Call of the Phoenix

Chapter 8

Chapter 8
Jay

  Vira rested her head on my lap. Everyone was asleep but me. I was tired, but I couldn't fall asleep.

  It'll just take time, I'll fall asleep too. I thought, I'll fall asleep when she falls asleep, like always.

  Once I started thinking, the sweet memories danced through my head, happy sorrows, I liked to call them. I rested my head against the wall of the cave that was placed in the side of a mountain.

  Quinzy stirred next to us. LongTail lifted his snout in his sleep, letting Quinzy turn. LongTail woke and lifted Quinzy, who was the heaviest sleeper known to man, onto his tail, resting head on LongTail's stomach. Then he sighed, and went back to his slumber.

  Vira's flexible spines moved down with my hand as I stroked her down the neck, popping back up once my hand was gone. Skenter let Kass sleep on his back, her back on his back, her arms and legs sprawled out.

  The moon shines bright, lighting the cave. She raised that, she raised the moon, the stars.

  I stared up at the moon for a while, haunted. Then a hushed and tired whisper echoed through the cave, "I know what you're thinking," Kass said in a sweet and sympathetic voice, but it turned demanding, "Stop it."

  I expected much. Kass wasn't the most supportive type. "I know, I'm just worried."

  She wasn't even facing me, just staring up at the cave ceiling, "That's alright. I am too. I need to tell you something, before we get any further. Quinzy's asleep, right?"

  "Quinzy? He wouldn't wake up if a tornado was crashing through. Ten, for that matter."

  "Right, uh... So, a while ago, I-I saw Tsunami..."

  My eyes went wide, "What?! Why didn't you tell me!"

  I pushed Vira's head off of my lap and marched over to Kass. Kass sat up, alarmed.

  "Wait! I'll tell you why! Listen... You know Tsunami's been through a lot-"

  "I don't need a whole speech! Just get on with it!"

  "Alright well, when the war broke out, and the soldiers took her, s-something happened to her... I-I think they locked her up for a while..." She couldn't help but swallow and take a deep breath.

  "Well.. She went insane, Jay, she was the Dark Slayer."

  The words hit me like Cobra Poison. Dark Slayer?

  The Dark Slayer was a girl who had escaped from an asylum a while back. She had went even more insane and was viewed as a ruthless killer.

  But now I knew this, I knew she had a reason for doing so.

  Or it wasn't her fault at all.