Rubbing my eyes, I sat up and looked around the room. After I remembered where I was, not to mention why I was there, I realized that there was a small pile of neatly-folded clothes sitting at the edge of my bed, on top of which was a hand-written note.
“Emily—there is more clothing in the bureau directly ahead of your bed if you want them, but here are some jean shorts and a t-shirt for today,” the note read. “Please take advantage of them, as I’m sure that your own clothes are quite dirty. I am in the kitchen, which is right across from the study, preparing breakfast. Please come down when you are dressed; you’re all half-starved I’m sure.” It was signed, as I knew it would be, “Doctor Kingston.”
I sighed and pulled on the clothes, not the slightest bit self-conscious that Kaliyan was only 3 feet away; we’d grown up best friends, so she wouldn’t mind. Then I headed down the hallway, pretty sure that I’d forgotten where the study was.
My nose knew where the kitchen was, though—where the smell of bacon, eggs, sausage, and waffles was coming from—and soon I was walking through a door and into the kitchen, where Dr. Kingston and Felix were seated at a large table; Skylar was curled up in the corner, an empty plate in front of him.
Then I sat down, and smiled when Felix handed me a heaping plate of waffles and bacon—the whole thing appeared to steam, the scent wafting over and making my mouth water in anticipation.
Between the first bite and the last one, I don’t remember a thing besides that it tasted more amazing than anything I’d ever eaten before, probably helped by the fact that I hadn’t eaten anything but bananas and jerky for the past week or so.
Seconds after I’d licked my plate clean, Kaliyan stumbled into the room, clad in a pair of jean shorts and fitted celadon t-shirt that closely matched my own. “Hey,” she mumbled in greeting, her sleepy face quickly brightening at the sight—and smell—of a delicious breakfast.
I quickly loaded up a plate for her, amassed with eggs, bacon, and waffles, which she took and instantly devoured without so much as breathing. “God, that was good,” she breathed, sounding satisfied, just as Dr. Kingston cleared his throat.
“May I have your attention, please,” he called. All heads swiveled to face him as he continued, “As you all should know, I am an expert on lycanthropes and werewolves, as well as multiple other so-called ‘mythological’ species and beings. This is why I live in this secluded Amazonian spot: to preserve my materials. You wouldn’t believe how many lycans there are in America.”
Well, I would, Skylar piped up. Over half of them are my family.
Dr. Kingston smiled. “Yes, Skylar, I would expect you to. It’s peculiar, you see, the genes of a lycan; over half of them do seem to be closely related, which is extremely rare in a species…”
“What’d Skylar say?” Kaliyan asked me in a whisper, having leaned over towards me from her seat a few feet away. “I seriously can’t hear him. Isn’t that weird? I mean, I’m the telepathic one, and he’s using telepathy to communicate, so how come I can’t hear him and everyone else can?”
As I opened my mouth to answer, I noticed that Dr. Kingston had stopped talking and was looking at Kaliyan with an expression that was perplexed, dismayed, and convinced, all in one—mostly dismayed, however, which made my heart sink a little. “Doctor?” I prompted.
The doctor paused for a moment, then asked, “Well, judging from your little speech there, miss—” he pointed at Kaliyan, “—I believe that one or all of you has been infected by veneno powder, which is a supposedly mythical powder that makes an, ah, ‘gifted’ person unable to use their abilities. It works slowly, though, so your abilities would fade with time.”
I blinked. “That’s exactly what’s been happening. Kaliyan can’t hear Skylar when he sends thoughts to her—she’s telepathic—and I haven’t been able to see into the future since we got here. And, of course, Skylar’s gotten stuck in wolf form…”
“Is it curable?” Kaliyan asked; she sounded—and looked—a little panicked.
Dr. Kingston sighed. “Yes,” he said, “but…”
After a few seconds’ worth of waiting, Felix cocked his head to the side, and asked, “But what, Doctor? Nothing could be bad news if there’s a cure.” We all nodded our agreement, but Dr. Kingston shook his head wearily and sipped his coffee.
“The antidote for veneno powder is extremely rare, and is in fact part of the fruit that the powder itself comes from,” the doctor said slowly. “The only place that the fruit, fittingly called veneno, grows is already owned…and this man means it when he says that trespassers will be shot.”
All four of us gulped at the same time. “Well, could we buy some from him, or something?” Kaliyan suggested sensibly.
The doctor shook his head. “No, as I said, the veneno are extremely rare, and the man who owns the land is very protective of his plants…I suppose you could say that he treats them as if they were his own children. However, there is one way that—”
“Wait a second, if there’s only one place in the world that grows these things,” I interrupted, “then we already know who contaminated us, right?”
Dr. Kingston sighed. “No, the other person may have—”
“Where is this place?” Kaliyan asked. “We could find the guy who owns it and interrogate him, maybe get him to hand over the antidote to the powder—”
Felix nodded eagerly and started in on the interrupting streak. “The least we could do is get his motive out of him; maybe he—”
“Silence!” roared Dr. Kingston. We all quieted at once. “Look, as I’ve been trying to tell you, there is one way that you could possibly gain access to the veneno plants. This man is quite wealthy, therefore has workers, and perhaps you could disguise yourselves.”
Skylar raised his head. What about me? Do I not get to come with?
“Well, I suppose that one of the others could be blind. Emily,” he suggested, looking me, “would you like to have a guide dog for a little while?”
Kaliyan frowned, and asked, before I could answer, “Won’t he know who his workers are? He wouldn’t recognize us.”
“Good observation,” Dr. Kingston replied. “Well, I suppose that…it’s definitely not foolproof, but maybe you could go onto his property on the premise of signing up for a job there…” His eyes suddenly lit up. “And Skylar could, as your guide dog, act out for some reason and ‘run off.’ You follow him, acting sight-impaired—perhaps you’re not blind, but just can’t see very well…”
I nodded, catching on. “And, while supposedly catching up to my ‘guide dog,’ I get some veneno plants and stick them in his guide-dog-bag thing,” I added. “Perfect!”
“Wow, yeah! I can’t believe I didn’t think of that,” Kaliyan piped up.
Felix just nodded silently, looking thoughtful, and Skylar was grinning up at us. I’d love to play the part of a disobedient dog, he said slowly, after his grin had faded a little, but aren’t guide dogs supposed to, first off, be really well-trained, and secondly, be dogs instead of wolves?
“That’s true,” Dr. Kingston said, “but you would just be a rather large husky, and even well-trained dogs act out sometimes.”
And so our plan was ready.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Chapter Nine: The Magic Treehouse
The sunlight came down gently, filtering through the leaves and turning a pleasant shade of green. I rubbed my aching head and sat up, my mind’s eye foggy for a moment.
All at once, my memories sharpened and I remembered last night. “I saw him!” I shouted out, not knowing if anyone else was awake, just wanting to tell the world. “I saw that stalker guy up close. Not very well, since it was dark, but I saw him.”
Then I opened by eyes and saw Kaliyan and Felix staring at me. Skylar was, politely, refraining from staring, but I caught him sneaking dubious glances at me from time to time.
“What?!” Kaliyan finally exclaimed. “You’re out like a light until basically right now, while we clean up all of the stuff that you said you’d clean up last night, and now you’re talking about the mysterious stalker guy like you actually saw him? Are you crazy?”
Skylar gave me an apologetic glance. What happened? he asked, sounding genuinely curious. What did he do? Did he hurt you?
I grimaced. “He touched each of us on the foreheads,” I remembered, “except Felix. I stayed up because I had a feeling that something was going to happen, and he knew somehow that I was awake, by touching my wrist, so he pressure-pointed me and I passed out.”
Skylar nodded like he understood, but Kaliyan cut in with a biting, “I'm so sure. Now get up so that maybe we can find that stupid treehouse today. We’ve got to be close.” She wasn’t usually this snippy, and I wondered briefly what was wrong with her before getting to my feet.
“I actually did pack the stuff last night,” I said. “That guy probably took it all out again or something. Anyway, you want proof? Here’s the bruise from when he knocked me out.” I lifted up my hair, which grew to the bottom of my shoulder blades, to reveal a black and blue bruise, ringed with a sickly green, on my neck—right on the pressure point.
Kaliyan frowned and leaned over, touching the bruise so lightly that I wasn’t sure she’d touched it at all. “Looks pretty bad,” she said, “so you didn’t do it. No one in their right mind would hurt themselves that badly, especially on a pressure point.” She shrugged. “Anyway, let’s go.”
So we went, and must have walked for hours before we ended up at the same tree we’d stayed the night at—Felix had marked it with an “X” at its foot.
“Great,” the usually-silent Felix whined, “so we walked in a stupid circle.”
I sighed and sat down, my whole body aching from all the trekking up and down hills, leaning back against the tree. “I think I speak for the whole group when I say that today has majorly, majorly sucked,” I said wearily. “And what if this tree is the tree? Someone climb up and check, ‘cause I’m bushed.”
Felix nodded and quickly scaled the tree, reaching the top in a matter of about a minute, although the tree was extremely tall. “Yeah, this is it!” I heard him shout from the top. “Or, at least, there’s a house thing up here. I dunno if anyone’s home.”
So Kaliyan and I, being smarter than the average bear, went around to the back of the tree and found a very thin, yet usable, spiral staircase that we hadn’t noticed before. Skylar made his cautious way ahead of us, while we walked behind, and at long last we reached the wooden platform high above, where Felix was waiting impatiently, tapping his foot.
“Took you long enough,” he said, grinned impishly, then ran off into the grand-looking house to our right, clicking his heels midway to show off.
I rolled my eyes, then followed him into the house, knocking loudly before crossing the threshold into what looked like your average home—you never would have guessed that it was a few hundred feet off the forest floor.
“Excuse me?” I called; the sound echoed back to me. “Um, excuse me, Doctor Kingston? Are you home? We’ve got a…um…patient here!” Suddenly there was a groan from the room to my left, and I rushed in to find…nothing.
The room was completely empty, save for a few chairs, which were tipped sideways, and a painting on the wall. The painting depicted a lycan transforming from human to wolf and back again, and it was done in so much detail that I was sure that the artist had witnessed a transformation.
“What’s up?” I heard from the hallway as Kaliyan walked into the room, taking in its disheveled appearance with one quick sweep. “Looks like a struggle or something.”
“Yeah, it does,” I answered, “but we can’t be sure of anything yet. Let’s check out more of the treehouse, and then make a decision…we shouldn’t jump to any conclusions.”
Kaliyan nodded firmly, and we both made our way out of the small room and into the hallway, checking each and every room. The first room was by far the most disheveled, but they were all a bit upturned—and all extremely empty; there could be no doubt about that.
“Well,” Kaliyan started uncertainly after we’d checked our sixth room or so, “he’s definitely not here, but where the heck could he be?”
I shrugged. “I’ve got absolutely no idea,” I said, trying to sound nonchalant although my palms were beginning to moisten considerably. I was admittedly a little nervous about the whereabouts of Doctor Kingston, and was wondering the exact same thing.
There was a padding sound, then Skylar came into the room, his pink tongue lolling out of his mouth as he said, Well, what’s the worst thing that it could be?
“He could’ve been kidnapped or something,” Kaliyan suggested.
“Maybe he was murdered,” I guessed.
“Um, or maybe he was just out to lunch,” Felix’s voice called from the doorway. We all turned to look at him, and I immediately noticed the sign he held in his hands. It was written in neat cursive, and I read it as quickly as I could.
“Out to lunch—be back around 1pm. Thanks, Dr. Kingston. P.S., please wait in the study,” Felix quoted, and I groaned; of course it would be something as simple as that, when we were all worried about his being abducted. “Well, that’s solved. What time is it?”
“I don’t know,” Kaliyan answered.
