5 - Running

I make sure to avoid looking at Kia directly in the eyes. After Lupus told me that I probably hurt her, I feel a pang of guilt every time I look at her. I mean I know that she does not want to be this weak, it is not by choice that she is now weak.

"Zoey this is Wezil." Lupus introduces me to the other gorilla. Wezil has a large scar running down his\her face. "Wezil qweto Zoey." Lupus turns to me and tells me that I can sit down. I do. "Wezil got hurt in a fight for dominance against Rio. He and Kia are the pair that lives on this side of the trees."

"Oh. Okay." Cue my social awkwardness. It kicked in like a hurricane. But in my defence these are gorillas. What am I suppose to say to them? You like the bananas down here? No!

I shake my head and stretch my arms. Suddenly a water bolt from my finger tips hits Wezil. He jumps but it is too late. Luckily the bolt does not push him off. Just startles him and angers Kia. I look at my hand again. What just happened?

"Kia No!" Lupus shouts and when I look up I see Kia approaching me. "Zoey jump!" I do as I am told and jump. "Push you hand out." I do so to.

A water carpet appears and I land on it just before hitting the ground. When I look up I see Kia is coming down fast. I remember a movie I watched and hold the edge of the carpet and push it forward. It moves. Now that I know it can I don't stop. There is an angry gorilla coming my way.

"Come this way." I hear Lupus scream from the other side of the tree. I push the carpet in a south west direction.

"Jump!" I say when I'm a few inches from where he is. If he jumps now, he will be able to land on the carpet. I reach where he is and he lands on the carpet. Kia is hot on our tails.

"Turn right. She knows the trees very well. The only way we could lose her is by leaving." I listen to Lupus and turn right. I apply pressure on the carpet for it to move faster. It does.

We exit the tree area but I still hear Kia's footsteps close behind us. There are so many different routes I could take with this. I ask Lupus. "Where do I go from here?"

"Turn left." I put pressure on the left side of the carpet. There is a river in the direction I'm heading.

"Now what?" My heart is pounding. "There is a river ahead!"

"Dive in it with the carpet." He seems to have no idea what he just said. Dive in the river?

"Excuse me?" I ask. Maybe I heard wrong. It happens a lot when I'm panicking. As I near the banks of the river he shouts.

"Do it. Trust me!" I feel weight being lifted from the carpet and I hold my breath anticipating to start swimming when I get in the river, I close my eyes too.

I open my eyes and look around. I'm in the river alright. And I'm surrounded by blue and orange fish. The one in front of me started moving toward me back is block by a force field looking thing. All at once the fishes around me push close. They are stopped.

I realise that I'm not wet, neither are my clothes. I do not feel the water around me like thought. It feels like I'm floating in air. There's only now way to test my theory. I release a breath I'm holding and breath in. I didn't drown. I do it again and see that it is real. The fishes try it again. I turn around thinking that I will Lupus. He's not here.

I swim up until I'm just below the surface. I see him sitting on the river banks, smiling like we weren't just chased by a very angry gorilla. He waves at me, I do the same too. He signals for me to come of the water. I swim up but I feel a boast pushing me up.

"What just happened?" I ask as soon as I'm out. I am still dry and there are no signs of water ever touching me. Cool I think to myself. I sit down facing him.

"Perks of having your ancestral genes." He muses to the river. "Water will protect you whenever you are in trouble."

"How come?" I ask. "I do not even know how to properly use these powers I inherited."

"I know that." He continues. "Whenever you are in dire situations you will always be protected. Of cause learning how to use them will be beneficial your protection is always and forever guaranteed."

I nod in understaning when something comes to mind. "Where's Kia?" I look around, "Is she still angry?"

He laughs and shakes his head. "I talked to her. She is with Wezil as we speak. But she is still very angry."

"I'm really sorry." I say with a shrug. "I didn't know that will happen."

He laughs again, and I narrow my eyes at him. "I know. But they have been through difficult times. The sensitivity from the Ivy has really angered them. It is for that reason we are not going back to their tree."

He stands up and I match his action, dusting the dirt that may have got stuck on me. "So where are we going?"

We start walking in the opposite direction from the trees. "To volcano Intik."

"Volcano?" I ask baffled.

"I'm kidding." I sigh when he says that. I have heard and seen how dangerous volcanoes are, last thing I want is to go near one. So we continue walking.

