A/N: Managed to plan almost all of the story out, so updating should be quicker from now on! Hope you guys are having a good start to the New Year (:

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

::Jake::

I've been to The Sharing before, but today, everybody seemed particularly chipper. Tom was saying hi to everyone he met and introducing me to them. The other boys whom we had been playing b-ball with, Matt, Dave and Cam, had left to help make the waterbombs. Tobias was asked to join them, but he seemed really uncomfortable in this place and insisted on staying with me.

He's a really weird kid.

Tom brought me to the cafe where I bought myself a soda. Tobias didn't want anything; he kept twitching his head slightly, as if there was something bothering his ear.

"Dude, are you okay?" I asked, when Tom left us to join the others in the lawn.

"I'm – fine."

"You don't like crowds, do you?" I grinned.

Tobias shook his head. "I think I'm gonna go to the gents." Then he saw me opening my soda and lowered his voice. "Don't consume anything they give you, alright? Including that soda."

"What?"

"Just listen to me."

I didn't like the way he was being so suspicious and paranoid, but when he left, I put my soda on the table and walked out to the lawn instead. There were people hanging balloons from trees, putting out bright-coloured tables filled with candy jars, and of course, those who were filling the waterbombs in pails.

"Hey, Jake!" Matt waved at me. "Wanna join us?"

"Sure," I said, and walked over. In a few minutes, everything was complete. The sound of children yelling and laughing grew louder, and there were a few Sharing kids bringing a bunch of eight-year-olds onto the lawn. After about half an hour of games, I retired back into the building, laughing and trading jokes with Matt and Cam.

"Hey, midget!" Tom was entering another room. "You wanna check something out?"

"What?" I followed him, only to enter a room that was more like an office boardroom of sorts. "Wow, what's this?"

"It's where we discuss our events and come up with ideas to lobby for or stuff to organise, like the one for the kids just now," Tom flipped his thumb back out, "we know how to have fun and also make sure it's all done really properly. I mean, I just wanted to tell you–"

He leaned towards me. "–that we're not some fancy club that y'know, only plays all day and all that kind of stuff. It's a really good place to meet friends, learn responsibility, give back to society... it's all those things you like to do."

I chuckled. "Well, not boring meetings, but – I must say, I'm pretty impressed."

There was a sudden buzz from somewhere around me; I jerked instantly, then the buzzing got louder.

"It's on your shoulder," said Tom, his eyes narrowing. Suddenly, he looked so intense and so – so menacing that I was a little taken aback.

"Relax, Tom, it's just a fly!"

"Yeah, pests. Stay still."

The buzzing stopped.

"Drat. Lost it."

"I'm cool."

"Let's go out and meet Matt and Cam again," said Tom, quickly hurrying out of the room. Before I followed him, I took a quick glance around the room. Shiny long table, chairs, neat little pinboards, posters... one of the posters caught my eye, but before I could think more about it, Tom was ushering me out.

"You want another soda? Or a sub, maybe?"

I was hungry, but then I thought of Tobias' words, and a strange sensation tingled at the back of my neck.

"I'm cool, thanks."

"Really? I mean–"

"Tom?" It was Cam. "Look who we found in the back room."

Matt and Cam were holding Tobias by the jacket. Tobias was trying his best to worm his way out of their grips, but it was obvious he was no match for their strength.

"Hey, let him go!" I didn't know why I suddenly felt defensive towards a guy I didn't know and hadn't the faintest idea what he had done. But it just didn't seem right that they were holding him that way.

"The back room?" Tom frowned. "Dude, what were you doing there?"

"Uhh... I got lost."

"The gents is wayyyy in the front," said Cam, strangely cold compared to the hearty redhead I had known earlier. "And you couldn't have taken that long unless–"

"I had a stomachache, then I took a wrong turn, okay? I'm terrible with directions."

"Don't wander off like that," said Tom. "We're a friendly club and all, but some of our members prefer privacy, and the back room's their private area. Intruding on those areas means intruding on their privacy, and that's not funny."

"I'm sorry," mumbled Tobias. Matt and Cam let go of him, and he brushed his arms ruefully.

"I think we'll be heading back," I said, staring at Tobias. "I'm a little tired out by all the activity just now. The kid I was playing with sure had the energy of a Duracell bunny."

"Aw c'mon," said Tom. "I'm sure you're hungry. We're gonna have a roast for dinner, it's gonna be awesome!"

"Yeah, I'm manning the roast, I could get you guys the juiciest pieces," offered Cam, suddenly sounding really friendly again. "Cool?"

"It's okay..." Tobias began, and winced.

"Still suffering from that stomachache?" asked Cam. "We've got meds in the pantry."

"No, thanks," said Tobias, hastily. "I, err, get allergies to certain kinds of meds."

"Then at least something to eat? God, you look pale."

Tobias shook his head, a little too violently.

"Well, if he doesn't want to, then it's cool," I said.

Cam's smile disappeared. "That's not cool, man, we're trying really hard to be friends here and you're treating us like strangers?"

Tom immediately put a hand on Cam's shoulder. "Chill, Cam. Let him be."

Cam shot him a dirty look, but Tom held on. I was beginning to get rather uncomfortable with the way Cam was acting. You would think Tobias might have been more freaked out, but the dude was staring at Cam in this strange piercing way that wasn't going to get him any brownie points. Eventually, I managed to convince Tom to let me bring Tobias home, because maybe the stomachache was making him feel really weird. Tobias did a fairly good act of twitching a bit more to show the discomfort, so Tom eventually let us go back.

"So they're just going home like this?" I heard Cam ask, as we approached the exit. "You don't want to press them to–"

"They'll be back soon."

I didn't have much time to ponder about Tom's cryptic reply, because Tobias was walking ahead of me.

"Hey, wait up!"

He didn't answer. Just kept walking on.

"You didn't have a stomachache. You went into that back room on purpose. Why'd you do that for?"

He still didn't reply.

"What the hell are you trying to do here? What's the whole thing about not consuming anything they have?"

"We need to get away from here. Fast."

"What? What are you talking about?"

Tobias spun around so sharply and wildly that he nearly fell over. "Let's just go home. You know," he cocked his head. "Home."

"I don't get what you–"

‹He means Cassie's barn.›

"Whaattt?" I spluttered, taking a step back. "What – where – Rachel?"

‹Hi, cousin. I was the buzz.›

"You're... God, was that fly–"

‹Take it easy, Jake. We're all watching you.› It was Marco, weirdly enough. ‹Just go back to Cassie's barn. Tobias will take a different route. No questions, just follow.›

I've never been big on leadership and all, but for some reason, it seemed strange to be following directions from other people. Even stranger when the person isn't in human form and talking in your head. Everything, since the day at school when I met Tobias, had gone completely wrong. My friends were telling tall tales about aliens giving us the ability to change into any animal whose DNA we absorb (what?), my cousin was an alien, my brother was acting a bit strangely...

I wasn't about to argue now, but I was starting to get angry. As Tobias and I parted at the cross-junction, my mind began to swirl with all kinds of questions and conjectures. But none of them mattered as much as my wish that this whole thing was just a dream.

Or rather, a horrible nightmare that I wanted to wake up from.