"Neither," I smiled but then frowned. "Wait a second. Shouldn't Jay's parents be here?"
"Uh yeah.. I guess so. They must be out or something," Blake shrugged. "Why?"
"I don't know," I shrugged. "I guess I was expecting them to come out of some room and demand what we were doing."
Blake laughed a little.
"What?" I asked him.
"Oh nothing," he sighed.
"Tell me!"
"Never mind."
"No. Tell me. Now."
"Fine. It's just that you worry about the tiniest things but you don't even come close to freaking out with the big things."
"Big things? Like what?"
"When it came to rescuing me. I reckon you weren't freaked out, just set on getting me back."
"Yeah, I guess you're right," I smiled. "I just want you to be safe. I'd give my life for that."
"Don't say things like that," he sighed. "It freaks me out."
"Why?"
"Because. It just does."
"How?"
"Not sure."
"Righteo."
Blake smiled and stood up. "I reckon we should go back to school."
"Why!?" I cocked an eyebrow at him.
"Just so we can run a rampage and piss off the teachers."
I sighed, I should have seen that one coming. "Okay. Sounds fun. What about Jay and Sara?"
Blake thought for a moment. "Leave them here. Sara's tired."
I nodded. "I'll just go tell Jay."
"Why?"
"It'll annoy him to know he can't come because Sara is sleeping on him," I smiled and we both walked to Jay's room. We looked in to tell Jay we were leaving, but we didn't say anything. Jay was also asleep, his arms wrapped around Sara and his breathing as even as hers.
"Aw, that's so sweet," I whispered.
Blake tried not to laugh and he tugged lightly at my shoulder. "C'mon, let's go."
I turned and followed him to the garage to my new car. "Do you want to drive?" I asked him.
He shook his head. "You can. Just take it easy."
I smiled and jumped in the driver's seat, he got in the passengers seat. The garage doors opened and I started up the car with the keys I took out of my jacket pocket. I put the car into gear and drove out, getting onto the road and following the 80km/h speed limit. I drove to the school by following the speed limits the whole way, even stopping at traffic lights. We reached the school in no time and we got out of the car when I parked it out the front. I locked it and we went into the school, Storm wouldn't be there yet, because he would have walked. We didn't see him on our way here.
We went to the class we were supposed to have, Music, and the teacher looked up at us. "Blake, Skye, you're very late. Why?"
I shrugged before Blake could answer. "Didn't feel like coming I guess. We were doing other stuff."
"Like what?" one of the sluts asked, her expression begging for a romantic, action, sexual story.
I gagged. "Get real. We were just hanging out with Sara and Jay."
"And what are they up to now?" she asked.
"They fell asleep," Blake replied. "They were too tired from when we went to the city to do some stuff."
"You went to the city!?" one of the guys exclaimed. We nodded. "Why?"
"Because we felt like it," I sighed and stretched, leaning backwards. Blake caught me even though I wasn't planning on falling over, wrapping arms around my waist. "So, what are we doing this class?"
"We were just about to go play any instrument we want," one of the other guys said.
"But you two won't be because I'm taking you to the principle to call your parents," the teacher growled.
"I don't think so," I smirked and looked up at Blake. He smiled back down at me and we turned and ran out of the classroom.
"Hey!" the teacher called.
We didn't listen. We ran into the main building and past all the classroom doors, knowing the teacher was chasing us.
I spotted the english room up ahead and I dragged Blake into it, making all the kids that were doing their tests look up.
"Um, hi," I smiled and waved a little. "Just pretend we're not here and continue your tests."
They blinked at us.
"We need a place to hide, okay!?" I was impatient. They all looked down at their tests again.
"What do you want?" the teacher asked.
"A place to hide would be great," Blake muttered.
"Why?"
"Teacher," was all he said.
"Which one?"
"Mr. Smart-Ass-Music-Jerk-Teacher," Blake rolled his eyes. "Can we hide here or not?"
"No."
I sighed and dragged Blake to the door, but I heard a phone getting picked up. I stopped and listened.
"Skye?" Blake asked quietly.
I didn't pay attention.
"Yes, this is Mr. Cliff. Blake Walker and Skye Cassidy are running around the school," the teacher was whispering into a school phone on his desk. "Could you call their parents to come pick them up?"
A few seconds passed and the teacher spoke to us. "Your parents will be alerted of your misbehavior. The principle is calling them, but Skye, we only have your father's mobile number. We weren't given your home number."
I shivered, that would mean my father knew where to find me.
"Not good," Blake whispered in my ear.
"I know," I realized that my breathing quickened.
