The Rat in the Cafe

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

"What the heck happened to you, and where is my burger?" Anna as she looked at us. She rushed into the small clean kitchen and dampened a cloth.

"Liam, did you get on her bad side?" Anna joked as she made her way over to me and pressed the cloth against my burning nose. "Girl, you've really scratched your nose! What happened?" I sat down, feeling a bit overwhelmed by everything that just happened. Down the hallway, I caught a glance at my reflexion, and sure enough, right down my nose was a horrible scratch oozing a trickle of blood. My long brown hair hung all rumpled and unkempt.

"I’m not sure," I managed to whisper. I looked at Liam for some support.

"We were on our way to get dinner when we heard the latest victim scream, so naturally, we went to help. The attacker was a shape shifter. I smelled him. He was a falcon," Liam informed, sounding so calm about everything.

"Wait," Kieran interrupted "Was?"

Liam let out a slight chuckle, "Well, he isn’t a shifter any more," he said looking over at me, his hand entwining into mine. "Claire found her shape shifter form; she's a vixen".

Anna let out a shriek "A vixen, that’s such a cute animal". Her intensity made my head hurt, but at least she was happy for me.

"You’re changing the subject," Kieran murmured stroppily.

"Actually, I’m not because when Claire was in her shifter form, she stupidly reached out and touched the falcon. This turned out not to be stupid at all because within an instant, he turned back to human form and was as shocked as ever to see two wild animals standing in front of him. It was almost like his shifter ability was taken from him," Liam announced.

Both Anna and Kieran’s eyes were fixed strongly on Liam and me. At that moment, I felt very self-conscious, almost like I was a freak. "Was that normal?" I thought. "Being able to turn someone from shifter to human?"  I am not normal though. I am completely different to everyone. I don’t fit into the human world, and I'm totally different to shifters. I didn’t even change at 14. Liam squeezed my hand, probably trying to make me feel like I belonged.

"What I don't understand," I said out loud, "was the orange ball outside the victim’s mouth."

"I think that was his soul," Liam said. 'I think the falcon was trying to suck it out."

"Impossible!" Anna cried, disgusted.

"Actually, there is a passage about a human soul aiding a shifter and making them more powerful," Kieran commented, "but I thought that talk was only a legend."

"And the other attacks, they succeeded in sucking their souls." I gulped in disgust.

"The first attack, yes, because no-one was able to stop it. However, the day we went to the ice rink, the lady didn’t have her soul sucked fully because you came along," Liam said looking over at me. "That’s why you were there when she died; if her soul had been taken, she would have been dead already."

The very first attack must have been by the falcon also as there were claw and peck marks, but the second one looked like it could have been Liam. It must have been an animal like him.

"What if this is the prophecy?" Anna mentioned. "What if this is the reason Claire needed to shape shift?"

That thought lingered in my head. If this was my prophecy, why didn’t I help them? I'm failing. People are dying, and I can’t even control my powers.

"We just have to be careful in case it is. Besides, the attacks were done by two different animals, one being a falcon. That falcon now only exists in human form, I think, but how did you do it, Claire? How did you strip him of his shifter ability?" Liam asked.