OH MY GOD! It has been a whole 3 months since the last time I updated my fan fiction…sorry. You would not believe it; my little sister broke my computer people sorry for that. But you know, I am back, bigger and badder than ever! I have had several people get in touch about my badly named "STORY THANK YOU BIT or STYB" and so for that Thank you Kuzon 98, who out of interest has finished his tigress' revenge story (Nice one man!) and ILVMariah who is not actually part of the site (Hope to see you soon dude). Well when we last left it Ray and Mariah became exclusive… FINALLY! We saw Mariah turn into Galux… Sort of and her mother was a witch and got blown up in a massive fiery inferno (Just another day in my mind) so shall we start again. Also look for a line that could give you a clue on what the genre of my next work is going to be. ;)

I am a what?

Mariah lay up on the sofa quietly, he feet on the arm of the opposite side and her head on the comfiest cushion that she made when she was little. She lay deep within her thoughts, flashing between reality and the purple world of the inside of her mind. She blew her hair up and waited for it to come down again and when it did she blew once more. Mariah sighed hard.
"What's wrong Mariah?" asked Ray from the other side of the room.
"Nothing Ray… I'm fine" she smiled cheekily as she always did.
"Well I'm not, why don't we talk about what happened last night, why did you do it?" Mariah looked at him and began to feel uneasy, her eyes filled up with tears at the thought of what nearly happened.
"I'm sorry, Ray. It just became too much Lee, Kevin, You everything fell apart after you came home and why do I feel this way because for nine years all I wanted was for you to return and now that you have. I find it hard to breathe sometimes, I don't know if I have forgiven you for leaving or not. One minute I love that you returned to me and the gang after so long as it shows that you cared enough to come home and that you have not forgotten the good times that we had. But then I think about it more and you left just after the white tiger bit piece as though you just used us for all that we were worth and why else would you leave without even a note or a 'fare the well'. And… And…" Ray stopped her before she coughed up her heart and held her close.
"I can't always be here to save you Mariah. You need to know that." Mariah looked up at Ray, her mascara smudged and her foundation all over Ray's tunic. Ray set her back down onto the sofa "I'm sorry too. I didn't mean to push you to this or anything close." Ray reached into his pocket and fumbled around for a while. Mariah stared intently, watching, waiting to see what would emerge from beneath the blue cloth. "Here." Whispered Ray as he handed her something in a closed fist. Mariah held out her hands and received a pink ribbon. Her eyes lit up with joy and excitement. "Thank you, Ray." She placed the Ribbon between several hairs and began to weave it round until the typical 'cat girl' look was restored. "I love you, Ray" whispered Mariah into Ray's ear.
"I love you too, Mariah." Ray looked at Mariah and her too at him. Mariah closed her eyes as she leaned in for the kiss. Ray's eye lids became heavy also as the pair's mouths were almost touching. "This is it!" thought Mariah, "after 12 years of loving Ray I am finally going to kiss him as his girlfriend, the very first kiss." The lips were no more than a fingers distance between them when suddenly Kevin appeared in the doorway. A maniacal smile stretched across his lips as he reached into his pocket.
"Was that the first kiss that I just ruined?" Ray looked at Kevin; Kevin looked at Mariah and Mariah at Ray.
"Yes. As a matter of fact it was!" said Mariah.
"Gutting isn't it, Mariah. The thought that something is going to go so perfectly when instead it goes so wrong, just think about that feeling every time you see me" He raised one eyebrow as he glided down the hall and into his room where he began to laugh hysterically.
"A hit and run raid, that's not usually Kevin's style. He's up to something massive and you should go careful of him, Mariah." Mariah nodded gently as she let go of Ray's arms. "I need to go see Lee about something. Give me around twenty minutes and I will start getting ready. When I am ready we will go into town ok?" Ray looked at her with the look he always gave her when she was off the hook. "See you in an hour then; I will go fishing on the lake until then ok?" Mariah nodded with a sideways stare. Ray went into the cupboard behind the table and left her standing alone in the kitchen. She had a thought. "Kevin's been getting stranger since the night on the roof so perhaps if I went to talk to him then maybe things will get better between us." She crept over to the room that Kevin had secluded himself into. She placed her ear against the smooth oak finish of the door. Suddenly the laughter stopped and the sound of footsteps began to echo down the hall. A shadow appeared under the door of the room. The shadow was much larger than Kevin, perhaps it was Gary. It wasn't. The shadow had long arms of muscles and small spindly legs like a spider but only two. "I know you're there, Mariah!" She darted back and slammed her should against the stairs behind her. The lights went out and the hall was dark. The doors were shut and sun had gone in. Stumbling to her feet, Mariah dragged herself up the stairs behind her. Slowly but surely she made her way to the library, the largest room in the house. The door creaked open and echoed across the book covered walls of the study. "What was that thing?" she asked herself. Just then a voice appeared from on high. "That was a homa yado, Mariah" Mariah looked up at the floating eyes in the corner of the room. Something dropped from the ceiling, it was Lee.
"Lee! Thank goodness that you're…wait…what's a horo yarder?" Lee smiled.
"A homa yado is a being that is both man and beast. Though homa yado is the real term it is used as an insult. It roughly translates to 'Half Breed' or 'Half Formed'."
"Well where does it come from and what did it do with Kevin? I only wanted to check on him!"
"Mariah, Kevin is the half form. Do you think it was mere coincidence that the four of us guys were so close as a group of friends…no. Our great grandfather was one of the first to be blessed by the spirits of our tribe. He was the very first homa yado. Kevin's great aunt was a homa yado and so was Gary's Uncle."
"What about Ray…who's blood does he spawn from?"
"I don't know. No one does, Ray came to our village when he was just three years old. He was separated from a group of travellers. He must have had homa yado blood from one or more of them." Mariah looked confused.
"You told me that Ray was the son of Resukin."
"I lied. Ray was never meant to be one of us. It was by chance not by fate that we found him. He was alone in the forest at the foot of the mountain.

