Guardian - 3. Chapter 3

Gabriel sat beside Sean as he went through his iPod and spoke about which bands were his favorites and the songs he liked the most. Gabriel was fascinated with the device and was so completely zoned in watching it that he hadn’t realized that a small sparrow had landed on his shoulders. When he felt his hair getting pulled he turned his head, seeing the bird that chirped at him. Sean blinked when his eyes saw the bird just sitting on the teen’s shoulder. Sean had raised a brow at him and Gabriel gave a soft smile, leaning down next to the cooler beside him.

“One second, looks like my friends are hungry again.” He pulled out some ham from the cooler and gave it to the sparrow. Sean watched in a slight fascination as the bird gave a head bow and flew off afterward. Gabriel felt eyes on him, turning to see Sean’s just staring at him. He felt slightly nervous but the reassuring smile Sean gave off made him relax.

“That’s pretty cool. I’ve never seen that before.” Gabriel gave a soft laugh.

“Animals have always liked me, but they never flocked to me before, just since my birthday.” Curious because the question never popped up, Sean took the opportunity to ask.

“So how old are you Gabe? You don’t mind if I call you that do you?” Sean smiled more when Gabriel gave a shake of the head, his eyes going back down to his lap. The teen struck him as mysterious and was glad his sister wasn’t around to ruin the fun since she flirted with every guy he tried to become friends with.

“I turned 16 yesterday.” Sean gave a smiled.

“Nice. I’m 17. So do you get homeschooled?” He saw the slight confusion in Gabriel’s expression before he answered.

“No I went to high school.”

“Oh…well I figured with your dad…” He wasn’t able to finish when Gabriel was quick to interrupt.

“He’s not my dad…and I’d rather not go into it…can we go back to music?” The sudden question to change the subject really intrigued Sean, but he didn’t want to really push it, so he went back to music.

Ted wasn’t far away, having gone back to a conversation with Henry over at the smoking area. The two adults watched the two teens talk.

“So where you headed?” Henry asked Ted as the older male took a long inhale of his small cigar.

“Helena, then I’m off to Wolf Point.” Henry looked over.

“That’s a lot of driving.” Ted gave a nod, seeing the small bird perch on Gabriel’s shoulder and seemly entranced by it that he failed to hear Henry talking to him. His attention was just focused on the boy who seemed to be so comfortable with the bird on his shoulder. When he glanced around, he noticed that the sparrow wasn’t the only one. In the grass below he saw slithering movements of a snake and squirrels further off watching. He found it slightly strange but was pulled from his thoughts when Henry’s hand fell on his shoulder. “…I know my son will just love North Dakota.” Ted turned his head and gave a smile. Seemed he had missed the entire conversation but now it was time to hit the sack.

“I should get going. You take care Henry.” Though it seemed slightly rude, Ted walked away before Henry had more time to talk. He strolled over to Gabriel and Sean, the two looking up at the adult. “Ready to sleep?” Gabriel looked at Sean who slightly frowned. Ted gave a chuckled. “Or not…well when you’re ready the cabin will be open. Just don’t stay up too late.” Ted left the teens alone and went to the truck. Sean watched him leave then looked back at Gabriel who was zoned in with the music.

“Say…Gabe, I’ve got a CD if you want it…I already downloaded it to my iPod.” Gabriel turned his head at him. He barely even knew Sean and the teen was actually willing to give him one.

“Well…I guess…If you don’t want it.” Sean gave a laugh, standing and leaving his iPod with him.

“Well considering we’ve been on the same band for a while, I think you’d like it.” He came back and handed the other teen the CD, earning a large smile. Sitting back down, Sean leaned back some. “So you got any pets back home?” Gabriel once again thought of Raoul. Every moment and statement that had anything to do with reminding him of the wolf made his heart tear in pain.

“I had a friend wolf…” Sean’s eyes went to Gabe and raised high.

“A wolf?” He watched the teen smile, handing the iPod back.

“Yeah. he walked me to school and back. And after work we’d hang out. His fur was dark brown and he had some red. He didn’t have much white or gray on him. He was really cool…I really miss him…” Sean saw the pain in Gabriel’s eyes.

“Oh…I’m sorry…well no doubt he’ll find you if he really got attached, though I’ve never heard of any wolf going in search of someone.” Sean didn’t realize what he said until he said it and then felt extremely bad for mentioning it. Gabriel sulked and Sean groaned inwardly. “”I didn’t mean it like that; I bet he’s looking for you,” he said again, this time barely seeing a smile.

Far from the two humans, the sparrow had flown far from the rest area to where a herd of deer were settled. The sparrow saw a doe close by, landing and chirping happily.

“Sister doe, sister doe! A Jarkla is near! A human boy has his spirit! We must rejoice and spread the word!” The doe’s head lifted and smiled, a soft prance in her hooves.

“Spread the word brother sparrow! I shall do the same!” Both parted ways, the doe running to tell her herd. As things looked bright, the good word would bring trouble to some. News spread like a wildfire about the Jarkla, but not to all those who would use the word for good. A wolf ran after speaking to a small field mouse straight to his pack that occupied an abandoned barn outside the city of Wolf Point. The area was under hidden protection that human eyes could never see. Running inside the barn, the wolf morphed on the spot, running to his alpha and kneeling down.

“Alpha Orion, there is a Jarkla about sixty miles north of here.” The alpha, whose hair was short and black, his eyes a bottomless dark brown stared at his subordinate with a smile. The soft streaks of gray in his beard told of his age but his body was massive and large, putting any professional wrestler to shame. His skin tone was a soft bronze. He wore jeans torn at his thighs and beside him was a smaller and pale female. Her face bore a bruise on the cheek, streaks of tears on her face.

