by Lexy Timms
I look over at Penny who sits in silence, tears in her eyes. I had no idea that her past included something so hurtful, so sad.
I almost feel bad for being such a dick, but then again, she scratched the hell out of me. It looks like everyone in the room
has been through something here or there. We all have our demons, our reasons for fighting, for wanting to see retribution, and for protecting Clarissa. It is hard to come to terms with the fact that Hiro might be a reliable source, but from the information he is providing us, I have to submit to his possible authenticity.
“So how do we find these warriors?” Clarissa asks. “We ultimately need to find the leader.”
“The leader is hard to say,” Hiro says. “He could be anywhere in the world. However, I have heard rumor of a place, an old training facility they may have revamped. It may be a miss, but it could also give you clues to where they might be. It is in South America, deep in the Amazon.”
“The Amazon,” Clarissa whispers to herself, catching my ear.
“Maybe I’ll get eaten by a tiger.”
“We could only be so lucky,” Clarissa thinks back to me.
I forget she can hear my thoughts, which is unnerving since I am not protecting myself at all. Everyone is talking about going to South America, but I’m not so sure that is the best idea. I know I agreed to this whole thing, for Clarissa, but that doesn’t mean that I think she should go hunting through the jungle in search of some ancient Ninjas that are out for more than blood. It sounds like the stupidest risk that we can take, but as I look around the room, the only other person that seems at least a tad bit concerned is Theo, and he is always concerned.
“Whelp,” Toshi yawns, standing up and rubbing his hands together.
“I guess we are headed to sunny Brazil. Not what I was thinking I would do with my week, but hey, beats the heck out of this old abandoned warehouse.”
I stay put, sitting there looking around the room, listening to everyone talking excitedly. I don’t understand what they don’t get. They are heading into the forest to find an old ninja training center filled with assassins trying to kill Clarissa. If anyone should not be going, it is her, and I certainly am not going to get on a plane unless the old man is sitting there right next to me. If we are going to risk our asses on his word, he is going to see it through.
“Hiro is going if we are going,” I speak out loud.
“That isn’t part of the deal,” Toshi says. “He gave us the information, and now we have to decide what to do with it.”
“No,” I reply, standing up. “I am not walking myself and the rest of us head first into a trap.”
“Sebastian.” Clarissa sighs.
“He is right,” Hiro says. “I understand the apprehension. I will go.”
“Thank you,” Clarissa says, shooting me a nasty look. “I guess I need to run back to my house and gather my things before we head off.”
“I’ll take you,” I say, looking up at her. “You aren’t going alone, that’s for sure.”
“Fine,” she says. “Let’s go.”
She walks quickly ahead of me, trying to avoid any more confrontation. I don’t want to fight. However, I do want to talk some damn sense into the girl. I jog forward, catching up to her and grabbing her by the arm. She huffs and puffs, stopping and turning to me.
“What?” she asks, exasperated. “What do you want?”
“I know we’ve had our differences,” I begin. “But please listen to me for a second. I know you blame yourself for Kyle’s death, but it’s not your fault. You don’t need to go on some crazy Rambo mission, guns blazing rolling deep through the Amazon to find these men. This is dangerous. I mean seriously, have you even thought about it? You are taking the word of an old Japanese guy, who is a Cat might I add, who says he trained a bunch of Ninja rogue warriors that went crazy and are now killing anyone. They also happen to be hunting for you.”
“If they are hunting for me, then why, after they killed Kyle, and I came running up the stairs, why didn’t they kill me too?”
she asks, her voice weakening. “Why did they brutally murder him?
Why, if they wanted to get me so bad did they leave me kneeling in a puddle of his blood, unable to even look at his flesh-torn face?”
“I don’t know,” I whisper.
“Huh? You are so smart, right?” she says pushing me. “Then why am I left to suffer?”
