Black Catkin Part 16

Part 16

"That's a strange looking statue!"

"The guy must've liked cats."

"You would think that Rashel, being a cat lover yourself."

"Maybe we should ask Pandie since it's her dad's grave."

"Don't you think that would be a bit upsetting for her, Li??"

"Oh sure Rizzo, that's really smart coming from the girl who thinks the statue's strange"

Pandie listened to the whispered conversation between Arizan, Liedryn, and Rashel.  All this over a statue? she thought puzzled to herself, You'd think they'd found the Holy Grail or something like that!  Beside her, Hadrian leaned close to her, causing shivers to run up and down her spine.

"They get like this all the time" he whispered in her ear, "It's okay now, but sometimes it can turn into a full blown shouting matching."

"What??" Pandie asked, as she looked over at the other three girls whispering by the grave, "Arizan, Rashel and Liedryn get like that??"

"Oh no," Hadrian answered her, shaking his head, "just Arizan and Liedryn get like that.  They're only quiet because Rashel's there.  She's kind of like a referee between the two of them."

Pandie smiled slightly at this comment.  Then she realized Hadrian was staring at her again.  "Is something wrong?" she asked him, a small frown on her face.

"Huh?" Hadrian answered her, blinking as if he'd just come out of a trance, "Oh! I'm sorry.  I wasn't really paying attention.  Nothing's wrong, really? It's just that, well, I, um, er..."

"Stop flirting with the poor girl, Hadrian," Rashel interrupted him, "and bring her over here."

Pandie watched as Rashel's remark was met with a slightly blushing face.  "I'm not flirting with her, Rashel" Hadrian said, fighting back the slight redness that was rising in his cheeks, "I'm talking to her, to make her feel at ease."

"Awww, Shel," Arizan interrupted them, looking up from where she was sitting, "Can't ya see that Hadrian luuuuurves her, and is obviously trying to woo her with his unique knowledge of, er... really looooong boring books."

Pandie found herself blushing, and quickly looked at Casey who was lying at her feet, still in her dog form, resting from the attack.  Don't look at me Casey said to her in mind speak, as she looked up at Pandie, You're the one with the handsome admirer, not me.  All I'm worried about is if that stupid lummox of a bear shifter wakes up from the sleep Mr Quinn put him in.  My head still hurts from how hard he threw me back there!

Sighing Pandie walked over to where Arizan, Liedryn and Rashel were sitting by her father's grave.  They were studying a statue of a small cat holding what looked like a moon between its front paws.  On the front of the moon there was some strange writing engraved into it.  Arizan seemed to be studying it a bit at that moment.  "What does it say?" Liedryn asked no one in particular, folding her arms and leaning back.

"Hmmm," Arizan replied, squinting her eyes and staring closer at the writing, "It says...'Eat At Joes'"  Beside them Rashel rolled her eyes, shook her head and gave Pandie a sideways glance that said 'See what I have to put up with?'.

"I can read it for yas," Pandie said, looking at the three girls, "if ya like.  It's not a problem, really."

Rashel looked at her and frowned slightly.  "Are you sure?" she asked, giving Pandie a concerned look, "It looks rather hard to read."

"Nah, it's okay." Pandie answered Rashel, as she knelt done to read the writing, "It's a type of shifter writing.  My dad taught me how to read it.  He worked with shifters quite a bit, when he was alive."  Then she looked at the writing and began to read it out.

"The moon is my friend,
It guides me through the darkest wild
Its secrets it hides to the end
When they're unlocked by my gifted child"

"Sounds like your father was a bit of a poet" Quinn spoke up from where he was standing nearby, "But why would he have something like on his grave?" Pandie shrugged her shoulders.  She didn't know why her dad had wanted the poem put on his grave.  She had only been 11 years old when he had died, and she hadn't thought it was strange that one of his poems had been put on the statue in front of his grave.  Now something in the last line had caught her attention.  But she couldn't think anymore of it, as there was a sudden loud noise of a branch breaking and a small scream.

"Faline!!!"

**************************

Ethne watched as the group of Daybreakers and their new friends chatted and joked beside Jasper Katteken's grave.  Fools, she thought bitterly to herself, Idealistic fools.  They think they're so great with their 'Let's all hold hands and be friends' attitude.

A small voice interrupted her thoughts.  "You could be happy like them, again, Rikishia" the small girl sitting in the tree above Ethne said, in a very young but wise sounding voice, "All you have to do is turn your back on what you know is wrong."

Ethne looked up and sneered at the little girl.  "What right have you to say that, Hecate?" she snapped crossly, "You don't know what happened to me in my other life.  So don't try to understand."  "And by the way," she added, "I'm not called Rikishia anymore.  My name's Ethne Celosia now."

Turning she looked back at the group chatting by the grave.  One of the girls, Jasper Katteken's older daughter, looked a lot like a teenage version of the little girl who was speaking as Hecate, except with hazel eyes and dark blonde hair instead of dirty blonde.  "So Hecate," she said turning to the little girl up in the tree, an evil smile on her face, "you came back as Miss Katteken's little sister.  That must be very hard for you, since you've got shifter blood running through you now."

Suddenly a wind chimes voice filled Ethne's ears.  "Leave her alone, Rikki" the voice said, the wind chimes sound of it dancing through Ethne's ears, "What species Hecate came back as, is none of your concern.  There are other things that concern you, and they have nothing to do with the company you've been keeping with our brother Blain."

Ethne glared as she looked around her.  "So," she said, speaking to where the voice was coming from, "you decided to get off your high horse and speak to someone outside of your so called dream world, Zaykaia Luna."  Then Ethne frowned and pushed her wild fire red hair out of her eyes.  "I may not be the Fire Dragon anymore, sister dearest," she said in a sneering voice, "but I still have the power to wield fire, since the species I came back as is a fire mage.  You deserted me when you put yourself and our other 4 sisters into that stupid sleep and left me on my own.  Don't tell me how to live my life."

"You know that isn't true." Zaykaia's voice answered her, "I kept you awake because you had the power to help the people of the Old Kingdom fight Blain and his dark dragons.  But I was wrong for doing that.  I should've known, Blain would warp your mind, fool you into joining his side, and make you betray your own people."

Ethne ignored this speech, and began walking towards the small group by the grave.  "Leave them alone, Ethne," the little girl who was Hecate spoke up, "Now is not your time."

Ethne whirled round to look at Hecate, long wild flame, copper and blood red hair flying about her head.  "Really Hecate?" she said nastily, a bright orange red ball of flame growing in her now upturned hand, "You're in a rather dangerous situation up there in that tree, you know.  Maybe I should just make it my time."  With that, she threw the ball of flame at the branch the little girl was sitting on, causing it to snap and send the little witch shifter screaming to the ground.

"Faline!!!"

Oh goody, Ethne thought delighted to herself, a sinister smile on her face as she watched the older Katteken girl running towards her, followed by the rest of her stupid friends, Now I can get the witch cat charm for Blain, and have some fun while I'm at it.  And with this thought, she slinked quietly back into the shadows, ready to pounce on the unsuspecting group as soon as they arrived.