The 4 Kingdoms: Rise of the Shape Shifter

Chapter 16: My friend

I walked towards the house. The car wasn’t in the driveway and the only light in the entire house came from a bedroom on the second floor. As I got closer I was about to head for the window except that something got my eye, the front door was opened by a creek. It was like if it was inviting me in, saying it was OK for me to open it.

    I approached it with the slowest steps I could take, I didn’t want to really go in. I reached the door and gently pushed it to reveal the dark interior of the house. I could see that it was empty though. I stepped in and looked around, unsure of what to think. I had been here many times before but now it felt like if this was the first time I was inside anyone else’s house. “Bruno, are you here?” I said heading towards the kitchen and opening it. Nothing. I did the same thing with the other rooms in the first floor before I headed upstairs.

     My instinct told me that he was upstairs the whole time but my mind wanted to delay. I walked the stairs as slow as I could, taking each step to think what I was doing. I was inside my friend’s house to figure out if he had actually betrayed me and helped Phantom, also I needed to know how he had managed to be that strong earlier today. It didn’t make sense, nothing did, but it felt like it would lead me to Phantom, so I was following this absurd lead. I finally reached the hall, it was dark except for the bottom of one of the bedroom doors. The silence made me think that I was walking to nothing, but the scent told me the opposite, Bruno was here, I could smell him. I opened the door and went into the light.

    “Hey Logan.” Said Bruno as I stepped in, lowering a book. He was reading a book as he waited for me. It wasn’t until he got up that my mind finally got a clear picture that he looked different. His skin was clear and his body looked tuned up with muscles, he didn’t even have his glasses on. “Do you want to talk?”

    “Humans can’t change over a few hours, at least the way that you are.” I said moving my back towards the wall. “Can you explain that to me.” I felt his eyes locked on mine, there was no tension though. “and while you’re doing that, explain to me how you were able to do that to those guys at school.”

    “I will dude, but first, I want you to tell me what you think this is.” He asked me.

    I would’ve told him off but for some reason I found myself answering him. “I think, this is what I think” I said gathering up all my thoughts. “The shootout at the movies was because of Phantom. Here’s the shocker, I made sure there was no way he could figure things out, yet he figured it all out. That’s not the part that surprises me, what really surprises me is that  the shooter had acute senses like my kind does, and not only that, he mentioned the little details of the plan that no one could’ve figured out. He also mentioned my friend’s loyalty. My friend’s loyalty, he said that and a few other things before he blew his brains out. What do you think I think?” I looked at him.

    He smiled “What?”

    “Two things were obvious” I continued ranting on “One, that for some reason Phantom is connected to something that apparently gives humans more than what they can naturally have. The soldier was human, but he had subhuman skills. No one can whisper or hear that low. Here’s the other thing. I immediately got to the conclusion, that someone in the group told Phantom about my plan. Kristine and I started going through you guys without telling you so we could see who it was. It was a blind lead, and we were about to hit a dead end until you did your little thing earlier today.” I took a deep breath “Yeah…” I felt like I had just stated nothing but nonsense, but it was everything I thought.

    “Dude, you should be a detective” He said smiling. “You’re right about everything.” He admitted as he pulled up his shirt. There was a dark symbol in his belly which by now turned from fat to muscle. The symbol was a circle divided in many pieces with legs like in the biohazard symbol scattering from the sides.