“I don’t know,” I say with a growl. “I only know that you didn’t die, and that in itself is something to be happy for. I don’t want you marching off into the jungle. I don’t want to lose you again.”
“Oh, is that what this is about?” She scoffs. “Your damn mate?
Well here’s a news flash. I am damaged goods.”
“It’s not about that, damn it,” I cry out. “Yes, yes, I care about you very much, but no, I am not trying to steal you away from Kyle’s memory. I am looking out for you. I am trying to keep you safe. I am trying to be a voice of reason here in this self-destructive path you are on. Let me go. I’ll take Toshi and Hiro,
and we can brave it for you, report back with anything that we find. You can stay with Theo since I know he is not letting you go off by yourself again, and he doesn’t do well in hot climates.”
“You want me to hide away?” She laughs. “I’ve been hiding my whole life. I hide from the truth. I hide from myself. I hide from the Cats, and now you want me to hide from this Ninja clan.
I can’t keep hiding because no matter how much I do, they still find me. I am going to Brazil, and that is final.”
Chapter 7
~ Toshi
Up to this point, I haven’t been able to talk to Clarissa alone at all. When I walk in and she is there, I have to admit my heart skips a beat. I hate what happened to her, I really do, and I know that the other guys probably don’t believe that, but I never want to see her hurt, even if I think she picked the wrong guy.
Kyle was okay for a human, nothing special, and he was easy to be around, except when he brought the spray bottle out. Either way, she has lost something vital to her, something I can only imagine how it felt to have. I can’t even fathom finding my mate brutally murdered the day we got hitched. My feelings haven’t changed for her, though, and I will still do anything for her.
We are on a plane to Brazil, ready to face down these ninja warriors. Next to me in the almost empty plane is Hiro, fast asleep, his head propped up on the wall. Everyone else is spread out, Theo having his own row for his big body, Penny following Sebastian around in the plane like it is musical chairs, and Clarissa, alone, at the front of the aisle, her beautiful dark hair shimmering in the sun coming through the windows. I unbuckle my belt and stand up, holding tightly to the seats. I’m not the biggest fan of flying, but that is understandable since I came with legs and arms, not wings.
Making my way up the plane to talk to her, I pause for a moment, feeling Sebastian’s dog eyes on the back of my neck. I smile and turn, searing him with my cat-like stare. He growls but I ignore him; there’s no space on a plane for a good fight. When I reach the row that Clarissa is in, I notice that she is awake, staring out the window, watching the clouds pass by, who knows what on her mind.
“May I sit?” I ask.
“Oh,” she says, not even realizing I am standing there. “Sure.”
“Thanks,” I reply, taking a seat and leaning my head back with a sigh.
“This is a long flight.” I pull my hand up and scratch my head, nervous almost to talk to her.
“It is,” she replies, “but I like the rest, gives me time to think about things.”
“So, I haven’t had a chance to talk to you since your rescue.” I chuckle nervously. “I guess things happened so quickly and the guys weren’t comfortable with letting me near you.”
“Yeah.” She laughs uncomfortably.
“I want things to be settled though. I want us to be okay.” My voice trembles slightly. “My heart burst for you when I foun
d out about what happened to Kyle, and I wanted to come jump in your window and wrap you in my arms, but I knew I shouldn’t. I knew you needed your space, and after everything that happened, I didn’t think it was right I barge back into your life.”
“I was better off left alone at that point,” she says. “I needed to sort things out in my head, and I didn’t need another person telling me that everything was going to be okay.”
I look down at her hand, and it is trembling. I want to take it in mine, to touch her skin again, but I can’t. I don’t want to make a move too fast. Slow and methodical is my way, and I need her to forgive me before I jump back in her lap. Cats tend to learn quickly when they get burned.
“I want to ask you for your forgiveness, in person,” I stutter out, seeing as saying I’m sorry isn’t really my thing. “I need to explain to you where my head was. I told you how I felt about you, and that never changes but at the time, with everyone vying for your attention, I was terrified to lose you. The doctor promised that he wanted to keep you safe, that we could be together, and he would make sure you had professional protection, not just three idiots trying to figure out how to keep you safe.
