Rescue Mission
"I know you don't I?"I ask them.
"You do," Harkat smiles and reveals a row of horrendous sharp teeth. What the hell is he? A picture of another thing like him comes to mind yet this one doesn't have a mask or a tongue and is sitting on a roof watching the sun.
"Matt," I hear my Mom call from her room. "Be quiet and go to sleep already."
"Yes Mom," I call back and turn to the two guests. "You guys cannot be here now, I'm going to get in trouble."
"We need to talk," Vancha says.
"I know, but my parents are too close to us here. Can we meet later today?"
"That might not be a good idea," Vancha laughs dryly. "The sun and I don't mix well as you can see from the redness of my skin. Does tonight work?"
"Sure, um where are you two staying?"
"The abandoned church," they say together.
"Okay I'll meet you there. Um what do I do about the fact that my cousin wants me dead and the lord guy knows where I live?"
Vancha runs a hand through his greasy green hair and frowns, "You're fine for now but it may be best if you stay here Harkat."
"Okay," he agrees quickly. I get the feeling we were pretty close.
"But don't you dare say anything to him without me here," he warns.
Harkat snots, well I think it was a snort. "Vancha you may be prince but since when have I listened to you?"
"True," he chuckles. "But you know you have to in this case. I have to go all this human technology is driving me barmy but I look forward to seeing you tonight Master Nash."
I don't get the chance to say goodbye to the strange guy for he jumps out the window and is gone. Turning to Harkat I frown, "Um I can go and bring out the sleeping bag if you want?"
"It's okay I don't sleep much. I can easily go a night without it. If I," pause for breath, "am awake it is much easier to watch over you."
"No offense but can you really protect me against those things?"
"I'm stronger than I look. I've saved your sorry ass more times that I can count."
Oh great so he thinks I'm this mysterious guy of my past. "Sorry to say but I'm not that guy, whoever the hell I was. I'm just Matt so don't expect so much."
"That's where you're wrong Matt. You are everything he was and more. Even your mannerisms are the same." He thinks for a second. "You like pickled onions right?"
"How'd you know?"
"You used to love them. Your favorite football team is the Patriots even though you liv e nowhere near there. You hate the color green and have an obsession with spiders."
"That's a bit creepy," I admit. "But just because I like the same things doesn't mean I'm brave like this guy sounds."
"He's you and you're him. I thought Evanna had this conversation with you?"
"Evanna? Oh you mean Ms. Tall."
"if that's what she's going by these days then yes."
"Whatever I have to sleep u goodnight Harkat."
"Goodnight Matt."
After lying in bed for a minute something occurs to me, "Harkat if you go to sleep try not to wake me up with your dreams I can't deal with that right now."
I don't know exactly where that came from but after that I do drift into a deep sleep. Actually a lot better of a sleep that I've had in weeks. Something about having this strange small creepy thing watch over me surprisingly makes me feel a lot better. Strange, but it almost feels familiar and I know he has my back.
By the time I wake up in the morning he's still sitting at my desk staring at me. And even though last night I was cool with it, this morning seems different and I go and attack him for no reason. As a letter opener begins to hit his neck I back away and shake my head.
Instead of getting mad he just laughs at me. Wow, if I did that to Dylan or Sam they would freak, but apparently not Harkat. That's actually not a bad thing though. I leave him where he is after a quick apology to go and shower.
Just as I did yesterday, I take my time before going downstairs. Apparently my temporary roommate is okay with staying in my room alone. Although I get the feeling no matter where I go he's going to be near to make sure I'm okay.
The mood in the kitchen is so somber and tense it's as if a knife could cut through it. And on top of that Aunt Victoria was cooking so there goes my breakfast. That wasn't strange though, she was whistling a jolly tune as if nothing was wrong. My immediate family on the other hand had frowns and worry lines of their faces.
Not wanting to eat my aunt's concoction I reach into the fridge and grab an apple before sitting on a spinning chair at the island, "What's wrong Mom did somebody die?"
Apparently that was the wrong choice of wording because she gets even sadder and Dad has to answer, "Lily and her boyfriend have gone missing."
