I didn’t want to believe it. I couldn’t.
Cadence was crying, trying to scream for me but she couldn’t get out any words with the gag in her mouth.
“Shut up!” Curtis turned and slapped her across the face.
My body twitched and I felt something growing inside me. It hurt and it caused me to collapse. I heard the laughter and more screaming then I was on my feet again but it wasn’t the same. I seemed a little shorter than I once was until I realized that I had four legs and was covered in white fur that felt like a thick blanket.
That laughter turned into gasped expressions but my stare was still on Curtis. I felt this urge to crunch his face off and now I had the jaws to do it. I never thought I would see and think so much like myself but I did. I was in complete control. The only thing was, I didn’t want control. I wanted to let go and kill everyone who hurt Cadence.
I leaped at them and they scattered like the rodents they were but they took Cadence with them. Her scent was the only thing I had and it seemed stronger this way. I followed it through the shadows of the city, ignoring anyone who saw me until I reached an old gate and within it, an equally old building. The smell was coming inside. I had no choice. I pushed open the gate and headed for the building.
I could hear Cadence’s gargled screaming when she saw me but I couldn’t hear what she was saying and I was hit from behind. I immediately felt this sharp stinging in my hind hip like someone had stabbed me. I saw the knife still in me for myself and it became hard to walk.
Cadence still screamed, tears soaking her face and the gag in her mouth. She had a clear bruise on her cheek from where she was slapped and I tried to go to her. She kept shaking her head like she didn’t want me to and I was hit again. This time it was in my side by maybe three boys and I rolled to the left, getting trapped in some kind of cage. Before I could muster the energy to get up, the door was slammed shut and locked with me still inside.
“Glad you could join the fun.” Curtis said. “We’ll be back to play in a bit. First, we have someone else to play with.”
Cadence was forced up and they started pushing her towards the doors.
My anger growled at them and I tried to escape. Uncle Ryon said we were stronger than Darius in this form but for some reason, I couldn’t break free of these bars and she was taken away from me. I frantically tried to use my other gift to get the bars to bend or melt but I couldn’t do a thing and haven’t learned to use my mind yet so nothing was working. I honestly didn’t know why. My senses all worked together but like this it seemed I couldn’t do anything.
I broke down. My mind crumbled and I felt like giving up. They were probably going to kill her to get to me and I just wanted to lay here and die.
I felt there was nothing I could do. I didn’t even have the strength to get up because my hip wound was still gushing blood.
“How’s our little Prince?” Curtis was crunched by the cage and he seemed alone but I couldn’t really know that for sure. “Do your people know their future leader is a dog?”
“Cadence—where’s—Cadence.”
He laughed. “Are you really trying to speak? That would be fairly counterproductive, don’t you think?”
I heard myself ask for her but for some reason he couldn’t hear me. Was he hearing animal sounds instead?
“Well, if you’re wondering, don’t worry. I wouldn’t fatally harm my little Princess. You see, I still need her to take over Hintus but you, you’re getting in the way.”
“If I ever get out of here, I’m going to kill you.”
He laughed. “I have no idea what you just said but I’m sure it was unimportant. Let’s see how you do after a few days without food.”
My teeth snapped as he got up to walk away and I was left alone.
It got hot in here during the days and this fur wasn’t helping. I just didn’t know how to change back. I wanted to but for a few reasons I didn’t. One, I’d be naked if I did turn back but I could get at his throat much better this way. I just had to get out of this cage. The pain in my hip subsided or I just started to get used to it from licking it to keep it clean like it was really my own blood that kept me alive but barely. I was so starving, ready to eat anything that got too close.
Some of the other boys I’ve seen before would come by periodically to check on me to see if I was still alive. I acted weak only to save my strength and one of the boys got too curious for his own good. He may have liked animals and didn’t see me as the boy in the park because he got close.
“How are you?”
I was sorry but I was so hungry. His smell pulled at my stomach and I needed something if I was ever going to get strength enough to get out of here.
“I’m sorry.” I said it sadly, hoping he would just hear a sad puppy whine.
“You’re sick, aren’t you?”
He stuck his hand out to me and I regretted doing it before I did it. I bit down with what strength I had and blocked out his screams while I pulled his body through the bars. He died before he got fully in and I finally had my meal.
Unusually, it tasted good compared to licking dirt but it must have been the wolf side telling me I needed to eat. As a human, I would have never thought another human tasted good. I didn’t see myself as a cannibal doing this. Right now, I wasn’t human.
Curtis came back later that same day to see what I’ve done.
“You filthy animal!”
He grabbed a cross bow from someone next to him and pointed it at me.
“I should kill you!”
“So, do it.”
He didn’t seem to like my careless growl and shot an arrow at me. I still didn’t have my speed but he wasn’t exactly a good aim and I easily move out of the way. This only angered him and he loaded another arrow to shoot again. I moved for the second time and he got ready to do it again. At this point he was just wasting the arrows and I was getting bored.
“Hold still, you little mutt!”
“Where’s Cadence?!”
