Chapter XXI

“Ooh, Eryn! I want one of those, too!” Kara exclaimed, pointing to a pink, stuffed teddy bear high on a shelf in the shooting gallery’s prize vault. “Please, Eryn, please?”

“Dolan? Do you mind?” I asked my wolf friend.

“Not at all,” he grinned and handed over the three-foot-long stuffed boa constrictor to Logan, who almost dropped his cotton candy while tilting the snake’s head, studying it carefully. I walked up to the counter, handed over two dollars, and stood back to watch Dolan shoot down the targets.

Well, I should tell you how the Talent Show results turned out. Rose and Logan obviously won first place for their amazing “magic show”. I received second place, Dolan and Rafe got third, and Roxy and Kara placed fifth. That means we had a good 1,540 dollars to spend at a lovely carnival that was taking place right before the dance.

Of course, being the teenagers and young child that we are, we spent 35 of those dollars on carnival rides, games, and of course, food. We all (except Rose) had two pretzels, three corndogs, one funnel cake, and one snow cone...each. Rose, being innocent, actually tried a snow cone called “Tiger’s Blood”. Unfortunately, it’s not what she wanted…

Bang! the rifle went off, the sound ringing in my ears. Dolan shot all forty targets within twenty seconds, a new record for the shooting gallery. The owner scratched his head before handing over the teddy bear to Kara, who was smiling widely.

“Thank you Dolan!”

“You’re welcome, shorty.”

We walked down the small street where the carnival was located; all of us laughing and telling stories about our experiences on the carnival rides. We appeared…normal. For once, we seemed like average kids.

“Drake! Jason! Lance!” a voice called behind us. We all froze. The three teenage girls came up, smiling. I could barely hold down the growls and curses building in my throat. Ashley grabbed onto Dolan’s arm and smiled wide. “We thought we lost you guys.”

“Oh…” Dolan mumbled.

“Ready for the dance?” Melody asked Logan.

“Well, I mean…” Logan started, glancing nervously at Rose, who stood motionless.

“Oh, come on! I’ll be gentle with your arm!” Ruby told Rafe.

“Actually, my arm’s all better…” Rafe said, stripping the sling off of his arm and tossing it into a nearby trashcan. “So I really don’t need…”

“C’mon, let’s go!” Ashley exclaimed.

Roxy pushed her way to the girls and shoved all three of them away from the boys. “Listen up. These guys? They’re ours. Not yours. They never will be yours. Got that?”

“Bite me!” Ruby shouted.

“That can be arranged…” Rose muttered.

“Yeah, you can’t tell us what to do!” Melody yelled.

Rose moved Roxy out of the way and stood in front of the three humans. “What? You’re sending your quiet one after us? What’s she gonna do? Smother us in silence?” Ashley mocked.

I looked out of the corner of my eyes at my group. No one moved.

Rose narrowed her eyes and released a guttural growl from deep within her throat. The three teenage girls’ eyes grew wide as they stammered stupidly. Then, without warning, Rose bared her giant vampire fangs and hissed like a pit viper.

All three girls took off running, their voices in high-pitched screams the whole way.

Silently, I held up my hand for a high five. Rose slapped it, and began to laugh. We all burst into laughter and continued on our way down the street.

Down towards the end of the road, I could see the lights and hear the loud music of the dance. I glanced at my group, and they all looked back at me. “Well guys, wanna go to a dance?” I asked. All of them smiled. “Guess that’s a yes. C’mon, I’ll race ya!”

I took off running, but both Dolan and Rose were ahead of me before I could go ten feet. Logan was neck and neck with me, with Rafe following behind us directly. Roxy had picked up Kara and put her on her shoulders, which slowed her down to last place.

We all stopped short of the dance floor, panting and laughing as we fell to the grass. I sat up first, grinning hugely as I watched Logan tickle Kara, Dolan and Rose play “rock, paper, scissors”, and Roxy and Rafe pointing out the stars that were poking into the night sky.

We were alive.

Eryn…

I rolled my eyes. What now? I asked the bird.

Don’t you think you should be more alert? the human questioned softly.

