I would be lying if I didn’t like the idea of being the group mother for this trip. There was something about being the one that all four of my little friends on this trip looked to for instruction was a pretty good feeling. So far I think I had a fair mix of being firm and yet very fair in all that we did. I am a tiny bit annoyed that both of my teammates had seemingly broken my rule of not flying in New York. However, I could understand, most people with spirit animals that loved the air always wanted to fly. I guess it was easier for me since if I wanted to, I could just go jogging or even running for hours on end and nobody would think anything of it. I was also kinda annoyed that Sarah has run off from me not once, but twice. Each time leaving my clear instructions of staying within my eyesight. It seems that she, alongside my own animal spirit Esther and her spirit animal Bonnie, make a terrible equation for never ending trouble. Nothing that a very long time out could not fix… however next time I promised to be a bit more firm. Now I was no stranger to the idea of corporal punishment, and while I had permission to do so with Sarah if need be. I didn’t want to cross that line, even when I was a babysitter with my best friend Alona. She would handle that part, and I would be the comfort afterwards. I supposed that would have to change on this trip. Maybe Sarah could keep her promise of being, “the most well behaved member of this team from this point onward.”
I doubted that she could go two days without getting in trouble.
As for Unique. I think she believed my reason for the blood splattered on the bottom of my dress the other night. Or at least I hoped so. Unique cornered me in the park asking why I had lied about what happened. So I gave her a half truth instead of a full lie. Was I cornered in an alley by five guys, yes. Did I defend myself after they had put their hands on me first, yes. Did I mention that I was the reason all of that started… of course not. No one needed to know that part.
And no one on this team would know that.
So for now my secret is safe and I will keep my little secret safe. See when I lost control of my emotions I needed someone to take it out on. I love to fight, so it’s hard for me to turn the other cheek.
Father forgive me.
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I looked up from the notebook I had been writing in. The sun had long since set but our first class area was clouded in a soothing white light. I was starting to like the idea of being in first class. Now it was not as nice as the plane we took from Tarun’s to New York but was still very comfy. We had to sit next to each other instead of our own separate seats. However, the chairs were still extremely comfy to sleep on, and the food was better than anything I had tasted, aside from the dinner with the council. I chuckled to myself as Sarah had been knocked out since the movie ended an hour ago. Her head was titled off to the side and she had an adorable looking sleeping mask thrown over her eyes to block the light. She truly was a child sometimes, the first to wake up and the first to go to sleep. It came in handy since I was an early riser, but I don’t think Unique enjoyed being woken up so early.
When I looked over at Unique. I could tell the girl was nervous, all throughout the movie her eyes were fixed at the window. She was sitting beside me and Sarah was on the left of me. It was easy to tell that something was on her mind. Even though now her vision was on her cellphone, she had been playing the same game for nearly an hour now. Some Kind of matching game with different sized blocks. However I knew that Unique was smarter than what she was showing in that game, often barely able to get to harder levels and even when she did she always lost.
“Damn it,” she mumbled as she tossed her head back in annoyance.
“Language,” I remarked, going back to writing in my study journey. It was what I used to take notes from my bible, I only had a few more empty pages before I was fully done with this notebook.
“I’m sorry,” she said, groaning as her phone turned off and started showing a glowing red battery. “I should have charged the stupid thing at the airport.” I reached into my own bag and handed her a charger brick that Alona had gifted me. My best friend had an unhealthy obsession with her phone always being above 80 percent. “Thank you,” she said once I handed it to her.
Now that I had her attention I finally asked. “Wanna tell me what is on your mind?”
“I am okay, don’t worry about me.” Unique replied.
I shook my head at that, I must have done it a bit too hard as my loose bun came undone sending my white hair falling over my head and shoulders like a fresh blanket of snow. “Unique I believe we made a promise at that park yesterday, I believe something on the terms of not hiding things from each other and being more open. So tell me what is on your mind, or am I gonna have to tickle the information out of you?”
