The Spirit Awakens

Chapter 6

--James POV—

It has been HOURS since they took Addi away, we refused to leave until we get answers about what happened but then Doctor Pax gets called away and now we were all just standing there waiting.

“Richard I would like to speak with you for a moment" the quiet voice of Elder Shen took us from our thoughts.

Richard nodded towards the elder and they both walked away.

I watched them leave with curiosity but my thoughts went back to Amy and my mother. Nobody had expected anything like this to happen to us, I could only step up and do what I know Addi would want me to do, comfort them.

I stepped towards my mother, whose eyes were blood shot red from crying and I hugged her.

Not long afterwards Amy joined the hug too, she was always a hugger, usually Addi was the one on the receiving end of her endless hugs so I could only just close my eyes and pour my heart into the hug.

“Amy, I know you want to be here sweetheart but you know your relatives are only here for the day, go home and spend some time with them while you can, we promise to keep you updated on anything we find out but there isnt anything any of us can do right now, our Addi is gone.” My mothers voice cracked as she finished the last of her words.

Amy withdrew from the hug with fresh tears in her eyes as she held up a shaky pinky towards me.

“promise me you will find out what happened" she cried out towards me.

I locked my pinky with her, “I swear Amy.” I replied as fresh tears formed in my eyes, I knew pinky swears were her and Addi's thing and how serious they both took those oaths and I didn’t plan on breaking our first one together.

--Amy POV—

As James swore to find out what happened to Addi I nodded and pulled my hand back.

I gathered my bag and left to head home, giving one last look towards June and James before leaving to head home.

My whole body felt numb, none of this felt real, part of me was still expecting a call from Addi to check up on me like usual when she knew I was upset, but that wasn’t gonna happen… she is gone.

It all felt unreal.

Before I knew it I stood infront of my home, I felt a pain of sadness as I realized the last time I walked through those doors was with Addi.

Fresh tears started to fall from my face as I slowly opened the door.

My parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and even my cousins were all in the livingroom either sitting or standing, it looked like they were in the middle of a huge debate and hadnt realized I was home.

I just stood there, not knowing what to say.

“Lisa you guys have to come back, this place must be cursed and who knows if it will spread to Amy, you know how close she was to her!” Her uncle demanded towards my mother we looked mentally exhausted as if they had been having this discussion for awhile.

“I cant do that to Amy right now, Addi was important to her and Amy is about to graduate, I already told you, it is not happening anytime soon if we did decide that route.” My mother snapped back, obviously tired of repeating herself.

“So you don’t care if whatever affected that girl will now be cursed upon your family?” he bellowed in return.

“Can you guys just shut up" I couldn’t hold it in anymore, they were talking about Addi as if she was some diseased thing that was a threat to us. Addi was an absolute angel to everyone, she could even make the coldest evil person smile, she was always there for me and I failed to help her when she needed me, the least these assholes could do is show her some respect and not talk about her like she was a demon parasite that’s going to bring us all down if we stayed.

“mom, whether you decide to move or not I am staying, I will find a job after graduation and get my own place need be, but I will not leave this place, Addi loved this village and its people with everything she had and I will stay and carry on for her, now stop talking like she was a disease that has infected me, she had more goodness in her pinky then in every one of you.” I clenched my fists as I took a stand, I usually NEVER went against my family, but I cant sit back and let them do this to me or the memory of Addi.

Everyone stood there staring shocked at me, my own mother couldn’t even come up with a response.

“She is probably infected already, Amy used to be such a good kid and now she is turning her back on her own family for some cursed freak, I refuse to stay here and risk me.” My uncle roared and grabbed his wife and 2 kids and stormed out.

My mother pinched the bridge of her nose as she faced downward.

“Amy I know your upset but with Addi in the hospital after such a failure to awaken, you need to calm down and think things through before making decisions.” My mother stated.

I lost it at that point.

“She is dead now mom, she died, why do you think I would even come home if she was still fighting for her life, I would be there for her the whole step of the way during her fight if I could but she died, we literally watched her f*****g die and Im not ready to hear bullcrap being spouted about her as soon as I come home, I came home for my family to comfort me knowing I just lost my best friend, but no, I just had to walk in and hear bullshit coming out of that mans mouth and now your basically calling her a failure??? She was always there for me when none of you were willing to!” I screamed and then stormed up to my room crying, leaving my speechless family shocked by my outburst.

