Leila was pale. Her golden hair was filthy and lay spread on her pillow in strings that looked like dried grass. The sour reek of vinegar filled the room, overwhelming any other scent.
"Hi," Aurelie said and kneeled next to Leila's bed.
"What happened to your hands?" Leila asked and rose from the bed.
Aurelie moved her hands behind her back and smiled. Leila reached out and touched Aurelie's hair with her fingers. The strand crumbled in her hands.
"My fire. Don't worry about it." She flapped her wrist. "It doesn't hurt at all," she lied.
"Aurelie," she said, lowering her eyes. "I'm sorry that I haven't told you aboutâ
"Don't worry about it. We'll focus on that when you're better. I'm just glad that you're okay." Leila's arrival had been the greatest thing that could occur. She was alive! It was an outcome Aurelie had hoped for but did not expect. Thousands of questions roamed within her mind, but after one look at the dark circles under Leila's eyes, she bit the questions back.
Leila sat up on the bed. "I'm better now. Listen," she said. Skin peeling off her dry lips. She swallowed and continued, "I was young when I found out, only thirteen. Do you remember when I told you that my father and I were going away to see the medicine woman, who was in Hoirah? Do you remember how sick I was?" she asked.
Aurelie kept her expression blank. Four years they spent together, and she only heard about it now. "I do. What does that have to do with anything?" she replied, her eyes grew cold.
"It was the first time I shifted. My body was on fire, yet, my head so cold that my lips turned blue. My father took me into the wild and waited for me to shift, blaming his parents for passing this curse onto us. I felt like I was dying. I had no idea why my father led me into the woods rather than taking me to the medicine woman."
"It got so bad that I saw double, and then my eyes were so cold and dry that I had to keep them closed. I could not bear to touch my face with my fingers. It felt like the very touch on my face caused my skin to melt. Soon after that, the cramps started. My muscles felt like they were contracting and stretching at the same time. My body was fighting me. I wanted to die until I was no longer even able to stay awake."
"The next thing I could remember was roaming the forest and looking for prey, and I didn't know why I was no longer in control of myself. When I looked at the ground, I saw white paws with giant claws. I jerked around and attempted to flee, but the paws followed me. I noticed that they were mimicking my thoughts, turning, and running as I commanded them to. Then everything turned black again, and I woke up in the forest. The pain was gone."
"My father's coat was covering me. He was sitting dead still on the grass and looking into the distance. I thought it was a dream. That I'd been hallucinating while I was sick. I thought this until my father turned around and looked me straight in the eyes."
"'Now you have finally seen what you are a child. Now you can join the circle. You tell no one of this. You are one of the few who carries the curse of our kind. If you tell Aurelie, she will end up dead along with you,' he said."
I remember it as if it was yesterday. I still think about that day. I still remember the pain when I feel too hot or too cold. I fear that the pain is returning to my body, but it never has since that first time," Leila said, her eyes were pleading. "Aurelie, I'm so sorry." Her hand rested on her chest.
"I understand," she said. Not sure if even she believed her own words.
"It was for your own good. Can you imagine what we would have gotten ourselves into? A shifter and a dragon roaming the woods, can you even imagine?" She smiled and took Aurelie's hand.
Aurelie whirled to her feet and wrapped her hands around her head. "You lied to me, Leila. How was that for my own good?" she asked, dumbfounded. This was exactly the kind of confrontation that she wanted to avoid. "I thought you were dead! I went to your house, and it was all gone! And you're telling me that it's for the best?"
"Aurelie... I amâ
"No!" Her fingers clenched into fists. "Don't you dare! How did you find me?"
"It was easy because of what I am. I was not home when the King came to our cabin, and I missed them. There was nothing left." Tears welled up in her eyes. She turned her head away and sniffed. "I ran to you trying to warn you, but I could already smell them, the King and his shadow walker."
Aurelie stiffened. She saw Leila at the cabin before the people had come. Had the vision been wrong? Her eyes narrowed. "How did you know it was the King?"
"I... Isn't it obvious?" she stuttered.
"I suppose."
"You should have seen him," she whimpered. "I can't believe he's dead." Tears dripped down her cheeks like waterfalls. She covered her face with her hands, her entire body shaking.
Aurelie dropped down beside her bed and rubbed her back. Her body flushed hot and cold. "Who?"
"My father." She cried. "I'm sorry; I don't want to talk anymore. I'm tired," she said and lay back down on her bed, covering herself with the quilt.
"Leila, I'm sorry," she said and touched her shoulder. "I am so sorry," she said again, rubbing her harder. Aurelie had not seen his body at their home. Could she have missed it? She searched in every single room.
