Chapter 9: I'm The One
Thomas walked up to Amos's house with Kodi, Aleu and Copper right behind him. Tod had already had ran home so Amos would try and shoot him down since he hated that Fox so much. "Well I guess this is it." Thomas said as he sat down on the porch. "What do you mean?" Copper asked as he sat down next to Thomas. "I guess we just lay low until you get older to do that hunting competition with Jed and Steele." Thomas explained as he looked at Copper. "Yeah… but don't worry Thomas I'll be the best there ever was in a hunting dog!" Copper said with a smile. Thomas smiled and patted Copper on the head. "I know you will," Thomas said before looking forward at Kodi and Aleu. Kodi then took Aleu to the back shed to talk and left Thomas and Copper and the front porch.
"So where does my not so little brother live his life now?" Aleu said with a smile as she laid down in the shed. "I'm living happily with my own mate and children of my own," Kodi said proudly. "Well you have been a busy boy," Aleu said with a laugh. Kodi laughed with her. "Heh I guess I have been." Kodi said with a smile. Aleu and settled down and just studied her brothers body language. "What are their names?" Aleu asked as she laid down her head on her front paws. Kodi then laid down in front of her before telling her about his kids. "I have three boys and one girl. And their names are Anika, Jack, Nova and Eil." Kodi said with another smile. Aleu smiled at that. "That's nice Kodi. I'm very happy for you." Aleu said with a yawn. "Thank you." Kodi said as he laid down on his front paws.
"So what happened with Thomas last night?" Kodi asked looking at his sister. Aleu lifted her head quickly as if something spooked her. "It's something about his stones, that hurts when they glow red," Aleu said as she laid her head back down. "The stones hurt you?" Kodi asked now concerned. "Only when they glow red. Other than that they're fine but it's only when they glow red." Aleu explained. Maybe something to do with your strong spirituality?" Kodi asked, "How di you figure out about that?" Aleu asked. "Dad talked about it after you ran off." Kodi said, "It could very well be, but I have absolutely no idea at this point." Aleu said, "Well, after today i'm pretty exhausted, and I would think you are too, so why don't we figure this out in the morning and just go to sleep for now?" Kodi asked, 'Yeah, i'm pretty tired too yawn goodnight little bro, and goodnight to you too Thomas." Aleu said. "Goodnight sis, same to you Thomas." Kodi said, drifting off to sleep, "Goodnight you two, I have to get tomorrow figured out, so i'll be up for awhile." Thomas said.
Thomas left them in the shed and walked back to the front of the house. Amos stood in front of the door and looked at his nephew with his arms crossed. "Keeping those dogs in the shed I hope," Amos said eyeing down his nephew. "Yeah I am," Thomas said as he walked up the porch and walked pasted his uncle. "I want you to stay out of trouble tomorrow." Amos said as he walked into the house and closed the door behind him. "Yeah, yeah I know." Thomas said as he walked to his room and closed the door. "I mean it boy!" Amos said through the door. Thomas shook his head before jumping into bed. Thomas then turned off his lamp and closed his eyes to go to sleep. Thomas opened his eyes noticing some red glowing from his coat pockets. "What now?" Thomas said as he got out of bed and walked over to his coat. Thomas got into his pockets and took out all of his stones. All of the stones were glowing red and humming again like they did the night before. Thomas looked closely to the stones while having the feeling of being hypnotized. suddenly Thomas was sucked into the stones and landed into a field with a mist all around him.
Thomas walked around in the mist, "Where am i?" Thomas asked himself. A black raven flew in beside him, "What are you?" Thomas asked the strange bird, the bird crowded and put his left wing up, signaling Thomas to look to his left, "Are you trying to show me something?" Thomas asked, the bird crowded and Thomas looked that way, and saw a Fox running towards him and ran behind a tree, Thomas saw Amos aim a gun at the fox and shoot it, "What the hell is wrong with you?!" Thomas asked, his Uncle didn't seem to hear him, "Can he hear me?" Thomas asked himself, Chief ran right past him and retrieved the dead Fox, "What is going on here?!" Thomas shouted out loud, the raven crowed and dived at him, Thomas ducked, but as soon as the raven hit him, Thomas woke up.
"What the hell was that about?" Thomas asked himself as he jumped out of his bed. Thomas looked down at the ground and noticed that all of his stones were on the floor. Thomas then got down on the floor and picked up all of his stones and placed them back in his coat pocket. Thomas got himself dressed and stepped out into the living room. Thomas looked for his uncle but couldn't seem to find him. Thomas noticed once again another note on the table saying again Amos was out and about in town with chief. "Great! just what I need right now," Thomas said before walking outside and making his way to the shed where Aleu and Kodi were sleeping.
