Page 136 of Caelum

“I did that before Caelum,” Stefan admitted.

“Me too,” Eren said. Reed and Frazer also nodded, and when I cut Samuel a look, he dipped his chin in agreement.

“Well, I don't,” I told them.

As their eyes narrowed, I discerned that they were puzzled, but not concerned, so I continued, “I've never done that. I've never known how. I only really know what day it is when one of the souls reacts to something. Dre made me look deep inside myself to find where the souls cohabit.” It was a strange word choice, but it fit. They did inhabit me, but more than that, they had to live together. “From Dre’s description, he made it sound like the seven souls were battling for space. That’s not how it is with mine.”

“So, you found it then?” Eren prompted softly, and I was touched when he reached for my hand and gently squeezed my fingers. His support bled into me, and it soothed the ache where Stefan and Samuel had hit me.

I nodded. “Eventually. It took a while. I never knew it was there.”

Samuel scowled. “Then what happened?”

“As I was studying it, I found the Were. She was in control today. But itwasn't like she was lording it over the others. She was just there, in charge. For the moment.”

“And?” Eren asked, and though it came across as brusque, his dark amber eyes told me that he just wanted answers. I couldn't blame him for that. I'd like them too.

“When I studied the Were, I don’t know... I kind of felt him. I tested that feeling, trying to figure it out, but I didn't do anything else. I promise. Not on purpose. But after a few minutes of me looking, he just shifted.” My mouth worked as I tried to explain, but there was no explaining this. I hadn't done anything.

“You think you triggered his shift by studying your Were?” I wasn't offended by Samuel’s question. How could I be? I knew he was trying to make sense of a situation that apparently made no sense.

Nodding, I whispered, “Then, when I started talking to him, trying to figure out what was going on, I realized that when I spoke with him, there were no answers, obviously, but deep inside, just where I'd been studying, I understood what he wanted me to know.” I gnawed on my bottom lip. “This isn't normal, is it?”

I wasn't even sure why I asked the question when I knew the answer. The boys didn't have to say a word for me to understand—they knew this was beyond strange.

Blowing out a breath, I whispered, “Why can't I just be normal?”

SEVEN

SAMUEL

Though Eve looked devastated, now wasn’t the time to focus on her. I stared at the bear who looked just as freaked out as a bear could. I mean, it wasn’t like they had the best facial expressions, but Dre was leaking terror.

I couldn’t blame him.

We didn’t,couldn’t, shift until we hit twenty-one. It was our rite of passage. Pretty much the one rule that applied to everyone, and Eve had just blasted that out of the park like it was nothing.

Nada.

That was the power of this crazy woman.

“We need to get him to shift back,” I drawled, staring up at the grizzly bear who was tottering around like he was on high heels—in any other situation, this would have been hilarious.

But yeah.

It wasn’t.

Reaching up to tug at the back of my neck, I shot Reed a look. He was the only other shifter in the vicinity, with Nestor still being tucked away in the sickbay. “Any clues?” I asked.

He raised his hands, palm forward. “I’ve never shifted.”

That had me rolling my eyes. “Talk about obvious, Reed. But can the Hell Hound guide you? Help us help Dre?”

He frowned as he thought about it, doing that thing we all did—conferring with our creatures. It didn’t add to the aura of us being insane at all.

Nope.

Not one bit.

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