Animegas (Editing)

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Katie came back by the time the horizon has turned red and orange. Her shoulders were hunched and her feet dragged on the gravel path. Even from a distance, I could see  the shimmer of tears on her face. As fast as my legs would allow me, I ran over to her.

"Katie," I demanded, "what happened?"

Her bluish-gray eyes looked up at me, her cheeks wet with fresh tears. "Hannah, she-she..."

I grabbed her shoulders. "What happened to Hannah? What happened to your little sister? Was she kidnapped?"

Katie shook her head. "I-I never had a sister. It was all...I...She never..." Katie broke down in sobs. I pulled her into a hug and, for the second time that day, felt warm tears soak my shoulder. When the sun was fully down, and her crying had turned to sniffles, we walked back the the cabin. The others tried to pry, but a sharp glare shut them all up. Katie collapsed on the couch, and I sat across from her on one of the plush armchairs.

"Do you want to explain?" I asked, wary of Katie's emotions.

She hiccuped and nodded. Katie explained how Forctis, aka the guy in the suit, told her about her past. She was Megan, the first Animega. And by being the first, she was also granted immortality. Megan/Katie grew tired of the boring immortal life, so she created illusions, strong enough to even fool her, of a family. Then, she wiped her own memory and lived a full mortal life, and when she died the cycle would begin again. Hannah, her little sister, was one of those illusions. And since Katie had focused her entire being on defeating the Furies and Damean, Hannah was forgotten and disappeared.

"That does explain why Damean called her an amnesic," Thomas pondered.

"Are you really going to believe what that Guardian says?" stressed Calypso. "Are you going to just accept it? He could be lying!"

"Why would he do that?" Asked Greg. "What would he gain from lying to Katie, to any of us?"

Calypso clenched her fists at her sides, her two tails flicked with excitement. "You don't know them." She growled. "You don't know anything about the Guardians. You place so much of your faith in them, but you have no idea-"

"Calypso." I ordered. "That's enough, you're scaring Max and Sara." The two kids were cowering in the hallway, scared stiff by Calypso's anger. I walked over to the 7 year olds and soothed them with quiet words. Then I made dinner and everyone forgot about it until Max and Sara went to my room to sleep.

"Abby, can you go tuck in Max and Sara?" Greg asked his sister. "The only one who is good with kids is Sam, and it's pretty obvious that she's exhausted." Abby looked like her twin, she had the same bleached blond hair, but her eyes were more brown than his yellowish ones. She smiled and nodded, then bounded into my room to put the kids to sleep.

"Alright, Calypso, talk." I said. "Why do you hate the Guardians so much?"

We all stared at her, anxious for an answer. She sighed, "It isn't so much as I hate them, they hate me. They never accepted me, never really cared. They didn't even help me when Damean swiped me right before their eyes and dropped me in that pit."

"What did you do?" Thomas pressed. "Why did Damean throw you in that pit?"

She glared at Thomas. "Look, I'm really tired and I want to go to my room to sleep." Calypso stood up. "So if you don't mind-"

Thomas blocked her path. "Oh, I do mind. If you want us to trust you, then you had better start answering our questions."

Although Calypso was a full head shorter than Thomas, she still looked menacing. "Don't act so high and mighty," she spat. "You're just as trustworthy as me, Tom. So if you excuse me, I'm going to bed." She shoved her way past him and slammed the bedroom door behind her.

"What was that about?" Asked Greg.

Thomas and I made eye-contact, his past was at stake. We knew that Calypso knew about him and Damean, but we didn't truly grasp the fact that she would tell everyone. They all knew that Thomas used to kill people for fun, or at least Katie, Calypso and I did. But no one except for him and me knew that he technically killed my parents. Did she know about that? What other secrets did she know about? Calypso may be an ally, but she could very easily turn into an enemy.

~*~

Loud banging echoed through the cottage. Groggily, I sat up. Max and Sara were occupying my bed, so I was sleeping on the ledge next to the window. I shuffled out to the front door, where the banging was coming from. My foot collided with Thomas' gut, not hard enough to break a rib, but enough to wake him up. "The door!" I snapped.

He yawned. "Sorry, but I don't normally wake up at sunrise. Even when we were on the run."

I rolled my eyes and opened the door. Sylvia stood on the porch. Faint green light made her slightly recognizable against the dark forest. She was wearing a simple green dress that flowed past her ankles. "Hello, Samantha." she said politely.

"Hey," I yawned. "Erm, Sylva, why are you knocking on our door at, what, 5 A.M.?"

"Forctis has called for a meeting with you all." She smiled sweetly.

I rubbed my eyes and stifled another yawn. "Please don't tell me that meeting is right now."

"No, it's in an hour. I just thought it might be a good idea to wake you up early so you can get ready." Sylva exclaimed.

I nodded and called over my shoulder to Thomas. "Tom, can you wake up the others? I'll get breakfast going."

Grumbling, he got up and pulled on a t-shirt.

"I'll be back in an hour to show you to the throne room." Sylva said. Closing the door, I stretched the sleep from my muscles and headed to the kitchen. Throwing some ingredients in a bowl and pouring the mixture onto a pan, I quickly made a large plate of pancakes. One by one, everyone came out of their rooms.

Once everyone had eaten we got cleaned up and changed into fresh clothes. By the time all of us were ready, Sylva had returned. She lead us down the gravel path to a marble structure. A faint aura of power radiated from the building.

The seven of us followed her to the center of a large room. Thrones lined the room, all the same except for small differences like a leaf or a gold trim. Guardians sat at each of the chairs, Sylva even took her own. In the center was a large, plain throne. On it sat the man from before, Forctis.

"Samantha," he sighed. "I'm sorry, but your time is up."