As we get to my house, we all go inside where Olivia and Bree are in the kitchen. "Why aren't you guys at school?" Olivia asks as she sees us.
"We have a problem," we all sit at the table.
"What problem?"
"First. Shawn got pictures of us," I look at Bree. "While we were sparring as dragons when I was a wolf, and while I was changing into a dragon. He put it on Twitter and now the school knows." Kayla speaks up quietly.
"And Leo tied me up in my room for three days after that Shawn guy took my parents."
"What!?" we all snap our heads over to look at her.
"Yeah," she whispers. "They took my parents and kept me in my room so I couldn't tell anyone."
"The school just called to say that you left and there's a picture going around school. You guys better explain," Dad says as he and Ms. James enter the house and join us.
We explain what happened and we all sit in silence before Bree asks, "what are we going to do?"
"We should find out where he is and get Kayla's parents back," Dani suggests.
"And to do that you won't be able to fight him as humans," Kayla looks from me to Bree.
"What are you saying?" I question. Is she saying that we need to turn the others or something?
"How long does it take you to change from human to dragon? Or wolf?"
"A few minutes," Bree and I shrug.
"Try a few seconds."
"And how is that supposed to happen?" Olivia asks.
"If I had a change of clothes I would show you," Kayla looks at all of us.
"What would you show us?" Dani questions further.
"That I'm not human."
"You're joking." Jack states.
"Got some clothes I could borrow?"
"You can borrow a hoodie and jeans," Olivia eyes her.
"Get them and I'll show you," Kayla stands and Olivia goes to her room before coming back with the clothes. We all go to the back porch as Kayla sets the clothes on the rail. As we stand on the porch Kayla dives off the railing as if she's diving into a pool. Before she hits the ground her body changes into a big bobcat.
"Holy shit," Riley mutters.
"Damn," Dani says. We all stare wide-eyed. She's at least four feet tall and her tan fur has small black patterns. Her clothes are in pieces on the ground. She looks at us as we watch her.
"That's new," Olivia comments.
"How many people in this town can turn into animals?" Ms. James looks astonished.
"Clearly, more than I thought." Kayla comes over and bats at the railing where the clothes sit. Dani lays the clothes on her back before she goes next to the house to change. It only takes her a few seconds before she's on the porch with us.
"How did you change so fast?" Bree and I ask.
"I practiced. Just changed back and forth. Each time I would push the change to go faster. It hurt at first but now it's just normal," Kayla shrugs.
"Are you planning on getting us to that level?" Bree asks.
"It's a good idea if we're going to get my parents back. You know Shawn better than I do," she answers.
"She's right," I nod. "He's a psycho. If we went in the way we are now, we'd lose faster than Speedy Gonzales."
"You could also change them. He changed Leo," Kayla suggests.
"Hell no." She puts her hands up in surrender.
"Alright, if you're gonna learn how to change faster we better get started." Kayla starts telling us what to do and Bree and I make sure no one can see us until we've actually changed. We spend the entire day just changing between forms. By the end of the day, we've only made a little progress and we're sore and tired. At dinner, Bree and I eat a lot before going to bed. Caleb was disappointed that I couldn't give him a ride on my motorcycle tonight, but I promised to give him a ride soon.
I don't know how soon "soon" will be, but he was happy that I made the promise.
Dani and the others still have to go to school because their parents don't know what we're doing but Ms. James and Dad tell the school that our families are going on a camping trip before the snow comes. We spend the week trying to improve our speed when we change. When we aren't doing that, we're eating, sleeping, or hanging out with Caleb, Sarah, and our friends and family. By Saturday we've gotten close to being as fast as Kayla but we're still a few seconds slower.
"Where do you think Shawn would be?" Pops asks as we all sit down. Caleb's with a friend tonight so we don't have to be all weird about talking about what's going on.
"We could try his house," Kayla shrugs. She's been staying with us since she can't really go home.
"You think he would stick around?" Olivia asks.
"It's worth a shot," I shrug.
"We can go see if he's there," Dad nods. We decide to wait until tomorrow to look for Shawn so we can rest for the remainder of the day.