Shifter Magick by Stacy Kinlee

much I have been worrying about you?”
    Kera lay back on her bed and smiled. She loved it when he got over protective. “I told you I have friends to help me.” This time when she said it, she wasn’t lying. Had it really only been three days since she started seeing Maddox?
    “That’s good.” She could hear her father’s voice smile on the other end. “Does she live on your floor?”
    Kera felt a moment of actual nervousness. She had a secret she actually got to reveal to her father. “He doesn’t.”
    “He.” The word was said like it tasted bad on his tongue. “When did you meet this boy?”
    Kera sat up, “The first day I was here.” She answered . “He’s rebuilding a car. It’s an old M ustang l ike one of the cars in your magazines.”
    Her dad was quiet for a moment but Kera could hear his thundering pulse. “It’s kind of early don’t you think? You never dated any of the boys you know and now you have one you just met. How do you know he is reliable? Is he helping you up to your room?”
    “Yes.” Kera smiled. Her father was probably thinking the worst . “He is the one who brought me to the hospital last weekend. He saved my life.”
    “Did he now?” Her father paused and she stayed quiet to give him a moment to process. “How come you didn’t tell me this when I was there? Were you afraid I would want to meet him?”
    Kera thought about how to answer. “We weren’t really that close until after the attack .” She answered truthfully. “Originally he thought he recognized me but I guess we just hit it off after he came to check on me.”
    “You be careful.” He said seriously. “I know you don’t want to hear this, but a relationship is hard work. If you feel yourself slipping back into depression I need you to tell me. I don’t want this to trigger another…”
    “Dad.” Kera cut him off. “I know I changed after what happened to mom. I feel better around him though. I feel normal.”
    “Have you opened the present?”
    Kera eyed the space between her feet and the bed where she hid the present. “Not yet.” she told him. “I’m working on it.”
    “ Okay .” Her father knew she still had limitations. Kera didn’t try to deny it either. It was hard to remember her mother and not think of her death. It was harder for Kera when she felt that somehow her mother’s death had something to do with the beast inside of her.
    Did her mother know about it? Was she planning on telling her?
    Was the reason her mother tried to get her to stay home because she knew what was going to happen?
    She said goodbye to her father and dug out Maddox’s IPod. She turned it on and set the earphones on the table next to her bed. For her, they worked like speakers. She wondered why she didn’t think of it sooner.
    Kera listened as she studied. There were two songs she really liked. They were both guitar instrumentals and now that Kera had heard Maddox play, she knew the artist. She wanted to press him about the meaning of the songs. They were so beautiful yet carried an edge of pain.
    A knock at the door drew her attention.
    Kera went over to the door and opened it.
    “I guess you were determined to make me look bad from the beginning.” Tori said, her voice acid. “Andrew is very disappointed you would treat him so badly then turn around and go out with Maddox.”
    Kera shook her head in disbelief. Is this what Rebecca was talking about when she said Tori treated her badly? “I don’t think it is any of your business who I hang out with. Or Andrew’s for that matter.”
    “So you specialize in endangering people?” She shot back.
    That hurt. “I never meant for anything like that to happen.”
    Tori flipped her hair over her shoulder and ran a disgusted gaze over what Kera was wearing. Her gaze flickered to the crutches abandoned by Kera’s bed, then to the ankle that was supposed to be injured. “Nick and Andrew can’t seem to quit talking about you and now you have Maddox