Chapter 17

“I’m sure you know why I’m here.” Ray spoke stiffly towards the man.

“I do.” The man answered back in the same tone. “I’ll tell you what you want to know once Tsuki and Max leave.”

The blonde gasped. How did that man know his name? He knew he never said anything to the creepy man, so how did he know? About to voice his question aloud, the girl known as Tsuki stepped out from behind the man and grabbed Max by the wrist. Giving the blonde a friendly smile she tugged on his arm. “Come on! Let’s go play while Brother and your friend talk!” Not give Max time to reply she pulled him out of the room.

X.X.X.X.

‘Today wasn’t good.’ Kai thought silently to himself. While gaining some of Tyson’s trust would help with further plans but if things continued to be like they were today then it would take forever for his plan to succeed.

‘I’ll have to move this along faster. Tonight while Tyson’s asleep I’ll have to make my move.’

X.X.X.X.X.X.

“Tsuki?” Max murmured quietly as he and the girl meandered through the silent village. It was getting late, and Max distinctively remembered his parents telling him not to go outside when it’s dark.

“Hmm?” The little girl answered back, her attention more focused on the firefly floating around her head at the moment.

“Do you know what Ray-chan and your brother are doing?” At this, the girl turned to stare at Max as if he had grown a second head, causing the blonde to blush.

Ignoring Max’s blush however, Tsuki shrugged. “I don’t know. People come to see Brother when they’re sick or need to find a way to break a curse or a spell. For some reason though he won’t let me see him do it even though I have his powers too.”

Gasping, Max’s eyes widened. He’d never met someone with powers before! It was exciting! Of course if Max wasn’t right now in the form of a child he probably would have remembered all the things that had happened to him, and the magic he had run into, and be in a state of panic knowing this girl had powers. “Really? Show me!”

“You really want to see?” The girl asked, just as excited as Max, but more for the fact that someone wanted to see her use her powers. When Max nodded his head in confirmation she could have just died with happiness. “Okay! There’s a lake nearby. Let’s go there so no one can interrupt us.”

“Yay!” Max cheered and took the girl’s hand in his and ran off in the direction of the lake, but what both children failed to notice was that Max had never been to the lake before and yet he was headed for it perfectly.

X.X.X.X.X.X.X.

“So what did you see?” Ray asked as the man’s eyes slowly began to open.

After Max and Tsuki had left Ray and Tsuki’s brother had moved to a room hidden in the back of the house, which was painted black and decorated with different symbols of magic. At the moment Ray was seated at a wooden table with the five star pentagram carved into the center of it sitting across from the dark haired man.

The man frowned, and shook his head. “I saw that there was no way for you to lift the curse from your friend.”

Ray’s fists clenched and he stood up abruptly, ready to stomp out of the room and go find Max. He’d just have to find another psychic who could tell him how to cure Max. However, before he could take another step he felt the psychic’s power surround him warningly. Glaring at the man, Ray waited for him to explain.

“I didn’t see a way for you to lift your friend’s curse,” he repeated firmly. “But I did see that the curse was broken. There is no cure for your friend’s curse, but somehow he’ll manage to break it. You must be patient.”

Ray nodded his head in understanding but secretly he was worried. If there was no cure then if something were to occur and change the future the man had seen, then Max would forever remain a child, something he couldn’t afford.

X.X.X.X.X.X.X.X.

Max and Tsuki stared up at the fruit trees that encircled the lake. The fruits were nothing like Max had ever seen. They were shaped like a pear, but pink with yellow and orange spots on them. Even though Max had never seen these fruits before he wanted to sink his teeth into one, because of how good they smelt. The fruits were giving off a sweet sugary scent that called to his taste buds.

“Hungry?” the girl asked, but Max bet she already knew the answer.

Max nodded his head enthusiastically. It’d been a long time since he had last eaten and his stomach felt so hollow that it ached.

Smiling Tsuki looked at a tree branch and let her eyes land on its fruit. At first nothing happened, but then the branch began to shake and the fruit fell to the ground.

With a scream of shock Max covered his head with his hands and braced himself for pain, but it never came. Opening his eyes, which he didn’t know he had closed, he looked up. His breath was caught in his throat. Floating inches above him were the fruits that had fallen.

In a trance like state Max reached out to touch the fruit to see if it was really there, floating in front of him. He almost gasped when his hand made contact with the fruit’s smooth skin.

“Take it now before I drop it,” Tsuki grinded between her teeth. “I’m not as strong as my brother. So I can only hold the fruit up so long.”

Snapping out of his trance, Max obeyed and grabbed four of the floating fruits before signaling for the girl to let the rest fall. Instantly the fruits fell to the ground and Tsuki collapsed to her knees, making Max pout. “Are you okay?”

Taking a few mouthfuls of air Tsuki nodded. “Just tired. Like I said, I’m not as strong as my brother. He’s a master.”

Max nodded his head, but Tsuki’s words didn’t ease his worry. Walking over to the girl he took a seat next to her and handed her two of the fruits he had taken. “Here you go. I’m sure you’re hungry after that.”

Tsuki didn’t respond. She just took the fruit and calmly placed it in her lap. She was breathing deeply, and Max was starting to regret asking her to show off her powers.

“Don’t apologize.”

Max jerked back in surprise at Tsuki’s comment. “What?”

Tsuki just smiled and fell on her back so she was lying down on the ground. “Don’t apologize. I’ve always wanted to use my powers, but my brother is over protective and won’t let me use them. If anything I should be thanking you.”

“Uh… really?” Max had never thought of it like that. He was pleased he made someone happy but was it really worth them getting hurt?

“Well what do we have here?”

Turning their heads in the direction of the new voice the two children gasped in horror.