I believed him. I think more because I wanted to so badly than anything else. I put my faith in the wrong person, and it almost got you and everyone else killed.”
“I know you would never intentionally put me in harm’s way,” she says. “I know that you wanted to be with me and that you were scared you would lose me. But the thing is Toshi, Kyle was the one who had me from the beginning. I would have always been lost without him, and now I am.”
I look down at my hands, feeling the sting of that sentence. I know I’m not the one from the start, but a cat can hope. I have to give her space, after all, we are independent creatures, trying to get through life without losing too much.
“As far as your apology,” she says. “Of course, I forgive you. I wish things could go back to those carefree days in Japan,
hiking, sightseeing, drinking way too much beer and waking up in your weird hotel.”
I smile shaking my head. “They can, you know. We could make that happen in a heartbeat.”
“No, they can’t.” She sighs. “Life is too complicated now.”
“But it doesn’t have to be,” I turn toward her, reaching for her hands. “Run away with me. I am the best at hiding, and I will always protect you. I know it won’t be like it was with Kyle, but I care about you, and I will always make sure that you are safe and taken care of. We can roam the world, seeing everything, laughing, telling stories.”
“Aw, Toshi,” she says, looking over at me with a smile. “I wish it were that easy, but the fact is, I don’t want to live in safety. I want to live. I want everything that goes along with that. I would be trapped.”
I open my mouth to fight her on it, but the Captain comes over the speaker. It is crappy timing which seems to be my life lately. I can’t ever have a moment with Clarissa without someone interrupting it.
“I hope you are enjoying your flight with Feral Airlines. This is your Captain speaking,” he says over the speaker. “We are starting our descent into Guarulhos Airport so please put your tray tables in the upright position and flight attendants prepare for landing.”
I nod at Clarissa and smile, getting up and making my way back to my seat. I elbow Hiro to wake him and buckle my seatbelt. He rouses, looking at me and then out the window as the plane begins to lower toward the airport. It isn’t my moment. I can see that, and now I have to focus on the objective, getting information and getting out alive with Clarissa in tow.
THE SECOND FLIGHT FROM San Paulo to Manaus is by a separate smaller plane and doesn’t take that long. We are all ready to get off and stretch our legs though, even the sleeping bear in the back row. When the plane is landing, I can feel the adrenaline start to course through my veins. I wait until the fasten seatbelt sign is off and then stand, doing everything I can to keep myself from perching on the back of the chair.
I follow the others, carrying Hiro’s bag, and we take a car out to the river where we will paddle out into the jungle and then take the rest by foot. The walk is long and arduous, and though I thought that Hiro or Clarissa would be the ones to struggle the most, it is Theo with the hot climates and small spaces. As I walk I stare around me, taking in every movement, every crack of
leaves. My senses are heightened, and I am ready for anything.
Finally, we reach the edge of the jungle.
The clearing is unexpected, not in a part of the forest that is traveled by the locals or tourists. Still, the stone building looks abandoned with drapings of vines, animals present all around. It doesn’t seem like the place that ninjas would be training. Hiro walks forward and takes his walking stick, pressing hard on a round circle in the stone wall. A loud crunching sound echoes through the forest, sending the birds above into a frenzied flight. My eyes flash to green, my instincts telling me to chase them, but I shake it off. There are more important things afoot.
“Alright,” Sebastian says. “Who wants to make the first sweep?”
“I’ll do it,” I volunteer. I am small and can run.
I take off my clothes and hand them to Hiro, immediately beginning to shift and change into my feline form. Black fur sprouts on the backs of my arms and my body shifts and moves until I pounce quickly across the fallen leaves. I stop for a moment, rubbing my scent around Clarissa’s ankles, purring softly before running off into the cave-like structure.
