Disclaimer: Nope, still not shopping, so nope, still don't own Code Lyoko.
Claimer: I still own Demetrius and Shadow. I now also own Mr. Gil and Master Oroshie. I bought them at "Characters R Us" For all your Character needs! XD
Thank you my lovely reviewers! I love you all! kisses
Summary for this chappie: Amaya has four new friends and she's living next door to Odd and Ulrich. Last Chappie: She goes back to the creepy shed-like thingey and gets Shadow, explains the whole Royal Wolf thingey to Odd, who gets thoroughly confuzzled. Now, I'm here at chappie three! We meet Amaya's drunken step-grandfather who is on the eternal quest for the jackalope! and will her past be revealed? of course it will! if I ask you that kind of question, you know it's gonna happen! (.) dances
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Ch. 3 Going Back
Amaya woke up the next morning and was happy to find that her back was not sore from sleeping on a bad mattress. Shadow also seemed to be comfortable, as he was sleeping on the extra pillow next to her face. Aside from the bed, covers, pillows, and window, the room was empty. Amaya didn't like empty. The only thing on the walls was a calendar. Thank god it was up to date, because Amaya had no idea what day it was. She got out of bed and staggered to the calendar. Saturday.
"Great, I can get all my stuff today," she said. She turned around to see Shadow looking at her with his great yellow eyes. She laughed softly.
"I should have named you Moon. Your eyes look like moons," she said to the cat. Shadow meowed in response. She smiled and walked over to stroke the cat's soft fur. Shadow purred and closed his eyes, leaning into the attention he was getting. Amaya got up and changed into the clothes she had on yesterday, as they were the only ones she had. She opened up the window, stuck her head out, and let out a howl that sounded so much like a real wolf's howl it was uncanny. Within a matter of a minute, Agrona came running out of the woods. She looked around, seeking where the howl had come from.
"Up here Ona!" Amaya shouted. The wolf looked up, wagged her tail, and barked her greetings. Amaya smiled and picked up the cat. She held him in front of her.
"You need to go with Agrona back to the shed, okay? I'll be there later. Don't give me that look," she said when Shadow looked at her with baleful eyes and meowed his protest. "I'm going to put you on that branch. All you've got to do is climb down. Agrona! When Shadow gets down there, take him back to the shed, okay?" she shouted down to Agrona. The wolf barked and wagged her tail again. She set Shadow on the branch of a tall tree and the nimble cat climbed down and met Agrona safely on the ground.
"Now, go to the shed. I'll be there later!" She shouted down to her beloved pets. Agrona barked and took off back into the forest, with Shadow at her heels. She closed the window and walked out of her room, down toward the cafeteria for breakfast. By the time she had her eggs, bacon, and sausage on her plate and had sat down, Yumi, Ulrich, Odd, and Jeremie walked in.
"Looks like she's beaten you Odd. You've got some competition," Ulrich joked, elbowing Odd in the ribs. Odd, who was staring at Amaya in awe, didn't notice this. The four of them got their food and sat down with Amaya.
"So what are you planning on doing today as your first real day here Amaya?" Yumi asked. Amaya shrugged.
"Just go back and get my stuff and move it in here. Then I gotta go into town to get some food for my pets," she said.
"You have pets?" Jeremie asked. Amaya nodded.
"Four of them. Agrona, my wolf, and Shadow my cat, and Storm and Mystic, my horses," she said. Jeremie, Yumi, and Ulrich stared at her in amazement.
"You have a wolf for a pet?" he asked.
"Yup. She's so sweet," Amaya said wistfully.
"The wolf's cool. Once Amaya tells her you're okay and she licks you to death," he said, laughing lightly.
"Well, in any case, I'll help you with your stuff. It'll be easier than just you moving it all by yourself," Yumi said. Ulrich and Jeremie nodded.
"Me and Jeremie'll help too," he said. Odd grinned.
"Count me in as well." Amaya smiled at them.
