Morning arrived faster than I wanted it to. Half of my night was spent thinking about Kyleon and what was happening in Redwood. He was a capable alpha but he was guilty of being too kind. Deanna would use that quality against him. He was the kind of guy who would spare her life if she said she was willing to change. This was why I ordered Rob to look out for him.
If Kyleon succumbed to Mother's trickery, Rob was there to take charge and end her life. Mother wouldn't expect it from Rob, so it would give him an advantage over her.
Rob and Kyleon were not the best of friends. Kyleon went into a rage and killed Rob's father. At least that was what I thought. Looking back now at that night, it was clear Sabastian was the culprit. One minute Kyleon was enclosed by enemies and then the next he was engulfed in a glow of light. His hair color had changed and there was this deadly smirk on his face.
It was then I got a taste of my mother's fear. The panic never lasted. Rob's life was spared that night but Mother twisted his mind to hate Kyleon. It took me centuries to get him back to normal.
Sabastian must have the power to manipulate his brother's feelings and mind. After all, they were twins. They had a special connection only children who grew in the womb together had. It was the only way to explain some of the scenarios where Sabastian revealed himself. Back then, I assumed Kyleon had gone into rage because of the difference in his personality and appearance. Now, it was obvious the change was Sabastian.
"Is everyone ready?" Angel announced.
Everyone strolled out of their tents. Angel smiled at us. She waved her palm and the tents along with everything inside swirled into a heap. A black hole appeared and sucked the items inside. It closed with a soft beeping sound.
"We'll continue to head north," Angel educated us. "Be careful and be alert. Every creature in this forest is dangerous, no matter how small."
With that, she led the way. We trailed after her. It was then I noticed the leaves of the trees were no longer red but green. All the trees were identical. If we were careless, it was easy to get lost.
Angel noticed me observing the trees and explained, "The leaves change with time. Due to how covered we are from the sky and the outside world by the trees, the leaves dictate what time it is in the day. In the morning, they are green. They turn yellow at noon and orange in the evening. At night they get back their red shade. The beasts in this forest use the color of leaves to guide how they spend their time."
Such an excellent strategy. Animals were extraordinary creatures.
"Did you sleep well last night, Leo?" Sabastian asked the bandit.
"The spell worked," he answered. "I feel rejuvenated."
I still couldn't get used to the hissing sound he had when he spoke. It was similar to a snake's. Understanding why bandits developed such sounds was bizarre too.
"Speaking about last night," Angel joined the men's conversation. "Where did you go last night? I woke up and you were gone."
I tried not to react to the prick of annoyance from the thought of Angel sleeping in Sabastian's tent. He didn't even sleep there, anyway.
"Yeah, I went to Red's tent." His answer was calm and confident.
So my name was changed from Redhead to Red. How nice.
Angel seemed satisfied with the answer given.
We proceeded with our journey in silence.
If it was not for the leaves, I would have thought we weren't moving at all. Everything was the same. The path Angel had us travel was not obvious as the grass outside the forest. There was no path at all. I couldn't tell how she knew where to go. We all just followed her.
The thought of having her leading us in the unknown made me uneasy. Every time the concern overwhelmed me, Sabastian slowed to my pace. He didn't say anything but his presence made everything okay. No matter how hard I tried, the path never appeared. It was even more irritating to know no one else was bothered by this.
The shift of the bush to my left caught my eye. I scanned the section. The bush swayed in the slight wind. I summed it up as a false alarm and looked away. A few feet down the unseen path, a teddy bear peeked out from behind a large root of a tree.
I glanced at the others. None of them saw what I did. The thing looked like a plush toy. Wanting to get a better view of the item, I lagged behind the others. When no one discovered me missing, I detoured to the tree the object was. It saw me approaching and backed away.
"Wait?" I whisper-yelled.
The alive teddy bear picked up speed. It dashed through the forest. I took off behind the thing.
"Come back," I called after it.
Two or three, no, maybe four trees away from the first, we came to an abrupt stop. It no longer showed signs of fear but swiveled around to face me. It indeed resembled a teddy bear. Its size was big enough for a comfortable hug by an adult. Not more than three feet tall with a considerate amount of fluff.
I smiled. "Hey, little guy."
I couldn't tell if it was an animal or not. It was just too cute. There was nothing scary about it. I wondered if it could survive outside of this realm. Brianna would love this as a present. She was pregnant with triplets. Kyleon was never a plush toy kind of guy but it didn't mean he would prevent his kids from experiencing the comfort of the toys. This live teddy bear would be an ideal present for the triplets. Instead of a stuffed animal, they would play with a live one.
I stooped on the ground. "I'm not going to hurt you. I'm friendly."
The animal took baby steps towards me. Its movement excited me even more. The happy faces of my niece and nephews at the sight of this thing had my heart playing hopscotch in my chest. I had the opportunity of being a good older sister stolen from me. Life wasn't over yet. I could be the cool aunt.
I giggled at the idea.
Deep in thought, I didn't realize when more of them circled me. A high pitch squeal tumbled from my throat at the sight of them. More to pick from. Some were multicolored. Others had one color. Kyleon was always a multicolored type of guy. His kids had to inherit that. Maybe they all would come with me. I wouldn't mind that.
My fantasy swept me to another world. A world of nothing but bliss and plush toys with toddlers. Oh, babies. I always wanted a baby.
"What the fuck, Redhead? Snap out of it!"
I blinked at an angry Sabastian. He and the others surrounded me. Angel cowered behind him and the bandit, whose glasses were off.
Why were they in fight mode? The toys were cute little things. There was no reason to fight.
I frowned. "What are you doing?"
The alpha hissed his teeth. "You tell me. I take my eyes off you for a damn minute and you go find yourself trouble."
I stood with a rebuttal hot on my tongue. It got lost when one of the plush toys jumped at us. The bandit whacked it away with a silver bat. The toys no longer held their cuteness. Its mouth was now as large as my head. Three rows of sharp teeth and a thick long tongue crumbled all daydreaming.
My cheeks heated at the thought of being the one who made us get into trouble. Again. I told myself it wasn't going to be me again. Yet, here I was surrounded by deceiving plush toys.
More jumped at us. The bandit was faster than anticipated. He slapped them away. Sabastian got annoyed by the second but didn't lift a finger. Angel hid behind him. One of the teddy bears wrapped its tongue around the bandit's weapon. However, Leo was smarter. The bat transformed into a sword. The blade was sharp on both sides and sliced off the poor thing's tongue.
Then, all of a sudden, the teddy bears stopped attacking. They went back to their cute selves. In the next section, they dashed off in the opposite direction.
No!
"What happened?" the bandit asked. "Why did they stop?"
Oh, why did they have to go? I could have caught at least one of them. They were so cute when they were not in attack mode. Maybe they were scared and that was why they attacked. We just had to let them know we weren't going to hurt them. I just had to go after them. Later.
Sabastian surveyed the direction the toys looked at. "They were scared of something."
What? There was nothing but trees and bushes.
"Oh, no," Angel whispered. "It's the Camouflage Kitty."