Descendants of the Starnik

Chapter 6: Following their Paw Steps

There was no time for taking the scenic route through town; Henry could be in trouble thanks to the trial Jonah left behind. COWEL was after him, he was their new target for whatever stupid reason they had against all wolves. They must have seen him hanging around with Aquila, therefore making him a new target in order to get to her. They then followed him to the apartment, right to Henry, and then right before they ambushed him in the alley. He's led them all over the city and now Henry could be paying the price.

So there was no time to waste, not even to discuss what on earth just happened. Jonah had Aquila's power; yet she had a sudden loss of strength, who was responsible for it? They'd have to continue that subject later. Aquila still felt the effects of her sudden lose of strength, she couldn't run as fast as Jonah and became tired after only coming to the park, Jonah had a far bigger reason to will himself on. Aquila would lose a friend if it came to that; Jonah would lose that, an uncle, a father figure, the only family he has left. He slipped up the first step as he reached the apartment complex, quickly finding his footing before climbing the rest of the and running past the several other doors to his. He looked across the car park; Aquila was only just coming into it. He didn't slow for her, not when he saw the dirty footprint on the door, evidence it had been kicked in. More added to that after seeing the lock splintered and the frame exactly like that.

He barged it open, taking less then a second to see all this before charging inside. "HENRY!" He cried, wanting to hear his voice. He had to be ok, he need to be! He ran along the corridor, straight down into the living room. It was a mess, the couch had been flipped over, the window cracked, the glass cabinet smash and fallen on it's side. "Henry, can you here me!" He was panicking, he wasn't here. His eyes glowed in fear as he canned the room and reached out his supernatural gift to find him. He could sense any supernatural blood, he could find Henry. He heard a groan; he leapt up onto the flipped chair and looked over it, Henry lay on the other side of it. Well, his tail was anyway, the rest of him was underneath the cabinet which had fallen over him. Luckily, the chair stopped it from crushing him. He jumped back off, running around and sliding underneath the cabinet. "I got you Uncle, I'm here."

"Ahh…Jonah?" He groaned, partially a groan of relief he was here.

"It's ok, let's just get you out." He couldn't help but laugh in relief he seemed to be ok. He pieced things together, clearly they did come here, they knocked him about a bit, threw him into the window, then into the chair which flipped over as a result of that, only then to knock the cabinet onto him before they left. But this was COWEL, if they ever did this then they wouldn't leave the wolf alive. Why was Henry still alive? They would have killed him. Jonah wasn't complaining, his uncle was alive, this was a miracle!

Jonah grabbed his scruff in his mouth and began dragging in out, slithering out first himself and then bringing Henry out with him. Suddenly, a woman jumped out from the corridor, a pistol gripped tightly in his hand. Jonah wasn't fast enough to do anything, his eyes widened at the sight of her and he waited. But then, just as suddenly, a blur slammed into her with great force and as if hit by a bulldozer, she screamed and flew into the window and out it, falling the way down and…well, it was pretty clear. Aquila then came running through, panting heavily and fast, almost struggling to breathe. Jonah relaxed a little. "How many times…do I need to save you today?" She panted. Jonah didn't answer. He finished dragging Henry out, a small cut on the back of his head, his lower right fang missing, a small cut going over his lower lip there. Other then that, he seemed ok. He sat his uncle up who continued to groan and seethe as he passed his paw over the back of his head.

"Are you ok?" He asked stupidly, nothing here was ok!

"I'm fine." He nodded. "You can't kill an old war horse like me." He smiled reassuringly. He still had his sense of humour, so Jonah hugged him, thankful to god that he didn't lose him.

"I don't know what I'd do if I lost you." He mumbled. "I can't lose anyone else."

"And you're not." He reassured and pushing him away. "But right now we need to leave."

"We need to get you to a vet." Aquila added, finally able to catch her breath. "You took a quite a beating by the looks of things." She added while looking around the room.

"I'll be fine; I can take care of myself. It wasn't me they were after anyway." Jonah tilted his head.

"What do you mean?" He asked. "They're after someone?"

"They wanted to know where you were, they're after you son." His eyes widened again. "I didn't tell them anything, so they made sure I paid for it while they waited for you to come back. It's a good thing I called you Aquila."

"We were lucky." She added. "Let's just get out of here; the cops will be here soon about the noise I'm sure."

"You need to get out of town." Henry nodded before they walked out of the apartment. "Both of you must leave now."

"Us?" Jonah questioned while making sure there wasn't anyone around to attack them again before cautiously walking away from the building. "You're not coming."

"They had someone who seemed to know about the Starnik, too much. He kept mentioning them, he has quite the temper. It's a good thing I can control my eyes pretty good."