“A Jarkla? My, this is a wonderful year. What does it look like? What form?” he asked, his attention fully on the messenger

“He is human, Alpha. Male, short and small with dark hair. It was all the field mouse gave me.” he said, his eyes never leaving the floor where the feet of his alpha’s were placed.

“Good.” Orion looked to his troops who awaited the commands. “Find him! Bring him to me!” At once the subordinates scattered and another male, slightly smaller than Orion came to stand at his side.

“What if there is a guardian already?” his beta asked him.

“Kill it. The Jarkla will be mine.”

Ted and Gabriel had left early morning, the teen actually falling asleep outside near a tree, making Ted worry until he found the teen nestled with several squirrels and birds covering him. It was several hours after that moment and they were on the road again to Helena.

“Hey kid I’ve been meaning to ask you something.” Not knowing exactly how to word it. “Has that happened a lot?”Gabriel gave him a shrug, the eyes of the man glancing over between the teen and the road.

“Just a little back home…” he said, his head turning to watch the landscape fly by. Ted looked back at the road.

“Which I need to take you back to. No doubt someone will realize you’re gone and get the cops involved.” Gabriel turned to Ted, a frown heavy on his lips.

“Don’t take me back please. They don’t want me. I hated it there.” Ted gave a soft defeated sigh.

“Then I have to turn you in anyways. That’s the kind of stuff that has to get settled. No doubt you’ll be placed and hopefully adopted out. You’re a nice kid Gabe, don’t get me wrong.” Gabriel gave a helpless sigh that put some stress on the old man. “Tell you what, I have a son that’s been trying to have a child of his own for a while. Maybe if things go through I’ll give him your info.” Gabriel let a hopeful twitch of his lips curl up. He gave a soft nod.

“Ok…” Ted tried to smile but Gabriel seemed to be a kid full of mystery.

“Say I never got how old you were,” Ted said, wanting to try and liven up the depressing mood.

“I turned sixteen yesterday…” he mentioned, Ted smiling some.

“Did you celebrate it?”

“A little…but it wasn’t that great,” Gabriel said frowning again. Ted wanted to hit himself mentally in the head. He needed to get the kid’s mind on something a bit more ‘happier’.

“So you like this CD then that Sean gave you?” Finally he saw the smile again and felt relieved.

“Yeah, I really like it.”

“That’s good.” Again the conversation crashed and Ted gave a sigh. Gabriel once again lost himself in the music and the ride was quiet.

I didn’t know that how animals flocked to me made me different. When it had happened with Sean, I wasn’t really thinking about it. They all stared at me as if I was crazy. After we left I wasn’t sure what to think. It hadn’t started happening until Ted picked me up and I came on this delivery. But now I was worried because he wanted to turn me in, send me back to my parents. I didn’t like the sound of it and dreaded going back to them after they probably thought I was gone out of their life. All because of whom I look at. I didn’t understand why though. I never once went with my feelings. Even as tempting as it was to think about kissing Sean, I didn’t bother taking action. So here I was again, stuck in the world that I wish my friend Raoul was with me. I would have been able to be brave with him at my side. He always gave me the strength. When I watched the scenery from out the window, I wished and hoped that Raoul would find me, or find someone else to bring a sense of likeness to as he had me. The sun was setting and my body again wanted to succumb to sleep. This time though, I kept noticing how my head pounded. It hurt to look around and I couldn’t remember a thing once I closed my eyes and passed out.

Raoul made it to the rest stop where his nostrils were hit with Gabriel’s scent. He was frantic as he looked around for the teen, the humans still around pointing at him, probably thinking he was a mutt with a collar. He followed the scent into the male bathroom, then was shooed out by some of the police that guarded the area, making sure he wasn’t grabbed by them. He followed it out and then right into a table that was being cleaned up by a single woman. He could smell Gabriel all around the area faintly and gave a whimper at the woman.

“Oh hello there big guy. You hungry?” Raoul gave a snort. No he wasn’t hungry! He wanted his human! He gave another whine and sniffed around, leaving her and going to where the truck had been parked. “Honey come here! There’s a dog sniffing about.” Henry came from the camper that was parked in another lot, seeing the dog sniff and whine where the trucker Ted had parked his own.

“He’s got a collar, have you read his tags?” Henry asked. Sean came out rubbing his eyes and walked to grab a bag of chips, seeing the dog. Raoul looked back at the two adults looking at him and noticed the other teen who had more of Gabriel’s scent around him. He went up and sniffed him, taking the teen by surprise when the cold nose touched his leg. He looked down and saw the bright silver tag that hung on the collar. Bending down he let the dog continue to sniff him but was surprised by the sheer size of the dog, he read the tag. He stood up and looked to his mom.

“Mom this is Gabe’s dog. This must have been his fr-“ Sean froze at the word. Gabriel never said he had a dog, he said he had a wolf. Sean stumbled back from the canine that whined and wagged its tail, giving a howling bark. The family moved away from the wolf but Raoul was desperate now. His ears went back when he heard a chirping hello and saw a swallow sitting on the bench. He went to it as they began to exchange words, the humans watching the interaction.

“I have seen the Jarkla. He left with another human in a large metal unit on wheels.” Again Raoul gave a snort.

“Yes I know, the truck. What direction? How far ago?” he asked, the humans listening in just hearing soft grunting growls and chirping from the swallow.

“Yesterday morning, heading south east.” Chimed the swallow. Giving a yelping thanks he left, but the sparrow didn’t leave his side.

“I shall be your eyes in the sky shifter! For I fear others have found out about the Jarkla!” it cried down to the wolf who ran from the rest area, following the road.

“I am his guardian brother swallow! I must find him!” Words were too much for the two as they raced in the direction that the truck had left. Raoul’s gut was turning and knotting as a deep feeling was starting to come to him that his boy would soon not be safe.