"I told you it was no big deal," Uncle Aidan tells us. "Our girls go off all the time and we don't hear from them. It hasn't even been a day and she's off having sex with her boyfriend so it's not a big deal."
Sarah chokes on her OJ and blushes. Seriously must they talk like that in front of a nine year old! "Wouldn't she have called?" Mom asks. "And how are you okay with your little girl um being with a guy like that. If I heard Matt doing anything of the sort…"
Personally I was glad she didn't finish the thought, her tone was scary enough without a visual of her cutting my balls off. "It's just Nathan," Alice says. "Who cares what they're doing she goes off with him all the time without calling."
I frown, "Um I'm going upstairs I left my phone there. Alice do you want to hang with my friends today because they wanted to see me but I can cancel."
"Go ahead I'm taking Sarah to that Hello Kitty exhibit at the Children's Museum."
Sarah shoots me a pleading look to save her and I just shrug. I was stuck with the three of them yesterday she could deal with just Alice for a day. Plus it was kind of her fault that they were here in the first place. If she wasn't in her dumb play then we wouldn't be in this mess.
As quickly as I can without looking suspicious I walk up the stairs and find Harkat sitting in my bed reading a magazine I left out. Shit I hope he didn't find my porno stash because that would just be embarrassing! Quickly I shake the thought out of my head; there were more important things at stake like my missing cousin.
I grab my phone and text Dylan to meet me here before turning to Harkat, "We have an issue."
"What?" he asks but doesn't seem to sense my worried tone.
"I'm serious here my family's in trouble."
This gets his attention and he turns towards me, puts his mask on for a second, and takes it back off before talking, "Please tell me it isn't your sister again."
"Again?"
He looks away, "Sorry I shouldn't have said that."
"It's okay I kind of had a feeling my sister in my past life got sucked into everything, I just don't know specifics. And no it's not that. Lily, that's my cousin, and her boyfriend never came home last night."
"Didn't they try to kill you?" he asks and I nod. "They may have just run away."
That doesn't really make me feel any better and instead of answering him I just walk over to my computer to go and do some research while I wait for Dylan. After last night I figured it might be a good idea to take the little bit of information I have from my past life and look it up so I can get a better sense of at least when it was.
After logging onto my computer I google war of scars… only it tells me the server is down. Quickly I go to facebook and get on without a hitch. Confused, I type in a few other search terms that might help me and get nothing. Yet I search anything else like football or pics of hot girls and the page loads no problem.
Who the hell hacked onto my computer and blocked half of the sites I want to go to?
I have a feeling its Mr. Tiny. There's no one else I know that would be able to do that and it seems like something he would do. Or actually it could be anyone. Apparently I'm not allowed to know anything so anyone could want to do it. It could just be the universe telling me not to do anything too.
No matter the why the what still annoys me and I turn decide to just quite searching. Instead I spend some time surfing through new music to download and getting done with my English essay. Personally I hate writing essays, but I should just get it done with.
Just as I start the editing process Dylan comes bursting through my door. I really hate that about him. Whenever he comes over my parents just let him in the house which is fine, the issue arises because then he thinks he has the A-Okay to just come waltzing into my room. And trust me it can cause a lot of issues. I've lost count of how many times he's come in when I'm just walking out of the shower or getting dressed. We've been put into many awkward situations because of this and he never learns his lesson.
Take now for instance. Even though I'm fully clothed he saunters into the room and the second he looks towards my bed he screams. "What the hell is that thing?" Scared to death of the little person he grabs a bat and gets ready to hit him.
"Don't," I growl and my eyes change in anger. This only scares him more, but this time he becomes submissive and drops the bat.
"Again what the hell is this?"
"I'm a who not a what thank you very much," Harkat rolls his eyes after he takes his mask off.
"I apologize, who the hell is this?"
"Dylan meet Harkat, Harkat meet Dylan."
Both glare at each other and turn to me, "What is he doing here."
Regardless of the possible danger my family is in this cracks me up and I cannot help but laugh. "Harkat has to do with everything that is going on. We used to be really tight but I'm not really sure of anything besides that."
"Well if toilets explode then he can exist I guess," Dylan says hesitantly.
"And why does he know what is going on? You weren't supposed to tell anyone."
