Jen put out her hands. “More? Is everybody a shifter except me? What’s going on?”
Doris said quickly, “This is all relatively new to me, too. I didn’t know a thing before I met Joey. I saw my first shifters up at the grandpa house that time when Joey and his twin niece and nephew ended up with us when we got snowed in. I just didn’t tell you that they are shifters. My finding out was, um, memorable.”
“You have to tell her about the zombies,” Bird whispered. “I always thought she’d love that part.”
“ZOMBIES???”
“No zombies.” Both Bird and Doris vigorously shook their heads.
Bird patted the air as she said, “Not real. But a funny story.”
“I could use a funny story,” Jen admitted. She felt fine, but . . . odd, was the only way to explain it. “How about after I get a shower, and something to eat? I feel really grimy.”
“I brought some of Linette’s pastries, fresh-baked,” Bird said. “Oh, before I forget. The guys all stampeded out of the reading last night—right in the middle of Godiva’s pages. We had to lie. We said they shared a snack before dinner that disagreed with them.”
“Okay,” Jen said. “Got it. Intestinal emergency. I take it Godiva isn’t in on the secret?”
“No.” There was no mistaking the remorse in Doris and Bird’s faces. “It’s not our secret to tell,” Bird said. “Though we trust her, she’d just have to keep it—and be a part of the danger from bad shifters like Cang.”
Doris added, “And you know that the farther secrets get away from the main person, the easier it is to tell just one more friend, or relative, or lover. We both promised we had to stop with us. Bird hasn’t even told her kids.”
“There’s no reason for them to know,” Bird said with regret.
“Okay. But you were hinting that there’s more,” Jen said.
Doris held out a hand. “Jen, why don’t you get that shower and some food into you first. You’ve just been whammied with a whole lot of new stuff. Think it out under the water. We’ll be here. I’m going to make up some really good gold leaf tea.”
“Breaking out the heavy artillery, eh?” Jen asked as she got out of bed. “Okay. I really want out of these clothes after sleeping in them all night—and crap! I’ve got a class to teach in . . . forty minutes—”
“You’ve got the day off,” Bird said. “I stopped by the studio after I bought the pastries. Master Reynaldo already heard the food poisoning story, which somehow got turned into gastrointestinal mega-death. When I said you might have a touch of it, he said really fast to take your time recovering. His wife would cover your classes. Nobody wants to risk catching it in case it’s actually a virus.”
Jen wasn’t surprised about the speed or the exaggeration of the rumor mill. Master Reynaldo’s niece was one of the young adult writers in the writing group, and tended to love drama.
Jen let out a sigh. She was just as glad to have the day off. As she stood up, again, she felt . . . strange. Not bad. But like her body didn’t quite fit together the way it always had.
“Definitely a shower,” she muttered.
She walked into the bathroom and took a long look into the mirror. To her surprise, the face staring back at her looked perfectly fine. She had never worn makeup in her life, and her haircuts tended to be picked for ease of care, so she wasn’t in the habit of checking the mirror much. But if anything, she looked better than she remembered. Like she’d had a week’s R&R. No, more like a year’s. Her hands didn’t even hurt.
Okay, she could definitely live with that! She showered in record time, pulled on her Sunday T-shirt and lounging pants, then padded barefoot into the kitchen, which was full of enticing smells.
Doris and Bird sat at her tiny table, but as she entered, Doris got up. “I’ll serve. You sit.”
Jen sat.
A delicious apple tart and two cups of tea later, she said, “I’m clean, I’ve eaten. You said there’s more. Like?”
Doris had begun preparing more tea. Over her shoulder, she said, “Bird and I talked it over, and we think it’s best if we start at the beginning.”
“I already know that much. I was taking out the trash when that jackwagon Long Cang grabbed me. I’m just glad it was me, and not Angelique.”
“Okay, but you don’t know why Long Cang grabbed you. . .”
And out it all came—Mikhail’s discovery of the oracle stone, and Cang’s various attempts to grab it. “Nikos says he’s not 100% sure what the stone does, that is, what’s stored inside it.”
“Kind of like a mythical thumb drive?” Jen asked.
Bird brightened. “That’s it exactly!”