June stared at the explosion on Cordelia’s office floor. A powdery, white circle marked the outer edges, while pale ceramic chunks sat closer to the center, and amidst the chunks rested a small metal box with an open little lid.

On any given visit to Cordelia’s office, on a table catty-corner to her desk and tucked against the wall, usually sat a large statue of a Sphinx. June had named it Ralph. But now poor Ralph had exploded on the floor and bared his little tummy safety deposit box to the world, which presumably held the “it” the kidnapper had found and gloated about in blood.

The room around June spun. Only one of the other scientists could have made the emergency exit open from the inside. That meant someone she knew was evil. She leaned against the desk to feel something solid, but it was less solid this morning—all the drawers had been pulled and dumped, so papers and office knick-knacks littered the floor around Cordelia’s chair.

“Someone at the lab did this,” June said.

“Maybe,” Cordelia replied as she closed the door. “But everyone here had to undergo my scrutiny first. I’m not easily fooled.”

“How else did a door open from the inside then?”

Cordelia didn’t answer. She scanned the office, so June did the same. The bookcase on the wall opposite Cordelia’s desk usually contained twenty-two books on genetics that even June found dreadfully boring. But today nineteen of those dull books lay in haphazard piles on the floor, while the other three were lying on their sides on shelves of the bookcase.

“What was inside Ralph?” June asked.

“You mean the Sphinx? Something very valuable.”

“Obviously. But what was it?”

Cordelia looked at her thoughtfully. Finally she said, “The last vial of an important serum.”

Cordelia hadn’t mentioned any new projects to June. And June usually heard far more about Cordelia's projects than she wanted. “Why didn’t you tell me about it before?”

Cordelia crossed her arms. “It wouldn’t be secret if I told everybody about it.”

“I’m not everybody, I’m your daughter. What does it do?”

“All you need to know is that it’s radioactive, it’s dangerous in the wrong hands, and I need to get it back.”

June shrugged. “Where’s the place to meet the kidnapper?”

“Right here,” Cordelia waved at her office.

“Really? Seems too obvious. And the research the kidnapper wants is your research on this serum?”

“Correct.”

June’s body sagged with relief. “Then it’s easy. We meet the kidnapper here at midnight with your research, give it to them, and get Mr. Moseley back. As soon as he’s safe we Shift and overpower them, you can make them…unalive, and we get everything back.”

“No.” Cordelia’s face darkened. “I should have recognized it when people started disappearing so blatantly, though, to be fair, I was distracted. A demon did this.”

“Why would a demon care about your genetics stuff? How would they even find you?” June hadn’t expected to encounter one this soon. But she wasn’t afraid. Look at what she became—the demons should be afraid of her. And if one of them had taken Mr. Moseley, well then, she was going to enter the demon-killing business after all.

“Only a demon would want this serum. And I can’t risk it getting my research too. We’re not going to be here at midnight.”

June’s hope about getting Mr. Moseley back safe and sound ran headlong into a brick wall. “But Mr. Moseley—”

“We have to leave Seven Falls,” Cordelia cut in, but softly. “Tonight.” The look in her eyes said she knew exactly what she was asking of June.

“No! Mr. Moseley is like family!”

“It doesn’t matter.”

June’s throat went dry. How could Cordelia be so cowardly and cruel? “Look at us! You’re an owl, I’m a big cat! We can kill whatever took Mr. Moseley.”

“You don’t understand—”

“No, you don’t understand!” June was yelling now. “Mr. Moseley is family. I won’t let him die!” Brendan’s face flashed in front of her. “I won’t leave Seven Falls, not for anything!” She slammed a fist on the desk.

“Keep your voice down!” Cordelia hissed.

“Everything okay in here?” Detective Abernathy asked as he poked his head in the room, startling them both. “I heard some shouting…” His voice trailed off as he looked at June’s probably red face. He gave Cordelia a look and a shrug and backed out quickly, shutting the door.

Cordelia walked over and locked it. “Mr. Moseley is already dead.”

“You don’t know that.”

“If a demon did this, it wouldn’t let him live,” Cordelia answered.

It wasn’t true, couldn’t be true. Mr. Moseley had to be alive. The proper-grammar blood message said Mr. Moseley would be returned. “How would you know?” June shouted. “You ran away from them!” Her anger was building, and it reignited the fire from the argument in the car that morning. “That's what you do, you run! You ran away from Richard too!”

