Kai

 

“Hello. I see you brought everyone today,” Dr. Hakedo said, his eyes twinkling behind his glasses as he came out of the office and into the waiting room. Piper, Balt, Soraya, Isla, my father, and I had been waiting for his prognosis for over two days and now was the moment of truth.

“Clean bill of health, the both of you,” Dr. Hakedo continued. “Nothing out of the ordinary for a shifter.”

Limp with relief, I sagged in my seat and put my hands over my face. I could sense people hugging Isla and hear the murmur of voices. But I needed a moment to come to grips with this fully.

Kuwe was right. It wasn’t until I faced this and accepted there was nothing wrong with me that I’d been able to come to the doctor to hear what I’d already known. It was a weird sensation.

“Kai?” Isla asked.

Dropping my hands, I smiled up at her tiredly. After everything that had happened within the last few days, I had a sense of closure and I knew she felt it too. I saw the relief in her eyes, but more than that, I saw the glow of happiness for me. For us.

Standing up, I hugged her and gave Dr. Hakedo a crooked smile over her head. “Thanks.”

A sharp-faced Japanese man with a quick intelligence and easy smile, Dr. Hakedo gave me a half-fond, half-irritated look. “Don’t wait so long to come back, Kai or I’ll track you down myself. 

“Even though these two had their genes altered – nothing?” my father asked. “It’s a miracle.”

“Is that what that doctor led you to believe?” Dr. Hakedo asked, his eyes sweeping the room and was met with nods. “You should have consulted me sooner, Piper. Elias. Kai.”

I winced and gave him a grin. “You know us Weslarks.”

“It was classified,” Piper said stiffly. “We had to protect Kai.”

“Stubborn, stubborn,” Dr. Hakedo said, taking off his glasses and wiping them on his jacket. “I’d understand the need for secrecy if there was one, but this is nothing new,” he said dismissively. “What I’d like to know is where this group – the TLO, you called them?” Piper nodded. “I’d like to know where they got the instructions for the rites – I thought they were long lost to history.”

“The rites?” my father asked, puzzled.

“Of course. The sacrosanctum – de animalibus sacrosanctum.” Dr. Hakedo said, glancing around and was met with blank stares. “Oh, come, surely our history is known to you. There was a time when shifting was also bestowed as a great honor – hence the term eques pantharae. Panther knights. These were warriors who’d proven themselves worthy of this mystic power – or so the stories go. They’d be given the blood and kneel in the wheel of the moon or something. Then they’d rise up and become bellator sacro animalis.”

“The war sacred animal?” my father translated.

“Of course,” Dr. Hakedo said. “Sancti fortissimus bestiarum.”

“Strongest of all beasts,” Piper murmured. “I’ve read that before – I didn’t realize…”

“Well, perhaps it is an arcane branch of history. The practice is considered by some scholars to be pure myth, interpreted as a sign of shifting that happened around puberty for some people. But now we have living proof of it.” Dr. Hakedo looked at me and Isla.

“I think I’ve understood something,” Piper murmured slowly. “They found those stories, but they didn’t find the instructions. Crane and his cronies were trying to figure out the ritual.”

“And Kai was the guinea pig,” my father said grimly.

“So, they injected me with blood?” I grimaced. “Yikes.”

“No,” Dr. Hakedo interrupted. “You cannot just inject blood into someone – haven’t you heard of different blood types? Honestly. It was probably a highly concentrated dose of beta-androgenics, nucleic acid polymers and so forth. They've tried to update it, I assume. As far as I know, the old rites used to take days to perform. And it didn't always work – some died."

“Don’t forget there is the mystical aspect – the circle and the birthdays – the sacred spot,” Balt added. “Those are clues – maybe we can use those symbols to trace the history of the rites.”

“Incredible,” Piper murmured, her eyes lost in thought.

“This is making my head spin,” Soraya commented.

Dr. Hakedo, who had a few grandchildren still active in the SoA, looked at Piper. “Are you going to make this public information? If so, I’d like you to give out my name as a place for those who’d been treated to come see me.”

Piper hesitated, then looked at Balt and shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m going in tomorrow to have a meeting with the Order Heads. I… have a feeling I won’t be making that call.”

I saw something pass unspoken between my sister and Balt. As far as I knew, they’d gone back to exactly the way they were before. Although sometimes, I thought I sensed a discord between them – a tension that came and went like a shadow.

I had to hand it to Isla, I don’t know how she saw past Balt’s façade. With his smile back in place, I found myself wondering if I’d imagined everything that had happened and all that he’d said.

You need to leave it alone. For my sake and your sister’s.

