by Bella Ward
The worries of the mysterious man melted away through the remainder of the day. Odessa and Hamachi fed and cared for their wolf pups throughout the day. Odessa felt a huge connection to hers, and for some reason, she felt like they were family. She wondered if the pups could be the spirits of deceased family members, but she knew that was crazy, and shook the idea from her mind as she loved on the pups.
Hours later, one of the workers approached her with something wrapped in his arms. He handed Odessa a chart. Marked on it was the name of the new pup and his birthday, which was only five days before. They had found the little man, Pypachi, in the woods on the other side of the refuge only that morning. He was alone.
“We don’t know if this little man is going to live,” the man looked down. “I need to pass him on for a little while. I don’t want to see him die.”
“I will give it my best,” Odessa said as she reached up and took the premature pup.
Odessa wrapped Pypachi in her arms and loved on the cold wolf. She had an idea to put the pup under her shirt to try to warm him. She hoped her body temperature would warm him up enough to help him survive, but she had doubts. According to the papers, Pypachi had seen the vet and was deemed unsure about his survival. Odessa feared for his life, yet a connection inside her with her magic grew larger than if ever had as Pypachi sunk into her skin even more. Surprisingly the little pup’s temperature warmed slightly, she didn’t know if it was her own temperature or the magic within her.
The same man that brought the pup in, came back to check on the little man two hours later.
“How’s he holding up?” he asked.
The little puppy poked his nose out of the top of Odessa’s shirt, moving for the first time since she had held him.
“I think he is doing alright…for now,” Odessa’s smile stretched across her face.
“You live at Camp Sacred Moon, correct?”
“Yes,” she answered.
“If I make a call to the council, would you be willing to take Pypachi home with you for the weekend to see if he will live?”
“I would love that, but I am due to see Hunundi this evening.”
“I will check with him as well, if that would be alright?” the man paused. “You may be Pypachi’s only chance to live.”
Two hours later, Odessa and Hamachi walked out of the refuge with Pypachi in tow. Hamachi could tell Pypachi was pulling magic from Odessa. He touched her lower back just before they began to walk back through the valley. Their magic surged through them even more than ever before. They didn’t understand it, but neither one of them said anything about it.
They walked through the valley, looking for the stranger. For some reason, fear was not present in either of them. The man was waiting with his arms crossed, propped against a tree. He was still in the distance, but closer than before; by half. The man looked menacing with scars all over his face. Odessa remembered the man who killed her parents, and while this was not the same man who committed the crime, the same oily sickness flowed off him. Pypachi gave a whimper from against Odessa’s body. He knew the evil resting in the man.
“He is a hunter,” she whispered.
“Why is he this far out? He shouldn’t know where the camp is.” Hamachi did not falter for one second. He strengthened his hold on Odessa as a slight “growl” escaped his throat.
“You can’t shift,” she whispered to him.
“I know that, but the wolf wants to come out to play,” Hamachi snickered.
Odessa reached around and grabbed his hand, trying her hardest to push some of her magic into him. She didn’t know if she was successful, but if it were possible, she wanted to be able to support him when he needed her.
The wolf she was holding growled to mimic the growl Hamachi had let out, making that the first sound Pypachi had made since Odessa held him.
“I can’t hold it any longer,” Hamachi growled.
“You must,” Odessa whispered in his ear as she pulled him into the tree line.
Before they knew it, they were safe into the trees. Through the woods, they could see the man disappear altogether, confirming he had been waiting on them.
Chapter Seven
That night, Odessa stood in front of Hamachi, holding Pypachi. They were ready to go see Hunundi, to see why Odessa’s magic might be blocked. They traveled the short distance to Hunundi’s hut, which sat at the far edge of the protected property, just behind the medical tent. He was the camp’s equivalent to a doctor, but he held the sacred magic of the original five tribes. He held the magic of Odilia and Oleander.
The man they call Hunundi sat in front of a roaring fire. It’s flames glowed red, orange, yellow, blue, and green. The heat radiating off it was sure to be hot, but it read comfortable against their skin.
“Hunundi,” Hamachi began. “Permission to approach you, sir.”
“Permission granted my son and daughter,” the elder announced.
“Thank you, sir,” Odessa began. “I am…”
“Odessa LeMay,” the man crinkled his nose. “I knew your family.”
Odessa’s heart stopped for a few seconds. Pypachi squirmed in her arms as he felt the magic inside her falter. After several deep breaths, and centering herself as Hamachi had instructed, she was able to acknowledge Hunundi.
“Sir?” Odessa asked shocked.
“I am sorry to surprise you, dear little one,” Hunundi stood up and walked over to her. He took Pypachi out of her hands and held him above the fire, but higher than the flames. The wolf pup did not fuss or protest, but he began to lick towards Hunundi. “This one will be alright. He will live.”
He handed the dog back to Odessa.
“Thank you, sir,” she said.
“And, so will you,” he finished.
Hunundi hobbled back to his seat. It was the first time Odessa had realized how old the man was. The skin on either side of his eyes crinkled with his smile. One minute he looked like a young man and the next he appeared to be old. Odessa surmised that Hunundi’s magic worked in him that way.