Smirking a little, I added, “It’s not like anyone thought to bring a watch.”
We spent a long, long while waiting in what we supposed was the study; the first room we’d walked into. Skylar and I were both studying the transformation pictures with great raptness, while Kaliyan was staring off into space and Felix was fidgeting around, looking impatient.
Finally, the sound of boots on a ladder reached our ears, and without delay all eyes were riveted on the small trapdoor that it led to. A few moments later, a brunette head popped through, and was followed by a set of broad shoulders, then a body, then a pair of long, thin legs.
The man, who I assumed was Dr. Kingston, turned around and headed into the study, his eyes cutting straight to Skylar. They stared at each other for a while before Dr. Kingston sighed and arched an eyebrow, his hazel blue eyes sparkling in the artificial light. “So,” he said, his tone business-like but curious, “you are the lycan, am I right?”
Skylar nodded his canine head, and I replied for him, trying to sound as professional as Kingston. “Yes, he’s the lycan, and he has a bit of a problem. You see, he’s stuck in that form; he hasn’t been human for weeks now, and we’re afraid that it may be permanent.”
I cleared my throat, then continued. “We went to the library and researched some things, finally finding your name and location. So we came to the forest, hoping to meet you and find some answers about what’s going on, and…well, here we are.”
Doctor Kingston smiled genially. “And I’m very glad you’re here, Miss…?” He tapered off, leaving the sentence open for me to supply my name.
“Emily,” I interjected, “and these are Kaliyan, Felix, and Skylar.”
A curt nod was my only response. This man’s emotions change pretty quickly, I thought to myself. That’s pretty odd.
“Anyhow,” Dr. Kingston said a while later, “I am Doctor Kingston, and…well, I suppose that I’ll be assisting Skylar back to his human form.” He sighed wearily, looking extremely careworn all of a sudden, and stood up. “You will be staying in the rooms in the back; please follow me.”
And follow him we did, making our way to the back of the treehouse, where Dr. Kingston directed Kaliyan and I to one room, and Felix to another, telling Skylar that he’d be staying in a third room, made especially for ‘frozen’ lycans, which was on the other side of our room.
We all thanked the doctor and headed into our rooms. Kaliyan nearly liquefied when she saw the two twin-sized beds, and sank into one immediately. I took my time, though, unpacking my meager belongings and taking in the room, which was simple but satisfying.
The walls were painted a very pale powder blue, and the furniture—a bureau, a bookcase, and two small side tables, not to mention the beds—was wooden and white, the bedding a pleasant Columbia blue, with a few splashes of cobalt here and there.
When I’d finally finished unloading my backpack, I settled into my bed, and took great pleasure in its gentle support, not nearly as hard as the sleeping bag I’d been sleeping in for the past few days. I fell asleep without noticing at all.
All at once, my memories sharpened and I remembered last night. “I saw him!” I shouted out, not knowing if anyone else was awake, just wanting to tell the world. “I saw that stalker guy up close. Not very well, since it was dark, but I saw him.”
Then I opened by eyes and saw Kaliyan and Felix staring at me. Skylar was, politely, refraining from staring, but I caught him sneaking dubious glances at me from time to time.
“What?!” Kaliyan finally exclaimed. “You’re out like a light until basically right now, while we clean up all of the stuff that you said you’d clean up last night, and now you’re talking about the mysterious stalker guy like you actually saw him? Are you crazy?”
Skylar gave me an apologetic glance. What happened? he asked, sounding genuinely curious. What did he do? Did he hurt you?
I grimaced. “He touched each of us on the foreheads,” I remembered, “except Felix. I stayed up because I had a feeling that something was going to happen, and he knew somehow that I was awake, by touching my wrist, so he pressure-pointed me and I passed out.”
Skylar nodded like he understood, but Kaliyan cut in with a biting, “I'm so sure. Now get up so that maybe we can find that stupid treehouse today. We’ve got to be close.” She wasn’t usually this snippy, and I wondered briefly what was wrong with her before getting to my feet.
“I actually did pack the stuff last night,” I said. “That guy probably took it all out again or something. Anyway, you want proof? Here’s the bruise from when he knocked me out.” I lifted up my hair, which grew to the bottom of my shoulder blades, to reveal a black and blue bruise, ringed with a sickly green, on my neck—right on the pressure point.
Kaliyan frowned and leaned over, touching the bruise so lightly that I wasn’t sure she’d touched it at all. “Looks pretty bad,” she said, “so you didn’t do it. No one in their right mind would hurt themselves that badly, especially on a pressure point.” She shrugged. “Anyway, let’s go.”
So we went, and must have walked for hours before we ended up at the same tree we’d stayed the night at—Felix had marked it with an “X” at its foot.
“Great,” the usually-silent Felix whined, “so we walked in a stupid circle.”
I sighed and sat down, my whole body aching from all the trekking up and down hills, leaning back against the tree. “I think I speak for the whole group when I say that today has majorly, majorly sucked,” I said wearily. “And what if this tree is the tree? Someone climb up and check, ‘cause I’m bushed.”
Felix nodded and quickly scaled the tree, reaching the top in a matter of about a minute, although the tree was extremely tall. “Yeah, this is it!” I heard him shout from the top. “Or, at least, there’s a house thing up here. I dunno if anyone’s home.”
So Kaliyan and I, being smarter than the average bear, went around to the back of the tree and found a very thin, yet usable, spiral staircase that we hadn’t noticed before. Skylar made his cautious way ahead of us, while we walked behind, and at long last we reached the wooden platform high above, where Felix was waiting impatiently, tapping his foot.
“Took you long enough,” he said, grinned impishly, then ran off into the grand-looking house to our right, clicking his heels midway to show off.
I rolled my eyes, then followed him into the house, knocking loudly before crossing the threshold into what looked like your average home—you never would have guessed that it was a few hundred feet off the forest floor.
“Excuse me?” I called; the sound echoed back to me. “Um, excuse me, Doctor Kingston? Are you home? We’ve got a…um…patient here!” Suddenly there was a groan from the room to my left, and I rushed in to find…nothing.
The room was completely empty, save for a few chairs, which were tipped sideways, and a painting on the wall. The painting depicted a lycan transforming from human to wolf and back again, and it was done in so much detail that I was sure that the artist had witnessed a transformation.
“What’s up?” I heard from the hallway as Kaliyan walked into the room, taking in its disheveled appearance with one quick sweep. “Looks like a struggle or something.”
“Yeah, it does,” I answered, “but we can’t be sure of anything yet. Let’s check out more of the treehouse, and then make a decision…we shouldn’t jump to any conclusions.”
Kaliyan nodded firmly, and we both made our way out of the small room and into the hallway, checking each and every room. The first room was by far the most disheveled, but they were all a bit upturned—and all extremely empty; there could be no doubt about that.
“Well,” Kaliyan started uncertainly after we’d checked our sixth room or so, “he’s definitely not here, but where the heck could he be?”
I shrugged. “I’ve got absolutely no idea,” I said, trying to sound nonchalant although my palms were beginning to moisten considerably. I was admittedly a little nervous about the whereabouts of Doctor Kingston, and was wondering the exact same thing.
There was a padding sound, then Skylar came into the room, his pink tongue lolling out of his mouth as he said, Well, what’s the worst thing that it could be?
“He could’ve been kidnapped or something,” Kaliyan suggested.
“Maybe he was murdered,” I guessed.
“Um, or maybe he was just out to lunch,” Felix’s voice called from the doorway. We all turned to look at him, and I immediately noticed the sign he held in his hands. It was written in neat cursive, and I read it as quickly as I could.
“Out to lunch—be back around 1pm. Thanks, Dr. Kingston. P.S., please wait in the study,” Felix quoted, and I groaned; of course it would be something as simple as that, when we were all worried about his being abducted. “Well, that’s solved. What time is it?”
“I don’t know,” Kaliyan answered.
Smirking a little, I added, “It’s not like anyone thought to bring a watch.”
We spent a long, long while waiting in what we supposed was the study; the first room we’d walked into. Skylar and I were both studying the transformation pictures with great raptness, while Kaliyan was staring off into space and Felix was fidgeting around, looking impatient.
Finally, the sound of boots on a ladder reached our ears, and without delay all eyes were riveted on the small trapdoor that it led to. A few moments later, a brunette head popped through, and was followed by a set of broad shoulders, then a body, then a pair of long, thin legs.
The man, who I assumed was Dr. Kingston, turned around and headed into the study, his eyes cutting straight to Skylar. They stared at each other for a while before Dr. Kingston sighed and arched an eyebrow, his hazel blue eyes sparkling in the artificial light. “So,” he said, his tone business-like but curious, “you are the lycan, am I right?”
Skylar nodded his canine head, and I replied for him, trying to sound as professional as Kingston. “Yes, he’s the lycan, and he has a bit of a problem. You see, he’s stuck in that form; he hasn’t been human for weeks now, and we’re afraid that it may be permanent.”
I cleared my throat, then continued. “We went to the library and researched some things, finally finding your name and location. So we came to the forest, hoping to meet you and find some answers about what’s going on, and…well, here we are.”
Doctor Kingston smiled genially. “And I’m very glad you’re here, Miss…?” He tapered off, leaving the sentence open for me to supply my name.
“Emily,” I interjected, “and these are Kaliyan, Felix, and Skylar.”
A curt nod was my only response. This man’s emotions change pretty quickly, I thought to myself. That’s pretty odd.
“Anyhow,” Dr. Kingston said a while later, “I am Doctor Kingston, and…well, I suppose that I’ll be assisting Skylar back to his human form.” He sighed wearily, looking extremely careworn all of a sudden, and stood up. “You will be staying in the rooms in the back; please follow me.”
And follow him we did, making our way to the back of the treehouse, where Dr. Kingston directed Kaliyan and I to one room, and Felix to another, telling Skylar that he’d be staying in a third room, made especially for ‘frozen’ lycans, which was on the other side of our room.
We all thanked the doctor and headed into our rooms. Kaliyan nearly liquefied when she saw the two twin-sized beds, and sank into one immediately. I took my time, though, unpacking my meager belongings and taking in the room, which was simple but satisfying.
The walls were painted a very pale powder blue, and the furniture—a bureau, a bookcase, and two small side tables, not to mention the beds—was wooden and white, the bedding a pleasant Columbia blue, with a few splashes of cobalt here and there.
When I’d finally finished unloading my backpack, I settled into my bed, and took great pleasure in its gentle support, not nearly as hard as the sleeping bag I’d been sleeping in for the past few days. I fell asleep without noticing at all.
Chapter Eight: Blinded
The ride to the jungle entrance was bumpy and uncomfortable, but only about 2 and a half miles long, so I endured it. When we finally reached the entrance, which was a simple path with a canopy of trees covering it, we hopped off of the cart and onto the ground, shouldering our packs.
Miguel started filling us in. “Just follow the dust path until you reach a very large oak tree,” he told us. “Then simply climb up the oak tree and you will arrive at the home of Doctor Anthony Kingston. Just stay on the path, and you will be fine. Good luck, my friends.”
He clapped us each on the back, and the wagon started rumbling back to the city again, leaving our foursome standing in the middle of nowhere, alone.
“Crap,” Kaliyan said eloquently.
Crap is very right, Skylar agreed. But we should probably start going…the sooner we start, the sooner we get there, right?
Kaliyan, Felix, and I shrugged. “I guess so,” Felix said dubiously. “Well, let’s go.” And without further ado, he started trekking into the rainforest.
Kaliyan quickly scrambled after him, followed closely by Skylar and me, and soon I lost sight of the sunny field that we’d been standing in. “Oh, boy,” I said, dread coating my voice, as I took in the jungle. At least the others are with me, I thought, and it reassured me.
