Gifted

XIII

I came to a stop behind a brick building to catch my breath. Who knew a middle aged woman and her daughter could run so fast? I peered around the corner and scanned the area. It looks like I lost them. Now it was time to find my good for nothing friends. It looked like I was in the heart of Hollywood now. There were all kinds of buildings and cars and people it was so difficult to take it. Living in Rhode Island was like living in a giant house. You knew almost everyone and were familiar with them. So many types of people and backgrounds were everywhere. I began walking down the street, admiring everything in sight. Hollywood seemed so lively.

"Excuse me sir." I glance to my right and what looked to be a homeless man was sitting down on the sidewalk. His pants were ripped and his old clothes looked as if they were going to fall off at any second. His long gray beard also slurred his speech.

"Could you spare any money?" He asked. But I had overlooked the most important part:

His eyes.

I turned and ran into a Victoria's Secret as the old man lunged at me.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH THIS PLACE?" I yelled as I slammed into the front doors. Everyone's heads turned as I came through the entrance.

And all of their eyes were black.

I ducked as the old man came up from behind. He lunged over my head and fell to the ground. I turned back around and ran out the store. Looks like everyone here was possessed. I was seriously concerned about my friends now. I sprinted down the sidewalk and came to an intersection. I hid behind the corner of a building and peered from behind it. It looked like they didn't chase me.

"SQUUEE!"

"AH WHAT THE HELL!" I shouted. Poe was next to me somehow, staring at me sideways.

"You scared me little guy." I said, calming down.

"SQUEE! SQUUUEEEE!" he shrieked.

"Huh?"

"SQUEEEEE!"

"WHERE?!"

"SQUEE SQUEE!"

"TAKE ME THERE, NOW!" I jumped onto Poe's back and he took flight. We climbed in altitude until almost all of Hollywood was visible. The cars and people looked like ants and the buildings like, well, building blocks. If everyone is Hollywood was possessed, then could the entire state of California be as well? The thought of that was mind-numbing. There was definitely something big here. And according to Poe, my friends had just found it.

Something else was bothering me too. Why were people still functioning normally? People were driving and shopping and eating. Someone possessed by an Ayakashi doesn't do those things. As I was pondering this, I got my answer.

There was a roar so loud that I was confident my Mom went deaf in Rhode Island. I covered my ears but the pain was awful. Poe shrieked and began free-falling through the air. I grabbed onto his feathers as I clutched my now half deaf ears. But that wasn't the scariest part. It was the fact that it was the roar from Iowa. The dragon that most likely killed Edgar.

I couldn't be sure of course, but it was almost no mistake. It was the same roar, just 20 times louder. If I remembered correctly, HH never slayed that thing. It destroyed the Iowa Academy and flew off. I hadn't seen it since.

Down below, people stampeded out of restaurants and their own cars in the middle of the street and ran the same direction. It looked straight out of World War Z.

I was still falling through the sky, I have a bad habit of doing so. I would teleport but concentrating was impossible. I didn't want to end up in a Victoria's Secret again. I considered my options and only found one to be remotely possible: