Valentina

We’re facing the door to freedom.

Gari’s holding my hand, and we’re now . . . bonded. Whatever that means. As we walk toward the door, I’m really happy - I’m with Gari, and we’re about to go back to where we belong.

We’re almost at the doors when I’m slammed against the wall, my hand ripped from Gari’s.

I look at Lyle, who’s just walked into the hall. Of course. It wouldn’t make sense if Lyle didn’t have powers too. And of course for evil, considering he’s, well, him.

As I try to breathe after getting the wind knocked out of me, I realize that Lyle’s power is still holding me against the wall, and I only can move my upper body.

Gari comes over to me, eyes on Lyle, fury written all over his face. Still looking at Lyle, he mutters to me, “Don’t let Lyle know about your star. We’ll find a way out of this.”

I nod, wondering what Gari has in mind.

“Let us go,” Gari says to Lyle, who’s watching us like one might view a boring tv show before changing the channel.

“Don’t worry. You can leave. I only want Val. Her power hasn’t been corrupted yet.”

I take off my mask and toss it aside as Gari does the same. There’s obviously no need for masks now.

“I’m not leaving without Val,” Gari says, getting angrier by the second.

“You will, if you want her to survive,” says Lyle casually.

I feel a pressure around my throat - Lyle’s trying to choke me!

“Lyle, stop,” I croak.

Gari’s eyes narrow.

“Stop hurting her!” Gari hisses.

Lyle smiles, but doesn’t stop.

I start gasping for breath, and the room begins to spin a little.

“STOP!” Gari growls, and in the next moment springs at Lyle, transformed into leopard.

As Lyle deals with Gari, he forgets to concentrate on me, and I slump to the floor, leaning against the wall, taking big gulps of air. Then I focus in the fight before me.

Gari’s still a leopard, lunging at Lyle, now a bear. Lyle lashes out at Gari but he’s too quick and Lyle misses. Gari’s now behind him, and leaps onto Lyle’s back, then turns into a tiger and bites the back of Lyle’s neck, and digs his back claws into Lyle’s back.

The bear lets out a loud howl and somehow manages to dislodge Gari. Gari slams into the wall, and shakes his head, a little stunned from impact. Lyle changes to an African elephant, and tries to crush Gari, who darts away and turns into a lion.

Gari leaps at Lyle again, trying to reach the gashes he made and irritate them more. Blood is splattered around the hall, and as Gari leaps, Lyle changes into a polar bear, and takes Gari by surprise, who crashes face first into Lyle’s upraised claws.

I can only watch as now Gari’s blood stains the hall. I don’t know what to do since I’m not much of a fighter. They seem to have forgotten about me anyway.

Trying a different tactic, Gari changes into a rattlesnake, curled up and hissing, but Lyle is ready for the challenge, and changes into a wild mustang, trying to stomp Gari with his hooves.

Gari then catches Lyle by surprise and lightning fast changes into a black panther and springs onto the horses’s back. Lyle tries to buck Gari off, and Gari only digs his claws in deeper, as Lyle expresses his pain with a horse’s scream, a chilling sound.

Lyle tries to roll and crush Gari, but Gari changes into an eagle, and flies above Lyle, who changes into a leopard, and bunches his muscles, ready to spring at Gari.

Gari is ready, taunting Lyle, who growls, then leaps up at him. Gari has been waiting for this, and changes into a bighorn sheep, and slams his horned head into Lyle, who goes flying and crashes into a wall.

Lyle loses control of shape shifting, and lies against the wall back in his human form, battered and bloody. Gari looks at me, making sure I’m alright, but then Lyle turns to a tiger, unbeknownst to Gari.

“GARI!” I shriek, and he turns to look at Lyle, who’s in midleap at Gari, who ducks, but underestimates’s Lyle’s speed, and winds up with Lyle at his throat, Gari unable to do anything without getting his throat sliced.

Gari turns human, while Lyle stays in tiger form, crouched on Gari’s chest. I can see a little bit of red glowing about Lyle, who begins to speak, still in tiger form.

“We’re a dying breed Edwards. Not the star marked, but red starred people. With all of you blues starred goody-two-shoes, we’re dying out. Unless you leave now, I will kill you. It’s been done once, and I won’t hesitate to kill again.”

Gari glances at me, then asks, “You’ve killed before?”

“Not me personally,” Lyle answers. “Some other red star. They got some guy in Greenburgh who was a blue star.”

Greenburgh.

That’s where I live. Where Stephen lived. They murdered Stephen.

“Now will you leave?” asks Lyle.

“I-” begins Gari, but then I leap at Lyle, changed into a cougar. I knock him off Gari and we wrestle, each trying to get the upper hand.

However, my fighting is tangled with my emotions, clouding my judgement, and even though I have Lyle’s blood on my claws, I wind up in the same situation as Gari was just in, Lyle on me, while I’m lying on my back in human form, tears streaking down my cheeks.

“I’ll stay. Just let Gari go,” I beg, trying to stop the tears.

Lyle springs off me and pads over to the exit, and says, “Being a gentleman, I will allow you two to say your goodbyes.”

I sit up, wiping the tears coursing down my cheeks, and look at Gari, who rushes over to me, and I realize that Lyle’s been holding him back with his power, Gari obviously being a bigger threat than me.

“You’re bleeding,” I say as he sits by me.

“It doesn’t matter. Val, you can’t stay. What will happen when he finds out about your star?” Gari says softly. “Killing doesn’t matter to him.”

“I don’t know. But I can’t lose both of you.”

“Val, if you stay here, you’ll still lose me,” he says.

“I can’t have you both dead. That will kill me if he doesn’t. Just go,” I say.

Gari looks into my eyes for a long moment, and finally says stubbornly, “Fine. If that’s what you want, I’ll go. But I won’t be happy about it.”

