yelling my name and I thought it was the creep so the minute he touched my shoulder I did “the flying butterfly”. I ended up taking him to the infirmary. I was just the picture perfect sister wasn’t I? Not to him.
Vince squeezed my elbow and I looked up at him, “I’m heading out, I’ll see you at school?”

I nodded and he winked at me, “Everything’s fine.”
“Whatever you say.”

He whispered lower so that Jack and Will wouldn’t hear, “You don’t have to do it.”
“Just go, Vi- uh Jet. I do, it’s my job…I’ll see you at school.”

He nodded and left. With that I ran upstairs and heard Will say, “Jack, something’s up with her.”
“What do you mean?”

“She flipped me. I mean…how can a hundred pound girl flip me?”
I chuckled as I went into my room. Hundred pounds? Please if I was I’d be anorexic. I was about one fifty five…maybe one fifty and still trying to lose weight. I mean I didn’t need to, Vince has pointed that out to me way to many time, but losing like ten pounds isn’t gonna kill me. I rolled my eyes and went to the bathroom to look in the mirror. I was about to look at my features and try to figure out what form I would take when I decided it was time to kill Will when someone knocked on my door. I rolled my eyes, “What?”

Will slid into the room I looked at him and rolled my eyes. He chuckled, “Get ready, Kali.”
“For?”

“Church.”
“What?”

“Church, you’re coming, you’ve got no choice.”
Yippee. Just what I need, to listen to a sermon that will make me feel guilty. It’s only going to be a couple of days before I kill somebody…again and I already feel guilty enough.

I got dressed and honestly, I was not excited to go. I mean it was gonna make me feel even more guilty than I already felt. I felt pretty guilty for the fact I’m about to have to kill Will. I groaned inwardly since I was now in the car with Will and his amusing, but obnoxious friend, Jack. Jack seemed to have a weird interest in me. He seemed to like me and possibly want to ask me out, but yet he never really talked to me. Since he saw Jet (Vince) he had been directing all his questions about me to Will. Yeah, he sure has classy manners. Whatever, we pulled into the church parking lot and I looked up with wide eyes. This should be some night. Will looked at me when I didn’t get out of the car and said, “Come on, Kali, your acting like you’ve never seen a church before.”

I still didn’t move. Will looked at Jack and Jack said, “I’m going inside, good luck.”
Jack ran in and I stayed in the car. I looked straight ahead I didn’t want to hear what Will had to say. He groaned and opened my door. I was still buckled in and refused to move. He looked at me, “Get out of the car.”

I didn’t respond. Will groaned and said, “Get. Out. Of. The. Car.”
I rolled my eyes, “No.”

“Kali, come on, what’s wrong?”
“I’m not going in there.”

“Why?”
“I just…don’t want to.”

“Kali, come on, I have to go in there and I have to be in charge of you too, so come on.”
“No.” I still didn’t look at him.

He exhaled and said, “Why not?”
“I don’t feel like it.”

“Please, Kali, what’s wrong with this?”
He was making me angry, he’s not gonna get me to go in, why can’t he get that in his head? I didn’t responded and he asked in a harsher tone, “What’s wrong with this?”

“It’ll make me feel guilty, okay?!” I yelled looking at him.
He asked in a low tone, “Why?”

I looked at him for a couple of minutes and just stared into his eyes. We heard the sound of music starting to play and I still didn’t respond. He sighed, “Why would you feel guilty?”

“Because of the things I’ve done, okay?” I whispered. This was the most vulnerable I’ve ever felt. The last time I felt like confessing to someone was when my parents died. I looked away from him at the thought of my parents. He asked, “What have you done?”

I clenched my eyes shut at the memory of killing his friend. The one boy I thought I could love. The one guy that I had a possibility with since…well I’ll tell you about him later, but I killed him. I killed Will’s friend. I let out a choppy breath and got out of the car. Will smiled thinking I was gonna go inside. I looked up at Will then back down at my converse sneakers and shook my head, “Sorry.”
With that I ran off. As quickly as I could. Tears streaming down my face. I heard the engine start and I started to go quicker. I just needed to get one hide out. One minute. One change. One new me.
I started to run at a quicker space. Why oh why could they not have injected me with super speed? I took a turn and shape shifted quickly. I gasped for air. I didn’t know what I looked like all I knew is that I was ready to leave. I went back and ran into Will. I looked up at him and he said, “Sorry.”

He slid past me and I exhaled and walked away nonchalantly. Will ran back towards me and I was praying he didn’t recognize me. He grabbed my arm and I looked at him and he said, “Hey Jen, is that you?”

“What?”
“Jen, remember me? Aren’t you the girl that dated Charlie?”

I looked down and saw that yeah I was Jen the girl that dated one of his best friends. He looked at me waiting for my answer, “Yeah, yeah I was.”

“Where’ve you been?”
“Um, busy.”

“Did you by any chance see a girl run in there?”
“Uh,” A sharp pain went through me and I knew that pain anywhere, “I gotta go.”

I ran off and ran into a gas station and into a bathroom and slid to the ground and pushed myself up to lock the door. I clenched my eyes shut and grabbed my phone and called Vince. He moaned as he answered, “Hello?”

“Vince?”
“What’s wrong Kali?” I could tell he was trying to hide the pain. I clenched my eyes shut, “Stop trying to hide the pain, Vince.”

“How do you know I’m—?”
“Because I am; I think they have a glitch in the system.”

He groaned, “I’m betting your right, gosh this isn’t fun. I keep changing forms.”
“As do I.”

“Great.” Vince said sarcastically.
I chuckled then gasped and Vince said, “I know it shocks through at random moments.”

“Yeah, it does and it’s not fun at all.”
“So how are things going with you and Will?”

“Not well, I just ran off.”
“What did that boy do now?”

“Nothing I just didn’t want to go to the church.”
“Kali, its part of your—”

“I know, I know, its part of my cover and I shouldn’t have run off.”
“Why did you?”

“Guilt. I remembered last time I went in there and I can’t go through that again. His best friend, Charlie…I dated him. I fell for him. I went to church and I went there the night before I killed him and it made me feel so guilty. I wanted to kill myself I felt so guilty. I can’t stand that. If I get that same guilt when I kill Will I’m most likely gonna kill myself.”
“Calm down, Kali.”

“I’m telling you the truth, Vince. I don’t know what to do.”
“Hey, I gotta go but you need to go back and live with Will. I know you don’t want to, but it’s your job.”

“Fine.” I muttered.
“I’ll see you Monday, okay?”

“Whatever.”
Vince hung up and I groaned and pushed myself off the ground. I looked in the mirror and pushed a strand of my red-ish brown hair behind my ear. Man, I was a mess. But a hot mess. I really took this time to look at myself. I was five foot six with red-ish brown hair that hit my shoulders and deep blue eyes. I looked down at my body my pant size was an eight and my bra size was a 38B. My make up was a complete mess. I looked in the mirror as another shock ran through me. I changed into someone else. I looked at the mirror. I now had jet black hair that went down below my boobs. It was straight and a strand fell in front of my hazel eyes. I shook my head and slowly went back to the injector’s hide out. I walked in slowly. Again I heard my footsteps echoing, but it didn’t seem to be as weird this time. It actually seemed kind of natural. Like no one was gonna come and get me. I sighed and went into my old room and lied down on the cot. I actually missed being in that old room. I sighed and went to find a pill and popped it in my mouth. I gulped it down and started to walk around and went back into being myself. I sighed and decided maybe I should learn more about Will. I walked around and made it into one room where there were a ton of computers. I walked to one and looked for the injector’s creepy site and I wrote in William Pike. It found Will I smiled as I clicked on his picture. It gave me every single little detail I could’ve hoped for about him. I gasped as someone put their hand over my mouth. I looked up and was relieved to find it was someone I knew. He smiled down at me and let go of my mouth, “Hi Pittacus.”

“Hey Kali.”
I turned around and hugged him. He was the only injector man I actually trusted. I moved away from him and looked at him he smiled at me and I exhaled taking in his appearance. He had dirty blonde hair that was a little long, but not much he had hazel eyes and straight teeth. He seemed to be trying to grow out a beard as I noticed the stubble on his chin or maybe he just forgot to shave. Oh I don’t care I’m just happy that Pittacus is back…well sort of I think I’m happier that it wasn’t somebody else trying to hurt me. Pittacus smiled at me and looked up at the computer screen, “William Pike. Who’s this, Kali? A little boy you got a crush on?”

