Ordinaries: Shifters Book II (Shifters series 2) (10 page)

In that moment, I feel a surge of pride. My brother will be the one. I know he will. He is the leader that I could never be.

He is brave, strong, and true. He isn’t full of anger or hatred. He doesn’t fight this battle out of fear for our planet or hatred of our enemies. He fights out of love.

He loves these people he doesn’t even know, simply because they exist. He will fight to the death for them, simply because he can. If necessary, he will die for them simply because it’s right.

That’s why we will win.

Chapter 17

We Are Overdressed and Way Too Colorful for This Party

–TANNER–

Ryland makes
me
talk? Like I’m in charge! The truth is, I have no idea what to do. I look around, and everyone is staring at me. I feel like I did the time I walked into first period with my fly unzipped.

“So, what are we gonna do, Tanner?” Alice asks expectantly.

Looking down into her large, dark eyes it’s so strange to think that a couple of months ago my head only reached to her chin. I was only fourteen then. By the way, I had a birthday while we were on the ship. I turned fifteen. It would have been pretty cool to celebrate in space, but Ryland didn’t remember, and I didn’t bother bringing it up. Like it matters anyway, I’m sure I won’t see sixteen.

“Well,” I start to say.

Think, you idiot! You have to have some kind of plan.

“What we know is,” I go on as I start to walk, “this is a trap.”

Alice nods, and everybody follows.

“And we will need some help . . . from the Ordinaries.”

This is good.

“Jaydin, do the iPods work on their satellite systems?” I ask.

“Dad is working on the code now,” Jaydin says.

“Good. How long?”

“Wait,” Ryland interrupts, stopping mid-stride. “How is your dad…?”

“They’re here, Ry,” I tell her. “I didn’t tell you because . . . never mind. Come on.”

Jaydin answers, “He thinks he can have it up in an hour.”

Ryland stops throwing her little fit—which I totally understand since I hate Devon’s parents, too—and catches up with us.

“Good,” I tell him. “Jaylon, bring ten of them to the south entrance.”

Jaylon nods and runs off. I’m not totally sure if I have their names right, but they don’t say anything if I’m wrong.

“Good idea,” Alice says, “so we can tell who is Ordinary or not.”

“They have no idea about Keeper technology,” Ryland agrees.

I nod. “We know that we didn’t exactly land undetected so we can assume they will be looking for us. We’ll take The Wizard into the city with a group of Tyros to scout for allies.”

“How do you know you can find allies?” Alice asks.

I look at Marcus nodding and say, “The Ordinaries have been oppressed for thousands of years. Look at what happened with the Keepers from the original colony on Earth and what happened with the prophecy. All I know is: where there is oppression, there is dissension.

“That means we can tap into it. The Shifters rule through fear, but according to Marcus, Alena, and every other adult that escaped, there are way more Ordinaries than Shifters.

“The Keepers have been beating us through numbers,” I say, looking directly at Kai. “Remember what you told me? ‘If there are enough of them, you
will
die.’” I hate to bring up that memory, but it’s important for them to understand.

Kai nods as though he does understand. He doesn’t resent me for doing what I have to do. He’s the same way.

“He’s right,” Ryland says. “But they won’t trust us.”

“Exactly,” I tell her. “That’s why we need the Tyros. They are Ordinaries. They will be our ambassadors.”

At the south side of the ship, we meet up with Viktor and we choose six Tyros, making Greg the team leader. Cooper objects until we tell her she is going with us, and then Greg objects.

Seriously?

Jaylon meets us there with the iPods. I bet the Apple guys never thought their stuff would help in an interplanetary war!

“Did your dad install it?” I ask him.

Jaylon smiles. “Of course, he helped design the systems in the first place,” he says. “Besides, he talked to one of his friends, and they got him in.”

“Who was it?” Viktor asks.

“Pet-er-ick or something,” Jaylon says, trying to sound it out.

“G-good man,” Viktor says.

Clay wants to go, but I convince him that he’s too important so he agrees to stay.

“Okay,” I start to explain. “Here’s what we’re gonna do.”

So me, Ryland, Kai, Cooper, Kyle, Marcus, Viktor, Greg, and his team step off the ship with our iPods in hand. Kyle created a new app on the trip so we don’t have to play the
Enforcers
game to use the detection system. We tested it on the ship and it’s much quicker now.

