Secrets - book two

Allow Me to Return the Favour

Maybe it was my imagination, but the sun seemed to set quicker here, meaning that the cover of night blanketed over the world. It was a curse in disguise. The darkness protected us from the humans, covering us in its heavy veil. That was its blessing.

When darkness falls, the world around you seems to come alive. Like half of the creatures come out of hiding, when the others retreat into their respective caves, holes in the ground, or wherever. And then there was the fear the night brought. The fear of the unknown, when you can't see what's happening until it's too late. That feeling of terror never left me, and the fact that I technically died in the night didn't help at all.

I felt my legs begin to tire as I sped through the night with the blue Raptor on my back. How much farther? I whined. I heard a sort of snort in my mind. Uh, what? Oh, yes. Just a little farther, Ivor replied. Were you sleeping? I asked. How does that work? How did that work? How was Ivor asleep, but I stayed awake? Just don't think about too much, Ivor answered. But-

Don't.

I sighed, fine. I continued on in silence, eventually coming to a stop in bushes and low hanging trees. We should be safe here, Ivor said, breaking the silence. Really? I asked sarcastically, taking Blue off of my back, and gently placing her on the cold dirt. Hey, you didn't have to keep running, Ivor barked.

No, I retorted. But if I stopped short of where you wanted me to go, I'd never hear the end of it. I heard him growl in my head. It annoys me how right you are. I chuckled to myself as I lay beside Blue.

Minutes passed as I watched Blue, waiting for her to wake up. Hours passed, and I was beginning to loose track of time, my eyes began to feel droopy as the night wore on. But I resisted the pull of sleep for her, it was the least I could do, right?

I looked up at the sky, through the tree line. The stars were so beautiful, like small, sparkling eyes glittering at you from beyond. I smiled. For once in my hectic and unforgiving life, I smiled, it was a peaceful moment - a rare moment. It was interrupted by a pained groan from behind me. I looked around, and saw Blue beginning to stir.

My legs felt like jelly and my eyes felt heavy. But I pushed through the haziness of sleep, and tiredly sauntered over to her. I heard her groan again, but without opening her eyes. I hesitated, wanting to help her wake by nudging her gently. Was our trust really that great? More importantly was our friendship that great? I shook my head, and whispered her name to try and wake her. "Blue." I nudged her snout with mine.

her eye opened, and her pupil darted over to where I was, though I didn't notice, I was still thinking she was unconscious and therefore I was still nudging her snout. Ivor could've told me that she was awake, he was like a sixth sense to me, he could warn me of approaching danger, he could tell me if I was close to my prey and vice versa. Of course, I hadn't been hunting in months all thanks to my stupid injuries.

"R-Ripper?" I heard Blue's voice and I froze. S-she's awake? I thought, relieved but also... embarrassed? No, no. That's not the word. "Ripper?" There her voice was again, a little less shaky now. To me, though, her voice was all fussy and clouded? I was kind of just staring off into nothingness, as if I had zoned out. Which turns out I did. It was only when she called my name a third time, that I snapped back into the focus of reality.

"Uh, what?" I said drowsily as if I had just woken up, which in a sense I had. "You alright?" She asked. "You kind of just zoned out for a moment." What? Has she not noticed the bloody bullet wound in the side of her torso? Or maybe she just doesn't care. I shook my head, that was unlikely, there was no way she could have been shot at... like at all in her life. She told me that she was an amusement park attraction whatever that is.