Orson: A Paragon Society Novel by David Delaney

Author:David Delaney [Delaney, David]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Published: 2017-07-30T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 13

The day's events had wrung me out. Luckily, the steaks were ready. We all grabbed plates and piled them high with steak, mac and cheese, salad, and buttermilk biscuits. We adjourned back to our spots in the living room and proceeded to eat in silence.

As I chewed on my steak, I pondered on all I'd learned in the past few hours. I was a shape-shifter that turned into a giant bear, a shape-shifter who had joined the hidden world of other shape-shifters that included my girlfriend and her family.

Elyse said she was pretty sure I looked like a Kodiak bear. Kodiak and Polar bears tied for the largest species of bear - apex predators both. I remembered reading somewhere that the largest bear ever recorded was a polar bear that weighed in at over 2,000 pounds. The Kellys assured me I was at least that large. This enormous size had spilled over into my human form, and I now looked like a roided-out gym junkie.

In my bear form, I was basically bullet proof and somehow impervious to the magic that helped contain out-of-control shifters. Both silver and the empowered mage runes hadn't even slowed me down. Mr. Kelly had not brought that fact up yet, but I'm sure it would be the first subject we tackled after dinner. My new super-senses told me that my ability to shrug off all the control measures had Mr. Kelly worried.

Ollphiest.

I was the mythical boogeyman of the shifter world. Continuing to deny it seemed silly. I wasn't ready to share my thoughts with the Kellys just yet, but I think Mr. Kelly was already on that page with me. I was a monster that hadn't been seen in millennia. Why me? Why now? Some would say it was one of those once-in-a-lifetime serendipitous events — a coincidence. Elyse had moved into the neighborhood and we ended up at the same school, end of story. That conclusion was hard for me to accept. I wasn't a destiny kind of guy. I believed you made your own luck and that any achievements were a direct result of how much work you put in. Not anymore. There had to be a reason for all of this, some kind of design. It sounded like hippie mumbo-jumbo, but I couldn't shake the feeling that something was coming.

I was pulled from my musings by the clink of plates. Mr. Kelly was gathering up the dishes. I looked down at my plate, surprised to see I had finished my food.

"Did you get enough?" Mrs. Kelly asked.

"Yeah. It was great. Thank you." I handed my plate to Mr. Kelly.

Mr. Kelly dropped the dishes into the sink and walked back into the living room. "There's one more thing I'd like to talk about tonight."

"How I managed to ignore the magic wards," I offered. I knew this was a serious situation. The Kellys would have to inform the shifter council, who would then have to inform the Society itself, and I could guess how they would react, especially with Tommy the Jerk causing problems.

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