Beautiful Souls (16 page)

             
Flashing images filled my mind again, and as they slowed, becoming more clear, I saw the distinct outline of an animal. The vision sharpened even more, and I knew that it was the coyote from yesterday. The coyote limped, paused to lick its wounds every few paces, then continued down a path that led to an old, white, Victorian house sitting deep in woods.

    
              The house was totally unfamiliar to me, and I watched closely as the coyote slowly climbed the wide stairs leading up to the wrap-around porch. It approached the door to the old house, then shook violently, just as I had seen Leo do in my dream. The coyote was transforming into its human form.

    
              “Becca!” my vision blurred. “Becca!” I felt a bump on my shoulder.

    
              I tried desperately to hold on to the image, dying to know who was behind the shaking and injured coyote, but it was too far gone. My dad noticed that I had braced myself against the tree, and brought me out of my trance at the worst possible moment.

    
              “Yeah, Dad,” I answered, blinking back my regular eyesight.

   
              “Hey, you alright?”

     “
Just a little dizzy, that’s all. I looked around too fast, or something,” I tried to cover my strange behavior.

    
              “You sure? This seems to be happening a lot lately, huh?” he pried.

    
              “I’m fine now, really. I don’t think the coyote is here anymore though.”

    
              “Me neither. I don’t even see any dried blood. You sure this was the spot?”

    
              “Positive.”

    
              “Well, I guess that one will live to die another day, huh Bec?” my dad asked with a slight chuckle, as he raised his shotgun with one hand and swung it over his shoulder. He put his free arm around me and led me out of the woods back toward our house.

    
              The rest of the day passed painfully slow. I tried to stay out of my parents way, so they wouldn’t sense my apprehension and distance. I was completely overcome with anguish about how to approach this subject with Leo. How was any girl supposed to tell her best friend --- and boyfriend --- she knew his secret. Especially a secret like this one. How would I tell him I knew what he was capable of becoming ---
an animal
.

    
I couldn’t take it anymore, not for one more second. This knowledge had built up inside of me, wrenching my insides till they had become knots of stress and anxiety, and now it had to end. I wasn’t going to torture myself with keeping what I knew bottled up and to myself for one more moment; after all, I wasn’t the one that was hiding anything.

    
              I marched myself out the back door, not even caring at this point if my parents saw me leave. I was only focused on confronting Leo.

    
              I headed quickly and confidently across the country road, almost at a run. I couldn’t wait to get this out of me. The realization that Leo was whatever he was, was eating me alive. Not being able to talk about it, share it, only think about it, was too much. I desperately needed to get it out of my mind and out of my system.

    
              It hadn’t taken me more than a minute to reach Leo’s front porch and ring his doorbell. I waited about a second and a half before I rang the bell a second time, then immediately a third.

    
              I was overly anxious, not fully aware of my actions by this point, and I just wanted Leo to know that I knew. That was all. I wanted so desperately to get this moment over with. I didn’t know how this was going to affect our relationship, and although I cared deeply with every ounce of my being, I knew I couldn’t take that into consideration. This had to be done if I were to keep my sanity.

    
              The door cracked open, and I took a deep breath.

    
              “Hi, Becca. Isn’t this a nice surprise?” Leo smiled, but it didn’t reach very far, actually revealing that my visit wasn’t much of a surprise to him at all. He had been expecting me. He stepped out onto the porch, looking back inside momentarily, then quietly closing the front door behind him.

    
              The words didn’t come as easily as I had planned. Our entire conversation had played out in my mind as I darted to his house, but now that I was face to face with Leo and staring into his kind, loving, and safe eyes, I just stood staring. I thought back to the mountain lion looking at me with this same pleading stare, pleading for understanding.

    
              “Becca? Didn’t you come over here for a particular reason?” he asked, and I was certain that he already knew exactly what I was here to say. He was going to make me say it. Leo stepped closer to me, and I closed my eyes. I couldn’t bear to see the hurt in his eyes if this went badly. I felt so certain, but what if I was wrong?

    
              “What are you?” I whispered. I didn’t want to open my eyes. I didn’t want anything about our relationship to change, and I knew when I finally opened my eyes again, everything would be forever different.

    
              I felt Leo’s rough skin and gentle touch as he took my hand and placed it in his. “I didn’t want to tell you like this.”

    
              “What are you?” I asked again, my eyes still shut.

    
              I heard Leo take a long, deep breath, then he spoke the words carefully, as if a bomb sat on each letter, “I’m a Warlock.”

    
              My eyes shot open. This wasn’t the answer I had expected. I just glared at him, uncomprehending. I looked him over completely, trying to understand where wizardry and magic --- from what I assumed he meant by Warlock --- came in to what I already knew --- that Leo could change into an animal.

    
              “You’re wh…um, what?” I stuttered, totally confused, baffled, and barely able to speak one simple word in its entirety.

    
Leo took my other hand, and he held both of them closely as he repeated, “I’m a Warlock, Becca.”

    
              “B, But,” I stuttered.