That finally got the smallest of smiles to spread on her face as she held her hands up. “Find you win, I don’t want to look like a laughing fool on this trip.” As soon as that smile came, it slowly faded away as she looked down at her legs. She was wearing a pair of soft looking dark pink pants and a matching shirt. She finally let out a small sigh, before going on. “I have bad memories in South America. Specifically, 1600 miles west in Peru. I haven’t been back or near the continent or any of her counties since I was found by my parents.” Unique held her hands up and now I could see why she was struggling to play that game on her phone. Her hands were shaking like she had been stuck in a storm all day. “I-I’m scared… I am really scared, Emily.”
Just seeing the fear that spread across her face was enough for me to wrap an arm around her shoulders and pull her close. Her head came to rest on my bosom and I felt her shaking, the choked breaths and sniffles that came when one was ready to burst into tears began to fill the air. “What happened?” I asked, taking a wipe from my purse and wiping away the single tear that had started to fall from her eye.
Her only response was. “S-So much happened, so much was taken from me, so much was done to me.” A bit of rough coughing began to escape her mouth. “I-I know I am much stronger than I was at the age of ten. I have one of the most powerful spirit animals in the world. I can fly, I can fight pretty well for a beginner.”
“All of that means nothing,” I interrupted. “You can be the strongest in the world but none of that physical strength means anything if you can’t find the mental strength to even fight.”
“I know,” she whispered. “The closer we get, the more scared I get. I ran away from some really bad people that wanted to do a really bad thing. I let them do bad things to me.”
“You were a child,” I whispered back. “You didn’t let them do anything.”
“I could have fought-”
“Stop it!” I said firmly. I had learned from my work in feeling some of the therapists on the island, that often those that experienced sexual assault often used the words. I could have fought them off or I didn’t try hard enough to stop it, as ways to pass the blame onto themselves. “You were a child, Unique, it is not your fault. All of the fault lies on them for doing that to you.” I gently shushed her just giving her all the comfort she needed right now while she cried these silent tears.
Once Unique had managed to compose herself her once powder of light blue eyes (I really don’t know what color her beautiful eyes are) now bright red and puffy. I whispered to her in a voice that only she could hear. “I give you my word with my right hand to the father I love. If anyone that caused you pain shows up to where we are going, and tries to even lay a finger on you. They won’t live to see another day. Cause our God says that if someone harms a child, it is better they have a milestone wrapped around their neck and they are drowned in the sea.”
“I-I know,” Unique whispered. “Just promise me you will be beside me, just being near you is enough to keep me strong. We are here to help our people with information.”
“I don’t care about that right now.” I ran a hand across her light brown face, wiping the last of her tears from her face. “I care about you, say the word and I can call Olivia to explain that we are gonna join them in their search instead. We don’t have to go here right now, not until you are ready.”
Unique shook her head. “I have to get over this at some point, and maybe this is the time to get over it. They can’t hurt me anymore…” she shook a bit as she said that. “I’m sorry,” she rolled over onto her side so her back was facing me. “I am gonna try and get some sleep before we land in six hours. Thank you for that Emily.”
“No need to thank me,” I ran a hand up and down her back and once I heard the soft sounds of snoring. I slowly stood up from my seat, gently walking past Sarah, adjusting her head slightly so she didn’t have neck pain when she woke up. I walked into the bathroom in the back and slammed my fists against the sink. I felt something crack a tiny bit as I held my head down. We were thousands of miles in the sky, there was no one to take out this burning anger building inside of me.
How could someone do that to her?
Why did people do that horrible thing to children?
“Calm down,” I whispered looking through my white locks as a girl who was staring back at me in the mirror. Darker white hair and a pair of eyes much different from my joyful ones. “I said calm down!” She only grinned a me, a tooth wolf like grin that I hated and loved at the same.
“Calm down, Winter.”
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“Okay,” I said, pulling the trunk closed as the last of our bags were put inside of the car. “Now who is gonna start?” I said turning around to look at my troublesome three. Of a very smart but naughty little girl, a playful griffin spirit, and my own daughter in a wolf's body. “Sarah,” I said as the small girl raised her hand.