"They should be here soon," the teacher went on. "You might as well stay here so they can get you-"
"Fuck that!" I growled and grabbed Blake's hand, dragging him out the door and we both ran down the corridors.
Suddenly, my phone rang and I answered it. "Hello?"
"WHERE ARE YOU!?!?!?!" Sara yelled at me from the other end.
"At school," I was going to explain our current situation but I wasn't allowed to.
"WHY THE HECK DID YOU LEAVE ME AND JAY HERE!?!?!!?!?!?!"
"You were both asleep. But, Sara, there's more important-"
"DON'T YOU DARE DO THAT AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Sara yelled at me. "I'LL KILL YOU IF YOU DO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Okay, I get it, but-"
"We're coming to the school," Sara muttered. "You're dead."
"I might be when my dad comes around!" I growled. "Stay where you are, don't come to the school. We're leaving now anyway."
"YOU'RE DAD IS COMING TO THE SCHOOL!?!?!?!?!" Sara yelled again.
"Yes."
"WHY!?"
"Because one of the teachers told the principle to call him!" I said. "I have to go now. See you later."
Before Sara could say anything else, I hung up and we continued running, Blake said nothing.
We passed the principle's office and she stepped out, making us stop running. "Skye," she smiled. "Your father is on the phone. He wants to speak to you."
I gulped, could I just run off? What would he have to say?
"Go talk to him," Blake suggested. "Maybe you could clear things up."
"Why? What's going on between you and your father? Family issues?" the principle asked.
"Forget it," I muttered. "Nothing you'd understand." I walked into the office, Blake came in with me and closed the door, locking the principle out.
I picked up the phone with shaky hands. "H-hello?" I murmured.
"Don't think this is the end," he said in an angry tone, one that shook me, making fear take over my whole body. "That was not the only stone we had. The Watercrystal is still with us. There is thousands more of them."
My eyes widened and Blake noticed when I nearly fell back. He quickly caught me. "Skye?" his voice was concerned.
"We will find you," my father laughed. "And we will kill you, and the other one."
My hands were so shaky, I could barely hold the phone up to my ear. Blake tried to support me and he sat me in the principle's seat.
"We're coming for you now," he laughed through the phone. "So be prepared."
My breathing was rushed, shallow, and my lungs burned with the lack of oxygen. Blake grabbed the phone when it was too much for my hands to hold. He put it to his ear. "What the fuck do you want?" he demanded. "What did you say to her?"
I blinked at Blake while he listened to my father, his eyes blazing with fury. His eyes met mine and they suddenly became a harmless flame, calm and gentle.
"I will not let you hurt her," Blake suddenly growled and he looked away from me, his eyes the ferocious flame they were before, and his teeth locked together, his hands tightening. I thought Blake was going to snap the phone in half! He growled again. "She doesn't deserve death! You do, you vile rat!"
The venom in his voice shook me, maybe because I had never heard that tone of his voice before.
"The shit you put her through," he went on, his voice filled with the venomous acid. "She might have been born with special powers, but that doesn't mean she deserves to be killed for it!!!!!! Skye is an amazing person and she has helped so many people. And just because she has powers, you want her dead! You're not a father, you're a fucking monster!"
My body shook even more violently and Blake took my left hand in his free hand, brushing his thumb over the top of my hand to try and calm me, it wasn't working.
Soon enough, the conversation was over and Blake slammed the phone on the desk, smashing it accidentally.
"Shit!" he growled in frustration, making me jump. He turned to me, looking into my scared eyes. "Skye, it's okay."
What is this!? I thought. You have powers for Christ sake! You could flatten anybody except whoever has the stone, so why are you so afraid!? I sighed. I guess it's just normal. You are just human after all.
I hugged him and he hugged me back. "He'll be here soon," Blake whispered. "He'll be guaranteed to have the stone. Skye, whether you like it or not, you're going to have to change back into a tiger."
I sighed.
"And that means leaving your clothes with someone."
"Why do I have to change?" I asked, my head leaning against his chest.
"Because it's safer that way. The stone can't hurt you."
I sighed again. "Alright. Let's go find one of our friends then." We unlocked the office door and ran off before the principle could ask what was going on.
We turned a corner and I crashed into something. Or, better yet, someone!
I hit the floor and my eyes darted up to the person in sudden panic, but I relaxed when I saw Sara and Jay blinking down at me. Jay was behind Sara, sighing and shaking his head at me. It was Sara I ran into.
"In a hurry?" she asked. "Because we are. You're dad is already here. It's not just him. There's more."
I jumped to my feet and Blake had to catch me before I fell over again. "Did he see you!?"
"No, we snuck past," Jay said. "Sara wanted to freeze him but we had to find you first."
