To make the plans was the easy part. When we actually went out, it was much harder to figure things out. None of the monsters came near us, clearly showing that we'd been black-listed. We couldn't even come across any others like us. Mother knew that we were a threat to her control and was keeping them as far away from us as possible.
I woke up at 11:55 pm, as I had for the last 10 days, and took my injection. We only had one syringe left and it was crunch time before we became Mother's children again. The others lined up and one by one got their own dose from me. We'd all adapted to the effect of the shots. Only needing seconds to recover. But there were still a lot of things that hadn't been perfected yet. There was still some conflict between Sadie and myself. She was a total control freak, demanding when we rest and where we would stay for the late evenings. We slept maybe 4 hours, which she absolutely hated.
Amber had taken to myself and Kelsey, though Sadie and Leo both scared er. I didn't know whether to think of her like a puppy or a rabbit. It could have gone either way. Mariah had actually relaxed a little in recent days. She finally accepted that none of us were her enemies and she often shared a room with Amber, careful of the flames she sometimes spread. Justin, Jason and Leo had basically become brothers who spoke in quiet voices when any of the girls were around. It was a good guess that they were talking about us girls and I honestly didn't want to know any of the details.
Ryan had become my second in command, despite Leo having been saved first. Ryan was simply more capable to leading the troops to safer areas. He maintained the housing choices each night, knowing that the nights were most dangerous outside. Mother wanted me dead, or at least to submit, and Ryan was set to protect me. He'd become my Knight of the light, as Jake would have said it if he were still alive.
Sometimes I found myself alone at night, during my time to watch the streets, and the emotions overtook me. I'd cried almost every night since the first night we'd spent as a mix-matched family. I could guess that Ryan knew, but the others seemed oblivious.
Each day, we walked the streets, looking for the answers we so desperately needed, finding none. The lightning was always so far that it was impossible to catch up. Whoever they were, they were smart enough to keep moving, even if it was against us. We would have to find them quickly, or we'd be doomed, as would the rest of humanity.
"Which way is the lightning striking now?" Leo grumbled.
"I don't know" Jason sighed.
We'd taken hundreds of turns in the past week, searching everywhere that the lightning had struck. It was getting quite frustrating. I was sure that Mother had been watching us, and that she had something planned, but we needed to find her if we had any chance of living as people.
"That way" Ryan pointed.
He was pointing to my right, where lightning shot through the gray clouds, and thunder boomed. It was the closest it had been since we started the search. It must have known that we were running out of time.
The streets felt dark and hollow, the cold air completely crystallizing the blood and slush. Justin had slipped on the ice several times since the first night. He clearly wasn't meant for cold weather. He much preferred using his large black wings to look at the ground, at least, until the cold nearly froze his wings. Him and Mariah took turns checking the environment for either threats or answers.
"It's over those trees" Mariah called down from her search.
I couldn't see the trees she was referring to, but I trusted her eyes. She landed smoothly, her boots gracefully pressing into the snow without slipping. She was truly a lady.
She started running, ignoring the snow that blew in her face. It was nice seeing everyone smiling, because it mad things seem less tense.
"You're sure you saw him?" Justin asked, catching up to her.
"I'm positive" she growled back over her shoulder.
They were so different, by appearances, but they were both stubborn and loved each other in a similar, 'pick your siblings' kind of way. Justin loved messing with her, just poking holes in her well built armor, and she threatened his skateboard collection. If I'd had siblings, I would hope that they would be just like Justin and Mariah were.
They rounded street after street, leaving their tracks just lightly above the snow line. They'd become lighter than a normal human when they had been infected.
Everyone moved in a rush, bumping into each other as if one of us getting there first was more important. It was our inner child keeping us all innocent. The trees that Mariah had seen quickly came into view. I recognized West 110th street, telling me that we were entering central park. The snow fell slowly between the trees as we all slowed our pace to a walk. Thunder roared above us and the lightning flashed quicker.
"How much farther?" Jason whispered dramatically
"By the Lasker Rink." She whispered in response.
We all knew there was no real need to be quiet. No one was around us, and any nearby monsters were likely aware of us already. Rustling in the woods had us all on edge. I was sure there were beasts around us, but I had to keep my eye on the goal. I couldn't let myself get distracted.
