“Run!”
I heard Travis call out.
I felt my connection to Conall and Ruari. I let them come to the surface. My muscles shifted and moved. Ruari, being much larger, came first to the surface. Conall gave me all the abilities of a mac tire. I moved quickly, my beast ripping through the thick fur and flesh of each of the bears until they were all lying in their own death. The man watched me with rapt attention.
As I moved toward him, stalked him, he continued to back away as I moved closer and closer.
“Wh…what are you?”
“A beast you’ve never seen before,” I answered.
“W…what?”
“Who sent you?” I growled.
“The wolf. The one that he laid out tonight.”
“Good. He’ll be next.” I growled and went at him.
My beast took over. I don’t even remember what happened next. All I know is, when I woke, I was covered in blood, and Travis laid beside me bleeding out. She was like an angel. She had bronze skin and a short pixie haircut. She leaned over Travis. I couldn’t tell exactly what she was doing, but he screamed, and I saw the ax lift into the air. She tossed it to the side, and then she leaned over him again.
“Stop. Don’t hurt him,” I said weakly.
“I’m not hurting him. I’m healing him.” She looked back over at me then to Travis. “You need to shift. It’s the only way to save your leg.”
Travis screamed and tried to grab at his leg. The girl grabbed his face in her hands and made him look into her eyes. It was as if gold stardust moved from her to him while a red mist traveled from him into her. Her expression turned to pain, and then Travis took his first breath of relief. He started to transition into his mac tire form. Before he could transition completely, he just stopped. His form went back into human form. He was trapped in human form, and he would be for the rest of his life. There was no way he’d be able to make a full transition ever again. I could sense his mac tire whine.
“It’s okay. You’re going to be all right,” the girl said to him.
“What are you?” I asked.
She turned to me with a smirk and said, “What are you?”
“I’m Striker.”
“I don’t care. He needs a doctor. A mystics doctor.”
“I don’t know a mystics doctor.”
“Of course you don’t. They don’t really exist,” she said and then looked back down at Travis.
“It’s you,” Travis said.
“I know it is. Aodhan sent me.”
I sucked in a breath. Aodhan is always at the center of everything without every truly being there. He brought me home. He sent this girl here. It all happened because he put these things in motion. He brought this girl to Travis. Someone meant to be in his life.
That night, I called Nomad. He reached out to Aodhan. For some reason, Nomad was the only one that could get in touch with Aodhan quickly. Aodhan came to help later that day. However, during that time, Travis went through excruciating pain. His muscle started to seize and contract. The girl stayed by his side the entire time, and Travis couldn’t stop looking into her eyes.
When Aodhan showed, he performed a magical ritual and had mixed a powder he turned into a paste, and then he packed it onto his chest.
“Stay with this on for one full day. From sundown to sundown. Then he needs to get his heart rate up.”
“Wait, you’re not going to stay?” the girl asked.
“No, you don’t need me now. When you need me, I will be there. Until then, I’ll check in and make sure you’re doing all right,” he said.
We didn’t see him again for almost a year. When he came back, we had all become friends. I taught them how to meditate and trained them in Brazilian jui jitsu. The girl, Francesca, didn’t want to get out into the mud the first day. We decided to call her Fancy. Travis couldn’t stop tinkering with things all around the farmhouse Aodhan had set us up with. He had an old tractor up and running in less than three days. We call him Gauge. We all sit around a firepit drinking some beers and chatting. It’s like a family. Our little screwed up misfits of a family.
“But why can’t we go to Brazil? I want to meet Alvar,” Fancy asked.
“I wouldn’t even know if Alvar is still there. Or how to find him if he’s not there,” I said.
“Why would he leave?” Gauge asked.
“Some random guy walks into your life and now knows too many things about you, I’d probably pack up my stuff and leave. It’s not like he was surrounding himself with other elves,” I responded.
“Do elves have to live together? Is that a requirement for elves?”
“Probably.” Nomad scoffed.
We all chuckled.
We heard Nomad’s cell phone ring. He looked at it and then up to us.
“It’s Aodhan.”
“Answer it,” Gauge said.
“Aodhan?” Nomad answered. He nodded and made a sound of agreement. “I understand.”
He hung up his phone and then looked at all of us.
“What did he say?” Fancy asked.
“It’s started.”
