CHAPTER 31: THE PEAK
Before I leave Olivia’s place, she gives me another warm hug. She peeps out the doorway, watching us walk down the hall and back towards the elevator. She waves at us from the end of the hallway and we wave back as we step onto the elevator and descend.
"She’s cool, right?" Maria asks.
"She sure is,” I respond. "I’m mean, how many people can say they met a phoenix?"
The elevator doors open. Together, we walk through the lobby and out of the main entrance.
In no time, we’re pulling into the driveway of my newest home. When we step foot into the house, Kenya comes down the steps to welcome us back.
"How did everything go?" she asks Daniel.
“Fine,” Daniel responds as he tosses the keys onto the coffee table.
Kenya shifts over to me, eager to ask me about my trip.
"Did you meet Olivia?" she asks.
"Yes.”
“Good. Now, do you have a better knowledge of things?”
“Yes. But I’m still learning.”
“Well, more answers will come in due time,” she assures me with a smirk.
She looks over at the others.
"I’m going to sleep early. Don’t try to make too much noise, especially you,” she says and then stares directly at Eric.
He rolls his eyes.
“How do I always get blamed for somethin I didn't even do yet?” Eric whispers to himself.
“Go out for a walk. That would do you all some good,” Kenya tells us.
She walks away from us and marches up the stairs. I hear her bedroom door closing in the distance a moment later.
"She’s right. It’s been a while since we went out together,” Jason announces to everyone.
"Where should we go?" Jessica asks.
"Let’s go to the peak,” Jason says. “I think the newbie should go there with us.”
Everyone looks at one another with a hidden smile, all except for Daniel.
"What’s the peak?" I ask them.
"It’s absolutely nothin,” Eric says with a huge smile on his face. “It’s just a nice walk in the woods. It’s nothing fun, or awesome, or spectacula. Only cool kids allowed.”
"The woods, isn’t that dangerous?" I ask.
"No biggie. The Blaires are far across town,” Maria explains. “Plus, my mom grows the herbs back there.”
“What do you say, Iva?” Jason asks with a charming smirk. “Are you in?”
I think about it for a second. But how can I say no to a face like that? It’s like saying no to a precious little puppy or kitten.
"Okay, why not?" I reply.
Soon, they go upstairs to change into an outfit Jason refers to as “outside clothes”. I wait for them to come back downstairs as the sunlight begins to dim outside. Suddenly, I hear footsteps coming down the steps. Jason is the first to make an appearance. He’s dressed in a pair of gray sweat pants, a dingy white shirt, and an old pair of white tennis shoes.
He is also wearing a book-bag over his shoulders. I stand to my feet and giggle at his appearance.
"What are you wearing?"
He looks down at himself and laughs too.
"Clothes I don’t need anymore,” he replies with his words mixed with laughter. "Do I look horrible?"
"I wouldn’t wear that,” I reply. "So, I’m guessing you guys will transform tonight. Am I right?”
“Maybe,” he replies.
Suddenly, I hear approaching footsteps. Eric and Jessica walks into the living room, pushing each other on the way down like bitter kids. They’re also dressed in raggedy outfits with backpacks on.
"Dude, what the hell are you wearing?" Jason asks Eric with broad eyes.
Eric looks down at his tight pink shirt, which shows off his flat abs. He’s also wearing a pair of black tights. I can’t help but laugh at his ridiculous outfit.
"I didn’t have anythin else to wear. I have to use Raven’s shit,” Eric replies shamefully.
He looks over at his sister who is snorting.
"What are you laughing at stupid? It’s your clothes.”
Jessica pulls out her phone and takes a picture of him.
“This is most definitely getting posted,” she tells him.
He tries to grab her phone as she’s taking a picture but she dodges his hand.
“Too slow Gene Simmons,” she says as she takes his picture.
I cover my face with my hands so Eric doesn’t see me laughing.
“She said you look like Gene Simmons,” Jason replies. “You’re going to let her roast you like that? A girl? Damn son,” he mimics the way Eric talks at the end of his statement.
“Y’all can kiss my ass,” Eric replies with a straight face. “Roast these fuckin nutz.”
Maria comes down the steps next.
"Hey Iva, here..,” Maria says while she tosses me a black hoodie. "...it might get chilly tonight.”
"What about you?" I ask her.
"Uh, fur...duh,” she replies.
I pull the coat over my head and slip my arms into the sleeves. Luckily for me, it’s just my size.
Maria spots Eric and his womanish appearance.
“Boy…? What are you…?” she starts to speak but revises her statement. “I’m just going to act like I didn’t see you with that on.”