    
              “I know,” Leo said simply. “It’s hard to wrap your head around it. It took me a while myself when I first found out.”

    
              “No, I mean…I saw, well, I dreamed…”

    
              “What? What did you see, Becca?” Leo asked calmly, as if he already knew the answer.

    
              “I saw you…transform.”

    
              “Oh,” Leo said solemnly, more understanding now of why I was in such a distressed state of mind. “Yeah, well, that’s all part of what I’m capable of doing.”

    
              “You mean there’s more?” I asked, not knowing if my mind could contain anymore supernatural news right now.

    
              “Yes, actually, there’s a lot more.”

    
              “Oh,” I paused. “I need to sit,” I said, as I dropped my head feeling almost total exhaustion. Apparently, attempting to wrap my brain around so much information so fast had depleted me of the energy I needed to simply hold myself upright.

    
              Leo walked over to me and helped onto the old blue porch swing, hanging on his front porch for as long as I could remember. Leo sat beside me and turned to give me his total, undivided attention.                   “It’s a lot to take in, I know.”

    
              I looked up into those pools of deep, blue gorgeousness, and instantly knew that this wasn’t going to affect our relationship the slightest bit. I wouldn’t let it. And, if this couldn’t break us apart, then nothing could. If it had been anyone else, I wouldn’t have believed a word of any of it, but this was Leo. That fact made all the difference in the world.

    
              “When did you first know?” I asked curiously.

    
              “I found out last year, a couple months after my birthday.”

    
              “How’d you find out? How’d you know what you…?”

    
              “How’d I know that I could change?” he completed the question for me.

   
              “Yeah.”

    
              “Well, the changing, you know the transforming part, that was pretty self-explanatory. I just didn’t know why it was happening to me, and I had to learn how to control it. Remember that week last year that I was out of school with the swine flu? Well, that was really me learning to control my new…let’s call ‘em gifts.”

    
              “So, your parents? They know?” I was shocked.

    
              “Yeah, they know. They’re the ones who told me and helped me learn my capabilities. It’s kind of a family legacy, and it’s hereditary.”                   That last bit of information caught me by total surprise. “They’re…?”

    
              “Yes…they used to be, anyway. But once it’s been passed on to the next generation…to me…they lose their powers. Well, most of their powers anyhow. It’s kinda like a balancing system for the supernatural world.”

    
              “Wow,” I said somberly.

    
              “I know.”

    
              “Why does it…um, happen to you?” I asked, wondering why it had to be him. Why did this have to happen to my Leo? Did it completely take him over when the change happened? I had so many questions and concerns running through my mind.

    
              “I change when there’s a threat,” he answered simply.

    
              “What kind of threat?”

    
              “There are others out there, Becca. They’re not all like me, either. Some of them are bad. They want to get rid of Warlocks and Witches, like me and my parents, who stand in their way. We try to use our powers to help and better the things that we can. Some only want to use their capabilities for selfishness.”

    
              “How many others are there?” I asked stunned.

    
              “Hundreds…thousands…I don’t really know.”

    
              “Was the coyote…?” he cut me off, already knowing where my question was leading.

    
              “Yes, it was another Wizard.”

    
              “I don’t understand. Why did it come after me? Why would it want to hurt me?” I couldn’t understand why a Wizard, or any magical being, would want to harm me. How was I possibly even on their radar?

    
              “Um,” Leo dropped his head, as he caressed my hands still wrapped inside of his. He pondered his answer for a moment, “I don’t really know, but I don’t want you to worry. I’m going to watch out for you. I promise. I’d never ever let anything happen to you, Bec.” He caressed my hair with his hand, running his fingers through my tangled strands.

    
              “You think they’re coming back for me, don’t you?” I knew exactly what Leo was thinking. I knew him too well, just like he knew me too well to ever lie about the answer.

    
              He hesitated, “More than likely, yes.” Leo reluctantly answered, but he knew I wouldn’t let him get away with not answering the question.

    
              I took a deep breath, attempting to digest the overload of supernatural information I’d just been fed. A magical, transforming Warlock was after me? This whole new world, that Leo was slowly exposing me to, was like no other. I knew that soon enough I’d be able to accept it fully, but the thought of someone like that, wanting to put an end to me, didn’t sit well. I don’t think any amount of acceptance would ever allow that type of information to sit well with anyone.

    
              Leo saw the worried look in my eyes, and he knew that I’d reached my limit for strange and unusual life-threatening facts. “I think you’ve had enough for tonight. Let’s get you home.”

    
              He helped me up from the swing, and we walked back to my house hand in hand. We paused on my back porch, and Leo held me for what seemed like minutes. I didn’t want to let him go. I felt safe and at home in his arms regardless of what he was. Only Leo could make something like that not matter. Well, it mattered, but for now I was shoving it from my mind.

    
              “Becca, you are safe with me.”

    
              “Can you read my mind, too?” I mumbled into his chest. He just laughed.

    
              “I can sense if you’re in danger. I’m never going to let anything happen to you. You know that, right? You don’t have to worry?”