“Oh please, Pittacus he’s my target.”
“Kali, be sure not to fall for this William guy, okay? I don’t want you to wind up hurt…again.”

“I know I know, Pittacus, I know and I won’t. Will’s different than Charlie was and I just don’t think I’ll be able to fall for him.”
“Whatever you say. I know you were living in the same house as him. You need to go back.”

I whispered to where my voice was barely audible, “And if I don’t want to?”
He licked his lips and muttered, “Even you know the consequence to that.”
I nodded, “Why did you do it, Pittacus?”

He looked up at me, “I didn’t mean to betray you, Kali.”
I stood up and yelled, “But you did! I know you want me to forgive you, but…I find that impossible at this moment.”

“You’re lucky I didn’t tell them about you specifically, Kali!”
“I would’ve preferred that then seeing my best friend come back with scars and bruises on her face where I can hardly recognize her!”

“Not my fault you guys wanted to leave!”
“You’re forgetting one thing Pittacus!” I screamed then shook my head and responded through clenched teeth, “You also wanted to leave.”

Pittacus shrugged, “A real man can change his mind.”
“No. Pittacus, you will never be a real man. Because a real man would not have called out some of his closest friends and betray them. Did you see how Aphrodite returned?! How about Mahail, Xander, and Thoren did you see how they looked?!” I exhaled, “I’m disappointed in you, Pittacus…you could’ve been a better man.”

Pittacus grew silent and just shook his head, “You know I could have you killed for using that tone with me. Just go back to Will, alright?”
I exhaled, “I’ll return in the morning, alright?”

“Alright, Kali, I’ll be back in the morning to make sure you did, ‘kay?”
“Fine, but just so you know by morning I mean like nine.”

“Alright, I’ll see you sometime Kali.”
“Sometime? By that you must mean never. I don’t wanna see you again. Are you actually gonna come to me again?”

“All in good timing.”
With that Pittacus walked away. I sighed and fell back into the chair. That’s what we used to say. And by we I mean Pittacus, Cedric, Mahail, Xander, Kratos, Thoren, Armand, Aphrodite, and Bob and me. All of those are boys except for Aphrodite and me. I never wanted Vince to know or be in on it. It was to stop these guys. Pittacus was one of the lucky ones. He got pushed up to the top. Where he was in on this stuff. But after that he deserted most of us. One by one we acted like some of us were dropping out. We had a feeling that Pittacus would betray us. So, Cedric, Kratos, Armand, Bob, and I acted like we were out. Aphrodite, Mahail, Xander, and Thoren were really in with Pittacus and we all secretly had the best plan when Pittacus got hired. He turned on Aphrodite, Mahail, Xander, and Thoren and they were severely beaten. Aphrodite was one of my best friends. When she came back you could hardly recognize her. Same for the boys. She came back and wouldn’t tell me a thing. Turns out she turned to Kratos and she and him ended up being a thing. Not surprising I always expected that she’d get together with Kratos or Mahail. Anyway with her turning to one of the boys I ended up turning to Thoren. Thoren and I got along great. The sad part about all of this is that I always had to hide it from Vince. I yawned and sluggishly walked back to my old room, collapsed on the cot, and slowly drifted off into a deep sleep: where I dreamed that my parents never died. That Vince and I were normal. Neither of us had been born with powers and neither of us got injected and that my best friend Aphrodite never had been hurt. That poor innocent girl, she would never hurt a fly. That’s why they never made her a killer like me. She was scarred and I wish more than anything that could be changed.

I groaned as someone pushed on me. I squinted my eyes open. It was still dark so I knew it wasn’t nine. If this was Pittacus I was gonna kill him. Literally. My eyes slowly flickered open. And I heard someone shriek. I growled, whoever this was I now officially hated. I heard a male voice that I knew couldn’t have been the person who shrieked say slowly, “Okay Kali, we’re going to turn on the light, okay?”

“Stop talking to me like I’m a little kid and turn on the stupid light. By the way how do you know my name?”
The light turned on and I turned around to see a young woman with long jet black hair with red streaks in it and bright green eyes look at me. She was obviously the one that shrieked. I could tell since she was the only girl and she was smiling like crazy. Her smile showed her one cute little dimple and her pearly white straight teeth. She was wearing a black and white striped cardigan with a black undershirt and some dark jeans and some red heels. I couldn’t help but smile when I saw her. I jumped up and hugged her tightly I didn’t ever want to let go in fear that I’d lose her. She shrieked again, “Kali, I’ve missed you!”

“I’ve missed you too, Dite.”
Aphrodite rolled her eyes. She only let me call her Dite. She was in love with a guy and she never even let him call her Dite. I looked up and smiled at the young man that had shaggy dirty blonde hair with brown eyes. He had a six-pack and was wearing a tight green v-neck and some dark jeans with his checkered converse. I smiled and said, “Hey Kratos.”

“Hey Kali.” I hugged him and said, “So, where did you guys get shipped off to?”
“Nowhere.” Dite answered.

“What?” I asked in complete utter confusion. I mean, I thought everybody got shipped off somewhere. I mean the police shut this place down. I thought everybody had to be in a new home.
“We hid.” Kratos answered. Ah, now it all makes sense!

“And now we’re back here, we figure there’ll be a couple of checkups, but we can hide then and just stay I mean we have nowhere to go.” Dite added.

I nodded and sat back down on the bed I was still exhausted and had no idea what time it was and was in no mood to find out because if I found I’d never fall asleep. So I asked, “Do you guys know where Thoren went?”
They both shook their heads and I shrugged, “Whatever, things were gonna end soon anyway.”
“Yeah, we could see that too.” Kratos said.

I nodded, “Pittacus is gonna come back today.”
“What?!” They both exclaimed.

I muttered, “I know, stupid traitor.”
“I still can’t believe he betrayed us.” Dite said with a groan. I looked up at her. She was scarred for life from what those injector men did to her. All because Pittacus had to betray us. Yeah, thanks a lot you little…I’m sorry never mind I don’t use that language that describes you. Kratos put his arm around Aphrodite and looked up at me and slowly shook his head. He hated what Pittacus made happen to her just as much as I did if not more. I still don’t know if Kratos had forgiven Pittacus yet or not. I knew it hurt worse for him because well…here’s a twist for you. Pittacus and Kratos were brothers. Yeah, I know, huge shocker, right? Well they’ve never gotten along very well. But they’d only listen to each other when it came to huge things like for instance Pittacus revealing to the injectors about us.
Kratos tried and tried to get Pittacus back on our side. It never worked, Pittacus is one stubborn guy. Anyway, one night they got into a huge fight about it. That night Pittacus called out on Aphrodite mainly because he knew Kratos was in love with her. Kratos blamed himself ever since.
Aphrodite looked at me and gave a weak smile and helped me stand up, “Come on, we wanna hide the power tubes…I’m worried that’s what they’re gonna take and we all know that we’re gonna start craving for more powers, might as well keep them for ourselves, right?”

“Good point.” Kratos said.
We all stood up and Kratos was about to put his arm around Aphrodite’s waist when she put one arm around me squeezed me close. Kratos rolled his eyes which made me smile. He was like my older brother and I’ll always love him forever. Even Vince had always had a good connection with Kratos which was one of the best things for me considering how much I hung out with him and Aphrodite. Kratos still had an odd look in his eye. I could tell he was concerned about something. I was about to point it out when we found the room and all of our jaws dropped at how many things they still had that they could inject us with. I whimpered and slid to the floor. I wanted to destroy these things. Because if those injectors got this entire inventory to use on other people. The pain that they have to go through to get these powers seems unbearable especially in the beginning. I don’t know how long I’d been sitting on the ground letting out the tears, but I could hear Aphrodite and Kratos checking things out. Both of them knew that it was best not to mess with me during this state. They’d experienced that a couple of times and knew it was best to leave me to my own thoughts. When I looked up I glanced at my watch it was eight thirty and Kratos and Aphrodite came in about the fifth maybe sixth time I looked up at them, “Pittacus will probably check around here to make sure I left in about an hour. Be careful, I gotta head back.”

Aphrodite came and hugged me tightly. I could tell from that one hug that we were both worried that we’d never see each other again and she whispered into my ear, “Please visit soon.”
“I will.” I promised.