“How dare you!” Cordelia’s face flushed pink and she pointed a finger at June like it was a sword. “Do you know what I’ve lost for you? What I’ve done for you? No, you’re just an ungrateful brat!”

Years of pain surged to the surface like a geyser; June couldn’t have stopped the words if she’d tried. “Ungrateful? I try so hard! Nothing is ever good enough for you! Nothing! You’re a coward! I hate you!” Tears welled up hot and heavy in the corners of her eyes and met on her chin. The urge to Shift welled up too but June shoved it back down. She braced for Cordelia to explode.

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But she didn’t. She just stared at June with hollow eyes, and eventually said, “The serum was for you. And because of it, I lost everything.”

“How did a serum you just invented for me make you lose everything?” Nothing made sense. Why would a demon want a serum made for her?

Cordelia spoke softly. “It was supposed to be a gift, for you, June, when you were still in my womb.” June’s face twisted at the thought of being a baby inside Cordelia. “Richard and I disagreed about it very strongly, and after it happened, we just couldn’t…” Cordelia trailed off and started to cry. June froze, and confusion extinguished the anger inside her.

“After what happened?”

Cordelia walked over and grabbed June’s hands. June pulled them away but still looked at her mother attentively.

“I did love Richard. He was kind, he was funny, he was brilliant. But he didn’t understand Shifting or the threat it posed to you.”

The room was silent, except for the low hum of the air circulation system. June stayed silent too.

“Shifters aren't known to have long lifespans,” Cordelia continued. “No matter how strong you grow, it’s never a fair fight—everyone I knew died young. But I proved you can escape and live a normal life. I wanted you to have the chance to grow old. I wanted to rid you of the curse.”

June cocked her head. Curse? Surely Cordelia didn't mean Shifting, did she? Shifting wasn’t a curse, it was the best thing that had happened to June in her life.

“Richard and I, we created a substance, for you. But Richard—” Cordelia hesitated and looked out the window, her eyes distant and moist. But she kept talking. “He wanted to wait until you were older, so you could choose. For such a smart man he just didn’t get it, he didn’t see the danger you’d be in. An ability like Shifting carries such a cost. I did the necessary thing; I gave you the serum anyway. He was horrified, and he destroyed—”

“What’s it do?” June cut in. "The serum you—”

“I’ll get there. But I want you to understand what happened with Richard. He destroyed everything we’d created for you. Everything except one last vial—a vial I had hidden, even from him. I hated him for it, and our trust evaporated. Without trust there can be no healthy relationship. And without a healthy relationship a marriage will disintegrate until there’s nothing left but dust. I forced him to stay away from you. I did the necessary thing, again, for you. And I lost the only man I will ever love. For you.”

Richard had destroyed the serum he and Cordelia made for June. But what did it do? “The serum?” June asked again.

Cordelia wiped her eyes. When she spoke again, her tone was more scientific and sterile, more matter-of-fact. More like the usual Cordelia. “We thought it would alter your DNA to effectively prevent—to cure—Shifting.”

“You didn’t want me to be a Shifter?” June erupted.

Cordelia shook her head. “No, and I’m sorry that the serum didn’t work as I had expected. I started to fear it when your eyes changed color—my gift failed.”

The words stabbed deep and tears rolled down June’s cheeks now. “You didn’t want me to be who I am, and you tried to ‘cure me’? And you call that a gift?”

“I wanted to give you a normal life. And yes, I do call that a gift.”

“Well, you failed miserably at destroying my life!”

“Don’t be so dramatic, June,” Cordelia said, waving her arm dismissively. “You know I wasn’t trying to destroy your life. Have you listened to anything I’ve said? I don’t want you to be killed. I was trying to save you.”

June’s eyes formed wet knives, aimed squarely at Cordelia. A voice whispered in her mind, What could possibly hurt me? The urge to Shift tugged at her. What did Cordelia know anyway? June was far more powerful than her. And Cordelia had proven that she would lie to June if she thought it necessary.“Look at what I become, Mom! You said yourself that I’m unusual and powerful in a ton of ways. I’m nearly twice your size! How could a demon hurt me? I would kill them all.”

“What?” Cordelia pinched the bridge of her nose and her voice rose an octave. “Have you heard what I’ve been telling you?”