"This isn't funny." Jonah exclaimed. "They could have killed you."

"You two are in more danger then me. This man is working with COWEL; if he knows secrets of our ancestors then he could very well be a great danger to us."

They walked away from the building, ignoring the police sirens and vehicles that sped passed them and towards the apartments. They needed to create distance between them and their home, somewhere safe. So checking behind them and around each corner constantly before actually taking it, they moved into the heart of the city, into its busy parts where they could blend in better and hide in the alleys. They were safe for now here in this dirty, stinking place.

"Why do I need to go with you?" Aquila asked. "I can't just leave the circus."

"I've taken it upon myself to see that you're safe too." Henry answered while using a broken mirror to check out his missing tooth and to cut on his lip. "I'm sorry Aquila, but it's not safe around here for you either. COWEL want you gone, you two need to get out of here before it's too late." He added while turning around.

"You keep saying "you two" Uncle, why does something suggest that you're not coming with us?" Jonah questioned.

"This man knew of the Starnik, he found you, he found Nick, our distant cousin in the Starnik temple, he's a danger to our family. I need to warn anyone we've found."

"So where will you go?"

"I need to go and find Jackie, remember, we were talking about her the other day?" Jonah nodded, so Henry continued. "If this guy knows how to find us, then she could be in danger, as could the rest of our relatives."

"This is crazy guys." Aquila added. "This is COWEL we're talking about; they do things like this everyday to different wolves. It sounds like you're suggesting something."

"I'm not suggesting anything." Henry answered. "You know us better then anyone, we look out for our family, so we will do anything it takes to make sure they're safe. But right now, you two need to get out of the city."

"I can't leave the circus." She refused. "I can't just up and leave."

"I didn't mean to drag you into this." Jonah said sincerely. "But you're in danger too, COWEL are taking things up a gear, they're taking this far more seriously. If we stick together then we'll…"

"I'm not touching you again." She snapped back. "I don't know what you did to me, but I'm not letting it happen again."

"Let what happen again?" Henry asked.

"When Jonah was ambushed, he took my power and made me feel like crap." Aquila answered. "I didn't do anything, and the next thing I know he's blowing holes in the walls."

"I didn't do anything." Jonah retaliated. "I just moved you out the way."

"This doesn't matter." Henry said stopping this pointless argument before it escalated. "One of you must have a power to either share or take a power. Either way, be careful and take care of each other."

"I'm not leaving." She replied, standing up and making a stand. "I'm not afraid of these assholes or else I would have done something about this a long time ago."

"Look, we'll head back to the circus, we'll talk some things over with Rick and then we've got to go." Said Jonah.

"And go where?!" She exclaimed. "We're running when we could just go to the police and get help. We would we go."

"Go to the national park east of here. Take the bus, a cab, anything, just don't draw any attention." Henry answered. "You guys can't stay long. I'll go and get myself patched up, then I'll head to Portland, that's where Jackie and her family live. I'll give them a little surprise."

"This is nuts." Aquila grumbled and shaking her head.

"This is just until things die down." Jonah said softly. "Things will go back to normal in no time, I'm sure of it."

"It better." She answered hotly. "Now come on, let's go." She began walking to the end of the alley, looking down the lengths of the streets to check it was clear while Jonah and Henry embraced one another once again and for the last time.

"Take care of yourself." Henry whispered. "Take care of Aquila."

"I think she'll be taking more care of me to be honest."

"Nick's funeral is in a few days, try and make it there if you can." Henry said as they pulled apart.

"Why the national park?" He questioned. "Why go there when there is anywhere else?" Henry only chuckled.

"It's our natural home; we're strongest in our own world, not the human's." He answered. "Also, because I want you to meet somebody there."

"Who?"

"Don't worry." He smiled. "Now go, if you hurry you'll make it there by dark. Just find shelter and settle down until he gets there." Who was this person? What would they need help with? Protection maybe? He went along with it. To be honest they needed all the help they could get. Maybe he knew this person. "Now go, and work on that power." He pushed his nephew towards the end of the alley.

"It's not me." Jonah chuckled under his breath and turning to follow Aquila who still waited at the end of the street. Henry walked the other way; firstly needing to visit the vet to get his wounds dealt with, especially his tooth, that needed checking over before he moved on.

Jonah joined with Aquila, she defiantly wasn't happy about this, he could tell. "Let's just get back to the circus." She grumbled impatiently as they began a light paced jog to the park where the circus was.