“The rules of our trip as made by big sister Emily are as followed. No swearing, no lying, no leaving big sister Emily’s eyesight or Unique’s eyesight. Be mindful and respectful towards adults, and no talking back.”
I pointed over towards Bonnie so she could keep going. “As well as not putting ourselves in dangerous situations that could result in death, injury, or having to be rescued.” I twirled my fingers around with a small giggle knowing that they were avoiding a certain few rules I had also added after their last mishap with me. Bonnie sighed as she landed on the ground to walk instead of fly. “And no flying while we are in city areas for the time being, and no messing with objects so they mess with the mainlanders cause that is not nice.” She then whispered under her breath. “And we have a bedtime at nine for the next three days for running off… again.”
I then pointed at Esther who had been very silent since our more hands on chat in the bathroom about ten minutes ago. “The punishment for breaking the rules clearly given and explained by my momma will be decided by her.” She mumbled without looking at me. She was usually after that after one of our “chats”.
“Good girls,” I praised as I looked over at Unique who had climbed into the front seat of our car. “And what was the last thing that we talked about in secret?”
Sarah and Bonnie spoke in a unison so perfect it was honestly a bit creepy. “We do whatever it takes to make Big sister Unique feel safe and secure and keep her happy.”
I walked over and ran my hand Sarah’s curly mess of blond and green hair as well as Bonnie feathered eagle head. “I am not doing this to you three to be unfair, I just want you to be safe. We are in a new place, and I don’t want to lose any of you in this new place, understand?” I smiled as Esther came over, she was never a fan of me showing anyone more attention than her. I lifted my (somewhat) sweet pup up into my arms and held her close. “I love you very much, Esther.”
“Love you too,” she mumbled into my chest. Her form changed from her more werewolf like form, into her sweet little wolf pup form. “Don’t do that again,” she added, her fluffy tail went back to rub the last of the sting from her backside.
“Don’t give me a reason too, silly pup.” I eventually climbed into the front seat of the car we had rented. I had my license back home but I rarely needed to actually drive a car. Once I adjusted the mirrors once more, we began our drive from this small airport in Rio Grande. We had to take one more plane from the capital of Brazil to the city. From there it only took a moment before we entered the true heart of the city. Rio Grande was a beautiful port city, with large buildings that might give NY a run for her money. The water was a light blue, and I could already see far in the distance the forests and mountains that were popular tourist traps, held more secrets than the people would think. Honestly the city reminded me a lot of Tarun Island. It had a nice mix of jepei energy, not as much as home, but it was much different from the feeling of New York. As we drove to our hotel, I could even see a few jepei users walking through the city. Much more than expected, so perhaps I could lift the slight rule on using our abilities. I turned over to Unique who seemed much more relieved to be off the planes we had taken. How someone who could soar above us was afraid of planes was something that I didn’t understand. However, even in a more calm state, I could see that she was still very tense. Just being back in the continent that had caused her deep pain was still bothering her.
It was a pretty short drive to the hotel that I had gotten us. Finding one that was gonna close to the ports, as well as by a nearby museum where we would be going tomorrow morning to gather a bit of information. I was lucky and got us a small meeting with a woman there that knew more about what was discovered 20 miles off the coast between Rio Grande do Sul and Paraíba. Our hotel was pretty large with a nice view of the ocean, I could already hear Sarah excitedly saying to Bonnie something on the line of going swimming. It took a moment to check into the large dark brown lobby with small hints of gold sprinkled inside. Our room was on the 5th floor of this 12 story building. This room had two beds like before, but I had made sure that they were a bit bigger. It seemed that little Sarah was quite a fighter in her sleep so I wanted at least a bit of room tonight. The beds had spotless white blankets and sheets with dark silver pillows. The carpet was a dark silver as well, we had a small fridge that I knew had drinks that probably cost a fortune. The bathroom was located just off to the side. I walked over to the silver curtains and opened them up allowing more of the sun to come into this otherwise empty room.