“You’ve just admitted to a string of lies! How do I know lying about demons and danger isn’t another necessary thing?” She put her hands on her hips, letting every inch of her body scream liar at Cordelia, and wiped away tears in frustration. Why was she even crying right now?

“I’m not going to dignify that with a response. Listen to me, June. That serum isn’t just normal compounds, which is why the demon that took it can’t run a reverse analysis to create more of it. There are things in it that…defy scientific explanation. Based on the research I’ve done since your eyes changed color, I believe the serum had quite the opposite effect than I intended. But I don’t know whether it’s the science or the…other part, that I got wrong.”

June looked at her hands and blinked away tears for a few long seconds as she considered what Cordelia meant. Then she snorted. “You made me a magical, giant cat monster?”

“A cat Shifter, June. But you aren’t any more magical than the rest of us. You didn’t think genetics alone explained our abilities, did you? Unfortunately, with the last of the serum taken, I can’t continue studying what went wrong.”

Wrong? June thought. Nothing had gone wrong—it had gone right. And she was glad the serum had been taken—it had caused enough trouble for one lifetime. “Good riddance!” June yelled. “You shouldn’t have tried to play God.”

“You aren’t using your head!” Cordelia tapped her temple with a finger. “Think about it! I don’t know why the serum did what it did. I don’t know what would happen if a demon took the serum! I don’t know what would happen if you were exposed to the serum again! We have to leave—”

“I’m not leaving Seven Falls! And I’m not in danger.”

Cordelia pulled out her necklace and gripped the amethyst square. “My research is right here. As long as they don’t have it, they can’t reproduce the serum. You have to let Mr. Moseley go. You have to let Seven Falls go.”

“No!” June roared. She could hear Cordelia speaking, but the words blurred into the background as a wave of dark, throbbing anger rolled over her. Leave Mr. Moseley to die? Leave Brendan? June clenched her teeth, clenched her fists. This stupid serum. It had cost her a dad. In a way, it had cost her a mom. And now it threatened everyone she had left. June’s fists were so tight that her nails cut into her skin. The urge to Shift was singing to her, so loud and so hard to resist. But why resist it?

“—It could take years for anyone else to even understand the composition—” Cordelia paused, still holding the necklace, and noticed June’s expression, but too late. “June—?”

Power surged through June and her muscles shivered and bulged. Her skin darkened and ripples slipped along her shoulders and arms. Then she exploded into her Shifted form. Cordelia’s face dropped, and so did some of the ceiling tiles as June’s head and shoulders hit the nine-foot ceiling, leaving a hole above her when she crouched down. Her clothes lay shredded on the floor, along with the cracked remnants of her cell phone, which June barely noticed. Her burning yellow eyes were focused intently on Cordelia.

“No more!” she growled, and Cordelia flinched. “You’re done ruining lives! I’m getting Mr. Moseley back and destroying your stupid experiment.” She flexed her paws and her claws slid out, catching the light and glinting.

“June, June, be quiet—you must listen to me—stop this—you can control this-–you have to Shift back right now, you have to—”

“You don’t get to tell me what to do anymore,” June growled. “All you do is make things worse!” She snatched the necklace from Cordelia in a flash and drove a claw into the amethyst until it cracked and shattered.

Cordelia fell to her knees.

A voice came from behind the door, followed by a knock. “Dr. Robinson, are you okay in there? It’s Detective Abernathy. I heard some, uh, odd noises coming from your office.”

June eyed the window. There was no other way out now. If the detective wouldn’t have liked Cordelia plowing through him, his day would definitely be ruined if June had to run over him right now. Thankfully the windows were big, so big June could jump through one without having to take chunks of the wall with her.

“June, you have to trust me,” Cordelia pleaded from the ground. Tears wet her cheeks again, but this time they wouldn’t extinguish June’s wrath. “I know what’s best.”

“You know what’s best?” June said. “No! I will make whoever did this to Mr. Moseley pay, and I will make my own choices about what’s best for me. You are done trying to make things better for me! You are done trying to protect me! Do I look like I need protection?” She pointed a finger at Cordelia, and this finger was a sword. “You stay out of my way!”

A louder series of knocks hit the door to Cordelia’s office. It wouldn't take much for the detective to bust it open if he wanted. June faced the window, looked at Cordelia one more time, and lunged forward.