Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Ifeel like I’m in a dream. One would think that by now I would have learned not to make any assumptions about the world around me. Yet I find myself at a loss for words as I watch a phantom from my childhood cross over the swathe of grass to come to a stop right in front of me. She’s close enough to touch, and almost everything about her is like I remembered: the crow’s feet at the corners of her eyes, which are a bright cornflower blue; her stout stature; the way that she smiles. Her mousy brown hair is shorter than it was when I was living with her, and she’s lost some weight, but there’s no doubt in my mind that it’s her. This is the one woman I could have seen myself living with until adulthood, and yet, like so many other things, she was snatched away from me without any consent on my part.

Beneath the layer of awestruck wonder are so many questions that I barely even know where to begin. Mollie is human -- at least, that’s what I assumed -- and nothing happened during the time she was fostering me to give me the impression that she knew about shifters. What is she doing in London? How did she get in contact with me in the first place? What is her connection to all this? There are too many loose ends to process, and I find myself standing and staring at her, mouth agape, as I try to make sense of what I’m seeing.

“You probably have questions,” she says after what feels like an eternity. Her expression is gentle, understanding, and even as I stand there, I can feel something coming apart inside of me. She shuffles her feet, looking a little uncomfortable, and starts again. “I know this probably wasn’t what you were expecting, but-”

I cut her off, shooting to my feet in a heartbeat, my exhaustion from the teleportation spell all but forgotten. I throw my arms around her before I can even think about it, squeezing her as tightly as I dare and burying my face in her shoulder. She chuckles ruefully, a sound I thought I would never hear again, and I realise that I’m crying, staining her jumper.

“I’m sorry,” I stammer, pulling back, still at a loss. “Your sweater…”

“Hey, hey,” Mollie says, putting an arm on my shoulder as she looks at me. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see the guys watching the display, looking curious and confused all at once. “Don’t worry about the sweater, Millie. To hell with the sweater.”

That gets a watery laugh from me, and I dab at my eyes self-consciously, in spite of the fact that I’m already dripping wet from the harbour. “I don’t even know where to start,” I say, shaking my head in disbelief. “Why are you here, Mollie? How do you even know about…”

“Shapeshifters? Human splinter groups? The Academy?” At this last word, her expression darkens for a split second. “Would you believe me if I told you I’ve always known?”

I open and close my mouth a couple times, still scrambling to make sense of the situation. “How…?”

“Why don’t we take a walk?” Mollie suggests. “You look like you could stand to dry off a little. You all do, actually,” she amends, taking a skeptical look around at my ragtag group.

“Hang on a second,” Silas pipes up, taking a wary step forward. “I’m sorry, Boots, but you’re going to have to catch me up, here.”

“He’s not the only one who’s confused,” gripes Hunter.

“‘Boots’?” asks Mollie, laughing. “That’s quite the nickname.”

“Who is this woman, Millie?” asks Hazel, coming to stand on my other side.

“She’s a friend,” I explain, putting a hand on Mollie’s arm. “She was my foster mother, once upon a time.”

“I sure was,” Mollie agrees. “I’d still be, if I had my way. You were the best kid I ever took in, Millie, and I’m not just saying that because you’re a shifter.” She frowns. “Too bad we humans can’t seem to leave well enough alone.”

“Humans?” My brow furrows. “Wait, are you saying you had something to do with the people who run the Academy?”

“Not exactly,” Mollie replies, “but that’s a long story. How about we get you kids somewhere safe? You look like you could use a change of clothes, too.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” Shade pipes up. His grey eyes narrow as he sizes up my former caretaker. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, people. How do we know this lady is who she says she is?”

“I…” My voice trails off as I turn back to Mollie. He has a point.

“I mean, you have to admit, it’s awfully convenient that your mysterious contact just happens to be your old foster mum,” reasons the wolf shifter. I can feel him shift protectively next to me as he straightens up, his fingers brushing mine.

“I can understand your skepticism,” Mollie says, her expression kind. “I wouldn’t be so quick to trust me either if I were in your shoes. You folks have been through a lot these past few days, haven’t you?”

I swallow, unease settling into my stomach once more. I’m aware that highly trained witches have ways of changing their appearance, creating fetches and illusions of other people, but it’s not an easy skill to master. Still, if this was someone sent by the Academy… Squaring my shoulders, I cross my arms. “My… friends are right,” I say. “This is a hell of a coincidence, if you’re telling the truth.” Biting my lip, I think for a moment. What’s something only the real Mollie would know? “What made us friends in the first place?” I ask her, raising an eyebrow. “I mean, what specifically?”

