by Bella Ward
Love and light,
Odilia and Oleander
“This was written thousands of years ago?” Hamachi said in more of a statement than an official question.
“Yes, it said somewhere in one of Hunundi’s books that the raining elder, which was Hunundi before you,” Odessa said, “that the elder will be able to put a charm on the writings of old so that elders can read it in their own language.”
“You mean,” Hamachi looked on in wonderment, “this is most likely written in ancient native or something like that?”
“Possible hieroglyphics,” Odessa sighed.
“This is too much,” Hamachi said.
“I know,” Odessa agreed. “Maybe if I would have died in the alley then this wouldn’t have happened at all.”
Odessa held tight to her stomach.
“Don’t say that Odessa,” Hamachi moved closer to her. “I love you! And I love Takeshi already.”
“What if we can’t protect him, Hamachi?” She was screaming by then. “What if we can’t protect him, and the darkness seeps into our child and he is the undoing of the entire world?”
“We can’t think that way.” Hamachi held her to him. “Maybe Rainnah is right and we need help…more than The Council can give us.”
“We need to build a group of people who will fight for us,” Odessa said, softer than before. “People we can trust.”
“They fought once,” Hamachi smiled a little, “I don’t know why they wouldn’t do it a second time.”
“I hope,” she smiled at him.
“I know this is a change of subject, but do you think there is something in the books anywhere that could help us with releasing Jarneth’s spirit?”
“I don’t know,” Odessa looked at the massive pile of books. “I will do some studying to find out, though.”
“Good,” Hamachi smiled at her. “We would be so much better off if Rainnah had her magic back.”
They cuddled together as they let the shock of the day sink in. There had been so much shock they didn’t know when life would ever be normal again.
After resting for a while to help Odessa build up her strength, she and Hamachi decided to make their way to go see The Council. They knew if they didn’t get things started immediately, then the baby would be there before they knew it, and they needed to be ready to protect him at all cost.
They went and talked to The Council. With the severity of the situation, they were granted permission to tell only the people they felt they needed to and keep the impending doom from the rest of camp for as long as they could.
In hours, they had built their group of people, they could trust, to help them. The group didn’t know at first why they had been summonsed, apart from Rainnah who strongly suspected. The group consisted of Rainnah, Aaroni, the man who gave Pypachi to Odessa, and several other members of the camp they had grown close to. In all, they had a team of three elders and seven other shifters.
Odessa and Hamachi explained why they had called them all there. In the end, each of them was willing to help in any way they could. Aaroni offered his services with some of the older wolves to help keep guard of the baby once he was born. One was a woman by the name of Liannah, who professed to be an insatiable voracious seeker of knowledge with a photographic memory, offered to help. It meant that she had a deep hunger for knowledge, soaked it up like a sponge, and would be able to remember everything she read. Liannah promised her time to Odessa, helping her research the material to see if they could find a way to release Jarneth’s soul.
Hamachi and the remaining members of the group began to train together in combat, special use of their magic, and shifting abilities. That left Aaroni, Rainnah, and Liannah helping Odessa with anything and everything she needed.
Rainnah and Liannah agreed to be Odessa’s midwives since there were no other doctors at the camp. That was what Hunundi had been of sorts. Hamachi and Odessa could only minimally help with those sorts of things and only together. Odessa would be having the baby, making her out of use for at very least a couple of days. Hamachi knew Odessa would lie and say she was well enough to help, but he had already insisted Aaroni stay by Odessa’s and Takeshi’s side during the battle with the wild-born wolves for as long as he could.
Rainnah and Liannah were instructed to stay with them both as well to doctor them both the best they could. Liannah and Aaroni would have to offer Rainnah their magic to check on the baby if they hadn’t found anything on how to release Jarneth’s spirit from his body and gain her magic back, by then.
Odessa, Rainnah, Aaroni, and Liannah sat around the table full of books on a daily basis, sifting through books and papers hoping to find something to help them. They didn’t care if it was the logon Laurna LaFae or a way to help Rainnah that they found first, they were bound and determined to find something…anything.
Chapter Ten
A few months passed without anything being found that could help them. Hamachi and Odessa had begun to lose hope, but they knew they needed to hold onto something. Odessa was only a month and a half from her due date. She couldn’t believe it, but the only full moon that hit around the time Takeshi would come was on her nineteenth birthday. One year after meeting Hamachi and falling in love with him she would be having his baby. She couldn’t wait until she could hold her son but feared what would happen if they couldn’t protect him.
She hoped they would be able to, but had doubts. It had begun to be more difficult to use her deep magic the more with child she was. Liannah found in one of Hunundi’s books that the only time a magic surge happened like what was happening to her, was when the child inside her was as powerful with their magic as the mother was. Takeshi was most likely feeding on Odessa’s magic to grow stronger when she used it, making it take a toll on her body.
She knew he wasn’t hurting her on purpose. Odessa settled on meditation as much as she could, but even that hurt her if she did too much of it. Pypachi had started feeling unneeded, so Odessa had made a point to spend as much time with him as she could.