Lightning stuck a nearby tree, which fell behind us as we stepped into the clearing of the ice rink. Lightning flashed several more times, before forming the silhouette of a person. Clearly male in form, he stood in the center of the rink, making no move to run or fight.
"This is too easy" Ryan stood at my right.
"Definitely" Leo agreed.
A roar echoed from all around us, and the trees erupted from the ground.
"AMBUSH!!!" Jason screamed, like in some movie.
Hell hounds jumped out from where the tree had fallen behind us, slamming into Leo and Justin. Mariah let out a scream as what looked like a bat with an extra set of clawed arms, swooped to our left. A Naga appeared from behind the lightning man. They circled around us, moving us closer to the rink. Another bat creature swooped down over me and grabbed the bag from my back, lifting me with it.
I slid out of the straps of the bag and fell with a crash, a couple feet from hitting anyone else.
"What do we do?" Amber cried, melting the snow around her.
"Can you..." I forced myself to my feet "create the illusion while we fight?"
Sadie hesitated, then nodded "I-I think so."
I had to have faith in her abilities. I ran forward, straight into the Nagas swinging tail. The snake tail slammed into my guy, but didn't throw me, instead wrapping it tightly around me. The end of her long tail moving over my waist, lifting me to eye-level with the woman part of its body. Her body was a hideous combination of snake a human. Sleek black scales along most of her body, and yellow scales on her underbelly. Her clawed hands dug into my shoulders. I let out a gasp as she broke through the pink shirt I'd gotten only 3 nights before, and the tender skin that was already feeling the impact of Mother's parasite rising as we got closer to midnight. I knew I should have planned things better, but it was getting difficult to be certain of when there would be a fight. And, now, a half hour from midnight, I was feeling the darkness fight to join its monster siblings.
"Kim?!" I heard Leo call out.
I looked back to the right of my peripheral, where the hell hound stood between him and the Naga. I fought against her hold, trying to get my hands freed from the coil around me with little progress. Finally, my fingers grazed the yellow scales and she hissed loudly. Her coils tightened to the sound of the bat screeches and hell hound howls.
"Sadie" Kelsey called from somewhere behind me.
My fingers gripped at the snake skin, each time getting a hiss of pure pain. A pattern came together, as each touch hurt the snake. Then I remembered the key aspect for all snake owners. Snakes are cold-blooded. I forced my fingers as deeply into the scales as possible and willed my ice to spread. The cold flowed from my fingers into the snake's stiffening body. The coils began to loosen, but I wouldn't let the creature go. I fell from the coils and quickly ran back at the snake. Dodging that bat that flew toward Justin. Mariah was fighting the other bat, while Amber was throwing balls of fire at the second hell hound. She was rather helpful, despite her timidity. Jason was behind the first hell hound while Leo stood in front of it. I willed all of the cold that I could, into the snake and watched as her whole body tightened, and ice spread across her scales. A screaming hiss escaped her mouth, then fell silent.
All eyes were on me, the fighting frozen in the shock of what I'd just done. There was a loud cracking sound, and a creak followed, As the Naga fell to my right, shattering upon impact with the ground.
"I got it!" Sadie broke the silence, then looked at the surroundings in shock "What happened?"
The hell hounds backed away from me cautiously, then turned and ran. The bats flew away in a blur as soon as Mariah got the backpack back from them, and I stood over the snake which now looked like the large remains of a crystal statue.
I dusted my hands on my frozen pants and walked to where the lightning guy had been.
"He got away?" I asked softly.
"Yeah, he took off after I got the info." Sadie stepped next to me.
"Do you think she'll move before we can reach her?"
"Not right away. She's at the school. Just a couple blocks away."
I looked at her "The school?"
"Yep" she nodded "that's where she's been all along.
"Never have I been so eager t go to school" Leo stepped forward, looking absolutely lethal.
I didn't want to know what was going through his mind, having seen the shadow of his personality growing darker and darker each day. Ryan wouldn't even stand too close to him without becoming terrified. How Jason and Justin cold handle his darkness was a mystery to me. Maybe they just weren't as emotionally susceptible as Ryan was.
I looked at each of them, then at Mariah who was holding my bag. An old watch designated to be kept in the bag read 11:50 pm. I was cutting it close. I pulled out the syringe and we went about the process of our medicine.