Secrets of the Starnik
Chapter 12: Secrets of the Family
Aria was certain that this side of her family were keeping something from her, something, how else could you explain the reason why they keep going out to visit "friends"? Or their mysterious behaviour and the obvious lies they keep telling her. She knew how to recognise lies; she had picked up on the ones her mother always gave to her each time Aria asked about her father, these wolves were all giving off the same vibes and impressions. But what was it they were keeping from her? They were her family; surely they'd tell her everything, right? As her father always told her, "family comes first and nothing is more important", if this was true they wouldn't keep her out of any loop they might have been hiding from her. Surely not.
Still, nothing could explain their strange behaviour. Like the conversations they would all have without her, or the reasons that didn't makes sense as to why she wasn't a part of them. They were hiding something; she wanted to make sure of it. The rest of the day after they all returned back to the den, they had more of those talks that she wasn't invited to listen in on. She could see how serious it seems, obviously, wherever it was they went, they weren't visiting friends. As the night drew into a close, their acting didn't stop. She still witnessed the same signs of a lie that her mother gave her each time she wanted to know about her father. They were adding more lies to the lies they were feeding her, and she grew more sceptical as the darkness roamed over head and everyone returned to their homes. She over heard a part of a conversation they all had earlier, something about them all meeting up again the next morning. What were they going to do? She had to find out.
She woke up during the night, nothing woke her, she just happened to wake up. She put her elbows under her and with squinted eyes she looked around. The lantern beside her bed gave off some little light to allow her to see. On the middle of the den her father and step-mother lay spooning with each other, he behind her. She looked at them, wondering how she could get the reasons behind their mysteriousness without alerting them. It was then an idea struck her, an experiment. She pulled the cover off her and she swivelled around and placed her feet on the floor. Rosie twitched at the small noise she made, but she stayed asleep. She waited to be certain before she pushed herself up and started creeping towards them. She tip-toed, using her light body weight to move in closer to them. She was still clumsy; she didn't see the book on the floor which made her stumble. Rosie lifted her head this time at the louder noise, her eyes half open. Aria froze; Rosie looked around, in a daze, not one hundred percent there or even there at all. Soon though, she dropped her head and fell back to sleep, letting Aria breathe again and looked down. A book, out of all the things here, this was the only book around. For some reason it made her curious, so she picked it and held on tight to it as she knelt down behind her father's head. He snored a little, proving her was completely out of it. She smacked her lips as she sat on her heels and gently placed her hand on his head and closed her eyes. Like her father told her, she built a psychic bridge and entered his mind, letting hers and his merge. "South Dakota", those words were the first thing she saw, a clearing in the middle of the woods, a woman, his bow…blood…guns, fighting, war, screams, cries, massacre! The longer she held onto him the more she began to see, the more she began to see what he had seen. She couldn't last more then a few moments and quickly she pulled her hand away, her eyes darting around as she looked down at him. What did she just see? What has he seen? What has he done? Why has he seen that? Who was he really? Who were the Starnik?
She didn't go back to sleep that night, she tried but she couldn't get those horrific images out of her mind. As the sun started to rise over the distant mountains and shine through the trees, she was sat with her feet over that cliff she knew of that Myka brought her to a few days ago. She thought a walk would help, it didn't. Instead she only found herself thinking more about it. She looked down the length of the long Valley before her, seeing the rising sun reflecting off the water of the stream that flowed down the entire length of it. She remembered that book she trod on, the book she's had in her hand yet didn't appear to notice it until just now.
She looked at it before opening it, each page was listed with names, addresses, numbers, most of them crossed out. Why, why did they have this? What was it? She began to worry, who were her family. She had only one day left to figure this out, one day before her flight back home. She wasn't going to leave with bad impressions of her family she wanted to know the truth. She had a day and a half; her flight was at mid-afternoon tomorrow.
An hour later, Scott padded out of his den, yawning as he stretched his chest forward and groaned in the morning rays. He looked to the right and towards the gentle slope that led to the Valley, Aria was walking towards him. He smiled and jumped back onto his hind legs and changed. "Morning honey. Sleep well?" She shook her head.
"Not really. I've been up for nearly three hours so I went for a walk." She didn't look at him, she couldn't. He sensed this and something else wrong with her. She walked passed him and leaned back against the den entrance.
"What's bothering you baby?" He asked caringly and leaning beside her.
"Nothing, just a bad dream." He knew better, although he may not have been around to see Myka grow up, he knew there was something else to this. But he went along with it, if she didn't want to talk about it then that was fine with him, he wasn't going to force her.
"Ok then." He smiled. "What time is your flight tomorrow?"
"3:47." She answered.
