Introduction
General Fitz was not expecting what the intern was about to
tell him. In fact, the General was just stacking the last of the papers that
needed to be stacked when the intern rushed in. The first word that the intern
uttered was “whoa”, because the General’s office was, indeed, very “whoa”. A,
it was an ovalish shape. And B, one half of that ovalish shape (the long way)
was floor-to-ceiling windows, facing out over the lovely view that came with
being on the 101st floor. The trees’ leaves were a lovely array of pink and
electric blue, and it truly was a nice evening. The second words the intern
said were, “Um, sir? I have a very urgent message for you.” The General looked
down at the small, scared teenager. He smiles. “What is it, my boy?” “Well, I’m
really not sure why they trusted me with this. They say that it could mean the
end of this world and the one next to it, Aarde.” The General knew what the boy
was talking about by now, but he could tell that he had felt special, carrying
such big news to him. “Go on.” “I have no idea what this means…….what it might
mean for my family……I really don’t know. But, they say, that we have another
Coexistor. Actually, two of them.”
Chapter
One: Lupo?
“Jemmy, you KNOW I can’t go. My parents said no!” “But you
HAVE to! C’mon. Convince them!” Marianne sighs. “Oh, Jem. Last time I tried to
convince them of something, I got grounded for three weeks!” Marianne’s best
friend, Jemma McAllister, sighs. “But…but…” Marianne pats her friend on the
back. “Smile! It’s your thirteenth birthday soon! You’ll be leaving me in the
dust and becoming a teenager! Be happy!” Jemma smiles and shakes her head,
bangly feather-and-chain earrings jangling. “Mari, you KNOW I’ll never leave
you in the dust.” “I know. C’mon, you can come to my house for dinner…..”
“Okay. I’m just…so sad! Why can’t you come to my birthday party?” “I’ve told me
a bagazillion times! My parents won’t let me.” Jemma pouts. “Oh, fine. But-“
Her sentence was cut off by a bus coming by. Marianne feels a tug in her gut,
and looks up. In the very back of the bus, a man was sitting. A man in a navy
blue suit, and a blue taxi driver’s cap. He had salt-and-pepper hair, and
piercing, electric blue eyes. Marianne felt a jump when she saw him. “As I was
saying, maybe we could have a sleepover tonight? To make up for you not being
able to come to the party?” Marianne, with difficulty, tears her eyes from the
back of the bus. “Yeah, sure. We’re not doing anything tomorrow, so it should
be fine.” “Perfect!” Jemma’s turquoise-dyed hair flips in front of one of her
brown eyes. “God. HOW did you get your hair like that?” Marianne smiles and
rolls her eyes. “I’m on the right track baby, I was,” Jemma joins in. “BORN
THAT WAY!” They erupt into a fit of giggles, and wrap their arms around each
other’s shoulders, grinning.
When they get into
Marianne’s house, their grins evaporate. Marianne feels that familiar tug in
her gut, and, sure enough, sitting on her favorite armchair was the man from
the back of the bus. He immediately stands up, makes his hand into a claw, and
bows to her. “Lupo.” The one word that the mysterious man says makes Marianne’s
knees feel like jelly. “Uh, hi?” She turns to Jenna. “J, head up to my room.
I’ll be right there.” Jemma nods, her face one of confusion. “I have a feeling
I should sit down.” Her one sentence makes the man look even more worried. “Oh
Dios, it’s starting already. Yes, your feeling is correct, Marianne. Sit.” The
General feels another tug in his gut, identical to what he felt when he first
saw her, and once again, when she came into the house. Who was that girl she
was smooshed against? Must have been one of her friends. Her file did say that
she was a social butterfly. “Marianne, what you are about to hear is…..a little
bit crazy.” Marianne’s curiosity starts to kill her, slowly. “The one
description I can give you of yourself is unnatural. I guess the best way to
explain more is through a legend. The land I come from, Aapude, believes in a
line of eight…gods, I guess you could call it. We call them the Dios. In each
Dio, there is an animal spirit. For Kato, it is a cat. For Toleri, a bear. And
so on. Sometimes, in a very special human being, there is an animal spirit
also. But the animal inside them is completely different from the human
being-completely separate. They are not part of the Dios. But sometimes-once
every thirteen blue moons-an animal spirit surfaces in a young human. It is not
like the Apartigu, the ones who are separate from their animal. In the Renkontiĝoj, the animal and the
humans’ spirits are one. These rare phenomena are direct descendants from the
Dios.” The man pauses for breath. “What does this have to do with me?” Marianne
asks, still confused. “You, Marianne, are a Renkontiĝoj.” “No way. I’m not that
spec-“ “I know what you are going to say, and don’t believe a word of it.
Marianne, you are a descendant of Lupo, the wolf Dio.” “You don’t know that!”
“Yes, I do!” The man stands up. “I know because I felt a tug in my gut the
minute I saw you. You felt it to, didn’t you?” Marianne gulps, quiet, and nods.
“I, too, am a descendant of Lupo. Marianne, believe me! You have to.” The man
was begging her. Begging her to believe. “Why do you want me to so much?”
“Because it was prophesized,” It was difficult for him to say this. “That the
next descendant of Lupo, was to destroy my land, and yours.”
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