Soren
For the first time in his memory, he wished he was someplace else besides watching these kids. Never in all the times, he’s done this had his attention been so divided. He knew Baine was safe on pack land. Sypher would let him know if something came up, but it didn’t matter. Being so far away when his mate could need him was slow torture. He focused his attention back on the kids hiding in the alley just down the road. They needed him now, Baine was fine. He had to keep reminding himself of that fact.
When he felt he’d watched long enough to get a sense of them, he stood up and headed towards their alley. He knew the minute the boy saw him approaching. Soren opened his mouth to reassure the boy when a small voice broke the silence.
“He means us no harm. It’s okay.”
The boy scowled, “Are you sure. There’s still time to run before he reaches us.”
Soren smiled, “Your friend is right, I won’t hurt you. I’ve come to help.”
“Who are you?” The boy asked cautiously as he moved to stand in front of the other child that was still hidden in the shadows.
“My name is Soren.” Before he could say anything else the other child spoke up again.
“He’s good. He’s here to help. He’s sad and hurting but won’t hurt us. We should go with him. He needs my help.”
Soren couldn’t contain his surprise at the words or the girl that stepped around the boy. No more than eight or nine years old, she had a wisdom in her eyes that said she’d never really been a child. “What makes you say that, and what type of help can you give?”
“It’s not safe here. We need to go.” The little girl announced in determination as she pulled the boy closer to Soren. “We must go now before it's too late.”
“What? What’s changed? We were safe until he walked up, you said so yourself.” The little boy said angrily.
“Soren, we must leave. Either you come in the alley, shift and let us ride on your back or we need to make a run for it. Time is almost up.”
Soren glanced between the two children, “How do you know I’m a shifter?”
“I know a lot of things, for instance, that you’re a gargoyle. That you’ll die to keep up safe and that you’ve done this for others before.”
He wasn’t sure why, but this small child freaked him out a bit. She knew things a child her age shouldn’t, it was in her eyes again, that wisdom and knowledge that shadowed her eyes. “Fine,” He grunted out as he moved into the alleyway, “This is insane and I’m not comfortable letting you two on my back like this. I have no way of keeping you there once I take off. And how do you know it’s not safe?”
The two children shared a glance but neither responded. He wasn’t sure but if he didn’t know better he’d swear the two of them were communicating without talking.
“Why aren’t we safe?” Soren growled in frustration. “What’s going on?”
“They’ve been looking for us, they’re too close. I don’t know how they found us, but if you did maybe they could too.” The girl replied with a shrug as she glanced back at him.
“Funny, they come along at the same time as he does.” The boy declares angrily. “Are you sure this is the best move right now?”
“We’ll be fine.” The little girl announced with confidence. “Jaren, stop. Trust me on this.”
Soren turned his head and looked to the boy, “That your name? Jaren?”
The boy scowled but nodded, “She’s Sarina. I’m going along with this because she says we can trust you and she’s never been wrong so far. If she says we have to leave then we need to go. I won’t let her fall, just get us out of here.”
It was moments like this that he was glad for the pack link, he could get help and still get the kids out of here. “Sypher. I need help. Something’s going down and I have to fly the kids out now. Have someone meet me asap.”
“No problem. Just let me know where. I’m sending help your way, you’ll just have to keep me in the loop so they know where to head too. Are you all okay? What’s happening?”
“So far so good. One of the kids has some weird psychic abilities or something though. She says it's no longer safe and we have to leave. That’s all I know so far.”
Soren ducked behind a dumpster, pulled off his jeans and t-shirt and shifted before quickly squatting down so the kids would be able to climb up easier.
“Stop, Jaren. He’s ready for us. He’s already shifted and waiting for us. Stop worrying so much.”
Sarina walked around the corner of the dumpster confidently and smiled at Soren before moving to his side and climbing up with an ease that surprised him. Jaren quickly came around the corner scowling and followed the little girl.
“We’re ready Soren. Let’s go. I masked our presence, so none of the humans will see you, but I can’t do it for long. Go now.” Sarina said as she leaned down and patted his back.
This had to be the most asinine thing he’d ever done, but something told him that Sarina was telling the truth and they needed to leave now. He quickly launched himself up into the sky and flew as high as he could go safely. It was broad daylight, the chances of being seen were extremely high. He just had to hope that child could do what she said and shield them until they could get out of the overpopulated city without being seen by too many humans.
“They’ve seen us, but they can’t follow. We’re safe for now.” Sarina announced a few minutes later exhaustion lacing every word.
Soren let out the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding as he saw his reinforcements flying rapidly towards them. He’d known they were close but seeing them with his own eyes made a huge difference.
“Wow,” Jaren exclaimed excitedly. “They’re members of your pack, aren’t they?”
Sarina giggled, “Yup, I can feel their connection. Two griffins’, a wyvern, a hippogriff, and a dragon.” She announced in awe.
Within seconds Soren and the kids were surrounded as they headed back towards Seaside, their pack and hopefully far from whatever trouble the kids were running from. But Soren knew that was unlikely, whoever was after these kids weren’t going to give up, he knew it on some instinctual level.