Part-Time Phoenix

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Back to Olivia's POV...

This has been the most complicated day of my life. It started with me finding an encripted message. Then I received word that I'm being followed by a mysterious person. Now I'm getting my family out of town.

Felicity and I couldn't own up to the truth. It would have taken too much time to explain the details to our parents. We needed that precious time so that we could be leaving town.

Very grudgingly, we came up with a story to help us get our parents out of town. We'll tell them the full truth once we're settled in.

"Are you certain that no one is allowed into our community?" Mom prods as we leave the office of a hotel.

I nod, "Yes, they said everyone had to evacuate. We asked if we could come and access the house, but they said it was too dangerous to be allowed."

Felicity adds in, "They said that there were multiple gas leaks along the pipe. I guess that's why we kept smelling that funny odor outside."

"What? I never smelled gas." Dad says confusedly as we walk together.

"Maybe we could only smell it because of our sensitive noses. We would've said something if we realized we were the only ones smelling it." I respond with more lies.

This shouldn't be easy. No, not at all. Telling a false story to my parents shouldn't come so naturally. I never ever lied to my parents until my shapeshifting life became complicated.

I'm also surprised that Felicity can easily play this out. For her, it's as simple as riding a bike. This should be no shock though, considering how smart she is for her age.

We came up with a reason to leave the house. Our false story is that there was a gas line inspection and multiple leaks were found. The situation was so dire that there was a forced evacuation of the entire community. The road to our neighborhood has been barricaded.

Here we are now. We're about fifteen miles out of town. This is the nearest hotel that has vacancy. The vacationers who are drawn in by Lake Jah keep most, if any of, our local hotels filled.

I wish we could be so much farther from my home town. Fifteen miles many be enough to throw off whoever is following me, but no amount of distance will assure me that my family will be safe from an invisible enemy.

Diesel called me earlier. He told me that he and Ash are setting up a distraction for my pursuer. I have no idea how they pulled that off, but I don't like the idea the least bit. I pushed Diesel away so that he could keep his own family safe. Now those two boys are risking themselves for no reason.

I can't blame them too much. If the situation was different, I would do the same for either of them.

"Okay, you and Felicity will have this room. Your mom and I will be in the room next day." My dad hands me the keys to our room.

Mom and Dad leave us alone as my sister and I slip off into our hotel room.

"I can't believe we pulled this off." Felicity breathes out, relieved. She sits down on one of the queen sized beds.

"Me neither."

She straightens, "We need to tell them the truth."

I simply nod without a vocal response. My thoughts go back to what Roxanne told me. Whoever is searching for me has been looking hard. Why would someone want to find me so much? Is it because I'm a shifter or maybe the type of shifter I am?

My sister raises her head, "Wait... I totally forgot. Are Mr.Wilks journals safe?"

A moment of shock hits me, but I reassuringly say, "Don't worry. The journals are safe. I made sure they were in a good hiding spot weeks ago. The whole house could burn down and no one would find them."