We walked for a long while, all of us but Skylar completely tired out by the time the sun started to set. Kaliyan and I set up a lean-to against a particularly flat-sided tree, and soon we were all huddled around a very small campfire.
Popping a piece of jerky into his mouth, Felix finally said, “I’m exhausted…let’s go to sleep now.”
We all agreed. I walked over to my pack and took out my blanket, spreading it on the ground to lay on. Then I curled up on my side and drifted into unconsciousness.
My sleep was uneventful, with no dreams, and I was soon woken by a gentle nudging in my back. I opened my eyes, and was briefly disoriented by the muggy air. “Where am I?” I mumbled, struggling to sit up. Then my memories came rushing back to me. “Oh.”
Up and at ‘em, Skylar chimed, then went on to wake Kaliyan.
A muss-haired Felix was already chowing down on a banana, fresh from a tree across the path from ours, and I grabbed myself one. It was quickly gone, as was another one; I was quite hungry that morning from all the walking I'd done the day before. Then we all stood up, packed our bags, and headed out again.
Felix was in the front, being the one who supposedly knew these woods, followed by Skylar, then Kaliyan and yours truly. We walked for hours, and finally stopped when Felix literally collapsed from exhaustion. Then we propped him up against a tree and ate some more jerky, waiting for about an hour until Felix said that he could walk again.
So we set off once more, but we only got a few feet ahead before the road turned sharply to the left and disappeared into the underbrush. We paused before going into the thick forest, where the path was nearly unintelligible from the grasses around it.
“Oh, god,” Kaliyan was saying, over and over again. “Oh, god, oh, god, oh, god.”
I rolled my eyes. “Gimme a break, Kaliyan, we’ll be fine.”
Kaliyan’s POV
“That’s easy for you to say,” I grumbled to Emily, who was gingerly picking her way behind me, next to Skylar. “You’re right next to the giant wolf.”
I heard a huffing noise come from Skylar, and figured he was laughing. I sighed and waited for a little while, waiting for the mandatory exchange between my best friend and Skylar to come to an end. I really hated it when they had their telepathic talks, and even though I could read human minds, I found that I couldn’t figure out what Skylar was thinking.
Yeah, I know, Skye, but you could at least move up a few steps, to comfort her, Emily was reassuring Skylar. There was a pause while he responded, then Emily grinned. Gimme a break, she laughed in her head and Skylar’s—as well as, unknowingly, mine, I’ll be fine. It’s not like I could lose you people when you’re only a few feet in front of me.
There was a loud burst of air, then Skylar quickened to a lope and came up next to me, slowing down a little to match my pace. “Hey, puppy,” I said teasingly. He was silent. “C’mon, I know you can talk in people’s heads, but you’re not talking to me. What’s with that?”
Skylar’s elongated head turned to face me, his expression puzzled. I rolled my eyes. “I can read people’s minds, but not animals’ minds,” I told him, assuming that that’s what he meant, “so you’ll have to just exert yourself a little and—”
A loud bark reverberated off of the trees surrounding us as Skylar shook his head resolutely. Emily gave a perplexed look from where she was walking a few feet behind. “He says that he’s been talking to you, and being weirded out that you haven’t been speaking back.”
“What?! Really?” I asked. “That’s so weird…Like, super weird.”
Emily nodded, and soon we were walking again. I was just kind of thinking, but making sure I stayed on the path, and Skylar had gone back to where Emily was. All was pretty peaceful, and finally we emerged from the forest path and onto a cleared-out one, like before.
The only problem was that this one was a forked path, and none of us could remember which way we were supposed to be heading. “Well,” I said uncertainly, “let’s go right.” We started walking right, and I turned to Emily. “So?” I asked her.
“I…It’s weird, but I can’t see anything at all. Usually I could probably at least get a vague idea that we were going the wrong way, since I’m psychic and all, but I’ve got absolutely nothing.” She blinked, looking profoundly taken aback. “But let’s try this way for a while, and we’ll see. I’m sure it’s just that I’m tired, or something.”
Biting my lip, I nodded. “Okay, Em,” I said, and we kept walking until sunset, when we all sat down around a gigantic tree, bigger than any I’d ever seen, to eat a dinner of mangoes, jerky, and some water from the river, which we’d carefully filtered until we were sure that there were no bug bits left in it, at least. “Well, I’m exhausted, so—”
“Be quiet for a second, Kaliyan,” Emily said seriously, looking straight into the forest, her brow slightly creased like it was when she was deep in concentration. “There’s something—someone—out there.” She narrowed her eyes and slowly stood, then ran into the forest.
I saw a shadow darting back and forth, getting further and further away, and finally it was gone. Emily came back to our little circle and sighed. “What’d you see?” I asked.
“Nothing,” she mumbled dejectedly, biting into a piece of mango. “Just, never mind. Go to bed; I’m just going to finish eating and pack up for the morning.”
Her face was slowly fading from my view as the sun set, so I climbed onto my blanket, curled up, and dreamlessly fell into a deep sleep.
Emily’s POV
I leaned against a tree and closed my eyes, determined not to succumb to rest like my body was begging and pleading for me to. Instead, I remained as wide awake as possible, listening to the many sounds of the forest. My intuition as a clairvoyant was telling me that there was something out of place, and I wasn’t going to ignore it any longer.
Snap. My breath caught in my throat, but I carefully regulated it again and listened as the footfalls got slowly closer, finally stopping. I slid my eyes open a little bit, so that they were about halfway open—the way I usually slept.
This time, though the bottoms weren’t blacked out with sleep, and I watched intently as a form in front of me leaned over and touched Kaliyan’s forehead with two fingers, leaving a kind of glittering residue where he'd pressed his skin to hers. He then moved onto Skylar, placing his forefinger and middle finger on his furry muzzle, then walked up to me.
“I see that you’re sleeping open-eyed as usual, my dear,” he whispered, leaning down. His face was shrouded in shadow as he placed his hand on my wrist and narrowed his eyes until they were slits. “But tonight you’re really not asleep, are you?”
He put his two fingers on my forehead, and a tingling sensation rushed from the two points until it enveloped my entire body. Then the man slowly brought his hand behind my neck and pressed the relaxing pressure point—hard—smiling an infuriatingly gentle smile.
The world went black.
Miguel started filling us in. “Just follow the dust path until you reach a very large oak tree,” he told us. “Then simply climb up the oak tree and you will arrive at the home of Doctor Anthony Kingston. Just stay on the path, and you will be fine. Good luck, my friends.”
He clapped us each on the back, and the wagon started rumbling back to the city again, leaving our foursome standing in the middle of nowhere, alone.
“Crap,” Kaliyan said eloquently.
Crap is very right, Skylar agreed. But we should probably start going…the sooner we start, the sooner we get there, right?
Kaliyan, Felix, and I shrugged. “I guess so,” Felix said dubiously. “Well, let’s go.” And without further ado, he started trekking into the rainforest.
Kaliyan quickly scrambled after him, followed closely by Skylar and me, and soon I lost sight of the sunny field that we’d been standing in. “Oh, boy,” I said, dread coating my voice, as I took in the jungle. At least the others are with me, I thought, and it reassured me.
We walked for a long while, all of us but Skylar completely tired out by the time the sun started to set. Kaliyan and I set up a lean-to against a particularly flat-sided tree, and soon we were all huddled around a very small campfire.
Popping a piece of jerky into his mouth, Felix finally said, “I’m exhausted…let’s go to sleep now.”
We all agreed. I walked over to my pack and took out my blanket, spreading it on the ground to lay on. Then I curled up on my side and drifted into unconsciousness.
My sleep was uneventful, with no dreams, and I was soon woken by a gentle nudging in my back. I opened my eyes, and was briefly disoriented by the muggy air. “Where am I?” I mumbled, struggling to sit up. Then my memories came rushing back to me. “Oh.”
Up and at ‘em, Skylar chimed, then went on to wake Kaliyan.
A muss-haired Felix was already chowing down on a banana, fresh from a tree across the path from ours, and I grabbed myself one. It was quickly gone, as was another one; I was quite hungry that morning from all the walking I'd done the day before. Then we all stood up, packed our bags, and headed out again.
Felix was in the front, being the one who supposedly knew these woods, followed by Skylar, then Kaliyan and yours truly. We walked for hours, and finally stopped when Felix literally collapsed from exhaustion. Then we propped him up against a tree and ate some more jerky, waiting for about an hour until Felix said that he could walk again.
So we set off once more, but we only got a few feet ahead before the road turned sharply to the left and disappeared into the underbrush. We paused before going into the thick forest, where the path was nearly unintelligible from the grasses around it.
“Oh, god,” Kaliyan was saying, over and over again. “Oh, god, oh, god, oh, god.”
I rolled my eyes. “Gimme a break, Kaliyan, we’ll be fine.”
Kaliyan’s POV
“That’s easy for you to say,” I grumbled to Emily, who was gingerly picking her way behind me, next to Skylar. “You’re right next to the giant wolf.”
I heard a huffing noise come from Skylar, and figured he was laughing. I sighed and waited for a little while, waiting for the mandatory exchange between my best friend and Skylar to come to an end. I really hated it when they had their telepathic talks, and even though I could read human minds, I found that I couldn’t figure out what Skylar was thinking.
Yeah, I know, Skye, but you could at least move up a few steps, to comfort her, Emily was reassuring Skylar. There was a pause while he responded, then Emily grinned. Gimme a break, she laughed in her head and Skylar’s—as well as, unknowingly, mine, I’ll be fine. It’s not like I could lose you people when you’re only a few feet in front of me.
There was a loud burst of air, then Skylar quickened to a lope and came up next to me, slowing down a little to match my pace. “Hey, puppy,” I said teasingly. He was silent. “C’mon, I know you can talk in people’s heads, but you’re not talking to me. What’s with that?”
Skylar’s elongated head turned to face me, his expression puzzled. I rolled my eyes. “I can read people’s minds, but not animals’ minds,” I told him, assuming that that’s what he meant, “so you’ll have to just exert yourself a little and—”
A loud bark reverberated off of the trees surrounding us as Skylar shook his head resolutely. Emily gave a perplexed look from where she was walking a few feet behind. “He says that he’s been talking to you, and being weirded out that you haven’t been speaking back.”
“What?! Really?” I asked. “That’s so weird…Like, super weird.”
Emily nodded, and soon we were walking again. I was just kind of thinking, but making sure I stayed on the path, and Skylar had gone back to where Emily was. All was pretty peaceful, and finally we emerged from the forest path and onto a cleared-out one, like before.
The only problem was that this one was a forked path, and none of us could remember which way we were supposed to be heading. “Well,” I said uncertainly, “let’s go right.” We started walking right, and I turned to Emily. “So?” I asked her.
“I…It’s weird, but I can’t see anything at all. Usually I could probably at least get a vague idea that we were going the wrong way, since I’m psychic and all, but I’ve got absolutely nothing.” She blinked, looking profoundly taken aback. “But let’s try this way for a while, and we’ll see. I’m sure it’s just that I’m tired, or something.”
Biting my lip, I nodded. “Okay, Em,” I said, and we kept walking until sunset, when we all sat down around a gigantic tree, bigger than any I’d ever seen, to eat a dinner of mangoes, jerky, and some water from the river, which we’d carefully filtered until we were sure that there were no bug bits left in it, at least. “Well, I’m exhausted, so—”
“Be quiet for a second, Kaliyan,” Emily said seriously, looking straight into the forest, her brow slightly creased like it was when she was deep in concentration. “There’s something—someone—out there.” She narrowed her eyes and slowly stood, then ran into the forest.
I saw a shadow darting back and forth, getting further and further away, and finally it was gone. Emily came back to our little circle and sighed. “What’d you see?” I asked.
“Nothing,” she mumbled dejectedly, biting into a piece of mango. “Just, never mind. Go to bed; I’m just going to finish eating and pack up for the morning.”
