Immortals Of Byolla Bay
Chapter 29 – Rikki

I kissed Kinsley goodbye for the moment then left her driveway right as her mother pulled in it. I needed to get home to my father immediately. I didn’t say anything to the girls because I did not want to alarm them without a proper reason, but there is something about those wolves, hallucination or not, that I didn’t like. Father was in his office still in his fishing gear. Apparently he and Gene just got back from work.

He looked up, “Hello son. What’s the hurry?” I walked over to his bookshelf, scanned it for a few seconds, then picked up the book I was searching for. “There are rumors floating around school of giant wolf sightings. Some say they are as big as houses, others say they have glowing eyes. The only thing consistent is there are more than one.”

Father put down the book he was mulling over and gave me his full attention, “And what is it that you say they are, my boy? Rumor or real?” I shrugged, “That’s why I’m here, father. I want to make sure it was only a drunk teenage hallucination. I thought I read in this book last week something about a curse evil warriors who wield magic can create, but I skimmed over it because It didn’t pertain to us at the time. Now, however... Here it is.”

Placing the book on his desk, I sat down patiently until he finished reading, “Ah, yes. I’ve heard of this. Drowlgords. They are curses the evil ones put upon themselves to turn into whatever twisted shape they desire. There are some who have chosen a dragon, some snakes and some have become beasts no one can put a name to. Only those who can wield powerful magic can reach this form of advanced skill. My grandfather told me about a dark wizard from another realm who looked like a lion with two horns. He was defeated with a weapon from an Oracle, though he never said who defeated him or what the weapon was. Our world is full of strange, dangerous and beautiful things, some harder to explain than others. Drowlgords are supposed to be created from the strongest dark magic there is.” My heart dropped, “Like magic granted from an Oracle?” Father rubbed his chin, then sighed, “Yes son, like the magic only an Oracle could grant. Damn! If he did the unthinkable, if he transformed into a drowlgord, doesn’t he know there is no turning back? Eventually it will be the only form he can take on! He will never be in human form ever again and will be trapped as a beast forever. This is ignorant, even for him. You said the only thing that was consistent in these rumors was that there were two of them, correct?”

Taking a deep breath, I nodded, “Yes, so that means he got his deranged sidekick to become one, too.” Father suddenly looked his actual age as he laid back in his chair, “I believe this situation just gets more dire by the second. I must inform Gene and your mother. You should let Maggie know, too and have her explain it to Kinsley. It wouldn’t be fair to her to leave her out of the loop when this concerns her as much as us, if not more.”

After a short, aggravating conversation with Maggie, who would not stop questioning my decision about telling Kinsley about the drowlgords, she finally relented and promised to inform her. I was starting to really feel the weight of responsibility on my shoulders. I sympathize with father more than I ever have in all my days right this second. I fell stomach first on my bed and tried to come up with a plan.

First and foremost, Maggie and Meshella are adamant about throwing Kinsley a party outside next week. Drowlgords or not, Maggie will make sure this party happens. I’ll need the whole family involved to secretly guard the clearing. Maggie finally told me the location, but that’s all she would let me know. That’s the only plan at the moment as far as the party goes.

Secondly, I need to figure out how we are going to keep Kinsley guarded 24\7 without her mom getting suspicious. Maggie is staying this week, but what about after that? We can’t just move Kinsley in, as bad as I want to, and we can’t move Maggie in over there. On top of everything, what am I going to get Kinsley for her birthday?

Suddenly a pain of longing hit my chest, hard. I knew at once what it was. I ran towards my balcony and leapt off it, landing in the woods. I was almost to her street when my phone started ringing. It was Maggie, “Uh, Rikki.. Kinsley is... Uh, I’m not sure how to explain it..”

I cut her off, “I know. I’m almost there. Open her window for me and make sure her mother is asleep, please.” When I arrived, I dove into her window and Kinsley jumped into my arms. I lowered us into the floor until our breathing evened out.

“Not that I’m complaining at all, but this is becoming a little inconvenient. I can’t just expect you to come running when I need you.” She said with her head still nestled into my neck. I chuckled, “My love, don’t you know by now that when your unbearable need to see me starts, so does mine? I was halfway here before Maggie even called.”

