Pretty Little Liar (Aruani Element Shifter AU) ✔️

Fifteen

I coughed once again. Eren passed a glass of water that had been poured for me. I took it gratefully, smiling thankfully towards him.

"You were lucky," Mike started. "It was a new council recruit. A young guy about your age. He's very gullible. Believes anything I say."

"Oh, okay. H-how did they pick up the thing?"

"The Council has a tracker. Basically, they can pick up when there's a sudden surge in magical energy coming from one place. That's why it was easier for me to use my magic and send you underground using water force, then they can't find you. I take it that they picked up your communication, then your, and my, magical power, for a second, while they went past. Anyway, there's an anti-shifting spell on this house that I perfected, so you can't use your powers in here. That's how they thought it was a technical error. They saw it for a minute, but then it disappeared. Anyway, whenever that happens they have to assume the worst, so the idiot comes bursting in through the damn doors and freaks out. You're safe now, don't worry."

"Oh, right. So my eye...?

"It's no longer white," he answered. "Okay Armin. How long have you had your power? We got the emblem call saying that you had shifted yesterday."

"Umm, yeah. Well, about that..."

"Go on."

"This may sound stupid, but it was passed to me, or at least I think it was."

Mike and Eren exchanged looks, then Mike nodded.

"Ymir. Yeah, I know. She came to see me the day before."

"What did she say?" I asked, desperate for answers to the millions of questions running around in my head.

"She said that she had fallen in love. She was afraid though. She didn't know what to do. Torn between this life, and the normal life she desperately wanted to lead. So I told her the honest truth-she had to choose between the two. And she did."

"But, why me? How did Ymir even do that?"

"You just happened to be there when she decided to go through town parading about around the area. Ymir is a very gifted mage, or was. She was strong. She learnt the spell to transferring magical power from her body to another's from her uncle who raised her."

"So she's given me her powers?"

"Yes. With practice, you'll be host as, if even more powerful than her."

"But, but..."

"Don't be afraid. I promise we'll do whatever we can to answer all of your questions."

My body was shaking. I looked away, tried focusing on the water in my glass. I gulped."

"Wait, but why was Ymir even in my school in the first place?"

"She never said. I can assume she was doing some spying, trying to find anyone else that might have shifted. Ironically, she ended up making a shifter."

"Right."

Then, Eren spoke up.

"I'm sure you're confused. You're not alone Armin. There's loads of us like this."

"Yeah, but to what use to us is that? Where am I going to use this to my advantage?"

"We can't. We have to hide. We can't do anything, can we? Not under the Councils eye."

"The Council? I take it all of these weird things in the news, the policemen and all of the security measures, they're all because of people like you?"