Her face was slowly fading from my view as the sun set, so I climbed onto my blanket, curled up, and dreamlessly fell into a deep sleep.
Emily’s POV
I leaned against a tree and closed my eyes, determined not to succumb to rest like my body was begging and pleading for me to. Instead, I remained as wide awake as possible, listening to the many sounds of the forest. My intuition as a clairvoyant was telling me that there was something out of place, and I wasn’t going to ignore it any longer.
Snap. My breath caught in my throat, but I carefully regulated it again and listened as the footfalls got slowly closer, finally stopping. I slid my eyes open a little bit, so that they were about halfway open—the way I usually slept.
This time, though the bottoms weren’t blacked out with sleep, and I watched intently as a form in front of me leaned over and touched Kaliyan’s forehead with two fingers, leaving a kind of glittering residue where he'd pressed his skin to hers. He then moved onto Skylar, placing his forefinger and middle finger on his furry muzzle, then walked up to me.
“I see that you’re sleeping open-eyed as usual, my dear,” he whispered, leaning down. His face was shrouded in shadow as he placed his hand on my wrist and narrowed his eyes until they were slits. “But tonight you’re really not asleep, are you?”
He put his two fingers on my forehead, and a tingling sensation rushed from the two points until it enveloped my entire body. Then the man slowly brought his hand behind my neck and pressed the relaxing pressure point—hard—smiling an infuriatingly gentle smile.
The world went black.
Monday, July 6, 2009
Chapter Seven: Into the Sunset
As the wagon rumbled to a stop, I took in the bustling city, full of merchants, artisans, and a couple beggars. “Wow,” I breathed. “This is amazing.”
Isn’t it? Skylar asked rhetorically as he leapt from the wagon and trotted to the edge of the city, pacing back and forth. I gazed up at the skyscrapers in wonder.
Kaliyan voiced my thoughts. “I never expected skyscrapers in an Amazonian city,” she mused, her gaze similar to my own. Her eyes were faced towards the tips of the towers, which weren’t all that tall. The tallest one seemed to be about 20 stories high.
There was a lurch as we came to a halt yet again, this time in the middle of a marketplace. “Your escort to the jungle will leave whenever you wish it to,” Miguel said. I jumped; I’d forgotten that he was there. “I suggest, however, that you shop a bit. The bazaar here has the most wonderful baked goods, as well as fish, rugs…basically anything you wish.”
Kaliyan expressed her gratitude with a brief thanks. “Thanks, Miguel, we’ll stay here for a little while,” she said with a half-smile that widened considerably when Miguel handed each of us a pouch of glittering silver coins, about the size of dollar coins.
“Since I very much doubt that you brought any reai, here you are.” At our blank look, he said, “The reais is the Brazilian currency. It’s worth about 52 cents.”
We nodded our thanks, then leapt off the cart to join Skylar, who’d followed us and was seated by a stall boasting large, expensive tapestries.
The woman at the stall smiled. “Eu vender-lhe-ei estes para o meio preço, desde que você é crianças,” she said, a very gracious tone to her voice.
I paused. “I didn’t understand any of that…” I muttered, then said to the woman, in Spanish, “Lo siento, no hablo portugués, y hablo solamente un poco español. ¿Usted habla inglés?” After a brief pause, I added, “Do you speak English?” in my own language.
A smile and nod was my response. “Yes, most merchants speak fluent—or close to fluent—English. I was offering you half price for one of these lovely tapestries, since you are little ones, and visitors, no less.” She gave another congenial smile as she held up one of her works.
“No, thanks,” Kaliyan and I both said, but were quickly purchasing other goods, such as arapaima, a Brazilian freshwater fish, and Pão de Queijo, a delicious cheese bread. Then we happened upon what I suppose is Manaus’s equivalent of Monster or Amp: Guaraná.
The guaraná berry apparently had two to three times the caffeine of a coffee bean. The taste wasn’t all that strong, and was sort of apple-like, with a berry after-taste. In short, Guaraná was the best energy drink that I’d ever had.
Kaliyan agreed, especially after she’d downed the whole can. Her eyes widened and she started bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. This, which began as a slight shifting of weight, escalated until she was jumping up and down into the air, as if she was on a pogo stick. “I’m so hyper right now,” she informed me, and I laughed out loud.
As if I didn’t know that already, I thought; Kaliyan beamed at me, of course having read my thoughts. “Go run around the marketplace,” I told her sarcastically. “Please, do something to burn some energy.” To my surprise, she grinned wildly and went off to do just that.
I watched her as she shot off around the bazaar, when suddenly a local boy walked up to me, towing his younger sister by the hand. “Hello,” he said, sticking out a hand to me. I shook it. “I’m Felix, and I noticed that your friend—that is your friend, I hope—was running around the square.” He paused, looking uncertain and a little amused. “This isn’t her first time having Guaraná by any chance, is it?”
“Yeah, it is,” I answered, laughing lightly. “She drank the whole can, too, so I’m a little concerned that she’ll explode or something.”
Felix’s eyes were wide as saucers. “She—honest, she did? My first time, I only could drink a few sips before I was doing flips.” He demonstrated for me right then, executing a perfect back flip and sticking his landing. “That’s…that’s amazing.”
I laughed again. “Kaliyan’s amazing, alright.”
It was then that Kaliyan herself ran back up to me, not even out of breath. “Hey, what’s your name?” she asked Felix. “Mine’s Kaliyan; I’m her best friend. We’re from Minnesota—that’s in the United States, but you probably knew that already. But did you know that Guaraná is really good?” she rambled.
She then turned to me, without pausing, and continued, “By the way, Emily, do we have any more of that stuff? ‘Cause I think I could use some more right now.”
“No way,” Felix and I said in unison, shaking our heads firmly.
Kaliyan frowned. “But why?”
“Because you’re already really, really hyper, that’s why,” I told her. “Besides, we’ve got to go soon. Our cart to the river entrance gets here in about 5 minutes.”
Felix turned to me. “You’re going to the trajeto da água?” he asked. “Why? You must be newcomers, especially since you’ve never heard about Guaraná before…At least wait a while before you take on the trajeto, or you’ll surely…miss out on other things.”
Then his little sister made herself heard by saying, “You’ll die, won’t you, Felix?”
“Not necessarily, Teresa,” Felix answered firmly, looking disapprovingly down at his sister. “Some live, but I’m not sure that unaccompanied children have ever made it.”
He was talking to us for the last part, I was sure. “Well, we’re a little bit more than children,” I informed the dusty boy before me, “and I’m sure that we’ll be fine.”
Felix took a deep breath before offering, in a voice as cautious as can be, “I could come with you. I know this part of the river pretty well, and I’m fairly strong, from hauling fish…and I could be a good translator. Plus, the Amazons think I’m cute.”
“The Amazons are real?” I queried with awe. “You are talking about the women who live in the rainforest, right?”
As Felix nodded, his grin was wide. “Sim.”
“Sim?” Kaliyan repeated, sounding dubious. “What’s that?”
Our new guide blinked, looking a little too apologetic. “It means ‘yes’ in Portuguese. The people of Manaus occasionally slip into our home language, you see…”
I grinned; he was giving us more evidence that a translator was needed. “Of course you can come, Felix, if your parents think it’s okay, and if…well, your sister probably shouldn’t come along.”
Felix nodded eagerly. “Of course not,” he agreed hastily. “Peter will take care of her.”
The first thing I noticed was that Teresa’s eyes lit up with glee, so I took it that Peter was a good person to leave her with. “Okay, Felix,” I finally said. “Welcome to the team.” Felix grinned, his teeth sparkling white in contrast to his dusty skin. “We’d better catch our cart, though, or it’ll leave us behind.”
“No chance of that,” shouted a familiar voice, and around the bend came the wagon we’d ridden there in, carrying none other than Miguel. “Hop on, e pressa!”
Felix leaned over and whispered, “He said to hurry,” into my ear, then bent his knees and literally hopped onto the wagon, while Kaliyan and I just used the ladder.
I plopped myself down on a bench near the back, next to Skylar—who had already been on the wagon—as I saw an even dirtier boy than Felix come out of a nearby shop and start talking animatedly to Teresa. Well, off we go, Skylar said musingly.
And indeed, off we went.
Isn’t it? Skylar asked rhetorically as he leapt from the wagon and trotted to the edge of the city, pacing back and forth. I gazed up at the skyscrapers in wonder.
Kaliyan voiced my thoughts. “I never expected skyscrapers in an Amazonian city,” she mused, her gaze similar to my own. Her eyes were faced towards the tips of the towers, which weren’t all that tall. The tallest one seemed to be about 20 stories high.
There was a lurch as we came to a halt yet again, this time in the middle of a marketplace. “Your escort to the jungle will leave whenever you wish it to,” Miguel said. I jumped; I’d forgotten that he was there. “I suggest, however, that you shop a bit. The bazaar here has the most wonderful baked goods, as well as fish, rugs…basically anything you wish.”
Kaliyan expressed her gratitude with a brief thanks. “Thanks, Miguel, we’ll stay here for a little while,” she said with a half-smile that widened considerably when Miguel handed each of us a pouch of glittering silver coins, about the size of dollar coins.
“Since I very much doubt that you brought any reai, here you are.” At our blank look, he said, “The reais is the Brazilian currency. It’s worth about 52 cents.”
We nodded our thanks, then leapt off the cart to join Skylar, who’d followed us and was seated by a stall boasting large, expensive tapestries.
The woman at the stall smiled. “Eu vender-lhe-ei estes para o meio preço, desde que você é crianças,” she said, a very gracious tone to her voice.
I paused. “I didn’t understand any of that…” I muttered, then said to the woman, in Spanish, “Lo siento, no hablo portugués, y hablo solamente un poco español. ¿Usted habla inglés?” After a brief pause, I added, “Do you speak English?” in my own language.
A smile and nod was my response. “Yes, most merchants speak fluent—or close to fluent—English. I was offering you half price for one of these lovely tapestries, since you are little ones, and visitors, no less.” She gave another congenial smile as she held up one of her works.
“No, thanks,” Kaliyan and I both said, but were quickly purchasing other goods, such as arapaima, a Brazilian freshwater fish, and Pão de Queijo, a delicious cheese bread. Then we happened upon what I suppose is Manaus’s equivalent of Monster or Amp: Guaraná.
The guaraná berry apparently had two to three times the caffeine of a coffee bean. The taste wasn’t all that strong, and was sort of apple-like, with a berry after-taste. In short, Guaraná was the best energy drink that I’d ever had.
Kaliyan agreed, especially after she’d downed the whole can. Her eyes widened and she started bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet. This, which began as a slight shifting of weight, escalated until she was jumping up and down into the air, as if she was on a pogo stick. “I’m so hyper right now,” she informed me, and I laughed out loud.
As if I didn’t know that already, I thought; Kaliyan beamed at me, of course having read my thoughts. “Go run around the marketplace,” I told her sarcastically. “Please, do something to burn some energy.” To my surprise, she grinned wildly and went off to do just that.
I watched her as she shot off around the bazaar, when suddenly a local boy walked up to me, towing his younger sister by the hand. “Hello,” he said, sticking out a hand to me. I shook it. “I’m Felix, and I noticed that your friend—that is your friend, I hope—was running around the square.” He paused, looking uncertain and a little amused. “This isn’t her first time having Guaraná by any chance, is it?”
“Yeah, it is,” I answered, laughing lightly. “She drank the whole can, too, so I’m a little concerned that she’ll explode or something.”
Felix’s eyes were wide as saucers. “She—honest, she did? My first time, I only could drink a few sips before I was doing flips.” He demonstrated for me right then, executing a perfect back flip and sticking his landing. “That’s…that’s amazing.”