Marcus and Viktor walk toward Mona and The Wizard, while the rest of us stop and stare at the foreign land. I’m not sure what anyone else expected, but it sure wasn’t this.

There are mountains in the distance with trees, plants and streams, but it’s like I’m wearing weird sunglasses because the color scheme is completely off. The sky has a greenish tint, and the trees are tall with red-tinted stalks and nearly white leaves.

Marcus stops and says, “You coming?”

“Uh . . . yeah,” Ryland says, nudging me to move. She has to stop and tell Fluffy to stay behind before finally coming onboard.

Mona welcomes us. Naturally, Ryland rolls her eyes when she compliments Viktor. I don’t think Ry got over the time Mona told us that she liked Kai. That was great!

Viktor has Mona land in the middle of a park with lush blue grass. It’s like this world is upside down or something. We step out and look at the city, or town, or whatever. It’s basically a mining community. There are small shops busy with people rushing around, and the whole area is surrounded by smokestacks and large factories.

“Marcus,” I say. “You lead the way.”

–RYLAND–

When we get close to the town, I realize immediately that we have a problem. Everyone here is gray, like they have been covered in soot for so long it has worked its way into their skin. Their hair and even eyes have taken on a dull gray-brown hue.

Not only are we clean with bright hair and sharp eyes, but we are out of place in other ways, too. Everyone here is dressed in the same neutral clothing. From smocks to tunics to something that looks similar to the scrubs doctors wear, no one here is wearing any color except what I assume are the Shifters.

They are in pristine black uniforms with motorcycle-like helmets covering their faces. Probably, I think, because they don’t want to be covered in whatever air pollution is surrounding this town. I can’t blame them for that.

As we’re crouching in the brush on the edge of town, I whisper to Tanner, “I don’t think we’re going to need the iPods to tell who’s a Shifter.”

We all stare, stricken, at the conditions here. Most of the homes are shacks like the shantytowns I’ve seen in pictures of Africa. They appear to be thrown together with a mixture of scrap wood and metal.

Even their shops are like small carts, with purveyors loudly hawking their discounted fruit or smocks. It reminds me of something from another age entirely. It’s as though we’ve stepped through time into the Middle Ages. You know, minus the huge factories and guards with blue lightning guns on their hips.

“What do we do now?” Greg hisses to Tanner.

Even though we have no experience in espionage and almost zero in war, Tanner has somehow become the leader. This is funny to me, considering that Marcus is right there. At least he’s an adult!

Tanner thinks for a moment, then nods. “We need clothes. We aren’t going to blend in dressed like this.”

“If only Devon were here . . .” I mutter sadly. “She could have easily snuck in and gotten clothes for us.”

Tanner’s eyes fill with tears for a brief moment.

“I’ll do it,” Kai says.

“No way,” Kyle says. “They’ll see you.”

Kai shakes his head. “I’m pretty sure those helmets are some sort of tech. They allow the Shifters to monitor heat signatures, weapons, things like that. They won’t be able to see me.”

“What about the Ordinaries?” Greg points out.

Kai shrugs. “If the Shifters don’t react to me, I’m hoping that the Ordinaries won’t either. They wouldn’t want to openly cause problems, right?”

“But you’re too young,” I say quietly, fear creeping into my voice. “They’ll know what you are. They’ll probably report you.”

“It’s a risk we’ll have to take,” he says firmly. “I don’t see any other options.”

He’s right. I know he’s right, but fear knots in my stomach, twisting around my insides and making it difficult for me to breathe.

Marcus, who has been quietly concentrating on the scene before us, finally chooses this moment to speak up. “We need to cause a lockdown.”

“And . . . how are we supposed to do that without exposing ourselves?” Cooper asks, raising her eyebrows as though Marcus is an idiot.

“They have a system, guards. If they detected a bomb, for instance, they would force everyone indoors, searching each house,” Marcus informs us.

“And while they are pillaging the town,” I say slowly, “We could sneak in and get disguises.”

Marcus nods.

“But, how could we get them to think there’s a bomb?” Greg asks, his face scrunching up in confusion.

Marcus looks expectantly at Tanner.

“I don’t know how to build a bomb,” Tanner says, slightly offended at the implication. Considering the circumstances, us being at war and all, I don’t know why that would be an insult.

“We don’t need you to actually
build
a bomb,” Kyle says grinning.

