CHAPTER 25: SHIVA
My body can’t move because my brain just went on standby. Slowly, my mind resets itself. I take a moment to recuperate before spilling out the first words I can stir up…
“What…the…fuck…?” I say in disbelief.
"Listen, there’s no time to explain," Daniel says to me sternly.
I feel like fainting, but my body is too stubborn to pass-out.
"We will protect you," he clarifies.
I glance over at the door and notice three other students rushing in. It’s Eric, his twin sister Jessica, and the Goth girl, Maria. Daniel glances back at them as they enter.
“You three…take her home,” he orders them.
He shifts at me again.
“Stay with us and you’ll live. If not, you'll die,” he tells me straightforwardly.
He bites down on his teeth as if he’s in an extreme amount of pain. I watch the veins in his neck swell. His broad shoulders begin to expand and the bones in his body break and shift underneath his skin, followed by black fur growing all over his body. He yells in pain, and then his yell transitions into a roar. He falls forward and lands onto all four paws. Now, Daniel is Mane once again.
“I hope your decision is a wise one,” Mane says to me.
He then looks at the tiger and says…
“Courage, come on, we’ll track them down.”
Mane leaps through the window.
“Catch you later,” Courage, the tiger, says to me before he runs and jumps out of the window.
The others approach me in a hurry. Maria assists me with a lending hand.
“Take my hand,” she says calmly.
I receive her hand hesitantly, and then she pulls me onto my feet.
“Are you feeling okay?” she asks.
I gulp and shake my head slowly, gesturing no.
“That’s fine. Let’s get you somewhere safe. Follow me.”
I throw my hands up into the air, pleading for them to stay back.
“Hold, for one second,” I say with a trembling voice. “What the hell just happened?”
I usually never cuss, but cussing is well-suited for a moment such as this. Eric steps forward with a humbled look on his face.
“Yeah….what you just witnessed was real,” he notifies me. “We can transform into animals. I guess the lion's out of the bag.”
Jessica and Maria sighs, and their concerned expressions flatten. Simultaneously, they both shift towards Eric with humorless faces. I stare into his eyes with a flat face as well. Eric looks left and right at Jessica and Maria, who are both staring back at him, straight-faced.
“You get it? I used lion instead of cat,” he asks them.
Without responding, Maria shoves pass Eric, grabs my shoulder, and then pulls me out of the classroom. We pick up our speed and jog through the hallway. We start to turn a corner but quickly pause when we hear commotion heading our way.
“I’m telling you I heard a lot of noise,” I hear an old woman’s voice speak from around the corner.
“What now?’ Jessica whispers quietly to us.
I can hear their marching feet getting closer and closer by the second.
“Are you sure it was this way?” a man’s voice replies.
“Yes, I’m sure,” the old woman says.
Their voices sound really close now.
“In here,” Eric whispers while opening a classroom door for us.
We quietly walk into the classroom, the four of us, and wait in the shadows. Seconds later, the old receptionists, along with two police officers, hurry pass our door. A moment later, everything settles down. The sound of their marching feet drifts away into the distance.
Eric opens the door, softly, to peek into the hallway. He then rotates to us and whispers…
“The coast is clear.”
We scurry from the dark classroom and jog around the corner. Soon, we make our way into the parking lot, where a mob of policemen are racing into the school through another entrance.
Maria guides me to a black SUV.
"Get in," she says while defensively surveying the area, although the school lot is nearly empty.
I hurry into the passenger seat, Eric rushes into the driver’s seat, and Maria and Jessica takes the middle. Eric starts the car and stomps on reverse like an insane person. My body automatically jerks forward. Then he stomps on the gas and speeds out of the lot. Instantaneously, as his foot smashes onto the accelerator; my back hits the leather interior.
Now, we’re on a an unfamiliar road pushing eighty miles an hour. Still, Eric eyes remain highly cautious.
"Okay, who are you guys, really?"
I gulp and revise my question.
"Scratch that. What are you?" I ask Eric.
"We are the ones in-between. Well, that’s what legends call us. We are part human and part animal," he says while checking the rear-view mirror.
“This is...unreal,” I blurt out.
“The Blaires are wolves. Wolves are our enemies. Stay away from them brah,” he explains while checking the side-mirror. “That thing in the park was Cornelius. He also calls himself The Hellhound. He’s the most powerful of their pack. He’s more demon than wolf.”
“Why are people trying to kill me?”
“You are extremely important to us. That’s why,” Jessica explains.
“How?”
“Do you recall finding something, a scarlet box?” Eric asks.
“Yeah, so?”
“So…?” Maria says. “Iva, you just don’t realize how important that box is.”
“I'm beyond confused. How do I tie into all of this?” I ask uneasily.
"You will know very soon," Eric informs me.
Five minutes later, we hit a road surrounded by a dense forest. We continue straight for another minute or two. The car slides sideways into a long driveway. Eric hits the brakes and the car screeches to a halt next to an old Charger and a burgundy SUV. We all spill from the black SUV. I’m so weak from running that I can barely exit the vehicle without staggering like a drunken person.
