Shifters’ Captive(40)

“What’ll we do with this power?” she asked. “How does it translate into a mansion on the hill and a Rolls in the driveway?”

Janus had drained his cup of tea and now he turned the cup in slow circles in his hand. “They say money is power, well, power can be converted into money. After a few flashy demonstrations of the hell we can rain down on them, we’ll make demands of the shifters. Demands that involve an offshore bank account and a wire transfer.”

“And after you’ve gotten the money, you’ll leave them in peace and go away?” Sherrie set her still full cup on the ground by her camp chair.

“No. I’ll stay right here and enjoy the fruits of my labors. Not one of them would ever suspect me, since they think I’m worthless. They’ve never even noticed me living among them.”

“How would you explain your sudden good fortune?”

“Investments, an invention, it doesn’t matter.” He waved an impatient hand, and she realized he hadn’t examined his plan too closely. “The point is I’ll be master over them, pulling their strings like a puppeteer, and they’ll never know it.”

Sherrie wanted to add, “Isn’t the point to earn their recognition at last?” but she forced herself to keep her mouth shut. No need in pointing out the big holes in logic in his evil master plan.

“You can live with me. We’ll both have a family at last. Isn’t that what you’ve always wanted?” He set his cup aside, reached out and rested his hand on her knee, squeezing lightly. “Family?” He was right about that. Sherrie’d always longed for more than the patchwork life of aborted relationships and sudden moves that had been her pattern. But being family with this guy wasn’t what she’d had in mind.

“Now, it’s my turn to ask you a question.” Janus released her leg and rested his elbows on his knees.

“How did you get free when you were trapped in the ravine? You were out of my range so I couldn’t see how you did it.”

Thank God for small favors. Inside, she grimaced at the idea of this creepy little pervert—her brother?—watching the three of them. If he wasn’t already thinking of combining essences with her in that way, she certainly didn’t want to put the idea into his head.

“I don’t know,” Sherrie answered. “It was as if something inside me unlocked, and suddenly I could just do it, suck up their energies like from a straw in a juice box. The rock wall burst apart and we were free.”

He frowned and nodded. “You’ve never been able to do anything like this before, right?”

“No. I was shocked. Trust me.” That much was true. “Were you watching us climb the mountain? Is that how you knew right when to send the avalanche? How did you know you wouldn’t accidentally kill me? That wouldn’t have been very brotherly of you.”

“I wouldn’t say watching, but I’ve been aware of you, which is how I knew the panther went ahead of you so I could intercept him. I’ve been practicing with my newfound powers until I have quite a bit of control over them. Watch.” He sounded so like a kid clamoring for Mommy to watch him dive off the diving board that Sherrie nearly laughed.

Picking up the teacup, he tossed it into the air then raised his hand with his palm open. The cup froze in mid-fall to hang suspended between them. Janus swept his hand and the cup flew across the cave and shattered against the rock wall.

“You see?”

When her thumping heart had stopped choking her, Sherrie flattered him. “Very impressive! What do you have in mind to show the shifters the extent of your power?” Besides holding their loved ones captive in comas.

“That depends on you. If you’ll join your strength with mine, I bet we could produce an earthquake.

Tell them the exact time to expect it so they know it’s not a fluke. When we’ve gotten their attention, we’ll deliver our demands.”

“I can see you’ve really thought this through. May I have a little time to do the same? It’s a lot to take in all at once—a shifter for a father, a brother I never knew I had, power beyond my wildest dreams. This has been a very long couple of days.”

Cautiously, Sherrie rose from the camp chair. Was it possible she could take her leave like a guest who’d come to call on her own volition? Was he confident enough to let her walk away?

Janus rose too. “You don’t know how to find your way back down the mountain. Besides, I have a little test for you to perform. A loyalty test, if you will. Come with me.” He beckoned her to follow and led her to one of the two openings in the back of the cave. He leaned to pick up an industrial-sized battery powered lantern from the floor near the tunnel. An image of herself bashing him over the head with a rock danced in Sherrie’s mind, but the time wasn’t right to make a move.