I finally get it, although I’m not sure it’s actually possible.

“You need to control the helmets, make them detect a bomb that isn’t there,” Kai says.

Tanner shakes his head. “I can’t do that. I don’t even know how I would, let alone how I’d keep it up long enough.”

“You wouldn’t need to keep it up very long,” I say. “In fact, that would probably just get some poor, innocent Ordinary killed. You just need to do it long enough that they call for a lockdown.”

Tanner looks crestfallen. He is finally a leader, a cool kid, and now he can’t do what needs to be done. He doesn’t know how.

Cooper smiles at him and puts a hand on his shoulder. “You can do it. I know you can.”

Greg frowns at that, but Tanner buoys. Slowly, he nods.

Chapter 18

So Let Me Get This Straight:
Our Coming to Help Is a Bad Thing?

–TANNER–

Okay, I can do this.

I look nervously to Ryland, and she gives me an encouraging nod. She’s actually been really supportive lately. I’ll have to remember to tell her I appreciate it—if we actually survive this.

I focus on one of the guards, and I can sense the tech in his body and uniform. It actually has some kind of oxygen regulation throughout the whole body. That must have something to do with the pollution. I concentrate on the helmet—assuming that’s where some kind of detection display would appear.

I find myself searching through the system, traveling along the circuitry until I see several connections firing as if they are synapses in a brain. That’s all I can think of since Mr. McCarty made us watch “How We Learn” on YouTube the day before the school blew up. It only had like two thousand views, so it’s not exactly the most popular video on the Internet. I think Mr. McCarty alone was probably half the views. He loves that stuff.

So I find the display screen, and I can trace which circuit fires each time a person comes into view.

“They are scanning people,” I whisper.

“Can you trick it?” Cooper asks.

I motion for her to be quiet and start looking through the system.

“I think I got it,” I tell them.

I find a circuit and tell it to fire. The guard doesn’t react. I concentrate on the next several circuits and tell them to rapidly fire. I feel the guard’s body heat rise. He must be noticing the change, so I tell them to keep firing. Then, he reacts.

He calls out something to another guard. That guy shakes his head.

“Oh, yeah?” I whisper to myself. “Now you, too.”

I keep it up with the first guy and quickly locate the second guy’s circuits and give him the same treatment. They both start shouting for citizens to return to their quarters. Alarms begin to scream, and panicked Ordinaries are running and hiding as more uniformed guards swarm the area.

“Let’s go!” Kai says as he starts to run toward the scene.

Our group starts to follow him, so I stop making the circuits fire and walk behind the group, trying to not look conspicuous, like that’s possible. I have no idea what I made the guards think, but whatever it was, it did the trick. I wonder what the guards think now that what they
think
they saw is actually gone.

We join a group of people entering a dark, broken-down building. The door is practically falling off its hinges as it starts to shut behind us. Ryland stops at the door, peeking out, trying to figure out if we were seen.

“Are we clear?” Greg asks as he squeezes Cooper’s hand. Cooper blushes a pale shade of pink, smiling a small, tight smile.

Ryland eases the door closed and says, “I think so.”

“It’s a trap!” a woman yells from the darkness.

“Ali! Get back!” a guy yells as he swings around with a spin kick toward Kai.

Kai vanishes as the momentum of the kick throws the guy to the floor, and his arm catches on the single light that’s hanging from the tall ceiling. He looks up at Kai, who is now directly in front of him.

The room is dim with some green light bleeding through the slats covering the few windows in the room. The shadows dance back and forth around the room as the single light swings from the long wire.

“We’re not gonna hurt you,” Kai says, holding his hands on the guy.

It’s hard to tell how many people are in here, but it looks like twenty to thirty are spread throughout the room. I hear a scuffle behind me. I spin around to see Cooper about to attack a guy that is holding a knife to Greg’s throat.

“Cooper!” I yell.

She looks back at me with fear in her eyes. I can tell she’s about to shift. She turns toward Greg and his assailant, and I yell, “No, Cooper! Stay there!” I shift, and the whole room freezes with Cooper frozen mid-step. I hold her and break my shift.

She must have been in motion when I caught her because her momentum throws both of us to the floor.

She looks at me like I just let her mother die and cries, “He’s gonna
kill
him!”

I look at her deeply and say, “He won’t!” I spin my head toward the guy holding Greg and spit, “You won’t!”