I laughed again. “Kaliyan’s amazing, alright.”
It was then that Kaliyan herself ran back up to me, not even out of breath. “Hey, what’s your name?” she asked Felix. “Mine’s Kaliyan; I’m her best friend. We’re from Minnesota—that’s in the United States, but you probably knew that already. But did you know that Guaraná is really good?” she rambled.
She then turned to me, without pausing, and continued, “By the way, Emily, do we have any more of that stuff? ‘Cause I think I could use some more right now.”
“No way,” Felix and I said in unison, shaking our heads firmly.
Kaliyan frowned. “But why?”
“Because you’re already really, really hyper, that’s why,” I told her. “Besides, we’ve got to go soon. Our cart to the river entrance gets here in about 5 minutes.”
Felix turned to me. “You’re going to the trajeto da água?” he asked. “Why? You must be newcomers, especially since you’ve never heard about Guaraná before…At least wait a while before you take on the trajeto, or you’ll surely…miss out on other things.”
Then his little sister made herself heard by saying, “You’ll die, won’t you, Felix?”
“Not necessarily, Teresa,” Felix answered firmly, looking disapprovingly down at his sister. “Some live, but I’m not sure that unaccompanied children have ever made it.”
He was talking to us for the last part, I was sure. “Well, we’re a little bit more than children,” I informed the dusty boy before me, “and I’m sure that we’ll be fine.”
Felix took a deep breath before offering, in a voice as cautious as can be, “I could come with you. I know this part of the river pretty well, and I’m fairly strong, from hauling fish…and I could be a good translator. Plus, the Amazons think I’m cute.”
“The Amazons are real?” I queried with awe. “You are talking about the women who live in the rainforest, right?”
As Felix nodded, his grin was wide. “Sim.”
“Sim?” Kaliyan repeated, sounding dubious. “What’s that?”
Our new guide blinked, looking a little too apologetic. “It means ‘yes’ in Portuguese. The people of Manaus occasionally slip into our home language, you see…”
I grinned; he was giving us more evidence that a translator was needed. “Of course you can come, Felix, if your parents think it’s okay, and if…well, your sister probably shouldn’t come along.”
Felix nodded eagerly. “Of course not,” he agreed hastily. “Peter will take care of her.”
The first thing I noticed was that Teresa’s eyes lit up with glee, so I took it that Peter was a good person to leave her with. “Okay, Felix,” I finally said. “Welcome to the team.” Felix grinned, his teeth sparkling white in contrast to his dusty skin. “We’d better catch our cart, though, or it’ll leave us behind.”
“No chance of that,” shouted a familiar voice, and around the bend came the wagon we’d ridden there in, carrying none other than Miguel. “Hop on, e pressa!”
Felix leaned over and whispered, “He said to hurry,” into my ear, then bent his knees and literally hopped onto the wagon, while Kaliyan and I just used the ladder.
I plopped myself down on a bench near the back, next to Skylar—who had already been on the wagon—as I saw an even dirtier boy than Felix come out of a nearby shop and start talking animatedly to Teresa. Well, off we go, Skylar said musingly.
And indeed, off we went.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Chapter Six: No Promises
“That was awkward,” Kaliyan said, then turned to Skylar. “So, what’d you need us so badly for? It’d better have been important, ‘cause you scared us out of our skin.”
Skylar grinned up at her, then shook his shaggy head, as if saying that it wasn’t important. Then he turned to me. Since you already know that I can talk like this, he told me with a wolfy grin, I’ll just tell you that I was listening into your conversation—I have ears like a wolf, remember—and I heard that you found a book that worked. Right?
I nodded. “That’s so cool. But yeah, we’re headed to the Amazon River, hopefully, if we could find a way to convince our parents to let us go…”
Well, you’ve come to the right canine. Skylar pulled my bag down with his teeth, then pawed—no pun intended—through it, finally tugging out a notebook and pen. “Okay, okay, I’ll get it,” I told him, laughing slightly, and opened the notebook to the right page.
Skylar took it and quickly started writing, holding the pen between two non-opposable fingers.
Congratulations!
WolfBane Inc. invites you and 3 friends to enjoy a splendid two months vacationing in the Cayman Islands. Your hotel is located on Rum Point, Grand Cayman, and your plane tickets are already paid for—the plane will be leaving at 3:30 pm, on the afternoon of June the 15th.
Thank you,
Timothy Bane
CEO, WolfBane Inc.
“So, whoever I give that to, their spouse, and the other two can go?” I asked Skylar, who nodded and nudged the beautifully-written page towards me with his nose. “Awesome, Skylar, thanks!” I hugged him tight—or his neck, at least—and showed the paper to Kaliyan. “This is how we’re going to be able to go to the Amazon River,” I told her.
I can pay for your plane tickets, too, Skylar said. Let’s just say that I know a guy who knows a pretty rich guy, who’s pretty charitable. He’ll definitely go for this.
The grin that stretched across my face could be rivaled by none as I squeezed Skylar’s furry neck yet harder, then turned to Kaliyan. “We’ll be flying free of charge, too. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Skylar! I don’t think we could do this without you!”
“No, we couldn’t, because without him we wouldn’t even want to go to Brazil,” Kaliyan pointed out. We laughed together for a moment, and I heard a huffing sound coming from Skylar: the silly grin on his face hinted that he was laughing, too.
I sighed happily. “Well, that takes care of that, then. Now we go stick this in the mailbox, along with the tickets, which I’m sure Skylar will somehow get…?”
Skylar bobbed his huge head. I’ve got a Pack, he reminded me. They’re not stuck, and they know the guy who knows the rich guy as well as…well, probably better than I do. He leaned into me in what I suppose was meant to be a reassuring way, but I almost fell over with the sudden weight. Don’t worry. You’re in good hands.
“Thanks again, Skye,” I repeated. “You’re awesome.”
Kaliyan rolled her eyes. “Okay, lovebirds, time to go. Meet us at Emily's house when you get the plane tickets for four to Grand Cayman, and for…two or three to northern Brazil somewhere…and get that letter written on normal paper, too—it won’t convince anyone if it’s on some wrinkled piece of notebook paper.”
Both my and Skylar’s answering nods were brisk, and soon Kaliyan and I were on our way to my house, probably to watch more movies and while away the time until our adventure began. My only thought as the front door creaked open was, Hopefully he won’t take too long.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Finally!” I shouted as I rushed to the door, opening it wide to accommodate the wolf who was standing behind it, a service dog pack slung over his back.
I peeled the pack open and dug through it, pulling out the official-looking envelope containing the letter, and two envelopes containing our separate tickets. There were 4 for Grand Cayman and only 2 for Brazil—Skylar had assured us that he could run that far in the same amount of time, if not less time, than a plane could fly the same distance.
I wasn’t sure if I believed him fully, but I accepted his terms, as he was the one paying for the tickets in the first place. This wasn’t the time to argue.
Kaliyan and I thanked Skylar, then went to pack, very lightly. I packed one change of clothes—a pair of jean shorts very similar to the ones I was wearing and an old, faded blue t-shirt—as well as a blanket, sunglasses, and tons of money.
Then I slung my bag onto my back and headed to the kitchen, grabbing an A&W for the ride to the airport. Kaliyan emerged from the guest room with her bag, which was…well, as if she were packing for a week-long pleasure trip to Florida.
“Get rid of all that stuff except for one change of clothes and money, Kaliyan,” I instructed, rolling my eyes. “We’re not going on vacation, and we’ll be walking a ton. So you’ll be lugging whatever you pack around as you hike. Capesche?”
Kaliyan smiled sheepishly and went back into the room, emerging a few minutes later with a backpack much like my own. “Better?” she asked, the sheepish smile still on her face.
“Much.”
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Security, as usual, was horrible, but we lived through it and got onto the plane with no problem, flashing our passports multiple times as we went. The ride was thoroughly uneventful, but extremely long, and when we finally arrived at the Eduardo Gomes International Airport in Brazil, my legs felt weak and rubbery from disuse, and I was hardly able to stumble down the aisle.
“Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow,” Kaliyan muttered as she staggered along behind me. “God, my legs are, like…ugh. Blah this.”
I shot her a look, then we struggled towards the shuttles. To my immense surprise, there was Skylar, sitting right next to the door with his service dog pack on. “You’re a little too big to be a Husky,” I whispered to him as we walked towards a wagon that was headed to the city of Manaus, Brazil.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, he replied with a wolfy chuckle.
We boarded the wagon, and were shown to our seats by a dark-skinned native, who told us in accented English that his name was Miguel Mendes, and that he was there to help us and our ‘dog.’ We thanked him, of course, but said that we needed no help.
“I will be here when you do, then,” Miguel responded, then turned around and shouted, to the man astride the horse in front, “A aprovação, deixou-nos vai!”
Whatever that means, I thought to myself with a wry smile.
After a short while of bumping along a dirt path, I decided to ask Miguel some questions. “So Miguel, what language do you speak here?”
He just shrugged. “Mainly Portuguese, but some of a language called Nhengatu,” he told us. “I was speaking Portuguese to Davi up there, earlier.”
“Escute! Nós estamos quase lá!” Davi, the man on the horse, called back.
Miguel nodded sharply. “Quanto hora?” he asked.
“Talvez cinco minutos.”
I grinned. “Hey, I understood some of that. Davi said…well, ‘escute’ sounds kind of like ‘escuche,’ in Spanish, so he said something like ‘Listen! We are…something.’ And then you asked how much time it would take, and he said something, then ‘five minutes.’”
“Very astute,” Miguel said. “Portuguese is much like Spanish…By the way, he said that we were almost there, and talvez means ‘maybe’ or ‘about.’”
Kaliyan nodded. “So Emily can probably translate a little bit…right, Em?”
“Well, I can try…but no promises.”
Skylar grinned up at her, then shook his shaggy head, as if saying that it wasn’t important. Then he turned to me. Since you already know that I can talk like this, he told me with a wolfy grin, I’ll just tell you that I was listening into your conversation—I have ears like a wolf, remember—and I heard that you found a book that worked. Right?
I nodded. “That’s so cool. But yeah, we’re headed to the Amazon River, hopefully, if we could find a way to convince our parents to let us go…”
Well, you’ve come to the right canine. Skylar pulled my bag down with his teeth, then pawed—no pun intended—through it, finally tugging out a notebook and pen. “Okay, okay, I’ll get it,” I told him, laughing slightly, and opened the notebook to the right page.
Skylar took it and quickly started writing, holding the pen between two non-opposable fingers.
Congratulations!
WolfBane Inc. invites you and 3 friends to enjoy a splendid two months vacationing in the Cayman Islands. Your hotel is located on Rum Point, Grand Cayman, and your plane tickets are already paid for—the plane will be leaving at 3:30 pm, on the afternoon of June the 15th.
Thank you,
Timothy Bane
CEO, WolfBane Inc.
“So, whoever I give that to, their spouse, and the other two can go?” I asked Skylar, who nodded and nudged the beautifully-written page towards me with his nose. “Awesome, Skylar, thanks!” I hugged him tight—or his neck, at least—and showed the paper to Kaliyan. “This is how we’re going to be able to go to the Amazon River,” I told her.
I can pay for your plane tickets, too, Skylar said. Let’s just say that I know a guy who knows a pretty rich guy, who’s pretty charitable. He’ll definitely go for this.
The grin that stretched across my face could be rivaled by none as I squeezed Skylar’s furry neck yet harder, then turned to Kaliyan. “We’ll be flying free of charge, too. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Skylar! I don’t think we could do this without you!”
“No, we couldn’t, because without him we wouldn’t even want to go to Brazil,” Kaliyan pointed out. We laughed together for a moment, and I heard a huffing sound coming from Skylar: the silly grin on his face hinted that he was laughing, too.