"You won't be able to touch him," I muttered. "He has a stone."
"But... I threw it away...." Sara mumbled, confused.
"There's more than one," I replied quietly and I heard her gasp.
"That's probably why they work at a factory," Blake suddenly understood. "We missed it."
I nodded. "It makes sense. Sara, we have to transform."
Sara had a huge grin on her face. "Alright," she said, unable to hide her excitement. "But who do we leave our clothes with?"
"Storm," I said simply. "He'd be here by now. He already knows we can transform."
"And soon, the whole school will know," Sara rolled her eyes. "But yeah, okay. Good choice."
"He'll have Metalwork," Jay said. "Let's go."
We all turned and ran to the Metalwork classroom, pushing the doors open and storming in. Everyone looked up at us and I searched for the person I wanted to find.
I saw him. "Storm, important situation again," I breathed.
"What is it?" he asked.
"My father is here," I said.
"Ooh, scary father," I heard an annoyingly familiar voice and I looked at Justin with a glint in my eyes. "What did he do?"
"Nothing of your concern," I snarled and looked back at Storm. "We need you to look after our stuff."
He sighed. "You're changing again?" I nodded.
We walked to the back of the room to reach him.
"What are you doing in this class?" the male teacher demanded with a growl.
"About to leave my stuff with a friend whilst I deal with my father," I growled back. Sara and I were going to freak out the whole class, we had to transform straight away and then give our clothes to Storm, we weren't doing it the other way.
"What did he do?" Justin asked. "Did he hit you or something?"
I glared at him. "What do you think, you stupid faggot!?" I snapped. "He's hit me more than once! So shut the fuck up and stay out of this!"
"Skye, temper, temper," I heard a mocking voice and I spun around, exploding into a tiger immediately, crouching down on the ground with my snarl almost roaring within the classroom walls.
Everybody gasped as they looked at the person I once was, now a ferocious Bengal Tiger. Sara took one look at the man at the door and she also exploded into an animal, her Arctic Wolf. We shook out of our clothes and Storm picked them up, shoving them in his bag with a sigh. "Have fun," he whispered.
"Calm down, the pair of you," my father smiled. "Let's go outside where we can talk."
"What are you two!?" Justin exclaimed.
It was then I noticed Joel. He smacked Justin in the back of the head. "You're dreaming, idiot, go back to unconsciousness." Joel wasn't surprised by this, even though he had never seen it before. He just guessed it came with the full package.
"Come on," my father stepped back, gesturing for us to walk out the door.
I looked at Sara, she looked back at me. I nodded to her.
"It would be better than trying to kill him in here," I growled to her. "There would be too much blood for these guys to handle."
She nodded. "You're right. Let's go."
We walked side by side to the door, Jay and Blake following. As we passed my father, I glanced up at him with a frightening gaze, I knew it scared him. Not even the bravest man on Earth could stand up to a tiger, and when one roared....... Ha!
We went outside, onto the oval. There was more people there, they had guns in their hands, trying to hide them and failing. I growled, making Sara jump.
"What?" she asked.
"Don't you see the guns?" I growled.
"Yeah."
I rolled my eyes. "They're gonna shoot us I reckon, because the stone won't hurt us."
Sara shrugged. "As long as they don't hurt Jay, I'm fine."
I smiled. "You really do love him."
"Yep. And you love Blake. I know you would die to protect him."
"Yeah..."
We stopped at the same time and Jay and Blake stopped behind us. My father went over to his men.
"You two are very dangerous, you know that?" my father asked.
"We would never hurt anybody that didn't deserve it!" I snarled, knowing he wouldn't understand me.
"You're a danger to everybody around you," he went on. "You could lose control of your powers and hurt people. And people that you love," he looked at the boys.
I snarled again, and Sara pitched in.
"You are nothing but monsters," he smirked. "That were born with no other reason but to use your powers to kill people. That's all you will end up doing."
"Never!" Sara snarled.
"You may think of yourselves as the 'good-guys' but you're not," he sighed. "And that's why we have to exterminate you!"
"That's it!" I growled and leaped forward.
"Skye!" Sara called and ran after me.
"Shoot," my father ordered his men and I growled, slowing down to a walk, stalking up to him. But the guns were not pointed at us.
My head whipped around to Jay and Blake, Sara was the same. And then there was the gunshot.
"BLAKE!" I roared.
"JAY!" Sara howled.
Suddenly, the ground trembled and vines flew up around Jay, preventing any bullets from passing through. A fire wall rose up in front of Blake, burning every bullet to a crisp.
I sighed, guessing it was Sara and I that prevented them from getting hurt... somehow.
