I made my way through the brush until I came to a clearing that seemed a little unnatural. During the excursion, we hadn’t stumbled upon any clearings with solid ground under our feet. There was always a little bit of sludge, but I felt hard earth between my feet. Across the clearing, I saw Nate walking my direction.
“There you are. We got worried when you disappeared,” he said, stopping a couple feet in front of me.
“Where’s Rick?” I asked. “I would’ve thought he’d be the first to find me.”
I didn’t know what it was about the situation, but it seemed really off. Rick, being able to track my general uniqueness, should’ve been able to walk right to me. There was no need for them to separate.
“For some reason he was sure you were in the other direction,” he replied. “I felt you were this way, so I let him go on his own.”
“Hmm. It must be the Kapre playing a trick on us. We need to find him soon, I’m getting tired of the games. Can you call Rick and have him meet us?” I asked.
“Sure,” he said, taking out his phone and making the call.
He started walking around the clearing, and when he turned his back to me, I sneaked my phone out of my pocket to verify I still had no service. The fact that we had the same carrier, and identical phones, made me believe that he was having a fake conversation. When he was done with his “call”, he walked over and took my hand.
“He said he isn’t far from us and if we walk to our left just about five minutes we should run into him,” he said, trying to lead me away.
Having undeniable proof that he wasn’t my Nate, I raised the arm with the machete to his throat and said, “You better release my hand right now. If you think I’m going anywhere with you, you’re sadly mistaken.”
“Avery, what are you doing? We need to go find the rest of our group, so we can find the Kapre,” he replied.
“They told me you like to play pranks and could offer illusions, but they neglected to tell me you could put yourself into the illusions. I’m guessing you aren’t a shapeshifter or they would’ve mentioned that. At least I hope they would have mentioned that, after recently dealing with a skin-walker. So what name do you go by?” I asked.
“You’re no fun. You knew right away didn’t you? I’ve never had someone see past the illusion. I had a feeling there was something special about you, and you’ve done a good job of proving it.”
“Maybe that’s true, but I like to think it’s the fact that I’ve learned to trust nothing. Your first issue was the clearing in a middle of a swamp, where I haven’t come across one so far in my journey, it made me feel funny.
“Secondly, my dear, sweet soulmate who you happen to be impersonating, once told me that we have a special connection, and you were nice enough to reinforce that. Anytime we touch, we can feel our soulmate bond. Grabbing my hand was a big no-no if you wanted to get away with your illusion,” I said, feeling generous enough to explain everything.
“Darn, you’re the only female in your group, and I was hoping we could have more fun together,” he said as the illusion started to fade away.
“Depending on the fun you wanted, you would have probably got in trouble there too. The real Nate knows not to try to get it on with me in the middle of a swamp,” I told him as I had to raise my eyes to meet his two-feet taller than me face. “Wow, they weren’t lying about you being tall. You’re literally built like a tree.” I always felt short around the berserkers. With the Kapre, I felt like a child.
“At least they warned you about that. I tend to scare most women with my real form.”
I shrugged. He was tall, but I didn’t find anything scary about him.
“I imagine I’d scare most women at first in my other form, too.”
“I knew you weren’t human, but I don’t have an ability that tells me exactly what you are. You said you were Nate’s soulmate, so I’m guessing that would make you just a tad bit on the fiery side.”
“I would be a phoenix,” I confirmed. “If you didn’t know who I was, how were you able to impersonate Nate and know my name?”
“Really? A phoenix, that’s pretty cool. I haven’t seen one of your kind in ages,” he said. “I can pick up names and appearances, so I knew you were Avery and the names of the other people in your group. I actually know Nate and Rick by different names, but you and I have never had the privilege of meeting. I am Elan, one of only twenty Kapres in the world, and I am at your service.” He gave me a little bow.
“Well, Elan, it seems you’re causing quite a disturbance here and we were hoping to talk you into stopping.” He seemed friendly enough that I didn’t think I’d have any trouble persuading him to move on from Massachusetts.
“Are you saying I’ve worn out my welcome?” he asked.
“Since we were able to pick up reports from New York about all the odd things happening here, I would have to say that’s an affirmative. We aren’t quite ready for uniques to come out of the shadows, and I’m not sure your kind of uniqueness is the first thing we want people to witness,” I explained.
“I can understand that; there’s all sorts of more glamorous species out there. You say you aren’t ‘quite’ ready to come out of the shadows, that sounds like you’re making plans to do just that,” he stated. “It may have been a slip of the tongue, but looking in those blue eyes of yours, I think you’re cooking up something.”
Nate always told me my eyes gave away my thoughts. Part of me had hoped that was his way of covering up reading my mind before I knew he could, but I’d studied myself in the mirror enough to know it was true.
“Those rumors have started to float around the last day or so. We seem to be building up a coalition of shifters to decide what the best move is,” I responded.
I didn’t know how much I could trust the guy. He claimed to know my fellow phoenixes, but words were cheap. Separating me from Nate had been a mistake if he was looking to make friends.
“I find that to be very interesting news, something I’d like to hear more about. What do you say we go get the rest of your guys and talk about it over lunch? I’m sure they’re going to want an explanation for my games,” he said, trying to lead me away again.