“Alright,” I said, turning around to figure out what my friends wanted to do for today since tomorrow it was gonna be a bit of work. However, I quickly quieted my voice as I saw Unique had fallen onto one of the beds. Her shoes were in a heap by the door and she already buried herself deep in the covers. Even from this distance with my amazing hearing, I could hear that she was very much asleep already. “Sarah,” I called out, waving her over. “Come on, little one. Let’s do some exploring while Unique sleeps for a bit. We can go and get her something to eat.”
Sarah stopped mid bounce on the right side bed. She was wearing a cute red skirt and a long sleeved white shirt with a few buttons leading up to the v-neck collar. “Okay,” she replied in a whisper before taking one bounce and landing into my arms.
I turned my head towards Unique rather large animal spirit. The powder blue thunder bird that always had strings of lightning running through her feathers like small serpents chasing prey. “Is she gonna be okay?” I asked, knowing that often our spirit animals took on qualities of things we hide from ourselves. If you were very positive, then sometimes your spirit animal would be a bit more negative and say what you didn’t want to say, the opposite also applied.
The nearly ten foot tall hawk spirit nodded her head. That was the best way I could describe her spirit animal, an odd mix of a hawk, eagle and one other bird that I couldn’t quite place my finger on. “She just needs to sleep, my momma doesn’t like planes and can barely sleep on them.” In a flash of light, Fortune shrunk down into the size of a normal sized hawk before settling down in front of the television. One of her talons started to flick through the channels. “She loves seafood if that helps you pick a meal.”
I gave one more nod before carrying Sarah towards the door. A moment later we had left our hotel and were making our way down the no so busy streets of Rio Grande De Sul. Technically we were in one of its cities, Rio Grande. It was one of the oldest cities in the state, and I could see why. Each building seemed so much older, reminding me of spots in the haggler’s market back home. (A place where more of the older residents lived) I was drawn to every single building as was Sarah who perhaps shared a love of agriculture as I did. It didn’t take us long until we found ourselves on the white sandy beaches of Laranjal, known to be possibly the longest beach in the world. I spent a good 30 minutes with my pants legs rolled up as I splashed around with Sarah, happy to indulge in a bit of child-like playing. I was forcing myself to be more adult on this trip so it was nice to play a bit.
After a while we had left and I had found the place I was looking for, or rather I smelled it before I could even see it. A single story building that was a light brown color, it had a white top, the inside was filled with locals all relaxing with their families. We were taken to a spot outside to enjoy our meals with the rays of the sun. I am sure our server, a tall dark haired man, was shocked as this small child spoke to him in nearly perfect portuguese. She even had the accent right. “How do you do that?” I finally asked once he had taken our drink orders. I had gotten Unique something called lobster stuffed with seafood for us to take back for her.
“Do what?” Sarah asked.
“It is one thing to speak in a different language but how do you get the accent just right?” I asked, glad to have a chance to speak to this child one on one.
Sarah rested a hand on her cheek for a moment and seemed to be thinking. “I don’t know, my tongue just seems to do it when I speak.” She switched from three different languages, each making her sound as if she had lived there for nearly all of her life. “I don’t really know why I am so smart.” She brought her hands to rest on Bonnie’s head, making sure to show her more than enough love and care. “Though all of it is because of Bonnie, I think, she gave me the best gift I could ask for.”
“Griffins are rumored to be one of the smartest animals ever made.” I gave her a small teasing smile. “I do wonder if your skills in combat are as good as your skills in a classroom.”
“I am okay,” she answered honestly. “I train sometimes with Xavier.” Her smile dampened just a bit at the mention of his name. She then huffed and a pout took over her cheerful face for a moment. “He always wins but that isn’t fair cause he knows I am still learning.” She then looked up at me. “Are you any good at fighting, big sister?”
