Chapter 5

The bus ride back to the school was a quiet one. Neither Jason nor Van could think of how to continue the conversation that had taken their attention earlier that day. The bus increased this feeling with the amount of people that filled its confines; prying eyes never leaving the others within.

When the brothers arrived at the bus stop, they began to walk down the crowded sidewalk towards the entrance of their schoolyard until Jason stopped in his tracks, looking down a side ally.

Van stopped walking soon after. "What's wrong?"

Jason looked back to his brother from where he stood. "Nothing, I just thought that I had seen something in my peripheral vision."

"Like what?" Van walked back to his brother and looked down the alley. In the ally, there were piles of boxes along one wall next to a dumpster that had a part of its lid missing.

"I don't really know. It almost looked like a white dog but it was bigger than any dog I have ever seen."

"Maybe it was just a really big dog," Van suggested as he looked back to Jason.

"I don't think so." Jason moved toward the alley slowly.

"Why do I feel like we are about to walking strait into a bad situation?"

"Because we probably are. Besides, couldn't it be a chaos creature?"

Their steps echoed in the shadowed alley. The short space between the mouth of the alley and the dumpster seemed to multiply as they stepped closer to it. It's distance stretching now to the very back of the alley.

"That is not normal," Jason stated as he looked back toward the street only to find a wall in its space. "What in the name of –"

Van's hand to his mouth cut the sentence short. Jason looked at his brother to find him eying the garbage bin at the end of the alley. "I don't think that we are alone."

"Then what's here?" came Jason's whispered worry.

Instead of answering Van said, "I hate when you are right."

Before Jason could think of what his brother's statement could mean he was pushed toward one of the walls. In place of himself, there was now a large wolf. Its fur was a sleek white that glowed in the dim light of the alley. Its eyes were a sky blue with no pupil in the center, the flat color holding his attention.

"Here poochy. Here pooch. You don't want that bag of fat. Come get something worth sinking your teeth into." The wolf's head turned to Van before its lips pulled back revealing bright sharp teeth.

Now what do I do? He thought before looking from side to side for a weapon. His search came up empty and with no weapon in sight; he had no choice but tohis abilities. A low murmur flowed from his mouth. The murmurs grew the closer he came to the end and a staff took form in his now outstretched hand.

The staff bore deep engravings at its head. In the engravings ran a vein of evergreen that glinted in the morose light. At the opposite end of the staff clung two hoops. Imbedded in one of the two hoops was a red trail all the way through its middle. The other hoop held an imbedded design of black curves.

Van spun the staff with no difficulty. He stood square to the wolf and waited for it to make the first move. Unbeknownst to him, Jason had gotten up from his place against the wall and now was whispering in the ancient tongue that granted the guardians strength. At his final words, his hands pulled from each other to reveal his swords; both gleamed to match the wolf and imbedded green of Van's staff.

No movement ensued in the alley. The three occupants stood in a line with barely a few feet in between. The longer the silence stood the more Jason began to question the situation. Why isn't the wolf attacking?

As though the mere thought of an attack brought time back into motion, the wolf turned its blank eyes on him; the snarling beast gone to the world, leaving a frightened puppy in its place. Jason put his arms down at this look from the dangerous creature. He lost himself in the sky blue pools for a moment more before he knelt in front of it.

The wolf moved forward completely forgetting the enemy at his back. Van raised his staff in order to strike when a tall man in a large sweatshirt grabbed it in the air. He turned to the man with hard features, but before he could say anything, the man placed a hand on his head and turned it back to the scene that lay before him.

The monstrous form of the chaos creature shadowed Jason's tall frame. The creature's head tilted down and sniffed Jason's messy dark red hair. After finishing its examination, it sat in front of him and waited.

Jason looked up at the large animal. It waited patiently for him to do something. Without thinking, Jason raised his hand to put it on the wolf's head, never getting the chance. An arrow whizzed by breaking the trance and caused the wolf to spring away from Jason and look to the new threat.

At the entrance to the ally there stood Kuu in her training garb, a bow raised in front of her. Her long hair pulled into the usual braid and a quiver clung to her leg. Her face held a mask of hatred when she looked at the creature and set fly two more arrows that the wolf dodged more easily before running out of the ally without a trace.

"Are you two okay?"

"Yeah, no injuries here. You?" Van questioned.