"I know. Just leave, okay?" she asked and sniffed.
"Okay," Aurelie said and walked out, closing the door gently behind her. Questions soared, but she did not dare ask anymore. Aurelie's skin burned and ached from her injuries. She wanted some cold water and a lot more sleep.
Daerious was waiting for her outside the door. He was seated on the ground and looked up as she stepped out.
"How is she doing?" he asked as he got up.
"She told me her dad was killed," she said and walked forward towards the stairs, trying to avoid the conversation.
"There were more shifters in Highfire?" he asked, though it looked like he already knew this before he asked. He rose to his feet and followed her to the stairs.
"That's all that interests you out of what I've just told you?" she asked.
"I'm sorry about her father. It must be really tough for her. But a shifter family we didn't know of? That could be very dangerous. There could be more if they are on the wrong side..." his voice trailed off.
Aurelie gripped the railing, her knuckles whitening. "Her mother died years ago before I knew her or her father. There were just the two of them, and my family was the only people they kept contact with," she said and walked up the stairs.
"They are from the Icelands. I don't even know how they can survive in our climate. Are you sure it was just the two of them?" He followed close behind.
"Then how did her family live here all these years?" she asked.
"We should ask her that," he said.
She whirled around and walked down the steps until she and Daerious were face to face. "Leave her alone! She's been through enough," she warned him.
Daerious took a step back and shrugged off her comment. "So have you, I, and everyone else here, but we have to go on."
"Just give her time, Daerious," she said and turned back to the stairs.
Daerious did not leave her side. She walked up to her room and stepped inside.
"Daerious, this is not a discussion. No one speaks to her but me, or we leave," she said and closed the door before he could reply.
She had forgotten what she had done earlier and what it had taken out of her. Her wounds touched the sheets and stung. There was no side she could turn on where it hurt less, so she just stayed on the bed as she had landed, torso on the mattress, and legs dangling over the side.
She could still faintly hear Daerious marching around outside her door. He stopped as another pair of footsteps sounded. These were lighter.
"Daerious, what is it?" she heard Sasha ask.
"I was thinking of the shapeshifters. This cannot be a coincidence? How could we not have known about a shifter family?" he answered. He wasn't going to drop the subject tonight, and Aurelie could hardly blame him. They could not have been more shocked than she was. Aurelie had known Leila and her father throughout her whole life, and she has never suspected anything strange about them. Her family was the strange one, two dragons and a witch.
"Aurelie seems to know her well. We will have to trust her judgment now, and the girl is still fragile. It is doubtful that she'll cause any trouble . . . just yet," Sasha told him.
"Yes, if there is only one, we can watch her, but what if there are more? If the Dragon King somehow acquired an alliance with shapeshifters, there will be no place that we can hide. They could be anyone," he replied.
Aurelie had not considered anything that he had said before, but she was not worried. Leila and her father had only kept contact with her family.
Another set of footsteps sounded from outside her door, and they were fast and loud. Before he spoke, she knew it was Kirin.
"Is everything okay?" he asked them.
"Depends how much we want to trust Leila with this sudden appearance of hers," Daerious replied.
Aurelie was getting worried. What if they tried to kill Leila? They still needed her, and killing her best friend would not be the best way to keep her on their side. She tucked the thought away and listened to the rest of their conversation.
"If Aurelie's choice is to have her stay, she stays. But watch her closely, especially when she is with the dragon," Kirin replied.
A pang traveled through her. The dragon?
"The very thought of a shifter in Highfire . . . It must have something to do with the King. I am not concerned with just the one, but as I have just told Sasha, if there are more then we do not know about amongst us, and if they were to work with the king, we would be in very great danger," Daerious explained.
"Don't worry too much about that. If there were many shifters in the King's guard, I would know. As for the strangeness of them being in Highfire, the news is not new to me. The old King was rumored to have had shifters on his side that he had brought with him from the Icelands. The only thing that worries me is that Leila took such a long time to find us. A shifter can follow any scent. She is not telling us everything she knows, and I am sure of that," he replied. "Watch her while I'm gone. She should not be too much trouble now, but she will heal fast, and we will need to keep a constant eye on her," he told them.
"I will watch her," Daerious replied.
"Good, I have to leave, but I will be back first thing tomorrow," Kirin told them. "Can you give me a minute?"
Aurelie relaxed as the other two fell silent, but her thoughts were still going over their conversation. She knew Leila would not cause any problems or bring them into any trouble, but she could not help but think about what Kirin had said.
A knock sounded on her door. Her heart lurched into her throat. He wanted a minute with her.