Thank you thank you thank you for all the reviews! You guys obviously missed Jet as much as I did ;) Okay, next chapter…here we go!

After a few seconds of clinging to Jet, I became aware to two things. One: Jet and I were supposed to be taking a break. And two: I was naked.

Oops.

I reluctantly began to pull away from Jet. Very slowly, his hands ran across my back, releasing me from his embrace—apparently he was just as reluctant to end our hug as I was.

I turned to Fallon who threw the blanket from the bed around me and shot me a smirk that seemed to say, "a hard time choosing, huh?" I ignored it. Pulling the blanket tightly around me I looked up at Jet—who glanced at me while shoving his hands in his pockets—and said the first thing that popped into my mind, "Hi."

"Hi," he said, smiling at me. Fallon plopped down on the bed, resting her chin on her fist, as if she was watching a very interesting play. The smile dropped from Jet's face. I tried to ignore Fallon and focus on him instead.

"You're here."

I squeezed my lips together. "I am."

"And you're a mouse," Jet said hesitantly, rocking back on his heels.

"Yeah," I said softly, glancing at the floor, "A lot has changed since I left."

He raised his eyebrows, a small smile tugging at his lips. "I can see that."

I looked up at him but couldn't hold his gaze for more than a few seconds. I took a deep breath to try and steady my nerves. "Actually," I started, "things changed back in November."

Jet's mouth turned down in a frown. "What do you mean?"

I turned away from him and began pacing around the small room—after spending almost all afternoon pacing, the motion felt comforting—and I needed a little comfort for this conversation. "Uhh, remember the prophecy we overheard Rebekka and my dad talking about?"

He nodded. "Rebekka was convinced that you were the one the prophecy talked about because you could turn into two animals."

On the bed, Fallon scoffed, but quickly turned it into a cough when I shot her a death glare. "It's called the Porias Prophecy, and it mentions a shapeshifter 'of many forms,'" I told him.

"And you think you're the shapeshifter it's talking about?" Jet asked.

I didn't answer him. I just kept pacing. I didn't think I was the one anymore, I knew I was.

Jet grabbed my arm, stopping my rhythmic movement, and pulled me back to him. "Marina, you don't seriously think it's you, do you?"

"Jet," I started, "You just saw me shift from a mouse. You already know I can change into a wolf and a dolphin. Even that isn't supposed to be possible."

He ran his hands down my arms until they reached my wrists. "So you can turn into three animals instead of one? That's not—"

"It's more than that."

"What do you mean?"

"Ugh!" Fallon exclaimed, standing up off the bed, "Is everyone from California as slow as you two?"

Jet and I both glared at her.

"'One of many forms,'" Fallon said slowly, "As in she can turn into any animal."

Jet's head snapped back to me at Fallon's words—his expression silently asking me if Fallon was lying.

"It's true," I said, pursing my lips, then began listing the animals I had successfully turned into, "I can shift into a mouse, a frog, a monkey, virtually any type of cat or dog, a horse, a dragon, a snake—although I have to say I did not like being a snake—having no appendages was really weird." I gave him a half-smile.

He just stared at me, eyes wide. "A dragon? Like the chief?" he asked finally, his voice sounding a bit higher than normal. Perhaps I shouldn't have told him about that one.

I nodded, squeezing the edges of the blanket in my fists.

He returned my half-smile. "Well, I guess it'll be easier for us to get you out of here." Inside, I breathed a sigh of relief—so he had come to rescue me.

"Us?" Fallon asked, perking up again.

"Yeah," Jet said, glancing at Fallon before returning his gaze to me, "Brad and I came together."

Words spewed from my mouth before my brain could stop them. "You and Brad are working together? Both of you?"

Jet smirked, glaring at me a bit. "He was the only person I could think of who might have an idea of where the tribe was—because you know Geoff and his family were completely useless—besides, he also had a car."

"And he knew?" I tightened the blanket around my back. "Where the tribe was?"

Jet scrunched up his nose slightly, tilting his head to one side. "Not exactly."

"So how'd you find us?" Fallon leaned back against the wall the bed was pressed up against.