“Sir,” Odessa stepped closer as Hamachi watched her bravery. “You knew my parents, so you know they were killed by a hunter.”
“I do,” he admitted.
“So why can I not tap my magic?” she pleaded for the answers.
“You can when Hamachi and the wolves ground you, correct?”
“Yes,” Odessa huffed in disappointment. “Do you know why that is?”
“I think I have an idea,” Hunundi admitted. “Might I see your bag?”
Odessa handed Hamachi the pup, and reluctantly pulled her bag off her back. Silently, she handed it over to Hunundi. He ceremoniously dumped the contents over the fire. Odessa audibly sucked air in.
“He knows what he’s doing,” Hamachi leaned in and whispered into her ear.
She nodded, hoping he was right. The athame, amulet, and torn picture of her parents were all she kept in the bag since she had a dresser to keep her clothes in. Hamachi, Odessa, and Pypachi watched as Hunundi threw the bag on the ground. He stretched his hands over the flames and chanted words neither of them understood. Odessa remembered her mother doing something similar the day her parents were killed. Her amulet glowed. Hunundi was wearing a series of ancient beads around his neck that were doing the same, yet his were glowing a milky white.
Suddenly, the athame, amulet, and picture rose from the flames, hovering above the fire. Hunundi walked around the flames chanting over and over the words that were not clear.
They looked on, wondering what was going on, but Odessa was intrigued by what was happening more than confused or afraid. She wanted to see more. She had felt the magic inside Hamachi and even herself, but she had yet to see it.
After what felt like hours, Hunundi, using magic to spread the flames of the fire out, caused the fire to wane until it snuffed out altogether. The items fell to the ground with a thud where the fire had been.
Odessa moved to retrieve them, but Hunundi put his hand u
p stopping her.
“It’s not time daughter,” he whispered, keeping his eyes on the heap on the ground.
Hunundi chanted a few more words, growing softer and slower until his words became silent movements of his lips. His lips moved quietly until his beads dimmed and quit glowing.
The three of them and the sleeping wolf pup stood quietly, looking at the items on the ground. Hunundi turned and walked into his hut, leaving Hamachi, Odessa, and the dog in the dark.
“What should we do?” Odessa asked
“I don’t know,” Hamachi answered. “This has never happened to me before.”
Hunundi leaned out of his hut and looked at them. He reminded Odessa of the stories of Merlin she heard growing up.
“Well,” he said. “Are you coming or not?”
“Sorry sir,” Hamachi said. “We are coming.”
“Good then,” he smiled. “Bring the magic with you.”
He glanced at the athame, amulet, and photo laying on the pile. Again, Odessa handed Hamachi the sleeping dog. She went over to where a roaring fire had only just been. She reached down, half expecting the items to be hot, but they were cool, cold in fact.
She gathered them all up in her arms and followed Hamachi and Pypachi into the ancient man’s hut, sure she would find out who and what she was. When they entered the hut, Odessa was shocked to see pictures all over the walls. On every inch of every wall were photos of Hunundi and other people, shifters Odessa guessed. She was even more surprised to see Hunundi with his arms wrapped around her mother and father in one of them. He had told the truth. Her mother was great with child, meaning that the picture was taken shortly before Odessa was born, and only five years before they had died.
On further examination, the picture was taken at Camp Sacred Moon.
“Please take a seat,” Hunundi said, breaking Odessa’s train of thought.
“Thank you, sir,” she said, as both Hamachi and Odessa sat at a small table.
Hunundi absentmindedly fiddled with the items Odessa had brought in, putting them in a certain formation on the table. He then reached behind him and grabbed a basket.
“Put the dog in here,” he said, not looking away from the arrangement he had made.
Hamachi positioned Pypachi in the basket, happy he didn’t wake the sleeping wolf pup. They continued to look at the man as he set five small clear bowls in a circle around the three items. In one bowl he put a mix of sand and dirt; in the second water; the third was filled with a flame that was put there by magic. The fourth got wind, which looked like a tiny tornado. Hunundi turned the fourth bowl over, trapping the small storm under it. Hamachi lowered his eyes to look at the tiny twister, amazed by the magic. Odessa wondered what the fifth bowl was for.
“I will tell you what the athame told me first,” Hunundi spoke softly. “Is that alright with you daughter?”
“Yes,” Odessa whispered.
“The athame belonged to your father. It was his bonding object that he used to call the deep magic.”
“I don’t understand,” she said.
“You see, you have experienced magic, as in the magic within,” Hunundi spoke. “Which is what you are trying to release Odessa, but there is the deep magic that elders can learn, and often use an object important to them to help ground them to the magic.”
“Like your beads, sir?” Hamachi asked.
“Yes Hamachi,” Hunundi beamed. “I have my beads, while your father had the athame,” he looked at Odessa.
“And my mother used the amulet,” she breathed.
“Correct,” Hunundi sighed, “but we have a problem.”
“Which is?” Hamachi asked.
“Do you remember your mother or father calling to the deep magic before they died Odessa?” Hunundi asked.
