Whitefield: Shattered Realms

Finding Avery

Chapter 17

~~ Finding Avery ~~

Peter and his men moved out of the house with only one goal in mind — To rescue Avery.

They had boarded their jeeps and were about to vacate the premises, when Ian and Chase ran out of the house, shouting for them to stop.

Peter poked his head out of the driver’s window, “What is it?”

“Where coming too,” Ian said amid pants.

Peter frowned, “No, you’re not. I can’t risk loosing you too.”

Ian just raised a brow with a slightly opened mouth. Did Peter really care that much about him?

“Aww. Such fatherly love,” Chase’s whisper taunted his ears and he pushed the former aside.

“We done?” Peter asked, when Ian didn’t reply him.

“No! How are you gonna find her without him! He’s the only one that knows where she is!” Chase raised his voice, pointing at Ian.

Peter smacked his tongue and gave an air quote while he spoke, “You know I don’t still buy the whole ‘she called you and told you where she is’ thing.”

“But it’s true,” Ian defended the lie.

“Yeah,” Chase backed him up.

Peter tucked his head back into the jeep, “There’s no time for this. You’re staying with your mum and that’s that!”

He ignited the jeep. He and the other men drove out of the fenceless compound, to the tarred road, before zooming off.

“He really is a jerk,” the frowning Chase scoffed.

“Took you long enough to figure that out,” Ian nonchalantly commented with a shrug, before turning towards the house.

Chase followed him, “So what now?”

Not turning back or stopping, Ian replied, “We have to get there in time. It’s me Ms. Selene wants. Peter and the others are in grave danger.”

“Okay, mighty Aeon,” sarcasm was evident in Chase’s voice. “But we can’t just leave your mum, can we?”

Ian pushed the door in and entered, “She’ll be fine. As long as Ms. Selene sees me, my mum is safe.”

Chase entered too and followed Ian to where Jocelyn was seated. She was no longer teary like before. Her face was pale, like she had no blood. It looked swollen like she was still crying, but with no tears. It was as though her tears where exhausted.

She had her forearms on the table while she gazed into the far distance, lost in thoughts.

Ian cleared his throat as he got behind her, to jolt her from her thoughts. She didn’t respond because she didn’t hear him. It was like all her senses were dampened.

Ian sighed and tapped her shoulders a couple of times, before she finally flinched and turned her head to look at him. He walked from her back to her side and cleared his throat again.

“Don’t worry mum, Peter and his men will find Avery and bring her home safely,” he smiled at her. In contrast, he frowned within himself. Lying. Giving his mum false hopes. What had he become?

She nodded, managing to curve her lips up a little, forming a wry smile.

“So… Uhm… Chase and I will be leaving soon. Peter asked us to get him his … Uhm… His…” Ian almost panicked. He didn’t have an alibi. Again!

Luckily, he had a friend who thought fast in this area, even if it was senseless.

“A special round for his gun. Yes. He couldn’t wait to pick them up,” Chase said with all ‘honesty’ and seriousness.

“He did?”, Jocelyn raised a brow.

“Yes!” Ian answered this time. “And we don’t have much time,” he started walking back from her.

“If you need anything, just call us, okay?” Ian added, before turning with Chase and they ran up the stairs.

Jocelyn was left in a daze, frozen to a spot as she pondered, “He did?”

Ian locked the door as soon as they got into his room. Mia had been waiting for them.

“Come on. We have to hurry!” Chase urged, raising the window up.

“Hold on,” Mia cautioned. “We have to get to Kira’s house first. She just called me. She can’t leave the house without our help.”

Ian and Chase took a glance at each other, a bit surprised.

“Her parents locked her in?” Chase couldn’t help but ask.

“Yeah… Let’s get going,” she walked past Chase and then raised the window up completely.

“Maybe they did it for a good reason. To protect her. Don’t you think we should just… Let her be?” Ian gave a point, worried that she might get hurt.

Chase and Mia just looked at him with expressions that read, ‘What the hell are you saying, bro!?’

Ian chuckled nervously.

“I know you’re concerned. But we’re gonna need all hands on deck on this one,” Chase shrugged.

“Yeah,” Mia placed a foot on the window frame’s edge. “And, just so you know, I told Kira everything about you.”

“Everything?” Ian and Chase quizzed in unison.

“Yup. So be prepared to explain yourself. Don’t just cause too much drama,” Mia said stoically before hopping out the window.

“She’s the one that has a lot to explain!” Ian half-yelled to no one in particular.

“Yeah. She’s a supernatural hunter? She seems so nice,” Chase felt disappointed.

They jumped out of the window and drove to Kira’s house in Mia’s car. Ian took his bike. The distance was a little stretched, so it took them a while, even at full speed.

Ian arrived first, alighting his new bike and rushed to the front door. It was as though he had a garage of these dirt bikes. Mia and Chase got there soon and hopped down the car, dashing towards the entrance.

Mia shoved both guys aside and stood close to the door. She was holding a plunger-like device, just without the stick. It was deep green and had light green streaks running across it. The steaks formed an endless moving maze around it.

“Err… What are you gonna do with that?” Ian asked with narrowed eyes.

Mia wanted to reply, but Chase answered first, “But that’s our assignment. You sure it’ll work on such a large mass?”