She waddled to the table the others were sitting at. They watched out the window to see Hamachi and the others practicing quick shifting, while they were left inside pouring over books, they had looked through time and time again.
“I want to try something,” Odessa whispered to Aaroni, Rainnah, and Liannah, “but you can’t tell my husband unless we find something.”
“What is it?” Rainnah asked.
“I want to use the deep magic to locate what we might be looking for.” Odessa smiled.
“Won’t that hurt you and the baby?” Aaroni asked her.
“I don’t think it will harm Takeshi,” she paused, “but yes, I will grow tired quickly.
“If we decided to do this,” Liannah spoke up, “how can we help you?”
“Liannah,” Rainnah scolded her jokingly. “You know Hamachi would have our head on a platter if we helped her do this madness.”
They all laughed together, which felt good to them. The door swung open as Hamachi walked in. He walked into their makeshift kitchen and took a drink of water from a cup. He headed back to the exit but eyed them suspiciously.
“What are you four up to?” He asked through a laugh.
They all four began to flip through the books sitting in front of them. Odessa got up after a second and kissed her husband.
“Just studying dear,” she said as she pulled back from the kiss.
Her stomach grazed him as she hobbled back to her seat.
“You would have thought Liannah here would have memorized everything by now,” he said.
“There is some of the material I have not read, yet, I believe,” Liannah said in defense.
They all four knew that Liannah had been through each page and paper that set before them. Hamachi, still suspicious, walked out the door with a smile on his face.
“What’s the plan?” Rainnah asked. “I need a little fun in my life.”
“Yeah,” Aaroni said, “nothing li
ke breaking the rules with a pregnant woman and her dog.”
They all laughed again before Odessa glanced out the window once more to make sure that Hamachi was back to work with the shifters.
“Why do you think The Council locked Hunundi’s hut after they dispersed his materials?” Odessa asked.
“I guessed it was because it was a sacred place,” Liannah perceived.
“Yeah me too,” Rainnah said, “but I came after Hunundi sacrificed himself, so I didn’t know anything more then you told Jarneth and me”
Sadness crossed her face as she thought about her twin brother who had passed over four months before.
“What is your theory?” Aaroni asked.
“My theory is they are hiding something,” Odessa accused. “I want to go into his hut and take a look around to see if I see anything useful, or any books that were left ungifted to me; after all, Hunundi intended his knowledge for me, didn’t he?”
“Yes,” Rainnah said, “well, I suppose so. How do you plan on getting in there?”
“Yeah,” Aaroni said. “It is protected by members of The Council day in and day out.
“That’s suspicious,” Liannah said.
“I want you to help me do an Astral Projection,” Odessa said calmly.
“What is an Astral Projection?” Rainnah asked.
“Let the walking textbook tell you,” Odessa Joked.
“Astral Projection,” Liannah began, “is when an out of body experience occurs, that assumes the existence of a soul or astral body, separated from the physical body. That makes it capable of traveling outside it, through the universe, time, space, as well as location.”
“Okay, know it all” Aaroni joked. “Can you Astral whatever a pregnant woman and her dog?”
“Let me see,” Liannah said.
She flipped through to the exact book she knew to look in. It only took her a few seconds to find what she was looking for. A ray of yellow came forth from her eyes as she soaked in the entire page once again.
“Nope,” she said. “Nothing as far as I can tell on pregnancy or pets.”
“How are any of us going to help you do this?” Rainnah asked. “I don’t have my magic and Aaroni and Liannah are not elders and do not have their item to do the deep magic.”
“I know,” Odessa squealed, “but I do. According to my calculations, Rainnah can stand behind me with her hands on my shoulders while you two pour your magic into her,” she looked back and forth between Liannah and Aaroni. That would be enough magic to help stabilize me and enough to help Rainnah see me and Takeshi, and pull us back if anything goes wrong.”
“Will you be able to touch anything on the other side?” Aaroni asked her.
“No, but I will know if I feel or see anything on the other side to know if I need to break in or petition The Council to enter the hut.”
“Good grief to the deep magic,” Rainnah said, “I can’t believe I am even thinking about doing this.”
“Me either,” Liannah smiled, “but I’m in.”
“Great,” Odessa beamed. “That leaves you Aaroni,” she pointed at the outnumbered man.
“Do I have a choice?” He asked.
“Nope,” Liannah said as she grabbed the man, pulling him to his feet.
In minutes they were in formation with Pypachi on Odessa’s right foot. They were, each one, nervous about what they were going to do. Odessa and Liannah left out the part that would have made the others choose differently. On the other side, Odessa would be susceptible to getting soul captured. If her soul was caught outside her body, the entities that collected souls that passed on, from her people, could take her mistakenly.
Odessa began to chant the ancient words of her people. She and Pypachi began to glow red with their auras. An indigo aura poured from Liannah and a turquoise hue flowed from Aaroni. Rainnah’s aura was missing because she no longer had magic, but since she was pulling from the two and pushing into Odessa, the three colors danced off her like a rainbow. Odessa noticed a small amount of purple seeping from her stomach and knew the baby was trying to help her somehow.
