UNDERGROUND LIBRARY

               Chapter Thirteen

     "Kiko, what do we do now?" Hazel asked.
     "Yes, what do we do now?" Flynn countered.

Kiko rose up from his squatting position near the half-dead, half-alive man and looked eagerly at them, like he wanted to hear something.

     "One, we know nothing about this man, who he is, where he's from, how he got here, whether he's alive or not. So....I don't know."

Miya gasped. It was like she had seen another Flynn. It was the first time she had heard Kiko say that much. And one more thing - he didn't know.

     "Flynn asked him, "How do you not know?" in a voice that Miya thought would change the mood of the situation they were in. Fortunately, Kiko chose to ignore him.

     "Kiko, it seems he came from where we're heading, and so -."

The six youngsters all looked down at once. The man that lay down was mumbling something.

     "I must keep.....I must go....the Crescentia is mine.....the crown is mine..."

The all stepped away from him, except Kiko. Fists clenching, he stood still, staring at the man who kept talking.

     "Leo", Ari whispered, "what's happening?"

Kiko spoke. "No one helps this man. He's the enemy."

At that moment, his eyes began to glow. Hazel gasped, and everyone but Kiko turned to look at her.

     "Kiko, don't do this."

In a blinding flash of light, Kiko had transformed into a huge cobra, hissing and ready to strike. Miya stepped back. She was not scared if Kiko - she feared his anger, which was clearly etched in his glowing eyes.

Another light flashed closed by and she saw a gigantic eagle lift the cobra up into the sky, holding it by the claws. Hazel. She was also a shape-shifter.

All eyes shifted to the sky. The cobra wriggled aggressively in the sky and fell out of the claws of the eagle. It fell hard on the ground and turned to Kiko. He transformed again and slithered quickly to where the man lay still, oblivious of his surroundings. Before he could strike, the eagle came down and blocked him, also turning back into Hazel.

     "Kiko you don't have to do this. Remember the promise we made not to kill anyone."

     "Promise?" Miya wondered, still surprised at the whole scene.

     "Hazel you don't understand. This man has to die. He wants to ruin the earth. His death is the only way the apocalypse can be stopped."

     "Only way?" Hazel screamed, breathing heavily. "What about the mission? We have to protect the Crescentia from being taken by stopping others, not killing them."

The cobra, now Kiko again slumped onto the ground, and Miya, not knowing what she was doing, rushed to his side, but before she could sit down beside him Hazel swiftly came down and took his head into her laps. She used the edge of her dress to wipe off the blood on his face.

Suddenly Flynn shouted, "He's getting away!" Too late. The tussle between Kiko and Hazel had taken all of their attention if the man, who was running at a speed that not even Flynn's fire shots could get to him. The gang became confused as to whether to follow him or care for their leader.

Kiko sat up. "He won't get far. We'll follow him."

     "I'm hungry." Leo blurted out, without knowing everyone was suddenly staring at him. They all were, too. They were settled to live on fruits for the whole mission, but from the few had by the bank in the morning, they had to eat again.

Kiko sighed heavily. "Okay, we get some berries and follow that guy."

     "Before he gets too far", Hazel continued.

     "He's not going to get too far, and even if he does, we're both in Matanceros. We'll definitely catch him." Flynn countered.

Miya perked up. "But what if he gets the crown before us?" She tried hard not to look at Kiko, who was doing same.

He got on his feet and straightened up. "The full moon's not out yet." he said, drawing everyone's attention to the sky, that was already darkening.

The sun was going down and the moon was appearing faintly. It was a clear full moon but not shinning yet.

The six of them began to search for food when Flynn hooked Hazel's arm with his playfully and asked, "Do you want to hear my stories now?"

Hazel looked a little surprised, but she smiled. "Yeah, go on."

The stayed in that position and began to move, and Miya realized Kiko was looking at them with a blank expression, but there was something etched in his eyes. Jealousy? Anger? She could not tell.

Absentmindedly, her hand brushed over a rose bush and she pricked her finger on a thorn. Quickly averting her eyes from Kiko, who was now focused on the front tree he was standing under, she stared at her now bleeding index finger and cursed herself. She raised her head. Kiko was looking at her now.

They stared at each other from a distance for a long while, without blinking.

     "Miya, your finger's bleeding" Leo snapped, jolting her back into reality. Was he still angry? Oh well. Her finger was still bleeding, but there was no pain.

By surprise, Kiko came up to her and grabbed her wrist, dragging her to the pond in the garden.

     "Kiko, what are you do -" she whisper- shouted, effortlessly trying to get her wrist out of Kiko's grip.

     "No more words, Miya. Just get rid of the blood." Still holding the grip on her hand he steadily but slowly plunged it into the water, forcing her to kneel by the pond. The both watched as the water washed away the blood, Kiko still holding her hand.

     "And Hazel, do you still remember the one I just told you about, the one I was - "

     "Yeah, yeah Flynn. I remember perfectly. You said it two times  already."

Forgetting suddenly about Kiko, she giggled lightly at the sound of Flynn and Hazel. From her voice, she sure was already tired of Flynn's stories.

     "Hazel, I told you so" she thought, even though she did not recall telling her anything.

     "What's funny?", she heard a somewhat angry voice asking. She couldn't hold her laughter in anymore as she turned to look at Kiko.

     "Oui?" He frowned, and her laughter faded.

     "Je desolé, Kiko. Tu ne comprends pas, c'est - "

Kiko let go of her hand abruptly, and hollered, "Let's get going. We might loose him."

     "Seriously Miya, French again?" her inner voice scolded her.

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Hey fellow authors and readers, I hope you are all doing great. I want to apologize for the very late update ( I know you are all angry by now). I'm very sorry.

Anyways, chapter thirteen is finally out, and as usual, please do your best to vote, comment and add to your reading lists.

P.S: Forgive me if you see any grammatical errors and typos, I was typing really fast today.

Thanks for reading.

Salamat.

                                     - R.A.S