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The Gift

Stephanie's Storyline, Chapter 2.2

copyright comidacomida 2018

I looked quizzically at Anapa. "What does that have to do with balance?"

Without Kyle even translating, the Jackal spoke. After a slight pause, the Raven spoke for him. "He wants to be able to ask you some questions in return."

It almost felt like a game but, nevertheless, I was still willing to humor the Jackal. Remembering something Tom had said to me, I smiled and repeated those words. "We have an Accord."

While Kyle seemed bemused and Anapa was pleased, Tom's enormous hand landed against his horned snout audibly. Apparently my Sentinel didn't like my choice of words. Regardless, it led into a much deeper Q&A.

Anapa spoke and, as he did, Kyle watched him closely, head tilting first in one direction then the other, almost like a Robin examining the grass for a worm. Once the Jackal had said his piece he looked to the Raven, and declared something. Kyle nodded and turned toward me. "He wants to know what happened to your arm."

I was surprised at the question considering there wasn't anything wrong with either of my arms. Looking to each in turn and coming up with no answers I returned my attention to Anapa. "What do you mean? My arms are fine."

Without waiting for Kyle to translate, the Jackal pointed to my right arm and said a few words using a matter-of-fact tone. The Raven translated. "He said that your arm was broken some time ago. He wanted to know how it happened."

Tom snorted, sitting back down; the armchair creaked in protest. Once the Rhino had quieted I provided an answer. "I was crawling across the top of the monkey bars at school and I fell. My arm got cot between the rungs and... well... it was in a cast for over a month until it healed. Is that what he means?"

The tiny feathers around Kyle's beak puffed up. "You broke your arm when you were young? I didn't know that, Stef."

I nodded, giggling. "I never got back onto of the monkey bars again."

Tom interrupted us. "She is answering the Jackal's question, no yours. Perhaps you should translate for her now, Raven."

Turning to regard the Rhino I froze before saying anything; the ring in his nose glowed brightly and he grunted as if he'd been struck. Tom closed his eyes, taking a deep breath before standing. "I will be in your room, Nekh'dah-- much more of this and I our Accord will not end well.

Not waiting for a response, Tom stood and, as he exited the room, reached up and pulled the golden ring out of his nose. It came free without any indication of discomfort or pain despite having appeared to have been piercing his septum; it faded away into nothing after he opened his hand and wandered down the hall toward my bedroom, mumbling to himself in what I thought was Hebrew. I remember feeling sorry for him but, at the same time, I was a little relieved that there'd be less stress in the room which had been caused by me worrying over his presence. Although there was no sound of a door closing behind him I somehow knew that he was in my room and out of the discussion.

I felt the impression of Kyle's wing brush across my hand comfortingly, like the gentle pressure of fingers on my wrist. "Older spirits tend to be grumpy, Steph-- he probably just doesn't like the idea of you hanging out with a couple of non-Guardians."

I looked at Kyle and paused long enough to consider what he'd said. After that moment I focused again on Anapa, who remained staring at the Raven and I spoke on the real topic at hand. "Are you going to translate for me, Kyle?"

The Raven cleared his throat. "Oh... uh... right."

Kyle did what I hoped was a good job of explaining the monkey bars incident to the Jackal. There was still so much I wanted to ask Anapa but I knew it was only fair that I answer some of his questions too. The idea that I broke my arm when I was nine seemed insanely unimportant at the time and I was trying to wrap my head around that when Kyle finally translated what the Jackal had asked next. "He wants to know about your teeth. He says that not all of them are completely real."

That caught me by surprise. "Huh?"

The Raven motioned to me with a gesture from the end primary feather on one of his wings. "I dunno-- maybe he's asking about your crown? Didn't you have a crown put on one of your teeth a few weeks before graduation?"

The fact that Kyle knew about my dental history threw me for a loop until I remembered that he'd been one of my brother's friends for two years or, rather, that he'd been using that friend as a skin puppet. My thoughts grew darker for a moment as I got hung up on that fact again. He must have sensed my inner turmoil because Kyle paused in awaiting a reply to ask "Is everything okay, Stef?"

It was hard to explain the countless emotions banging around inside me. Just thinking about my life before losing my brother was second to thinking about my life before being surrounded by spirits or even knowing that spirits existed. It felt like the experience somehow cheapened the loss of my brother and, then again, thinking that I'd known a spirit in the form of one of my brother's friends-- the whole line of thinking just kept going around and around in circles and each time it revolved back around to my brother it only hurt more.