Kratos hugged me as well and I whispered in his ear, “Take care of her.”
“I will, you know I will.”

I looked back at them one last time before I left. I ran and was about a mile away from Will’s house. I sighed and continued walking slowly. Remembering everything that had happened the past few years brought tears to my eyes. I felt a hand grip my elbow and heard a male groan then say, “Come on, we’re going home.”

I knew it was Will and whispered, “Okay.”
Will had been driving a car and I was surprised I didn’t notice him. I went into the passenger and Will started to drive and I waited for him to freak out at me for being gone for the whole night and most of today. Yeah, I went for a long walk and just hung around town I wasn’t ready to face Will and his mom yet. So it was now seven I guess. It was sunset that’s all I knew. I snapped back into reality when I heard Will exhale slowly, “I ran into an old friend last night, Kali.”

“Really?” I said in a low voice. It was pretty low I wasn’t even sure if I had said it. Will nodded and let his grip soften on what was now my wrist. When we got in the car he brought it down on my wrist and softened it a lot. I don’t blame him for being upset I ran off. I deserved for him to want to rip my head off, but it did comfort me that he was forgiving me and giving me the reassurance of that by loosening his grip. Or was he worried I was gonna flip him again? Maybe it’s not the brightest idea to flip the guy you’re living with. Oh well I’ll know that for future reference. I realized I wasn’t really listening to Will as he said, “Her name’s Jen. She dated one of my old friends. I think you’d like her. Maybe I can get a time for you two to talk?”

“Sure.” I muttered.
I gasped as a shock went through me. I thought this had already finished last night…I guess not. Oh well, Will’s in for a shock. Will parked quickly and looked at me, “What’s wrong, Kali?”

I clenched my teeth and my eyes. Will looked at me, panicking. Soon enough I was someone else. I exhaled and opened my eyes in relieve. Oh Lord that felt good to be over with. I looked at Will and was a little worried to see what he might look like from that. He looked like he might pass out. I guess I did transform like I thought I did, didn’t I? That’s delightful. Now Will is gonna be freaked out…forever. Wow, I am a freak aren’t I?
I gave a nervous smile to Will. Who had wide eyes from just learning his new “sister” had a power. He shook his head, “Are are you like uh some I-I don’t know some kind of witch or something?”

“Oh Will, please…a witch would never be this hot. I’m a shape shifter.”
“A a what?!”

“Shape shifter. Calm down, your acting like you’ve never seen one before.”
“That’s because I haven’t!”

“Oh please, you’ve seen my kind many times.”
“No I haven’t.”

“You didn’t know you have, but you have, you’ve actually met me a couple of times Will.”
“I have.”

“Yeah.”
“Like when or who?”

“Um, Jen.”
“You’re Jen?”

“Yup.”
“So you dated Charlie?”

“Yeah, he was a great guy…I miss him...a lot.”
“Why weren’t you just yourself?”

“Come on, let’s get home and I can explain everything.”
Will nodded and we continued home. It felt like half of the huge weight that had been on my shoulders was lifted. Except there’s still a huge part left: the part that was dying to tell Will to lock me up, because I still had to kill him. This should be very interesting. We got home and Will opened up my door. I was back to myself and we went up to my room. Will looked at me after he closed my door, “Do you have any other powers?”
“You’ll find that out as you get to know me, Will.”

“Oh come on, Kali.”
“Nope.”

“Jerk.”
“Whatever you say, Will.”

He smiled and asked, “So you could be anyone?”
“Yup.”

“Like, you could be famous?”
“If it was my desire.”

“That’s awesome!”
I smiled it was fun talking to a person that this was all new to. He could tell I was thinking of something, “What’s that look for?”

“Nothing, it’s just nice to talk to someone that’s so excited about the thought of all this stuff…it’s new to me.”
“Oh, okay.”

“So; you don’t think it’s like freaky?”
“No, I think it’s amazing. I would love to have super powers.” He lied down on my bed.

“Yeah, I guess.”
“What do you mean?” He asked turning towards me.

“Sometimes it’s a pain. I mean, I never meant to switch forms in front of you. It was some…glitch. When the glitch happens it’s like your being electrocuted. Some glitches last longer than others. Mines been going in and out since last night.”
“Oh, that sounds painful. So is that what you were injecting yourself with?”

I lied down next to him, “We can talk about that another time.”
“Ah, come on, Kali.”

“No, and don’t beg, it’s not cute.”
“Whatever.”

I smirked and looked back at the window behind us. I pulled up the blinds and opened it up. Will looked back at me, “What are you doing?”

“You see all the stars out tonight?”
“Yeah.”

“When I was younger I was definitely a daddy’s girl. He’d come in every night and we’d sit on the window sill and we’d open up the window and look at all the stars. Dad would tell me stories about all the adventures he’s been on because he was special. My mom wasn’t, but when she met him he was in huge debt to these people…”

“The people that injected you with whatever it is?”
“Yeah…look it’s getting late we can talk about this another time.”

“Kali, come on…tell me what happened…you can trust me.”
“I’d rather not. Can you just go and I’ll see you in the morning?”

Will stayed there and looked at me with a concerned face I refused to meet his eyes. He leaned closer to me and made me look into his eyes; his perfect brown eyes that could burrow into my soul. I looked at him and he said, “Come on, Kali.”

“Look Will, it’s hard on me and I’m not ready to talk to somebody else about it.”
“Kali, I’m not gonna judge you.”

“I don’t care, Will, I’ve been judged all my life I could care less if you judge me because I’ve learned to deal with that!”
He looked down and back up at me and said, “Kali, look I care about you and I want to know more about this…about your life…about you.”

“What?” I scoffed, “Why?”
He sighed and leaned in closer to me. Before I knew it his soft lips were pressed against mine.

Will had pressed his lips up to mine and I didn’t want to pull away. I mean his lips were so soft and the kiss was sweet…but what I noticed was as soon as his lips touched mine there was a spark. I liked it…a lot. Great, I don’t want to fall for him, but yet I couldn’t pull away. I was content being in his arms. I just wanted him to hold me there…forever. It seemed like nobody was pressuring me to kill anyone; that I would never have to hear a person beg for their life…again. That I wouldn’t have to hear screams, or scream myself. But all of those hopes that I knew would most likely not happen were gonna be defeated when I pulled away, but I had to. I moved out of his grip and whispered, “Maybe you should um…go back to your room, okay?”

Will nodded and looked back at me before he left, “Kali?”
“Yeah?”

“I like you.”
I didn’t respond and watched Will as he left my room. For once in my life there’s a guy that likes me….for me. Not because I’m the perfect girl you could’ve ever dreamed of. But because I’m me. Now that that’s finally happened I don’t like it. Why did the one perfect boy that can accept me have to be my target? Why do I have to kill him? I can’t…I like him too much to. Then I had the perfect idea…Will’s not gonna die on my watch. I’ll fake his murder…but how do I do that without him knowing? I whimpered as I looked back out at the stars. I whispered, “I’m not gonna kill you Will…I can’t I’ve grown too attached.”

I heard something and clenched my eyes shut. A soft chuckle filled my room. That’s not Will. I didn’t bother to turn around as he said, “I heard you, Kali, if you don’t kill him we will…and you’ll suffer severe consequences.”

I forced the groan not to make sound as much as I wanted to. I didn’t turn around as I responded, “You know this is why I always hated teleporters.”

“Ah, don’t hate us, darling.”
“I’m mainly talking about you, Pittacus, it’s not every single teleporter that betrayed us…it was you.”

“When are you gonna get over that, Kali?”
“When do you expect me to?”

“Shhhh, I don’t want the boy coming in here.”
“I don’t care if he comes in here!”

“Kali, do I have to duct tape your mouth?”
“Please, you couldn’t get any closer than what I would allow.”

I could see what Pittacus looked like without turning around to face him. I saw his reflection on the window that I had closed once Will left. I smirked as I saw his jaw clench and his hands in fists I think he was trying his hardest not to hit me. What can I say I have that affect on boys? I noticed Pittacus left and exhaled and closed my eyes. He’d come back I knew that, but right now I just wanted some sleep.

I woke up to the aroma of breakfast. It smelt like eggs! I haven’t had eggs since I was thirteen! And what was that other smell, oh bacon!! I stretched and was about to head downstairs when I heard a knock on my door, “Come in!”

Will peeked in, “Are you still sure?”
“If you have food, then get your butt in here.”

