I fiddle with my fingers as we drive to Oslow. The name itself sounds scary and uncertain. Across from me sits a dirty, wounded Katana. Her eyes hang low as she mumbles quietly to herself. It still shocks me that she was a werewolf this whole time, why did she never tell me?
Questions flicker in and out of my mind. What is Sasha going to do with me and Katana? Is she going to hurt us or worse kill us? God, I wish I had these powers on lock I could get us out of here. There’s no one back here with us, thank god they may try to keep me from asking her these following questions.
“Katana.” I say quite loudly. I don’t know where are exact location is, but whatever were driving on is bumpy and loud. St. Helena doesn’t have roads like this so most likely were ways out of St. Helena. The air smells different too, pungent and dark.
“What is it?” Her voice comes out horse, I wish there was a way I could relieve her of that pain. She didn’t deserve the beating she got from Sasha, very out of context. From her getting hurt notified me of something, don’t cross the red wolf.
“What did. . .Sasha mean by you taking Shilah? Did you- you know kill her or something?” For the last 20 minutes we’ve been in this van, she hasn’t lifted her head up. But when I asked that question, I and her eyes connected to each other. They read of anger and intrigue. I hope she doesn’t hurt me I’m just curious, anyone else would be.
“NO! I didn’t kill her. Something- something tragic happened to her that I couldn’t prevent. To this day Sasha blames me, and honestly I don’t blame her.” Her head goes back to its original position, hanging low in sadness.
“You can tell me, there’s literally nobody I can talk to about this.” I pan the van, the only living creatures in the back are me and her. “Your father is looking for you.” She perks up from hearing about her father.
“My father? I haven’t. . .talked to him in years the same thing with my brother.” I instantly remember that her brother, Lyle who’s better known as Kai, has been interning at The Tribune with me. There’s so much stuff being kept from me that it’s aggravating.
“Your brother, Kai, he’s fine.” A look of relief fills her face, I could tell that she really loves her brother, and father. “He actually works at an internship with me, and he’s kind of dating one of my friends.” She spits out a laugh. This is the first time I’ve seen and heard her laugh. It sounded contagious, so I ended up laughing also. “He won’t tell me how he spends his time with her, he’s so shy.”
“That’s my little brother. He always was secretive. . .and kept to himself. He was my mothers favorite while I was my fathers. The last time I saw him was a couple months ago, his hair had gotten so long he always used to wear it short. I hold him that I had to go away, so I told him to protect you. If something happened to you, I don’t know what I would do.”
Not to be rude or selfish, but why is she so dead set on saving me. I appreciate it, but she barely knows me but yet she’s ready to sacrifice her life for me. Is this what it means to be a Khan? “How did you find me?” I asked curiously.
“On the Khan alert system.” I tilt my head curiously, Khan alert system? “There were. . suspicions and whispers of a human that was the mate to an Alpha. Nine times out of ten you would turn out to be a Zastitnik, which you did. I was the only one in the room at the time, instantly I knew that it was my job, no my duty, to protect you from my cousin and uncle the King.”
I edge closer to her, being intrigued by the story. She continued on with the story, “I deleted the assignment from the system so no one would know about it. My father, the leader of the Khans, would never let me do the Mission with me being related to the villains. So, I snuck off the Island and came here to make sure you were safe and out harm's way. My father would have wanted me to stay, pick something easy to do. As a Khan, our lives are always in danger, we help people in all 8 Kingdoms."
“I- I don’t even know what to say. Thank you so much for protecting me, from Sasha and her father. I kind of hate that everyone is protecting me I can’t even protect myself. I'm told. . .by Sasha that I have this great power that could kill thousands, but as you saw back there I can't control it. It only works when I'm angry.” I let out a huff.
"When did you first experience it?" asked Katana.
"A couple days ago. I just got back from the pack house, me and Alexander just had a rift. I took the anger out on my grandpa and bursts the lightbulbs." I said embarrassed.
“Wow, that's a site I would have liked to see. If you want, when we get out of here, I can help you channel and control your power. I once knew a Zastitnik.” Suddenly she turns quiet. Who was this Zastitnik? Was it Shilah, was she just like me?
“Was the Zastitnik Shil-”
My question was cut off by the van stopping, a couple of voices are talking to each other on the other side. One voice is a man and the other is a woman, probably that Katherine character. A sense of worry overcomes me, there’s no windows where we are so I can’t see anything. Through the cracks of the door, I can tell that it’s dark outside and many trees surround us.
I hear footsteps come to the door and open up. There stands a man with black hair and a stoic look on his face. “Welcome.” Is all he says. From his accent I could tell that he was Russian. Now that I think about it most of them look Russian like Katherine, the girl with the scar on her face.
I look towards Katana, scared to even move. She comes to me and clutches my hands in hers. Her eyes tell me that everything will be alright. “Look, we’ll be alright. Just stay calm and don’t make anyone angry. Oslow is not the place to be bold, trust me.” I give her a nod, my breathing returns to normal. What did she mean that Oslow wasn't a place to be bold.
The man taps his feet against the ground impatiently, “Hurry up girls!” His voice booms. We both walk out, hand and hand, in front of the man. Around us lies ran down buildings and edgy looking people. This town looks dead, and scary too. Their eyes follow me and Katana as we walk over to a black building. Behind the glass door stands Katherine by the elevator. On the left strolls Sasha, her big curly hair is now pinned up on top of her head. The marks she got from Katana grave her face, from the look on her face you can tell they hurt.
In the air I smell smoke, a pungent smell of smoke fills my nose. “God, what are they burning?” I ask Katana. The smoke mixes in with the dark sky, the only light that is shown above is the moon.
“People.” Was all she said. Ok, are we going to get burned, should I fear for my life more than I am right now? Going through the glass doors Katherine presses the shiny white button, it doesn’t even have a number on it. Where the hell are we going?
The man who walked us here pushed us into the elevator. Me and Katana still hold our hands together, I’m glad to not be alone in this. Sasha stands in front of the elevator; a creepy smile comes on her face. A long curls hangs over her left eye, the one that Katana punched. It's a purplish-black bruise that is forming exponentially.
Three words escape past Sasha’s lips. It scared me to my core.
“Welcome to Oslow.” The doors shut, now it’s just me, Katherine, Katana and my fear. Were not in St. Helena anymore.