He was startled by my impatience but also a little frustrated. “What’s it going to take for you to die? Another day in here? You’re never going to see her again. She’s mine.”
He hit the bars with the crossbow just to get his point across with the loud sound and left, calling those around him to follow. I wish he had gotten closer. I would have gladly let him join his friend that was scattered in pieces in here but I couldn’t. I had to wait; again.
Chapter 32
Dirk
I didn’t know where we were going other than to find Seth. I’ve just never been to this part of the city before. I carried a change of clothes for him like he was going to need them or something while I walked with Bryce. We were following Zayden and Trever and didn’t expect anything like what we found.
There was this large cage in this half destroyed building and inside that cage was a large white wolf.
“Seth.”
Zayden said his name and the wolf responded by turning its head.
“That’s Seth?!” I asked, a little shocked. I knew about the wolf thing but I’ve never seen it until now.
“What have you done?”
As we got closer, I could see what he meant. There were bloody pieces of flesh all over the floor of the cell—human flesh and Seth was right in the middle of it, covered in a bit of blood himself.
“They starved him.” Trever said.
Seth lowered his head with a soft whine.
“Can he talk?” Bryce asked. “I thought Ryon could talk.”
“He’s still a pup.” Trever said. “He has to reach full maturity before he can speak.”
“Sixteen.” I said.
“I would imagine so. I found Ryon at seventeen so he could always talk around me.”
“Let’s get you out of there, son.” Zayden approached the cage.
“Wait!” Trever’s voice echoed and stopped him. “We have to get him to change back first.”
“Why?”
�
�If he’s let out of that cage before that happens, he’s going to run through the city and kill all the faces he remembers.”
“Seth!” Zayden turned his head down to him and Seth lifted his with a bit of a growl. “How do we get him to change back? That’s what Ryon was supposed to be for. I don’t remember how I did it.”
Trever crouched lower to Seth but kept his distance. “Have you tried? No? Can you feel your human-self trying to come back? That’s a problem.”
“What?” Zayden asked.
“He doesn’t feel the difference between being human and wolf. He still feels like himself. I was afraid it was going to come to this.”
“Is there a solution?”
“Only one.” Trever pulled a flat box from his pocket that had a syringe inside. “We have to subdue the wolf.”
Zayden sighed and lowered close to the bars. “Are you sure that’s the only way?”
“It won’t be how you remember Ryon. He had a permanent implant. This will be mildly temporary until it leaves his system. It will be enough for him to turn back and get out of the city before he lets himself loose on it.”
“All right. Seth, can you get closer.”
He stood but it wasn’t well and I noticed he was holding one of his back legs off the floor. “What’s wrong with him?”
Zayden leaned so he could see at my angle. “Are you hurt?”
Seth whined.
“He was stabbed.” Trever said.
“All right, Bryce we’ve got to get you in there.”
“Is that a good idea?” He asked.
“He should be healed before he changes back so nothing goes wrong. It’s all right, you’ll be fine. Even if he bit you, you wouldn’t die.”
“I won’t?”
“You’re immune to our venom but—”
Trever laughed. “Didn’t tell him about that, did you?”
“Never a fun conversation.”
“What?” I asked. Now I was interested.
“Zayden learned to control it back in the day by using Jaylyn.”
My eyes widened. “You bit her?”
“Frequently.” Trever laughed.
“Just until it was controlled. Bryce, you’ll be fine. He doesn’t have venom as a wolf.”
“He doesn’t?”
“No. All other gifts are connected to his human soul. Dirk, break the lock off so he can get in there.”
I nodded and stepped just a little closer, reaching for it without getting too close. It was easy for me but at least I was needed for something.
The door opened and Bryce nervously got closer.
“It’s all right.” Trever said. “He’ll let you heal him.”
Bryce stepped in and stepped around all of the body parts to get to his wound. “Hi, Seth.”
Seth groaned and laid down to wait.
Bryce looked at the wound, moving hair to try to get to it first.
“What’s the matter?” Zayden asked.
“I’ve never healed an animal before. People don’t have this much hair.”
“You can do it.”
“He’s really dirty. Is there a way to get all of this off him first?”
“Here.” Trever took a bucket over to a water fountain and pumped water into it. “Use this.”
He passed it through the cage and Bryce slowly began to pour it over the wound, rubbing with his hand as he went.
Seth whined a little.
“It’s all right.” Zayden said. “Easy.”
“Okay. That’s enough.” Bryce healed him and it must have gave him all his strength back because he got right up, scaring Bryce enough to back into the bars.
“It’s all right!” Zayden shouted. “Seth, stay right there!” He took the syringe from the box and entered the cage.
“Grab the skin at the back of his neck and pull up.” Trever instructed. “It won’t hurt him. Put the needle in all the way and inject all of it. Bryce, out of there.”
Bryce hurried, scooting along the bars to get to the door.
Zayden injected Seth with whatever was in that thing and hurried out himself, closing the door again.
“What happens now?”
“Let it spread into his system and he’ll change back.”