I sighed happily. “Well, that takes care of that, then. Now we go stick this in the mailbox, along with the tickets, which I’m sure Skylar will somehow get…?”
Skylar bobbed his huge head. I’ve got a Pack, he reminded me. They’re not stuck, and they know the guy who knows the rich guy as well as…well, probably better than I do. He leaned into me in what I suppose was meant to be a reassuring way, but I almost fell over with the sudden weight. Don’t worry. You’re in good hands.
“Thanks again, Skye,” I repeated. “You’re awesome.”
Kaliyan rolled her eyes. “Okay, lovebirds, time to go. Meet us at Emily's house when you get the plane tickets for four to Grand Cayman, and for…two or three to northern Brazil somewhere…and get that letter written on normal paper, too—it won’t convince anyone if it’s on some wrinkled piece of notebook paper.”
Both my and Skylar’s answering nods were brisk, and soon Kaliyan and I were on our way to my house, probably to watch more movies and while away the time until our adventure began. My only thought as the front door creaked open was, Hopefully he won’t take too long.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Finally!” I shouted as I rushed to the door, opening it wide to accommodate the wolf who was standing behind it, a service dog pack slung over his back.
I peeled the pack open and dug through it, pulling out the official-looking envelope containing the letter, and two envelopes containing our separate tickets. There were 4 for Grand Cayman and only 2 for Brazil—Skylar had assured us that he could run that far in the same amount of time, if not less time, than a plane could fly the same distance.
I wasn’t sure if I believed him fully, but I accepted his terms, as he was the one paying for the tickets in the first place. This wasn’t the time to argue.
Kaliyan and I thanked Skylar, then went to pack, very lightly. I packed one change of clothes—a pair of jean shorts very similar to the ones I was wearing and an old, faded blue t-shirt—as well as a blanket, sunglasses, and tons of money.
Then I slung my bag onto my back and headed to the kitchen, grabbing an A&W for the ride to the airport. Kaliyan emerged from the guest room with her bag, which was…well, as if she were packing for a week-long pleasure trip to Florida.
“Get rid of all that stuff except for one change of clothes and money, Kaliyan,” I instructed, rolling my eyes. “We’re not going on vacation, and we’ll be walking a ton. So you’ll be lugging whatever you pack around as you hike. Capesche?”
Kaliyan smiled sheepishly and went back into the room, emerging a few minutes later with a backpack much like my own. “Better?” she asked, the sheepish smile still on her face.
“Much.”
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Security, as usual, was horrible, but we lived through it and got onto the plane with no problem, flashing our passports multiple times as we went. The ride was thoroughly uneventful, but extremely long, and when we finally arrived at the Eduardo Gomes International Airport in Brazil, my legs felt weak and rubbery from disuse, and I was hardly able to stumble down the aisle.
“Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow,” Kaliyan muttered as she staggered along behind me. “God, my legs are, like…ugh. Blah this.”
I shot her a look, then we struggled towards the shuttles. To my immense surprise, there was Skylar, sitting right next to the door with his service dog pack on. “You’re a little too big to be a Husky,” I whispered to him as we walked towards a wagon that was headed to the city of Manaus, Brazil.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, he replied with a wolfy chuckle.
We boarded the wagon, and were shown to our seats by a dark-skinned native, who told us in accented English that his name was Miguel Mendes, and that he was there to help us and our ‘dog.’ We thanked him, of course, but said that we needed no help.
“I will be here when you do, then,” Miguel responded, then turned around and shouted, to the man astride the horse in front, “A aprovação, deixou-nos vai!”
Whatever that means, I thought to myself with a wry smile.
After a short while of bumping along a dirt path, I decided to ask Miguel some questions. “So Miguel, what language do you speak here?”
He just shrugged. “Mainly Portuguese, but some of a language called Nhengatu,” he told us. “I was speaking Portuguese to Davi up there, earlier.”
“Escute! Nós estamos quase lá!” Davi, the man on the horse, called back.
Miguel nodded sharply. “Quanto hora?” he asked.
“Talvez cinco minutos.”
I grinned. “Hey, I understood some of that. Davi said…well, ‘escute’ sounds kind of like ‘escuche,’ in Spanish, so he said something like ‘Listen! We are…something.’ And then you asked how much time it would take, and he said something, then ‘five minutes.’”
“Very astute,” Miguel said. “Portuguese is much like Spanish…By the way, he said that we were almost there, and talvez means ‘maybe’ or ‘about.’”
Kaliyan nodded. “So Emily can probably translate a little bit…right, Em?”
“Well, I can try…but no promises.”
Chapter Five: Houston...
Kaliyan and I cheered. “Yay! Thanks!” we shouted in chorus.
“No problem,” Skylar said wryly, then grabbed my arm and started running. I managed to get a firm grip on Kaliyan before we rocketed out of the park and down the street, darting in and out of the sparse traffic in order to get to our unknown destination.
I was out of breath in seconds. “Where’re we…going?” I gasped. A faint response drifted back on the wind, but I couldn’t really hear it. I sighed. “Can’t…hear you. Say…again.”
“He said ‘You’ll see,’” Kaliyan offered from behind me. I nodded my thanks and directed my efforts towards keeping up with Skylar, who was running faster than I’d ever seen anyone run before, towards…the nature preserve!
Finally, we screeched to a stop at the bottom of the bridge, Kaliyan huffing, me gasping for air, and Skylar leaning nonchalantly against a wooden fencepost. “Jeez,” he commented, “did I really wear you two out with a short jog down the block?” He then winked, so I took it as a joke.
When I regained some of my breath, I stood up straight and asked, “We’re going into the preserve?” Skylar nodded. “Why?” I started to ask, then realized that a lycan would need some privacy to change forms; he wouldn’t want to be spotted either changing into a wolf or in his birthday suit.
The lycan in question had already removed his shirt—revealing a very distinct 6-pack—and was beckoning for Kaliyan and I to follow him over the bridge. We did, and were soon emerging from behind a tree to see a larger version of the wolf I saw, all those years ago.
“Cool,” Kaliyan breathed.
I nodded. “Very cool.”
My friend and I watched as the wolf moved silkily towards us, then bowed its head and grinned a wolfy grin. Then a strange guttural noise came from the creature.
Kaliyan’s face twisted in confusion. “‘Hi’?” she guessed, and the wolf nodded its large head. “Oh, so you’re talking to us.” Another nod. “Okay.”
“How did you understand him?!” I asked, amazed; I hadn’t heard anything but a strange grunt. Kaliyan shrugged, then gave me a sly smile. I immediately understood. “You—” I began, then stopped and thought the rest of my message. You read his mind, I thought to her. She nodded. And you want him to think you’re some wolf-understanding prodigy or something, or just don’t want to tell him? She shrugged. He knows that you’re telepathic, Kaliyan.
She heaved a huge sigh, then thought, I know. I could only hear it because she pushed it at me, and it wiggled its way from her mind into mine. I smiled. “Anyway, thanks, Skylar. You can change back now…I don’t want you to get stuck or anything.”
“Haha, like the Animorphs,” Kaliyan shouted. “They can only stay in a certain form for 2 hours or they change permanently.”
I rolled my eyes. “You would think of that,” I scoffed, then listened very carefully as Skylar emitted another series of sounds. I looked at Kaliyan and thought, Any ideas?
“He says that he’s been doing this—changing into a wolf—for over 10 years and that sometimes he’s been in that form for days and weeks. He won’t get stuck.” She smiled proudly, then turned back to Skylar. “Right?”
The wolf nodded his head again, then closed his bright turquoise eyes, which matched that of Skylar’s human form. He seemed to concentrate.
A few moments later, his eyes opened, and they were wide with panic. He grunted and barked out a message, this time directly to Kaliyan; he’d figured out that I couldn’t understand him. “He says that he…” Kaliyan began, then broke off. Her expression became bewildered. “What do you mean you really can’t change back?! I thought you said—”
Skylar barked loudly, his furry eyebrows pulled down low over his eyes. “Emily, are you a fate-shifter?” Kaliyan asked me rhetorically, then answered her own question with a, “Um, no. She’s not. Any more pointless, weird questions?”
The wolf’s huge head was lowered to the ground as two huge eyes slid shut. I thought I saw a glimmering tear slide from one of the eyes, but a second later it was gone, so I couldn’t be sure. “I’m so sorry, Skylar. I don’t know what I did…but I wasn’t trying to get you stuck or anything.”
I knelt down beside the giant dog and put a ginger hand on his neck, stroking it like I would a normal canine. “We’ll get you back to normal,” I promised, my voice a little raw for some reason. “I swear on my life, we’ll find a way to get you human again.”
Skylar’s head rose up, carrying my hand with it, and he gently leaned his head into my stomach. Suddenly a thought made its way into my head, and it wasn’t mine or Kaliyan’s. Thanks, it said, and it sounded exactly like the boy in front of me.
“S-Skye?” I whispered, slipping into the nickname with ease. “Was that you?”
I heard Skylar laugh in my head. Yeah. You didn’t think I’d be mute when I was in wolf form, did you? Wow, you humans really are naïve. There was another chuckle, seeming to echo, then Skylar sobered up a little bit and decided to inform me a little more.
It’s pretty much like in that stupid book, Twilight, except it’s not just to members of my Pack, and it’s not all of my thoughts. Basically, when I’m in this form, I’m a one-way telepathic, and that one way is outwards. Get it?
“Got it,” I said, expecting him to say just what he did: Good.
Kaliyan sat beside me and asked, “Is he, like, talking in your head or something? Like I do?” I nodded mutely, staring into Skylar’s vibrant eyes. “That’s cool. So how can we get him to not be a giant wolf any more? Do you have any ideas? ‘Cause I sure don’t.”
“Nope,” I said, tearing my eyes away from Skylar’s. “I’ve got nothing. Maybe we could stop by the library or something, later, and get some information on lycans…”
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A loud groan escaped my lips as I shut what seemed to be the millionth book I’d looked through so far. “This book’s crap, too,” I called to Kaliyan, who sighed and set her book on top of our stack. Lycans: The Research of Carolina Dilauro was the title.
“Ditto here,” she said dejectedly, opening up yet another manuscript. I did the same.
We’d been going through book after book about lycans, werewolves, shape-shifters, and more, but so far had found absolutely nothing that we needed. They were all about ways to cure yourself of lycanthropy and how to become a lycanthrope and such; there wasn’t a word about a lycan or shape-shifter getting stuck in his/her other form.
I pulled another paperback off the shelf and dubiously opened it up, paging to the table of contents and scanning it quickly. I then flipped to the ‘Ailments’ section, and skimmed through that. I wasn’t very focused, as my thoughts were that this would be useless as well, but I immediately snapped to attention when I saw a heading that read Morphing difficulties.
Then I quickly read the article beneath it, sure that this was the answer.
I leaned over to Kaliyan and tapped her on the back. “Hey, Kali,” I whispered, “I found someone who could help Skylar. His name is Doctor Kingston—” I pointed to his name, “—and he’s supposedly an expert on shape-shifters and this particular…phenomenon, where the shifter gets stuck in one form. It’s just in Brazil, which isn’t all that far away. South America, at least, so not overseas.”
“Okay, so who’s gonna get our parents to buy this and let us go to the Amazon River?” Kaliyan asked, after reading the passage.
That I didn’t know. “I volunteer you,” I said, grinning, “but maybe—”
All of a sudden the intercom bleeped, and a lady announced that we should come to the front desk. We leapt to our feet, abandoning all the books except for the one with the information on Dr. Kingston, which I stuffed into my trusty hobo bag. Then we ran to the front to see an extremely random man standing there.
“Hello, girls,” he said with a strained smile, then took Kaliyan’s hand and dropped a slip of paper into it. She held it up to her eyes, read whatever it said, then nodded at me, looking a little amused.