I forced myself to end the cycle by pushing out my answer for the Raven to translate. "Go ahead and tell him about my dentist visit-- you know all about it... Kyle."

It was obvious that the unspoken part of my statement wasn't missed and his feathers puffed up. "Sorry... just trying to help. Really."

Something inside me broke at that and I stood up. "Well it ISN'T helping! You might know me, but I don't know you. Not really. All I know is that you were some spirit possessing one of my brother's friend."

He interjected "I--"

I didn't give him the chance. "EVEN if it was to help, you were still possessing-- uh-- Skin Riding-- WHATEVER!"

My voice had gone up to a dull shout by that point. Medved and Tom had both walked straight through the wall by the time I'd even paused to remember the right term for what the Raven Kyle had done to human Kyle. Tears were coming down my cheeks unbidden and, for the briefest moment I felt so embarrassed at losing it. Before I knew it I fell even deeper into a sniveling mess and I sat there in the chair with my face in my hands, crying.

Medved and Tom didn't stop at just reentering the room; they moved in the moments I was at my worst, positioning themselves between me and the other two spirits. Medved was particularly vocal about his objection to the situation, his voice coming out at a veritable growl. "What have you done to her? Why is she crying? Tell me now!"

Tom spoke through gritted teeth. "I knew this discussion was a bad idea. You two should leave. Now."

Kyle attempted to provide an excuse, or at least an explanation. "I didn't do anything. I was just translating for--"

He didn't get a chance to finish as Tom lumbered forward, arm outstretched. He latched his hand around Kyle's neck and hoisted him out of the chair. Anapa stood up immediately but, rather than come to the Raven's aid he instead reached out for me. I was still so mixed up in my head and stunned by Tom's and Medved's reappearance that I didn't resist his touch. I felt the warmth of his paw on my wrist and then everything around me faded away and was replaced by something... different. At first I thought I was having a seizure or something but, after a moment, I felt the same sensation of when I'd taken his paw outside my parents' house and then something else happened: I was somewhere else entirely.

The sun is beating down overhead and it's hot-- really hot. I'm climbing along the rocks surrounding the river; behind me is a long stretch of gravel and some brush and ahead-- I know where I am. Rather than feel trepidation or fear or disgust at seeing the large boulder overhanging the swimming spot where Billy had died I felt only excitement; I'm looking forward to the cold water and the fun that swimming could bring; I AM Billy. My sister Stephanie had left for Western Oregon but I have ways to stay close to her; our favorite swimming spot is just the thing I need.

Without even waiting or thinking I clamor up the overhang created by the rocks and boulder; I'm wearing the water socks Stef bought me for my birthday so the going is easy-- right until I get to the end of the rocks and a collection of fallen leaves causes me to slip. Stef always said to jump feet first and I'd always trusted her judgment, but that fall isn't really under my control. I tumble into the water headfirst and everything goes... wonky. Water. Bubbles. Pain. Everything disappears in a flash of white, and then comes back into view, but all blurry and dark.

After that everything seemed almost detached, like it was going in slow motion through a hazy lens filter on a movie screen. I'm no longer Billy but it also feels like he's not himself either. I watched the dancing light up above playing across the surface of the river water and the indistinct movement of the shore passing by. A moment later a dark shape created an explosion in the water as Kyle appeared, grabbing and yanking at Billy, pulling him to the surface.

The shore wasn't very far away but it was obvious that Kyle was having trouble fighting the curtain with Billy in tow; what really caught my attention though was that I kept seeing human Kyle and Raven Kyle, constantly superimposed and replacing one another. The water was splashing all around but not once did I get the impression that Billy was choking... or even breathing. Even while doing the same himself, Kyle still managed to scream "Ash! Call 911!"

Ashton was far upstream near the diving rock just standing on the shore stunned. Kyle, however, was a blur of motion, the combination of Raven and Human personas so blurred that it was almost hard to see him... until his hands/wings were resting on either side of Billy's face; I was looking through my brother's eyes. Kyle spoke softly. "Billy?"

I heard Billy's voice, but, at the same time I realized it was only in my head. "Kyle? Why do you look like a bird?"