We waited and waited then waited some more.
“It’s taking a while.” I said.
“Seth, stop it.” Trever said.
“What?” Zayden asked.
“He’s trying to fight it. He doesn’t want to change back yet.”
“Why?” Bryce asked.
“Didn’t we already cover that?” I said. “He wants to kill them.”
“For Cadence.” Zayden said.
“Not just.” Trever was looking at him, reading his mind. “He says he needs to be killed.”
“Who?”
“That Curtis character I heard Cadence mention.”
Seth’s head perked right up and he let out a few fast sounds.
“Whoa. Slow down.” Zayden said. “Yes, we saw her. Cadence is fine.”
He lowered his head like sighing in relief.
“You can understand him?” I asked.
“Only when he tries to talk like I can with Rift. Now, why does he need to be killed?”
Seth looked at Trever like it would have just been easier for him to read his thoughts than explain verbally. He may not have had it in him to say why.
Trever began to examine him but looked confused.
“What?” Zayden asked.
“He says he’s going to use Cadence to take over Hintus.”
“But she’s not next in line for the throne.”
My eyes widened. “She’s a Princess?!”
“Wow.” Bryce muttered. “I touched a Princess.”
“Curtis knows that. He says he plans to kill everyone until she is then that means he’ll be King.”
“That’s outrageous. We can’t let that happen.”
“We can’t kill a bunch of kids, Zayden. Aleks wouldn’t even give that mission to the Assassins.”
“We can’t kill them but what if they just so happened to get in a tragic scuffle with a group of other kids.”
Trever started to show this conniving smile and looked at us.
“What?” Bryce asked. “Us kill them?”
“Really?” I was hopeful. I knew it was our futures. We were to replace our fathers as Great Seni Fighters. I guess we had to get used to it some time.
“Think you’re up for it?” Zayden asked. “It will be great training. A good time for you to let go.”
I looked at Bryce and we were both becoming anxious. “We’re in!”
“Good.”
“Look, it’s working.”
My attention drew back to inside the cage and Seth’s body lost his hair like it grew in reverse and his human form was back almost instantly.
“Wow. That was quicker than expected.”
“I’ve never seen that before on someone else.” Zayden said. “Seth?”
He groaned and tried getting up. “My head feels weird.”
I laughed, standing more comfortably closer to the bars. “Then you don’t feel the draft?”
He looked down and quickly covered himself and I tossed him his clothes.
“Get dressed.” Zayden said. “There’s something for you to do.”
“Thank you for approving but I would have done it anyway.”
“Normally we wouldn’t have but there’s a country at stake here. Your mothers wouldn’t get the mission until they were adults and it could be too late by then.”
“That might have been their plan.” Seth said. “But they forgot about the assigned killers in Seni who don’t care about that.”
“A mistake they won’t live to make again. Where would they be?”
“We should stay here.”
“Here?” I asked.
He looked at me while putting his shirt on last. “They come to check on me periodically and when they do, we’ll be waiting. It’s t
he perfect place. We shouldn’t make this public.”
“An excellent point.” Trever said. “Well done. It’ll be easier to come up with a tragic incident. I won’t even have to involve you three at all. They just sort of killed each other.”
“I like that better.” Zayden said. “When will they be back?”
“Whenever, I guess. I don’t even really know what day it is.”
“Then we’ll wait.”
“There are storage rooms in the back.” Trever said. “We can wait there but Seth, you should stay in there and make them think that you’re still locked in.”
“But it’s gross in here.”
I laughed. “You did that!”
He didn’t much appreciate my joke as I did and rolled his eyes while closing the cage door so he was still inside.
“Dirk. Bryce. In.” Zayden said.
“How exactly is this going to work?” Bryce asked. “We’re kind of shy essential weapons for this task.”
“Not me. I’ve got my weapons right here.” I held up my fists and drenched them with fire.
“Easy there.” Trever said. “You don’t want to burn the place down yet.”
“You mean I get to?”
He shrugged and looked around. “It should have been done years ago and it will help with the story. They died in a horrible fire. No bodies found but bone fragments.”
“Awesome.”
“And Bryce, here.” Trever handed him his belt of daggers. “Don’t tell your mother.”
“Cool. Thanks, uncle.”
“Seth.” Zayden knelt down and tried to secretly side his short staffs through the bars.
“Really, father?” Of course he was excited about it. He’s always wanted to play with them growing up but Zayden would always say no.
“Just this once. Make sure they’re not seen until it’s time.”
Seth nodded and hid them amongst the body parts. No one would be looking there, at least extensively enough to see them.
While he waited in there, the four of us headed towards the back so we wouldn’t be seen and we waited some more. We were doing a lot of that on this trip and I was kind of tired of it. I wanted to do something and I couldn’t believe we were actually allowed to kill someone. It would be our first and I was looking forward to the chance. Father did say he wanted me to do whatever Zayden needed of me. He probably didn’t expect it to be this fun.
Blooming Life (Fate's Intent Book 10) Page 18