Chap.8

Ryan started for the door. He was almost back out, under the sky, before he heard something outside. It was the noise of a car door slamming. He ran back into the living room, where Marisa was standing with his shirt in her hands. The minute he came into the room, she threw the shirt at him, and pushed him into another room. The room he was in was completely dark, so Ryan didn’t think the people in the other room could see him. He quickly put on the stolen shirt, just in case.

From the other room he could hear Marisa talking to her parents.

“Hi, Mom! Hi, Dad! How’d it go?”

“Pretty well. Was everything fine here?” a deep voice asked, Ryan figured it was her dad.

“Honey, why is our first aid kit out?” A softer voice asked. Of course Ryan thought it was Marisa’s mom.

“Um, I was practicing for when I become a nurse. Duke is a great patient.” Marisa covered up.

“That’s great, honey!” Her mom exclaimed, “Let me go put this stuff away in the kitchen, than we can get out bags unpacked.” Ryan could almost feel the fear radiating from Marisa, as footsteps came closer and closer to the room Ryan was in. With no light, Ryan couldn’t see anything, but he knew he had to hide somewhere. With a split second decision, he jumped off to one side.

His mad dash was just in the nick of time, too. As he hid behind what he thought was a fridge, the light clicked on.

“Listen, Mom, I can explain!” Marisa shouted.

“You’d better explain. This room is a mess! What happened?” Ryan could barely hold in a sigh of relief.

“I got hungry.” Marisa muttered, in utter amazement. Ryan could almost imagine her eyes darting from side to side, looking for some sign of him. It was then that Ryan saw the open window behind him, but a few feet above his head.

Marisa, I’m sorry, but I have to go. He hoped that by some miracle she heard him. Slowly he stood up, and put his hand on the sill. He started to hoist himself up. As his head came above the ledge, he came face to face with a very angry looking man.

“And who might you be?” He asked angrily.

Ryan’s brain jumped into hyper drive, “I’m the tooth fairy! Get out of my way!” Ryan launched himself out the window, knocking the man to the ground. Inside the house, he heard Marisa’s mom.

“What was that noise?”

Then Marisa, “Oh my God, what happened to Ryan?” The both ran over to the window. Ryan stopped and waved a quick good bye, before turning back, ready to run. He didn’t get very far. Marisa’s dad had crawled over, and grabbed Ryan’s ankle.

Ryan fell to the ground, hissing as the man’s fingers pressed on the channel left by the gunshot.

“Since when does the tooth fairy come when people are awake?” The man asked, pulling the boy towards him. Ryan couldn’t squirm away, but the man had a vice grip on his ankle.

“Dad! Let go! He’s a friend!” Marisa yelled, running out of the house.

“Friend? Friends don’t sneak out of a window, hoping they’re not spotted! Who is this guy?” Marisa’s dad was starting to yell.

“Herald, calm down, honey. Marisa told me about him.” Her dad looked up, and let go of Ryan. He had the fleeting thought of running, but somewhere in his mind he knew that would lead to more trouble. Ryan flashed a look at Marisa. He hoped she got the message he was trying to get through; you told her!

“We still want to talk to you.” Marisa’s dad said, standing up and wiping grass from his shirt. The grass left wet spots on the man’s shirt. Marisa walked inside, followed by Marisa’s dad, who held the door open for him, “After you.” He said snidely, as Ryan walked past him.

Marisa’s parents seated Ryan at a large table. Marisa sat to his left, and her parents sat directly across. He leaned over to Marisa, “What exactly did you tell her?”

“Everything, except the wings.” Ryan sent up a silent prayer of thanks.

“So…where did the injuries come from?” Her mom asked, “Mostly the gunshot on your ankle.” Somewhere Ryan had heard the women’s voice before, but he couldn’t tell where. He hoped it was from his non-memorable past, not from Ragnarök.

“Er…” For the second time in an hour Ryan’s mind went into hyper drive, “Accidental discharge.” That made sense. He dropped a gun, and it discharged, shooting him through the ankle.

“What about the slash marks on your right abdomen? Did you drop a knife?” Crap! How am I supposed to cover for that? Especially when the cut goes all the way through…

“A dog got him.” Marisa tried to cover. It wasn’t a complete lie. It was from a werewolf.

“The cuts are to big for a dog. There’s no animal I can think of that has five claws that are that big, and sharp.” Ryan almost said something about falling into a blender, when Marisa came up with a plausible excuse.

“Where he came from, someone got him with a rake.” It made sense, if he came from a town full of psychopaths. But, her parents seemed to accept this. At least the conversation never turned to wings…

“So, when will you be leaving?” Marisa’s dad asked, after the tension was gone.

“…As soon as I know where I’m going.” He answered, wondering if he’d find what he was looking for in the pages he had gotten from the Internet.