We followed the guy out onto the street, where he stopped in front of Skylar.
The man took a deep breath. “This, um, wolf,” he began, sounding uncertain about Skylar’s species, apparently, “wrote for me to retrieve you from the library. I’m not sure how he gained the intelligence required to write, and I won’t inquire about it, as I’m not quite sure that I’d like to know.”
He paused. “My name is Isaac Mayer, for future reference, and I’m…well, see for yourself. Here’s my card.” He handed me a business card, which I stuck into the lycan book to mark the page that I wanted. It’s got tons of purposes, I thought to myself with a smile.
“Thanks, Mr. Mayer,” I said, really meaning it. “We, um, trained him to be able to—”
Mr. Mayer held up his hand. “No, no, I said that I didn’t want to know, my dear,” he said with a warm smile, “and you may call me Isaac.”
“Well, then, thank you very much, Isaac. Whatever our…dog needed us for, I’m sure that it was an emergency.” I directed this last fragment towards Skylar, along with a meaningful look. “Anyway, we should probably be going. Thanks again.”
Isaac nodded firmly, then strode away.
“No problem,” Skylar said wryly, then grabbed my arm and started running. I managed to get a firm grip on Kaliyan before we rocketed out of the park and down the street, darting in and out of the sparse traffic in order to get to our unknown destination.
I was out of breath in seconds. “Where’re we…going?” I gasped. A faint response drifted back on the wind, but I couldn’t really hear it. I sighed. “Can’t…hear you. Say…again.”
“He said ‘You’ll see,’” Kaliyan offered from behind me. I nodded my thanks and directed my efforts towards keeping up with Skylar, who was running faster than I’d ever seen anyone run before, towards…the nature preserve!
Finally, we screeched to a stop at the bottom of the bridge, Kaliyan huffing, me gasping for air, and Skylar leaning nonchalantly against a wooden fencepost. “Jeez,” he commented, “did I really wear you two out with a short jog down the block?” He then winked, so I took it as a joke.
When I regained some of my breath, I stood up straight and asked, “We’re going into the preserve?” Skylar nodded. “Why?” I started to ask, then realized that a lycan would need some privacy to change forms; he wouldn’t want to be spotted either changing into a wolf or in his birthday suit.
The lycan in question had already removed his shirt—revealing a very distinct 6-pack—and was beckoning for Kaliyan and I to follow him over the bridge. We did, and were soon emerging from behind a tree to see a larger version of the wolf I saw, all those years ago.
“Cool,” Kaliyan breathed.
I nodded. “Very cool.”
My friend and I watched as the wolf moved silkily towards us, then bowed its head and grinned a wolfy grin. Then a strange guttural noise came from the creature.
Kaliyan’s face twisted in confusion. “‘Hi’?” she guessed, and the wolf nodded its large head. “Oh, so you’re talking to us.” Another nod. “Okay.”
“How did you understand him?!” I asked, amazed; I hadn’t heard anything but a strange grunt. Kaliyan shrugged, then gave me a sly smile. I immediately understood. “You—” I began, then stopped and thought the rest of my message. You read his mind, I thought to her. She nodded. And you want him to think you’re some wolf-understanding prodigy or something, or just don’t want to tell him? She shrugged. He knows that you’re telepathic, Kaliyan.
She heaved a huge sigh, then thought, I know. I could only hear it because she pushed it at me, and it wiggled its way from her mind into mine. I smiled. “Anyway, thanks, Skylar. You can change back now…I don’t want you to get stuck or anything.”
“Haha, like the Animorphs,” Kaliyan shouted. “They can only stay in a certain form for 2 hours or they change permanently.”
I rolled my eyes. “You would think of that,” I scoffed, then listened very carefully as Skylar emitted another series of sounds. I looked at Kaliyan and thought, Any ideas?
“He says that he’s been doing this—changing into a wolf—for over 10 years and that sometimes he’s been in that form for days and weeks. He won’t get stuck.” She smiled proudly, then turned back to Skylar. “Right?”
The wolf nodded his head again, then closed his bright turquoise eyes, which matched that of Skylar’s human form. He seemed to concentrate.
A few moments later, his eyes opened, and they were wide with panic. He grunted and barked out a message, this time directly to Kaliyan; he’d figured out that I couldn’t understand him. “He says that he…” Kaliyan began, then broke off. Her expression became bewildered. “What do you mean you really can’t change back?! I thought you said—”
Skylar barked loudly, his furry eyebrows pulled down low over his eyes. “Emily, are you a fate-shifter?” Kaliyan asked me rhetorically, then answered her own question with a, “Um, no. She’s not. Any more pointless, weird questions?”
The wolf’s huge head was lowered to the ground as two huge eyes slid shut. I thought I saw a glimmering tear slide from one of the eyes, but a second later it was gone, so I couldn’t be sure. “I’m so sorry, Skylar. I don’t know what I did…but I wasn’t trying to get you stuck or anything.”
I knelt down beside the giant dog and put a ginger hand on his neck, stroking it like I would a normal canine. “We’ll get you back to normal,” I promised, my voice a little raw for some reason. “I swear on my life, we’ll find a way to get you human again.”
Skylar’s head rose up, carrying my hand with it, and he gently leaned his head into my stomach. Suddenly a thought made its way into my head, and it wasn’t mine or Kaliyan’s. Thanks, it said, and it sounded exactly like the boy in front of me.
“S-Skye?” I whispered, slipping into the nickname with ease. “Was that you?”
I heard Skylar laugh in my head. Yeah. You didn’t think I’d be mute when I was in wolf form, did you? Wow, you humans really are naïve. There was another chuckle, seeming to echo, then Skylar sobered up a little bit and decided to inform me a little more.
It’s pretty much like in that stupid book, Twilight, except it’s not just to members of my Pack, and it’s not all of my thoughts. Basically, when I’m in this form, I’m a one-way telepathic, and that one way is outwards. Get it?
“Got it,” I said, expecting him to say just what he did: Good.
Kaliyan sat beside me and asked, “Is he, like, talking in your head or something? Like I do?” I nodded mutely, staring into Skylar’s vibrant eyes. “That’s cool. So how can we get him to not be a giant wolf any more? Do you have any ideas? ‘Cause I sure don’t.”
“Nope,” I said, tearing my eyes away from Skylar’s. “I’ve got nothing. Maybe we could stop by the library or something, later, and get some information on lycans…”
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A loud groan escaped my lips as I shut what seemed to be the millionth book I’d looked through so far. “This book’s crap, too,” I called to Kaliyan, who sighed and set her book on top of our stack. Lycans: The Research of Carolina Dilauro was the title.
“Ditto here,” she said dejectedly, opening up yet another manuscript. I did the same.
We’d been going through book after book about lycans, werewolves, shape-shifters, and more, but so far had found absolutely nothing that we needed. They were all about ways to cure yourself of lycanthropy and how to become a lycanthrope and such; there wasn’t a word about a lycan or shape-shifter getting stuck in his/her other form.
I pulled another paperback off the shelf and dubiously opened it up, paging to the table of contents and scanning it quickly. I then flipped to the ‘Ailments’ section, and skimmed through that. I wasn’t very focused, as my thoughts were that this would be useless as well, but I immediately snapped to attention when I saw a heading that read Morphing difficulties.
Then I quickly read the article beneath it, sure that this was the answer.
One morphing difficulty, and most probably the most common, is being what some call ‘crippled’ or ‘frozen’ in one form. This can be extremely wearying, as being stuck in one form is quite awkward, especially when you’ve been a shape-shifter for quite a while.
There are only three known specialist in the area of shape-shifting that knows anything about this, and only one that knows the cure, and he refuses to tell anyone—including me, your author—anything about it.
His name is Doctor Anthony Kingston, and he can usually be found at his tree-top home near the Amazon River in Brazil, although I don’t recommend going to visit him unless you’ve got a real, live shifter who’s caught in a form, in which case, let them go themselves, and come to me with pictures of them shifting (if you got some before they became frozen, that is).
There are only three known specialist in the area of shape-shifting that knows anything about this, and only one that knows the cure, and he refuses to tell anyone—including me, your author—anything about it.
His name is Doctor Anthony Kingston, and he can usually be found at his tree-top home near the Amazon River in Brazil, although I don’t recommend going to visit him unless you’ve got a real, live shifter who’s caught in a form, in which case, let them go themselves, and come to me with pictures of them shifting (if you got some before they became frozen, that is).
I leaned over to Kaliyan and tapped her on the back. “Hey, Kali,” I whispered, “I found someone who could help Skylar. His name is Doctor Kingston—” I pointed to his name, “—and he’s supposedly an expert on shape-shifters and this particular…phenomenon, where the shifter gets stuck in one form. It’s just in Brazil, which isn’t all that far away. South America, at least, so not overseas.”
“Okay, so who’s gonna get our parents to buy this and let us go to the Amazon River?” Kaliyan asked, after reading the passage.
That I didn’t know. “I volunteer you,” I said, grinning, “but maybe—”
All of a sudden the intercom bleeped, and a lady announced that we should come to the front desk. We leapt to our feet, abandoning all the books except for the one with the information on Dr. Kingston, which I stuffed into my trusty hobo bag. Then we ran to the front to see an extremely random man standing there.
“Hello, girls,” he said with a strained smile, then took Kaliyan’s hand and dropped a slip of paper into it. She held it up to her eyes, read whatever it said, then nodded at me, looking a little amused.
We followed the guy out onto the street, where he stopped in front of Skylar.
The man took a deep breath. “This, um, wolf,” he began, sounding uncertain about Skylar’s species, apparently, “wrote for me to retrieve you from the library. I’m not sure how he gained the intelligence required to write, and I won’t inquire about it, as I’m not quite sure that I’d like to know.”
He paused. “My name is Isaac Mayer, for future reference, and I’m…well, see for yourself. Here’s my card.” He handed me a business card, which I stuck into the lycan book to mark the page that I wanted. It’s got tons of purposes, I thought to myself with a smile.
“Thanks, Mr. Mayer,” I said, really meaning it. “We, um, trained him to be able to—”
Mr. Mayer held up his hand. “No, no, I said that I didn’t want to know, my dear,” he said with a warm smile, “and you may call me Isaac.”
“Well, then, thank you very much, Isaac. Whatever our…dog needed us for, I’m sure that it was an emergency.” I directed this last fragment towards Skylar, along with a meaningful look. “Anyway, we should probably be going. Thanks again.”
Isaac nodded firmly, then strode away.
Chapter Four: Surprise, Surprise
I sighed and looked at Kaliyan, who was watching Skylar leave. “So…”
“So,” she echoed, “he’s pretty cute.”
One of my eyebrows rose a little as I responded with an eloquent, “Wha’?”
Kaliyan shrugged. “Skylar’s pretty cute,” she repeated, looking at me like I was going crazy—maybe I was. “And he’s a lycan, which is also majorly cool. It sucks sometimes that Dusk is just a plain old human, you know? I need some excitement in my life.”
I laughed at the ‘excitement’ bit, then said, “Speaking of Dusk, we should go visit him.”
“Why?”
“You haven’t seen him for a whole day,” I replied with a playful grin. “He might have forgotten what you look like by now.”
My best friend rolled her eyes and stood up, rolling her eyes and throwing a quick, “Fine,” over her shoulder. Then she started to walk briskly down the road towards her boyfriend’s house. I got clumsily to my feet and followed her at a slow jog, coming to her side in a few seconds.
We walked in companionable silence until we reached Dusk’s house. Then we walked up to the door, and Kaliyan knocked three times. Very quickly, the front door swung open to reveal a flustered-looking woman that looked to be his mother.
“Hi,” I greeted her, flashing a smile. “Is Daniel home?”