Carefully and slowly I step through the damp stone hall, adjusting my eyes to take in as much light as I can. When I round the corner, I pause, stepping back and lowering to the ground. I can smell the cats throughout the entire building, but for some reason, I don’t see anyone. I dig my claws into the stone and carefully move forward, hugging the edge of the wall, using my whiskers to feel the places where the light doesn’t shine. Up ahead I see some light, and I slowly begin to creep toward the doorway.
It could be a trap, the cats knowing we came for them, hiding in the wings, but I hear no sign of breathing, no fresh scent markings. Still, I carry forward with caution, reaching the doorway and carefully crouching around the corner. The room is large, like some sort of training facility, open to the sky, trees jutting up through the stone. On the ground lay various weapons, most broken in some way and probably having been used for training. I sniff all around the area and finally relax my muscles.
They are gone, only remnants left on the ground to show they had been here. There are other tunnels, and I run through them quickly, making sure there is no one hiding. When I get back to the main open estuary, I sit in the sun coming through the canopy hanging over the top. I lick my paw, thinking about the disappointment Clarissa will feel. Personally, I am glad we aren’t facing an army of ninjas, but she has revenge in her heart, and that is a whole different ballgame.
Knowing they are waiting for me, I walk carefully back out and jump out of the caves, transforming back to my human self.
“Anything?” Sebastian asks as I pull on my pants, catching Clarissa glancing at my body and then turning with a blush.
“No.” I smile. “It is obvious they were here, maybe three or four days ago, but they have abandoned the building. No personal effects, no clothing, only discarded weapons and such. We can go in and search better but take your flashlights, it’s dark in there.”
“I am all too familiar with dark caves,” Theo says. “I’ll lead the way.”
“Right on.” I smile, looking over at Clarissa and winking.
Sebastian rolls his eyes, watching everything but I don’t care, he is no longer a threat or competition for me. I want to get in and out. As I step toward the tunnel, I pause, looking behind me in the tree line. It feels like something is out there, but I can’t see it. I shrug, figuring it’s one of the ten million species of animals in the rainforest. Still, my kitty senses are tingling, and I will keep my eyes open.
Chapter 8
~ Clarissa
>
Ikick at the broken weapons strewn across the ground, disappointed that there isn’t anything here that will lead us to where the Elite Force is hiding. It is obvious they were here and not long before, but all that is left is a shadow of their existence. As I walk back out of the dim dark tunnel and into the light of the estuary, I stop, closing my eyes and lifting my head toward the warm sun. I was so sure we would find them here. I had played it all out in my head over and over again. We would walk in, teeth snarling, claws out, and take down the foe in one fell swoop. As I open my eyes though and look over at the others taking a break, resting on the large toppled pillars in the center of the arena, I know it is a dead end.
“Come on, Miss frownie,” Penny says, waving me over. “Come take a load off for a minute.”
I sigh and clap my hands to my side and sulk over to her. I plop down on the stone and lean my head on her shoulder, disappointed, to say the least. Theo, Sebastian, and Toshi look over at me and smile kindly, knowing that I am not going to give up here.
“Awe,” Penny says sticking out her bottom lip. “Don’t be so down.
We will figure this out. It is only the first step. I can see
though, by the looks of this place and the bugs the size of your farm why they didn’t stick around here too long.”
“It’s nice being back in the Amazon,” I reply, sitting up and looking around. “Did you know this is where I first met my husband?”
“In the Amazon?” Penny gasps. “Was he a local?”
“No.” I laugh. “We were sent out here by our companies to collect samples. When I got here, Kyle was here too. We had met briefly back home, and he was very devoted to his work. He was extremely nerdy, could recite anything you wanted to know about the animals, and I was pretty sure he had never talked to a girl in his entire life.”
“And then you came along,” Penny says wiggling her eyebrows and elbowing me.