Will chuckled then came in and said, “I see your back to normal…look I’m sorry about last night.”
“Will…don’t be I enjoyed that kiss…a lot.”

“You did?”
“Yeah, I mean nobody has ever liked me for me and so…it was special.”

“Am I the first guy that’s kissed you when you were…you?”
“Um…yeah, yeah you are.”

“Wow, I uh I’m happy about that.”
I slowly nodded my head and Will looked at me, “Kali.”

I glanced up at him and he continued, “I want us to try this.”
“What are you talking about?” I acted like I didn’t know.

Will shook his head, grinning and looked back up at me and leaned in closer, “Do I need to remind you?”
“Will…we can’t do this.”

“Why not?”
“Will, come on I’m supposed to be your sister not your girlfriend.”

Will nodded and exhaled, “Look Kali, give me one week to prove to you that we can make this work.”
“Will—”

“Zip it, give me one week.”
I groaned, “Fine.”

Will smiled and kissed me lightly then pulled away, “Enjoy your food.”
I nodded as he went away I heard the sound again and said, “What do you want this time, Pittacus?”

“What makes you so sure I’m Pittacus?”
I turned around and looked puzzled, “Who are you?”

I looked at this girl. She seemed interesting…but I liked it. I looked at her face and it was obvious she was Asian. I was surprised when I looked at her hair; she had short white spiky hair, but it wasn’t like white from age it was like white from her dying it. She had hazel eyes and was wearing a white dress that flowed around her and criss-crossed in the back. It made her look like a goddess. She looked at me intently and said, “I’m Naddie.”

“Kali.”
“I know who you are, sweetie.”

“Why are you here?”
“Kali…you need to get over your past.”

“What are you talking about?” I stuttered out.
Naddie looked at me and shook her head and said, “How old were you when it happened, Kali? Twelve, thirteen, fourteen?”

I didn’t answer and she said, “Her name is Penelope, but you call her Penny.”
“How did you know about her?”

“I’m your protector now, Kali; don’t argue about cause I’m stuck here with you.”
“What about Penny? How do you know about her?”

“They wanted me to look over your life Kali. I saw what he did to you.”
“Now what? Do I tell Will?”

“You care about him a lot… you still have to kill him though, Kali.”
“I know, Naddie, I know.” I exhaled and looked at her, “How long are you staying?”

“Look Kali, this is how it’ll work, okay? I watch you from afar you’ll only see and talk to me like this when I allow you to, alright?”
“Naddie, before you go can you tell me how Penny is?”

“She’s safe.”
I nodded slowly and Naddie looked back at me and handed me a picture then asked, “How old were you? I couldn’t tell.”

“Fourteen…I thought he loved me.”
“Ah, the whole I love you I’ll never leave you sh—”

Yeah, that’s right Naddie said the s word. I shrugged I’ve heard worse, “Yeah, he um…we had sparks I never doubted it.” So I proceeded to tell her the story. Every few moments I’d look down at the picture to see the little toddler with brown pigtails and was riding a tricycle and had the cutest little smile. Penelope.

Naddie had already left and I lied down on my bed and played with my hair and looked at the picture of Penny for awhile then heard somebody knock on my door, “Come in!”

Will walked in, “Hey, you wanna go out to eat?”
“No, thanks.”

“Why not?”
“Not hungry.”

“Well, you wanna go see a movie?”
“Nope.”

“Are you okay, Kali?”
“Yeah.”

“Come on, you need to get out of the house.”
“Will, I just wanna stay in bed.”

Will sat down on my bed and said, “Fine, with me.”
“Will, I wanna be alone.”

“Well, we’re giving this a shot so tell me why you’re depressed.”
I looked up at him, “It’s complicated.”

“Try me.”
“I’d rather not.”

“Kali—”
“Don’t Will…I just don’t wanna talk about it.”

“Kali…come on I wanna know more about you…look I know there are others like you.”
“What are you talking about?”

“Somebody was talking to you they mentioned somebody named Penny.”
“You were eavesdropping?”

“You were pretty loud, Kali, and I’m right next door…who’s Penny?”
“I have to go.” I stood up to leave.

“Kali,” He jumped up and grabbed my arm and continued, “Please talk to me.”
“I can’t.”

“Why?”
“You’re not one of us.”

“What do you mean?”
“Look at me Will.” I said harshly. He looked at me with confusion and hurt in his eyes as I continued, “I’m not like you. Because of that I can’t tell you everything.”

“You could be mortal Kali, I’m sure there’s a way to reverse this.”
“Not all of them.”

I turned around and yanked my arm out of his grip and ran downstairs and out the door. I ran and had no idea where I was going. I wanted to talk to someone, but I didn’t know who I could talk to. I had found a little kids park and I sat down on the swing and started to go back and forth. I didn’t know how long I had been there I was guessing about an hour when someone stood in front of me. I looked up, “What do you want?”

“Where does she live?”
“Who?”

“I found this in your room.”
I took the picture from Will’s hand and said, “Why did you do this?”

“I wanna know you better and I hate that I have to find out this way.”
“You have no right to go through my things!” I stood up as I yelled.

Will crossed his arms, “Who’s the kid?”
“Penny.”

“How do you know her?”
“Oh, I’ve got a perfect answer for you.”

Will stood there waiting as I said, “None of your business!”
“Kali, I wanna know more about you.”

“This is too much right now, Will.”
He looked at me and shook his head and I looked up at him, “Why were you so willing to bring me into your home? Why didn’t you look for other girls? Instead you bring me in no questions asked.”

“I told you my mom wanted a girl.”
“That doesn’t give me an answer why you chose me.”

“Well, that’s the only answer I can give you.”
“You’re lying.”

“What?”
“I can tell.”

“Oh, now one of your powers is that you can detect lies, you-you-ugh-you freak!”
“No, it’s not a power! I can tell. It’s not that hard to tell if a person’s lying when you’ve been trained to notice every single detail to know if they are! You’re lying to me, Will, why’d you pick me?!”

“I figured you’d mess up, okay!”
“What are you talking about?”

“Ever since my sister died all my mom wanted was another girl. I’d try to console her and she’d get mad at me. Tell me I was never as good as Ally! Do you know how it is to be compared to your dead sister?! I figured if I could find some girl that could mess things up she’d think I’m the good child. Or at least finally get past the fact that Ally’s dead!”
“So you thought that I’d mess your family up? That I could just make you look good.”

“It’s a sad life, hon.”
“You know what, Will, whatever chance you did have to be with me is gone.” I spat out.

“Fine, we’re done.”
“Good and you know what? I’m moving out!”

“Fine!”
I ran off. Again I had clue where I was going. I ran into the woods and found a tree that was pretty easy to climb so that’s what I did. I climbed up and sat there and thought and thought and thought. Slowly I drifted off to sleep.
“Kali!”

“Coming Vince!”
“Kali, hurry up!”

His voice was scared. That’s odd. I rushed out of my room and looked at my twin brother who had all the color drained out of his face, “Vince, what’s going on?”
“Mom, dad.”

I ran into they’re room and was shocked as I saw they’re dead bodies across the bed. They can’t be dead. We’re only ten; what are we supposed to do? I walked back out to Vince who was on the couch…sobbing. I shook my head and I realized this was the only time I’ve ever seen him cry. I knew that instant that this time I had to be the strong one. I couldn’t lean on him to get me through this. For once he needed to lean on me. We had later on been adopted by some of our parents close friends. They figured that it’d be best if we moved. You know have a new start. Vince was adjusting well he made friends. I didn’t and I didn’t want to. I wasn’t ready to move on. We had been there for a year. Vince was popular while I wasn’t. I was the nobody and I was fine with that. I was in my room and my music was on full blast. I was listening to Katy Perry and I was singing along:
California girls, we’re unforgettable
Daisy dukes, bikinis on top
Sun kissed skin, so hot, we’ll melt your popsicle
Oh-oh oh-oh oh
Oh, oh-oh oh-oh oh-oh
California girls we’re undeniable
Fine, fresh, fierce we got it on lock
West coast repr—and somebody was banging on my door. Delightful. Vince just ruined my jam. Whatever anyway I yelled over my music, “Come in!”

Vince came in and turned off the music and said, “Okay, stop listening to your music so loud! I can hear you from downstairs!”
I rolled my eyes and waited for him to continue, “I also have some friends over. Kali, do you know how embarrassing it is to have a twin sister singing at the top of her lungs to Katy Perry?”

