The sky began to darken. It seemed a storm was on its way.
"Just Great. We are going to get drenched too. If we ever were prison mates I would never follow you on a prison break." Sam said, still crawling behind Keira.
"They are coming," Mia said to Landon.
"Let them come. They won't be going back." Landon assured her.
The students had already begun to panic trying to rush back inside to avoid getting drenched.
"Wouldn't it be better if they all got inside so it would be easier to detect and protect the pure one?" Mia asked,
"I think so but then again what if the pure one isn't even around yet?" Landon asked,
"Phew. We are way past them now. No more crawling. Up up. To the gate." Keira said, dusting her knees and getting on her feet.
"Your permit, please." The security guard at the gate inquired once they stood before it.
He was a fatty and had some doughnuts getting crunched in his mouth while he spoke.
"Oh yeah sure." Keira reached her hand into her bag.
The guard kept chewing on his snack.
"It's just that my sister here is on– red." She said, searching through her bag.
"Here it is." She handed him the unsigned permit.
"It's not signed." The guard said,
"It couldn't be. We couldn't wait for it to be. My sister– she–" Keira sighed and got closer to him whispering in his ears.
"Oh. Wow. That's– heartbreaking. You can go. Just hurry up." He said, letting them through the gate.
"What– did you tell him?" Sam inquired
"Oh that you began bleeding and I didn't want to let you know you actually just lost the baby." She replied.
Sam stood still, blinking her eyes for a while and trying to process the information that had just been delivered to her brain.
"Come on, we are heading to my place," Keira told her.
"No, you're not." A strange voice spoke.
"Who said that!" Keira got in front of Sam in a bid to protect her.
The two had gotten scared already. They had just heard someone speak but couldn't see who did. It was quite lonely outside and the dark clouds were only complicating matters.
"Show yourself," Keira added.
"Okay. Boom!" The voice said again following the appearance of what seemed to be a talking monster.
––
Mia lifted the tube and then pressed the expeller button, the fumes settled in the air and became symbols that scattered about moving fast as though they were in search of something.
––
"What the f*ck!!" Sam moved farther backwards in shock frightened by the monster before them.
"You are coming with us." The two-headed demon said,
"Hell no!" Keira said as she moved backwards slowly with Sam.
––
"I don't hear anything," Landon said to Mia.
"Any moment now we should, she said the marking would sting pretty bad like a forced tattoo," Mia responded.
Just then, a screech echoed.
–– –– –– –– –– –– –– –– –– ––
"She is stable now but the probability of her surviving isn't on the high side," Mia reported to Landon who was standing in a certain passageway.
"She cannot die. Everything needs to be done for her to stay alive. That's one of my students in there." Landon said to her sternly.
"Others died Landon, why is this one special? Because she is the pure one?" She asked,
"She can't die! " Willow and Naomi appeared.
"And who are you?" Mia asked,
Taking position for battle.
"Oh, great. You two are witches?" Landon asked,
"You know them?" Mia asked,
"Stand down. They are her guardians." He said to Mia.
"How do you know us?" Naomi inquired.
"You both brought her to school the first day. My car was parked just beside yours and I was inside." He replied, folding his arms.
"Told you tinted cars were dangerous," Willow said,
"And how didn't we smell that a wolf was around us?" Naomi asked,
"Because I am a different kind of wolf." He said,
"Well, you are a fine ass wolf," Willow said,
Naomi slowly turned her head towards her.
"No, he is not. Even if he is, you don't say that, he has our girl." She told her
"Oh, yeah, Anna's daughter," Willow said,
"Your niece, stupid," Naomi told her.
"Where is she?" They both chorused lifting their hands in a bid to strike.
"How did you find this place? You can't be here." Landon asked,
"Oh yeah? Well, let's just say we are different kinds of witches." Willow answered.
"Where is she? She better be okay or else we are turning everything in here into perfect barbecue." Willow added.
"No, you are not." Landon's aunt appeared.
"Lisa?" Naomi and Willow chorused.
"You know these two?" Mia asked Lisa.
"You have got to be kidding me," Lisa said as a frustrated look fell on her face.
––
"You mean to tell me this is Anna's daughter?" Lisa asked once they got back to the inn Keira was in.
"We had to keep her a secret," Naomi said,
"Does she know?" Lisa asked her.
"We told her last night and then she sneaked off to school flaunting our orders just to prevent her friend from dying," Willow replied.
"Anna– was my best friend. It's been a long time, I knew she had a daughter but I never saw her because I – couldn't go back. " Lisa said to Landon and Mia.
"Why?" Landon inquired with a straight face.
"I heard she had died after birthing her. I couldn't face the news, hearing it was– enough for me." She replied.
"She mustn't die. Her death will only make matters worse." Naomi said,
"What is wrong?" Lisa inquired.
"She is a non-witch," Willow said with a look on her face that spelt Lisa ought to understand.
"Oh...no no no." Lisa voiced.
"What?" Landon and Mia chorused, exhausted from the truths.
"Her witch gene is recessive," Lisa answered them.
"Oh, wonderful." Mia voiced, rolling her eyes.