Still, they cautiously weaved around the streets, avoiding using any alleyways and always looking over their shoulders in case they were being followed. They couldn't trust anyone; COWEL could be anyone they walked amongst. The entire walk, Aquila continuously muttered and mumbled under her breath who stupid this was, how she was running for no reason. Jonah however, he was curious as to the man whom Henry was talking about back at the apartment. How could someone know so much about the Starnik? How could they find their ancestors? Were they hunting them down? It would explain a few things if that were true, but it didn't explain how this man seemed to know so much according to Henry. Also, this person he wanted them to meet. Why? Who? How? Why the national park? How would they even get there by nightfall?!

The two didn't speak much as they walked to the edge of the park, their ears perking to more sirens of fire trucks and their eyes drawn to the sight of black smoke rising from the area the circus was. They shared a brief look of worry before beginning a sprint across the long park, all the way to the other side where the circus was. It was fine, but the smoke was coming from the other side. They went in to investigate, concluding that the source was coming from the trailers, behind the wall of people watching and fire trucks battling the leftovers of a blaze. They began to weave between the legs of the people standing around to get a better look. They started to hear shouts and cries, orders and pleas, all adding confusion to the crowd watching. They peered side by side through the legs of two humans. A trailer, well…the remains of Aquila trailer anyway, smouldered away while a steady stream of water was dropped onto it to cool the metal. Everything inside was burned away, most of the metal panelling to it had come off and burned, somehow, also. All there was left of it was the frame of it.

Aquila looked to the right by the back entrance of the tent, Mel, the girl she shared the trailer with, was in the arms of one of the Callen brothers, the others not fairing much better then her. They were upset. She was stupid now, she never told them if she was going somewhere, they thought she was dead, still in the trailer. Jonah saw this also. "This is good." He said, instantly poking something inside his friend who looked back at him horrified he would think that.

"What are you talking about?!" She nearly shouted. "They think I'm dead."

"Exactly." He replied. "If they think you're dead, then so will COWEL." In those few words, she actually started to understand what he was talking about. "COWEL got here before us, they think you're dead. If you come with me and keep this up then you'll be off their radar. You're safer if they think you're dead."

"I can't just leave them like this." She said with her own watery eyes. "I've got to tell them something."

"Scott Starnik went through the same thing." He added. "He had to make his friends think they were dead to start on the prophecy of the Starnik, and look how it turned out for them." She didn't understand, yet she did at the same time. "He had to do this to make things better. Sometimes we need to sacrifices a few things to make it work out." A tear fell down her furry cheek. "If they think you're dead, they or COWEL won't come looking for you. After all this is over, you can go find them and tell them everything."

"But when Jonah?" She was ready to cry. It's hard to leave behind a life you love so dearly. "When can I come back?"

"I don't know." He sighed and was about to place his paw over hers, she quickly move hers away after remembering what happened earlier. So he placed his back down and continued. "But you will be, but we need to do this first." She looked back to her friend, crying and mourning over their lose. She wanted to tell them, she wanted to run up to them and tell them she was ok, that she was alive. But as confused as she was, she so some very little sense in all this. If they thought she was dead, then they wouldn't be affected by COWEL anymore, because they too would think she was too. That is…if the ones in the alley don't remember seeing her that is. This was hard, this was torture to do this, but she didn't see much of an option. This was for hers and their benefit, but she'd rather them have theirs' more then her. She turned back to her friend and nodded gently. He too did, but with a delicate smile.

"Let's get out of here." She nodded again, and while taking one final look, she followed Jonah back out the way she came.

They crawled back out of the crowd, walking away with confidence and without any suspicion. "Let's find a cab." He said.

"The National Park right?" She wondered and wiping away the tears. "Why there?"

"Henry said it would be a safe place for now." Then he went back to puzzled expression he had before, mainly because he was still trying to figure out the answer. "He also said he was going to send someone to meet us there."

"Really? Who?"

"I don't know, but he said we should try and get their before dark, so let's hurry up."

A short chapter today guys, mainly because I didn't have much time to write it, so yeah, it was a little rush, again! I'll try to stop doing that.

So the debate is still on. Either Jonah can take Aquila's power for a short time, or...she can pass it over to someone else temporarily. But who is it? They've had to run away, Aquila'a had to made a tough choice in this matter. But she understands.

About Aquila. I do apologise, i discovered last night i seem to have a thing about names that end with an "A". There's Sarah, Myka, Lupa, Dakota, Aria, Jonah and Aquila, (which if you've been trying to figure out, is pronounced A-KEE-LA.). Then there's my ASOW series, which had Sahara (who i named my guitar after), Ciara, Cara, Kala (for a short time) and Anya. I'm not deliberately doing this, it only came to my attention last night. Anyway, i hope you enjoyed the chapter, sorry that bit's been lagging a bit. Oh, one last thing! the dark shadow, you've finally got yourself an account on here! Good for you! :) Until next time! :D

The FalconWolf