I put my hands up defensively, "Hey it wasn't my fault it just kind of happened. And Ms. Tall knows that he's in the loop anyway."
"On everything?"
"On everything that I know. He's been attacked with me a few times."
"Yeah that Mr. Tiny dude and Bill definitely want me dead," he shudders. "So what are you exactly?"
Since I met him I've been wondering the same thing, especially since we seem so close. "I'm a little person."
"A what?'
He sighs, "A little person. Your kind would call me a zombie of sorts."
"Wait your dead?" I ask.
"Kind of, I don't really have a body. After I died, well I had a lot of regrets," he looks at me sadly as he says this. "Mr. Tiny came to me and offered me a second chance to make a difference and gave me a body. All of us little people are the same in that respect although most cannot speak, we don't have tongues and the air here is poisonous which is why I have this mask. I only speak because of the reason I came back."
"And why was that? Dylan wonders. "And you work for Mr. tiny?"
"That's not relevant at the moment, and no I don't, my price to him was paid years ago" Harkat waves him off and he stares at me. A flash of the blonde dude from my dream dying flashes through my head along with images of Harkat beating a boar for me.
"Thank you for saving me all those times."
"You remember?"
"A few just now, but that's not the point. The point is that we need to help Lilly and Nathan."
"What sort of trouble could your cousin ever get into?" Oh right Dyl didn't hear what happened last night. I quickly fill him in on yesterday's events. "Why save her. Your cousin is insane plus she tried to kill you," he reasons.
"So? She was brainwashed into it obviously and attempted murderer or not she's still family."
"I vote you leave her."
"Your say doesn't matter, but I do need help. Please Dylan? If you do you can borrow MW3 for a month."
"Seriously? Because Mom still won't buy it for me."
"I swear," I vow. "Now where do we start?"
We both look to Harkat, "Why are you looking at me?"
"You're the one who knows what is going on."
"I don't think she ran away, I think she was either killed or taken by the vampaneze."
"Vampaneze?" we say at the same time.
"Um the group that's against us," he explains although I get the feeling he's leaving a lot out. "We call the humans that work for them vampets, thus the v. And I know their leader and Mr. Tiny, neither would let them just go."
"We should check the factory maybe they're staying near there."
Both of my friends, as I considered Harkat a friend, agree with me and Harkat climbs out of the window while Dylan and I walk out through the house. Mom and Dad weren't too happy with me leaving my sister with Alice; apparently it's alright for me to be in hell with them but not for her. But when I told them we were looking for Lilly they nodded and told me that was a good idea.
The two of us meet up with Harkat and the three of us make our way down to the abandoned factory.. I don't understand why nobody sees him, his small stature and bright blue robes aren't exactly inconspicuous. But for some reason nobody sees him. There's so much I don't know about him though so for all I know he does have the power to turn invisible.
Reaching the building we split up and start to look around. There's no trace evidence anywhere that I can see. Either they were that careful, cleaned up or there's just nothing behind. I have a strange feeling that I should be able to smell them and trace where they went, but I don't seem to be able to. Guess it's a Halfling thing I have yet to develop. Of course these abilities don't help me when I actually need them.
By the time we've scoped out the building and the area around it, mostly done by Harkat and I, its lunch time and we're no closer to finding them. And we've barely looked around at all; this was going to take forever. We're all hungry by now though and Dylan all but demands that we take a break to go and get food. Well he said to get him food but technicalities aside the little person and I agree.
I let Harkat pick what to eat and he votes for sandwiches so we all head to the sub shop near my house. Once there I turn to Harkat, "How come nobody's looking at you strangely."
"Evanna…"
"Who?" Dylan interrupts.
"That's um Ms. Tall's first name. Anyway she made me a charm that disguises me and makes me look like a normal human."
"Then how come Dylan and I see you how you really are?"
"I'm not sure the specifics," he admits. "But I know nonhumans such as yourself see me as I am and I'm pretty sure all people who know the truth of the world see me like this or Evanna put a charm on Dylan too."
"She's a witch," I choke on my soda trying to get it out. "It does explain the frogs."
"Yeah those creep me out, and yes she is a witch or something similar enough that we call her a witch."
"So magic exists too," Dylan muses. "Maybe she'd make me a love potion since you're being a jerk and not helping your friend out."
