Oculos by Kenzie Stone (notion reading list txt) 📖

light. Simone shielded her eyes with her hand, and when she looked again, Vixo was no longer standing there.  In his place, there stood a rather large elk.  Simone stared in astonishment.  “Vixo?” She asked.

The elk lowered its head in response.  “That is… wow!” Simone was amazed.

The elk – Vixo – looked at Jasper.  Simone picked Jasper up.  She may not have been strong, but Jasper was light as a feather.  Simone wondered if he had eaten anything since he’d been kidnapped by Ignacio.  She lifted him onto Vixo’s back.  “Hold on,” She whispered into Jasper’s ear.

Jasper slowly lifted his arms and wrapped them around Vixo’s neck.  “Let’s get out of here,” Simone suggested.

In response, Vixo quickly darted out of the room.  Simone silently prayed that Jasper would be able to stay on his back.  She swiftly ran after them.  They ran through the cold, dark halls.  Every once in a while Simone would have to stop and catch her breath, but Vixo would not wait for her.  He was going much faster than her, and she was having an awful lot of trouble keeping up.

Vixo was clearly slowing down when Simone ran into a wall.

As she picked herself up, she realized it wasn’t wall.  It was Corinth.  “Watch it!” He told her.  “That hurt.”

“Get over it,” Simone stuck her tongue out.

“Where’s Vix?” Corinth asked.

Simone motioned toward the elk running back toward them.  “Oh.  So, I suppose you know what we can do?” Corinth tilted his head.

“You can do that, too?” Simone was truly amazed.

“So can I,” Simone hadn’t noticed that Gala was there as well.

Simone backed away from them.  “Are you… are you working with Ignacio?”

Corinth laughed.  “What kind of a question is that?  No, we’re the good guys here.  He’s not.”

Gala chimed in, “I was actually a spy.  You can trust me, I promise.”

Vixo reached them.  Gala took one look at Jasper and her eyes widened.  “Oh, no.”

“You know, didn’t you?” Simone questioned angrily.  “You knew all along that he was here.  You lied to me.”

“No, no, I swear I had no idea!” Gala’s voice didn’t give any hint of her lying, but Simone still refused to believe her.

“Whatever.  Let’s just go,” Simone snapped.

As if to agree with Simone, the hall behind them burst into flame.  It was the same purple flames that Simone had seen only a few nights earlier.  “Ignacio!  He knows where we are!” She exclaimed.

Vixo took off running.  Corinth sprinted after him, leaving Gala and Simone in the back.  “I tire of this,” Gala sighed.  Then she stopped running.  Simone kept running, not knowing why the other girl had stopped.

Within a minute, Simone was shocked by a tiger running past her.  Vixo the elk and Gala the tiger?  Simone couldn’t help but wonder what Corinth would transform into.  A peacock, perhaps, or a Chihuahua.  She noticed Gala turning around and running toward her before stopping.  It wasn’t long at all until they caught up with the others.

Eventually, they came upon a dead end.  Vixo and Gala both began muttering a foreign tongue and soon they were human again.  “What do we do now?” Simone asked.

“Relax,” Corinth told her.  He took out what looked like a pencil and began drawing odd figures on the stone wall in front of them.

“What is he-” Simone began.

“Shush,” Gala whispered, “Close your eyes.”

Simone obeyed.  After a moment, Corinth told her to open them.  The dimness of the candles lining the walls had been replaced by bright daylight.  There was an opening large enough for a person to step through in the wall.  Simone watched as Corinth picked Jasper up and walked through the opening.  “Go on,” Gala told her.

Simone followed Corinth back into the world.  “Well, that was fun!” She heard Vixo say behind her.

She turned around and was shocked to see that the opening had been replaced by a solid stone wall.  “How did you do that?”

“No time to explain,” Vixo said, grabbing her wrist.  “Now, hurry up!”

She was dragged several blocks until they ducked inside an alley.  “His wounds have no magic or demonic power in them,” Corinth told Gala.  “Disguise yourself with a rune and take him to the nearest hospital.

Gala picked Jasper up and quickly ran away.  The boys walked a few feet away to have a quite, private meeting with each other.  Simone took the opportunity to collapse to the ground, sobbing.

Imprint

Publication Date: 12-27-2012

All Rights Reserved

Dedication:
To everyone, because there's never been a person to discourage me