Thomas walked inside the shed and poked him, "Kodi, psst wake up!" Thoma s whispered in Kodi's ear, "*yawn* What is it? It's still early?" Kodi said, "I need to talk to you, come on, this stays between me and you." Thomas said, "Uhh okay?" Kodi said, getting up and going outside with Thomas. "So, you remember how Aleu said when the stones glow red they hurt her?" Thomas asked, "Yeah? What about it?" Kodi asked, "Well, it happened last night, only it like, made me envision something, but not the future, more like the past i think." Thomas said, "The past? What do you mean?" Kodi asked.
"There was a raven and a female fox... and Amos shoot the fox," Thomas explained. "Do you have any idea what this means?" Kodi asked as he looked up at Thomas. "I don't know. I mean it happened all so fast and it just seemed very personal." Thomas explained as he crossed his arms. Kodi could tell Thomas felt very uncomfortable talking about it. "Don't worry Thomas we'll figure this out," Kodi said with a warm smile. Thomas nodded with a smile. "Yeah I'm sure we will." Thomas as he uncrossed his arms.
"I think we should go check on Aleu, see how she's doing, you might want to leave your stones here." Kodi said, "No, not with what happened last time with Billy and Steele, it'll be okay i think." Thomas said, "If you say so." Kodi said, walking back to the shed to check on Aleu. Thomas opened the shed door quietly and saw Aleu still sleeping on the floor, the two walked out and Amos drove by in his truck, "You two had best be stayin' out of trouble!" Amos said, "Is there any time of the day where you don't bother us?" Thomas asked, Kodi barked in response, "Well I don't trust ya, I'm keeping my eye on you boy!" Amos said.
Thomas glared at his uncle before walking over to him. "Something happened before I came here and I know you were Involved," Thomas said as he poked Amos in his chest. Amos then got red and pushed Thomas down to the ground. Kodi jumped forward and started growling at Amos. "You better watch it boy! I'm warning you right now!" Amos said as he walked past Thomas and walked into the house. Chief just huffed and walked past Thomas and Kodi and walked over to his barrel and laid down. Kodi turned to Thomas and helped him up with his body. "Are you okay, Thomas?" Kodi asked as he helped up Thomas. "Yeah," Thomas replied as he brushed himself off. Thomas then looked towards the house and saw Amos sit down in a chair on the porch.
"He's really started to piss me off," Thomas said as he started walking away towards the gate of the yard. "Where are you going boy!" Amos shouted from his house. "I'm going to Ann's house!" Thomas shouted as he continued walking. Kodi followed Thomas down the road and walked by his side. "So what are we doing now?" Kodi asked. Thomas started to walk faster out of anger, he just had enough of his uncle. "I'm going to get answers," Thomas stated as he walked along. Kodi nodded in response as he and Thomas walked up to the fence of Ann's house. "Thomas hey! How are you doing?" Ann asked with a smile as she walked up to Thomas who was standing next to the fence. "I've been better," Thomas grumbled as he lend on the fence. "Did something happen?" Ann asked as she took off her gloves from working with the firewood.
"Where's Tod?" Thomas asked as he bit his lip. "He should be around here playing around. Why?" Ann asked. Thomas took a deep breath before answering. "Can I talk to him?" Thomas asked. Ann was a little confused by this. "Yeah sure, I'll go get him," Ann said as she walked over into the barn. "What are you going to do?" Kodi asked as he looked up to Thomas. "You'll see," Thomas said as he crossed his arms and lend his back against the fence. After a few minutes. Ann had brought Tod out of the barn and held him in her arms. "Here he is," Ann said as she walked up to the fence. Thomas turned around and looked at Ann and Tod.
Thomas then held out arms to hold Tod. Ann then gave Thomas Tod and placed him in his arms. "What's going on if I may ask?" Tod asked as he looked up at Thomas. Thomas then placed Tod down on the ground and just looked at him. Thomas then took out his stones and placed then down in between them. "Are going to play a game?" Tod asked with a smile as he sat down. Thomas looked up at Tod and smile. "Kinda," Thomas replied as he looked down at the stone. "Alright let's see if this works." Thomas said. As he looked closely at the stones. The stones started to glow a bright blue and started humming. "Here we go again," Thomas said. "Thomas I don't like this game, It kinda hurts." Tod said as he held his paws to his ears. "I know it hurts but it's going to be okay!" Thomas said as he pulled Tod close to him and hugged him. Thomas and Tod both closed their eyes as the humming of the stones got louder. Tod then started to breath heavily, feeling the pain of what the stones were doing. The suddenly everything stop and everything was okay. Thomas and Tod both opened their eyes and they found themselves in field with the cold dark mist surrounding them.