"How would he help you?"
"His power to control minds," Dylan answers with a duh tone.
"I didn't have powers before?"
"Not more than anyone else and nobody can control minds. And I'm guessing you made a force field last night. Evanna said this was possible but I wasn't sure if it was going to happen. It makes sense though."
"Yeah so he should help me."
"He would never do something like that, trust me," Harkat smiles before his expression sobers again. "Our search isn't working."
"I know," I groan. "But I think I know where we should look next."
Both of them give me identical looks of confusion. A smile forms on my list at that. It's kind of funny that the two of them get along so well and are so different yet so alike at the same time. Quickly I reign in my amusement so that I can get back on track and find my missing cousin.
We arrive at a house and Dylan frowns, "Why the hell would you come here out of your own free will?"
"I seem to remember you forcing me to come here earlier this year."
"That's because he was throwing a party and I really wanted to go. It's not like I knew back then that he wasn't even human," he looks from Harkat to me sheepishly and adds, "Not that there's anything wrong with not being human."
I shake my head at him and we all laugh at the absurdity that is Dylan. Harkat looks perplexed though, "I still don't understand what we're doing here."
"This is Bill's house, that vampaneze Halfling guy who goes to school with us."
"And why would they be hiding out here?"
"I have the feeling that this may be their hideout," I explain. "Nobody's ever seen Bill's family and if he isn't actually human then it would make sense."
"So what's the plan?" Dylan asks.
"Um I don't know," I admit, I hadn't thought that far yet.
"It may not be a good idea to just storm their fort."
I look at him incredulously, "No shit dude."
"Can you read minds yet," Harkat wonders.
"Um no. Why will I be able to?"
"If you can control minds it would make sense."
"That's it," I smile and open my mind. Suddenly I feel other minds and find some random human feeling one and command it to come outside, alone. About a minute later I pick up footsteps coming towards the door and a few seconds later a blonde haired guy walks over to me with a glazed look over his eyes.
"You know that's a little creepy," Dylan shudders. I ignore him.
Keeping open that connection with his mind I turn to him and say, "You'll answer every question I have." The dude nods. "Are there two humans in there with the names Lilly and Nathan?"
"Yes."
"What state are they in?"
"The lord is not pleased with them. But he will not hurt them for they are his best chance at getting the boy He considers them bait at the moment."
"Okay, do you believe he will kill them?"
"I don't know."
Not the answer I was looking for, but beggars cannot be choosers. "He's waiting for us apparently."
"This isn't good," Harkat sighs. "You're in no shape to fight him yet Matt."
"Harkat has a point. Maybe we should call this whole operation off."
"No," I demand and my voice booms. "I'm not leaving my cousin there to die by the hands of him. No one else is getting hurt on my watch. We'll just have to find another way. How many people are in there?"
"Six humans and nine vampaneze."
So not the best odds in the world, "You will go in there and bring them out to me."
"Nobody is able to get near them. His most trusted advisor is watching over the two."
"Then kill him for all I care, but get the two out here!" I put a little more force behind it this time and he turns around to go and do as I willed.
"I doubt he can kill the guy," Dylan tells me."
"He's not meant to," Harkat guesses. "You mean for there to be a distraction."
"Of course, I'm not an idiot. There's no way I could get this guy right now." I also wasn't entirely sure about killing anyone but that wasn't something I was going to admit to these people who wanted me to somehow kill this guy.
We wait a few minutes until we hear an indistinguishable scream of terror. I gesture to the two of them and we run into the house. Nobody's around when we go through the back door and slowly as we walk through the house I see a large gathering of people in the living room standing over the guy who I was controlling. I send him another message to continue what he was doing and we run as quietly as possible up the stairs.
Lilly and Nathan are both sitting there unfazed by anything. The second they see us they open their mouths to scream and alert them to our presence, but we manage to cover their mouths. Harkat grabs Nathan and I grab Lilly as Dylan checks the corners and the hallway to make sure the coast is clear. He gives us the word and we get into the hallway. Only the hallway that even I can see is fine has the purple creatures in it a moment later. Vampaneze.
