Amongst The Shadows

Chapter 5

"Speak"

Eric looked ahead to the cool and collected Ariel. How different she was from the other night.

"I have an idea" Rosa offered leaning forward, that intrigued Ariel.

"I'm listening"

"Question for a question" Rosa said. The group watched Ariel silently as she debated it all in her mind before nodding to the group.

"Very well, I begin. Why have you been following me?"

Eric cursed low as Randel clapped his hands together excitedly. Leo rolled his eyes before placing a case file in front of Ariel.

"Your father asked us a month before he died to follow you at all costs. This is what we have on you" Leo said as he watched Ariel flick through the file and papers.

She had to admit she was impressed they were great trackers they had everything down to something as small as her duty roster at school.

The group watched her silently as she flicked through before closing and placing it down on the table.

"No more watching me and I will answer your next question" Ariel demanded and the group nodded.

"Do you believe in the things your father spoke of?" Rosa asked before any of the others could chime in and Ariel regarded the woman.

"No"

"Then why are guns and other weaponry hidding in your house. If you didn't believe it, then why all the weapons?" Rosa pushed and Ariel gulped at the intimidating woman.

"Question for a question. You have already asked me one and I answered" Ariel reminded Rosa, who smiled like a sly cat before backing down and waving her hand to continue.

"I want your names" she asked and the group smiled at her. She shrugged she really did want their names. She couldn't keep referring to them as strangers.

"Very well, the woman is Rosa, the man standing by the wall with his arms folded and who gave you the file is Leonardo or as we call him Leo. The man beside me who is bouncing in his chair is Randel and I am Eric"

Ariel blinked at the last name. Eric? Why did it sound so familiar to her?

"Our turn" Rosa said and Ariel gulped already knowing the question.

"I ask you again why are guns and other weaponry hidding in your house. If you didn't believe your father?" Rosa pushed.

Ariel glared at the woman, not knowing if she liked her or not. However, she agreed to this and she didn't expect them to just ask her about her favourite food.

She sighed before looking down to the gun on the table.

"My father had information, whether I believed it or not is irrelevant. He died a week after he shared it with me and the same useless insane information he had,had me fleeing for 5 years till I found this place" she shared and the group nodded as though they were expecting her answer.

"My turn" she reminded them and they silently waited. She felt the tension, it was electric across her skin.

"Why do you know my father as well as you claim that he asked you all to watch me"

"Whether you believe it or not Ariel, your father was a detective that worked with people like us" Randel shared and Ariel gulped, not liking where this was going.

"What are you?" She asked, forgetting the game.

Eric sighed before standing.

"Come" he said with authority and she felt compelled to follow without a second thought. Together they walked outside and he sighed.

"Ariel your father was no ordinary detective he was part of a special task force that dealt with the other world" Eric explained and all Ariel could do was blink before shaking her head in absolute denial.

"Those were tales spun by a delusional man. He was just a cop killed in duty" she tried to say but flashes of his death played in her mind.

Eric sighed knowing her exact thoughts as she tried to grip with the fantasy she spun herself to hide the true events of her father's death.

"You know those are lies Ariel, do not spin a tale and confuse it with reality" Leo said as he to saw her clinging to the fantasy. He truly could not work out this woman, one minute she was shooting dark mages and the next she was acting like a school girl who knew nothing.

Randel placed a gentle hand on Leo before walking up to Ariel. Out of everyone he knew exactly what she went through.

Ariel looked up at Randel and his soft smile as he gently took her hand.

"Your mind is clashing with your spirit Ariel"

"What?" She whispered and he squeezed her hand.

"Your spirit, the fighter in you that hides in the shadow of your mind. It's fighting to break free, let it and stop allowing your mind to hold it back" he said softly before stepping back and before her eyes transforming into a massive lion.

She watched with wide eyes as Rosa bowed her head to Ariel before changing herself into a black jaguar with the most beautiful black fur.

She turned and watched as Leo morphed into a large black bear and she gulped.

Turning to Eric he smiled sadly before taking his shirt off which had her blushing.

"Unlike these guys, I want my clothes to not be shredded" he said before hiding behind a tree and emerging from it as a wolf larger than anything she had ever seen. It stood proudly with its slick black coat and it's white paws.

Seeing all of them, her mind snapped.

"Woah woah what wait no wow" she cried before bending over hand on her hips with wide eyes as she looked to the ground. Hoping it would actually swallow her up.

"Okay wow woah wow" she repeated in a shocked whisper. Still gasping for breath wishing again that the dirt would miraculously open up and make a sink hole and take her with it.

"You are so dreaming, wow this can not even be real" she said still looking to the Earth. She then decided that she would just simply take in the dirt, the spectacular dirt and not look at what she should be looking at but her sanity just needed to look at that dirt.

When she heard a low growl, she gulped.

"Yep okay so we are doing this"

She took a deep breath in as she slowly rose up with her hands still on her hips staring at the magnificent wolf before her.

It's violet eyes silently watched her, it's body tense ready for anything. She could see the storm brewing, she could sense the intelligence that laid within them that were watching her as she took that graceful plunge into insanity.

"Okay so here's how I see it" she said over cheerfully, trying to fake bravado. She walked back a step and pointed to the wolf watching her and her heart spiked.

"This is weird and I am insane" she said laughing lightly, again trying to fake the bravado which came out like she was mentally breaking down, which she was but he didn't need to know that.

The wolf regarded her as she laughed and pointed at him with her forced smile towards him. He could see the cogs turning in her mind, trying to process it.

"Okay wow"

He mentally rolled his eyes, she needed to stop repeating herself. He could only take so much of her saying the same words over and over again.

"So I am going to stare at the dirt beneath my feet, you know truly absorb it's beauty, its essence and its vital role in our world while you do you okay? Cool"

Again he rolled his eyes mentally at her ludicrous idea. This was going no where and truly they did not have the time for this.

Just as he thought that, he watched as Ariel fell back allowing the darkness to take her.