“I’m wearing clothes,” Eric says humorlessly to Maria. “It’s not a big deal.”
Maria presses her lips together tightly and shakes her face.
"Everyone’s here but Mane,” Jason states.
"I swear he’s worse than a female sometimes,” Eric says with his hands on his hips.
Jessica snickers and replies...
"You’re the one to talk, Erica.”
Everyone laughs at Jessica’s joke.
"Why do you have to be such a drag?" Eric asks Jessica.
"Why do you have to dress up like one?" she counters.
“Oh dammnn,” Jason and Maria says simultaneously.
We laugh at Eric as he stands there with a blank face. Eric creates a goofy face and begins to mock our laughing.
“Give me some,” Jessica says with a raised hand.
Everyone, except for Eric, gives Jessica a high-five.
“I’m sorry bro,” Jason says while approaching Eric. “Let me get that for you.”
Jason kneels down and pretends to pick up an invisible object off the floor. He then presents the invisible object to Eric.
“What are you doing?” Eric asks.
“Your face fell off back there. I got it for you,” Jason replies.
Eric pushes Jason’s hands away.
“Ha-ha,” Eric says tonelessly.
“Couldn’t help myself bro,” Jason states while giggling.
Jessica and Maria are in tears and my abdomen is going to explode soon if I don’t stop laughing. Even still, I try to conceal my laughing by covering my face with my hands.
“Whatever,” Eric says with folded arms. “You can't beat me in a fight tho.”
“You're gangsta card is officially revoked,” Maria says while laughing. “You should've stayed upstairs. You knew we were going to roast your ass.”
Suddenly, I hear those infamous footsteps approaching us. Daniel comes downstairs and walks into the living room. His eyes stop on Eric.
“Look what Aero got on,” Maria tells her brother.
Daniel rolls his eyes.
“What the fu…? I’m not even going to go there,” Daniel says with a disappointed look before he marches through the kitchen and then proceeds out of the back door.
We follow him off the back porch and into the woods; chuckling as we walk. Daniel is leading the pack, Eric, Jessica, and Maria are in the middle. Jason and I are following behind them. Eventually, our laughing stops and once again my curiosity starts to peak.
"So, when will I transform? How does that work?" I ask Jason.
"With us, it happens around puberty. But you’ll know when it’s time. Before we transform, we have what we call, a spiritual encounter. The animal would visit you in a dream or, sometimes, call out to you. Have you noticed anything like that?"
"No, not at all,”
“No voices or anything?” he presses on.
“Nope, not yet,” I reply.
"Well, it won’t be long hopefully. My animal spirit called out to me when I was sleeping.”
"And after it visits you, what’s next?"
Jason breathes out slowly with wide eyes. It’s almost like he’s thinking about something traumatizing.
"Then you get these muscle pains. That means your body is preparing itself for the awakening. The awakening is another word for transformation.”
"Is it painful?"
"It’s extremely painful,” he says with a twisted face. “I wanted to die when it happened to me.”
“Seriously?”
“I’m dead serious,” he replies. “Your muscles are expanding. It’s like being ripped apart constantly. That’s the best way to describe the pain.”
I exhale. That’s something I’m definitely not looking forward to.
“So, what other abilities do you have?” I change the subject.
“Besides transforming into an animal, we all have a distinct skill. Mane is strong. Athena is super-fast. I’m balanced with both speed and strength. Plus, all cats can sense vibrations. Felines are fast healers too. And Raven and Aero can see things in slow-motion. It’s a focusing ability. That’s the best way to describe their gift. But Aero is a little different from his sister. He has a really, really, cool gift. But he can explain that better than me. He is able to see in the 4th dimension or some people call it the God Realm. He can manipulate reality for a couple seconds.”
“Wow, this is unbelievable.”
“It’s only unbelievable because you refuse to believe it,” Jason replies.
Suddenly, Daniel stops at a small clearing. He waits for everyone to catch up to him.
"Okay, let’s do this,” Daniel announces to everyone.
Jason, Daniel, and Maria kicks off their shoes and stuff them inside of their backpack.
"Courage, show yourself,” Maria says to Jason.
He breathes in deeply while shaking his hands and wobbling his legs; as if he’s warming up for a track run. He stops and looks over at me.
"Iva, you should step back.”
I step back with my eyes locked onto him. He takes in a deep breath and holds it. I witness his body starting to tremble. I see a vein in the middle of his forehead coming into view.
“I make that same face when I’m taking a dump,” Eric states.
Jason loses his concentration and looks at Eric with a blank expression.
“Can you shut up?” he asks Eric.