“Hey, I bet that all of your little friends actually love Katy Perry.”
“Whatever; just turn your music down.”

“Is that all you came in here for?”
“Yeah.”

“Then leave.”
“Kali, why don’t you try to make friends?”

I didn’t respond which made Vince continue, “Mom and dad are dead. We’ve moved and we’re never going back. So you might as well get used to the fact that we’ll be here for a while.”
I didn’t respond as he slammed my door shut. I turned back on my music and kept switching the songs until I came across an older one I hadn’t heard in awhile. It was by Kelly Clarkson. I muttered along with the song:
Because of you
I’ll never stray to far from the sidewalk
Because of you
I like to play on the safe side so I won’t get hurt
Because of you
I find it hard to trust not only me but everyone around me
Because of you
I am afraid

I groaned and heard Vince yell for me to turn the music down…I turned it up.
A year later.
I got home from school and threw my backpack on the floor of my room. I plopped down on my bed. Our guardians weren’t home yet and Vince went to hang out with some friends. So I was home alone. I yawned and heard somebody ring the doorbell. I checked the time nobody would be home yet. So I guessed that it was probably somebody trying to sell something so I ignored it and reached to grab my IPod and put my earphones in and turned it up to get rid of the sound of the doorbell. This is how I went into my own private little world. I ignored everything going on around me and just relaxed. I heard something, but decided to ignore it. My dog ran into the room and jumped on my bed and barked. I looked up at him and said, “What’s wrong, buddy?”

It continued to bark and I knew something had to be wrong. So I threw my IPod down and got off of my bed. I reached for my flashlight….it was the closest thing next to me so it’d have to do. I slowly walked downstairs and yelled, “Hello?! Is anybody here?!”
“Honey, it’s just me!” Yelled my “mother”. I never called her my mom it just didn’t seem right. I was guessing she brought someone over. So I walked in and she smiled at me then looked at a man. Dude, he was buff! My “mother” said, “Honey, this man is going to take care of you for awhile.”

I nodded slowly and he said, “Go pack your things.”
Wow, deep voice. I asked, “How long will I be gone?”

“A while, now get your things.”
I ran upstairs and packed quickly. The next thing I knew I was in a black van and I had an eerie feeling about this. I fell asleep after being in the car for three hours. I was thirteen whenever I was given away. I was ten when my parents died. Eleven whenever we moved. Twelve was an annoying normal year for me. I guess I’ll be begging for year twelve to come back. When I woke up something was pressing against my arm. It was sharp and I cringed as it entered the skin. A needle. I guess I was getting a shot. But of what? A sharp pain entered my body. And I screamed in pain. That was the first time that I was ever forced to have powers. And exactly two weeks later was the first time I murdered somebody. I woke up in a cold sweat from the memory.

I decided to go back to Will’s house. Even though I wasn’t happy going back I had no other choice. I groaned as I rang the doorbell. I wasn’t sure what time it is or even if it was the next day. It seemed pretty bright considering I had climbed that tree at five. Was it the next day? I couldn’t tell. I shook my head as the door opened and I felt tight arms wrap around me. I heard him mutter in my ear, “You scared me to death. Where’ve you been?”

“I told you I was moving out.”
“Then why are you here?”

“Never got the chance to get my stuff.”
“Look, Kali, please don’t leave.”

“Why should I stay?”
“Okay, Kali, I didn’t mean what I said.”

“Really?” I crossed my arms, “You sure acted like you did.”
“Kali, I was upset; what did you expect?”

“Not that.”
“Look, it’s just...” He groaned and shook his head. I exhaled as I waited. He looked back up at me and grabbed my hand, “Come on, let’s sit down and talk.”

“Will…I’m not going anywhere alone with you. Tell me here and now what the heck is going on?”
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry. What I said was wrong. I just…that is what happened and that is what I was doing, but I’ve fallen for you Kali.”

“I’ll stay here, but I make no promises for us having any sort of romantic future.”
With that I walked up to my room and plopped down on the bed. Wow, this is a lot more comfortable than that tree I slept on last night.
It was now the first day of school. (Que creepy music) I’m not excited…at all. I got dressed, but then plopped down on my bed. I wanted to go back to bed and for once I wanted to wake up and be back in that facility. I heard a knock on my door and Will let himself in. I heard his sigh of disappointment that I was lying down on the bed. “Kali…please get up.”

“I am up; I’m just not out of bed.”
“Come on Kali, it’s time to leave.”

I groaned, “Please, just a little bit longer.”
“No, get up.”

I groaned again then pushed myself up and said, “You are so lucky I got up.”
He chuckled, “Whatever, come on.”

I groaned and followed him to his car and hopped in. Will looked at me and kissed my cheek as I rolled my eyes. Will you might need to get used to this attitude because until I decide I like you again this is how it will be. Which for now that will be a while, mainly because I like to torture you with my evil little brain and attitude what can I say it makes life fun? Sorry, I know that probably sounds mean, but hey I am mean! I mean, I do kill people for crying out loud! Oh, but wait you didn’t know that right then. Maybe if you did you would’ve protected yourself more from me. Maybe you would have turned me into the police. I don’t know. Anyway, we got to school and we both got out quickly. I ran off to my class hoping to see Vince. I should’ve known he’d be late…like he always is. Ever since our parents died it became a common thing for him to do. I was always disappointed that it was like that, but sadly I couldn’t prevent it. You ran in and when you did I swear I heard every single girl in that room sigh over him. Ick. Why do they swoon over boys with jet black hair and blue eyes? Well, wait a minute it is a pretty cute sight. Hmm…I wonder what look most guys like best on girls? Maybe I can try out some looks for fun one day. I don’t know it’s worth a shot, right? I mean that is the reason I’m a shape shifter, right? Whatever Vince sat down next to me and said, “Hey Kali.”

“Jet.”
“Are you doing alright?”

I shrugged and looked straight ahead. Vince said, “I’ll take that as a no. What’s wrong?”
I shook my head and he asked, “Are you mad at me?”

I looked at him, “Nope.”
“Can you say more than one word?”

“Of course I can…I choose not to.”
“You just did.”

“Whatever.”
The teacher came in and I was happy and praying that was my only class with Vince. No offense to him, but I wanna be as far away from him and Will as possible. I have a mission that sadly I have to complete. If Vince gets in my way, that’s bad; if Will makes me fall even more for him, that’s worse. I groaned as class got over. I don’t know what the lesson was about I was writing in a journal the whole time. So the teacher had thought I was taking notes. Yippee, for having a dumb teacher. I walked into my next class which happened to have Will in it. Crap. He was sitting down and a couple of people were beside him: including Jack. Jack looked over at me and said, “Hey, look it’s the sophomore.”

I rolled my eyes. Like I cared that he’s referring to me as ‘the sophomore’ I’m probably smarter than him anyway. Will looked at me and smiled, “Come over here, Kali.”
I shook my head and went towards a seat in the very back. Will came by me which is exactly what I didn’t want. He smiled at me, “Come on, I want to introduce you to the girls.”

“No thanks.”
“Why not?”

“I just don’t want to, okay?”
“Fine.” He took a seat next to me.

“What are you doing?”
“Well, I don’t you to be alone on your first day so I’m sitting with you.”

I groaned inwardly and brought out my journal. I started to write in it and Will tried to peer over my shoulder and I blocked him. He asked, “What are you writing?”
“Nothing.” I muttered and just my luck the teacher came in. I closed the journal and realized this was math. I flipped over a sheet and wrote random mathematic problems all over it that way if the teacher ever wanted to check my work I could just flip it over and she’d never know the difference. To my luck she never came by me. But Will kept trying to see what I was doing. Ugh, nosy boy. What the heck is wrong with you? I told you I’m not doing anything so stop messing with me. I sighed and tried to calm myself and a hint of a smile played over my lips when I looked down at my picture of Penny. I glanced up as a student ran in. My eyes widened it was Naddie. She looked at the teacher and sounded so innocent as she said, “Sorry I’m late, I just transferred here from China and I’m still trying to learn my way around.”

“Take a seat, Ms?”
“Naddie.”

“Take a seat, Ms. Naddie.”
Naddie nodded and sat on the other side of me and slipped me a note. I looked down at it and smiled at the hand-made drawing of Penny’s. I looked up at her and mouthed, “Thank you.”