(flashback)

The day was long and the sun was beating down. Father had just told me to go and collect wood for the initiation ceremony that was to take place later that evening. The timing could not have been better. I was walking alone in the forest looking for a white ash tree for the ceremonial fire when I heard something. In the trees above me was a boy. He was crying. Every fibre of my existence said that I should have looked away and carried on walking, but foolishly I asked him was what wrong.
"Nothing" he said to me trying to wipe his tears from his cheeks to cover up the weakness that was so obvious. I leapt down from the tree. I didn't care for the child much. I began to walk quickly away I was not yet fully involved with him and I could still get away. Just as I got to the point where I would disappear from view he called to me. "My mother and father are gone you know" he said. I just pointed up at the mountain; I still had my chores to complete.
"Go up there, see if you can find them" I carried on expecting him to struggle on the way up and of course fail. But he didn't I met him at the top being hugged by Mrs. Resukin the now adopted mother of Ray"

(Flash back ended. Back in the room (sorry it was a short one :) )

"That's the story, Mariah. I am just glad that you finally know the story." Mariah stood there stunned. She didn't understand any of this.
"Why hasn't Ray told me anything of this? He and I share everything with one another." Lee looked down at the ground with a look of sorrow.
"Mariah, you must understand that this is a history that our village would rather not remember. Ray was a link to the past. There was a conspiracy that led to Ray being taken to Lake Silverlight. When he came back he remembered nothing about coming to the lake at all. Nothing about the homa yado race and nothing of his past. He believes that he was born here and that he grew up like any one of us." Mariah wiped her eyes and looked up at Lee.
"How can get him to remember?"
"We can't, Mariah. The hypnosis was designed so that whenever the person remembered what they were not supposed, they would die." Mariah stepped back and covered her mouth with.
"Does that mean that the beast in Kevin's room was…Kevin?" Lee nodded once.
"And you?" Lee just looked at her with no words. (He basically acted like Kai from the blade breakers for this entire chapter)
"Mariah, I am a lion, Kevin is a gorilla. Gary is bear and you Mariah are a cat."
Mariah looked Lee and raised one eyebrow. She folded her arms.
"How long did it take you to figure that one out Lee?" She said sarcastically "I have been tying this bow for years.
"Mariah this is serious, you inhabit the body of Galux when you want to. The younger you are the easier it is; that'll be why Kevin is so good at it. You might get away with it. But Gary and I can't do it anymore because we haven't changed in so long." Mariah turned around to go for the door. "Well I have to get ready to go out with Ray so see ya later" Mariah was trying to get out of the creepy situation as quickly as possible.
"Ray is a snow tiger, just so that you know" Mariah went down the hall and entered her bedroom. "What if it's true?" she thought.

Remember readers any reviews are appreciated good or bad. Next chapter is coming soon.