“I am pretty good if I do say so myself.” I answered. “I have been fighting for a really long time and I have some really good teachers in my life that help me learn more.”
Our server returned with our drinks. Sarah had what I could only imagine was filled with sugar, apparently it was a favorite with the children that came to this restaurant. Just one sip made her eyes sparkle with pure joy and I had a feeling that it was gonna be hard to get her into bed by our agreed time of nine oclock. “Why do you call me big sister?” I asked, taking a sip from my lemonade.
“Do you not like it?”
I shook my head. “The direct opposite, I love it when you call me that. I am an only child at home and while everyone on the island sees each other as one big family, not many younger students directly call me big sister.”
Sarah finished taking a sip of her drink. “Well,” she began carefully. “I call you big sister because my momma says that we are all like one big happy family on the island. So it only makes sense that I call you big sister, cause you are bigger, older, more responsible… less naughty.” She said with a small blush appearing on her face. “Every older student on the island is what I imagine a big sister or brother would be like. So I like saying it.”
“That is a really good reason.”
She smiled at me, I swear each time she smiled it gave the suns and stars a run for their money when it came to beauty. “I don’t call everyone that thought,” she stated as she crossed her arms over her chest and pouted once more. “There are some really mean people on the island that annoy me, and momma says that if someone is mean and nasty to you they aren’t family.”
“How often are you messed with by mean people?”
“It happens a bit, but don’t worry.” SHe took another long sip of her drink. “I have Xaiver and he always chases them away.”
“You really love Xaiver don’t you?”
Sarah happily nodded her head. “He was my first big brother and my favorite brother in the entire world. All we had was each other for so long, then we lost each other.” For a split second when she said that, I swear all of the color drained from her eyes was replaced with a blank look, but when I blinked they were back to normal. “Then we found each other again and things were back to normal. We had each other and we will have each other forever.” Her smile softened as she looked up for a moment. “I wonder how he is doing.”
“Are you worried about being away from him?” She surprisingly shook her head. “How come?”
“I worry more for Xavier than I do myself,” she responded. “I have you, and I have big sister Unique and her scary animal spirit. I can be my best self with all of you, but Xaiver is at his stronger when I'M near him. He fights harder, he swims better, he is smarter than he let’s on when I’m around.” Her smile completed fade as she swirled her drink around with her swirl turning the once colorfully layed drink into a brown mess. “And it is my fault.”
“Why would you say that?”
“C-Cause it was my fault that we got separated.” She answered. “He told me to stay close and then-” She paused for a moment and again that blank look appeared, her bright golden eye lost its color for a moment as did her dark green eye. “I don’t wanna talk about it.”
I stood up from my chair, and kneeled down in front of her. She was gripping her skirt bottom so tight that I was sure she was gonna tear the fabric. “Look at me,” I said firmly. I tilted Sarah’s head up and once again whatever sadness was in them faded away. Even then it didn’t stop two trails of tears that split down from her eyes. I took one of my napkins and carefully wiped her tears away. “Listen to me, you don’t have to talk about it if it hurts too much. Just know that you are safe now and no one's gonna ever hurt you again. You have my word on that.”
Sarah looked up at me and let out a cheerful giggle. “Okay,” she suddenly jumped forward and wrapped her arms around me. “I trust you,” she whispered in my ears before breaking the hug.
“And I trust you as well,” I smiled as I ran my hands against her sides making her giggle with pure glee. “As long as you remain behaved, I will keep trusting you.”
“I am not that naughty.”
“Yes you are.”
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As nightfall crept across the city of Rio Grande. The air seemed to get a bit colder without the sun to heat the air and provided us with its light. The moon was a graceful substitute to the sun. The beach was empty as I walked down the shore line, my toes occasionally becoming cold as the evening waves splashed against them. We had gone home after a wonderful lunch, and explored a bit more, to bring Unique something to eat. She had felt much better now that she had something inside of her. We had decided to take an evening walk down the shoreline. The sun had set an hour ago and we were just having a nice time together. “How do you feel?” I asked.
