Magics: Escape (Book 2)

Chapter Twenty-Six

Kai often found himself wondering what it would be like to be a highly skilled telepath like Linda. He could hardly fathom how terrible yet handy it must be. He had so many questions, but he knew that Linda probably wouldn't want to answer them. How often would he have headaches and how bad would they be? How would he be able to to distinguish his own thoughts from the thoughts of others? How would he know what choice was his and what choices his friends wanted to make? How would he handle what his friends thought about him? What did they even think about him? What were his friends thinking about when they stared off into space every so often? What were the motives behind their choices? What did they fear? Who did they strive to be? How would they make things happen? And the worst question of all: How dark were their bad sides? 

Questions like those always rattled through his head when he saw others examining him, when others disagreed with him, or when others were skeptical about his choices and actions. He had never personally seen Abby angry - aside from the time that she had gotten a little snappy when Shintaro refused to get checked over when he had a high fever - but what went on in her mind when she was? 

Did she even stop to think about what she did or said, or did everything just shoot out in the heat of the moment? What did she think about when she was angry? What did she usually get angry about? How did she handle situations where she didn't like the coming outcome? Did she speak up, and if she didn't, what was going on inside her head when she wanted to? 

Kai felt fur brush against his right hand, and when he looked down, Komakii was walking beside him gracefully, his shoulder touching Kai's hand briefly with each step. His green eyes were staring straight into Kai's, and Kai swore he saw something meaningful behind the bright irises. 

Komakii tipped his head at Kai, blinking only once. He gave a puff of air through his nose in an almost impatient way, like he was telling Kai to give him an answer.

An answer to what? 

Kai didn't take his eyes off the wolf's, staring intently in their green whirlpools. Slowly, Kai began to realize that there was a meaning behind Komakii's look, and it looked so human that Kai shook his head in astonishment. 

Are you alright? his bright, intelligent green eyes seemed to say. 

"I'm alright, Komakii," he said quietly, making sure no one else could hear him talking to a wolf. He probably sounded really stupid answering a question that wasn't even asked by voice. He patted Komakii's head cheerfully, but once more, he found himself staring into those intense green eyes. 

There was something about them...

Komakii broke eye contact with what seemed like a snort of embarrassment. He glanced away, shaking his ears and speeding up to a trot. He walked over to Abby's side and lowered his head to nudge her hand for pets. 

Kai took a deep breath and let it out as a sigh. There was something oddly human about Komakii, which meant he had probably been a domestic animal before his life in the woods. He wondered why Komakii had grown so attached to them. Maybe they reminded him of his old owners. How old was he really? He had to have been a puppy when his previous owners had him. Wolves didn't live as long as normal larger dogs, but Komakii was definitely a purebred wolf.

While Komakii went around happily, seeming to give encouragement to each person he rounded to, Kai began to wonder how they were going to find the gem. They had planned to head to the nearest town, which was fifteen miles south, where they were heading, and ask around, but how would that work? 

And who would willingly give them such a powerful and valuable gem?

~

Kai woke in the middle of the night to a muffled, startled bark outside of his tent. He jumped awake in his sleeping bag, his eyes shooting open. He relaxed a moment later and sat up, glancing around and letting his eyes adjust to the darkness. He rubbed them for a moment, then slid out of his sleeping bag. Komakii had barked, which could have meant many things: He could have been barking in his sleep, there could be a predator near, or there could be a Dark near.