“What? But you guys only started today?” Ian was surprised. Something that took days for he and Kira to finish, these two did so in hours. Are they even humans? And he thought he and Kira were the best.

“Yeah. Illuminating fluorescence is literally a basic idea,” Chase shrugged.

Mia stuck the device on the door, clicked the middle button on it and stepped back. The moving maze of streaks around the device began to fluctuate.

“It was so easy, we had enough time to add a few other functions.”

“Like a circuit overload, which is pretty much useful in this case,” Chase pointed at the house with a sense of pride.

‘First, your smooth and quick love, now this? You guys will never cease to amaze me,’ Ian commented to himself. If he were to say that out loud, he knew Chase’s head would swell.

Sizzle!

Sparks of electricity sizzled around the device, before spreading fast in all directions around the duplex.

Spark! Spark!

Various sparks made a light show around the house as each circuit was bombarded and shut down forcefully.

The three of them stood still in silence after the multiple sparks died down.

The door to the house suddenly opened and Kira ran out with a wide smile. She reached Ian and threw her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly.

“Thank you,” she said, her face in his chest.

“Uh… You’re welcome?” Mia and Chase chorused with frowns. They literally did all the work, while Ian just followed.

“Oh… Sorry,” Kira slowly stepped back from Ian, her timid demeanor gradually returning. “Thank you, Chase and Mia.”

They only nodded.

Then Kira looked at Ian, and Ian looked at Kira. Their eyes met. He too had decided to look at her at that very moment. They had just learnt about each other’s disturbing secrets, and had many questions. They really couldn’t get mad at this, they were only casual friends anyway.

“So… You’re a hunter,” Ian broke the lingering silence, that hung between them like a chandelier.

“And you’re an… Alien?” she raised a brow.

“Whaaat?” Ian almost laughed. “It’s Aeon. Did Chase tell you that?”

She giggled nervously, “No, it was Mia.”

Ian scoffed, “No wonder they’re a perfect match.”

Kira chortled a laugh. The other duo just rolled their eyes.

“Okay. Let’s go now,” Ian said with a straight face.

“Lead the way,” Chase folded his lips.

“Okay,” Ian nodded and rushed to get on his bike. As he wore his helmet, he felt the back of the bike compress, urging him to tilt his head back.

“Kira?” he said, seeing her seated behind him.

“It’d be faster to go with you. Besides, I don’t want to disturb the lovers’ connection,” she smiled.

Ian smiled back and passed her the second helmet, “You’re lucky I brought the second one. Put it on.”

She nodded and did as he said.

He kick started the bike and revved twice. Kira leaned forward on the bike and wrapped her arms around his torso. He revved again, before zooming off . Mia and Chase followed in her car.

~

Some minutes ago….

The woods…

The sun had finally set. The blue crescent moon hung proudly in the darkening sky, showering the land with its calm ambience and illuminated light.

The leaves on the trees in the woods looked more of blue than green, thanks to the moonlight.

Beside one of the lots of trees, was little Avery and the beautiful Ms. Selene. They were seated by the foot of the tree. Avery was seated between Selene’s legs. Her facial expression and entire demeanor dispelled exasperation rather than fear. She was just staring at the ground with a straight face. Ms. Selene had taken her from school and hid her in her house. But after calling Jocelyn, Ms. Selene brought them here.

“Don’t worry, my dear Avery, your brother would soon be here. Then you’ll be free to go,” Selene whispered with a nice tone, gently stroking little Avery’s long brown hair from behind.

“But don’t we just look cute together?” Selene said and laughed. “You can stay with me if you want. I’ll take care of you.”

Avery was silent, staring at the floor with a straight face. She wasn’t even afraid anymore, but rather fatigued.

Not too long after, Selene’s ears twitched like antennas and she quickly stood up, leaving Avery seated on the ground.

“Those annoying hunters. They’re here,” her frown was menacing. Her mood was a complete shift from the caring kind to a fiery one.

Thud! Thud!

Two figures in black leather clothing landed in front of her. They were non other than Tadashi and Asuma Hashimoto — Kira’s parents.

“You’ve gone too far this time!” Tadashi spoke with a sense of authority.

“High time we sent you back to wherever you came from!” Asuma cracked her neck.

“How naïve are you humans! Thinking you can defeat a Dhemistarian. A Mystic wolf. Ha!” Selene laughed in mockery.

The hunters unsheathed their swords that had a familiar insignia on their blades; Japanese texts surrounded by a triangle, then the triangle surrounded by a circle.

Tadashi brandished his sword, “Actions speak louder!”

Selene’s red eyes glowed.

~

Presently…

The D.O.D.T jeeps came to a stop after driving through the woods for quite a while. Peter and his men hopped down, armed to the tooth.

The C.E.O of D.O.D.T, Mr. Patterson, volunteered to come with them, but Peter bluntly refused. It was not his job to do so. But Mr. Patterson pressured with excitement written all over him, like he had been waiting for this moment for a long time now. All the same, Peter managed to dissuade him. He still had the thought in mind; he felt there was more to Mr. Patterson’s willingness to come.

Pointing their guns up, they trudged forward with stealth and caution. They walked and walked, till they got to a spot where they could see two humans with swords, battling an 8ft tall beast that resembled a wolf.

Peter’s eyes narrowed, “What the hell!?”