The Rising Moon (11 page)

“
I’m sorry love, but there’s so much I have to do to prepare for the funeral. I miss you and want to see you too, but tonight’s not good for me. I hope you can understand.”

“
I do,” I replied trying my best to hide the disappointment in my voice. “How’s Emi?”

“
She isn’t taking grandma’s death too well, so Fenix is watching over her tonight while I make the final arrangements for tomorrow.”

“
Poor Emi, I know how she must feel.”

“
Today’s been a tough day.” He sighed deeply, “Sweet dreams, Little Red.”

“
Goodnight.” I hung up the phone and continued to walk over to the window.

The bird was still there, peering at me. I pushed open the window.

“
Ryan? Is that you?” I asked the black bird.

It flapped his wings and flew into my room. When it landed on my bed, it transformed into Ryan. He quickly snatched the covers off the bed and wrapped it around his waist. My jaw dropped in awe, not at the fact he was naked and on my bed, but at seeing him transform from bird to man in a blink of an eye.

“
Do you mind finding me something to wear?” he asked. I hurried to John’s room. I grabbed a T-shirt and a pair of sweats from the closet and handed them to him.

The springs on the bed creaked in protest as he propped himself against the headboard. He tapped the vacant space beside him and grinned, “Hop in.”

I crossed my arms, “what are you doing here?”

“
I wanted to make sure you’re ok.”

“
Well I am,” I said. “You seriously need to stop being so over protective.”

“
I can’t help it. It’s in my nature to protect those I love.” He replied. He tapped the bed again.

“
If you plan on sticking around and keeping watch then you can have the floor,” I suggested grabbing a pillow and throwing it on the floor beside the bed.

“
Fine!” he replied fluffy the pillow.

I climbed on the bed and turned to look at him. “How does it feel to transform?”

He crossed his left foot over the other and placed his arms under his head. “It hurts like hell the first time it happens. After awhile your body becomes used to it and it becomes easier.”

“
When did you first realize you were a shape shifter?”

He turned over to his side, to face me, “I’ve always known that I was a shifter. Most of my family members are. I was fifteen years old when the transformation first happened. I remember having a heated argument with my father after I caught him cheating on mom. I was so angry with him. While I confronted him, I began to feel the blood in my veins boil. My head pounded, my breathing was short and fast. Something was happening to me. I saw fear in my father’s eyes as I began to change, so I took off running to the nearby woods. Although I was angry with him, I still loved him, and I didn’t want to hurt him. By the time I reached the center most secluded part of the woods, I no longer was human. I was a wolf.” He described the transformation exactly how I felt it in my dreams.

“
So you can transform into a raven and a wolf?”

“
Shifters can transform into any animal they want. That’s what makes us different from werewolves. I chose to change into my animal spirit guide. Everyone has an animal inside them we’re just more in tune with ours. You’ll learn to control the change with time and practice.”

“
But I haven’t experience my first change yet,” I said. “Well…only in my dreams.”

“
That’s usually how we know the first change is near. It’ll happen, Lia and when it does, I will be here to help and guide you through it.”

“
If I’m a shifter, why do you worry so much about me? I could transform into an animal and protect myself again Lyle if I had to.” I said, doubting he would ever hurt me because if he wanted to, he could have done it the other night. My face blushed pink thinking back to that night and our kiss.

Ryan cleared his throat, “you’re lucky he didn’t take a bite!”

“
Were you reading my mind?” I sat up, “can all shifter do that?” I should’ve been upset but I was more curious then furious.

“
I try not to read your mind, but sometimes I can’t help it. You’re so hard to read at times,” he teased “But no, not all shifters have that gift. Everyone is different and so are their gifts and abilities.”

“
So what’s mine?”

“
You’ll know at the right time,” he replied.

The next morning when I woke up, Ryan was already gone. I dragged myself out of bed and walked over to the window. The branch outside was empty. No raven. No Ryan.

I was shocked to see Emi at school as I drove into the school parking lot. She stood outside her red mustang surrounded by her usual pack of friends. She looked different since the last time I saw her. Her face had a healthy glow and she looked prettier than ever in her black felt cowgirl hat, grey top and black jeans. Under the hat, I could tell that her hair had grown in length. It hung loose passed her hips, with a patch of white that streamed down the side of her face.

“
I didn’t think I would see you in school so soon.” I said, as I walked up to her. “I’m sorry about your grandmother.”

From up close I could tell there was something terribly different about her. I couldn’t quite figure out what it was, but I felt a strange knot in my stomach when I looked into her eyes. The girl who stood in front of me was not the same Emi I once knew. The new Emi no longer had the childhood innocence about her that I've always known. She seemed mature, distant and angry. She didn’t say a word to me. She didn’t have to. The flared expression on her face said it all. She looked at me from head to toe, her lips pressed tight, and her nostrils flared. If looks could kill, I’d definitely be six feet under. Not only was her behavior toward me different, but her appearance was as well. She looked a lot like a young Ramira.

“
Whatever bitch,” she snapped, with her hands on her hips.

I stepped up to her, “what the hell’s wrong with you?”

“
You,” she replied, not backing down. “You’re what’s wrong with me.”

