Chapter 6

The entire scene left me speechless. I was staring at the cat, at the group, then again at the cat. So many questions, but I couldn't speak. They were enjoying the damn show and nobody bothered to clear things up.

"How…why? Who did this to you?!"

I was talking to a cat. A cat!

"You did." Ria said waving her tail.

"What?! Are you insane? How the hell…"

"The energy you put into my body damaged my cells and every morning I wake up as a cat."

I was stunned.

"…no, it can't be! Ria, I'm so sorry, please…"

"Ria, stop messing with her. Mia, sweety, it's not your fault. She's a shape-shifter." Allaya said.

"Oh, thank God! I really thought that… Ooh, you bitch!" and I released a small lightning in my hand.

"If you want the same scars on your face as on your back, you should just ask."

"Stop! Both of you, stop now!" Allaya faked an angry face. "Why can't you two just…" and suddenly she started to laugh followed by the rest of them.

"Mia, you should see your face." Bill said through laughter.

I rolled my eyes and started to eat my breakfast.

Anyway, after this incident, we started to train. So far, I managed to control the amount and the intensity of the electricity, and spread it around me like an aura-shield. The radius of release is currently six meters in all directions. All the practice got Bill hurt, but Allaya healed all the serious injuries.

In that day, Bill wanted me to spread the shield around them without hurting anyone in case of another fight. It was hard as hell and put me in a lot of pain. And my headaches grew worse as the power got out of my control. But I wanted to protect them so much that the sacrifice was insignificant by comparison. Nobody will die.

"Bill, I need to find my brother. You promised."

"Did you check the lists…?"

"Yes, no sign of him. And I know that three days ago, they delivered mobile phones in my hometown too."

"Mia, we can't leave town. How…"

"I will sneak out. I don't know how, but I will find a way somehow."

"That's impossible and you know it. They will arrest you."

"Or even worse, they could kill you." Allaya said.

"Yeah, not likely." Bill mumbled.

Allaya sighed and checked the list on her phone again. There was no Karl Russell on any list. We tried to call the neighbors, his few friends, but nobody saw Karl. How is that even possible? They found each other, but they couldn't find my brother.

I was informed that my aunt was found dead, in our house. After our parents died, she moved in to take care of my brother. I moved to Bayas to study and get a job to pay the bills and Karl's treatment.

My mom died on a crosswalk, hit by a drunk driver. She went to pick up my red dress from the cleaning shop. I was 15 years old and in two days it was going to be my birthday. It turned out that I wore a black one.

Since then, my father found a way to move on: booze and drugs. Classic. He died after 5 months in their bed, hugging my mom's pillow and a bottle of scotch.

"What if somebody kidnapped him?"

"Mia, sweety. Why would someone kidnap a sick boy who knows hardly anyone?"

"Then where is he? Who is taking care of him?"

"Calm down. We'll find him, I swear." Allaya hugged me.

"Something is not right, Allaya. I can feel it."

"I know. But trust me, we'll find him. He's not dead, that's for sure. Otherwise, they would have found his body."

Allaya was right, he's not dead. At least, this is what I wanted to believe. We continued our training and Ria delighted us by shifting into a dog, monkey, then a cat again. She told us that she practiced her power every morning in her room to spare us from the terrifying images, like stretched muscles and cracked bones. My mind was elsewhere, so we called the training off. I needed to be alone and took a walk in the forest behind our house. As I came closer to the center of it, I stopped to admire the view and took a deep breath.

I was surrounded by trees and in that moment my mind and body were one with nature. My eyes were closed and my senses were tickled by the warm air. Enjoying the silence and disconnecting from the world and its burdens.

Each breath was like water, fresh and cleansing, flowing freely into my lungs. The forest hummed with life around me and tears glided on my cheeks. I was far away in the past, into another forest with my mom who was singing to me. What an angelic voice she had! I've never allowed myself to miss her, but I needed her so much. And I cried. For my family, my lost world and its dead people. Suddenly, the same blue eyes appeared in my head with a loud and violent scream: "RUN!"

I yelped and fell down on my knees, trying to breath while insanely scanning the forest. What the fuck just happened? Some voices were approaching, making the grass rustle. I started to run like crazy, but I couldn't understand why. There were other people who wondered in that forest, occasionally.

Anyhow, when I came closer to our house, I saw Allaya and Ria walking restlessly at the entrance of the forest.

When they saw me, Ria picked her phone and called someone.

"Bill, we found her. She's home now. Be cautious on your way back."

"Allaya! What happened?" I asked while heading towards them.

"Mia, thank God! Get inside, now!" Allaya dragged me into the kitchen, through the back entrance. Where is Bill?"

"On his way here." Ria answered.

"What the hell is happening?! Some freakish eyes appeared into my head telling me to run, you two shaking like a leaf and hiding me from what?"

Bill stormed in, being relieved to see me safe and sound. That comforted me a little bit.

"They're after you, Mia." Bill said.

"Who? The authorities? Why?!"

"No, not them. Some fancy suits motherfuckers hunting the person who caused the "dangerously powerful lightning" two weeks ago."

My jaw was on the floor. Hunting?! We were staring at each other, unable to believe what just happened. I was…hunted. Because I couldn't control my power and my friends could be in danger because of me. Allaya, being pragmatic as usual, anticipated my thoughts.

"Don't you dare leave! We stand together and make it through."

"We can't fight them!"

"Listen, Whitey. They don't know your name or your face. Only that in this area someone released a big lightning." Bill intervened.

"But a few persons saw me after I killed Tommy."

"What?! How?"

"While Allaya was taking care of your injuries, I went outside to clear my mind and there were some people staring at me."