"In that case, this afternoon we're going to have some fun." He sounded so sure. But…
"Why this afternoon?" She looked up to him out the corner of her eye. "Why not this morning?" He saw something on her that suggested she was growing suspicious; it was going to be a problem soon if he wasn't careful.
"We got some more things to take care of, we just need to…"
"Visit a few friends." She finished for him.
"Not quite." He chuckled. "Before you came things were hectic, we just need to clear the aftermath up before we can really relax and have some fun."
"And you'll be done before mid-day?"
"Of course, nothing will get in the way."
"You promise?" She turned to him and held up her little finger, he knew this and grinned and took his own and locked them together.
"I promise, nothing will come between us, ever."
She smiled, this time she didn't see a lie, he was really being honest. Ok, so maybe she didn't need to be so sceptical about whom he was. She was tired when she saw all that, it had to be her mind playing with her. As the morning started to wear on, Rosie was up and with the two hours since Scott was up, Jack, Myka, Lupa, Dakota and Chance had all once again gathered in the same place as yesterday, outside the den. Aria still had her suspicions, why did all these wolves have to go with Scott? Surely only one or three people were needed for this. Anyway, everyone was tired, everyone desired their beds; they wanted this over and done with. Aria sat with her feet dangling over the small rise and looked down the eight feet drop while the others gathered before the mouth of the den, once again having a conversation she wasn't invited to. She looked back at them all, seeing that actually none of their mouths were moving, yet they nodded and looked like they were. She turned her head to the side and opened her mind towards them, hearing that in fact they were having some kind of mental conversation.
"Chance, you're watching Aria." Scott said. "Keep her occupied; I don't want her guessing anything."
"Got it." She replied.
"We'll give you the heads up when we're coming back; we might be a little messy." Rosie added. Aria whizzed her head back around as she saw them look in her direction. "Messy"? What were they talking about? It was then she sensed a mind approaching her from behind and soon Scott sat beside her.
"We'll be back soon." He said lovingly. "I promise we'll have the rest of the day together."
"I'm keeping you to your word." She replied.
"I always keep my promises." He put a paw around her shoulders and pulled her towards him so he could kiss her cheek. "I love you Aria, be good." She looked at him and couldn't help but smile at her furry father.
"I love you too dad." She kissed her a second time before walking back to the others, changing on the way.
"Ok, Chance, she's ready." He said to her as he walked into the den to collect his bow and arrows. She kissed her mate and pleaded he was careful, which he promised, before she walked towards the human she was pup-sitting today. When Scott came out, they started walking around the den to get away and talk over.
"The place will be full, but they won't be ready for us." Lupa said.
"We stay together, keep it tight and look out for each other." Rosie added. "Everything will be fine."
"Stephanie shouldn't be in there, if she is then watch out for her." Dakota added further.
"You know where to go buddy." Scott said as he removed his bow and took an arrow in his other hand. "When you're ready." To find the location of the safe-house, it was another case Rosie rummaging through the human girl's mind for a safe place to land and then passing it over to her son and daughter to get them there. They stopped, Dakota eye's flashed and Lupa faded away, but all together, the seven of them appeared where they should be.
They didn't know where they were; just that the safe-house was around this shed they were behind. They looked around it, careful not to be seen. This place wasn't a safe-house, it wasn't even a house! It was the start to a woodland; just through the trees they could see some kind of large camp. Fires spread around, sheets of tarpaulin made tattered tents, men and women walked around with guns and some not, pipes, wood and plastic sheets made small places to hide from the rain. It was a camp more then anything. Nowhere to hide and no-where to run.
"This is it?" Jack asked.
"I thought it would be a warehouse or something." Myka added.
"We've gone through all their hiding places; where else would they have to go?" Scott said as they looked around, taking in a quick lay of the land and all the places they could use for cover and use as an advantage. He took that arrow and clipped it to the string of the bow. "Come on; let's finish this once and for all." He stepped up and around, the other following right behind and beside him. Quickly, screams, cries, gunshots and wails flowed with the wind out of the forest, a bloody after math soon to follow.
Back by the den, Aria was getting to know the she-wolf babysitting her, even though Chance denied she was, she had to soon face the fact she was indeed babysitting her. Still, she wasn't going to let this morning be a boring one, she wanted some fun, she hasn't had the time to see Aria much, heck, Aria had already forgotten her name. So to make the morning a little more fun, Chance was genuinely intrigued to know more about her and her life without Scott. Aria gave her the short and sweet version before starting on her own questions as they walked through the long grass of the Valley. "So who are the friends my dad keeps going to see?" Aria asked as she jumped onto a rock to get a slightly higher look over the grass. "You've gone with them, so you should know."
"I do." Chance answered a she stood beside the rock. "They're some people your family once quarrelled with, now they're just settling the dust between them so to speak. They're coming to a final agreement this morning." Aria jumped down, skilfully balancing on a log, laid on the other side of the rock, and stretching her arms outwards to balance herself.