I turned and leaped onto my father, pinning him to the ground.
"Shoot her!" he yelled at once.
Guns were pointed at me and Sara jumped at one of them, knocking the gun out of his hands, but there was five more.
"NOW!" my father called.
"SKYE!" Blake yelled as the triggers were pulled. A ring of fire flew up from the ground around me and my father, this time I know it wasn't me. The bullets were melted and the fire wall came down. My head turned and I looked over my shoulder at Blake, his eyes wide with shock. My eyes were exactly the same and they connected with his. My heart pounded, possibly louder than my roar! He had powers!? When!? Why!? And how!?
My mind raced. Had I given him those powers? I remembered the night his mother had caught us in the kitchen, kissing. Just before that... I had some strange tingle in my body as I kissed him, and his body had shivered as if he felt it too. It must have been me, but if so, how come he didn't react to the stone when we went to the factory? Or was it me doing all of it and I was just being imaginary? But it wasn't possible for me to use my other powers in tiger form, or the other one. This was all so confusing, but I would work it out later. Right now, I had to deal with my father.
I looked down at him and growled, preparing myself to rip his throat out, nothing was going to stop me. Nothing could stop me. I bared my teeth, letting out a tiny growl, my amber eyes shining into his. I felt him tremble under my weight and I smirked before opening my mouth and leaning down to his neck.
"Guys! Guys!"
My head snapped up and I looked over my shoulder to see Storm and Joel running onto the oval.
"What is it?" Jay asked.
"The cops are here!" Storm exclaimed.
"And," Joel looked at me and Sara. "The Animal Control."
I sighed, just great! That's all we needed.
"Bail!" I growled to Sara. "Take Jay back to his house and whoever has your clothes. I'll go back to Blake's house."
She nodded and rushed over to Jay, nudging him.
"Huh?" Jay muttered.
Sara sighed and nudged him again, pointing with her nose the direction of Jay's house.
"She wants us to leave," Joel said. "I have her clothes in my bag. Let's go."
Jay nodded. "Blake, good luck."
"You too," Blake said as the three of them took off, the two boys with Sara the wolf.
I left my father, there wasn't time, and I nudged Blake with my massive striped head.
"I have her clothes," Storm murmured.
Blake nodded. "Come on. We'll go to my house."
I ran alongside Storm and Blake, trying to slow my pace to match theirs. I stopped at the end of the oval, watching Sara, Jay and Joel disappearing in the other direction. My eyes caught the sight of my father and I growled.
"Skye, we have to go," Blake urged. I glared at my father for a few more seconds, his eyes meeting mine and a huge smirk on his face, holding up a gun. Blake growled and the gun burst into flames. I was shaken free of my furious trance and I nudged Blake and Storm forward.
We finally reached Blake's house, I had to go around the back and jump over the fence while Blake and Storm checked the house. I'm sure Blake's parents wouldn't appreciate a tiger strolling inside.
I came to the fence at the side of the house and looked up at it, two-three metres high. Simple. I bunched my muscles and crouched low to the ground, judging the distance I needed to jump. Then I sprang. I jumped up and reached the top. My front paws found it first, and then my back paws. I balanced there for a few moments before I jumped to the ground on the other side, my body making a silent thud as I touched the ground.
I waited for a few moments until Blake called me.
"Skye, it's alright," he said. "No one's home."
I trotted over to the back door and Blake held it open for me. I muffled a growl at him as I walked past him. He was confused.
I walked into the lounge room and Storm had my clothes in his hands. I grabbed them in my teeth and stalked over to my room, shutting the door and transforming back to my normal self. I sighed and quickly got dressed, wondering if somehow I was able to make my clothes absorb into my transformation and then when I change back, the clothes come back. That way I wouldn't have to rely on anybody to look after my clothes.
I walked back out and found Blake in the lounge room. "Storm just left. He decided today was too much and he went home."
I sighed. "Okay. But we need to talk."
"About?" he asked, sounding shaky.
"No, I still like you," I muttered and sat in front of him on the floor. "But, today... earlier... it was you..."
"What was me?" he asked.
"When those bullets were shot at you and Jay. It wasn't Sara or me that protected you two. You both protected yourselves....." Blake's eyes showed that he knew what I was talking about. "And when the bullets were shot at me, I didn't make the wall of fire come up around me; I can't use my other powers when I'm a tiger.... And the gun bursting into flames.... Blake, that was all you!"
He sighed. "I don't know how though. How did I get them?"
"You got them from me," I muttered.
"How?"
I looked up at him and sighed, leaning closer to him. He didn't grasp the situation as I kissed him. He kissed me back but I pulled away. "Just like that," I replied.