"Thomas? I'm scared, where are we?" Tod asked, "I don't know, this isn't like before." Thomas replied, "What do you mean Thomas?" Tod asked, "Oh, uh nothing, don't worry about it, come on let's see where on earth we are." Thomas said. Tod and Thomas walked around the mist, when Tod came across a house, "Hey Thomas, that looks like Widow Tweed's house!" Tod said, "What's her house doing here?" Thomas asked, "I'm not sure, but I hope she has pie and milk! Yum!" Tod said, running towards the house, Thomas started to chase him, "No! Tod, wait, something's not right! TOD!" Thomas shouted trying to catch him, but Tod wouldn't listen, "This isn't good! Something's not right I can feel it!" Thomas said to himself, still chasing Tod.
in the corner of Tod's eye he noticed a black figure pointing a gun at him. "Get down!" Thomas said as he jumped on to Tod and covered him. A gunshot was fired as Thomas ducked into cover for Tod so he wouldn't get killed. But there was pain in what Thomas thought he was being shot at. Thomas looked up and saw that the dark figure was shooting at something else. Thomas looked around to his surroundings as saw that the dark figure run towards the field. "What the hell?" Thomas said getting from Tod. "What does that man or monster want?" Tod asked now scared. "I don't know," Thomas answered as he watched the dark figure walk into the tree. Thomas and Tod both looked up to the sky and saw a raven flying down towards them. "Now what do you want?!" Thomas shouted to the raven. The raven crowded as it started to fly towards to the field where the dark figure was heading.
"Guess it wants us to follow?" Thomas said, following the raven. Tod did the same and the two walked into an open space in the forest, where a fox ran right in front of them, "Oh no, not this again! WHat'll happen to Tod if he sees this?" Thomas thought to himself, but it was too late, a gunshot rang through the air, a yelp followed along with birds scattering throughout the field, Tod sat there in fright of what just happened in front of his innocent eyes, "Thomas, why did you bring me here?" Tod asked in shock, Thomas was silent, "So I could see that my mother was killed? Is that right?" Tod asked, still in shock, Thomas was still silent, 'You're such a sicko Thomas! Take me home, right now!" Tod shouted at Thomas, "o...okay." Thomas muttered and the two woke up just like that.
The stones flouted in the air, but once Thomas and Tod woke from the trance the Thomas had tested from the stones, they fell to the ground. Tod jumped up from where he was laying and glared at Thomas. "Tod... I'm sorry," Thomas started to say as he sat from where he was laying. "No leave me alone!" Tod said before running away. "Thomas! what did you do?" Ann said before running after Tod. Thomas stood up and started picking up the stones. "Thomas, what happened in there?" Kodi asked. Thomas looked down at Kodi with a sad look on his face. "I think I'm the one who caused Tod to see something he's not suppose to," Thomas answered as he looked towards the barn and seeing Ann running inside after Tod.
"Thomas, what happened in there?" Kodi asked, "I'll tell you on the way home, come on." Thomas said, Kodi followed, "You see, I wanted to test something, last night the stones did to me what they were doing to Aleu, but something happened and I fell into some kind of trance, I saw what I thought was Tod's mother being killed, and I tried the same with Tod." Thomas said, "Thomas, he's only a kid! What kid wants to see his mother getting shot?!" Kodi asked angrily, "I know, I feel bad now that I did it, and I just can't say I'm sorry enough." Thomas said, starting to tear up. "Thomas, I don't think what you did was good, but I think what you experienced was something similar to what would have happened with Aleu, it looks like it's not her spirituality that comes into play at all, it's the stones themselves, they're getting into your head to tell you something important, I'm not sure what, but I have a feeling that it's important." Kodi said, "Yeah, I had that feeling while I was there too." Thomas said.
Kodiwolf321 A/N: Alright guys another chapter down. Chapter number 9! What did you guys think about the stones trying to do new things and showing things that should be remember? Chapter 10 is gonna be a little bit of a game changer once we get into it. Also guys if you remember Nome is Strange Vol 1 with all the creepy short stories in the Balto universe. I've been working on something for Thomas and Kodi from the Purpose series to be added on Nome is Strange Vol. 1 if you guys want to see that let me know in a review. The title of the short horror story is titled "Scream For Me".
A/N NightWolfZilvia: Well guys, what did you think of this one? Pretty strange, but awesome at the same time! I can't wait to see what Thomas has planned for us to do in the future, so stay tuned and we'll see ya next time!