"And you're a part of it?"
"Sort of, I only met Dakota a few months ago. It was pretty much love at first sight to be honest and as a result I was brought into this fight."
"That must have sucked." Aria replied.
"I didn't last long, sure there might have been a few times where I regretted it, but now it's nearly over. We can be happy about that now."
"I hope so." Aria lost her concentration enough to slip, the slid off the left of the log, to the ground and ended up cut a large gash across the palm of her left hand as she tried to grab something to keep her up. She seethed loudly from the stinging. Chance was quick to jump over and help her.
"Let me have a look." She took her hand in her paws. "A couple of splinters in it, you'll live."
"There's tweezers back at the den, we can use those." Aria got to her feet and the two turned around to make back for the den
Meanwhile, a woman peeked out over a wooden wind break, all around her the bodies of her comrades and friends lay littering the woodland floor. Before her, a man with an arrow going in one side of his head and coming out the other. Above her, another man who was thrown into the air and impaled on a tree branch, now dripping blood onto the forest floor. She was panicking, she wanted to cry, but she had to be silent, the Starnik were still around. The cars, the vehicles nobody was able to reach in time were in her sights. She could make it if she ran. So she did, she braved it and ran. But suddenly, a loud howl boomed towards her and she was catapulted like the man she watched into the air and into the side of a tree, the force enough to not only render her unconscious, but she broke her spine and neck to die later on from her wounds.
Dakota checked her, she was dead, the last of them finally dead. Stephanie wasn't around, and annoyingly neither was that man he also saw, their leader. This wasn't good; if their leader wasn't here then surely he was out doing something else. It wasn't good, each one of them needed to be put down. The ritual was happening tonight, he was certainly going to be there to greet his former leader again should he return. "She's dead." Dakota confirmed as he walked back to the others. Scott was a rather bloody mess, a little accident that involved him driving an arrow into the ribs of a man and a "little" blood leaked onto him. The rest of the wolves had it covering their muzzles and paws from the amount of biting and slicing they had been doing. They were going to have to wash before Aria found this.
"That's not all of them though." Myka added. "What about that leader you told us about? I didn't see him."
"Neither did I." Lupa added. "He's got to be out there somewhere."
"If he's not here, he'll be at the ritual tonight." Rosie added.
"Or…" Scott started as something came to his realisation.
"Or what?" Jack asked.
"Or…he's gone for the witch." God, how stupid were they all?! He's gone to get the witch, Dakota remembers him saying that their next objective was to get the witch; they should have brought her in to keep her away from them before it was too late.
"Myka, head back home and warn Chance we'll be back soon." Rosie pretty much ordered. "Scott and I will tidy up here and you three will go and get the witch." She added while looking towards Dakota, Lupa and Jack.
"Go now, we've got to be quick." Scott turned around with his mate, Myka recited her spell and vanished in green light while Dakota did the same with Jack and Lupa faded away with them.
Chance and Aria approached them den the fire of the den still smoking slightly from the small fire they had going this morning for a cooked breakfast. So the embers would still be there. Aria held up her hand, her blood starting to drip every now and then as they walked. "Go and find the tweezers." Chance told her. "I'll go and get you some water to clean it out with." Aria nodded as she walked into the den and Chance walked back the way they came to collect some water. Aria remained confused for the forty five minutes they had been walking, why wasn't she healing like she did when she cut herself a few days ago? This didn't make any sense; her powers didn't make any sense. How could she self-heal one moment and not the next? Anyway, she found the tweezers and headed back outside and sat on the floor by the fire pit. It was a little cold, so she focused onto the fire and tried what she tried once before. Her eyes flashed green and the fire began to spark until it began to catch on the remaining sticks that were already in there. She smiled to herself; she was getting the hang of it.
She then turned her attention back to her hand, and as she moved in to pluck out the splinters, that's when she felt a rush of heat sweep over her palm and she witnessed that same magical, green flame poke out of her skin and begin to danced back and forth around the long wound across her hand. She wasn't doing anything, she didn't have to. But why were this happening now and not the other times? After a few seconds, the fire extinguished and her hand was left without a mark or a scratch. She clenched and relaxed her fist a few times, feeling now stinging or anything and seeing the splinters on the floor. How does this work?
Suddenly, a flash of green and a small booming sound made her jump, but it was only Myka. "Chance, are you…ahh crap."
"Hey Myka why are you back so…" She was smiling at first at seeing her sister come back early, but that quickly dropped when she saw the state of her. "I-is that…bl-blood?" She asked pointing to her mouth and paws. "Myka, what happened?" She looked over her body; she had more blood on her then she first thought.
