Delete: Volume 3 (Shifter Series) by Kim Curran Read Free Book Online Page A

slowly, we started winning. We had help, of course. The Americans, the French. And now it looks as if we’ve almost got the Emperor of China on our side.”
    “Hang on, there’s an Emperor now? What happened to President Tsing?” I said, remembering the old man I’d met with his Shifting guard, the Banjai Gonsi .
    “He died, and what with all the chaos, the people decided they needed an Emperor again. So his son, Tzen, was appointed. Or anointed. I don’t know how it works. Anyway, he’s due to sign a treaty making them our ally. And then, no one will mess with us.”
    “So it could all be over soon?”
    “Only, we’ll still have the Red Hand to deal with.” I didn’t like the look on Zac’s face. All the time he’d been talking about death, he’d hardly shown any emotion, as if he had become desensitised to it all. But one mention of these Red Hand and he looked genuinely afraid. “They’re a new religion that sprang up after the war. No one really knows where it started or what they believe in. It’s something about trusting completely in God. What we do know is that they hate us.”
    “Us as in the British?”
    “No, us as in Shifters. They say we’re an abomination and as such should be destroyed. They’re the ones who were behind the attack on Old Street.” His face scrunched in disgust. “We lost seventy-three Shifters in that attack.”
    I listened to him, trying desperately to find some glimmer of something familiar in what he said. But it only left me feeling even more confused and sick.
    So much death. And all because of me. Because I stopped Frankie controlling all those politicians. She’d said herself that if she hadn’t been manipulating and guiding them, they’d bring chaos down on the planet. And she was right.
    I couldn’t wait for Aubrey any more. I had to make this right now. I covered my face with my hands and reached out for a decision I could change that would undo all of this. But I had to be so careful, so absolutely certain, that whatever reality I brought about next wasn’t worse than this one. I thought about my decision to confront Frankie at the party. When I led Aubrey and the rest to the Pyramid, I’d made them promise to focus so we could all get out of there if needed. I could wipe that decision away. Let Frankie get away with it all. I didn’t care, so long as I was back there with Aubrey.
    I held that moment in my mind and pushed. But nothing.
    My power wasn’t working. Panic bubbled in my stomach. What if it wasn’t fear stopping me after all? What if entropy was catching up with me? If I lost my power to Shift before I had a chance to fix this, I’d be stuck here, knowing that I was responsible for it all. It was unthinkable.
    I risked testing it on something small, something that could have no effect. I reached into my pocket. My fingers found a small coin, a five-pence piece. I rested it on my thumb, focused on the two options and flicked.
    “Tails.” I caught it and opened my hand. It lay heads up. I focused on Shifting my choice.
    “What’s that?” Zac said.
    “What did I just say?” I asked him.
    “You said heads. What are you doing?”
    I slipped the coin into my pocket. “Just testing something.”
    That meant my power to Shift worked. So, why wasn’t I able to change the decision that led us to the Pyramid that night? Why wasn’t I able to Shift us out of all of this crap?
    “I’m sorry, is all this talk of anarchy in the UK boring you?” Zac said.
    “No,” I turned back to him. “It’s so much to take in, you know?”
    “I guess,” he shrugged. “I’ve had a few years to get used to the idea. But now, for serious, you need to go get changed and get some more sleep. The war will still be here when you wake up.”
    “Not if I can stop it,” I said.
    Zac laughed, loud but sharp. “Good luck trying. ARES have had Shifters on the case ever since all of this began. And they only seem to make it worse. The war has become a