“I am okay,” Unique answered with a long stretch of her arms. “I am gonna be just fine, so you don’t have to worry about me anymore.” I looked down at the slightly shorter girl and held my hand out to her. “I am fine, Emily.”
“Come on,” she let out a small huff and placed her hand on my own. She was still shaking a bit and it was not from the cold. I was at least glad that it was not as bad as it was on the plane. “You are still shaking, you don’t have to hold everything back from me. I am a really good listener.”
“I just need one more day, but I will be fine for tomorrow.” Unique stopped walking and her eyes turned out to the beautiful waves that seemed to perfectly frame the moon in the background. “I can’t keep us waiting anymore, we are here for a mission, and if your source is right the first piece is here. The Tower of Babel is somewhere off the coast of this place and Paraiba. That is gonna be the first step, and I can’t keep holding us back.”
“I told you already, I don’t care about this mission right now.” I wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. “I care about how you feel being back in this place, the council can wait a bit longer for whatever secrets the tower of babel might hold. Though I do have to wonder, what are they looking for?”
“Well if they found that shard of The Behemoth in this place. Then perhaps there is something else they are looking for, maybe the broken tower holds more clues to where the behemoth is.” Unique responded. “How do you feel about all of this? About the council holding so much information in a library that only a few are granted permission to look at.”
I looked over my shoulder to make sure Sarah was still within eyesight. She had been testing that limit but she was still nearby, currently making a sandcastle with Esther and Bonnie. Unique’s powerful animal spirit was flying above us, I could hear the boom of thunder as she flapped her wings high above us. “It is complicated how I feel. I believe we should have all the information to make our own choices. Regardless of what might happen if we see it. I know they probably want to protect us and something like those treasure maps and other relics could be stolen if not held down there. However, information is for everyone; it shouldn't be wasted away in a dark library.”
“What are you gonna do if we find part of the tower?”
I shrugged my shoulders a bit. “I don’t know if I am being honest. I mean I would be overjoyed, because if it is the real thing then it will help prove that events in the bible that many people feel are false or could not have happened can be and are true. I told you before, that while I don’t need to see things to believe in him. This might be the small push that some need to fully come back or even to him for the first time.” I smiled up at the moon. “With this team I can get answers to things that have confused me, and it gives me a chance to do something I never had a chance to do.”
“And what is that?”
“Go forth and spread the good news of the gospel to every place I can.” I answered with a smile. “So I am glad I get to come on this mission, and I look forward to other missions we go on.”
“I am too.” Unique replied with a smile.
Before I could say something else. I felt something run through my spine, a dark feeling that something was watching us. I spun around on my heels and turned towards where I believed the source of that power was coming from. Directly behind us, way up on a building that overlooked this beach. I swear for a split second I saw a bit of deep purple, maybe indigo jepei aura that faded away. “What wrong?” I was snapped out of my thoughts as Unique grabbed my wrist.
My vision turned to Sarah and the others to see if they felt the same thing. I could see Sarah was stroking Esther, who had gone from her puppy form into her werewolf-like form and her claws were bared as were her extremely sharp teeth. I could hear her deep growl from over here. It then came to mind that something was in my hand. I looked down and found my netrix weapon, a long double edged blade with a wolf's head for the guard and a paw at the end of the handle. “It’s nothing,” I said, unsummoning my blade. “I just thought I felt someone nearby.” I took a deep breath before leading Unique over to Sarah. “I think it is time we head back inside for tonight.” I said with a small smile.
“H-How come?”
“Just want to get us inside for tonight, it just feels weird.” I answered, turning my head back towards that one rooftop. I had felt a presence like that once before, on the day that the dark order had invaded Tarun Island. There was a member of the dark order in this city.
And I had a feeling that they might be looking for the same thing as we were.
And I could only pray that that wasn’t the case.
Because if it was, I couldn’t restrain myself.
A reason to fight, a reason to shed blood, a reason to feed her.
“Calm down, Winter.”
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