“Her family’s information is on…” she checked a notation beside the name, “page 173.”

I flipped over, and immediately knew where I heard that name before. “Gladys Armstrong became Gladys Minter. She was my great-grandmother.” I remembered seeing the name on the family tree Gramma Hagan gave me as a birthday present last year. I didn’t really make it far past the great-grandparent line, but that name stuck out because I sent up a secret prayer of thanks that my mom hadn’t followed Lake County tradition and named me after her grandmother. Gladys Donovan. Ick. “Why do you have a book with my great-grandmother’s name in it?”

“We have a book for each of the Shifter family lines. This one just happens to be yours.”

All the Shifter family lines…

I flipped through the pages, noting how several of the names were written in red ink, many with a “PL” beside them. All those names were male.

“My great-great-grandfather was a Shifter?”

Michelle nodded.

Holy crap. This was big. Huge. And something I really wish I had known a year ago.

“This is why I’m a Shifter then, right? I’m a real one, not some crazy reincarnated moon posing as a Shifter.”

Michelle’s eyes darted down the hall to Liam’s room. When she spoke, her voice was lowered. “I knew you weren’t buying the whole magical voodoo stuff either, so when I went back to pick up the other information I did a quick search of our databases. I was lucky, really. Someone just sent in an update of the Armstrong line last summer.”

Last summer was the same time I got my very own copy of the family tree. Coincidence? Doubtful. Gramma Hagan has always been a smart lady.

“My best theory,” Michelle continued, “is that something prodded you to Change last spring. Maybe the trauma of your accident, or your closeness to other Shifters, or--”

“Or getting a blood transfusion from a Shifter?”

Finally something broke through her perfectly-manicured appearance. “You got a blood transfusion from a Shifter?”

“You know about the accident?”

“The one where you were attacked by a ‘wild coyote’ and almost died?” She added air quotes around “wild coyote”.

“Yeah, after that I needed a lot of blood. Our local hospital is small and was running low, so my step-brother Jase gave me some.”

“Jase Donovan of the Hagan Pack? A coyote Shifter?”

Yeah, I totally saw the same flaw in my logic, and God knows Jase would have been all over it if he was there. “But a Shifter is a Shifter, right?” I thought out loud. “Like, whatever it is that makes a person Change is the same, the only difference is the animal they Change into.”

“And whatever activates the Change might be the same in both wolfs and coyotes.”

“And maybe wake up dormant Shifter tendencies in the great-great-granddaughter of a Shifter.”

Michelle’s smile was wide and sported those ubiquitous dimples. “I knew it! I knew there had to be a scientific explanation!”

I was really starting to like this girl.

“So, you’re not into the whole magical voodoo either?”

I had pegged Michelle as one of those always-serious, super-together chicks who walked such a narrow line of “rightness” that black and white offered too many color options. So when she snorted and prefaced her “no” with the most forbidden of all four-letter words I almost fell off the window seat.

“In case you haven’t heard, I’m latent.”

As if someone would have missed her grandmother’s somewhat rude announcement. “What does that have to do with anything?”

Michelle sighed and leaned back against the wall. I wondered if this was the real Michelle, the one few people got to see. Had we bonded? Were we friends now? I’ve never had many of those and most of the ones I have are either by default or accident. I wasn’t sure how this worked, but I thought maybe this was it.

“Imagine spending your whole life surrounded by unexplained things and hearing that it’s magic, but never getting to experience that magic for yourself.”

“I guess you would get a little bitter…”

“No, not bitter,” she spat out. I raised my eyebrows in the beat that followed. “Okay, maybe a little bitter, but more than that, you start to think of reasons, real reasons, it works for some people, but not you.”

“You look for science and logic.” I could certainly understand the appeal. “Is that what these papers are? Is this the science behind who we are?”

“I wish. Unfortunately, everyone besides you and me are satisfied with the magic explanation. I try to learn as much as I can about genetics and stuff like that, but I’m usually so busy helping Grandmother with the library--” She shrugged as if her inability to follow through was nothing, but I could see the frustration written all over her face. “Last week Marie told me we needed to start researching history of the Alpha Female. Since she can See what’s needed but doesn’t have the research skills it took some time for me to find what she was being pulled towards, but eventually we came up with all this. I thought it might help.”

“Thanks.” I flipped through the first few pages and already things were catching my eye. “Seriously, I’m really grateful.”

“Pay special attention to the stuff in the manila envelope. It was really hard to get my hands on, which probably means no one is actually supposed to ever see it.”

When I was finally able to pry my eyes away from my new treasures, Michelle was at the top of the stairs.

“I don’t know anything about magic or fates, but I know people,” she said. “And I know that you’re the good kind. I may not be able to See or Change, but my daddy made sure I know how to fire a rifle. If you need me, just say the word.”

***

I doubted I would ever call on Michelle to fight, but I moved her to the top of my “people to call when I need information” list. The stuff she gathered on the Alpha Females was amazing. I was so tired I could barely keep my eyes open, but I sat in the bed I claimed as my own and read for a long time. I started with the stuff in the manilla envelope. At first glance, I couldn’t figure out what was significant about it other than it was a translation of some records from nearly two thousand years ago. Then, finally, I saw it. Alpha Female after Alpha Female was listed, and each was a Shifter. Their daughters were Shifters. Two thousand years ago female Shifters lived and flourished. Of course the current regime wouldn’t want this information easily accessible. Who would believe that whole “girls are too weak to Change” propaganda then?