Chapter 16

While Della was manoeuvring the ship over the top of the mountain, the humans were chatting on the bridge.

“Do you think your family will be happy to see you?” David asked Jax.

Jax shrugged, “Probably not. Prols can be very narrow in their views on what constitutes a good Prol female. I’m afraid I don’t meet any of their criteria.”

David and Blair exchanged sad looks. Like Jax, they hadn’t been acceptable to their families either. Racial divides could cause great rifts in families when one goes outside the norm.

Jax chuckled softly, “You two and the boys are my family now, and I’m more than happy with that outcome. I much prefer the boys as my bonded-brothers than the ones I share a blood tie with.”

“Is there a chance your family were infected like you?” Blair asked.

“I’ve been thinking about that ever since I realised that I had infected you lot. To be honest, I just don’t know. In the last three months that I lived there, Hana and I were in mourning, and for some reason, Hana blamed me for Dad’s death.”

“She and the kids stayed away from me. I had my own room with a separate entrance, so this wasn’t hard. Plus, my brother Marx moved back in only days after it was confirmed my father and oldest brother were dead.”

“Hana also wanted to prove to Marx that she could be a good wife so had gone all domestic. I was still attending University and studying late each night, so I wasn’t even doing any of the cooking. I ate whatever Hana left for me and cleaned up.”

“Marx didn’t really approve of me studying as he considered it a waste of money since I already had my Midwife qualifications. To avoid arguments, I rarely ate with the others, even for breakfast. I was often gone before they got up in the morning, so I barely came in contact with any of the members of my family during that time.”

“It was also around then that we students were told to stay away from any sailors who came to the island. Especially if they were from the Sister Islands as they were infected with a disease that affected magical people and people with Shifter blood. They didn’t elaborate any more than that.”

“On the last day that I attended the school, I left town later than usual. I had gone to see a lady about renting one of her rooms, as I had already decided to leave home. She agreed to reserve me a room.”

“I was so happy that I didn’t pay attention to the people on the street like I normally did. Hence, I got accosted by a group of sailors. One of them grabbed me and kissed me. Slobbered all over me was more precise.”

“One of the others pushed him off me and joked, ‘Idiot, she is a Prol; it doesn’t infect them.’ He even apologised and told the men to get moving, as they had to be back on the ship.”

“I suspect that was when I was infected, but like I said, I can’t prove it. Also, I left home and the planet the next day. It wasn’t until months later that I thought of the incident again.”

“So, what animals can you change to Jax?” Blair asked.

“Well, that is the other odd thing. I knew I could change to mermaid, lanky and some sort of cat with odd front teeth before that day. I suspect my Shifter ancestor from Savana gave me those forms.”

“However, when we were playing bush games in Cairns, I found out I could also change to a big black dog, and a different sort of cat that I knew was called a cuttail. Those animals were both said to be prominent on the Sister Islands.”

“Damn, I knew I saw a bloody big black dog in those forests, in Timor,” Blair chuckled.

“Two big black dogs, I can do whatever forms Jax can. That form was great for sneaking around and for checking out the caves,” David replied.

“Does that mean I can choose from any of those forms?” Blair.

“Can you feel them within you?” Jax asked.

Blair closed his eyes and concentrated. He got the images of the animals that Jax had described and smiled in answer. He knew the cats and lanky were not from Earth, and even the dog form was different as it had a very long tail.

“They can come in handy, and the sex is interesting in those forms, but to be honest, we have only done it once or twice just to see what happens. I can’t pull the magic as easily as I can when we are in human form,” David told Blair.

Blair chuckled, “We will have to give it go just so I can say I’ve done it.”

Jax and David both laughed, as they had a feeling it would happen. David did wonder if Blair would appreciate being a mare when Jax went stallion on him. That wasn’t something he wouldn’t forget in a hurry.

Della interrupted then to tell them that she was about to jump them to Sigma island.

The Nix were in the bedroom that the team had assigned them. Jax had even built them two small sleeping chambers and their own loungeroom over the big bed in the room. She had offered to build more bedrooms, but the Nix liked to sleep in kitty-piles, so they were happy with two bedrooms.

Jax had spelled the doors on the chambers so that the Nix would be safe inside if Della was jumping. The Nix had agreed to be in the rooms when Della told them she was about to jump. Della had warned them that sometimes the space she jumped to, could affect the ship if she hit a pocket of non-air or a storm.

They all felt the odd shifting feeling as Della jumped. On this occasion, she arrived at her destination without bumps. She had deliberately risen several kilometres into the air before jumping so she would arrive at a height that most people wouldn’t be able to pick her out in the sky.