Chapter 13

"Ok, fine. So what if I actually believed your crazy story that I'm not human. What am I then?"

"Well," she said slowly," to put it simply enough that even you could understand, your kind of like a shapeshifter."

She looked at Liam for confirmation. He nodded his head slightly.

I, on the other hand, was confused.

"What do you mean? How can I, hypothetically, be 'kind of like' a shapeshifter?"

It was Liam who answered this time.

"Shapeshifters, as you know, have the ability to take on a limitless amount of other forms. But that is not exactly what we are."

"We?"

"Yes, we. Just listen. Have you ever heard of the Garaní?"

I shook my head in answer.

"The Garaní are an ancient race beings who had a strong belief in the idea of two souls inhabiting one body. Roughly saying, they believed that the fully formed human soul joins with the infant at the moment of birth. Shortly after birth, an animal soul joins the body. It is thought to be that the type of animal soul influences the recipient's personality. For example, a gentle person has received a butterfly's soul or one who is cruel and violent; the soul of a jaguar. This isn't exactly wrong either. With the exception of the personality part, it is spot on."

"So... you think I have a second soul?"

"Not think, we know."

"How would you know that?"

"Your eyes."

I frowned and looked at the ground, letting my hair shroud my face. These eyes that caused so much trouble in my younger years. My eyes.

"So what? They're just a little different. That's no reason to claim that I'm some kind of mutant shapeshifter " I spat, suddenly feeling defensive.

"But I do. Haven't you ever heard the saying 'eyes are the windows to our souls'? Those who are born with a second soul are born with the body of a human, but the moment that another soul enters their body, their eyes change to reflect that of their animal counterpart. This is the only way to tell Astherians from humans."

"Astherians?"

"That is what those with two souls are called. It comes from an ancient language and means 'bond of two'."

"If that's true, then why don't you and Paige have weird eyes?"

"We do. Some are born with more normal eye colors like me, though they still show signs of being different. Paige, on the other hand, wears colored contacts to hide her eyes."

"Hey! Don't tell her that!" Paige exclaimed.

Liam ignored her

"Ok, as well thought out as this is, I just can't believe you."

"Why not?"

"I-I just can't."

Liam gave me a stern look.

"Well you're gonna have to if you want to live."

"What do you mean?!"

He looked at Paige.

"We have no other options at this point. You are going to have to show her."

"You're kidding me!" Paige whined. "Why can't you–," she paused when Liam narrowed his eyes at her. "Ah, sorry... I forgot."

Paige sighed loudly. "But I don't want to ruin my clothes. These are brand new jeans!"

"Why didn't you ever wear your suit? Who knows when you might need to shift," Liam shot back. "Stop complaining, we don't have much time."

Paige muttered a curse under her breath and got off the couch.

"What's happening?" I asked. "What are you going to show me? And what suit?"

Liam didn't answer as he watched Paige move towards a small table. I turned to look at her too, just in time to see her remove her contacts and reveal a pair of bright, glowing purple eyes. Shock ran in huge waves through my body as she put the contacts in a container from her purse and pull off her boots and pants.

"What the hell? Why would I want to see this?"

"Shut up," Paige said. "I'm not going to ruin a perfectly good pair of jeans for you."

She tossed her jeans onto the arm of the couch, followed shortly by her shirt and jacket. Now standing in her underwear, she took a deep breath and, in less than a second, disappeared.

In her place stood a very large wolf.

Before I could stop it, a scream escaped my lips. I scrambled off the couch and backed away.

"Oh. My. Fuckin. God." I managed to say, the words quivering as they made their way out of my mouth.