She looked up at me, “Promise?” I nodded and kissed her. “Is it always going to be like this?” She questioned. Shaking my head, I pulled her up to face me, “Mother said it was a while before her and father could be separated any length of time. But like I said before, we would be married and moved in together in my world so the longing becomes bearable quicker. You and I are a unique case so I’m not sure how long it will be before we can be in two different places at once.”

Maggie came back into the room, “Her mother is dead asleep. I don’t think a marching band could wake her up, poor thing. Anyways, you want to explain what that was?” I told her about the unbearable urge that overcomes us if we’ve been separated too long because of our souls being bound together.

“Oh wow… So glad I don’t have a soul mate. No offense guys. Anyways, stay here. I’ll listen out for her mom.”

I must have dozed off because the next thing I knew Maggie was shaking me, “Jump out the window until her mom leaves.” I did as she said, and she shut the window just as Kinsley’s bedroom door opened, “Oh, hey Maggie! Are you an early riser, too?” Maggie chuckled, “Yes ma’am, I have been my whole life. You have a good day at work, and again, thank you for letting me stay here.” Erin said goodbye and shut the door. A few moments later I heard her car pull out of the driveway. The window opened and I hopped back in. Kinsley was still asleep so I walked into the hallway with Maggie and shut the bedroom door.

“So how did she take the information about the drowlgords?” Maggie looked at me like I was an imbecile, “Seriously? How do you think she took it? She freaked out! I told you telling her was a bad idea, but do you listen to me? No! And because of that, she almost had a panic attack! Never mind that we’ve already stretched her brain close to insanity by telling her we’re immortals from another realm, that there’s an evil king with magic who banished us here and is now after her because of a ring from our world that’s made it’s way to her finger, but now we need to tell her that this king and his second in command can now turn themselves into bloodthirsty beasts at will. Yeah, it had no side effects on her at all! I cannot believe you! I know you two are connected by your souls, but she’s my friend and future sister so we have a deep bond as well. If you don’t start making better choices about her human mind’s capacity then I’m going to intervene and you will not like it!”

Maggie was fuming and normally I back off to let her calm down, but not this time. She was wrong. “Maggie I understand your concern, I really do, but you aren’t giving Kinsley enough credit. She’s stronger than you think. A weaker human would have already ran screaming from us and checked their self into a psychiatric ward after they watched their ring magically unlock a door, but not Kinsley. She demanded to know why and then after some time accepted it. More importantly she accepted us. Not telling her about the Drowlgords would have been an insult to her and the trust we’ve worked so hard to build up. She needs to know the danger out there, especially since her birthday is coming up and you and Meshella are determined to throw her party outside in the clearing where humans have spotted the damn things, so with all due respect sister I believe I am not the one who needs a lecture on what Kinsley can or cannot handle!” I didn’t mean to raise my voice, but I did. I must have woken her up because we both turned at the sound of a door opening, and there she was, rubbing her eyes and her light brown hair hanging in her face, “I heard yelling, what’s going on?” I raced to her side, “Nothing love, just a disagreement between siblings I suppose. Why don’t you get some more rest?”

Kinsley shook her head, like I knew she would, and said, “No this is my shower time. What’s the disagreement?” I opened my mouth, but Maggie beat me to it, “On whether we should tell you everything that goes on or not, like if evil creatures from another world are out to get you or if vampires have taken over the planet and such.”

Kinsley narrowed her eyes, “Of course I want you guys to tell me everything. Some things may take me a little more time to process than others, like the fact that Drakkar can now change into some terrifying wolf thing whenever he wants, but yes I always want to know. By the way, do vampires exist?” Maggie and I burst out laughing, our squabble forgotten over Kinsley’s inquiry.

“Not that we have seen, no. But then again, nothing is impossible. Look at us for instance, we are from two separate worlds, a thousand galaxies away from each other, yet our souls were linked together by the stars. We just might run into one sometime in the future, who knows? It would be a sight that’s for sure.”