"If – she dies, she can become a host. Meaning she is better alive than dead." Landon said,
"Where am I?"
Keira's eyes opened up and as her words went out from her lips, she slowly tried to sit up.
"You should rest," Landon said,
It occurred to her then that she wasn't alone as she had thought. The lights were off but he had stepped into the light that emitted from the moon and shone through the window.
His face was firm and his arms folded. Dressed in a sleeved shirt and trousers. As expected, his appearance scared her.
"How– you!!" She almost jumped out of the bed.
"Relax. If I wanted to hurt you, I would have succeeded by now." He assured her.
"How is this possible? How am I here? The last thing I remembered I was at school!" She said,
"You were outside school. You sneaked out with your friend." He replied to her.
"Sam... Sam– where is she!" She inquired worriedly.
"Sam is fine. I guess." He replied, freeing his arms and taking his hands inside his trouser pockets.
"Wait– you guess? What is that supposed to mean?" She got offended,
Landon looked away before turning again to fix his eyes on her.
"Do you remember the last thing you saw before passing out?" He asked her.
"A– mons– ter.." She replied in a very low tone as her mind replayed the memory.
"Yes, and after which you felt a terrible sting." He said,
"How would you know that?" She asked with a confused look on her face.
"We had to find the pure one and that was how." He said,
"So you are not human?" She asked,
"Well don't I look like one?" He responded, walking towards the window.
She heaved a sigh of unrest as her eyes blinked following him.
"What are you?" She inquired further.
"Whether I tell or not, you will find out." He answered her.
"You didn't answer my question, where is my friend?" She asked with a furious look.
"She is with her family." He told her.
"No, after seeing all that, she couldn't just go be with her family like nothing happened. She wouldn't just leave me. What have you done to her?" Keira marched towards him.
"Answer me!" She yelled.
Swiftly he turned to her.
"I am responsible for her and responsible for the school. With all that happened back there, do you really think they would survive living with the memory for the rest of their lives? No.
I had the moment wiped off their memories and now they can go about living a normal life as if nothing happened!" He yelled back.
"So what, I should thank you? For knowing fully well who you were and still choosing to be there in a school? Putting everyone at risk?
Whatever you are, you must be dangerous to be involved in all of this and still you risk the lives of children. You risked my life and my friend's!" She said,
"Now you can speak, I wonder if you would be able to speak this way if your witch genes were dominant." He said, walking away.
"I would have been nothing like you." She said,
He paused his steps.
"And I am glad the genes didn't manifest in me. I would have hated myself if I ever was anything like you all!" She added, breathing heavily.
"And yet I saved your life." He said in a disgusted tone.
"I didn't ask for your saving, I didn't need it!" She said,
"And I could very well take that life!" He roared, appearing before her face so quickly as though the wind carried him.
She wasn't scared.
His eyes had turned red and his face showed signs that it was transforming into something else as hairs sprouted, his nose shaped into an animal's and his fangs showed how sharp they were.
She couldn't quite place what he was but then her mind sorted out a memory from its collection. A memory from the night she had vowed to never forget.
Her eyes brightened, almost like the moon left the sky and settled in her sockets.
"You." She voiced, drawing her breaths.
He slowly switched back to his human self confused.
"You– killed– my parents!" She yelled. Her eyes had gathered much fury as they remained fixed on him.
"You– killed them!" She hit his chest with her hands.
"Hey! Do not do that one more time!" He warned,
"Or else what! You would kill me as you killed them!" She yelled.
"You– know nothing!" He told her.
"I always knew there was a reason I didn't like you. Never did I think this would be it! You monster!" She yelled,
"Enough!" Lisa appeared. So did Naomi and Willow.
"Keira, you need to calm down," Lisa said, walking close to her.
"I don't know you and you do not tell me what to do. That your side with this murderer only makes me understand that you are no different from him!" Keira said,
"Keira, easy. I know how all of this looks and feels but I assure you, it is not what you think." Naomi said,
"Are you doubting me as well? Do I look or sound insane to you Nana? This is the man. The beast who killed papa and mama!" Keira said,
"You said– her mother died after birthing her," Landon spoke harshly to Lisa.
"Told you that was a lame lie," Willow said under her breath.
"It's a long story okay?" Lisa replied to him.
"Bullshit," Landon said, looking straight into her eyes.
"Good thing Keira doesn't have her powers, then you tell her to shut up and boom she aims fire at your boobs," Willow spoke fast to herself.
"What is this? Why aren't you fighting for mama? Your late sister! He killed her and her husband. He deserves to die." Keira said to Naomi whose hands were on her shoulder.
"No one – deserves to die," Lisa said, turning to Keira.
–"Let us all just calm down." She added, taking her eyes from him to her and her to him.
–––
"What are you up to?" Landon asked her once they arrived at another room in the apartment.
"I am not up to anything okay? I was only trying to avoid…" she said, not wanting to complete the sentence.
–"to avoid what?" Landon was losing his patience and she could tell from the way his voice deepened to the way his eyes moved.
"To avoid telling her that yes, it was you." She said,
"What are you talking about?" He inquired.