We already got rid of the robots, guys. Relax…I said and yawned.

“Give it back!” a small child shouted from a few yards away. A big, tall male was holding her pink teddy bear high above her head. “C’mon, I want it back!”

“This? This old thing right here?” he taunted. “Say goodbye to Mr. Bear!” He took the bear’s arms and ripped them off of its body, then tore its head and threw it to the ground. “That’s what you get, kid!” The male chortled and walked away.

The little girl began to sniffle, and soon tears were falling over her cheeks.

“Eryn?” Kara whispered. I looked at her.

“Yeah sweetie?”

“Can I…?”

“Of course.”

Kara stood up, grabbed her own pink teddy bear, and walked over to the crying girl. After a few moments of consolation, our small girl handed her newly won bear to the little girl. A smile lit her face as Kara came back over and sat down. “Did I do the right thing, Eryn?” she asked.

“Yeah. Kara, I don’t think you could ever do the wrong thing,” I chuckled.
“Hey baby,” a voice said from behind me. Turning around, I saw the tall male who had torn apart the girl’s bear talking to Rose. “You wanna dance?”

Rose checked with me. She opened her mouth, showing her sharp vampire fangs. Smirking, I nodded. “Of course I’ll dance with you. But first, come with me,” Rose alluringly said as she grabbed his hand.

Once they were gone, I said, “Well, he won’t be tearing apart bears anymore.”

“Yeah, good thing,” Rafe agreed. He paused just in time to hear a slow song come onto the sound system. “Hey, Roxy? Wanna dance?”

Roxy’s face turned a bright pink. “Uh, y-yeah?”

Rafe stood up and offered his hand to her. He pulled her to her feet, then lead her over to the dance floor, where they got into a slow dancing position and began to sway. I smiled and leaned back on my hands, watching the two together. Rafe didn’t want to dance with Roxy as much as he had me, but he was smart with picking the panther-hybrid.

“Logan, I wanna dance!” Kara exclaimed, grabbing and tugging on Logan’s hand. “Please, Logan, please?”

“Alright, shorty, alright!” Logan laughed and picked her up.

While watching them, Rose slowly came back, sitting down next to us as she wiped her mouth to erase the blood. “Was he good?” I asked.

“No, he tasted like alcohol,” she responded, her eyes a bright ruby.

Dolan smirked and I giggled. We were together, we were safe, and we were alive. Everything was completely perfect. “Well guys, we made it,” I said, smiling. “We’re alive and we kicked human butt in the Talent Show.”

“Yeah, so, now what?” Rose questioned.

“We head west.”

“Why?”

“Because that’s the opposite way of the D.N.A. Labs,” Dolan explained. “We have to get away from here. Soon.”

“Agreed,” I confirmed.

“I’m all for it,” Rose said. She lay back on the grass, her fingers intertwining behind her head. “Hey, Eryn. You know what?”

“Hmm?”

“We made it. You said we’d survive, and we did.”

I smiled. “Yeah, I guess we did, didn’t we?”

“It’s not over yet, guys,” Dolan muttered. “We still have to get far, far away.”

“Yeah…”

“Rose!” Kara shouted. She came running over, her brown locks flowing behind her. That reminded me, we all needed haircuts and soon. “Rose, Rose! Come dance with me and Logan!”

“Okay, sure!” Rose laughed and jumped to her feet. When she arrived near Logan, they both blushed heavily before assuming the slow dance position. Kara, who wanted to dance, too, was placed on Logan’s shoulders.

“Finally, everything’s going perfectly,” I said.

“Not everything.” Dolan stood up, keeping completely still. He let his burnt hand hang at his side before slowly offering it to me. “It would be perfect if you were to dance with me.”

I blinked and felt my esophagus squeeze tightly shut. Gradually, I stretched my fingers out and grasped his hand tightly.

A twinkling music came on from the speakers as I gently wrapped my arms behind Dolan’s neck. “You’re in my arms and all the world is gone, the music playing on for only two. So close together, and when I’m with you, so close to feeling alive,” the speakers sang dreamily. Dolan’s hands kindly touched my sides, and soon we were swaying.