"Apparently, every time a hunter encounters a shapeshifter they plot the point on some sort of online map only accessible to hunters. So, using those points, we came up with some possible locations for the tribe," Jet explained, "Thankfully, our second guess was the right one."

I had to admit, I was impressed. The fact that Jet and Brad would work together at all impressed me. Although, come to think of it, it did make sense—I was the one thing they had in common.

"So Brad is outside the tribe right now with his Charger, ready to make a quick getaway when we need it?" I asked.

Jet nodded. "He's also there if we need any outside help escaping."

"But how will he know if he's needed?" Fallon asked, butting in again, "You have no way of communicating with him. And I'm almost positive the chief won't let you out of the tribe until you decide to leave for good…if he even keeps that promise." Fallon's voice dropped to a bitter whisper that only I could hear at her last statement.

Jet's answer was to pull a small skin-toned, pebble looking thing from his ear. "It's a comms unit, from Brad's family's hunting supplies," he said, "It has a ten mile radius, so we can talk even while I'm in the tribe and he's circling around it almost ten miles out."

Fallon took the device—that couldn't have been bigger than my fingernail—out of Jet's hand. She looked impressed, but, of course, she didn't say so.

But I wasn't thinking about how impressive the small communication device was. I was thinking about the person on the other end. "So, Brad's been listening to our entire conversation?"

"Yeah," Jet said, "That little thing can pick up a lot."

So he heard my explanation of being able to turn into any animal. I had kind of wanted to tell him that little bit of information in person. I wanted to be able to see and gage his reaction. One of the main reasons hunters hunted shapeshifters was because they thought we were more animal than human. Wouldn't I be proving their theory to be correct by being any and every animal?

"Oh," was my brilliant response as Jet took back the device from Fallon and stuck it in his ear. "Uhh, hi Brad."

Jet wasn't smiling when he turned to me and told me that Brad said hi back. The look on his face made me wonder what else Brad had said that Jet chose not to repeat. I could tell that—whatever it was—it wasn't something that I wouldn't have liked but rather something Jet didn't like.

Jet shoved his hands in the pockets of his pants, looking around the room before returning his gaze to me. "We're here to get you out, Mar. So, whenever you want to leave, we'll be ready."

Standing up, and placing her hands on her hips in the perfect imitation of her evil twin, Fallon snapped, "And how exactly do you plan on doing that?"

Jet raised his eyebrows. "We'll just sneak her out at night when everyone's asleep."

"And what about the guards? Or maybe that giant wall you walked through on your way in here? I mean, you had to have seen that. You did come to the tribe in the middle of daylight." Fallon raised one hand above her head to emphasize the size of the wall surrounding the tribe.

"Fallon, relax," I shot back before she could embarrass Jet any further, "Escaping at night had been our first thought too, remember?"

Fallon scowled but didn't say anything.

"I've been thinking about it," I started, "I think the best time to escape would be very early in the morning."

"Why's that?" Jet asked.

I glanced over at Fallon who emitted a small grunt to indicate she was listening. "The guards change shifts at 6am," I said, "If we leave around five, then the guards on the twelve to six shift will be exhausted and more likely to miss us."

"Or more likely to fall for our tricks," Fallon added.

Jet shrugged. "Sounds like a good idea to me." His eyes shifted to the right as if he was trying to see his own ear. "Brad agrees," he sighed, looking back to me and Fallon.

Fallon plopped back down on the bed. "Great," she said, fake enthusiasm snaking from her lips, "we're all in favor."

I moved my left hand up my other arm to grip my elbow. "There's one other thing. We have to get my dad out too."

"You found your father?" Jet asked.

I nodded. "He's being held captive in a cottage behind the chief's house."

The edges of Jet's mouth turned down slightly. "Well, that complicates things a bit."

From the bed, Fallon rolled her eyes. "We broke in there once before, I think we can do it again. I graciously volunteer to lead the guards away and then you two can figure out how to get her dad out."

"But, Fallon, what if they added more guards since last time?" I asked, "We haven't been back since you were caught."

She shrugged, clearly unfazed by the possibility of more guards. "So I'll stake it out during the day first. No big deal."

I shook my head. "I don't think you should go near the chief's house until we're absolutely sure we need the distraction. They might get suspicious. Jet would be more likely to get by unnoticed."