“You don’t know where you’re going? What are you, a runaway?” Marisa’s mom asked. It was starting to annoy Ryan that he couldn’t place where he had seen her.

“You could sort of say that…” Ryan muttered. He stared at the family. Marisa had pale skin, with bright red hair. Her dad was white, but he had black hair and a stern face. Her mom had dark skin, and dark brown hair. Somehow he knew he had seen her before, but he still couldn’t place her.

“What did you say your name was?” Marisa’s dad broke into his thought.

“Ryan.”

“No last name? Or would your last name give you away as a criminal?” He asked suspiciously.

“Can’t remember it.”

“Ryan? You know, I had a patient with that name. It was a couple of weeks ago, when I was finishing my internship at a hospital in Iowa. Somehow he knew I would get fired if I didn’t help him…That’s one of the things I’ll never forget. He even looked kind of like you, minus the partial beard and mustache. He also had darker skin. His parents said that he did reckless stuff all the time. Apparently after I left for the night he was kidnapped. Poor kid…” The last statements sparked Ryan’s interests. He reached into his pants pocket, and was amazed when he found that the governor was still there.

“What did he do, that made him need medical help?” Ryan asked, curios.

“He altered a go-cart. I guess he took off the governor, went to fast and broke his right arm.” Ryan looked down at his arm. There was a scar going from his wrist to his elbow.

“Did this Ryan have a last name?” Ryan asked, sure that he was the person she was talking about.

“Yes, but I can’t remember it. Why are you so interested?” Ryan flashed a look at a Marisa.

“It just sounds interesting.”

“Mom, can I go back over to the library, I forgot to lock up.” Her parents nodded, and Ryan followed her out the door.

“You think you’re the one she’s talking about, don’t you?” Marisa asked, as they entered the library.

“Of course. It would answer a lot of questions. And remember the governor?” He pulled the small item out| of his pocket.

Ryan walked over and picked up the sheets of paper, skimming over the names until he got to the ones in Iowa.

“See? There’s even a Chelle and Ryan in Iowa, and they’re next-door neighbors! This has got to be where I’m from! I’ve got to leave as soon as possible!” Ryan started going out the door.

“You can’t leave yet! You’re still wounded! You at least have to wait until tomorrow, other wise it might come open again, and get infected!” Ryan saw the sense in that.

“Okay, I’ll stay. But, I have to get going soon.” They walked across the road and back into the house. Just as he crossed the threshold into the room, a picture exploded behind Ryan’s eyes. It was a picture of a window, with two glowing eyes staring through from the other side. He shuddered, hoping it was just his imagination.

“He’s going to stay the night!” Ryan heard Marisa telling her parent’s as he walked through the door.

“This is the kind of thing you should have talked to us about, first.” Her dad said sternly.

“You know he’s honest, we don’t.” Her mom added.

“But he has to stay! He’s leaving in the morning, and if he leaves now, something might happen to the sores!” Someone spoke really low, and Ryan didn’t catch what they said, but Marisa let out an excited squeal that made Duke bark, “Ryan, you get to stay on the couch!” She shouted.

“Great…” Ryan said. In his head, he was comparing how much more comfortable a couch would feel after his other sleeping places. He folded the paper with the addresses on it and put it in the pocket that didn’t hold the governor.

About twenty minutes later Ryan found himself lying on the couch, covered with a heavy quilt that smelled heavily of mothballs, but it was surprisingly comfortable. The house was dark, but a street lamp outside was giving in enough light for Ryan to see clearly in the room.

Staring at the walls, Ryan could only think of three letters to describe the appearance.

OCD. Her parents must have OCD. That is the only explanation for everything to be like this… Ryan thought this, especially when he looked at the wall that had the TV. The TV had to be at least a foot from the wall, but yet the pictures and displays were perfectly aligned with something that Ryan could only say was the TV’s shadow.

I have to stop thinking. If I keep thinking, I’ll never be able to fall asleep… Even before the thought was finished, Ryan was slipping into the slumber. He was enjoying an easy sleep, when he was distracted by a low growl.

“Shut. Up. Duke.” Ryan said crabbily. He wanted to get to sleep; he was going to need to be wide awake for the flight, that would take days, maybe even weeks, since Ryan still couldn’t fly very long.

The growl came again. This time Ryan opened his eyes, and looked around the room. Duke was nowhere to be seen. Sitting up, his body tense, Ryan scanned the room again. This time his eyes fell on the window that was letting in the light. A dark shape was standing up behind it, two large eyes staring in. Ryan jumped to his feet. He had seen those eyes before, but he hadn’t noticed it in the vision. They were the eyes of a werewolf. Ryan was looking around for a weapon, anything he could use against the beast, when the window shattered, and he was standing in front of the deadly experiment.

Next Chapter: Chapter 9