“Whoa there, Nellie,” Barney laughed. “Nope. As far as we know, white shifters are rarer than rare. Chloe is…” Barney’s gaze slowly turned toward her, his gaze speculative. “Unique.”
“There are more Spirit Bears like Julian, but only one white Lion like the Leo.” Cyn frowned, her gaze, too, now glued to Chloe. “It has to be that.”
“But she was attacked before she turned white.” Alex stared at Chloe as if he could unravel the mystery with his gaze alone. “She only turned white after Julian healed her brain.”
“Are you sure about that?” Jim frowned, thinking. “If she was in a coma, the trauma of the attack could have triggered something in her. Something that you would have noticed only after she woke and shifted for the first time.”
“What’s the interlocking factor here? What are we missing?” Barney grunted. “I need another beer.”
“Gabe said shifters of mixed parentage were being targeted.” Alex scowled. “What if white shifters only come from mixed parentage?”
“Then Chloe would have been born white, right?” Jim could barely follow any of this, but he did know that. “I hate to say it, but traumatic brain injuries don’t change someone’s hair color. There are rare cases of trauma causing it, but there’s no evidence that trauma grants psychic abilities.”
“But if the mutation is there, and Julian’s power unlocked it?” Cyn shrugged. “Work with me here, Doc.”
Jim nodded. “I…suppose that’s possible.” He had no scientific explanation for Julian’s powers, let alone Chloe’s. “It’s extremely difficult to alter the DNA structure. It can be done with chemotherapy, but that destroys cells rather than alters them.”
“And this isn’t a simple melatonin change either,” Chloe piped up. “I mean, we know the buildup of hydrogen peroxide in the system causes graying hair, but this goes seeper than that.” She touched her red locks. “Only my Fox form is affected.”
“Your eyes go gray, and so does your hair, when you access your powers in human form, just like Julian.” Cyn sighed. “There may be more to Ryan’s theory than I first thought. I’ll need to talk it over with Super Bear, see if he knows of this happening with anyone else whose life was saved by a Kermode.”
“I’ll run by the clinic and see if I can catch a whiff of our non-Hunter.” Barney stood, gesturing for Ryan to follow him. “C’mon, Boo-Boo. Let’s see what we can sniff out.”
“It won’t be pick-a-nick baskets, I can tell you that.” Ryan stood and gave his sister a quick hug. “I’ll call you tomorrow, sis.”
Chloe hugged her brother tightly before letting him go.
Jim held out his hand. “Thanks, Ryan.”
“Hey, like Cyn said. You’re family.” Ryan smiled. “You poor sap.”
Alex nodded. “I’m going to call the clan. It’s time to circle the wagons.”
“Shit.” Chloe slumped against Jim and patted his chest. “All aboard the cuckoo train.”
Chapter Sixteen
Fox tilted his head. “Two becomes one, one becomes three. Bear knows the way, but Fox holds the key.”
Argh. “I know that, but what does it have to do with the Senate tracing my poor fuzzy ass down?” She crossed her arms over her chest. “And why am I always fucking naked in these dreams?”
“Calm down, little vixen.” Chloe would swear Fox was smirking at her. “You don’t have anything I haven’t seen before.”
She glared at the spirit. She’d long since gotten used to him. He seemed to visit once a month, sort of like her Aunt Flow, and could be just as annoying. “You’re driving me crazy with this, you know.”
Fox sighed. “It’s no more fun for me.” He shrugged, an odd look for an animal that wasn’t in a cartoon. “My paws are tied here. I’m not allowed to tell you certain things. You have to either figure them out for yourself, or at least figure out who to warn.”
Warn? That was a new one. “So it’s not me who’s the Fox.”
Fox blinked, looking pleased. “Very good. Keep going.”
“It’s a relative?”
“It’s all relative, when you think about it.”
Chloe plopped down on the ground. “I hate you so much right now.”
“Aw, don’t be mad, cutie-pie.” The Fox lay down beside her, its gigantic mass dwarfing her. It was easily the size of a Grizzly, but not nearly as snarly. “Those are the rules.”
“What happens if you break them?” She leaned against Fox’s side, breathing in his scent.
So she was very close to him when he shuddered. “Let’s just say it’s not pretty and leave it at that.”
She began scratching behind Fox’s ears, chuckling when he leaned into her. They had a different relationship than Julian had with Bear, more like friends than student and mentor. Still, she knew Fox could kick her ass without even moving. “So it has nothing to do with the Senate?”
Fox hummed, refusing to answer.
“Man. I suck at puzzles.”
Fox licked her chin. “You’ll do fine, little vixen. I wouldn’t have chosen you otherwise.” He rumbled out a laugh. “And that scary-ass family of yours will help.”
She asked him a question she’d been dying to have answered. It was one that had been bugging her for some time, ever since this all started. “Why aren’t there more white shifters?”
Fox stiffened. “That’s…a good question.”
She pulled gently on his ear. “And the answer is?”
“Who are you, Alex Trebek?”
Chloe began humming the Jeopardy theme song.
Fox turned his face away. “That’s one of the things you’re going to have to figure out. Change is coming. Whether it’s for good or ill depends on whether or not you and your friends figure out the riddle in time or not.”
“Can you at least tell me if I was always meant to be a white Fox?” Chloe was dying to know the answer to that one. Perhaps it would help her with all the confusion that surrounded her.
“Yes. You always had the potential, so when the time came I chose you because I knew you were strong enough to handle it.” Fox rubbed his chin on the top of her head. “Leave it at that for now.” He put his head back down on his paws. “There is one more white shifter in Halle, other than you and Julian, by the way.”