Jason shook his head in reply and stood from his crouched position, patting the dust from his knees. "I'm fine."

Kuu sighed and walked forward to Jason and inspected him. "You should be more careful. Chaos creatures a tricky, they don't seem as dangerous as they seem."

"I'll keep that in mind." Jason brushed by her and walked out of the ally.

Kuu turned to Van who had just banished his staff. "What were you thinking letting a creature get that close to him? He doesn't know how to protect himself yet!"

"He's fine isn't he?"

"Fine! He could have had his head bitten off and that is what you have to say?"

"Kuu calm down the creature wasn't going to hurt him. I wouldn't have let it."

"How would you have stopped it, Van? It was right next to him for bloody sake!"

"Don't go there Kuu! I know what could have happened, all right? Back off!" Van glared before taking his leave, rushing out of the ally and toward the school gates where he met up with Jason.

Jason paused in his stride before deciding not to say anything and continue walking. When they arrived in front of the school gates, the principal stood waiting with his arms crossed. Both boys looked at each other before walking forward to meet their doom.

When they reached the principal, he shook his head before opening the gate and leading them inside. Both followed without question or protest and followed him along the wide path in the yard. The yard sported three large trees near its entrance. Their limbs twisted and knurled from the many years they have stood.

The pathway guided onlookers to a grand door into the main school building. The old brick style was deceptive to those who had only seen the building from the street. The style made the building looked as if it was from the eighteen hundreds, so much so that people would wait outside for hours for people in old clothing to appear from its entrance with books in hand.

To most, this homey look soothed and comforted but for those who entered the walls following the dark haired head master the walls seemed to close in further with every step. By the time, a student in trouble made it through the many twists and turns of the large building, they would feel completely trapped. Van and Jason were no exception to these feeling of dread.

In fact, the two were even more prone to the feeling of foreboding. The dark walls held no comfort for the two young men as they took the dreadful march to the office. When they finally arrived, they sat silently in two chairs that stood across from the large ash desk that dominated the room. The Principal took a seat in the wing-backed chair behind the desk.

The dark coloring of the room gave it a watchful quality that could break even the hardest of rule breakers. Its walls draped in their mahogany wallpaper with dark drapes to match.

"So does one of you want to start explaining first?"

Silence followed the deep voice. The Principal raised an eyebrow before he put his elbows on his desk so that he could rest his head in the palms of his hands.

"I can wait all afternoon, you know?"

Van raised his eyes and hesitantly spoke. "You already know what we did so there is really no need for you to ask is there?"

The Principal sighed, "I only know that you snuck out. I don't know what you were doing or why." As an afterthought, he added, "If you're worried about them finding out then don't. No one can hear what is being said in here besides the three of us."

Both young men visibly relaxed at this, which caused the older man to chuckle earning him a glare. "It would have been nice to know that before, Mr. Arayto," Van stated grumpily.

"You know better than to call me that when we are in private, Vanhi, really," the older man shook his head.

"It's hard to think of you that way when you are also our Principal," Jason pointed out.

"It shouldn't be. I have been your uncle for far longer than I have been a Principal. Beside that point, as your uncle, what were you two doing off campus during school hours?"

"Nothing important." Van shrugged and then became very interested in the frayed ends of his sleeves.

"Am I supposed to believe that?"

"No but it was worth a try." Van looked back up into the evergreen eyes that his own mirrored, their unwavering nature not diminishing with his age.

"So are you going to tell me or do I have to get it out of Jason?"

Van sighed. "We went to meet up with Sam and Kuu."

"And why would you need to do that?"

"We had to explain a few things to Jason."

"I am right here you know! Why does everyone seem to be forgetting that I am in the room recently?"

"Sorry, Jason, we just get caught up in the conversations." Their uncle apologized sympathetically.

"Doesn't help." Jason mumbled as he leaned back in the chair while crossing his arms.

Van rolled his eyes before standing and heading toward the door. Before he could make it ten steps his uncle said, "Where do you think you are going?"

"I am going to the bathroom."

"Alright. Be back in less than ten or I'm coming to find you."

"Got it."

"Good."

Van then left the room in silence and walked down the hallway. Jason sat quietly in his seat wondering why all of a sudden Van had felt a need to leave the room. Their uncle sat quietly contemplating the same exact question.