She nodded and glanced over at Will who was on the other side of me. She nodded towards him and moved her finger across her throat. She was telling me I needed to kill him…soon. I sighed and glanced at Will; he’s been trying so hard to make us be a thing and little did he know that soon I plan on murdering him. I nodded letting her know I acknowledged the fact. After class finished I went towards my locker and Will ran to catch up with me and said, “Kali!”

I looked back at him, “Yeah?”
“Come on, I want to take you somewhere.”

“Where?”
“Just somewhere for lunch, this is your lunch period, right?”

I nodded slowly as his smile went from ear-to-ear, “Then come on.”
He grabbed my hand and started to lead me wherever he wanted to take me.

I followed Will as he took me outside I looked around and pulled my hand out of his grip and stopped. Will turned around and looked at me curiously. I sighed and said, “Are we going out with your friends?”

Will smirked, “No, come on, I want to take you somewhere special.”
I looked at him curiously and he chuckled and grabbed my hand and said, “Come on.”
When he lead me towards the fire escape on the side of the school this was when I was a little nervous. Will looked at me and said, “It’s okay, Kali, we aren’t going to get in trouble.”

I nodded, but that isn’t what I was worried about. What I was worried about is how much trouble I’d be in if I didn’t push him off the roof when he took me up there. I exhaled when we made it to the top and my eyes immediately widened; he had set out a blanket with a picnic basket and sandwiches and candles that were already lit. Oh and in really nice glasses was sparkling water. Will smiled and started blushing and said, “I know it’s not much, but I hope you like it.”

I looked back at him and said, “Will, this is amazing! This is the sweetest thing any guy has ever done for me.”
Will started to blush even more and I laughed and walked towards the edge, “The view is actually pretty nice.”

“Yeah.” Will responded as he came and stood next to me.
I looked down when he put his arm around me and I muttered, “Will?”

“Yes?”
“If I told you a few things I’ve done that are really, really bad would you still like me?”

“Well, it depends if you still do it or not?”
“If I don’t?”

“Then I wouldn’t care that much because it’s a thing of the past and you can’t change your past.”
I nodded and Will asked, “Do you need to tell me what this is, Kali?”

“No.”
“Are you sure?”

“Positive.”
Will nodded and said, “Come on let’s eat.”

“Actually I really need to go to the bathroom, I’ll be back soon.”
Will nodded as I hurried down the fire escape. I went to the bathroom and sighed and said to myself, “Okay Kali, calm down. You’ve done this like fifteen times before. Killing is just a part of life.”

I shape shifted and I touched my now multi-colored hair. I widened my dark brown eyes with dark eye shadow and eye liner. I touched my nose which had a piercing in it and then touched my lip where another piercing was. I sighed and left the bathroom and went up to the roof. Will looked over at me and chuckled and asked, “Kali, is this some kind of joke?”

“Who’s Kali?”
“You mean you’re not Kali?”

“I don’t know who you’re talking about.”
“Oh, well what’s your name?”

“My name is none of your concern.”
I started to close in on him and he looked around and asked, “Is this some kind of prank or something?”

“No.” We were near the edge now and Will looked panicked and asked, “Can you move away I don’t like being this close to the edge.”
I glanced down and back up at him and said, “I’m sorry, but you were one of the chosen.”

“Chosen for what?”
I pushed him back and he fell and grabbed onto the ledge and I said slowly, “To die.”

“Please help me up! Help me!”
“I’m sorry, William Pike. You will die today. If you miraculously get saved you better not tell a soul or there will be a bounty on your back.”

Will’s eyes were wide as he struggled to stay on. I started to walk away happy that my voice never cracked because that is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. Will called back, “Miss! Please help me! Have you ever been in love?”

This made me stop and he continued, “I’ve never been in love before. But now there’s this incredible girl in my life. She’s different than everybody else and I don’t know what it is but somehow all I want to do is be with her. Even when I know I get on her nerves I do it because I’m nervous. This picnic was for her. She doesn’t know that I think I love her. No, I don’t think I know I love her. Please help me and give me and this girl a chance.”

I exhaled deeply and went down the fire escape and ran into the bathroom and changed into myself and forced myself to not cry. I walked outside where people now noticed that Will was hanging on a ledge for his life. People were calling the police and fire department. Jack had run past me and I was crying and not because I was scared Will was about to fall. But because of these feelings that are stirring inside of me for him and how he loves me and just admitted that to a stranger. I am sad at the thought that I just murdered Will. But I’m devastated at the thought that I’ll have to go through the rest of my life without him. I heard a cry for help coming from Will, but I turned around and pulled my hood over my head and started to walk away. I heard a scream and I clenched my eyes closed not ready to hear the splat…

I clenched my eyes shut and slowly counted to ten. No splat. Where’s the splat? I turned around very alarmed at the fact I never heard a splat. Why wasn’t there a splat?! I turned around. He was caught. He got caught in like one of those sheet things that the firemen have! Naddie appeared next to me and said, “Nice try, Kali.”

“He should’ve died.” I whispered in a tone that I didn’t even recognize. I couldn’t even tell if I was the one who said it. Naddie sighed and said, “Kali, you know who you’re doing this for.”
“Why do I have a feeling that no matter what I do they’ll never give me Penny back? They’ll never give my little brother freedom!”

Naddie sighed and slipped me a paper and said, “Listen to me; stop by this address tomorrow at twelve o’ clock sharp. You can see her and it’ll make you focus more on your goal.”
I looked at Naddie and said, “You don’t know how much this means to me.”

“Yeah, well if I get caught I’ll find a way to make it not be my fault.”
“Thank you, Naddie.”

Naddie smirked, “No problem, Kali.”
I turned around and saw Will talking to the officers and said, “I need to get going, I’ll see you tomorrow.”

I ran away from Naddie and towards Will. When Will saw me I could see his eyes light up and he opened his arms up and I ran into his embrace acting like I was more worried about him than I could ever be. I didn’t have to force the tears to come in my eyes it was a bittersweet moment. I was happy he survived, but there was always the chance he was going to squeal to the police about the girl. There was also the chance that I could be killed for not fulfilling my job. If I died…Vince wouldn’t be able to survive. The only reason Vince is still alive is because of me. I can’t get murdered. I have to survive; even if that means having to kill Will. I looked up at Will and forced myself to say in a worried tone, “I was so scared that you were going to die. When I got back to the fire escape the police were around there and wouldn’t let me go up there and I didn’t know why. Then I heard you scream and-oh Will I thought I lost you.” I hugged him again and a little tighter this time.

Will sighed and muttered in my ear, “I’ll explain it to you later.”
Soon Will and I got back home and I was shocked he lied to the cops and told them he tripped. When I got to the house with Will he looked straight at me and looked really scared and said, “Kali I need to talk to you.”

“About what?”
“Can we talk privately?”

After he said that I realized his mom was in the room so I nodded and started to walk up stairs and Will followed me. We went in my room and he sat down on my bed with me and I asked, “What do you need to talk about?”

“Kali, I’m…I’m scared.”
“Well, you’ve had a long day.”

“No, Kali, I…I lied.”
“What do you mean?”

“I didn’t trip. A girl had come up there and said that I had been chosen to be killed.”
I nodded recalling how frightened he was when I was telling him that.

“Kali, what did these people at that place do?”
“You think it was one of them?”

“Well, I am watching over you and maybe they don’t like that.”
I looked down and Will pressed on, “Do you think it was one of them?”

“I don’t know, Will.”
Will nodded and I said, “Will, you need some sleep. Go to bed.”

Will slowly left my room and said, “Night Kali.”
“Good night Will, come and get me if you need me.”

“I probably will.”
With that Will left. I reached into my pocket and read the address and all I could think about was how I’d get to see Penny tomorrow then I started thinking about how I’d get Will off my back.


4:00 a.m.
I moaned as someone was pushing on me. I moaned as I heard the person say, “Kali, Kali get up. Kali, come on, please.”

I groaned as I seriously considered to kill whoever is waking me up. I looked up and saw Will. I clenched my fist ready to knock him out until I took a good look at him. He looked completely terrified like he woke up next to a dead body. I now didn’t want to kill him instead I pitied him. He looked at me as if he was a small boy who had a nightmare and was scared to sleep alone. I sighed and said, “Gosh, Will! Go get your covers, but if you try to make a move on me tonight I will hurt you.”