“Okay. My bad,” Eric replies while trying to hold in a laugh.
Jason regains his concentration again. As soon as he begins to gather his energy to transform, Eric starts to snicker. Everyone sucks their teeth. Jason stops and looks at Eric with anger.
“You look like a mighty morphin idiot,” Eric tells him.
“I’m about to drop-kick your ass,” Jason replies. “I’m just a little rusty. Give me a fucking break.”
“That’s what she said,” Jessica whispers. “Sorry, the setup was too perfect.”
“Are y’all done?” Daniel asks everyone.
“Okay. That was my last joke. I swear,” Eric announces.
Jason shakes the butterflies from his hands and sighs deeply. He then begins to grunt in pain. Suddenly, I hear a cracking sound.
I realize that his right forearm has snapped into two places. I gasp loudly but quickly cover my mouth. Then I hear another crack. I can see his ribcage expanding. Then his face starts to shift into a frightening beastly form. Orange and yellow fur grows all over his body.
His ears grow upward. His nose flattens. His eyes become yellow. Everything is happening rapidly. The sight is both creepy and astonishing at the same time.
He yells out in pain, and then his yell converts into a roar all of a sudden. He falls forward onto the ground. Just like that, Jason is gone, and a large tiger is standing where he once was. He looks over at me and then winks. He removes his attention from me and shifts at Maria, who is right next to him.
"Athena, show yourself,” Courage says in a deep voice to Maria.
After a deep inhale, her bones begin to shift like Jason’s. Suddenly, her muscles begin to bulge, and then yellow fur covers her body. She falls forward as her clothes burst all over the forest floor. A large cheetah falls gently onto the ground.
“Mane, show yourself,” Athena says to Daniel.
I turn to face Daniel. His transformation seems a lot less stressful than the others. He takes in a deep breath and maintains it. I can see his big shoulders expanding. His clothes rip apart and a muscular black lion falls onto the ground with a thump. He shakes off the remaining fabric from his back.
"How did you like that?" Athena asks in a deep, feminine, voice.
I open my mouth but no words are coming out.
“I will never get used to seeing that,” I reply in astonishment. “It’s breathtaking.”
“The surprise is still to come,” Courage says to me as we begin to follow behind Mane.
Together, we continue up the trail. Courage and I stay in the back of the group.
"Are Eric and Jessica going to transform too?" I ask Courage.
"Yeah they will, soon enough,” he replies.
I look up at the sky as it begins to turn pinkish purple. The trail gradually starts to incline as we hike more and more. I almost trip over a root protruding from the ground but I catch my balance. Suddenly, a large insect flies into my face.
I swat at it wildly.
“Oh my God. What was that? This is crazy. There are bugs out here. OMG! Is it on me? Is it?” I ask with paranoia.
I hold my arms close to my body, feeling completely grossed-out.
"There are no bugs on you. Calm down,” Courage replies. “You need to get out more.”
I can tell he’s slightly amused by my complaining. Although he's trying to do it secretively, I can still hear him snickering at me.
"I’m glad you find this amusing, jerk.”
“You don’t get out much, do you?”
“Not really. I swear if I see a spider, I’m out of here.”
“And where would you go?” Courage asks me.
“I don’t know, but you’ll never hear from me again.”
I continue walking with my arms pressed tightly against my body. Suddenly, I hear a noise. Luckily, it was only an owl hooting.
“A SPIDER!” Courage shouts.
I yelp and take off running away like the coward that I am.
“Iva, it was just a joke!”
I stop running and rotate to him. I never knew I could run so fast. In a matter of seconds, I managed to clear fifteen-yards. The only thing scarier than a werewolf is a big hairy spider.
“What?” I reply.
“It was a joke,” he clarifies while laughing.
“You jerk,” I say as I make my way back towards the group.
“What's going on back there?” Eric asks.
“I told her I saw a spider,” Courage replies.
Eric and Jessica laughs at me.
“Hell nah, I would’ve whooped yo ass,” Eric states.
“Stop it Courage before she has a heart attack,” Athena says while giggling.
“I'm glad everyone loves to see me suffer,” I announce.
Courage maneuvers his big frame closer to me.
"Hop on me,” he says.
"Are you for real?"
"It’ll be fun.”
He halts and I lift my leg over his back. After climbing onto his back he begins to walk again.
"I have to charge you for this ride,” he says.
"No way, you owe me for scaring the crap out of me,” I reply.
“Okay, you big baby.”
Five minutes later, everyone stops at a vast clearing. This clearing is wide with no trees and it comes with a beautiful view of the colorful sunset.
"We’re here,” Courage says and stops walking.