“Do you know how to dance?” he asked softly.

I shook my head and whispered, “No, do you?”

Dolan simply chuckled and nodded. “The tango, surprisingly.” I smiled, thinking of Dolan dancing the tango. A laugh might’ve even escaped my lips.

“So close to reaching that famous happy ending. Almost believing this one’s not pretend. Now you’re beside me, and look how far we’ve come…so far, we are, so close,” the speakers continued.

“Eryn?”

“Yeah?”

Dolan’s head moved closer, his lips even with my eyes. I held my breath in my lungs, too afraid to move a muscle.

Dolan’s looking for a kiss…the human giggled as Dolan removed his sunglasses, revealing his beautiful eyes.

R-really? I asked.

Duh! Look at him; glowing, hopeful eyes, lips ready, hands on your waist…It’s time, Eryn! the bird told me.

I bit my lower lip. A kiss? Dolan kissing me? Now?

He leaned closer, his eyelids closing over his gorgeous, yellow eyes.

Go for it! the human cheered.

Taking a deep breath in, I closed my eyes and leaned to him, my lips puckered slightly.

“Hey, Eryn.” My eyes flew open to see Rafe standing there. Dolan was already backed away, his glasses on over his eyes and his mouth twisted into a sharp, irritated snarl.

“How could I face the faceless day if I should lose you now? We’re so close to reaching that famous happy ending,” the speakers continued to sing.

“Yeah Rafe?” I asked him, my heart thudding loudly in my chest.

“May I have a dance?” he questioned, holding his hand out to me as the song ended.

“Well, I was sorta dancing with Dolan…” I started.

“No, it’s fine. Go.” Dolan had turned and sat in the grass with Roxy, who was also upset that she had lost her dance partner. Before I could protest, Rafe grabbed my hand and swung me into a dance.

“She says she’s no good with words but I’m worse. Quick stutter and a joke of a romantic stuck to my tongue.” The speakers had changed into a fast song.

“Sorry, I should’ve waited until that song was over…” Rafe said as he placed one hand on my waist; the other wrapped around my right hand.

“It’s…fine…” I mumbled. My stomach churned in a mixture of sadness, anger, and disappointment. I was also slowly growing a serious headache from all of the vulgar yelling of the voices within my skull.

“No, it’s not…” Rafe said as he spun me.

“You know how to dance?” I asked, desperate to change the subject.

“Yeah, actually. I can waltz,” he said, smiling a little.

“Well, then what’s this dance?”

“Dunno, just making it up as I go.”

I laughed and shook my head.

Much to my liking, the song was quickly over. I thanked Rafe for the dance, he bowed to me, and then we both walked over to where Roxy and Dolan were sitting. Soon, we were joined my Rose, Kara, and Logan. “Well guys, I think we should head back to the garage. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow,” I told them all.

Suddenly, a loud BOOM! exploded in our eardrums. We all jumped to our feet, ready to fight, when we realized that it wasn’t the robots again. High up in the sky, bright colors of purple, red, blue, and white colored the night. We sat in amazement; our mouths open and our eyes wide.

Fireworks. Actual, real fireworks!

“Eryn, what are those things?” Kara whimpered, her small fingers tugging on my clothing. “They’re too loud…” She had most likely never seen fireworks before. Or if she had, it had disappeared with most of her other memories due to the horrible Labs.

“They’re fireworks, sweetie,” I explained softly and gently. “Don’t worry, they won’t hurt you…”

“They’re pretty,” Kara giggled once she realized that they wouldn’t harm her. She let go of my clothing and pointed to the sky at a neon green explosion. “Logan, look! That one matches your eyes!”

“It sure does, Kara,” he replied.

We sat back down, watching the fireworks in shock in awe. I myself couldn’t remember the last time I had seen fireworks. It was actually a surprise that I could remember what they were even called.

Eryn, you need to stay alert. Don’t be distracted so easily…the human warned.

Everything’s fine! I yelled.

Remember, all that glitters is not gold…the bird exclaimed.

What do you mean? I asked. For the first time ever, they were completely and utterly silent.

And that really, really worried me.