We have been walking for what feels like hours -ages even- I decide to break my silence and voice my opinion. "Lupus! How long until we get there?" I stomp my foot stoppng to face him, had I been back home I wouldn't have to walk this long.

He chuckles and stops to face me. He does not look like he even broke a sweat from this long walk. He must be used to this, how old is he anyway? He looks relatively young, perhaps my older brother's age. And how long has he been here? I make a mental note to ask him all these questions later.

"We are not far from where we are going." He continues. "Want to ride on my back?" He asks.

I jump at his offer and nod frantically. He squats down with his back facing me. I climb on him like I did on my brothers weeks back. "Hufp!" He exclaims. I can't be that heavy, I exercise twice a week. He is exaggerating. Guys do that all the time.

"Onward!" I point forward when he stands up. I put both my arms around his neck and tighten my core. I do not want to fall again.

He chuckles again and says. "You are really heavy you know that?" I shake my head before realising that he cannot see me.

"Stop lying." He laughs and starts walking. Surprisingly he walks very steadily. From up here I start to see that the trees start getting shorter. And some grow small flowers like cherry blossoms on them.

We come in view of a beautiful stream surrounded by flat stones that looked like they were tinted red. Something flashes from above, I angle my head to look at it. I gasp when I see a large mountain, some branches were growing out from the sides. Snow covered the top and fog stopped me from seeing the tip. It look like it belonged in a movie. It is absolutely beautiful.

An animal jumped from one of its opening into the next. "Lupus! Did you see that?" I pointed to the opening.

"Yeah, I did." He said. "That was one of the foxes."

"Foxes?" Confusion is evident in my voice as I ask this. "Foxes don't live in mountains, do they?" I have not heard of foxes that live in mountains before.

He chuckled, shaking his head a bit. "They do not." He answered. "But the animals have had to adapt to certain living styles and conditions." He explained.

I nod and say, "Okay." I get off his back when he stops close to the flat red stones. "Why did you bring me here?" I ask.

He clasped his hands together and rubbed them slightly, like villains in a movie. "Well I don't know when the Ivy will completely take over the forest." He continues. "But I do know that we have to put an end to it."

I felt slightly relieved of pressure when he said 'we' instead of 'you', it made me feel less alone. "Oh. So..." I trail off.

"So dear warrior, I brought you here to teach you to learn how to use your powers." He said.

I nod my head. Lupus tells me to stand five feet parallel from him. Then he tells me to follow his movements to my best ability.

First he squats down. I do so too. Then he stretches his hand out and pulls one back. I do that too. From there he switches his hands quickly before they go back to the original position. He stands up straight and then does a backflip. I do this too.

"Wait. Wait. Wait." I stop him. "How are backflips going to help me use my powers?"

"You need to learn how to move swiftly." He continues. "You cannot be completely dependant on your magical abilities, Zoey. You also need to be prepared physically."

I nod and we continue with the training. Some parts were extremely difficult to the point where I thought he was trying to kill me. Whereas some were easy and I didn't need much help with mastering them.

"Okay. I want you to use your powers now." He says walking near the stream. A chilly breeze whips my hair in my face.

"How do I do that?" I push it out of face, I should have got that hair cut last week.

"Close your eyes and think about anything you hate." I close my eyes and think about pickles. "Now strike!" He ordered and somehow I knew what to do. I pushed my hand out with my eyes still closed.

I felt something surge through my body and arms, it strikes out my hand. I imagined my target being pickles and I was destroying them at every point. I felt good destroying pickles, I pulled my arm back when I heard, "Ow!"

I opened my eyes and noticed that Lupus was no longer in front of me. "Lupus?" I called for him. I took hesitant steps to where he was and start looking around. I could call his name again but knowing the animals here, I would startle one of them and they would come running after me.

I hear groaning in a cave not far from where I am standing. To get to the cave I would have to get across the stream. I have swarm enough for a day, I see small round stones peaking out from the stream, they are all different sizes. I step on one with my right foot and put pressure on it to test if it won't capsize. When it does not move or sink I sigh in relief.

There are four stones that I have step on to get across. I take extra precautions when I see a fish jump across. I make it to the other side where the cave is. I look inside and nearly fall backwards into the water at the sight before me.