Lola took a deep breath and shook her hands out as if that would somehow make this easier.
"This is going to sound crazy" she began."And I really need you two not to freak out."
Katy rolled her eyes and threw her hands up in the air.“You do realize that you’ve essentially asked us to freak out now, right?You’ve practically made us sign a contract that promises wewillfreak out.”
“Umm, no,” Lola shook her head.“I actually saidnotto freak out.”
“Which means we will.”
“I won’t,” Maddie raised her hand and pointed to herself.“I’m totally calm.Say what you need to say.”
“Traitor,” Katy muttered under her breath as she shoved her hands in the pockets of her black jeans.
Maddie just shook her head.“I haven’t betrayed you in any way just by disagreeing with you.”
“Hello?”Lola waved a hand at her two best friends.“Remember when I said, ‘I have something to tell you that’s going to sound crazy?’”
“We’re ready,” Maddie made a rolling motion with her arm, indicating for Lola to continue.
“So you know those guys in my books?”Lola felt nauseous.There was no way to prove what she was about to tell her best friends.
“Hot names, shift into cool-ass animals, and have ridiculous, possessive tendencies,” Katy rattled.
“Yes, that.”Lola pointed at her.“Well, they’re real.Like, they actually exist in this world.”
"Uh-huh," Katy said.
Lola opened her eyes and looked at her brunette friend.
”I’m serious," Lola growled."I've seen it.I've seen them partially shift with animal features, fur, claws and facial features that weren't human.And I've seen them in their animal form.White tigers, panthers, and I know how this sounds."Lola closed her eyes, scrunching up her face as she tried not to picture Callon and all the times she'd seen the animal in him make itself known.
"And what did Callon give you to drink before you saw these creatures?"Katy asked.
Lola mentally counted to ten.If her friends were the ones telling her about people that could shift, she'd think they sounded insane."Callon hasn't drugged me.I know it's hard to believe."
"I think it's time to call her doctor," Katy said, as she leaned closer to Maddie.
"She doesn't have adoctor," Maddie responded in the same conspiratorial whisper.
Katy made a clicking sound with her tongue."Then it's time together a doctor."
Lola glared at her besties."You two know I can hear you, right?"
"Are you sure?"Katy asked."How do you know this is real?Maybe we're just a figment of your imagination, and in a second, we're going to morph into some sort of animal."She motioned to Maddie, "She'll probably be a swan, or something equally as graceful, while I'll get to be a goat or some dumb crap like that.You know," she tapped her chin."If you're going to hallucinate me into an animal can you at least make it kick-ass like a pegasus?"
"First of all,” Lola held up a finger, “pegasus aren't real–"
"But shifters are," Maddie mumbled.
"And second,” she added another finger, “are you serious right now?"
"Serious as a hallucination attack."
"That's not a thing."Lola's hands fisted so tightly she could feel her fingernails leaving indentations in her palms.
"With you, it is."Katy raised a brow."I mean, Lo, how are we supposed to believe something like that?How come someone else has never seen one of these shifter people?It would be like national news."
"Because they keep themselves a secret," Lola huffed."They look like normal people, although they do seem to be much, much better looking than humans, but that's not the point."She waved the thought off."They have normal jobs and blend in with society.They've been here for centuries and the only ones who can see past their human glamour are women calledanimi."Lola walked over to her closed closet door and thumped her head against it.She squeezed her eyes closed, her teeth gritted so tightly in her mouth that she could hear them grinding.