The chanting got louder as magic flowed all around them. In seconds, Odessa could feel her subconscious flow through space where she guided it inside the elder’s home, hoping to find what she was looking for. The hope was she would not get taken away forever, leaving only a shell of her body and a dying baby behind.
Chapter Eleven
Odessa in spirit form looked through Hunundi’s hut. She saw all the pictures on the wall, including the one of her parents. The auras of all the shifters glowed off the pictures sending a chill through her. She saw the table Hunundi had released her magic at, as well as the basket she had put Pypachi in.
Pypachi, also in spirit form roamed the room with her. He wouldn’t leave her very far but looked around the hut nonetheless with her. She looked through stacks of books that remained there, she was sure she had seen more than what was given to her, and there they were stacked all along the wall.
They looked for what felt like hours, but Odessa began to feel like something was wrong. She looked around for the collector of souls but didn’t see anything that might resemble danger. She walked through the large room looking at documents laying on the ground like someone had already been there looking for something.
Suddenly, a sharp pain rang through Odessa’s midsection. She folded herself in half in agony. Pypachi came over and joined her as she let the connection break, sending her and Pypachi back to their bodies.
She hit her body with a thud as the pain that had been racking her body continued. She cried out in pain on reentry. Pypachi laid down immediately at her feet whimpering when he knew something was wrong.
“What happened?” Rainnah said as she could see what was going on. “You are in labor.”
“No!” Odessa screamed as she felt another labor pain shoot through her back. “It’s too early.”
“I knew you should not have done that,” Aaroni said, “I am going to get Hamachi.”
“No,” all three girls said at the same time.
“Then what will you have me do?” he asked.
“Let’s get her in bed,” Rainnah said.
“There will be no talk of Astral Projection right now,” Liannah said, as she placed an already damped cloth on her head.
“I…didn’t…find anything,” Odessa said, as she breathed through the pain.
“It’s alright,” Aaroni breathed. “You don’t need to talk right now.”
“It is fine Aaroni,” Liannah said. “She is in labor, not a mute.”
They flew around her as they tried to stop the labor pains.
Several hours later, the pain subsided. They guessed she had gone into false labor by Astral Projecting but wanted to keep an eye on her anyway. Hamachi had taken his group out into the woods to run a perimeter and luckily had not come back into the hut before he left.
Odessa was disappointed she had not seen anything. She was sure there had to be something somewhere that would be able to tell her how to free Jarneth’s spirit or figure out how to defeat Laurna LaFae. Either one at that point would come in handy.
Once Hamchi returned home, Odessa, out of guilt told him what had happened. He scolded her for her ridiculousness of course but wondered why he hadn’t thought of that before. He told her that if she were to have any more dangerous plans, to involve him first. He also told her that he would have gladly Astral Projected for her, but she couldn’t imagine if the collectors of souls had found him how she could live with him, not that she had thought about what life would be like for him without her.
She consigned her thoughts that her family would no longer dabble in Astral Projection, and even promised Hamachi she would not do it again.
A few weeks later put Odessa only a month away from Takeshi’s arrival. The closer things got, the more fear came in as well as excitement. Hamachi began making baby furniture on his downtime, and their one-roomed hut filled up even more.
The Council decided to announce to the people that there was an impending threat. They felt since there were only a few weeks before the threat would arise, that their people should know about it.
Odessa and Hamachi addressed the people and told them everything that was happening and what they had been told would happen.
There were a small number of people that did not want to fight again, around six. Those six were asked to leave the camp until things had been taken care of so they wouldn’t be a liability, then they would be invited back should things go the way they hoped they would.
That day, Hamachi began to train all able-bodied shifters who were willing to fight for the cause. There were hundreds of them, but they all respectively obeyed what he was saying to them, and in a few days, they were working like a well-oiled machine. Many of them had fought during the first war so they knew somewhat what to expect, but according to what little they knew about Laurna LaFae, things were potentially going to be much worse.
As the time neared, Aaroni and the wild-born wolves began to train to protect Odessa and Takeshi once he was born. Lianna and Rainnah had been taught how to help with the binding spell, even though Rainnah still had no magic and Liannah was not an elder yet and had not the deep magic they would still be of use.
With the assistance of the three, Hamachi and Odessa felt they would be able to bind their son’s magic, but everyone feared the condition Odessa might be in after giving birth.
Chapter Twelve
Five days before her nineteenth birthday, and due date, Odessa meditated more and more hoping Hunundi would appear in limbo or anywhere again to give her a clue. How was she supposed to find the logs on Laurna LaFae if she was not able to use much of her deep magic without passing out?
Odessa and Hamachi tried to flow forward with positivity in hopes it would override the fear that resided at the back of their mind. They couldn’t imagine having the one child that could change the entire world. How could they live with the darkness getting to Takeshi?
Liannah and Rainnah made things more comfortable for Odessa as delivery neared, but she was far too independent and would not let herself be comfortable.