Laura Jo Phillips by Berta's Choice Page A

pocket, then stood motionlessly for several long seconds.  As Berta and Sergio watched, the Xanti began to morph.  It shrank in height and build, becoming smaller and more petite.  His facial features took on a distinct feminine cast and within seconds Berta knew that when the Xanti was done, it would be an identical copy of herself.  Since the Xanti was distracted during the transformation, she thought it was a good time to leave. 
    She was still dizzy, but she didn’t care.  She yanked her hand from Sergio’s grip, which wasn’t all that hard since he was busy gawking at the Xanti.  Then she turned and tried to run.  She took a couple of steps, stumbled, straightened up and kept on going.  She felt as though she should be moving very quickly, but she could see that she wasn’t.  Within seconds a cold, hard hand came down on her shoulder and spun her around. 
    She wasn’t as surprised as she wanted to be when she saw a duplicate of herself, down to the clothes she was wearing, standing before her.  She shook her head in denial, but she knew that the vision before her had nothing to do with the drug.
    “So you’re going to take my place,” she guessed.
    “Of course,” the Xanti said, using her voice.  “What could be easier?  You have no family, no connections, and are clearly not a berezi yourself, otherwise you wouldn’t be in charge of the Arima House.  At the same time, you have access to every Arima known to the Jasani.  It will be child’s play to remove them from the reach of the Jasani.”
    “How do you expect to explain your friend?” she asked, trying to buy time.  There was always the chance that the Falcorans would realize she’d set off the alarm and show up.
    “I don’t have to,” the Xanti replied with a wave of his hand.  “The magic that prevents us from crossing onto the ranch is just a barrier.  Now that I’m through the barrier, I have no need of him.”
    “Unless you want to leave the ranch,” Berta said.
    “True, but why would I wish to do that?  I am inside the stronghold of the Jasani Princes, and there are none who know of it.”
    “Except for me, Sergio, and your little friend,” Berta pointed out. 
    “Yes, that’s true,” the Xanti said.  “The drug Sergio gave you was meant to keep you disoriented until I could record your voice, mannerisms, and speech patterns, and map your body.  Not that I’ve done that, I have no further need of you.  You would only live another hour at most, and your death from the drug would be painful, so you should thank me for putting you out of your misery now instead.”
    “You’re going to kill her?” Sergio demanded.
    “Of course I’m going to kill her,” the Xanti replied, rolling its eyes. 
    “I was told she wouldn’t be harmed,” Sergio said, his voice shaking with a mixture of anger and fear.
    “You were lied to then, weren’t you?” the Xanti said.  “But I wouldn’t worry about it if I were you, since I’m going to kill you as well.”
    ***
    Merrick, Tor and Jerri left Granite Falls with a basket of sugar peaches.  They’d gotten the sales lady to tie a yellow ribbon around the basket for them, which took a few minutes longer than they expected.  By the time she was finished they were pleased with how pretty the basket looked, but they were also in a hurry. 
    Merrick transformed into his falcoran, retaining his humanoid arms and hands.  Jerri handed him the basket, then transformed himself and they all took off, flying back toward the ranch as quickly as they could.  Being falcorans, they moved very quickly even without benefit of the ability to speed travel.
    Before long they sighted the Arima House below them.  The circled overhead, but, like the morning before, the garden was empty.  They landed where they had the day before and shifted back into their humanoid forms.  Merrick set the peaches down on a table and checked his watch.  It was exactly six-thirty.  Berta would be there