"More than me? I'm practically invisible!"

"Yeah, and if I get caught, I can just say I got lost while looking for the chief," Jet added, ignoring Fallon's comment.

"Fine," Fallon pouted.

"We still need to find a way to get the gate open," I said, trying to remember how it had opened for me when I first arrived.

"Actually," Fallon said, her voice slick with slyness, "I don't think we have to."

"And why's that, oh wise one?" I asked, initiating a bit of payback for all the times she made fun of me for being the one in the prophecy.

"Well, you see my queen," she started—clearly my attempt failed—smiling at me, "Earlier today, while I was being invisible, I found a section in the wall that is loose. With at least two of us putting weight on it, I'm sure it'll budge enough to sneak through."

"Does anyone else know about this section?" Jet asked.

"Nah," Fallon said, "People rarely walk down that way." She laughed. "People don't go down alleys in general, nevermind the alley behind an empty house in the least desirable area to live."

"Did anyone see you?"

Fallon shook her head. "I was completely alone when I found it. That girl, Drew, saw me leaving the alley but you can't really find the spot unless you're looking for it."

"Okay." Jet nodded. "It sounds like a good plan. I'll count the guards around your father's prison and—"

"—And then we make a run for it the next morning," I said, finishing Jet's sentence. We were going to make it out—I was determined to leave the tribe behind me.

*/*/*/*

The next day, I woke up earlier than normal. Usually, when there's something exciting such as the first day of school, or even going on vacation, happening the next day, people find it hard to sleep the night before. I had a hard time sleeping last night—I couldn't even imagine what I would be like that night.

My mind wouldn't seem to settle down, no matter how hard I tried to think soothing thoughts. Instead, the thoughts swirling in my head consisted of Jet, Brad, getting my dad out of prison, how the chief would react if we were caught, how Yvette would react if we were caught, what Taz would think, Jet's grandmother, my new shifting abilities, and of course whether or not we'd actually all make it out. Needless to say, there was a lot on my mind.

During training, I didn't have to pretend to fail at shifting. There were so many other things on my mind that I couldn't have focused enough to properly shift if my life depended on it. I didn't even manage to change the color of my coat. I spent the whole afternoon shifting back and forth between human and wolf form. My trainer didn't even comment. He just watched, losing hope in time with his worsening posture.

When Taz walked in, my trainer told me to take a ten minute break. I had a feeling he didn't want Taz seeing me—and thereby him—fail, again.

"Hey," I said casually as I grabbed a cup of water and stood beside Taz.

His eyes narrowed, studying me. "Why aren't you trying?"

I coughed a bit, almost choking on my water. "What are you talking about?" I asked as innocently as I could.

"You know I've been watching you," he commented, "When you're trying to shift into another animal you have this look of complete concentration on your face. But then, when you have your body actually shift, you lose that look of concentration—as if you are resigning yourself to your wolf form."

I faked a shrug and focused on my water. "I am trying."

"I think you're lying," he said, his eyes still on me. Was I really that terrible of a liar that everyone knew when I wasn't telling the truth? When Taz spoke again, his voice was gentler, less accusing. "What's really going on, Marina? You know you can trust me."

"Can I?" I shot, my gaze snapping up to meet his. He seemed surprised by my reaction. It probably wasn't been the best way to convince him of my innocence. I squeezed my eyes shut for a second, finishing the water in my cup, and threw it in the trash. Turning back to Taz, I sighed. "I have to get back to training."

He nodded, not responding to my outburst and allowing me to walk away without answering his questions. He was definitely suspicious, but, whether or not he would act on his suspicions seemed up in the air. I hoped he would choose to forget about them—at least until tomorrow morning. I knew Taz was my friend, but, how good of a friend, I wasn't sure.

*/*/*/*

I was as pleasant as ever at dinner—actually, more pleasant than I've ever been. Taz didn't say a word when I sat down at a table with his family as usual. I made small talk with the chief, and even did my best not to cringe whenever Yvette spoke. I acted as I would have acted had they not kidnapped me and kept me as a prisoner. Every time I smiled at them I thought about the looks on their faces when they discovered I was gone tomorrow morning. Just picturing their surprise and outrage made me grin.