“Quinn!” yells the guy who tried to kick Kai, “Don’t! Let him go.” He eyes Kai and slowly gets up.

The guy hesitates, then lowers his knife. Cooper and I get up, and we all stand there in awkward silence staring at each other. The light is swinging more slowly now, so I can see the room a little better. Most of them appear to be armed with makeshift knives.

The guy that was holding Greg spits, “Who talked?” suspiciously eyeing his companions in the room. “How did you find us?”

“Quinn! That’s enough,” the other guy says.

Clearly the group obeys this guy’s commands. He is definitely some kind of leader.

“We didn’t find you,” Kai says.

“Look,” Ryland explains. “We don’t know who you are. We need some help.”

“Ha!” someone scoffs from the darkness.

“Why would we help a bunch of Shifters?” Quinn sneers.

I look at my sister, but she shrugs her shoulders.

The leader guy eyes us, tilting his head. “I know you’re not infiltrators,” he surmises. “Either that or you’re just terrible at it.” He smirks and walks around my sister, his eyes roving her up and down.

She glares at the leader. “We need to blend in.” She doesn’t blink.

“Well, sweetie,” he says, rolling the ends of her hair in his fingers. “That’s going to be a little tough for you, isn’t it?”

–RYLAND–

That’s it. I’ve had enough. I slap his hand away. “You’re an idiot!” I snap.

Tanner looks at me like I’ve killed Fluffy. As if I would ever!

Everyone on the Ordinaries’ side of the room gasps in shock at my audacity.

“Oh, is that so? Typical Shifter arrogance,” he says, rolling his eyes dramatically for the crowd. He’s clearly manipulating them, which means he’s dangerous.

“We hate the Shifters as much as you do,” I say. “Look at us. Look how old we are. Do you really think those Shifters out there would be our friends?”

He turns to look at me for a moment, considering what I’ve said. “So what?” he shrugs. “What do we care if those Shifters want to kill you?”

“Because we can help you,” Tanner says.

“You’re clearly rebels,” I say, nodding toward their makeshift weapons. “You’ve been fighting back already, haven’t you?”

The leader nods slowly, unsure of what to think.

“Wouldn’t it help to have an army with you? A real, trained army?” I may be putting a little too much stock in the crash course training that our troops have been given over the last few weeks, but we
are
an army, albeit a relatively small one.

A dirty, middle-aged woman from the back pipes up, “And where have you been hiding an army of Shifter Young for the past twelve years?” Her sarcastic tone irks me.

“Earth,” I say, rolling my eyes.

The room is so quiet that you could hear a fly fart, but not out of shock or awe as I had expected. They look at me in complete confusion.

“The Lost Colony,” Tanner says.

Their eyes grow as wide and round as the city-ships that attacked DC.

The leader shakes his head. “That’s impossible.”

“Look at us,” I say. “Do we look like we’ve been hiding in the weird blue woods?”

“You brought ships here?” one of the men shouts, suddenly more frightened than before. He isn’t excited we have ships and troops. He’s terrified.

“Yes,” Tanner says softly. “We have ships that we can use to launch a war against the Shifter rule.”

“No, no, no, no, no . . .” one of the smaller women begins to mumble, holding her hands to her temples and rocking back and forth.

“You don’t have to join us,” I say, thinking that their fear stems from our presence on their planet. “But this isn’t just our fight. It’s your fight, too; we’re fighting to free you of this oppression.”

The leader shakes his head at me as though I’m an ignorant child. “You have no idea what you’ve done.”

“What do you mean?” Greg asks innocently.

“If a ship lands here without proper clearance . . .” the shouting man begins.

“It notifies the entire Gaian armada,” the leader finishes, hanging his head in defeat.

“What?” Marcus asks in shock. “Why would the entire armada be notified about an unapproved landing?”

“Because of the resistance,” I say, suddenly understanding. “You were trying to communicate with other colonies.”

The leader nods in agreement. “At first it seemed as though we might prevail. We were able to gain weapons and supplies, trade with other rebel groups. Then the Shifters realized what we were doing. They threatened all the colonies. Any colony helping us would be destroyed.”

“Surely they wouldn’t destroy an entire colony?” Tanner asks in horror.

“Just like they wouldn’t slaughter their own children in the streets . . .” I mumble sarcastically.

“By coming here,” the leader says, “you’ve doomed us all.”