Harkat hands Nathan to me and then goes and manages to stab one in the chest without a second thought or any trouble. I'm only stunned by this for a moment before the other one attacks me. As he cuts my arm with his nails and blood gushes out four more creatures, two Halflings, a vampaneze, and a vampet, come rushing upstairs. With no choice we run back into the bedroom and shut the door. I open the window and jump out.
Harkat throws Lilly and Nathan down and I catch them. Next comes Dylan and I manage to catch him too, although he seems scared and in shock from falling down two stories. Harkat jumps out himself and we run as fast as we can away from the house.
We make it back to my house without one person trailing us and I can't help but think that this was too easy. These guys can run fast, so fast it's as if they're teleporting so there's no way that they wouldn't be able to catch us.
I push all of that out of my head, I'll deal with that later but right now I just need to find a way to get Lilly and Nathan to not get me killed and return them to their family who'll take them home away from here. Dylan follows me into the house as do the two murderers who come without a fight, but look incredibly terrified.
"Mom," I yell. "I'm home!"
We meet up in the kitchen and she looks from me to Dylan to Lilly to Nathan. "Where were you two? I was worried sick."
"My parents don't care if we go and spend the night other places Auntie," Lilly explains.
"My house my rules," Mom insists and I cheer her on silently.
Nathan quickly apologizes and Lilly begrudgingly gives hers as well. She accepts it and Mom reaches towards her phone to call her sister and give her the news of her daughters return. I don't know where she is, but whatever. Dylan and I go upstairs to my room and I give Lilly a pointed look to come up with us. The two follow.
Once in my room Harkat comes out of my closet and glares at my cousin. Neither he nor Nathan seem surprised by the sight of them and I figure it's because they see many of these little people and not that they are affected by the charm. I sit on my bed and stare at them, "What the hell did you get yourself into Lilly."
"A way to save the world," she says dreamily. "All we had to do was bring them you and we'd help save the world."
"And our dream would come true," Nathan adds.
"So you were going to let me be killed?"
"Yes," Nathans says without feeling. "It was you or the world die. The vampaneze and Mr. Tiny were going to bring world peace and defeat the…"
"You two are idiots," Harkat laughs. "They aren't about peace, we are. All they are going to do is doom the world to a fate worse than hell. I've seen the beginning of it and it isn't pretty."
"The two of you would never survive in the world of shadows."'
Everyone stares at me when I say this, Lilly and Nathan in shock and anger, Dylan in confusion, and I couldn't read Harkat's face but I have a feeling I said something from our past. "Trust me when I say that future isn't one for any of you, out of everyone in this room I'm the only one who could live there in peace." Where did that come from?"
"You hate it there," Harkat chuckles.
"I don't even know what I'm saying. All I know is that the two of you have picked the wrong side."
"He told us you'd say that."
"Screw what your lord says," Dylan exclaims. "He's obviously a dick and isn't too be trusted. What good person would ask you to kill family? So lay off of it and just forget anything happened."
Dyl doesn't usually get that angry, but it makes sense as to why he's that mad. "I don't care about you trying to kill me. All I care about is your safety and after the dumb choice in alliances you two made they will kill you now."
"That's where you're wrong Matt, they aren't killers."
"Then you two are even more naïve than I imagined," Harkat sighs. "Matt this isn't going to work."
Really did he have to point out the obvious? It's not like I wasn't already freaking out about this. "I'm aware of that," I growl and my eyes change due to my aggravation.
Lilly squeals, "Oh my gosh your eyes!"
I wave my hand dismissively, "Yeah it's nothing."
"And you call us ignorant, "Nathan snorts. "To think you are the one and you don't even know it. No wonder he wanted you."
"Wait what are you talking about? You guys kidnapped me with the intent to kill and didn't even know why?"
My cousin shrugs, "we didn't ask, we did as our lord told."
I noticed the use of did and not do but didn't comment on it. From Dylan's face though I figure he noticed the same thing, only he speaks up. "Did? You mean you are no longer following his orders?"
"He told us because of who he was we had to follow him, but he's wrong."
"Why?"
"Matt's the one, not him. He told us it was him but now I don't think so. Matt please will you give us what we want."
"No," Harkat says firmly before I can answer. "You don't know what you're asking for. Now do yourselves a favor and forget about all of this. Nobody's killing you right now when they're after Matt."