“Kali, you’re forgetting I am a Christian and I wouldn’t do anything like that until I’m married. I do have morals.”
“Okay Will, I’m tired just hurry.”

Will nodded quickly and soon enough he was lying in the bed next to me.
11:00 a.m.
I yawned as I woke up. I looked around and couldn’t help but smile when I saw Will sleeping next to me. I groaned quickly after I realized that I had smiled. I cannot fall for him. I need to get over this…soon. I watched him as he stirred and moaned softly. I climbed over him carefully to make sure I wouldn’t wake him up. After I climbed over him I went downstairs; he had an excuse to be out of school considering yesterday and the police were going to come by again today to check on him. His mom wasn’t going to be home because of work and he was still asleep so I figured he would be up in about two hours. That gave me plenty of time to go see Penny and come back. The doorbell rang and I ran to go get it so that Will wouldn’t wake up in case it rang again. I opened it and saw Vince. He looked at me and shook his head and said softly in a disappointed and accusing tone, “I can’t believe you actually tried to do that.”

“It’s my job, Vince.”
“So what, Kali! I have a job too and I’m not dead yet because I didn’t fulfill my duties! Kali, I’m in love with this girl that was my target. She’s still alive and I refuse to kill her. She knows all about me and she’s learned to accept it. Neither me or her are dead.” Vince yelled.

“That’s because I saved you!” I screeched.
“What?” Vince said with complete and utter confusion that clouded his face.

I shut the door to make sure that Will wouldn’t wake up and started to say calmly, “Yeah, I saved you, Vince. There were several times you couldn’t fulfill your jobs so I went and took your punishment. I lied to those injector people and told them that I begged you not to kill. That I didn’t want you to have that burden on you; so instead of them killing you they would punish me!”
By the time I finished that my voice had risen to a scream. Vince stayed quiet and his voice came out in a stutter, “Wh-wha-what did they do to-to you?”

“They tricked me, okay. They did the worst thing possible.”
Vince bit his lower lip in frustration thinking of the possible things that they could’ve done to me. He didn’t mean to scream when he asked me again, “What did they do to you?!”

I shook my head and fell to my knees and ran my hands through my hair as the tears went down my face at remembrance of it. “They sent a shape shifter after me! He was perfect. I fell for him. I-I fell hard. I don’t even know who he really is he told me his name was Luke, I thought I lo-loved him. I was fourteen. And gosh, I was stupid! He told me he loved me and I believed him! We had one amazingly stupid night. Three months later I learned I was pregnant. When I told him he left me. I still remember his exact words. He used me. They wanted him to use me. They wanted me to end up pregnant and that was my punishment. After I had the baby they took her from me. They sent you away so you wouldn’t have known and so that I couldn’t interfere with your assignments ever again and they had told me I’d never see my child again or you until I paid off our debt. So I have to kill Will or they’ll just send you away again to who knows where!”
After I finished the only thing that came out of Vince’s mouth was, “You had a baby.”

I shook my head and set my head in between my knees. “Her name’s Penelope. I’ve gone two years without her Vince. Please don’t ask me to go longer.”
“How many more kills are there until the debt’s paid off?”

I looked up at him and let out a deep breath, “Twenty seven.”
“I can help you.”

“No, I’m not going to let you. How many people did you kill while you were gone?”
“Five.”

“That’s a big burden already right?”
“Kind of.”

“I’m not going to let you have a worse one.”
“Kali, do you really think you can kill twenty seven more people? You’re having a hard to even kill Will.”

“Yes, but after I kill Will I can kill anybody.”
“Why do you want to kill Will?! You love him, Kali! Admit it you’re falling for him.”

“So what if I am?! I was falling for Charlie, but I killed him too!”
“Yeah, but Charlie didn’t know the real you, Kali! Will does. Will likes you for you. You’ve never had that before and that’s why it’s harder for you!”

I got quiet and muttered, “Will you do a favor for me?”
“What?”

“Shape shift into me and watch out for Will. I have an appointment but I can’t leave him alone.”
“Fine.”


“Thanks, I need to head out so let me see you as me.”
Vince groaned; I knew he hated shifting into a girl. When I saw him as me I smirked and nodded and Vince muttered under his breath, “Don’t say anything.”

“Thanks Vince, it means a lot to me.”
“Whatever, just hurry back.”

“Alright, I will, but I’m serious this means a lot.”
“And I’m serious too, hurry back and if your boy tries to make a move on me—”

“If he tries to make a move on you which he won’t but if he does you kill him and run.”
“Kali, I have an idea that I need to tell you when you get back.”

“Okay, I have a little bit of time, what is it?”
“Okay, we’ll talk more in depth when you come back, but I think you, me, my girl, your boy, and all of those friends you used to have back at the injector place should…go against them.”

“We can’t do that, Vince.”
“Kali, you’re strong enough. I know you are. You know how I know that?”

“How?” I said as my voice cracked.
“Kali, Aphrodite told me about the times you would break down in your cell.” I looked up at him with wide eyes as he shook his head…it looked weird watching him since he looked like me. He continued, “Kali, you acted like you were strong for me. You sacrificed yourself so that I wouldn’t be killed for not killing my target. You have forced yourself to go through so much the past two years; because you had me and your daughter Penny in mind…Kali, do you know what it’s time to do now?”

“No.” I said in such a low voice I couldn’t even tell that I had spoken.
“It’s time to add in a new person. I can’t believe I’m asking you to do that; because I know how hard this must be on you, but Kali, you’ve always put me in front of you all of our lives. When you had Penny you added a new spot in and put her in front of yourself. Now it’s time for you to put Will in front of yourself. Kali, you don’t want to kill him. Just think about it. We can start a rebellion we can change things.”

“I’ll think about it but for now go inside and watch TV now though so Will won’t freak because he saw double.”
Vince grumbled as he went inside, “Fine.”

I smirked after Vince closed the door. I sighed and ran off. I can’t believe that I just told Vince the truth. I sighed as I ran and I soon got a cab and as we drove to the house I started remembering the night I had learned I was pregnant.

Chapter 11-
I had held onto the sink and tapped it impatiently waiting for my results. I was fourteen. How could I let something like this happen? I sighed as the result appeared. Oh crap. I walked outside where my boyfriend was supposed to meet me in five minutes. I sighed and pushed the result into my pocket as his car pulled up. I forced a smile hoping he wouldn’t see how nervous I am. Sadly, he saw right through me. He walked out to see me and didn’t open the passenger door right away like he normally does. He crossed his arms and leaned against his car and asked, “What’s wrong?”

I shifted uncomfortably, “What do you mean?”
“What’s wrong? I can tell by your demeanor that something is bothering you.”

“Luke, I just learned something.”
“What might that be?”

“You remember that night we had you know; three months ago.”
He smirked and I could tell by the way his eyes roamed over my body that he knows exactly what I’m talking about. He asked, “What? Did you just come to your senses that you want to do that again?”

“Um, no actually.”
“Then what did you learn?”

I sighed and licked my lips nervously and responded slowly, “Luke…I’m going to have a baby…you’re the father.”
“No I’m not.”

“Yeah, yeah you are; you’re the only person I’ve ever been—”
“Kali, you are lying that is not my child you must’ve have slept around with another guy before!”

“Luke, I’m fourteen! Come on, I’m scared and Luke, you’re the dad please help me raise this child…our child.”
Luke smirked like he was proud that I was pregnant. I shook my head as he shifted into one form, then another, and another then back to himself. He sighed, “Kali, you have no clue who I really am. You will never find me and I will never participate in taking care of that,” He sneered, “Thing.”

He started to walk away then looked back at me, “By the way Kali, take this as a message; don’t ever cross us.”
I looked up at him eyes wide. He did this on purpose.
By the time I finished having my flashback we were here. I took a deep breath as I paid the taxi driver and walked up the side walk. I knocked on the door and looked nervous as it opened up. Naddie looked at me and then looked around and said, “Sorry, I’m nervous, I’ve never crossed them before.”

I nodded; I understood why she was scared. She let me inside and I walked in slowly and looked around as she yelled, “Penny, come on out! I have someone for you to meet!”
Penny ran in and that one moment I saw her again…my life changed.
I looked down at Penny and couldn’t help, but smile. She looked at me as a puzzled expression crossed over her face. I smiled and said, “Hi Penelope…I mean Penny; I’m Kali and um…”

She wrapped her arms around me and said, “Mama.”
I looked at Naddie and she smiled and said, “What? Do you really think I could be so cruel that I wouldn’t tell her about you?”

