Shifted

32. Kalaya

"It's just a woman."

"Please let me in to talk. It's just me, they don't know I'm here." Josalena's soft voice spoke out.

I let her in, grabbing her close to me. "What does he plan? Is he going to-"

"I don't know, I only heard about this, he doesn't know I'm here. I'm here to warn you, please there's a way out of this mess-" I gripped her arm and tugged her.

"Board that door back up, yell if anyone else comes." I called over my shoulder as I pulled her along. Her eyes widened as we passed the second door, an empty room with two large windows and a closet door, that I had checked earlier. She yanked on her arm that I was holding and pulled me inside.

We were alone together, in a chaotic situation. I didn't think I'd ever see her again, this whole night I had been trying not to think about her and the light she brought into my life. I couldn't help it, I pulled her close to me and kissed her with everything I had. Her lips were soft and yielding against mine and when we pulled away we were breathing heavy.

"I don't have time for you right now. You need to go." My heart was racing at having seeing her. Truth be told I selfishly did want to see her before I died. But I could feel the time ticking, could feel how close death was coming.

Josalena's expression looked hurt. "I want to help you, I've been trying to help."

"Oh really?"

"Yes! I've been trying to play the dutiful daughter, been going house to fucking house around stuck up snots to get information. Don't you ever wonder why no one ever travels? Why we, even the humans are stuck in this village?"

"I didnt know you were stuck too," the fact gave me pause.

"We are scared away from going outside the gates. And those who do, never come back unless they are higher ups. Families who control everything. The general is just a pawn. There's more than just what we see."

"Enlighten me."

Se tells her what she knows, what the general made her do, how she's on our side, how the general would rather kill them along with the kids here than ever let them free. As if I hadn't already guessed that.

"The townspeople would hate him," I pointed out.

"Hate him?! Kalaya this is a perfect time to get the humans to harden their resolve. They've been wavering in their beliefs, questioning everything. I'm sure in the next five to ten years they'll all have decided its time for equal rights. There have been recent published articles in the daily newspaper on how it's wrong. There's been debates. Now, you've given him the perfect opportunity to turn everyone's back on you for good

"My people don't have another 5 to ten years of this in them!"

"I know," Josalena cried, "which is why I agreed to marry the top families son. I was to go on a tour outside, come back and get married and from there make a big change, to fan the flames of the injustice of your people and get my people to see it, by having that status."

I laughed. ridiculous. "You've fallen into your fathers trap it seems. You think your father got to be general by being an idiot?"

"I'm his daughter he-"

"That man doesn't have love inside of him, he's empty and dead. With a great passion for hatred against my kind. And I hate to admit, but he didn't become general by mistake. He's smart. I bet he could see the fire in your eyes, the hatred as you looked at him. He knew you were kind, too kind," I reached out and gripped her hands in mine. She had been played. She was falling into a trap. Once she married, he would gain power and any amount she ever had would been stripped away. "He knows he can't change you . So he sets you up to get married, to pass you off to someone with more power than him, he threw you to the wolves, and he hopes they shred you apart should you step out of line."

She gaped at me, "It was my plan - my idea."

"I'm sure it started that way. And that's what he lead you to believe."

"Trust me, Kalaya. Trust me," she pleaded. "This plan of yours isn't going to go anywhere, you'll have gained nothing from this. Let me save you. Call this off, gather your shifted, bring them in here and tell them to trust me and I'll get you all out safely."

She didn't realize, we didn't, no, we couldn't be saved. The longer we held this fort down, the longer we distracted the general, the more likely Snakegirl and the rest would succeed. This was a suicide mission and I didn't have the heart to tell her that.

"I trust that you want to help, that you have good intentions," I pulled her closer and leaned my forehead against hers as my heart pounded. Hadn't I seen her true self during my lock up time in her fathers basement prison? As she gifted me things. As she took care of the shifted in her basement. I knew in my heart she wanted to help. But I also knew this wasn't her fight. She pulled away from me.

"Then lets go talk to them, decide as a group. " Josalena was looking out the window. I stepped forward to see why she had such an expression, but she turned and rushed to me. "Please," she threw her arms around me. "You have to act now."

"I want to," I held her. "But its too late for surrender." I turned away, rushing to the door. We were out of time. If I stayed in this room too long, it might become too late. I had to make sure we gave Snakegirl enough time.

"I'm sorry, I can't let you," Joselena sobbed as my ears twitched at a sound but before I could turn my head, a sharp pain at the back of my head is all I felt as I fell into darkness.