"Thanks guys. I don't have much, and most of my stuff needs to be taken apart anyway. Storm and Mystic'll help carry some stuff. And I think my grandparents were keeping other horses as well. And I suppose Agrona can help," she said. Once they had all finished, they walked out of the school.
"So, where do you live?" Ulrich asked as Amaya led the group into the forest.
"Just past these woods. But I've gotta stop and get Agrona and Shadow. Then we can go to my grandparents house," she said.
"You live with your grandparents?" Yumi asked. Amaya looked down.
"Umm, yeah. My parents were murdered when I was seven and then I went to live my grandmother and step-grandfather," she said a bit sadly. Yumi bit her lip.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked," she said, but Amaya shook her head.
"It's okay, really. It was seven years ago. I'm over it," she said. But she failed to mention that she was not over the death of her grandmother. The five of them walking into the forest and to the run-down shed thingey. She opened the door and Agrona pounced on her, once again knocking her to the floor. She then pounced on Odd and knocked him to the ground as well. She stopped licking him and sat back, looking at him and wagging her tail. Soon she saw Jeremie, Ulrich, and Yumi. She growled at them with her hackles raised and her teeth bared. Amaya rolled her eyes and looped her arms around the wolf.
"They're good too Agrona, chill out," she said. Agrona approached each of them, and she knocked each of them to the ground and covered each of them in poochie slobber. Odd and Amaya laughed.
"Is Shadow going to do that too?" Ulrich asked. Amaya laughed again.
"No. He's too damn lazy to do anything unless I'm in danger. But that doesn't happen much so he's a big lazy kitty, aren't you?" she said, picking up the cat that had wandered over to her. "Well, I've got everything. Let's get going," she said, leading the way out of that wretched shed and toward her former home.
When they finally got there, some forty-five minutes later, Amaya very carefully opened the back screen door. She pulled a dagger out of her belt loop and looked around.
"What do you have a dagger for?" Jeremie asked. They looked in the direction of the kitchen where they heard some slurred ramblings.
"God damnit, where's tha' jeckeylope?" came a man's voice. Amaya groaned.
"That's why. My step-grandfather. He's drunk again. He can get... violent... when he's drunk," she said. She pulled up her hoodie sleeve and showed them a silvery scar against her pale skin. Then an old man, Amaya's very drunken step-grandfather, staggered into the foyer.
"Ammieya! That jeckeylope got 'way again! Tha' sunuvabitch!" He slurred, holding a large vodka bottle in his hand and waving it around.
"Oh darn! You better go catch that jeckeylope! Look! He just ran behind you! He's real far away now! You better go catch him before he eats your tomatoes!" she said sarcastically.
"I..I.. I will! Here jeckeylopey! Lookit what Harold got fer ya, you sunuvabitch!" He said, swinging the vodka bottle around wildly. It hit the washing machine and shattered. He staggered into the kitchen, the half-broken aluminum door slamming shut behind him.
"Yeah, you get that jackalope, you asshole. Fall onto a big pointy knife while you're at it," she grumbled, glaring after the old man.
"I'm going to go out on a limb here and say you don't like him, do you?" Odd asked.
"He made three years of my life hell and if he died right now, I couldn't care less. Hell, I'd throw myself a damn party. I'll bust out the party hats and all," she said. "My room's this way, c'mon." She led them down a narrow hallway. Along the base, there were holes in the drywall, and you could see that the pipes had been kept together with rubber bands, plumbers tape, paperclips, and other household items. Just inside the holes, were dozens of mousetraps. Amaya opened up the only door at the end of the hallway. The door had a huge hole in it along with dents, scratches, and missing chunks, which caused it to not shut properly. Upon seeing this, Odd looked at Amaya.