I laughed and hugged Penny tighter. After an hour of being here Naddie started to loosen up. Soon Penny was playing around. I looked around and said to Naddie, “I now agree with Vince.”

Naddie had a spark that came into her eyes when I mentioned his name. I knew in that moment that she knew exactly who I was talking about. Yet, she still asked, “Who’s he?”
I acted like I couldn’t tell that she knew who he was so I responded, “My twin brother.”

She nodded and asked, “What do you agree with him on?”
“Let’s start a rebellion.”

Her eyes widened and she shook her head and said, “Kali, are you insane?”
“Nope, I’m completely sane.”

“Kali, that’s extremely dangerous. You could be killed if they learned!”
“Shhhh, Naddie, we don’t want the whole neighborhood to know now, do we?”

Naddie sighed and muttered, “Continue your thought.”
“Look, I’m the leader type. I’m sure you’ve noticed that, and I think that I’ll be able to find a good group…Naddie I want you…No I need you to be a part of this group.”

Naddie looked towards Penny who was now watching “Sesame Street” and dancing as they sang “Elmo’s World”. I saw a face of worry and confusion cloud her. I asked, “What is it?”
“Kali, if we do this and if we both die…Penny will have no one.”

I bit my lower lip out of habit. I always did this when I was nervous. Naddie had a point. If this didn’t work out and we died Penny would be left alone. I nodded and looked up at her as she said, “I’m in on the idea, and I will help in any way I can, but I’m not going to chance Penny being left alone.”

I nodded, I understood completely. I realized that Naddie really took the role of a mother seriously. I looked around and said, “I guess I need to go. Penelope!”

Penny looked back at me and a smile ran across her face. I opened my arms up and she ran as fast as her little legs could carry her and hugged me. I whispered in her ear, “Penelope, I’m going to come back and get you someday. I’ll be back soon, okay? I promise.”

I couldn’t believe that I forgot to say the one thing that she whispered in my ear right now, “I love you.”
I closed my eyes and held her closer and said, “I love you too.”

I looked at Naddie and said, “I’ll see you later.”
She looked over at me, “Let me know the plan.”

I nodded, “I know.”
With that I left and I left feeling extremely confident. I knew that we were going to do this. I knew that we would not fail. I knew that on my watch nobody would get hurt. I decided not to get a cab and just run home. It was only about ten miles. I’ve walked more than that before. Soon, I got home and shifted into Vince that way Will wouldn’t freak out if he answered the door. Thankfully it was my brother who answered and we both shifted into our normal selves and I walked over to Will; who was watching TV and I sat next to him and said, “I need to talk to our guest so I’m going to go upstairs. Let me know if the police come, okay?”

Will nodded and went back to his program.
Vince and I walked upstairs and I sat on my bed and looked at Vince and said, “I’ve thought about it and…I agree with you.”

Vince looked at me and seemed surprised that I agreed without any persuasion. He looked at me oddly and said, “You sure?”
“Vince, the hard part is going to be telling Will the truth. I honestly think recruiting people will be easy. Because my friends trust my judgment and it’ll be easy wrapping up your girl to do it.”

Vince smiled whenever I said ‘your girl’ I looked over at him and said, “Tell me about her.”
“What?”

“About this girl? I didn’t even know you were dating anyone Vince. How’d you meet her? What is she like? What does she look like?”
Vince bit his lower lip nervously. I smirked we always tended to have the same habits. He sighed, “First thing you need to know that I know you won’t like is that…she’s a teleporter.”

“NO! You cannot fall for one of our kind, Vince! Fall for someone with no powers!”
“Calm down, Kali, please let me talk to you!”

I looked at him and groaned, “Fine, explain.”
“She crossed them. She’s one of us and they didn’t punish her yet. She was supposed to be my next target. The truth was she was already my best friend…I couldn’t kill her, Kali. I was going through the same emotions you’re going through about Will. Anyway, um we made a deal. In the injectors minds both me and her had crossed them. We made a deal with them.”

“You made a deal with the devil, Vince. You must’ve sold your life to them.”
“Calm down, Kali. Our deal was they could not physically or mentally harm me and her and if they did that then we would do every single job they gave us. All of us have kept our side of the deal. But this girl and I never made a deal to never cross them. Which is why I gave you the idea of starting a rebellion.”

“What’s the girls’ name?”
He smiled, “Naddie.”

“I think I know her. I’ve already mentioned the idea to her. She’s open to it.”
Vince nodded and said, “Are you going to tell Will the truth?”

“Not until after he’s done talking with all the police.”
He nodded and said, “I guess I better get going.”

I nodded and said, “I’ll talk with my old friends.”
“Thanks, see you later.”

“Bye Vince.”
After Vince left I walked downstairs and sat next to Will and the silence was awkward. He looked over at me and stated, “Your friend was a shape shifter like you.”

I looked over at him surprised he said that and nodded, “How did you know?”
“I found out when you talked about the police coming. They already came.”

I groaned and he looked at me, “What is it you want to tell me? Kali I can tell you’re hiding something; I just don’t know what.”
“You’re going to hate me.”

“That’s impossible.”
“No, it’s possible.”

“What is it, Kali?”
“You know when you asked me what those guys did to me. And what do they do? If they were the ones trying to kill you?”

“Yeah?”
“Okay, um they recruit people sort of. Most times the people are kidnapped or in debt. My parents were the ones in debt to them. They prefer to have people in their group that were originally born with powers…like me.”

“You were born with powers?”
“Only shape shifting same as my twin brother. Um, my mom told me when I was younger it skipped her with having powers and she expected it to stop in our family line, but it didn’t so my dad was kind of burdened with that. Anyway, there are very few people who were born with powers and I honestly feel honored to be one out of like fifty with powers. You might think that sounds like a lot, but when you think about there’s only fifty originally born with powers left in the whole world it’s very little. Um, sorry I’m so nervous about this.”

“It’s fine, Kali.”
“I think all fifty have this type of life and in all honesty; it sucks. To pay off our debt if that’s the reason your there which that is the reason I am there is that you do whatever they ask. I know that doesn’t sound bad, but for shape shifter which there’s only a handful of us that came naturally but sometimes they use the ones they inject. Those just aren’t as good as sneaking around or changing forms. Anyway I’m getting off topic. For shape shifters they um, we’re uh…assigned to kill people.”

“You were the girl, weren’t you?”
“I’m sorry, Will.”

“Don’t be.”
I looked up at him alarmed and he smirked and explained, “I understand that you have a brother that I’m betting you’re worried about leaving him alone in this world, right?”

“Yeah, um I don’t let him help pay for the debt because after my first kill it was a humongous burden and I don’t want him to have to go through that. Too bad for me he has killed a few times. But, um when our parents died I was like his rock. I’m scared if something happens to me something horrible will happen to him. I’ve been willing to do just about anything to keep myself and him safe. Including trying to murder the one person I’m falling in love with.”

“You’re falling in love with me?”
“Yeah, I think I am.”

“So, what are you going to do?”
“Will, I think…I think we’re going to start a rebellion.”

“A rebellion?”
“Yeah, it was my brothers’ idea. He says I’m the leader type so people might agree and help.”

“Who do you have in mind?”
“Vince is helping, his girlfriend, and I’m going to try to pull together some of my old friends…would you join us?”

“I don’t have powers, Kali.”
“That isn’t really a necessity, but I understand if you say no.”

“I’m going to help.”
“Thanks, and um I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine, Kali.”
“Will, it’s not fine. How can you forgive me so quickly?”

“You were in a hard decision choosing between me and your family…Kali if I had to choose between killing you and killing myself it would be hard but I’d pick killing you and that’s not because I’m scared of death it’s because I’m scared what my mom will do if I die as well.”
I remained quiet and Will looked over at me and said, “Kali, if you must go ahead and kill me. Just know that you killing me is going to lead my mother to death because it’s quite obvious that as soon as I’m dead you won’t be around. She’ll have no one to take care of anymore and she’ll go insane and eventually commit suicide. She almost did that when Ally died. She almost did that when she and my dad got a divorce. If she has no one to take care of she gives up. I honestly don’t want her to murder herself so Kali, it’s your choice.”

“I just told you that I’m starting a rebellion. I’m not going to kill you, Will.”