X.X.X.X.X.X.X.

Tsuki’s brother’s eyes flashed and turned white. Ray took notice of this change and waited for the man to come out of his vision before leaving, but the words that flowed out of the man’s mouth filled Ray with terror.

“Bandits, near the kids.”

X.X.X.X.X.X.

Max and Tsuki took a step backwards. Five men stood in front of them, smiling evilly, showing off their disgusting yellow teeth. Each man was hideous. One had a crooked nose, another was bald with red spots on his head. Two of the men looked to be missing fingers, while the last one had a potbelly and hairy arms. The sight screamed danger, but Max and Tsuki were frozen to the spot in terror and couldn’t r\escape.

“It seems we’ve found two children,” the man with the crooked nose jeered.

“Bandits!” Tsuki hissed, causing the hairs on the back of Max’s neck to stand on end. His parents had told him terrible stories about bandits.

“What should we do with them?” the bald man asked with a snicker.

“On the count of three,” Tsuki whispered, and Max gave a slight nod in understanding. The bandits laughed, whether it was from Max and Tsuki conversing or the determined look in their eyes, the kids didn’t know. “One… Two…” Max’s muscles tensed in anticipation. “Three!”

Max jumped to the side and ran. From the corner of his eye he saw Tsuki throw her fruit at the bandits and chase after him. Cries of pain came from the bandits, but soon after the air was filled with the sound of the bandits’ foot falls as they gave chase.

We got to lose them! Max’s mind screamed. Already he could hear the bandits catching up to them. Closing his eyes, Max tried to envision a plan that would get them out of this mess, but his mind came up empty.

“Max! Look out!”

“Huh?” In what most would call a foolish act, Max stopped running and spun around to face Tsuki, who had called out to him. Without warning water shot out from behind Max like a cannon, knocking all of the bandits to the ground.

Tsuki had stopped in her track s and stared awestruck at Max. “M-Max! You’re older!”

“Wha?” Max looked his body over and almost gasped when he saw Tsuki was telling the truth. His body had taken on its original age, but why? How come he didn’t notice? Shouldn’t he have felt some sort of pain? And an even more troubling question: Where had that water come from?

“You little filthy bitches!”

Max snapped out of his mental state at the sound of one of the bandits’ yelling. The bandits were soaked to the bone, but already they were standing up and grabbing their weapons. The look in their eyes screamed for revenge.

“Oh crap!” Max shouted, and took the little girl by the wrist and started to drag her around as he ran away. As he ran he noticed that they were getting closer to the lake’s edge. At least that explains where the water came from, but why did it attack them?

He couldn’t ponder this thought however, because with each step he took he was getting closer to the lake, and closer to a dead end. Once at the lake there would be no place to go. The trees on the other side were too thick and close together for them to run through and he couldn’t risk going in the water for two reasons. One, he didn’t know if Tsuki could swim. Number two, he had no clue what creatures could be in the water.

Suddenly, Max felt his body being yanked backwards. Catching himself before he fell, Max turned his head in search of what was stopping his escape, only to see Tsuki standing there nonchalantly. “Tsuki! What do you think you’re doing?”

“Brother and Ray are here.” She muttered.

That was the only warning Max received before the cries of the bandits grabbed his attention. In the distance two bandits flew through the air and crashed into two trees. Even from the distance Max could hear the sound of their skulls breaking. The screams of the other three bandits echoed through the air, and caused Max to wince as he watched them slowly get sucked into the ground.

“Are you two alright?”

It took all of Max’s willpower to tear his eyes away from the bandits’ graves. It was the second time in this world he had to witness death, and it wasn’t getting any easier. When Max was finally able to remove his eyesight from the scene he saw Tsuki being held by her brother who was busy scolding her. Beside Tsuki’s brother stood Ray, who was staring strangely at Max. Frowning, Max asked, “What’s wrong Ray?”

Ray smiled at Max. He could just about pounce the blonde right then, but kept his calm. He was had been worried that Max would be a child forever, but somehow, someway, he was back to normal. “Nothing’s wrong. But how did you get back to normal Max?”

Max bit his bottom lip in thought. Indecision, crossed his features. For a moment Ray thought Max wasn’t going to tell him, but the blonde spoke up. “I wish I knew that answer too.”

X.X.X.X.X.X.X.X.X.

Kai stared down at Tyson’s face. The bluenette was sleeping comfortably on one of the spare beds the siblings had, not knowing what was going to become of him.

Kai knew what he had to do, it was for the best, but he knew that Tyson was going to be giving him an earful the next morning when he finds out, and that was something Kai really wanted to avoid. Glaring at the sleeping teen Kai slid an arm under Tyson’s waist and lifted the teen into his arms, careful not to wake him up. He couldn’t risk his plan being ruined.

Tip toeing through the small house, Kai carried Tyson to the front door, and then shifted the boy around in his arms so he could open the door. Once outside he closed the door, and stood still like a statue. He was waiting. Any moment his ride would be there and from there his plan would succeed.

The flapping of wings made Kai look up. Coming in for landing was a bird with feathers made flames that burned brightly, but strangely they did not set fire to the surrounding greenery. Kai smirked. There was no stopping him now.

Once the bird landed he jumped onto its back effortlessly, as if he had done it a thousand times. With Tyson still in his arms sound asleep, the bird took off into the night, taking with it two passengers.

X.X.X.X.X.X.

Akira: (gasps) Kai’s a kidnapper!

Mimi: NOOOOO!

May: (smirks) I taught him well.

Akira: O.o You taught him?

Kai: No she didn’t.

Akira: O.O Kai! What the? How did you-? Oh forget it! Happy belated birthday K.F.! Good Luck with the writing!