A/N: Here's chapter 2! Enjoy =)

Chapter 2. Doggie!

I felt my jaw drop… literally, it kind of hurt. Involuntarily, I glanced to the side, wondering if Keo was seeing the same thing I was. Maybe I was delusional? Oh boy did I hope I was.

I felt my breath leave in a whoosh of air, but only heard the sound of my heart pounding furiously. The ADHD side of me wondered if there were some kinds of hammers inside of me, futilely trying to pound their way out of my body. Odd.

Apparently, my breathing wasn't as silent as I'd hoped. In a split second, the dog whipped around, midnight black fur blending with the dark alleyway. Its body was a shadow come to life, but its eyes… Its glowing eyes were a furious, burning, red.

The motion created enough of a breeze for my nose to finally register that it needed to get to work and send signals up to my brain. I wished it hadn't. The monster smelled of… death. The contents of my stomach began to churn uncomfortably.

The dog-monster sharpened its dark gaze on Keo and me. A cold sweat broke out on the back of my neck. Somehow I knew that this wasn't a dog that was going to play nice, no matter what we did.

All of this happened in a few short seconds.

It took a step closer—it was as if the world was in slow motion.

Different scenarios flashed through my mind—Run? Fight? …Pat it on the head and tell it to run home? Absently, I glanced at the exits from the alleyway, one behind us and one straight ahead. The monster bared its fangs… er… canines… they weren't really fangs. But, darn, those things looked sharp. An image of my dead, mutilated body flashed through my head, causing my heart to quicken its pace—something I thought impossible.

The monster/dog/bear/thing took another step forward, claws becoming evident on its shadowed paws.

Running away sounded very, very nice. The only thing that held me in the alley was Keo. Would he figure out that it was time to run before the dog sprang? It wasn't that hard to figure that it would jump as soon as I moved.

Another step. The thing was only about two and a half meters away now, a giant dumpster blocking it's path to us. For once, I was thankful for trash.

Afraid of making sudden movements, I gave Keo's hand a squeeze, pulling it slightly to the exit behind us. If we startled it, I knew with utmost certainty that it would lunge at us, bringing our death on swift…paws? There went my ADHD side again. I hadn't even noticed I had been holding his hand.

From what I could tell, he got the message. The expression of incomprehensible fear in his eyes melted off, leaving only the will to live and, if necessary, to fight in their icy blue depths.

Another step.

I got ready to turn, lowering myself slightly—coiling up my muscles. I was about to give Keo's hand another squeeze, telling him to forget anything else and flat out run, when some idiot jumped in and ruined things.

"Crap!" I yelled as some curly-haired kid with an oversized DC hat stepped out of a broken down door just a few feet away from me. He was positioned perfectly between the giant dog and Keo and I. Crap, I repeated in my head, about to run, and wondering when the dog would spring. I was sure at least half a second had passed.

But before I could turn around, I noticed something. Mr. Curly-Hair was staring straight at the giant dog—not scared… more like…triumphant. He cast a glance at me and Keo—maybe we've got a chance after all, I thought, Curly-Hair may be equipped to get rid of this thing. Moments later, I was proved wrong. He pulled something out of his back pocket, facing the giant dog, who had—surprisingly—not moved the entire time, which was probably about 10 seconds. To my dismay, what he pulled out of his back pocket was not a weapon. He pulled out something that resembled a bamboo flute out, and proceeded to raise it to his mouth, or I assumed as I couldn't see his face.

What was that IDIOT doing? I wanted to scream every profanity I knew at him, but that wouldn't get us far, now would it?

Before I could finish contemplating if it would be worth it to grab Curly-Haired-Idiot and run, I was surprised, yet again.

By this point, he was playing an unfamiliar melody on the flute, and to my surprise, and elation, stuff began moving. It was as if his song caused all the little bits of mold and plant remains in the garbage cans to grow. The plants—vines, mold, and something that looked like…was that marijuana?—began wrapping around the now angry dog. It snapped at all the green stuff that had begun to tie its paws to the ground, its razor sharp teeth cutting through plant fibers like they weren't even tangible.

My hope vanished. What had I been thinking? It was a giant dog with teeth and claws versus some kid and a bunch of fast growing plants!

For the third time that night, I tugged slightly at Keo's hand and prepared to run, only to be stopped for, yes, the third time. This time, it wasn't because of ethics, or false hope. This time, I stopped because something was actually working. As the kid's playing increased in speed, so did the growth of the greenery. The giant dog couldn't keep up! His—I assumed most dogs were he's—teeth would snap off a section of plant, only for that section to grow back and then some, all in less than a second.

Half a minute later, the giant monster-dog was turned into a moving plant-sculpture, none of his unnaturally black fur showing through the layer of green.

The flute's tune changed.

Where, before, the tune was a fast one of light, almost prancing-like, notes, it was now a deep sound. Low, long tones were combined into something that really reminded me of an action/suspense movie. Maybe Jaws? I wondered why the tune changed so abruptly.

My question was answered as, slowly, very slowly, the vines and other materials constricted, squishing the giant monster within. A minute later, the bear-sized bundle of green had been reduced to half its original size. I did not want to know what something like that felt like.