My eyes are locked onto a brick mansion in front of me. The mansion is covered in green leaves and vines like something out of an old horror flick. I feel a coolness slither down my spine when I see a face looking down at me from a window. This face belongs to a woman. The woman’s expression is totally void. Then I realize who it is. It’s Professor Cruz.
Maria comes to my side and grasps my shoulders, gently.
“Where are we?” I ask.
"It’s my mom’s house. Don’t be afraid," she says calmly to me.
Eric opens the front door. I enter into a huge living room. The walls are painted a brownish-red. The house is decorated with lots of African artifacts and scented with strong spices; mainly cinnamon. Maria lets go of me and walks near a flight of steps.
"Mom!" Maria shouts up the stairs.
"I’m coming!" a woman shouts back.
A moment later, I see Professor Cruz walking gracefully down the steps. She is wearing traditional African clothes; mostly consisting of red patterns. Her hair, which is twisted in small ropes, is knotted into a ponytail. She spots me and approaches with a blissful grin. She then pulls me into a soft hug. A moment later, she releases, only to stare deeply into my eyes.
I automatically feel awkward.
"Hello Iva. Welcome to my lovely home.
“Ms. Cruz, what’s going on?”
“My human name is Kenya Cruz. My animal name is Shiva. And you don’t have to be afraid of me. I don’t bite…much. May I see the leaf?" she finishes the sentence with pressed hands.
She appears blissful as if she’s about to receive something special like a gift or some sort.
“The leaf…?” I ask confusingly.
Then a light-bulb clicks on. I take off my coat and pull back my shirt sleeve. When sees the mark, she places her hands onto her chest, closes her eyes, and exhales deeply. She reopens her eyes, revealing a gathering of tears.
"I assume you’re wondering why you’re here, correct?" she asks me with tearful eyes.
"Yes," I answer while standing uncomfortably still. “I really don’t understand any of this.”
She smiles warmly before speaking.
“I will try to explain as much as I can. So, listen carefully to what I’m about to tell you.”
“Okay.”
"Six thousand, nine hundred, and ninety-eight years ago, the great balance was broken. An individual, born through serpent bloodlines, grew very powerful. His name was Romulus. He had the ability to transform into a large lizard. He was the leader of the reptiles. Romulus became greedy and wanted control over everything. The wolves made a pact with the reptilian nation to conquer over all walks of life.”
My imagination forms to her words and now I can see images of bloodthirsty wolves snarling at me at every angle.
“Still, with the wolves as their new allies, they were no match for the lions, the birds, or the apes. Together they made a rebellion against King Romulus and the wolves. So, he knew he needed more power. Therefore, Romulus did something terrible. In our beliefs, the most evil thing you could ever do is destroy something pure. And one night, he did just that.”
As she tells the story, my mind can visualize what took place, as if I’m there now watching it unfold. Trees grow within this very room and I can see a war playing out like a movie.
"Romulus captured a phoenix. Then Romulus did something unexpected. He devoured the phoenix; hence his nickname, Devourer of gods. He then became something more powerful. He inherited all of the phoenix abilities. He became immortal, he grew wings, he had healing powers, and he could control fire. That night, he became the first and the last of his kind; a dragon.”
In my head, I can see a fierce red dragon breathing fire and burning down an entire forest; killing everything in sight.
“He destroyed anyone who faced him. Yet there was only one thing that stood in his way. That one thing was the apes. Only they had the ability to physically afflict harm on Romulus. So, one day, there was a great ambush on the apes.”
I then visualize bold apes holding their ground to defend themselves against Romulus’s army.
“All of them were killed except for one. His name was Lucius. Legend tell us that he was just a young man at the time; a nobody. In the world’s darkest hours, a fight took place; Lucius versus King Romulus. Then a miracle happened. Lucius was able to injure one of the dragon’s wings, causing him to fall into a mountain. The fight left Lucius dying from battle wounds. People from all over came to see this young man. They all chanted words of praises to him for freeing them of Romulus’s terror. That night a nobody, who was just defending his small village, became a King on his own deathbed. However, on that very night, an owl had a vision of the future. He said Romulus was close to death but did not die, yet he fell into an icy abyss where he now slumbers. The owl described a future of fire and brimstone. In seven thousand years, two years from today, the ice will melt and Romulus will rise to finish what he'd started. While on his deathbed, King Lucius said that he will change the future. On that day, he made a sacrifice for humanity. He took the one thing, which was most precious to him, and hid it away.”
She takes a break from talking to step closer to me.
“Do you know what he hid, Iva?”
I gulp.
“No, what was it?”
“It was his animal spirit. He did this so someone, many years later, can become a powerful ape and destroy Romulus once and for all.”
She walks even closer to me and places her palms on my face, staring deeply at me with a profound joy.
"Iva, you’ve found it."…