Kyle slowly came into focus as the Raven spirit I knew him to be. I found that I could look up and move, separate from Billy and, although I was loathed to do so I had to know: somehow willing my vision to see things differently I was able to look down on my brother and very much wished I hadn't. Billy was gazing skyward, unmoving, blood leaking out onto the shore where his head had been gashed open. It was Billy but, at the same time it wasn't; I could already tell that he wasn't alive.

Everything had frozen; the world around Kyle and Billy stopped. Billy was unmoving, but Kyle still did. The Raven lowered his head even as he drew my brother up close to him, touching his forehead to Billy's, and he spoke, answering the unspoken question. "Don't worry about it... it's just a thing."

'Just a thing'-- It was a saying my brother's groups of friends used all the time when they were saying that something wasn't a big deal. Billy apparently took it in stride. His lips didn't move and he didn't say anything but, somehow words still manifested. "Kay... so... what happened? I fell off the rock... didn't I?"

Kyle nodded, slowly lowering Billy's body back to the ground. "Yeah... you went right into the river. I went after you."

I heard Billy's laugh, which was even more unsettling since his corpse remained limp. "You? You're a REALLY bad swimmer... you're lucky we didn't both drown."

The set of the Raven's beak left me with the impression that he was barely keeping it together. "Yeah, well, Ashton was just standing on the bank like a dork... he's still standing there not knowing what to do."

Billy laughed again. "Yeah? Well... be sure to give him some grief for me, kay?"

Only in that moment did I really truly understand: Billy knew he was dead. Kyle nodded. "Yeah... I will."

Everything started to fade around me and, despite how hard I tried to grasp at the scene it was slipping through my metaphorical fingers. Even as it all went black I could hear Billy's one last request "Make sure that Stef's doin' okay... can ya?"

Kyle's words were shaky with emotion. "As if it were my Duty."

Everything immediately snapped back into focus when I heard a resounding thump. Anapa's paw left my wrist and I stood up immediately, turning to Tom, who had the Raven's back to the wall where he'd just slammed him. Unlike before, the wall seemed to be incredibly solid, and the impact was enough to jar Kyle, who cawed out a helpless "I didn't do anything! We were just talking about her dental trip last spring!"

I jumped in immediately. "Tom. Wait!"

The Rhino, who had one fist up, ready to strike looked my way and lowered it, but he kept Kyle pinned to the wall. He spoke evenly, but there was obvious concern in his tone. "Nekh'dah, you were crying... if he hurt you--"

Rather than address Tom's implication I focused on Kyle instead. "The day Billy died... at the River..."

Kyle's purple eyes, which had turned from Tom to focus on me slowly fell to the ground. He didn't say anything, so I pushed further. I hadn't so much as brought it up since we'd arrived back at my parents' place but I wanted to know; I needed to know. "You and Ashton were there? Weren't you?"

Even though he was pinned by Tom's grip the Raven still managed to nod. "Yeah... Ashton called 911 on his cell."

"Let him go."

Without questioning my request Tom opened his hand and let Kyle go, dropping the Raven to the floor. I approached him even as he rubbed at where the Rhino's hand was gripping his neck and I threw my arms around him and pulled him close for a hug. Kyle let out a squawk of surprise as I did so but I ignored his surprised exclamation as I lost myself in his feathers, the soft feel of them almost as good as a security blanket as I broke down into fresh tears.

From somewhere off to the side I heard Medved's rumbling voice note. "She is touching him, Tom..."

The Rhino snorted and I heard him storming off down the hall but I didn't care. I managed to speak through my sobs. "You were there with him... I saw it."

Only after my declaration did Kyle respond, slowly folding his wings around me. "Anapa showed you, did he? You... weren't supposed to know about that. I-- I didn't want you to hurt anymore than you already did."

Slowly pulling away I looked Kyle in the eyes; they were tearing up almost as much as mine. "I-- I didn't know you two were there."

Anapa spoke up, addressing me for the first time since Kyle had started translating for him. Gesturing to the Raven, the Jackal spoke plainly and to the point. "Hemet-netjer. Good. He good. No bad."

I glanced back to Kyle, who was wiping his eyes clean. I smiled to the Anapa first, and then to Kyle. The Raven only met my gaze for a moment but, in that split second, I thought I saw a faint sheen of gold to his purple irises. The prior few days had been a difficult time for me and I knew it wasn't going to get much easier, but, in that moment, I was able to honestly tell myself that it felt like I could eventually heal and maybe, just maybe, the spirits would, in some way, be able to help.