She narrowed her eyes. “And how,” she asked slowly, a shoddily sweet tone to her voice, “do you know Daniel?” The woman looked suspicious but carefully welcoming.
Kaliyan rolled her eyes and stepped up. “I’m his girlfriend. Why do you need to know, anyway? Is he under the witness-protection program or something? I mean, my god, lady.” Then she cut past the woman and strode directly into the house.
She’s never been here before, I suddenly realized, and it was true. Through their entire 9-month partnership, Kaliyan had never been over to Dusk’s—or Daniel, which was his real name—house. That’s not extremely weird or anything.
I wonder what he’s got to hide, I thought to myself, leaning up against the wall and staring right through the woman’s ear.
The door opened and Kaliyan stepped out. “You wonder what who’s got to hide?” Kaliyan asked me, one eyebrow slightly above the other. Her boyfriend wasn’t aware of her so-called ‘abilities’—I was the only one who was, as far as I knew—but I suppose she could have been continuing a conversation that we had been having before that woman had opened the door.
“Oh, nothing,” I said offhandedly, shooting her a look that said Later.
She shrugged and walked down the steps; I was only a step behind. “Dusk says hi, and that I look really pretty today,” she said, giving a dubious glance at the old sweatpants and baggy t-shirt that she’d never changed out of after sleeping—they were her makeshift pajamas.
I laughed out loud. “Wow.”
We talked until we finally reached my house, where my mom was waiting for us with steaks and a smile. “Hi, girls,” she greeted. “You missed lunch, so I made you dinner so that you wouldn’t have to wait any longer than the moment you crossed the door.” She smiled and handed us our plates, which were heaping with meat, fruit, and—best of all—chocolate.
“Thanks,” Kaliyan and I said, then headed for the living room, where we chowed down to the dulcet tones of the Twilight movie.
Finally, at about 1am, we fell asleep. I dreamt of cute lycans and mysterious boys named Nobody—or were they one and the same?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“’Morning, sleepyhead,” Kaliyan whispered, shaking me awake.
My eyes fluttered open to find the sun filtering through the large window in shafts, and quickly sat up and looked at the clock: it was nearly 10 in the morning. “Hey,” I said, a half-smile on my face, as I took in my best friend, who was still in her ‘pajamas’ from the day before.
She grinned down at me. “Happy second day of summer vacay.”
“I’ll drink to that,” I said, sitting up and padding into the kitchen, where I grabbed each of us a can of Mountain Dew, which was our form of coffee. Then I wandered right back to the living room, and Kaliyan and I got our morning dose of caffeine.
Kaliyan’s arms stretched high over her head as she yawned and said, “So, what’re we doin’ today? Wanna go back to the park and talk to Skylar again, or…?”
After yawning myself, and scolding Kaliyan while telling her that it was contagious, I replied that I had thought about that option. “Gimme a little bit to get dressed and I’ll meet you outside. We can walk or bike; you can choose.”
Then, after Kaliyan had headed into the guest room to get some clothes of her own, I headed into my own room and grabbed an old pair of jeans, cut off just below the knees. Then I pulled on a tight-fitting grey t-shirt that was very flattering on me, as well as being extremely comfortable. Finally, I slid my feet into my favorite lime green flip-flops and headed out the front door.
Kaliyan was already straddling my spare bike, which was actually pretty much hers. I took my bike, which she proffered to me, and we were there within 2 minutes.
To my surprise, Skylar was already there, sitting beneath an old oak tree with bare feet and closed eyes, seemingly asleep. Kaliyan and I watched his chest rise and fall with each breath, wondering whether to wake him up, when suddenly his mouth twitched into this completely adorable half-grin and he leapt to his feet. He then covered the distance between us in two strides.
“Yo,” he said, slinging an arm over my shoulder and winking. “How’d you sleep?”
I shrugged. “I was out like a light after about 1.”
“Me too,” Kaliyan piped up. “We watched Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse in a row. It was majorly awesome, even though you might not think that, since you’re a guy and guys don’t generally…you know…like the Twilight series at all, and stuff.”
One of Skylar’s eyebrows arched high as he answered. “The Twilight series is okay, writing-wise, but only if you ignore the fact that the author has no idea what she’s writing about,” he said in a low voice. “Otherwise…well, there’s a horrible plot, a way-too-perfect boyfriend, a way-too-weak girlfriend, a way-too-perfect daughter—yes, I read Breaking Dawn—and, well, it’s all pretty lame.”
I stared at Skylar. “You did not just say what I think you said.”
Skylar rolled his eyes, and I swear they almost went backwards his irises rose so high. “Sorry if you’re a Twi-hard, but as a matter of fact I did say what I said.”
“No, no, I’m not a Twilight freak at all. It’s not that. It’s…you just totally summed up, with perfect accuracy, my summarization of what’s wrong with the series!” My eyes were round as saucers as I gazed at Skylar, who I had a newfound respect for.
The lycan opened his mouth to say something, then snapped it back shut. When he opened it again, it was to mumble, “Well, that’s not what I was expecting…”
“Can you change into a wolf?” Kaliyan asked out of nowhere; I expected that she was getting bored with our anti-Twilight talk. “Like, right now? I just wanna see.”
I nodded eagerly. “Please?”
Skylar’s rejoinder came in the form of a sigh and a brisk nod. “I don’t usually do this just for show, but…I will, just this once.”
“So,” she echoed, “he’s pretty cute.”
One of my eyebrows rose a little as I responded with an eloquent, “Wha’?”
Kaliyan shrugged. “Skylar’s pretty cute,” she repeated, looking at me like I was going crazy—maybe I was. “And he’s a lycan, which is also majorly cool. It sucks sometimes that Dusk is just a plain old human, you know? I need some excitement in my life.”
I laughed at the ‘excitement’ bit, then said, “Speaking of Dusk, we should go visit him.”
“Why?”
“You haven’t seen him for a whole day,” I replied with a playful grin. “He might have forgotten what you look like by now.”
My best friend rolled her eyes and stood up, rolling her eyes and throwing a quick, “Fine,” over her shoulder. Then she started to walk briskly down the road towards her boyfriend’s house. I got clumsily to my feet and followed her at a slow jog, coming to her side in a few seconds.
We walked in companionable silence until we reached Dusk’s house. Then we walked up to the door, and Kaliyan knocked three times. Very quickly, the front door swung open to reveal a flustered-looking woman that looked to be his mother.
“Hi,” I greeted her, flashing a smile. “Is Daniel home?”
She narrowed her eyes. “And how,” she asked slowly, a shoddily sweet tone to her voice, “do you know Daniel?” The woman looked suspicious but carefully welcoming.
Kaliyan rolled her eyes and stepped up. “I’m his girlfriend. Why do you need to know, anyway? Is he under the witness-protection program or something? I mean, my god, lady.” Then she cut past the woman and strode directly into the house.
She’s never been here before, I suddenly realized, and it was true. Through their entire 9-month partnership, Kaliyan had never been over to Dusk’s—or Daniel, which was his real name—house. That’s not extremely weird or anything.
I wonder what he’s got to hide, I thought to myself, leaning up against the wall and staring right through the woman’s ear.
The door opened and Kaliyan stepped out. “You wonder what who’s got to hide?” Kaliyan asked me, one eyebrow slightly above the other. Her boyfriend wasn’t aware of her so-called ‘abilities’—I was the only one who was, as far as I knew—but I suppose she could have been continuing a conversation that we had been having before that woman had opened the door.
“Oh, nothing,” I said offhandedly, shooting her a look that said Later.
She shrugged and walked down the steps; I was only a step behind. “Dusk says hi, and that I look really pretty today,” she said, giving a dubious glance at the old sweatpants and baggy t-shirt that she’d never changed out of after sleeping—they were her makeshift pajamas.
I laughed out loud. “Wow.”
We talked until we finally reached my house, where my mom was waiting for us with steaks and a smile. “Hi, girls,” she greeted. “You missed lunch, so I made you dinner so that you wouldn’t have to wait any longer than the moment you crossed the door.” She smiled and handed us our plates, which were heaping with meat, fruit, and—best of all—chocolate.
“Thanks,” Kaliyan and I said, then headed for the living room, where we chowed down to the dulcet tones of the Twilight movie.
Finally, at about 1am, we fell asleep. I dreamt of cute lycans and mysterious boys named Nobody—or were they one and the same?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“’Morning, sleepyhead,” Kaliyan whispered, shaking me awake.
My eyes fluttered open to find the sun filtering through the large window in shafts, and quickly sat up and looked at the clock: it was nearly 10 in the morning. “Hey,” I said, a half-smile on my face, as I took in my best friend, who was still in her ‘pajamas’ from the day before.
She grinned down at me. “Happy second day of summer vacay.”
“I’ll drink to that,” I said, sitting up and padding into the kitchen, where I grabbed each of us a can of Mountain Dew, which was our form of coffee. Then I wandered right back to the living room, and Kaliyan and I got our morning dose of caffeine.
Kaliyan’s arms stretched high over her head as she yawned and said, “So, what’re we doin’ today? Wanna go back to the park and talk to Skylar again, or…?”
After yawning myself, and scolding Kaliyan while telling her that it was contagious, I replied that I had thought about that option. “Gimme a little bit to get dressed and I’ll meet you outside. We can walk or bike; you can choose.”
Then, after Kaliyan had headed into the guest room to get some clothes of her own, I headed into my own room and grabbed an old pair of jeans, cut off just below the knees. Then I pulled on a tight-fitting grey t-shirt that was very flattering on me, as well as being extremely comfortable. Finally, I slid my feet into my favorite lime green flip-flops and headed out the front door.
Kaliyan was already straddling my spare bike, which was actually pretty much hers. I took my bike, which she proffered to me, and we were there within 2 minutes.
To my surprise, Skylar was already there, sitting beneath an old oak tree with bare feet and closed eyes, seemingly asleep. Kaliyan and I watched his chest rise and fall with each breath, wondering whether to wake him up, when suddenly his mouth twitched into this completely adorable half-grin and he leapt to his feet. He then covered the distance between us in two strides.
“Yo,” he said, slinging an arm over my shoulder and winking. “How’d you sleep?”
I shrugged. “I was out like a light after about 1.”
“Me too,” Kaliyan piped up. “We watched Twilight, New Moon and Eclipse in a row. It was majorly awesome, even though you might not think that, since you’re a guy and guys don’t generally…you know…like the Twilight series at all, and stuff.”
One of Skylar’s eyebrows arched high as he answered. “The Twilight series is okay, writing-wise, but only if you ignore the fact that the author has no idea what she’s writing about,” he said in a low voice. “Otherwise…well, there’s a horrible plot, a way-too-perfect boyfriend, a way-too-weak girlfriend, a way-too-perfect daughter—yes, I read Breaking Dawn—and, well, it’s all pretty lame.”
I stared at Skylar. “You did not just say what I think you said.”
Skylar rolled his eyes, and I swear they almost went backwards his irises rose so high. “Sorry if you’re a Twi-hard, but as a matter of fact I did say what I said.”
“No, no, I’m not a Twilight freak at all. It’s not that. It’s…you just totally summed up, with perfect accuracy, my summarization of what’s wrong with the series!” My eyes were round as saucers as I gazed at Skylar, who I had a newfound respect for.
The lycan opened his mouth to say something, then snapped it back shut. When he opened it again, it was to mumble, “Well, that’s not what I was expecting…”
“Can you change into a wolf?” Kaliyan asked out of nowhere; I expected that she was getting bored with our anti-Twilight talk. “Like, right now? I just wanna see.”
I nodded eagerly. “Please?”
Skylar’s rejoinder came in the form of a sigh and a brisk nod. “I don’t usually do this just for show, but…I will, just this once.”
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