"Fuck! Who saw you? How many?"

"I don't know, Bill. Three or four persons. But since then, I haven't seen them around. Maybe they left this area."

"We can't risk staying here anymore. Not when they put a bounty on your head. Whoever is willing to give information about you, will receive money and extra food. We need to move." Allaya said.

"A bounty?! Who the fuck are they? Why do they want my power?"

"Mia, I don't know. I have the feeling that you just got the rich fuckers' attention. They and the Ministry of Defense work together, but nobody knows on what. I bet they're creating an army or something like that." Bill said.

"This is insane!"

"Listen. Who's running the world? Rich people. What is their weapon? Power! And you have plenty of that."

"We can't leave this house." Elliot said.

"Spit it out, kid."

"Look, they will stick around for a while and already saw us in this house. If we move out, two things could happen. One, they will see us on the street as the surroundings are filled with their people. Two, we don't know what houses they checked. They already saw us in this house. If they find us in another one, how will you explain the reason of leaving behind a good living house like this one?"

"Huh! Smart kid." Bill said smiling.

"Elliot is right. We will permanently keep the door locked and I will not leave the house anymore. But you guys need to get back to your daily routine. In this manner, they won't get suspicious about us."

Allaya made us tea and locked the doors. I managed to calm down and we were staying around the table, making plans. They seemed to be optimistic, but deep down, I knew that I will have to leave soon.

I looked at Allaya and tried not to cry. Then I looked at Bill and the rest of them. I will miss them so much. They saved my life and it was time to return the favor. Ria had a serious look on her face and was checking me carefully. She handed me a napkin. We were looking into each other's eyes and she nodded. And this is how Ria and I shared our first and probably last secret. She knew I will leave and will not try to stop me. I couldn't blame her.

That night I couldn't sleep. My thoughts were randomly flying in my head and I couldn't decide what to do next. My brother was missing, dangerous men were hunting me and someone was messing with my head. But even if it sounds crazy, those eyes kept me alive twice. The image from the meeting room came clearly to my mind every time I was thinking about them. There is a connection between these dots and I needed to draw the line. Who was that man staring at me over Ken's shoulder?

Anyhow, I went to the kitchen to make tea. I didn't turn on the lights, so as to not wake them up.

The water was boiling in the rusty kettle and I was looking at the window. Something caught my attention and my mind was already on alert. Another movement behind a tree confirmed to me that it couldn't be the wind or an animal. I kept looking in that direction until a man with a rifle left the hidden spot and came towards the house. Then another one, and another one. This shit was about to go down.

I woke them up and shared my plan really quick. Actually, it was half of it. For the other half we had to improvise. The plan was to wait in the kitchen until they broke into the house through front door. We checked the back entrance which led to the forest and we saw there were a few of them. They were probably waiting for us in case we tried to run through the back. And that was exactly what we did.

When the front door was slammed, I opened the kitchen's door and used my power without waiting for a second. I was leading the way through the forest, destroying everything in front of me. Some threes caught on fire and the smell of burnt skin chocked us. We started to run without looking behind.

We were chased by a group of 15 men, more or less. They were screaming orders to each other, that I couldn't understand while spreading out. The hunters had a strategy and my panic got even worse as we didn't have one. We were like a flock of sheep chased by wolves directly into their mouth.

I could see quick movement out of the corner of my eye and their voices were approaching us faster and faster. Suddenly, I heard a loud thump behind us and I almost tripped over. They caught us. My mouth was dry and my vision got blurry. Bill saw that I was about to lose my mind and screamed from behind:

"Ria is shifting, keep focusing on the road, Mia."

"In a bloody cat? Now?!"

A wild growl caught me from behind and suddenly I was running next to a black gigantic cat. Except it wasn't a cat. It was a jaguar! The big frightening angry jaguar gave me a threatening look and it froze my heart as well as the time. And I just called her a cat. I tried to look forward as I was so close to dying. Smashed by a three, eaten by a jaguar or a bullet in my head. So many options, Mia.

"Spread out!" Bill ordered.

"I'll take Allaya and Elise. You go with Ria and Elliot." I suggested.

Ria growled and deep down, in my trembling bones, I knew it was the promise of a long discussion with less words and more action, probably. Oh well!

The girls and I took a left, following the oak trees with no clue of what is ahead. The other three kept the same path, following the river. I shut myself down for a moment to reach out to my power. It was hard to focus while running desperately without any direction and that's why my power was difficult to be felt and controlled. Allaya and Elise were my responsibility, so I had to become calmer and less panicked.

I thought about my mother and I started humming the lullaby she sang to me when I was sad. My heart was still insanely beating, but at least I started to feel the lightning within my chest and on the top of my fingers. The more my strength grew, the more confident I became.

"Mia, they're almost surrounding us!" Elise screamed.

I looked behind at my friends and I saw Allaya being very firm and calm, looking away. She already started the fight and probably killed several men. It was my turn as four men appeared in front of us with their rifles pointed at us.

"Stop where you are!" one of them ordered.

I released a big amount of electricity within my hand and sent it straight ahead. They died screaming, along with the forest, whose trees and greenery was turned into ashes. The men from behind started to shoot, thing that pissed me off so bad that my power almost exploded into my chest. It begged to be free and I just waited for the right moment.

"Are you both ok?" I checked the girls.

"Yes, keep running. We need to lure them in a tight place so we you can kill them with the lightning. I'll cover your back." Allaya said.

"Allaya?!" Elliot shouted.

Allaya and I almost tripped when we stopped and turned with shock around. We were staring at Elliot, and Elliot at us.

"Where is my sister?"

…

"What the fuck?!" I yelled.