“Our names,” Mollie replies without missing a beat. “One letter difference. I remember when I pointed that out, that was the first time I saw you smile.” As if to drive her point home, she nods down at me. “Do you still have that pendant I gave you?”

I can’t help but break out in a smile. “Of course,” I reply. “The cord broke, but I keep it in my shoe.”

“Hence the name,” Mollie says, nodding her approval. “It’s all starting to make sense.” She glances around at the others. “You keep handsome company too, I see.” I can feel the colour rising in my cheeks at that, and she laughs. “I’m just teasing you. Come on, we should get out of this park. People are starting to give you weird looks. What the hell happened to you guys, anyway?”

“It’s a long story,” I reply before turning to the others. “Guys, this is one of my foster parents. Mollie.”

“Pleasure,” she says, extending her hand to each of my friends in turn as they introduce themselves. “Are you all shifters, too?”

“Yes,” answers Landon. “We had a bit of a near-miss back in Boston. The Academy has the whole city on watch.”

Mollie sighs as she beckons toward the path, and we follow in a cluster, like a group of baby ducklings trailing behind their mother. “I’m not surprised,” she admits as we walk, putting her hands in her pockets. “I heard about what happened at the convention centre. Bad business, and it’s not going to stop any time soon.”

“Speaking of which,” I say, “how on earth do you know about… well, any of this?”

“It’s a long story,” Mollie echoes my earlier words. “The truth is, I’ve known about shifters since I was a little girl. My parents were on the committee managing human-shifter relations in the U.K. That was before I realised just how corrupt the organisation was.”

“So you… what, keep tabs on us?” asks Hunter, sounding incredulous as we come to a stop beside the main road.

Mollie chuckles. “Hardly. Although I’ve spent enough time sheltering shifters on the run that I have a decent network of contacts.”

“Is that why you took me in?” I breathe, staring up at her.

She turns to me, fondness in her eyes. “When I found out they were using innocent children to create hybrids, my heart went out to you. A little girl experimented on as a baby, with no parents to speak of and no understanding of the world she lived in…” She shakes her head sadly. “I thought I could keep you safe. I just wasn’t expecting the humans to take you away from me.”

“So they reassigned you, is that it?” asks Silas.

“They knew I sympathised with the shifter community, yes,” replies Mollie. “When they caught wind of the fact that I was fostering you, Millie, they were fit to be tied. I think they wanted you kept in the dark as long as possible, so that you would be malleable, susceptible to their propaganda.”

“Why didn’t you tell me any of this when I was living with you?” I ask.

“I wanted to,” admits Mollie. “God knows I wanted to. I planned on it, too, once your powers started to manifest. Looking back, I could have saved you a lot of grief if I had come clean earlier.” She sighs. “At any rate, when I found out they were dragging you kids to the U.S. for some bullshit peace talks, I had a bad feeling. I texted you from a burner phone. I had hoped you would at least be able to keep yourself safe…”

“Well, none of us has died so far,” Landon observes dryly.

We continue to weave our way east, towards the centre of the city. The sun is warming me up a little, although my muscles are still fatigued; I end up having to lean on Landon for support as we go, and I’m not oblivious to the curious glance Mollie gives me when she sees the physical affection.

“So, tell me,” she says as we turn onto a quiet street, “just how do you kids know each other?”

“We’re friends,” Xander supplies. “Well, at least Ruby, Hazel, and I are. As for the others…”

“We were the original test subjects,” Silas explains quietly. “For the hybrid experiment.”

“Then you haven’t had an easy go of it,” Mollie observes. “For whatever it’s worth, you are all welcome to stay at my flat as long as you need to. I can’t promise I can keep you safe, but I’ve done a decent job with the other shifters who have passed through.” We arrive outside a pristine-looking apartment, following Mollie inside and up to the second level. She unlocks the front door and we file in one at a time, finding ourselves in a sprawling, well-lit, multi-room flat.

“This place is huge,” breathes Hazel.

“The perks of having friends in high places,” Mollie says, grinning. “Make yourselves at home. Although, I have to say, this is an interesting situation.”

“How so?” asks Shade incredulously.

“All six test subjects under one roof,” marvels Mollie, putting her hands on her hips.

“Six?” I ask, my eyes going wide. “You mean, there’s another one?” I’ve always known that there must be, since I have access to the witch form, but so much time has passed that I was starting to think I would never meet her.

“Damn right, there’s another one,” Mollie says, peering down one of the hallways. “Edith!” she yells. “We have more guests! Come out and say hello!”

“Just a second,” comes a muffled female voice.

Moments later, a door opens, and I find myself face to face with the last piece of the puzzle, the last ingredient in my strange past.