“Good,”I say.

He wipes my tears and kisses me.

What would a bitter goodbye be without a bittersweet kiss?

I try to ignore the tears filling my eyes again as I whisper, “I love you Gari.”

“I love you Val,” he says in return.

We get to our feet, and I try to smile, but fail. He kisses my cheek, and says, “Goodbye Val.”

Then he walks over to the portal, and disappears. I can’t believe it.

I’m now, truly alone.

Suddenly Lyle’s power thrusts me against the wall, and I can’t move at all. The incarnation of the devil himself calmly walks up to me and slaps my face. Hard.

“That,” he says casually, “was for attacking me.”

He turns back toward the door, and I say, “You’re a coward. You wait until my boyfriend leaves, then immobilize me before you slap me. You’re a bloody coward.”

Pressure builds on my throat as he turns around, his face bland even as the blood from his wounds drips to the floor.

“You need to learn your place,” he says, hardly concerned while I’m gasping for air.

He takes a step closer, releases all power he has on me, and slaps my face again in the same spot, only harder. He traps me against the wall again, and then walks over to the portal, and it looks like he’s inspecting it.

Then all of a sudden, out of thin air a tiger drops on top of Lyle.

“Val, run!” it says, and I realize it’s Gari.

I get up when Lyle growls, a bear again, and takes a swipe at Gari, who dodges easily. Lyle abruptly stands up, and Gari falls to the floor, as Lyle turns to tower over him. Before he can do anything, I change into a cougar and slam into Lyle’s back, and dig my claws into him. He tries to reach me, but can’t, and turns into a lion. He and I wrestle for a little, and when Lyle is just about to gain the upper hand, Gari pounces at him, and knocks him off me. I turn into a horse and plow into Lyle, helping out Gari who’s trying to get his jaws around Lyle’s neck but only grabs Lyle’s mane.

As Lyle springs at me as a panther, I turn into a bighorn sheep and slam into Lyle, just as Gari did before. Once again Lyle goes flying into the wall, blood smearing everywhere.

You’d think he’d learn.

“Val, come on!” Gari calls, and we turn into wolves. Reaching the way out, we leap.

My eyes jerk open, and I find that I’m at Gari’s in the library. I sit up, and once again, dizziness washes over me.

I close my eyes, ans after a few minutes, try to get up again, and this time there’s no dizzy feeling. I look for Gari, and find him right next to me, leaning against the day bed. Only his eyes are still closed.

I slide off the bed and sit next to him.

“Gari?” I ask in a horrified whisper.

“What?” he mumbles.

“Thank God,” I say, “you’re not dead.”

Gari sits up and I throw my arms around his neck.

“You didn’t leave me alone!” I exclaim.

His arms tighten around me as he says, “Of course I wouldn’t do that to you. My heart wouldn’t let me.”

“How’d you do it?” I ask.

“As I reached the door I turned into a gnat. I was there the whole time. When he slapped you. . .”

“I’m fine,” I interrupt. “How’s your head?”

I look at his head for any of the cuts Lyle gave, him, but there’s nothing there.

“They’re gone,” I say, a note of disbelief in my voice.

“I think that’s because what happened was to our minds, so we imagined it, but we didn’t get hurt physically.”

“Precisely Gari,” says Gari’s uncle, walking into the room.

I drop my arms from around Gari’s neck, and turn to look at Gari’s uncle. Gari however, keeps an arm around my waist.

“So Gari, I see you actually were paying attention when I spoke of magical theories.”

“Uncle,” Gari says, rolling his eyes, then kisses me.

Yep, right in front of his uncle.

I feel myself blush as Gari pulls back.

Uncle Jim is unfazed by our affection, and has simply looked at one of the shelves for a book.

“You’ve been out of your bodies for about an hour. Your aunt called Val, and she said to come home as soon as you could.”

“Ok,” I say, getting up. “Want to come Gari?”

“Of course,” he says, standing up next to me.

“Uncle, what are we going to do about Lyle?” Gari asks before we leave.

I look at Uncle Jim as he answers.

“I’m going to contact a few people in the hierarchy of the blue starred people so we can decide what to do about him. You two shouldn’t worry about it.”

So we say goodbye, and Gari leads me to his car.

“Why don’t we just fly home?” I ask him.

“This lasts longer,” he says with a grin.

He kisses me again, and I say, “At least your uncle doesn’t care about us together.”

“Why would he? He likes you.”

Gari drives me back to Louie’s one handed, his right hand holding mine. He parks behind another car in my aunt’s driveway, and we walk up to the front door.

Gari kisses me again,

“Thanks for coming after me,” I say.

“My common sense was powerless against my heart,” he says with a grin.

He kisses me once more, and then we say our goodbyes.

He starts walking back to his car while I open the door to go inside. As I open the door, I see exactly who our visitors are.

I turn around and call, “Gari!”

“Yes?”

“Come inside for a minute. There’s someone I’d like you to meet.”

We walk inside together, and I say, “Mom! Dad!”

“Honey!” my mom says, and comes up to give me a hug.

She lets me go, and I see my aunt and dad smiling.

Mom then notices Gari, who’s been watching our reunion.

“Who’s this?” she asks.

I give Gari a special smile, then take his hand and hold it tight.

“Mom and Dad,” I say. “I’d like you to meet my boyfriend Gari.”

I guess you should know I thought this story was a lot longer than it turned out, but I hope you like it anyway :

So people, this is the end . . . tell me what you think! And I'm also considering a sequel to this one, because after writing it and re-reading it, I realized I left a loose end - Lyle. So tell me what you think aobut that. However, a sequel would take a while for me to get to, so I'll wait and see.

Thanks for reading! - J