"Aria, where's Chance? Why isn't she with you?" Myka asked as she walked towards her. Aria was frightened; she quickly got to her feet as her bloodied sister walked towards her.
"She went to get some water. Myka why are you covered in blood?"
"We'll explain later on, right now you need to wait here." Myka turned to run away and get back to her mother and father. But surprisingly she was forced to stop.
"No." Aria replied. "Tell me what happened, why are you covered in blood?"
"I said mom and dad will…" Aria's eyes flashed and the fire stretched and flew out towards Myka in a ball. She couldn't believe what she did, Aria didn't realise it. Myka was quick however, she picture the flame going around her rather then into her. And as her eyes flashed the flame split around her and into the rock behind her. She was left gob-smacked as she turned to face her, Aria had her mouth covered in shock of what she just did. "Myka, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to…" That's it, Myka had lost it. It was time to get rid of this human once and for all.
"Ok, you want to know what just happened?" Aria didn't move or answer. "We've just killed people." Myka saw it in her eyes; she was listening and couldn't believe it. "Oh yeah, we've just killed some people, even mom and dad, Lupa and Dakota. I've been killing for nearly seven months; mom and dad have been doing that a lot longer then that."
"Bu- but why?" Aria covered her mouth, she wanted to be sick. Who were these people?
"The Ditori are a group of people that have hunted us down for nearly a decade, we kill them before they kill us."
"You…You lied to me?"
"Yeah we did." Myka snapped. "And guess what, so have I!" She exclaimed. "You don't belong in this family; you don't have it in you to kill to live around here when you need to. In this family it's fight to survive and always has been. You fainted when you saw that caribou heart the day after you came here. You don't look anything like my father other then the same eyes."
"We we're sis…"
"We're nothing!" Myka snarled as she began to creep towards her and making Aria step back a way from her. "I hate you Aria, I've always hated you!" The truth was out, and Aria was getting the full force of it. "I tried to be nice, I tried to teach you things like jumping high and landing safely, but you just had to get in the way of things! Just as things are perfect, you have to butt into our lives and ruin everything! You don't belong in this family human. To be in this family you've got to kill, you couldn't even look at a measly animal heart." Aria wanted to cry, her heart was ripped in two. She thought she loved her family, she thought they loved her. Clearly not.
It was then that Chance came walking up the slope with a clump of moss soaked in water. She dropped it after seeing Myka confronting Aria and looking how she was and Aria heard her.
"You…" She said with watery eyes. "You knew about this?" Chance could see that now the human knew everything, so she nodded and she hung her head. A moment later, Dakota, Jack, Lupa, Scott and Rosie reappeared behind Myka.
"Ok, and tonight we'll stake out the area until…" Scott was trying to say.
"Honey." Rosie stopped him and pointed to the scene. Scott looked into his daughter's pained eyes, they had been caught.
"Aria, let me explain…"
"Who are you?" She said in the strongest voice she could muster, but it came out as a croak. "Why are you…?" She looked up and down his body, most of his shirt and hands were covered in blood.
"Aria, there are some things that you won't understand, sweetheart." Scott said sweetly as he walked towards her. She only stepped away from him. She wanted to be sick, the state of him, the state on all of them. What she saw last night, it was all true. They were murderers, all of them. They kill, that's what they do. She held onto her arms, trying to get over what she was witnessing, but it just wasn't working. He tried approaching her again, she only pushed her arms out to him as a gesture to stay away and she stepped away again to keep away from him. She held onto her arms as if cradling herself, refusing to meet his gaze.
"I want to go home." She muttered. "I want to go home now." Scott nodded.
"Sure, go to bed then, we'll talk about this tom…"
"I want to go back home, back to my real home." She stopped him. He was heartbroken; he had driven away his human daughter. Myka had a brief moment to smile, she had succeeded. Finally she was going.
"Yeah…Ok. I'll call Tony and make some arrangements." He replied. "Go and pack your things." He went to pat her on the back, but before he even came close he we met with an invisible wall like a wall around her that stopped him. She looked up at him with her swirling green eyes, heartache and fear present in them before she walked away towards the den. She knew it; she knew this was too good to be true. Her father, a murderer, the Starnik, all murderers. What would the world think of this if they knew? Scott wanted to cry, he fought them. He couldn't believe what he had done; he couldn't believe he had just driven away his daughter that now couldn't bear to look at him. What they do now? Well, he was going to have to make arrangements to catch an earlier flight. But first, they all needed to wash.
Ah man, Aria's found out and can't stand to look at any of them. She's going back home, the third daughter of the Starnik now wanting to leave the family. Can she forgive them? Can she even bring herself to look at them? Review and Read on to find out. There aren't many chapters to this story left guys, i didn't think of a way to expand it a little, but it wouldn't have made much sense. Anyway, until next time. :S
The FalconWolf