But now that I knew about the Kazan curse and the slightly twisted family history, I also had to wonder if that was what was holding him back. Studying Balt’s impassive gaze as he looked back to Dr. Hakedo, I couldn’t help but think, and he thinks Weslarks are stubborn.

“I will say this, too.” Dr. Hakedo clasped his hands behind his back and looked from me to Isla. “These warriors who underwent the rites were considered great warriors and were held in great esteem in the shifter community. They were never considered less.” He gave me a stern look. “Never.”

“I get it, I get it.” I paused, thinking for a moment. “Hey, Doc, do you know if Kuwe knows these stories?”

“Of course,” he said. “I believe he told me about them. He has histories on them.”

“Of course, he did,” I muttered under my breath. I was going to give the old grinning bastard an earful when I saw him.

 

Later that day, everyone was napping or resting up at the house, while I was sitting on the beach, alone with my thoughts and hopes. For the first time in a long time, I was letting myself tiptoe into the future and look around. Make plans.

“What’s with the dopey expression?” Piper asked, plunking down next to me. “Thinking about Isla?”

“Yeah,” I said. “How soon do you think I should wait to ask to marry her? A week?”

“Marry?” Piper squeaked and I grinned over at her. “Oh, you’re messing with me.”

“Kind of. I think I’ll get her a promise ring first,” I said. “Maybe wait till next year.”

“Trust your gut, little brother,” Piper said affectionately, patting my back.

In the past few days, the air between myself and Piper had eased, our relationship taking on the easy way it had been when our mother was still alive. As had the one with my father.

When I thought about the way his eyes had filled when he found out Isla was Kyros’s daughter, I couldn’t hold anything against him.

“You found your way home,” he’d said and hugged her like he’d found a long-lost daughter.

Later, he’d told me Kyros would have been over the moon to have me as a son-in-law. At that, I’d almost broken down. And then I’d gathered up the courage to ask, “Dad, how come you never come to Maui?”

My father had been stunned. “Kai – I didn’t think you wanted me to come. You never asked.”

Letting out a weak chuckle, I’d hugged him fiercely. Though we wouldn’t figure out everything overnight, we wouldn’t do it apart either, so I’d told him, “Dad, come to Maui. Whenever.” I grinned at him as we broke apart. “You’ll love the cats.”

At that, he’d begun to laugh. My father loved cats probably more than I did, but hadn’t had a pet cat in years. Not since the two cats of my teenage years had passed away. Mentally, I made a note that Piper and I should get him one for Christmas.

I also remembered Isla’s parents, although the memories were a little blurry. Kyros and my father used to like to argue about politics, then roar with laughter over the old days, before drifting into Greek or Mandarin. They had a shared loved of languages.

Maria and my mother were quieter, laughing softly and watching over us kids play. She had a sweet voice and liked to sing. I still could recall the gentle way Maria would tip up my chin to her face and tell me what a heartbreaker I’d be one day.

It was still shocking to know that the little baby girl cousin who Balt used to fuss over was Isla. We used to call him Papa Duck because he was always holding her hand or carrying her.

I also remembered the cold shock when Kyros and Maria died and Balt came to live with us. He'd been quieter but never had seemed sad or despondent to me. Now that I was older, I realized he must have been hiding it, burying those feelings of loss deep within.

Not long after, Piper and I had lost our mother, too.

The three of us had irrevocably been tied together in mutual grief and mourning. It had locked us together like nothing had. Yet I still used to resent Balt and Piper for being shifters, jealous of their intuitive way with each other – their own secret language. Later, however, I’d been grateful Piper had Balt. When Piper wanted to kick down a door, Balt would knock politely. I’d always assumed Balt tempered Piper’s fire and steel, but now I wondered if it was mutual.

“You know, Balt was a mess without you, Pi,” I said nonchalantly.

Piper gave me an appraising look. “He blamed himself and he shouldn’t have.”

I wanted to say more, but I bit my tongue and instead told her what I’d been trying to tell her for days. But Piper had been a whirlwind, running around and ensuring Dr. Crane was held without bail, that Isla was safe and the SoA was informed. In fact, it was strange to see her still.

“He blew up your spot, too, you know.”

“What?” I could see Piper’s mind working like lightning and she blew out a sigh. “Oh.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I was pretty harsh on you – I should have known.”

“No, I’m sorry,” Piper said. “I should have listened to Balt. You deserved the truth.” Her lip trembled and she bit it savagely. “I was just so scared Kai – so scared of losing you. Those months when we couldn’t find you, they were the worst in my life. I hadn’t felt like that since mom died, but it wasn’t a clean wound, it was an alternating cycle of hope and despondency…”

I’d never heard my big sister admit something like that and it discomfited me slightly. Piper was taking down her walls and while I wanted it, I also wasn’t sure how to handle it.