A millisecond later, the bundle exploded. Well, sort of. It didn't explode exactly… it was more like a whole vacuum cleaner's worth of dust suddenly erupted from the gaps between the plants.

At this, Mr. Curly-Hair-Not-So-Much-An-Idiot-Anymore was visibly relieved. He cut off the melody, back sagging as he let out a huge sigh. My apparently iron-grip on Keo's hand loosened.

Oops, I mouthed, looking at him apologetically. He responded by giving me a sheepish smile and focusing back on the Mr. Music in front of us. Neither of us moved a step closer to the curly haired kid, as if the ground around our little spot was covered in spikes.

Curly Hair turned toward us, a slightly sad look on his tan face. He quickly gave us a smile and advanced, avoiding all of the rubbish on the ground.

As he made his way over to us—limping, I wondered why—I took in his features. His eyes were a deep, dark brown. The color matched that of the guy who gave Keo and I a tour around our apartment building's, it was scary. I tried to remember his name, Gary? Gabe? I couldn't recall it, at the moment. But I could recall how both Keo's and my mothers trusted him fully; it led me to trust him too. I was sure Keo felt the same way.

By this time, Curly Hair was right in front of me and Keo. I felt Keo go suddenly tense, wondering if this stranger posed a threat.

"Hey," said Curly Hair. Such a normal word felt out of place after what had just happened. "Look, I know you guys want a full explanation of what just happened—"

"Wait!" I interrupted, surprising even myself, "You mean you know what that was? And why it just popped out of NOWHERE?"

"Yes, I do," he replied, worriedly glancing around, "But now is not the time to explain. The less you know, for now, the better. And we have to get out of here. C'mon. We're going to your guys' place."

He began walking out of the alley, assuming we would follow.

"Wait," Keo said the same thing I had, thankfulness covering the hint of distrust in his voice. "One, thank you." He'd always been pretty kind to strangers. "Two, I'm sorry, but we can't exactly just show you where we live. For all we know you cold be a psycho—no offense. Not to mention the fact that you just killed that thing and wont even explain what it was! That doesn't exactly lead me to trust you. And the fact that you showed up around the same time as that…that…monster."

"Look," said Curly Hair, looking like he wanted nothing more then for us to just trust him and get the heck out of there, "Gale sent me. You met him about a week ago," that was the name I was trying to remember! Gale. "He showed you around the apartment building. I even know your guys' parents," he looked at Keo, "your name is Keola Oshiro, and your mom's name is Kalea (a/n: pronounced Kuh-lay-ah) Oshiro. You've never met your dad." He turned to me, nothing about his expression hinted at any of what he said being a lie. "You are Adri McAllister. Your mom is Lisa McAllister. You also never met your father. You have an adopted brother named Tye." Keo and I both stiffened at that last word. Tye. Curly Hair was right. Tye was my brother. Sadly.

Keo gave my hand a reassuring squeeze. Even the mention of Tye brought back some really horrible memories. I shuddered.

"Please," Keo said curtly, "Don't mention that name around us."

"Who?" Curly Hair said, "Tye?"

"Yes!" There was barely any space between Curly hair's question and Keo's answer. "That one…" He paused, flashing me an apologetic glance.

"So now that you're either a stalker or trustworthy," Keo said just as I said, "Wait! You didn't even tell us your name!" We both laughed.

"Well…" Curly Hair said, "One: I'm not a stalker. Two: My name's Thorne. And now that we've introduced ourselves, and hung around you way longer than we should have, can we please go to your homes? Bla-ha-ha!" I had no idea what the heck the 'bla-ha-ha' thing was, but I couldn't help thinking it sounded like a… goat. He began walking closer to us, urging us to turn around and move. Although, when he walked, I noticed something off. He walked with a… limp of sorts. But it wasn't really a limp… I didn't know. All I was sure of was that he did walk pretty darn funny.

Keo glanced back at me, his eyes saying, Should we trust him? I nodded and we set off, with Curly Hair hovering just behind us, glancing around like something would jump out of the ground to kill us. Well, considering the consequences of our meeting, something jumping out of the ground to kill us was pretty likely. My pace quickened.

"Here's home!" Keo and I both said, standing in the hallway in between two doors—each of our apartments.

"So," Thorne said, some of the fear draining out of his eyes, "Whose place we going to first? Neither of you are allowed more then 20 feet away from me. Got that?"

We both nodded, trusting Thorne completely by this point. He had…er… explained some things to us on the way to the apartment building. Let's just say that he had some very… personal information that led us to believe he really did know our mothers.

"You know," I pointed out, "Both apartments are connected inside. So, it really doesn't matter which way we go." I shrugged.

Keo automatically opened the door that led directly to his apartment—we both spent most of our time there, so did my mom. Heck, sometimes I even slept in the Oshiro's apartment instead of my own. It was mostly to avoid my adopted brother, but sometimes doing that was just impossible. Like today.

A/N: okay, hope you liked that chapter =) reviews are appreciated (good or bad)