Paranormal Police-Book 1 - Foundations

Smirn Household, Kambah, Australian Capital Territory, Australia

If both parents are shifters, there is a 95 percent chance that each child will be as well. If only one parent is a shifter, that chance drops to 46%. The type of shifter will be determined by the country the child is conceived in. Even if the shifter is converted later in life, the shift animal will still be from the region they were conceived in.

Statistically, 80 percent of the time this animal will be native to the region and a currently active animal in the region. The remaining 20 percent of the time will be an extinct animal or endemic non-native animal.

Again, 80 percent of the time it will be a mammal, with the remaining 20 percent being bird, fish, or reptile. One in ten thousand might be either an insect or a legendary creature.

A child of a shifter who does not shift can still be turned as normal.

Editor’s note: These statistics have been true for generations, but it has been noted that the current generation have deviated from this. The distribution has been more evenly distributed across all categories. Further research is required. Grat’s Guide to the Paranormal, 2020 Edition.

Alexa pulled into the family farm about forty-five minutes after leaving her work. She had stopped off on the way home to pick up a large, red velvet cake. Depending on how the talk went, she might even share it with her family.

She grabbed the cake box and walked towards the house. Her parents were standing on the veranda, her dad, had his arm wrapped around her mum.

Her dad looked at the cake box and his eyebrow shot up. “Well, by the look of that cake box, it’s as serious as we expected.”

At the sound of a car stopping out on the main road, the family glanced up. Her dad said, “One of yours?”

“Looks like it. By now they’ll have us fairly well under surveillance.”

Her mum asked, “Worried?”

Alexa smiled. “I’d be more worried if they didn’t. They’re in ‘threat assessment’ mode, so they haven’t really decided what to do. Let’s go inside.”

Once they were all at the table, Alexa grabbed a spoon and opened the cake box. The large red velvet cake was revealed, and she took a spoonful and brought it to her mouth. Holding it there, she noticed her parents were both focused on the spoon. Moving the spoon up and down, left and right, she could see her parents’ eyes track the spoon. She giggled. “Go on, get yourself some spoons and help me pick over this carcass.” After the three of them had made a serious dent in the cake, Alexa continued.

“So, I was called into one of the conference rooms by the head of the ACT branch of the AFP to ‘clarify something’. He was sitting there with a woman he introduced as from the AFP’s Paranormal Group. I immediately had a panic attack.

“She got my attention, focused me, and then stepped me through breathing exercises to help me recover. Said I wasn’t in trouble, and they weren’t planning to ship me of to some laboratory. Oh, and said I looked beautiful in my bird form and laid down a photo of me on the table.”

Alexa opened her satchel and pulled out the print, putting it on the table.

“They asked if I could answer some questions, I asked if I could have Dad present and they didn’t even blink, just agreed. They then asked if I could answer some preliminary questions so ‘we can figure out the best questions to ask tomorrow’. I agreed, they asked what I call myself, was there a formal body and then in a round-about way, was I a threat.”

Daria, her mother, said “Which put you back into a panic?”

“Yeah. But by now my Spidey-Sense was working, so that helped settle me down, as I could sense their emotions. Roger, my department head, started off equally scared and excited. The more we talked, the more he settled down, well until I made the mistake of mentioning a dragon, then his heart rate spiked for some reason.”

Sam, her father, sighed.

“It’s OK, Dad. I didn’t mention any names or individual details. The woman from the Paranormal group was strange. I was getting more and more frustration from her. Not towards me specifically, but she wasn’t a happy camper.”

Sam said, “That would be consistent with what I have heard of her group. It’s not treated as a bludge, but they see their role as debunking false paras, and this is probably the first time they’ve had evidence of a real one. The group is probably flat out for the first time in their history.” There was a glint in his eye.

Alexa gave her parents an outline of the answers she had given.

Looking at the photo, Sam said, “This looks recent.”

“I think it was from last weekend, Sunday. The last of my old moult feathers had finally come lose.”

“I’ll get a message to your shifting group that they may all be under surveillance, but there is no need to panic… yet.”

“I agree. Currently they are following standard procedures. They shouldn’t panic unless we give them a reason to.”

Her parents decided that her mum and two siblings would go ‘camping’ for the next few days and see what happens.

Sam said, “I’ll help you get the bags across to the shed tonight and you can take the 4X4 out for a spin. I’ll call you on your burner phone once I know what’s happening.”

Alexa sighed and said, “Sorry for getting you into this, Dad.”

“Hey, my little chick-a-dee. It’s fine. It’s what we agreed too. Besides, since I was turned, it will be even harder for them to be able to treat me as anything other than an Aussie of good standing. It’s not my fault I was seduced by a fiery vixen from Transylvania! I was born as Aussie, so were you dearest. The only one they could deport is your mum since she’s naturalised.”

Alexa giggled, “What would they put on the paperwork? Too furry? Outfoxed us?”

She noticed a glint in her mum’s eyes. Knowing how her mother usually dealt with stress, she said, “I’ll go count the chooks while Mum chases you around the house. There are things that no child should ever be exposed to and their parents making out is one of them.”

“She caught me forty years ago and I’ve not wanted to escape since.”

“I’ll just go.” Alexa rapidly left the house.

---***---

Later that day, she walked up to the car, still parked outside her property, and knocked on the window.

“G’day, you do know that you were sent to watch a member of the AFP, don’t you?”

“Umm, no?”

She laughed. “Well, you are. Please let us know if there’s anything you need. My parents have spotted you as well. I hope this will be all cleared up in a day or two.”

The driver said, “Actually, Ma’am. Do you think I could use your loo? Dinner last night was a bit spicier than I am use to.”

“Sure. Drive in and park next to the shed. There’s an outhouse built onto this side. See it? It’s fine to use it until sunset. The dogs get a bit protective once the sun goes down.”

“Thanks.”

He started up the car and drove onto their property, pulling up next to the outhouse.

Alexa snorted and started to walk back to the house.

Her Dad had mentioned needing to spend a good portion of tonight shifted. Just hanging out with her eagle should help her with getting her panic attacks under control.