"He did this?" Odd mouthed. Amaya nodded sadly. His eyes widened, but he followed her into the room after the rest of the group. Her room was even smaller than the dorm rooms and there was barely enough room for the five of them to stand comfortably. There was junk piled on the bed and on the dresser. You couldn't step anywhere without stepping on clothes, shoes, or broken glass. The mirror had a big crack down the middle and there was missing a piece out of the upper left hand corner. The headboard, which must have once been beautiful and painted a pretty pale yellow with Barney on it, (from when she was little) was falling apart, the paint was chipping, and had a hole in the middle where her step-grandfather must have punched it while trying to hit Amaya. The light blue curtains had holes in them and were covered in a thick layer of dust. On the bottom was what looked like a blood stain.
Amaya opened her tiny and broken closet doors and pulled out a stack of at least fifty boxes.
"Just throw everything in there. Don't bother folding anything, cause I'll probably end up throwing half of it away anyway. Don't worry about anything getting broken, most of it already is anyway. If you miraculously find something that isn't broken, wrap it in a shirt to keep it safe. Like the stuff on the dresser, scoop it all into a box and close it up. I'll be right back, I want to get out of these clothes," she said, pulling a pair of clean clothes out. She walked out of the room and presumably to a bathroom. She came back five minutes later in a pair of tight khaki bellbottom pants and a tight black tee shirt that said "Stupidity is not a crime. You're free to go" written on it. Like earlier, she had on her spiked bracelet, black wristband with The Claw (the Three Days Grace sign) on it, and about fifty black, hot pink, and lime green gelly bracelet things.
They were all piling things in boxes and stacking them by the door when Yumi let out a scream. She ran to Ulrich and hid behind him, clutching his arm like if she let go, she'd die.
"What is it Yumi?" he asked, trying to conceal his light blush. She pointed to a light blue hoodie.
"S-snake," she said, her voice shaking.
"It's probably wild. My pet snake died- Abby!" She exclaimed, rushing over to the snake and picking it up.
"Guys, this is Abby, my Boa Constrictor! I thought she had died years ago when I found her empty and broken cage in the road. I guess she's been hiding in the house this whole time, eating the mice. You're such a clever girl, yes you are," she said to the snake, holding it up to her face. She closed her eyes and smiled as the snake flicked her forked tongue against her nose. Yumi paled. Amaya placed the snake around her neck and continued placing things in boxes.
"How many other pets have you had?" Jeremie asked as he was putting a chipped, but still beautiful, figurine of a girl in a pale blue dress twirling around in a box.
"I've had a couple exotic birds, an iguana, hundreds of tropical fish, a donkey, a pot-bellied pig, a few snakes, two dogs, three cats, and a spider monkey," she said.
"You've had a monkey?" Odd asked. Amaya nodded.
"And never again. They're a pain in the butt to take care of. But they can entertain you for hours flinging their own shit around. Really funny actually," she said, laughing softly. The rest of them couldn't help but laugh. When they were all done, two hours later, they carried the boxes out of the house.
"What're we going to do with them, carry them back?" Ulrich asked. Amaya thought for a moment, then set her boxes down.
"Hang on, I'll be right back. You can set your boxes down, I'll only be a minute," she said. She ran off to the side of the house and soon they heard an engine start. She came around the house three minutes later driving a massive silver truck. It had huge wheels on it, making it about 6 inches off the ground. Amaya killed the engine, opened the door, and jumped out. They were expecting to hear some kind of noise but there was none. She landed as silently as a cat. She grinned at them and patted the side of the truck.
"My step-grandfather's pride and joy. This is the only thing in life he cares about. But he days are drawing short and I figured I'd just take it off his back. He's frittered his money away on drugs and alcohol and he's barely got any food left. He'll starve to death before he uses his pot money on real food," she said. They stared at her in disbelief.
"You can drive?" Odd asked in amazement.
"Yup."
"And how old are you?"
"Fourteen. I learned when I was twelve. I'll teach you guys if you want," she offered. Odd, who liked cars, was more than willing to take driving lessons.
