Chapter 11 - The Church in the Woods
Yoko's POV
"Give me the girl." he tells me, holding out a hand.
"But what if-" I begin
My brother lights fires on his fingertips. "She'll be safe with me. I can control my dark side now."
I'm still skeptical, but place the curled up girl in his cupped hand. He places her in his pocket.
"So what are we doing now." I ask.
"We're continuing our journey to Jewel's house, and trying to avoid confrontation with other giants."
He takes down the barrier, and the full concentrated power of the SUN shines orange light on us. It's almost below the horizon.
"What if we do get into a situation with giants."
No answer from my brother.
"Lets go." he whispers and we start jogging, Seto holding his hand in his pocket to support the tinies, and I'm holding Margrit, who woke up before. "Which way Margrit?" I ask when we come to a crossroads. She points to the right and we follow her direction. This continues for a while until we Seto bumps into another hybrid.
"Hey! Watch where you're going... Kalam?" he snarls, before helping Seto up.
I get a good look at my brother. He's tall like most people in my family, with a slightly muscular body. His hair is short and curly, his face round, citrus green eyes twinkle in their sockets, and his ears and tail are long and silky.
"Wow! Kalam I haven't seen you in ages!" he places an arm around Seto's neck.
"Um, Nauru, that's not Kalam." I whisper
"What? Don't you know your own brother from a..." he trails off as he spies Seto under his arm. He looks impressed. "DUUUDE! Nice mask. Is that a Gen 27? Did Yoko help you make it look like my older bro?"
Seto looks baffled. "Um.. yeah. This guy was so much help."
"That's sweet brother." he smiles, before turning back to me. " What are you doing out here?"
I flick my ears in a special pattern.
"Really?" he whispers
"Yep, we have a whole stack of them!"
"That's so emosewa!" he giggles like a schoolgirl. "Well, wouldn't want to keep JJ waiting, so see you 'round" he waves. "And you too." he sings to Seto, before jogging away.
***
It's dark when we reach a church. It's small and modest, not very outgoing, with a rusted cross on the top. "We're here." says Margrit excitedly. The little girl, Brooklyn, woke up a few minutes ago in Seto's hands and was seemingly okay with it. Seto told me that Mark and André were already awake, so I could hear them talking to her as well. I walked up to the door and knocked the special knock.
Knock knock knock *pause* knock *pause* knock knock
The door opens.
I am faced with acid green eyes. "Hello brother." says Kalam, neutrally. "Hi Kalam! Where's Jewel, I have some new tinies for her."
"She'll come out soon. She's having a shower."
"Oh cool! So can me and my friends come in?"
"Friends?" his emotionless tone becomes fringed with interest.
"Yeah! Seto come over here. And take off the mask." I call.
"Sure thing." Seto appears next to me, eyes golden, 3 tinies resting on his shoulders. "Hi! You must be Kalam. Yoko has told me so much about you." he chirps cheerfully.
"Oh. Please come in, Jewel will be happy to meet your new friends." his voice now flat and serious again.
I walk into the church hallway and find myself small again. Seto walks in behind me, and automatically shoots me an offering glance. I accept. He picks me and Margrit up, places us on his left shoulder and continues to walk through the hallway, Kalam following behind like a shadow.
"Mask cancelling lights?" questions Seto "Yeah, it's kinda annoying but we have it so there are no spies." I sigh. Seto walks into an open room, brightly lit with a raging fire. There are pews pushed to the walls and an altar at the front, covered with a lace tablecloth. There are doors leading to other rooms as well, just like I remembered.
"Where are all the tinies?" He asks again, and I stare at him. "Wouldn't you be hiding if a giant you didn't know walked into your house, and you didn't know if it was nice or not" He nods, "Makes sense. But I don't want tinies to be scared of me, cause I'm the same as them, except bigger." he raises his voice slightly at the end of his sentence. I slide down his arm and pant leg and land on my feet, like any respectable cat. Margrit follows behind.
"Come on guys! It's me Yoko! Alice, Daniel, Abe, Fin you like meeting new people!" I shout
"Alice! It's me Margrit!" cries Margrit
"Margrit? Really!" a little girl with braided hair runs out from behind a pew leg. Transparent wings sprout from her back. "Oh, I missed you so much. What happened to your wings? Oh my gosh, I feel so happy you're home." she gushes, almost strangling the older woman. She pats her braids softly, like a mother would.
"Margrit! Introduce us." says Seto, sitting down cross legged with a thump. Alice's eyes widen in fear.
"G-giant!" she quickly darts behind Margrit.
"Alice, silly child. Can't you see that he means you no harm. Look at his friends on his shoulders." lectures Margrit.
Alice peeks out from behind the woman and looks at Seto, noticing Mark, André, and Brooklyn sitting comfortably on his shoulders. They wave at her and introduce themselves. "Hi you guys." she says shyly, eyes glued to the floor, wings fluttering nervously.
"Would you like to come sit with us?" Brooklyn asks her and she isn't sure. "It'll be safe. Seto is very gentle, he's handled many tinies before. He won't hurt you." continues André, and she nods uncertainly. "Okay."
Alice's POV
"Great! I'll just put my hand down and you can get on." says the giant, placing his hand on the floor. I've been held only by Jewel before so I'm scared. I look into the giants eyes, yellow as Margrit's hair. I step forward slowly, then hover over and sit in his palm. "Good job. Now I'll bring you up next to Mark and you can sit with him." he raises his hand as if through mud, not jolting or jarring me at all. When he smiles his eyes twinkle, and I like that. I eventually arrive at Mark, who holds out his hand to mine. "Hi Alice! You're really pretty and I love your wings. They're like glass." I blush, and take hold of it, pulling myself onto the giant. His shoulder is stable, but not tense, just relaxed and still.
I can see the whole room from here, and I spy Daniel in the corner, creeping out slowly.
"It's okay Daniel!! These guys are really nice, you can come out!" I shout to him, and he scowls.
"Hey Alice, do you want to meet some more tinies?" the giant asks me, eyes turning to mine.
"Sure! I bet they'll be as nice as your friends."
"Okay then, but don't be overwhelmed." he replies, and ten dazed tinies pop into his hands. He quickly puts them down as more and more start popping into existence. I cover my mouth, and Seto grins.
"I warned you!"
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