Ch. 1 Prologue

Pain.

All he knew was pain.

Casey ran away from home. He couldn't take it anymore. His father is an alcoholic and Jack Rhodes abuses Casey since he was 2 years old. His mother always tried to protect him but she would get beaten up to.

Casey is terrified of his father and probably won't ever trust another man again. He's got proof that he got abused, he's got bruises on his back, legs, and arms, a black eye, really bad cuts all over his body and he was starving. When Casey was finally eight years old he ran away. He saw a Forrest and ran towards it. He knew he was safe from danger for now.

RJ was mad at his father, master Finn. His father wanted RJ to learn the technique of the shark, but RJ refused. They haven't spoken in 2 years. RJ wanted his father to be the last person to know that his spirit is a wolf. RJ's wolf spirit sensed something was wrong. RJ looked around the Forrest to see if anything that wasn't supposed to be there. He found nothing. But then he heard crying, it was to his left so he went towards the noise and saw a scared looking kid stuck. His foot and arm was stuck in a tree.

Casey sensed someone was coming close to him so he turned his head to see if it was his father but it wasn't. Casey wasn't sure if he should trust this man just yet but he had a feeling that he should trust him.

"It's okay kid I'm only going to help you get unstuck from the tree," RJ said calmly. He got to the tree and he noticed the kid tensed up pretty quickly. He finally got the kid unstuck and he gently put the kid down to the ground.

"You look really hungry, what's your name kid." Casey backed away from the man but something inside told him to trust this man. "It's-" Casey's foot hit a root and he went down and got knocked out.

Casey woke up in a room and looked around. He knew he wasn't home or in a hospital but he felt safe and secured. He actually wanted to meet the nice man that saved his life again.

"Hey it's me again, names RJ," he introduced himself.

"I'm Casey Rhodes and I NEVER want to go back home."

"Don't you have a mom or dad-" RJ noticed Casey flinch badly when he said dad. "Can I call your mom though?"

"Um yeah you can," groaned Casey, "my head hurts."

"You hit your head pretty hard on the ground but the good news you don't have a concussion at all do you feel sleepy at all?" asked RJ.

"Um no I don't."

"Do you like music?"

"Yes I do."

"Do you like soothing music to help you sleep cause you look tired."

"Um yeah I do and thanks for saving me in the Forrest."

"No problem Casey," said RJ. He got the music and played it and after a few minutes Casey felt sleepy and went to sleep. RJ had to speak with master Mao.

"I need to call Casey's mother," sighed RJ. He went to a phone and dialed Casey's home.

"Hello Sophie Rhodes speaking."

"Hi Sophie my name is RJ and I have your son Casey-"

"Oh thank goodness you have him"

"What do you mean?"

"My husband didn't want to have a son as a first born so he neglected Casey all his life."

"That's terrible. Is it okay if I adopt Casey but you will still see him whenever you want."

"Yes that would be great and once Casey trusts you he tell you everything that his father did to him." RJ hung up the phone with a big smile on his face. He wanted Casey to feel safe with him.

Ten years later...

Casey was confident and he was glad that RJ adopted him and was happy that his mom could visit him whenever she wanted. Casey was finally eighteen and old enough to go to Pai Zhuq academy. Well he wasn't ready when he was fifteen

"Good luck and I hope to see you soon," said RJ. "Same here and you feel like a father to me."

"Thank you Casey and you feel like a son to me."