Game with unknown Rules

Chapter 7: All about...

   They looked at me, chin place inside of their hand. Psyche looked tired. I had never seen them so exhausted and lifeless before. It was haunting seeing this normally loud and joking, but also somewhat caring person... individual so beside themself.

   "We really didn't want to tell you this, so you wouldn't get involved." They said. "We learned from our past mistakes, but we also don't want to lie to you. It was already rough enough to involve the Darkwood's and Deviel and Schmitt."

   "Do you want to say...?" I didn't dare finish the sentence. But it had already begun. There was no turning back now. They knew, too.

   "It is now very obvious that we are not human." Psyche nodded. "We have the permission to tell you from the four, that neither Lewis, nor Ruby or Scarlett are human. Even if they also allowed us to tell you, what they are, we don't think it is appropriate for us to tell you. It is not our right."

   "Then... can I ask you..." I began, then restructured my sentence. "What are you?" I was still scrambling for words. "You don't have to tell me, if you don't want!"

   Psyche smiled at me, taking a little of the tiredness away. "It is indeed very personal to us and somewhat also rather complicated." They said, now leaning back again. "So we won't go into detail. But we are able to change our appearance up to around eighty percent. Meaning that some things, like our eyes, teeth, claws and the core of our skeleton is unable to change properly, except for our facial structure. We also have somewhat trouble to change the colour of our scales, since we would need to concentrate on that, but it would be possible. We can also wear contacts or fake teeth to get rid of a few of the other problems, but we rarely do that."

   "You're a shape shifter?" I asked.

   Psyche pulled a face. "They are relatives, but since none of us really care for names and we all get just lumped in together in one pot..." They sighed. "Let's just say that we are, even though we are not."

   "Isn't that kind of contradicting, what you just said?" I raised an eyebrow.

   "What we meant was, that we have problems coming up with a good name and make others stick with it." Psyche was still pulling a weird face. "Pardon for not wording it better. Human language is weird... No, every language we learned so far is weird. Noises are weird... By the way, the staff member you spoke to yesterday was us. We didn't know how to approach you and our none existing brain short circuited."

   "That was you?" I was baffled as I already thought that somethings was off with that guy. "In the middle of the store?"

   "There were no cameras around said aisle." Psyche waved me off. "We may not be the brightest star in the universe, but we're not stupid."

   "You might need to rethink that." I replied without thinking.

   "Eh..." Psyche pulled another face. "Maybe you're right."

   "Wait..." My brain started to wrap around the other information Psyche had given me. "If Lewis, Ruby and Scarlett are not human... then that means... Rose, Luis and Melanie are not human as well... or at least half human." Psyche nodded. "Do they know about that?"

   Psyche shrugged, while Cruor was playing with their hair. "You have to ask them yourself."

   My gaze wandered back to my dinner, which now was completely cold. From there, it fell back on the documents. I furrowed my brows.

   "Is there a way I could help?" I asked, already thinking about a possible plan.

   "Absolutely not." Psyche shook their head. "You're twelve years old, with no fighting experience and an otherwise peaceful life. Think about your friends and grandparents. It's way too dangerous for you."