"For another day. We gotta get outta here before that old ass in there comes out and sees we're taking his truck. Load her up!" she said, picking up a box and sitting it in the bed of the truck and sliding it to the back. Pretty soon, all the boxes were loaded into the bed of the truck and they were ready to leave.
"I'll be right back guys. I just wanna take one last look around the place," she said. She heard a chorus of "okays" as she walked back into the house. She looked all around and even though she was never happier to get out of there, she was going to miss it there. After all, one person in this house had once loved her. She walked into the living room and stopped at a particular spot. The white carpet showed a large spot that looked like it had been stained red and then back white again. The place where she found her grandmother. Dead in a pool of her own blood. She felt the tears well up in her eyes, but she would not allow them to fall. She felt a hand on her shoulder. She glanced at it and saw the purple of the sleeve. Odd.
"You okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, I just used to play here a lot," she lied. She knew he knew she was lying. Normally she could just open her mouth and a lie would come out if she willed it, but she just couldn't lie very well about this topic.
"Oh. Well, I understand. You spent a lot of time here," he said knowingly.
"Yeah, but I guess I should get going. I'm never coming back here," she said. "Thanks for the help today," she said, turning and smiling at him. He smiled back.
"No problem. Let's go, the others are getting antsy. I think they wanna see the horses," he said. Amaya laughed and felt her uncried tears dissipate. They walked out to the truck where Yumi was holding Shadow and Ulrich and Jeremie were chasing and being chased by Agrona. Amaya laughed.
"You guys ready to go?" she called to them.
"I call shotgun!" Yumi shouted, running with Shadow in her arms to the other side of the truck. Odd, Jeremie, Ulrich and Agrona hopped into the bed of the truck.
"Hang on!" Amaya shouted as she started up the engine. With one last look at the house that had once been her home, she backed up, and drove through the forest, heading back toward the school.
When they got to the school, the parked the truck near the door and began unloading the boxes and taking them up to Amaya's room. When they were all done, Amaya parked the truck near the old shed.
"You guys wanna help with the horses?" she asked with a smile on her face. They all eagerly agreed and Amaya laughed. She left Agrona and Shadow at the shed because if the horses saw Agrona, they would get spooked.
"Two of them are mine specifically. Storm and Mystic. Both three years old. The other horses are Juniper, Scrunchy, and Lily. Storm's the biggest there surprisingly. He's a black stallion. Lily's next; she's a red chestnut mare with a white stripe and two white socks. Mystic is a pure white mare. Then there's Juniper; she's a dapple gray with a black star on her forehead. And finally Scrunchy, a dunalino. He's a mix between a dun and a palomino," Amaya explained as they walked back to the house. "The stable's waaaay back in the very back of the yard."
"I was wondering where it would be. Small house, biiig backyard," Jeremie said. Amaya nodded.
"My grandmother and me were trying to get him to extend the house while he was still in good shape but he was just a big ass and didn't do it. Heaven forbid he do something in his life," she said, shaking her head. When they got back to the house, she opened the gate that led into the backyard. The grass was far too overgrown to even see the ground. When they got to the stable, they gasped in shock. The grass was eaten down to the dirt and there wasn't enough room in the stable for all five horses. The black horse, Storm, reared up and galloped toward them, nuzzling Amaya. She smiled and pet the horses head, giving him a kiss on the nose.
"My poor baby. Harold never let you out of this tiny place, did he?" she asked the horse. Storm neighed and pawed the ground with his hoof. Amaya looked over at the decrepit stable and saw a brown head peek out. Amaya laughed softly.
"You can come out Lily. C'mon guys! You can all come out!" She shouted. One by one, the horses filed out of the stable and surrounded the group.
"They're so beautiful!" Yumi exclaimed, petting Lily who had taken a liking to her. They're all so big! How could any of them fit in that tiny stable? she thought.
"Yeah, they are beautiful horses," Ulrich said as Scrunchy licked his face. "How'd you know this one's mixed with a dun and a palomino? You can see the palomino in his coat but-" he asked.