Both nod and after that my aunt calls them into the kitchen. Knowing her it's to yell at them, only because Mom's making her. And in that case I won't see them for at least an hour and by that time they're going to have to leave.
I'm happy about this for more than one reason. For one, well the less time spent with them the better. Second, I can't deal with their strange talk anymore. It's as if they look at me as a god and I'm not. It bugs me when people think I'm better than I actually am.
Instead I spend the rest of my afternoon playing video games with Dylan and Harkat. Dylan is still pissed that I'm beating him every time but he delights in the fact that he can beat Harkat, he loves winning anytime since Sam is the best at videogames. The more I watched the little person play the more I was convinced that he either has not ever played a game or hasn't played in years. He was bewildered by both the game itself and how to even use the control. Still, he was a fast learner and by the end of our game he did manage to pick it up a bit.
Mom as so happy that I managed to find Lilly and Nathan that she let Dylan stay for dinner and afterwards she told me I was allowed to go over to his house as long as I was home at a reasonable hour. This definitely worked in my favor because now I didn't need to sneak out to meet Vancha. I was eager to talk to the green haired guy. Something about him seemed so familiar and he just seemed to be an interesting character.
Dylan wasn't going to come with me though. He felt awkward going with me if I was going to find out about myself. So with a promise to explain to him everything that happened we split up halfway to his house and I took the dirt bike path to the abandoned church.
Why anyone would spend their time and stay in an abandoned church baffled me. In all honesty the place gave me the creeps and on top of that it couldn't have been comfortable. For some reason I have the feeling I've done that before and I don't get the feeling that I enjoyed it very much. Not sure exactly what to do I just walk through the front door. The church wasn't very large and I saw the two of them on a pew talking, Harkat left my house before dinner. I hear them whispering about what had happened to us today and I clear my throat to make my presence known.
"Oh hello Matt, come over here," Vancha calls and I make my way up to the front and sit on a pew. "Care for a drink?"
I take him up on his offer and taking a chug of it I realize it's the same soda that Ms. Tall has. He seems amused by me as I take a sip and I frown, "So I'm guessing you've been filled in on everything?"
"What Harkat knows I know."
"Um so what do I do?"
"Nothing except what Evanna wants you to do. Trust her and you'll be fine. She promises that she'll be much more helpful in the war."
"Is there anything you can tell me? She's refused to answer the majority of my questions."
Vancha smiles, "Of course she wouldn't. I swear I don't know what my brother saw in her."
"Your brother and you are close?"
"You remember him?"
"Not really, just that you have a brother you don't get along with."
"We hated each other. He was a vampaneze, their lords most respected actually, and second in command. Once the war ended and his lord died he realized his mistakes and even though we were different we managed to make a truce. He fell in love with Evanna and when his lord came back he killed my brother to punish him for not continuing his legacy."
"But was he still a vampaneze?"
"Of course, he had been for too long not to be, what do you know about them?"
"Just that they're the ones we're fighting against and have purple skin and red eyes. Harkat wouldn't tell me anything else."
"What was I supposed to tell him?" Harkat speaks up. "If I told him anything more the entirety of the situation would be revealed and he's not ready."
"You have a point but I think he should know. If he doesn't then nothing will make sense," Vancha muses.
"I'm still here!"
"Right of course," he chuckles.
"If you don't mind me asking why the animal pelts and boomerangs? Wouldn't a gun be a lot more effective?"
"A gun," he spits. "I would never use something so vile."
"Don't yell Vancha, he doesn't understand."
"Shut up Harkat. You know I hate it when you're right. Our kind don't use electronics or current day weaponry."
"So we're stuck in the dark ages?"
"You could say that."
"What's our kind anyway?"
Harkat and Vancha stare at each other as if they were having a silent debate. They sigh and Vancha looks at me solemnly, "I think it's time we tell you the truth."
Cliff hanger aren't you so excited! So I'm sorry for the lack of the last two updates, but on Saturday my internet wasn't working so I meant to post this chapter Tuesday and the first week of school got in my way. So just know updates may be missing a few days here and there but I'll keep trying my best even though so far Junior year is insane.