“No,” she answered. “Oh, wait! My mother was chanting just before they died. She sounded much like you tonight.”
“Good, good,” he said. “Tell me about it.”
“She was chanting and her amulet glowed orange.” Odessa looked down as Hamachi took her hand. “I thought she was trying to protect us, but still the hunters came and killed them.”
“I know what has happened,” Hunundi proclaimed, sounding a bit too happy for the story he had just heard.
“Okay?” she said curiously.
“You thought your mother was praying for safety, but what they were doing was binding your magic.”
“Why would they do that?” Odessa asked a bit too loud.
“The hunters were looking for young shifters,” Hamachi answered. “They would kill the elders but kidnap the kids under the age of ten to train in the way of the hunters, to teach them the darkness.”
“You are correct,” Hunundi admitted, sounding sadder than before. “They trained young shifters to be hunters, binding their magic and making them kill their own people without them knowing it.”
Odessa realized what her parents had done. They had bound her magic and hid her for when the hunters came in. If they would have found her, then they would not have sensed the magic in her and would have killed her or left her. Either way her mother and father had saved her from a forced life on the dark side.
Chapter Eight
Odessa could feel herself growing weak. She felt horrible that her mother had done that and gave her own life. The hunters had not been looking for the items, or her parents. They had been looking for her. Someone must have told the darkness there was a young light magic shifter, and so the hunters came. They didn’t find her, but took everything she had, and her magic was bound, which left Odessa wondering if she was worth anything.
She sat at Hunundi’s table looking at the blade and necklace that she hoped would lead to her finding out how to release her magic, but as the realization set in, she felt hopeless. She felt Hamachi rubbing her back and holding her, but could not speak or breathe. They had saved her, but for what?
Hunundi left the table and retrieved a liquid from an herb cabinet behind him. When he returned, he and Hamachi aided Odessa to drink it. Within minutes after inhaling the vile stuff, she felt a bit better.
“My options,” she whispered.
“Pardon,” Hunundi responded.
“What are my options?” She tried to stay calm. “Do I have any options to get the magic back my parents bound nearly fourteen years ago?”
“There is,” he smiled softly at her. “Your magic is bound in the athame and amulet. Only you can release it!”
“How? How do I release magic I didn’t know existed two weeks ago?”
“Hamachi and I will help you,” Hunundi offered. “But you have to be willing.”
“I am,” she admitted, sitting up straight, checking on Pypachi before wiping the tears from her eyes she hadn’t noticed there before. “What do I have to do?”
“To release your magic, you must release the four elements into the fifth bowl of your own blood,” Hunundi admitted.
“Nice,” she said sarcastically.
“Is that all?” Hamachi asked.
“No,” Hunundi looked puzzled for a moment. “You have to be wearing the amulet while holding the picture of your family.”
“Oh,” Hamachi laughed. “Is that it then?”
“Still not it,” he said. “Here is the kicker. You will need two other bloods with yours. You must replace the blood you lost in your parents by new blood. The magic must feel like the new blood is worth it, and willing to take care of you before it will release, and the blood must be shed by the blade of the athame.”
“I’m not even going to ask if that is it,” Odessa laughed. “That’s a lot, a whole lot.”
She could feel her emotions beginning to swirl again. Hamachi grabbed her stomach with one hand allowing his magic to mix with hers to steady her.
“Hamachi, would you be willing to give your blood for Odessa?” Hunundi asked.
“I would give anything for Odessa,” he confirmed.
“Very well then,” Hunundi said. “May I have y
our hand Odessa?”
Odessa reached her hand towards him. Hunundi took the athame and sliced the flesh of her palm. She watched as her blood dripped into the fifth bowl, all the while wondering where the third blood was going to come from.
“Hamachi,” Hunundi said, as he reached for his hand.
The blade slid into his flesh just as easy, and in seconds Hamachi and Odessa’s blood mixed in the fifth bowl.
“Will you be the third blood sir?” Odessa asked Hunundi.
“My blood is not available to you daughter,” he looked down. “It was given years ago.”
“I see,” she looked down too, in desperation.
She didn’t know anyone else at the camp very well. How was she going to walk up to a stranger and ask them to spill their blood for her? On the other side, the magic would most likely reject a stranger’s blood. She racked her brain to think of one other person she felt the same as she did for Hamachi, and there was no one. She couldn’t think of a soul that made her feel the way he did, he was the only one that accessed her magic; apart from the wolf pups, and even more so Pypachi.
“Pypachi?” she whispered.
“What did you say?” Hunundi asked.
“I love Pypachi. He would take care of me just as much as Hamachi. I’m sure of it.”
“It’s worth a try,” Hamachi said.
“The magic could reject it,” Hunundi admitted. “You might not have a second chance.”
“I have to try,” Odessa pleaded.
“Very well,” Hunundi said, as he reached for the pup.
He jostled the small wolf until he was awake enough to not be taken off guard. Odessa worried about him. Just that morning, the vets were unsure he would survive, and suddenly, she was considering cutting the pup and spilling some of his blood. She took the dog from Hunundi and hugged it to her chest, whispering to him.