“Sorry.” Vivica mouthed. I shook my head. At least it wasn’t her crying.
“What happened?” I mouthed back. The last thing I wanted to do was to listen to some girl cry about how she got kicked out when I wanted to celebrate my news, but this was a good way to get Vivica’s story with a buffer.
“I can’t believe they are sending me home.” The mystery woman wailed. Well, duh. But, why. She pulled her head up out of our pillows. Her jaw dropped. “You’re the girl that came into our group. The girl on her knees!” Vivica’s eyebrows raised up and her mouth formed a small “o” of surprise. The hot water had turned my skin red, but I felt a flush.
“Yup.” What was I supposed to do? Deny it?
“Our leader sent everyone home. Except Vivica.”
Really? That’s weird. I thought trials were supposed to last a week.
“They also sent everyone in my group home.” Vivica’s eyes darted to my face, scanning for information. She raised her eyebrows and motioned towards me. I shook my head. She nodded and continued to pat her friend.
“I don’t understand. We were just doing what they said and using the toys. And then Vivica stands up and asks the coaches if they want glasses of water while they wait. You should have seen the way they hustled her out of the room. I thought she was a goner for sure. But, then after she came in and knelt in front of her shapeshifter, they thanked us all for trying and said that we could return again next year to try again. I sold everything I owned to hitch a caravan here. I can’t go back to my parents. Not like this. They didn’t understand to begin with. It took weeks for them to even speak to me when I told them.
“You’ve known for weeks?” The question slipped before I could stop it. Why was I just invited right before the tryouts began?
“Yeah. And some of the girls have known for months. One of them was here last year.” She sniffed and wiped her nose. Yuck. The way that the shapeshifters were running this was highly disorganized. Unless there was a reason for all this we didn’t know. Maybe I shouldn’t read too much into it.
“Well, I should be going. I have to pack and say goodbye to all of the others. Thanks for comforting me and good luck.” She smiled and patted Vivica on the shoulder. Her smile trembled and then she walked out our door without so much as a wave. Well, okay then. I waited a few seconds and then squealed.
“We’re in!” Vivica jumped up from the bed and wrapped her arms around me.
“Come on. Let’s celebrate.” Her kisses pulled my thoughts away from their place. When Gerard was walking me back to the room, Arkan was sitting on the steps in one of the middle cabins. I gave him a small wave, but he didn’t acknowledge it. Had I not known better, I would have said that he was a statue or a life like painting. But his eyes followed me. Everything happened so quickly. I had hoped for one more dalliance with Arkan. But I guess the Goddess had something else in mind for me.
“Okay, just don’t ask me to use a vibrator on you.” My mouth stopped her giggle short. We got into bed and pulled the covers around us. Two breeders at last.
-16-
I woke up with a start. My heart was pounding fast. The room was cloaked in darkness. My eyes scanned it wildly, looking for what had awoken me filled with such terror. Was it a dream? My memory was completely blank. Why was I filled with such dread? I glanced over at Vivica’s sleeping form beside me. Our last night in the tryout room. I licked my lips. My mouth was incredibly dry. I walked over to the bathroom. Maybe I can drink from the faucet. I should have brought bottled waters up to the room, but I figured it was our last night, why bother. Big mistake. My bladder twanged. Might as well pee. I really needed to cut out the coffee. My bladder was getting tinier by the day. I sat on the toilet and tried to recount how many glasses of water I drank, when I heard a noise. It was a vibrating screech. Followed by a crash. The sound of glass raining down. A heavy thud vibrated through the floor to my feet. The squeak of bedsprings. And then silence. My heart pounded in my ears. I tried to hold my breath, but my chest felt like it was going to explode. I wanted to go check on Vivica, but self-preservation was kicking in. If there was an intruder, the last thing I wanted to do was walk into his trap. Think. Think. Could an outsider get into the camp? Was this part of another test? Wouldn’t Vivica be screaming if something bad was happening? I’ve got the element of surprise. I looked around the bathroom for something heavy. The only thing that was even remotely weapon like was the plunger. It wouldn’t do any fatal damage, but the weight of it in my hands made me feel braver. Okay. Here it goes. On the count of three. Three, two, one, I burst from the bathroom door into the darkness, swinging. “Vivica, what’s going on?” My voice rang out in the complete silence. The window on our right was completely shattered. Glass littered the wardrobe and floor. On the bed rested our crinkled comforter. Vivica was gone.
…
“Tell me again what happened.”
“I told you what happened. I woke up and went to the bathroom. While I was in there I heard the noises. After I heard the noise, I stayed in there less than a minute. When I came out, she was gone and the room looked like this.” I spread my hands out. “I ran out into the hall to try and wake up the other girls. Down the hall I went knocking on doors until someone answered. I could hear screaming. I thought maybe that someone else w
as being kidnapped. I didn’t realize that I was the one screaming, until Betty put her hand over my mouth and asked me what was wrong. That’s when we all raised the alarm.” Arkan looked at Gerard. He nodded.
“There were ten of you taken last night.”
“Ten!” I was lucky I was in the bathroom. It was luck. Wasn’t it? Why did I wake up afraid right before something bad was going to happen? It was as if I knew. Witches could see visions and various future events, but usually we had to perform rituals and call on the Goddess and intuition wasn’t a strong suit of my clan anyway. “Why were they taken? Who would do such a thing?”
“We have an idea. One of the other shapeshifter warriors, Brawn. I’m not sure if you met him. He’s also missing. The thing is, he didn’t take any of the girls that weren’t chosen for breeding. It’s as if he waited to see who was chosen and then ran off with them all.”
“But how could one shapeshifter steal ten women that fast?”
“He couldn’t. He had help.” Arkan’s gravelly voice would have been extremely sexy in other circumstances.
“What do you think he wants to do with them?”
“Start his own tribe? Piss us off? Throw a grand orgy for fucks and giggles? We really don’t know. But we’re vulnerable. This isn’t good. We’re down to thirty breeders and ninety warriors.”
“What does that mean?”
“We’re not sure yet. The council will discuss it and we’ll announce it later.”
“We’re going to take you to your new room. Someone will deliver your things once we clean up and look around in there. I’m sure you’d rather not sleep in there anyway. We’ll put two shapeshifters for each breeder on guard tonight. One in front of the door and one outside.”