Im so sick of them, this isnt the first time trying to split me from Addi just so my uncle could try to force my parents to move back to the old village, they know she is a bobcat and my father a coyote and now that they know I am the red fox, they are power hungry since our old village only had 2 predator spirits and that made them feel weak. My uncle had extra honor when my family lived there, but ever since we moved to this village the old village seemed to feel weaker and someone spread a rumor saying it was his fault my mom moved us here and so he has done everything he could to try to move us back so he could regain that lost respect. He truly was the weasel his spirit creature reflected.

I locked my door, turned off my light and curled up in my bed holding tightly onto my stuffed panda, the panda Addi spent countless tries and attempts to win for me in 4th grade when we went to our first fair together, I was so scared of big crowds back then that Addi wanted to win me the panda so that I could hug it when I got scared, she had called it the most huggable stuffy she has ever seen, which we agreed Mr.Huggly made a perfect name for him.

My tears slowly soaked the pandas face as I hugged him tightly and cried into him.

“Addi come back, please, I don’t think I can take on the world without you.” I sob into Mr.Huggly and cry myself to sleep, between the awakening and the hours spent at the hospital topped off with the emotional drain of losing my best friend, my rock, and the only one who ever truly understood me.

--Richard POV—

I followed Elder Shen to what looked like a meeting room and we both took a seat.

I patiently waited for him to begin but from the looks on his face it seems he truly didn’t know how to even start.

Elder Shen finally sighed, “We don’t know much about what happened to your daughter but we are trying to confirm another elders theory.” He turned and looked me directly in the eyes, “We think she might be too weak for an awakening, usually an awakening causes heat in our bodies to help us melt into our blessed spirit creature so that we can awaken for the first time. We think since her body may be unable to handle a awakening that the heat from her blessed spirit is intensifying to force her to awaken. Usually resulting in death, but what we are trying to figure out is why her heat was so intense that even flames came from within her. Even now she lays in the morgue unexamined because they cant get her body temperature low enough to do a proper examination.” I stared silently at him while he spoke, “but these are just a theory of one of the elders, there is another theory that I didn’t tell them about, and what I am about to say has to be kept secret with your life. I am a protector of the original secret and we are sworn to only ever speak it to the next sworn protector. I need to know if you are willing to be the next in line? Before you decide based purely in a rush to hear it, just know you cant tell anyone except for the next sworn protector, you can only ever speak it to one person ever in your entire lifetime.”

I sat back and thought about this secret, I never heard of a sworn protector of secrets, nothing in the village archives had even mentioned anything which means only one thing, that this is something that nobody else is or will know and has only ever passed slowly down through the generations on a slim line.

“I accept Elder Shen" I finally agree.

Elder Shen sighs a relief, he is too old to do a mind altering spell at his age.

“Good, very good. Now repeat this phrase and then all shall be known within.” Elder Shen started and then leaned forward and whispered what sounded like a dead language into my ear. I repeated what he said in a low whisper and then I felt it, the whispers in my ears telling me a story. I could feel my body shaking but I couldn’t stop it, I closed my eyes as visions and images filled my mind.

After what felt like forever it was finally done and I knew what Elder Shen was talking about, I stared wide eyed at Elder Shen as realization dawned on me followed by pure terror.

I tried to open my mouth to speak about it but no words came out.

Elder Shen chuckled “I know, I know, and yes, its all true. And it honestly didn’t matter if you swore or not, it’s a test of resolve to know the secret, but the secret itself is spelled, you can never speak of it even to me even though I already know it. It’s a fallback incase the sworn protector trusts the wrong person or if they are tortured to speak of it, everyone who knows the secret can never speak it, and gains a unavoidable urge to protect it at all costs.” Elder Shen explained when he saw my confused face.

“if these things are all true then… then, we have to prepare! We cant sit back, you know what is coming, we have to stop it or at the very least do what we can to preserve the blessed kinds lives!” I could barely breathe as I felt myself start to feel faint, everything I thought I knew didn’t even go this deep, this secret has been passed down for thousands of years! And it would just be their luck to start to see the signs during their lifetime.

I go to stand up to run off to be with my family but as soon as I stood up the whole world felt like it was swaying and then everything went black.