Category : Books-Fiction

Sub Category : Fantasy

I was about to press the button to leave but a soft growl came from the side of me. I look and a giant Tiger was slowly approaching me, he didn’t mean any harm, he was defiantly not an animal. I pressed my hand against his nose, he bowed and I stroked his head. He was spectacular. His orange coat as dazzling as the sun with stripes darker than the night. He purred and I had small flashes of the person he was, English and ginger, I jumped back not knowing that was a power I had. 
He backed away and a soft voice shouted “Emma, I can see you now,” I turned around and was confronted by a man in a lab coat. He led me into an interrogation room. One chair for him, a small table and one chair for me. As I was about to speak, to tell him this was all a big mistake he said “Emma Cooper, you have had a hard past, I have all the reports from the school counsellor,” He hadn’t even introduced himself, he just read the reports and probably presumed the worst. 
I nodded to acknowledge his statement and he kept going “What I am here for is to make an assessment of whether you are emotionally stable enough to work in a high adrenaline environment,” he stopped and I nodded again, presuming he wanted some kind of clarification that I understood. 
“Do you ever think of the past Emma?” he asked clicking on his tablet device, I could see files about me popping up along with a note pad for him to type his thoughts and send them to the system. 
“Who doesn’t think about the past,” I answered and he smiled waiting for me to continue “It’s hard not to think about the things that happened to me.”
“You had a positive figure in your life, who was that?” he questioned clicking on a file which had my grandma’s details in it. 
“My grandma, she saved me, educated me, loved me and I owe her everything,” I told him and he nodded. 
“I understand she died a short time ago, I am sorry for your loss,” he said sincerely as I shuffled in my chair. I was slightly distracted by the fact I could hear Andor in the next room, talking to Jake, my heart fluttered, it had been nearly two years since I had seen Jake, I had done some serious growing up in that time and I think he was stocked to see me now. 
“Wow, she’s grown up,” he muttered to Andor and Andor laughed “Beautiful isn’t she, she’s become a real little adult,” Jake stood still and Andor continued “You didn’t still expect to feel this way seeing her did you?” 
“Not at all,” Jake whispered, it was more of a whimper. It went right through me, I could almost feel his heart skip a beat and mine joined his. I looked over at the glass and Jake whimpered again “Those amazing blue eyes look straight through me, if I didn’t know any different, I would think she was reading my mind,” 
“Emma, are you alright?” The assessor asked looking toward the glass also. 
“Yes, please continue,” I replied trying to ignore the men in the next room and the fact that every time they clicked to read a file, using the glass between the interrogation room and them, it was like a loud pounding in my ear. Jake was clearly a heavy handed person. 
“What did your grandmother do for a living?” the man asked as his tablet started flashing red. I paused for a moment trying to read the upside-down words that were flashing on the tablet. I smiled and said “She was a dinner lady at the local school,” I told him. He continued reading the files.
 “Drop it Andor,” Jake said as Andor was clearly winding him up in the other room “Come on Jake, I have never seen you like this, even talking about…”
“Shut it,” Jake interrupted Andor as he spoke about something Jake didn’t want him too. I jumped as Jake snapped and Dr Jones tutted at the men in the other room, watching the glass, knowing exactly what was distracting me. 
“Do you think she is up for this?” Jake asked Andor. Andor walked toward the glass to look at me “I don’t know Jake but I know I can’t continue without her now,”
“I don’t know how I would have coped without you,” Jake admitted to his best friend and they stood and waiting for the doctor to speak. He clicked onto the next file and said “Do you have anything to ask me Emma?” he asked and I replied “Who are you?” 
“Good question,” He laughed pointing to his lab coat “I am the Apex divisions doctor,” 
“What do you do?” I asked confused. 
He looked equally confused back at me and I heard Andor say “Oops,” at the other side of the glass. 
“I make the shifters better when they get hurt,” he tried to explain as he saw me looking straight at Andor thought the glass. 
“Hang in for one more minute little Brit,” Andor said to me, knowing I could hear him. I shot him a worried look and he sighed “Please Emma.”  
“Anyway onto the next question, have you ever hurt anyone?” He asked and I just stared at him, I didn’t know what he wanted me to say. 
“How do you mean?” I wondered. He looked at me again before writing something in the note book. 
“I mean physically Emma,” He stated, shuffling his papers ready to write again. “A few times,” I said honestly “I hurt a child at school once, I pinned him against a wall and scratched his neck, another time I nearly killed Andor,” I was surprised as the man didn’t write any of that down. 