"See that black stripe going down his back? That's called a dorsal stripe. All duns have them," she explained.
"Ummm.. ew..." they heard Jeremie say. They looked over and saw Juniper licking his ear. They couldn't help it; they burst out laughing. Even over the laughing, Amaya heard the faint sound of a neighing horse. Seeing it was not loud enough to be one of the five horses already out here, she slowly walked into the stable. In the very last stall was a blue roan colt, thin and sad looking. Amaya's heart instantly went out to the poor creature.
"Oh, you poor thing!" She said, carefully making her way over to him so she wouldn't scare him. She crouched down and the colt allowed her to pet him. Ulrich walked into the stable.
"Hey Amaya what's wrong?" he asked.
"This poor colt looks so underfed! It's amazing that he's not dead already. He looks like he hasn't had a square meal in months," she said. Ulrich crouched down next to her.
"Is he one of yours?"
"I dunno. I would suppose he is but I've never seen him before." She examined every feature on the colt carefully. A light seemed to click on in her head.
"Oh Lily!" She called sweetly. The beautiful red chestnut came trotting into the stable. "Lily, is this yours?" she asked the horse, pointing to the blue roan colt. The horse neighed and shook her great head up and down. Amaya smiled, got up and hugged Lily's neck.
"What am I going to do with you?" she asked into the horses neck. Ulrich, who was petting the colt, looked up at Amaya.
"We'd better get him some food. I can feel his ribs," he said, running his fingers over the colt's side.
"You're right. But the food's all out. Damn. I've got to ride into town and get some grain and hay for all of them. I'll take Storm and get my stash of money I've got in the house. You wanna come with me?" she asked. Ulrich stood up and wiped his hands on his pants.
"Sure. But, uh, how do you ride a horse?" he asked. Amaya smiled.
"You've never ridden a horse before?" she asked. Ulrich shook his head. "That's okay. I'll show you. Let's tell the others," she said, leading Lily out into the pen.
"Guys, Lily's got a colt in there and he's not doing too well. He's underfed. Me and Ulrich are going to go to this farmer and get some feed for all the horses. Anyone else wanna come with us?" she asked. Yumi volunteered but Jeremie and Odd opted to stay behind with the other horses. Amaya saddled Storm for herself, Lily for Yumi, and Scrunchy for Ulrich.
"Okay, we'll be back in about an hour and a half or so. Take the rest of the horses back to the shed. Let them graze around until we get back. We won't be gone long," Amaya said, mounting her horse.
"Scrunchy is a good riding horse. He's good with reigns. So is Lily, so you guys don't have to worry about them not following directions or throwing you off," she said. Then she looked at Storm. "This guy here can be stubborn, can't you?" she asked the horse. Storm neighed impatiently.
"Can you guys take the other horses back to the shed?" Amaya asked, turning Storm around to face Odd and Jeremie.
"Sure. But I have one question. Can I ride bareback?" Odd asked excitedly. Amaya laughed.
"Sure. I didn't think many people liked to ride bareback. Ah, well, knock yourself out," she said.
"Um, can I get a saddle? I just like using the saddle better..." Jeremie said, rubbing the back of his neck. Amaya hopped off Storm, who neighed indignantly. She walked into the stable and got a saddle. She placed the saddle on Juniper, scrunched her face up as Juniper licked it, and tightened the girth so the saddle wouldn't slide all over the place.
"There ya go," she said, climbing back onto Storm. "See you guys soon," Amaya said, pulling her hair back into a messy half-ponytail and giving Storm a small kick in the sides to get him walking. She twisted around in her saddle to make sure Yumi and Ulrich got their horses walking, which they did.
Once they get out onto the main street sidewalk, they got many strange looks from passersby. After all, they were the only people riding huge horses. One person who was riding a bike behind them was getting angry.
