"Well that wasn't awkward at all." she says as she takes a seat next to me by the kitchen Island.
"Cal?" I groan. My younger (adopted) sister has been in town for three days now. Is it too soon to send her back home? I suppose that would be impolite, though it is nice to listen to her talk, her accent is so strong whereas mine is….faded.
"How was I supposed to know not to call her that? You never tell me anything bout your work now." she whines. "That's because mom and dad advised against it. You're supposed to be focused on school." She sighs. "How is she doing though? Did she seem to recall anything?"
"I don't think so, the sages did a good damn job."
Reika has no idea of her previous identity and my heart breaks for her but at the same time it's so amazing to see her happy. All she knows is that she's from Connecticut, and that's all, she didn't talk about any siblings or parents, but she has this idea that she moved out of her mom's house last year.
I heave out a heavy sigh as I make my way out of the kitchen to the shower. Reika, as she chooses to go by now, is fucking intelligent, independent and unbothered. And yet for some reason she will be forced to go back to the life she lived before. I find myself experiencing this strong urge to protect her. I know she's not some fragile woman, heck she's one of the strongest…. But she doesn't know that so can she even? I shrug the thoughts off my head.
I'm just out of the shower when I receive a phone call.
"Agent Reid," I say without looking at the caller ID.
"Well hello to you too R." the caller says and my heart leaps joyfully as I recognize his voice. Garth.
"Well, this is quite the surprise. To what do I owe this call?"
"I actually need a favour." he says in an urgent tone and my brows furrow. Garth rarely asked for my help and if he did…..
~
"What is this supposed to be again?" Cal asks staring at the huge terrifying lump mass of a creature now in my garage. "A Sterei," Garth says in a matter of factly tone as if we're supposed to automatically join the dots when he says that.
And him leaning on the bumper of my car while saying it makes him supposedly look like this cool muscular nerdy guy. Well him putting on a show for my sister was not something that I was counting on but then again, Garth could fuck anything that had a vagina and legs. But he only did it for show, my sister was off limits.
I clear my throat and he now bothers to offer an explanation. "Well, according to my research, they are creatures created to track things, people, animals, as long as they're magical as well." Well shit.
"Any idea who could have sent it?" Cal asks examining the Sterei's nose.
The Sterei was way too physically detailed, bug like eyes, so huge and compound, body covered in an intricate yet intimidating scale pattern all leading to it's massive tail. Wait, the tail, now what type of 7ft animal, would need all these details on its tail? I take a closer look at it. "That's where majority of it's sensory organs are located." Garth explains.
Then it hits me, a tracking animal? In this small scarcely populated town? the Sages.
I grab Garth's arm and lead him outside the house telling Cal to keep and eye on it just in case anything happens.
"What." he asks.
"What do you mean what? Did it never occur to you that maybe if this is a tracking animal, the sages would be tracking it as well, especially when it found what it was looking for?"
"Of course I know that, but the tracking stops after it dies and I had killed it way before I was anywhere close to this area and we both know I don't leave traces, plus," he says with a sigh, "We both know it's not looking for a what, it's a who."