Nobody mentioned Jet—not that I really expected them to. I was sure the chief had ordered the guards to keep Jet and I from seeing each other not matter what. That had probably been the reason for my extra guard today.

Later that night, I wanted nothing more than to go see Jet again—just to make sure we were all set for the morning and to make sure Brad was clear on where he had to meet us—okay, so maybe that wasn't completely true. Of course I wanted everything to go smoothly tomorrow, but I really wanted to see Jet just for the sake of seeing him. Until he appeared in the tribe yesterday, I hadn't realized how much I missed him.

But I couldn't risk sneaking out that night. I could wait a few hours.

I settled into bed, thinking of how I would get to see Jet again tomorrow. The thought slowed my racing heart—until I remembered that I would get to see Brad tomorrow as well. It wasn't that I didn't want to see Brad—oh no, I was actually excited to see him—but, having the two of them together, along with my dad, was going to get very awkward very quickly. My dad didn't even know that Brad knew Jet and I were shapeshifters, and he most certainly didn't know Brad was one of the hunters who attacked last fall.

I foresaw a lot of explaining and scolding in my near future.

Surprisingly, I managed to fall asleep rather quickly that night. I guess the lack of sleep from the night before sent me over the edge into oblivion.

Oblivion did not last long.

I awoke in the middle of the night to a blaring alarm, and, thinking the house was on fire (I mean, come one, what other kind of alarm would go off at two o'clock in the morning?), I bolted out of bed. Realizing that there was no extreme source of heat in the house, I glanced out my window to see people, in their coats and snow boots, racing down their front steps and heading for the main square.

What was going on?

Whatever it was, my gut told me I wasn't going to like it.

I pulled my own boots—or, rather, Taz's sister's boots—on my feet, grabbed a jacket and raced outside. I immediately realized something was up: the guards usually stationed outside my cabin had mysteriously disappeared. Had they caught someone breaking curfew again? But an alarm hadn't gone off when they caught Fallon. Something wasn't right.

There was already a crowd forming in the main square when I approached. I spotted Fallon's orange head despite the dim lighting and pushed my way over to her.

"Fallon?" I half-shouted, wincing at the sound of the still screeching alarm, "What's going on?"

"I don't know!" she yelled back.

If Fallon didn't know then it must be something really big. I had always assumed Fallon knew everything about the tribe.

We huddled together, eyes scanning the crowd for the chief or anything that seemed out of place. I noticed a number of guards to my left, making their way towards the center of the square.

"There," I said, pointing to the clump of guards ushering people back so they could get through. Just like when Jet arrived yesterday (or technically two days ago, I suppose), the crowd that had gathered fell silent when the chief stepped up onto a small wooden platform. I wondered if he ever made "state of the tribe" addresses from that platform.

When Yvette followed suit, dragging with her a struggling Drew, I shot a nervous glance at Fallon. This couldn't be good.

"Ladies and gentlemen," the chief boasted, "I apologize for waking you at this hour of the night, but I'm afraid we had someone break curfew."

I frowned—that still didn't explain the alarm. And, judging from Fallon's confused expression, I could tell she was thinking the same thing.

That was when Yvette stepped forward, still firmly holding onto Drew's upper arm. "This girl was found in the alley behind the old Grennon cabin. The alarm sounded because she was attempting to break through a loose section of the wall and run away. As a consequence of her actions, she will spend the next two weeks in isolation. Thanks to Drew, here—and in case anyone else had any ideas—the alarm will no longer be active only during curfew. It will be on constantly. And just as a reminder, if you wish to go outside the walls you must put in a request with the council and, of course, exit only through the main gates."

Yvette took a small step back once more as he husband cleared his throat. "So, umm," the chief said awkwardly, glancing around at all the half-asleep and most likely annoyed faces, "once again, I apologize for waking everyone up. I hope you have a good rest of your night."

"This is your one and only warning," Yvette added. Despite the number of people surrounding me, I was sure I was the one she was glaring at when she said it.

I turned my back to Yvette, leaning towards Fallon's ear. "So," I gulped, "do we have a plan b?"