Patting her hand clumsily, I said, “Well, I got a taste of my own medicine when Dr. Crane answered that phone.”

“The bastard,” she bit out. “I can’t wait to interrogate him. Find out where Frost, Hunter and the Parasite are holed up. Learn all TLO’s dirty business.”

I laughed at her vehemence. “Wish I could be a fly on the wall.” I paused. “Hey, Piper, thank you for always looking out for me,” I said, looking over at her. “I’m sorry I ever thought you didn’t care – when I heard you begging them.” I squeezed her hand. “You didn’t have to do that – I want you to stop sacrificing so much of yourself for me. You’re not to blame, Piper. I never blamed you for what happened to me.”

Piper’s eyes were swimming with tears and she let out a gentle laugh. “Ugh, man, been a lot of firsts the last coupla days.”

“Crying, kidnapping, yeah, it’s a lot,” I teased her.

It turned out Piper had been ambushed at the airport when she nodded off in a waiting room chair. Frost had slipped up next to her, giving her a dose of the sedative and then hauled her out of there on a phony gurney and into a fake ambulance.

The amount of self-restraint I’d had to exercise about telling her I was right about sleep was still bothering me three days later.

“Go ahead, Kai,” Piper suddenly said. “I can see it all over your face. You want to say ‘told you so, sis.’”

“I do, but I won’t,” I said. “I think the cage helped you learn your lesson.”

Her nostrils flared. “Not funny.”

“Man, if they put you in a zoo, there’s no way you wouldn’t scare off like every single visitor there. It’d become like the dark exhibit – go see the angry jaguar. She might eat a limb!”

She punched me on the arm and I laughed.

“What did Kai do now?” Isla asked from behind us and my heart leaped. She came and sat down on the other side of me, a grocery bag full of snacks swinging from her hands.

“Hi, kid,” I said softly, pulling her down.

There was an openness to Isla now that hadn’t been there before. All our walls had dissolved the night in the desert. Sometimes, I felt a little overwhelmed by the expanse, but I was happy to be there. It was the same kind of feeling I got when I caught a big wave, one I didn't know if I could handle. Only it was about a million times scarier and more exhilarating.

“I believe I am owed a thanks, Kai,” Piper said and I looked over to see her grinning smugly.

“For what?” I asked indignantly. “Crying a little?”

Some sibling habits would probably never break.

Rolling her eyes, Piper raised her eyebrows and glanced at Isla, then back to me.

“Oh, come on, Pi, you didn’t know this was going to happen. You were the one who was like, ‘she’s probably not going to like you very much since she has a good head on her shoulders.’”

Wincing, Piper let out a sheepish laugh. “I did say that, didn’t I?”

“Piper!” Isla said. “Honestly. You two need to be nicer to each other. You’re siblings.”

"We're working on it," I said and then lifting my other arm, slung it around Piper.

For a while, we sat there, talking and snacking, laughing it up. When Piper went back to the house to “nap” aka work, Isla gave me a blinding smile that made my heart race.

“It’s nice to see you two getting along,” she said.

“A lot of the air has been cleared,” I said, tracing my eyes across Isla’s face. The sea-jewel color of her eyes, her faintly pink cheeks and full, begging to be kissed lips. I nipped at the latter and then kissed her slowly, deeply. We’d talked a lot in the last few days, mostly with me apologizing and promising never to be so stupid ever again. When we broke apart, I smiled at her. “Damn, Isla.”

Her hand crept up my chest and pressed on my heart. “What?”

“I can’t believe I get to spend the rest of my life with you,” I said and her eyes lit up like stars. “So, I’ve been thinking – maybe next month we go to Japan and visit Kuwe. He’s a great shifter teacher and I think he’d do better than me at explaining some of this stuff. Oh, and then there’s this place in Tahiti that we have to check out. Great surfing. Cool locals.”

Isla almost knocked me over as she hugged me around the neck. “You’re making plans?” she asked, gazing down at me. “You’re making plans!”

"I mean, the best-laid plans don't usually work out, but I figure it can't hurt, right?" I swallowed. "It's still a little bizarre. But a good bizarre.”

“What is?” she asked, looking concerned for a moment.

“Getting what I want.” I grinned. “I’m into it though.”

“Oh, Kai,” Isla said with a laugh and hugged me tighter.

“I can’t wait to go home,” I murmured against her hair and closed my eyes.

“Me either,” Isla said and my mind was off and running, dreaming up everything we could and would do together in the future.