“He didn’t tell me about this, was he drunk?” He joked. I looked at him and shook my head. His face softened and he took my hand “Emma, we have had many shifters in this room, some have never even been in their animal form but all, and I mean all of them have killed someone.”
“I have never killed anyone,” I explained “I had so many opportunities to kill lots of people, and trust me I could, but I didn’t” He smiled but then a puzzled look came over his face “Reading through your files, it is a painful read for anyone who has a child, for anyone who has a heart but knowing what you can do, I wondered why you didn’t kill him,” 
“My father?” I asked the doctor. He slowly nodded his head, turning the tablet off and putting his pen away. Making this personal rather than professional. I wanted to talk about this because he wanted to know, not because the UN wanted to know. I looked at him but couldn’t explain. 
All of the lies I had told to people who wouldn’t understand, clouded the truth. The doctor could see I was struggling and said “What made you spare his life?” 
He knew that I could have destroyed my father if I had wished it but I didn’t. Part of me didn’t know why I didn’t kill him. I looked at the doctor as Jake said “That’s a hard question,” 
“It’s unfair,” Andor snapped as he walked away from the glass. 
“It wasn’t that I didn’t think about killing him, I did, every day.” I started “but I was never in any real danger and I got stronger because of what he did to me. My mother however, she was the only one who really suffered at his hands,” as I began to get chocked up and a tear fell down my face. I looked at him and said “The reason why those files don’t even being to describe what he did it me is because nobody would understand the truth, I couldn’t tell anybody the reason I survived his torture, I couldn’t tell people why my mother’s body was a map of scars and mine was blank, I couldn’t tell people how he stabbed me and drowned me and punched me and broke bones and tried to ground me into nothing.” 
“Wow,” Jake sighed as he listens to me describe my past. 
“I know, this is awful,” Andor said, trying not to listen as I could hear him shuffling paper work. I continued so the doctor might understand “People don’t understand, and I never thought I would find someone who did understand until I met Andor, people don’t understand how someone can make you feel soulless, someone can make you feel like you are nobody but he understood.”
“Andor, listen to her,” Jake said drawing his friend’s attention back to me. 
“and how do you feel about your father now?” Dr Jones asked as Andor stepped toward the glass. 
“I’m glad I didn’t kill him, I would have had to live with the guilt and when I see how Andor feels about himself, how he feels about what he did, I am glad I didn’t do the same thing, I admire Andor for doing what he did to his step-father but I realise why my restraint has become my biggest asset.” 
 “Good girl Emma, that was perfect,” Andor told me through the glass and I smiled at him. The doctor stood up and said “thank you for being honest, I will be back in a moment.” 
I waited a long time before I could hear the three men in the next room talking about me. “I think she is a lovely person; she’s beautiful, clever, controlled and will fit into the team nicely,” The assessor said to Andor and Jake. 
“You pushed her too far,” Andor told him in an annoyed tone.
“She showed how controlled she is,” he replied and I heard Andor sigh.  
“Dr Jones, we all know she is too young,” Jake said, I could hear his footsteps getting closer to the glass. 
“I remember a young seventeen-year-old boy who was taken on by me and Axis, someone who is now going to become captain one day,” Dr Jones reminded Jake. 
“Don’t talk about the captain thing, there are ears and eyes everywhere,” Jake snapped at Dr Jones. 
“You believed in me Jake and I was a mess,” Andor added siding for me. 
“She delicate, she won’t make it past training And,” Jake said back to Andor as his footsteps moved away from the window. 
“She can try Jake,” Andor said “I have seen what she can do,”
“One-day Andor, I will give her one day to prove to me she is supposed to be here,” Jake said softy to Andor, then his tone changed and he continued “If she messes up, she is going home.”
“Jake she won’t let you down,” Andor chirped running toward the door before coming to a stop when Jake added “No she won’t because you’re going with her.”
“What?” Andor exclaimed “I had to do basic training four times the first time I did it!”
“Exactly, you should be an expert,” Jake cockily said to Andor and Andor laughed. 
Dr Jones joined me in the assessment room and said “I have no doubt that you heard all of that conversation,” I nodded and he smiled “You don’t have to be nervous around me, I am the doctor for the team you have been asked to join,” Dr Jones told me light heartedly then he added “Jake doesn’t mean to make you feel like you can’t do the Job, he just worries,” I smiled at him and said “I am happy to prove myself trustworthy, especially to Jake.”
“At least you have a fan in Andor, which is good because it looks like you will have to spend the next few months with him.”
“What is basic training?” I asked and the Doctor shrugged his shoulders “I don’t know what basic training is for shifters. First you will have to come with me so we can give you a physical assessment.”