"I got them, by kissing you?" he asked and I nodded. "Does that mean I have all the same powers as you? I can transform as well? Into a tiger?"
"I don't think you should try to transform yet," I said, my voice sharp. "It's too dangerous for a new person to try it straight away. And now that you're one of us, you need to know everything."
"Everything?" he echoed. "You mean there's more to what you've told me already?"
I nodded. "Much more. Not even I know it all, I'm still learning. As is Sara."
"Well... what do I need to know?"
"First, there is two transformations for each person," I sighed, knowing I had to tell him absolutely everything I knew now.
"Two? But I thought...... What's the other one?"
"The first one, which you have already seen, is the land animal. The second one, is a flying animal, so pretty much, a bird..."
".... Which bird do you transform into?" he asked.
"A Peregrine Falcon," I replied. "The fastest bird in the world."
"Wow. What would I be?"
"I have no idea. You have to discover that within yourself. You need to discover your land animal, and your sky animal.."
"Okay...." he was slowly taking it all in. "And what about with the powers?"
"It will take a lot of time and effort for you to be able to control it like Sara and I can. It takes a lot of concentration. In time, it will seem almost effortless."
"But, I saved you, I saved myself.. and made the gun catch fire...."
"Consider them flukes," I laughed to myself. "You weren't in the best of moods when it happened."
"I'm sure they weren't."
"Okay, let's test it," I smirked. "I don't know if you'll have exactly the same elements as me, although it is fairly likely, so let's try a simple fireball." I held my hand out, palm up and focused, making a small fireball appear sitting on my palm.
Blake looked smug and held his own hand out, he looked like he was focusing....
I waited a few seconds, watching him with amused eyes. "Not as easy as you thought now, eh?"
"How do you do it?" he asked.
"Concentrate. Know what you want to happen."
"Huh?"
"Okay," I sighed, knowing teaching him was going to be hard. "You want a fireball to appear in your hand, so picture it in your mind, the size, the shape, the heat-"
"How can you concentrate on all that!?"
"Focus!" I snapped at him but relaxed. "It will come in time."
"How soon?"
"Well think of it this way; the sooner you start concentrating the faster it will come!"
"Sorry," he sighed. "This is just new to me."
"I know. I'm new to teaching."
He laughed but sighed. "I wonder what your dad is planning on doing now..."
I nodded. "The stone will hurt you now. I think my dad called it the Watercrystal.... We'll have to be careful."
"But that means I will have to learn how to transform now!" Blake urged. "That way the stone won't hurt me!"
I shook my head. "I don't know the dangers."
"C'mon, Skye!" he said. "We can at least give it a go!"
"No, not yet!"
"Why not? It would be fun!"
I saw the excitement in his eyes, he wanted to know everything.
"This isn't a game, Blake," I said quietly. "This is life or death. A fight for survival. It's us, or them. If we're goofing off, it'll be us who dies. We have to make sure we don't come in contact with my father or any of his men. I have to teach you how to control your powers, but it will take a few days to get it right. We will have to skip school."
He nodded, understanding in his eyes. "But I still want to know how to transform."
I sighed, he wouldn't let it go until he tried. "Alright. Try now. Think of the animal you like the most, a land animal."
"I don't know which animal I like the most."
"You have to figure it out," I murmured. "That's how it worked for me. Sara as well possibly. Now think!"
Blake thought for a moment, and I watched his eyes close in concentration. After a few minutes of sitting extremely still, waiting for Blake to decide, he finally opened his eyes. "A red fox," he murmured.
"That tiny thing?" I smirked. "I could flatten one of those easily."
"They're not that small!"
"Smaller than me."
He shrugged. "Well, that's what I want to be."
I nodded. "Okay. Now focus. Distinguish the features of the fox in your mind and, if you're lucky, you'll explode into that tiny furry thing."
He cocked an eyebrow at me for my joke, I shrugged and he sighed before closing his eyes again and trying to focus. Another few minutes past and he gave up. "This is straining!"
"I told you it wouldn't work," I murmured. "And try not to strain yourself, you could get hurt."
He nodded. "We'll work something out."
"Yeah, we will."
"You know, you changed my life, forever."
"I'm sorry about giving you the powers-"
"Not just that," he laughed and held my face in his hands. "Just by moving here, just by meeting you, you changed my whole life. And I'm glad you did. I love you, Skye."
"I love you, too, Blake," I smiled and he kissed me. I kissed him back and after a while, I broke away. "We should get out of the house before your parents get home. We'll go somewhere where I can start teaching you how to control the powers I gave you.
Blake nodded and we got up, walking out of the house. Teaching him was not going to be easy.