"Get the hell off the sidewalk!" he shouted. Amaya pulled Storm to a halt. She turned around in her saddle and glared at the cyclist. She moved her left hand to the dagger that resided in the belt loop of her jeans. The man paled but maintained composure. Mumbling incoherent curses under his breath, he biked past them and continued on his way. Amaya turned back around and patted Storm's neck so that he would continue walking. She saw the nearly invisible dirt road up ahead.
"Turn left up here!" she said to Yumi and Ulrich.
They turned onto an old dirt road that cut through a massive cornfield.
"The guy I get my horse food from lives at the end of this dirt road," Amaya said. They were walking along the road when Amaya and Ulrich heard a painful neighing. Amaya turned around just in time to see Lily rushing past with Yumi screaming and pulling on the reigns for her to stop. Lily didn't stop.
"HELP!!" Yumi screamed as the horse continued running down the dirt road. Ulrich gave Scrunchy a sharp kick and urged him to chase after the runaway horse. Scrunchy let out a neigh and tore after Lily ad Yumi.
Just as Scrunchy was reaching top speed (which was pretty damn fast), Amaya and Storm surged past them. Amaya was pressed down against Storm's neck. Soon, Amaya had Lily and Yumi in sight. She ran her finger down Storm's neck and he went, if at all possible, faster. Once Amaya was up beside Lily and Yumi, she held out her hand.
"Take my hand!" She shouted. Yumi quickly took the offered hand and her eyes widened when Amaya stood up in the saddle.
"What are you doing?" Yumi shouted. She watched in both amazement and horror as Amaya hopped from her saddle and onto Lily's back, just behind her saddle.
"Jump onto Storm and stop him! I'll take care of Lily!" Amaya shouted to Yumi over the thundering and pounding of hooves. Yumi nodded, took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and jumped. Behind them, Ulrich's eyes widened in shock at what the girls were doing.
Yumi landed in Storm's saddle with a dulled thump and grabbed a hold of his reigns. She pulled him to a stop. Ulrich guided Scrunchy to Yumi.
"Yumi, are you okay?" he asked.
"Yeah, I think so. My butt hurts though," she said. She leaned down and pet Storm's neck, smiling.
"Thanks for catching me Storm," she said. Storm neighed happily and shook his great head up and down. Yumi and Ulrich laughed.
"What is Amaya doing and is she nuts?" he asked.
"She's stopping Lily and yeah I think she is. She might be a little nuts, but she's brave. She saved me," Yumi said.
"Well, c'mon, let's catch up," he said. Yumi and Ulrich urged their horses into a gallop and followed the dirt road.
Amaya grabbed Lily's reigns and yanked on them. The horse neighed but didn't stop. Amaya leaned down and began talking to the horse, her voice barely a whisper. She wasn't saying anything in particular; just talking to her. Sure enough, Lily began to slow down and she eventually came to a halt. Soon, Yumi and Ulrich came up behind them. Amaya dismounted and examined the horse.
"I don't know what went wrong with her. She's never ever done this before. Something must have scared her or.. Ah-Ha! Here's our problem!" she said. On Lily's hindquarters was a large reddish-brown welt.
"Someone must have thrown a rock at her and hit her hard," she said. She lightly brushed her fingertips over the welt. Lily neighed in pain and sidestepped. "Really hard."
"What could have been used? I know people can't throw big stones that fast to make a welt that big," Yumi said. Amaya shook her head.
"I dunno.." she said.
"A slingshot?" Ulrich suggested. "Do you know anyone who uses a slingshot and possibly hates your guts? What about you Yumi?"
"The only person I knew with a slingshot who had good aim was a boy I used to know named Demetrius. But he's long been dead," Amaya said.
"The only person I know who hates my guts is Mr. X, but he can't use a slingshot," Yumi said. Ulrich knew who she was talking about. Xana. "Him and Sissy, but she'd be too afraid to use a slingshot let alone go into a cornfield. It might ruin her outfit or she might break a nail," Yumi said, sneering at the thought of Sissy.