I overheard her friends whispering, ‘
Who does the
freak think she is?’
and ‘
Emi should put the freak in her
place.’
Suddenly we were surrounded by a crowd of students with their camera phones pointed at us, ready to shoot the fight between the beautiful cowgirl and the school’s weird-eyed freak.

“
I know who and what you really are. My grandmother was blind and weak, but I’m not.” She stepped closer, backing me up against her car. “If you don’t want to get hurt, I suggest you stay the hell away from my brother.”

Her eyes began to glow as bright as the moon.

“
Are you threatening me?”

She breathed in a whiff of air, “I can smell him on you. He’s already found you.” She stepped back and gave me a distasted look. “I’m warning you Lia, it will be a cold day in hell before I allow that bloodsucker near my family again,” she warned pointing her long finger up to my nose.

“
What’s going on?” Ryan asked, as he pushed his way through the crowd.

He stood between Emi and I. She grinned, turned, and walked away. I stood wide-eyed. Frozen, but not because I was afraid of Emi or her threats but because I realized that the man I met at Sinks Canyon was Adam and indeed he did find me.

“
Are you alright?” Ryan fanned my face. He held his hands on my shoulder and tried to shake me back to life. “Lia. Are you alright?” he repeated.

Blink. Blink. Blink.
“I think I’ve seen him.”

“
What are you talking about?” He asked, “Who?”

“
Adam. I think I saw him at Sinks Canyon.”

“
Why didn’t you tell me?”

“
Because, I thought it was a dream. He appeared out of nowhere. He stepped out of the shadows. I didn’t think he was real.” I shook my head and scratched an invisible itch on my head.

“
It’s no longer safe for you to stay at the ranch. I’m sorry to tell you, but your friend Emi isn’t the same person you once knew. If she threatened you in front of the whole school, there’s no telling what she’s capable of doing to you on her own property.” I could tell he was concerned for me. He didn’t try to hide it in his voice.

“
I know you’re right, but I can’t leave John alone. He needs me. I’m the only one he has left in this world, and he’s the only family I have.”

“
But you’re not safe there. Emi and her brother could try and use you as bait to get to Adam.”

“
So what do you suppose I do? Try and convince John to move to the Rez? We both know he won’t agree to that. So for now, I’m staying with him at the Ranch and that’s that.” I replied with strength in my tone. I wasn’t going to allow a spoiled little brat like Emi intimidate me or run me out of the only home I have left.

“
Well I’m not taking any chances. I’m going to follow you home tonight and every night if I have to and if Emi or her brother tries to do something to you…oh so help me God, I kill them,” He said, meaning every word.

∞
chapter 16 ∞

AT LUNCH, Ryan and I met the rest of the gang out on the school courtyard. The boys were up to their usual playful scuffle and pestering the girls by throwing spit balls at them. The rule of the game was the first one who got his spit ball stuck on any of the girls hair won. Ryan joined in on the game, but I was too distracted to be entertained by them. Today my thoughts were somewhere else.

After confronting Emi this morning, I finally realized I have had enough with being the weak link…the ‘freak’. Yes, I’m an orphan, a reincarnated shifter and yes, my eyes may be different colors, but I’m human too. I bleed red, just like anybody else. I felt a strong vibration rising from the inside of my chest. I took a deep breath; it was as though I was breathing for the first time. The air smelled fresh and crisp. The breeze brushed my nose with all sorts of scents of juniper, grass, musk, and woodsy. My left eye began to throb as though it had a beat of its own. I closed it and pushed into it with a closed fist. An image flashed through my mind like a slide show of pictures: A soaring black bird, full moon, black wolf and a pool of blood. And then it stopped.

When I opened my eyes, I saw Kima.

She was staring at me with her usual piercing looks. Only this time they didn’t cut me. Instead, it fed into my newfound strength. I didn’t know what the flashing images were about and why it happened but something told me to go and talk to her. And so I did. She looked at me with as much shock in her eyes as I had at attempting to accompany her. “Mind if I sit with you?” I asked.

She didn’t reply.

I dropped my bag on the ground and sat on the grass directly in front of her. She had dark brown, almond shaped eyes. They were so dark it was hard to see the pupils inside them.

“
Do you have a problem with me?” I asked. I was beginning to really enjoy the recent blast of courage that suddenly consumed me.

She ignored my question. So I spoke again. “Listen, I don’t know what your problem is, but I never did anything to you. And if I did, I’m sorry.”

She bit her bottom lip and began to pick on the grass. “I’ve known Ryan all my life. As children, we used to kid around and say that when we grow up, we would get married,” she said with a smile. “But as the years passed we both changed. Life pulled us in different directions and our friendship ended all together until a couple of years ago, when we began to hang out like old times. He was broken after his parent’s divorce and I was the only friend he confided in when he needed someone to talk to or listen. My parents divorced when I was eight, so I knew what he was going through. The more we hung out, the more I realized that I was falling in love with him again. I thought he might’ve been falling for me too, but then he met you. So imagine how I felt seeing him with you.”

“
I don’t know what to say,” I replied. “But Ryan and I are just friends. He knows I don’t see him as anything else.”

“
I know Ryan and I can tell he’s in love with you.”