The Fall

8. Bush

1.12.20

Connor's POV

I hadn't told Varian before I departed for Houston early the morning of the 23rd; I know that he's aware of what we plan because I had seen him look at the phone notification, but I don't know for certain that he had put together that I would be leaving. I'm sure he'll take our son to hell by himself once he did realize, but I also know that he would have yelled at me if I had told him of my plans in advance. Our relationship isn't the most solid for the time being, and I know that he had had some problems before with the work I did towards improving the lives of the future generation. If he had known I was travelling for this he could have gone ballistic and I didn't really want that to happen. I don't want him to be upset for no reason.

The morning air was moderate in temperature as I drove, and I couldn't help but to drive the entire way there with the window hanging wide open and my arm out of it. It was only 9am, but you wouldn't believe how long it takes to travel between Georgia and Texas. I'm pretty sure that I'm halfway through Alabama, but I've never had to drive this far this early. I don't know how long it's been since I saw the last rest area, and I could really use some five hour energy around this moment. I finally arrived at a Wawa, and my eyes were drawn to two people off in the bushes. They weren't being overly shady, but there was a certain feeling that drew me towards the location. I shouldn't be allowing myself to get this distracted considering I only gave myself an hour of wiggle room, but there's something deep down that's telling me this is important.

"I can't get it out," a little boy who was probably only around ten whispered, and the other just shook their head.

"Landon, you're going to have to try harder than that. Neither one of us know how to do it but we have to! How else are we supposed to help the others out today!"

"Mom told us not to anyways. They don't want kids getting involved maybe we shouldn't."

"I'm not a kid anymore, I'm fourteen."

"Carter I'm eleven that's too young take me back home!"

"You need to squeak out this form now."

"It isn't as easy as you make it out to be. I'm trying my best but it just won't work. Just because you could figure yours out with ease doesn't mean that I can. It's not my fault that Mom and Dad never taught us how to use them; they probably don't even want us to. We're not old enough to have any real purpose, so we need to just get out of the way."

It didn't take me very long to figure out what they were talking about, and I intentionally stepped on a branch quietly to make sure that my theory was correct. I can't teach random human children what I'm about to tell them; so far no one has been able to determine this from experiments, and just out and saying it would be very stupid. 

Both heads snapped towards me, and the younger one, Landon, hid behind his older brother. I emerged before the fear could spread through them anymore, and I could tell they were thinking about whether to run or not. I know that I'm not the most popular member of the council, but they have to recognize me even slightly, right?

"Who are you!?" Carter shouted, and I put a finger over my lips. Humans were all around the Wawa, and I didn't want them to know we were in here. They shouldn't be drawn to it as I had, but I had to make certain that the loud voices of the children didn't carry beyond the foliage. I thought back to the noise cancelling trick that Benjamin had taught to his son in my presence, but I then recalled that I'm not a warlock and never will be. However, there was some myth about how every supernatural being carried a little bit of a warlock's magic in our veins from them being the common ancestor that had branched away from humans to produce the rest of us. I personally think that that theory is bullshit since it's been a long time since my family held warlock in its line of decent, but I have to try it to ensure the safety of the kids here.

I thought the words I was taught, but nothing really seemed to happen. Bummer. "I'll say it one last time, who are you," the kid repeated, his voice much lower this time. At least he got the meaning of my shushing actions.

"My name is Connor Pierce."

"Why are you in our bush and how much did you hear?" Wow, my name isn't even circulated amongst my own species, that hurts a lot. Hopefully once we win it will be more widely known. Then again I'm fairly certain that no one even realizes the power was transferred. My grandfather's death was kept very secret from the public since it had happened in a time where fear was already very widespread in the community, and I know that many still thought he was in charge of the wolves. 

"I heard of your struggles-"

"Go away we aren't going to start talking about it with a vile human."

"Harsh, but no. I'm not a human, and I'm very far from vile I think."

"Fine then old man, enlighten Landon on how to shift. I can't seem to do it." Carter stepped aside so that I could see his little brother, and it was instantly obvious to me why he couldn't make the shift into wolf quite yet. I knelt down so that I wasn't as threatening, and I could see in the boy's eyes that it was appreciated. 

"What you need is more confidence that it will work. I take it that the first time you tried, it didn't work out for you, and you stopped believing in yourself after that." The boy nodded to confirm my hypothesis, and just that knowledge allowed me to hatch a plan to get him shifted, convince them not to try and join the war, and get back on the road within the next 20 minutes. "Now, just close your eyes and think about yourself as a wolf. Do you have it visualized?"

"Yes sir."

"Now think about your body becoming the image in your head." The eleven year old began to change into another, and I felt the first bit of pride come into my body. I was born to be an alpha; this would have been my job before as well. I felt like everything was just slightly more normal, and I knew that it would grow even more so the longer we fought.

"Thank you sir, how can we repay you."

"Please steer clear of the war."

"But we want to have a position in the future of our people!"

"The fighting will be hard and dangerous, there's a reason people as young as you are not permitted."

"Sir what authority do you have over us to tell us what to do?"

"You don't understand yet but I have all of the authority. Please seek shelter."

"Not happening."

"I see... Just be careful and remember that you were warned."

"Goodbye sir."

I walked away with an unsettled yet determined feeling in my chest. We will win.