"Anyway, are you hurt Yumi?" Amaya asked. She shook her head.
"Thanks for saving me back there," she said.
"No problem. I'll ride Lily and you can ride Storm. If Storm gets hit, he'll run into the cornfield after the guy, but I don't think that's going to happen. I'll stick with Lily just in case," she said.
"Where did you learn to do that? You know hop from one horse to the other without killing yourself?" Ulrich asked.
"I've been riding horses since I was three. I know all sorts of tricks. I've been in horse shows and races and auctions. That's where I got Lily when she was just a baby. She won the Best of Breed: Red Chestnuts last year. Mystic's won countless horse shows, and I use Storm in races. He's won trophies out the wazoo. And I take Scrunchy to horse things where you just bring your horse and show him off. Scrunchy loves attention and the kids love him 'cause he's a dunalino. They like the name," she told them as they were walking down the dirt road. Soon enough, a big farm house and an enormous barn. They guided their horses over to the barn and walked around. Amaya saw a man in light blue overalls feeding some chickens.
"Hey Mr. Gil!" She shouted, waving to the man. The man looked up and squinted at her.
"Is that you Amaya?" He shouted back. Amaya grinned.
"The one and only!" The man walked over to her and gave her a big hug, which she returned. The name was darkly tanned and looked about in his early thirties with sun bleached brown hair. Covering his head was a big straw hat. His light blue overalls were covered in dirt and had a grease spot on the bottom.
"How ya been kid?" he asked
"Okay, how about you?"
"Right as rain. And who are these?" he asked, talking about Yumi and Ulrich.
"These are my friends from school, Yumi and Ulrich," she said.
"School, eh?" he said, shaking both their hands. "What about Harold?"
"I moved out. I'm living in the school 'cause they have dorms there. Besides, that old fart's gonna be fertilizer soon," Amaya said. Mr. Gil laughed. His laughter was a ringing sound and it reminded Yumi of a bell. "Anyway, do you have any hay and grain? Lily's got a colt that I didn't know about up until a half hour ago and he's not doin' too well. He's really thin and underfed," she explained.
"Yeah, I've got plenty of food. C'mon, it's in the barn," he said, leading them to the huge barn. When they got inside, Mr. Gil pointed to the hundreds of bails of hay and grain.
"I got at least five hundred bales o' hay and a minimum of a thousand sacks of grain. Take as much or as little as ya want. I don't got enough animals to feed all this hay and grain to. Only three horses and four or five cows," he said.
"Um, Mr. Gil, do you have any carts or something we can put the hay and grain in? We could attach 'em to the horses," Amaya said. Mr. Gil pointed to the corner where about fifty carts sat.
"Take as many of those as you want to. I got no use for 'em anyway," he said. Amaya smiled.
"Thanks Mr. Gil," she said.
"Yup, anytime Mya, anytime," he said, using his nickname for her.
They loaded up three carts full of hay and grain and when they were done, they hauled them out and hooked them up to the horses saddles.
"How much do I owe you Mr. Gil?" Amaya asked, pulling out a wad of money from her back pocket. Mr. Gil shook his head.
"You took all that food off my hands. It woulda just sat in there and gone bad. That's more than payment enough for me. And you can keep the carts so when you're done with 'em ya don't have ta bring 'em all back here," he said. Amaya sighed.
"Well, if I can pay you for the food, then here's fifty dollars for the carts and I won't take no for an answer," she said, stuffing the money into his hands.
"If you insist," he said, taking the money. He gave her another hug and watched them mount their horses.
"See you soon Mr. Gil!" She shouted, waving to him. He waved back and watched them until they had disappeared from sight.
----------A half hour later, at the shed...