I stayed in my spot, not ready to go off with him just yet. Whether I found him to be nice enough or not, it could still be some kind of trap.
“Nate, can you hear me,” I said, telepathically, hoping I could get through.
“Avery, where in the world have you been?” I immediately heard back from him. I rolled my eyes at the accusation that I’d somehow been responsible for the issue with our communications.
“Good, the lines have been reopened. I’m with the Kapre and he claims to know you, should I trust him?” I asked.
I could tell Nate was already heading in my direction, so I didn’t bother telling him my location. Other than somewhere in the middle of the swamp, I wouldn’t have been extremely helpful.
“It doesn’t happen to be Elan, does it?” Rick asked, butting in.
“That would be the name he gave me. Tall guy, looks kind of like a tree.”
“You just described every Kapre, but if he says it’s him, it probably is. Just keep him there with you. We were able to pick up your signal again and are just about to you,” Nate said.
“Will do, but please hurry, he’s giving me a little case of the willies,” I said, finishing my conversation with them before turning back to Elan. “Nate says they’re almost here, so we should wait.”
“I imagine he was happy to hear from you since I blocked all communications for the last half an hour,” he said, laughing at his accomplishment. “As I said, I was hoping we could spend a little alone time without any interruptions.”
“He seemed relieved, and you might want to be careful when he gets here. He tends to be a little testy about stuff like that,” I said as I saw Nate and Rick break through the tree line, followed closely by the berserkers and Vinnie.
Nate, being Nate, walked over and slugged Elan right in
the chest. It was clear he would’ve preferred to aim higher, but Elan’s head was just a little out of reach. Elan rubbed his chest and I imagined what he felt was akin to a bee sting.
“Told you so,” I said as Nate walked over and swept me up in his arms, holding me close.
“Yesterday it was you flying through the air, hitting a wall, and today you totally drop off the radar. I think Rick’s shackles are going to have to come out,” he said, giving me a kiss on my cheek. “I take it he didn’t injure you in anyway.”
“No, your lady is fine, Nate. She immediately saw through my illusion, so I couldn’t have any fun. You must be something truly special, old friend. She claims you’re partially to blame for her being able to see the truth,” Elan told him.
“It’s more like she’s the special one,” Nate says, squeezing me before letting go to turn to Elan. “I’m happy to find it’s you causing all these problems. I know for a fact we won’t have to resort to violence, and that you aren’t working with the warlocks.”
“I was just telling your lovely girl here that I was hoping to grab some lunch. Playing with this many illusions in one day makes me hungry. You can fill me in on these warlocks, who I’m assuming are the cause behind the need for a shifter coalition,” Elan replied.
“He’s a man after my own heart,” Kyle said. “All this running around has made me hungry too.”
“Fine, let’s go get the starving people some lunch and make sure everyone is on the same page,” I said. “Elan, you mentioned people being afraid of you when you look like that. I’m guessing you’re going to make some kind of illusion so we can get into town without raising anymore suspicion.”
I had a feeling people would start screaming Bigfoot, even though Elan wasn’t a hairy beast. We had enough to worry about that if that kind of attention could be avoided, I was all for it.
“Sure, it looks like you already have a movie star among you though. Doesn’t he attract a lot of attention?” he asked, pointing to Vinnie.
“He does, but we’ve learned to deal with the stares and girls asking for his autograph,” Rick replied. “It makes all of us normal-looking guys a little jealous.” That was pretty funny, since no one in our group looked like the average boy next door.
“Come on, you had that one girl who thought you were that guy from Dear John and asked for your autograph,” I consoled him.
“Yeah, that was pretty cool. She let me sign her boob,” he said, reliving the moment in his mind.
“You dork, stop thinking about some human’s boob and come back to the present,” I said as I walked over and smacked him upside the head.
“Okay, anyway, back to lunch. I’ll cast an illusion for everyone else, but remain the same for you,” Elan said.
“Do you have transportation into town?” Nate asked. “We’re on motorcycles and I’m not sure I want you riding with any of us based on your size.”
“I can’t believe you have to ask that. You’ve seen my handiwork before. I barely have to lift a pinkie to create a motorcycle for myself.”
“Since I haven’t seen it, I’ll go along with your claim. Now could someone please point me in the direction to get out of this swamp,” I said, spinning around to reorient myself.
Traversing a swamp had moved to the bottom of my list of things to do. It moved below stabbing a cactus in my ears and drinking lava.
“It’s this way, baby girl,” Rick said, taking my shoulders and pointing me in the right direction.
“Great, now does someone want to lead the way?” I asked. I was pretty sure I’d eventually get turned around if I was in front.
“I can,” Elan stated. “In the past few weeks I’ve studied every inch of the forest.”
I looked over to Nate to confirm that he was okay with Elan leading, and he nodded. We made our way out with Nate keeping a firm grasp on my hand. I’d have to remind him later that he was joking about the shackle idea, or at least do my best to convince him it was a joke.
After about an hour, we made it back to the bikes. Elan quickly manifested a black Softail of his own and we got on our way back to town. I ruled that the Kapre experience had been a lot nicer than I expected. I hoped it stayed that way.
CHAPTER 13
Cut the pizza in four pieces because I’m not hungry enough to eat six