Back at the shed, Odd was playing fetch with Agrona and Jeremie was playing catch the mouse with Shadow using a leaf as a substitute mouse. Soon, Amaya, Ulrich, and Yumi had arrived back at the shed with the hay and grain. They filled two of the carts up with all the hay. In the last cart, they dumped all the grain. Ulrich found six large wooden buckets in one of the carts. He wandered around until he found an old well with fresh water. With the help of Odd and Yumi, he carried the buckets that were now full of water back to the horses.
Amaya was feeding hay and grain to the colt, which Odd had named Sky, by hand. Each horse had their own bucket of water and plenty of food. Agrona went out hunting for some food and Shadow was proudly munching away on a mouse he had caught on his own.
Later that night, Amaya, Jeremie, Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi were sitting around a campfire and toasting some marsh mellows and making smores with the food that Odd had gotten from his room. Shadow was curled up on Odd's lap and was gratefully partaking in eating the bits of food Odd dropped.
"Thanks for all your help today guys," Amaya said.
"No problem. It kept us out of trouble and away from Jim for the day. If it's a day without Jim, it's a good day," Od said, earning a laugh out of everyone.
"I feel so bad and nosy asking this, but how come you lived with your grandparents?" Jeremie asked.
"Well, my parents died when I was seven. They were murdered actually. The only thing I remember from the ordeal is a big glass screen. Like one on a computer. After that, I moved in with my grandmother and step-grandfather. The day I moved in with them, Harold got so drunk he threw a broken beer bottle at me and gave me the scar I showed you earlier. I lived with them from the time I was seven to the time I was ten. I couldn't take living with Harold anymore, so I ran away. I could have done fine on my own, but this guy found me. He was a fighter. A master of all sorts of things. His name was Master Oroshie. For four years I was under his care. He taught me everything he knew, which was a lot. According to him, I mastered all forms of martial arts, sword fighting, stealth, fencing, archery, self defense, gun handling, and the ins and outs of street fighting. As a gift, he gave me Storm and Mystic when they were young and taught me to ride them.
"Once I had mastered my training, Master Oroshie found another runaway. Demetrius. I helped train this newcomer before I felt it was time for me to leave. A few days later I went back to my house and I just saw my step-grandfather and wanted to leave.." she lied. It was a much better lie than what she had told to Odd earlier. Well, the main part was all truth. Only that last ity bity bit was a lie.
"Was there anything that happened before your parents were murdered that you found strange?" Jeremie asked.
"Come to think of it, there were a lot of power surges, people doing strange things, like repeating themselves, and really weird earthquakes. My parents kept mentioning this guys name, but only when I was asleep. When I was half-asleep, I would hear them talking. His name was really weird.. like Zonga or something like that.." she said, shaking her head. "But I can't really remember."
"Was it Xana?" Odd asked quietly, petting Shadow. Amaya's eyes lit up and she smiled.
"That's it! Xana! They kept talking about him and saying that they needed to keep me and some other dude safe. But I dunno who the other dude is..." she said. Ulrich, Yumi, Jeremie, and Odd shared worried looks.
"I'm so sorry to hear about your parents deaths. I wish we could help," Yumi said, sticking a marsh mellow on a gram cracker and taking a bite out of it.
"It's okay. It happened seven years ago and no one can change the past," she said. Though she tried to hide it, Odd could see the sadness in her eyes. An hour later, they were all tired and decided to head in. Amaya took Shadow up to the room with her. The group said their goodbyes and departed to their respective rooms. Yumi went home.
In Odd's room, Odd and Ulrich were talking.
"Should we tell her?" Odd asked. Ulrich shrugged.
"She told us about something that was obviously very painful for her to talk about. It seemed like it was one of her secrets. It would only seem fair.." Ulrich said.
"You're right. It's not too late. You call Yumi and I'll call Einstein. We'll tell them. I just hope they agree..." Odd said, picking up his cell phone and dialing Jeremie's number.
wowiekabootles. 12 pages and 6447 words. daaaaayum. well there's chappie three! it took me three days to write, due to my computer crashing and me losing all my work.. twice! well yup then. r/r!! byezzz!! .