C H A P T E R S I X

Abi's POV

I sat down on my bed, awaiting Zora's signal. I couldn't climb out the windows like in the movies, since there was nothing but air, and a real hard ground under my window.

Finally, I heard a soft rapping on my door. Three silent knocks.

Thanks. I texted her before pulling my sweatshirt hood over my head and heading downstairs. I groped the walls to make sure I wouldn't fall until my eyes got used to the lack of light.

Once I arrived at the bottom, I swung the front door open with a moderate amount of force. I know by now that if you swing a door open slowly it creaks more than if you swing it open faster. I walked out and shut the door with an equal amount of force, slowing down near the end.

I patted my hoodie pocket to make sure I had my keys, and headed out.

Only a few steps in, I saw Chris leaning on a tree in my front yard.

He had on some black sweatpants and a black t-shirt. His golden hair stuck out of his black baseball hat messily, almost carelessly. Just like Chris.

"Hey." I called out, maintaining a low voice.

Startled, he turned around, calming down once he realized it was just me.

"Heeeey Abi!" He sang, making me laugh.

"You here for the mysterious text thing?" I asked, starting down the sidewalk.

"Mhm. Still don't know my way around here." He answered, following me.

This night was beautiful. The sky was a deep blue, slightly tinted by an energetic purple. The bright white stars were scattered everywhere, like a farmer tossing seeds randomly in a ready bed. Still, it seemed like each star was positioned perfectly.

Three minutes after we left, we ran into Dallas.

I whistled a deep tune, blending it into a higher pitch slowly. This was our 'secret call.' We used it to capture each other's attention without being noticed.

He snapped his head around, and nodded for Chris and I to catch up. I started jogging in his direction with Chris right on my tail. After we got to him, we walked together, not saying a word. It almost felt like saying something in the moment would be sacrilegious.

Not long after, we reached Bluebonnet park. The moonlight dimly shone across the plastic of the playground. We headed the opposite direction to a secluded area near a bench. A tall figure already stood there. He seemed to have an athletic build. He was tall, but not Dallas tall, just a few inches short.

He was carelessly scrolling through his phone. This idiot! If anyone saw the light being emitted from it, he would be discovered!

Once he saw us, he shoved the phone into the pockets on his sporty shorts.

"Will Peregrine?" Dallas asked as we walked over to him.

He nodded, grinning. "You're Dallas, right? And who are they?" I was surprised at how incredibly deep his voice is. He eyes were a pretty sky blue, and contrasted with the deep, navy blue sky. He had a thick Australian accent, which I loved. I'm a sucker for Australian accents, even my Siri is set to have one.

"I'm Chris. Chris Howlman." Sunshine introduced himself, shaking Will's hand.

"Abigail Syger. Call me Abi." I stated, nodding towards him.

"Abigail? You're a girl?" He asked.

"Yes, Einstein." I smirked, taking off my hood to reveal my long brown ponytail. My lavender eyes shone in the moonlight, a lighter version of the deep purple in the sky above.

He chuckled, as another person made their way here. He had those amber eyes I simply couldn't get out of my head.

Drew.

Whoopee!

I groaned when I realized who it was, causing Dallas to raise an eyebrow. "You know him?" He whispered, tilting his head down lower to my level. "Sadly." I muttered as he got to where we were standing.

He was wearing a distressed black denim jacket, with similar pants and a black shirt with a tiny rose in the corner.

"You again?" He sighed, eyeing me. We glared at each other for a good while before I decided my eyes deserved better.

A few minuets later, Liam came jogging into view.

"Late again?" Dallas scolded.

"Yup." Liam casually responded, popping the p.

Dallas sighed, diverting his attention back to us.

That's when I realized the situation I was in. I was a girl, who snuck out in the middle of the night to meet a bunch of people I didn't know in a park. Not only that, but at the moment I was surrounded by five teenage boys.

Splendid.

"So... why are we here?" I asked cautiously.

"Follow us." Liam said, leading us out of the park.

Chris and I turned to each other, shrugging. We walked after them, with Will and Drew close behind.

We walked out of the park and down yet another sidewalk, taking us to a place I'd never been to or noticed before. We stood in front of a group of old looking buildings, and started walking around them.

Soon, we found ourselves in a dimly lit alleyway.

Oooo, creepy.

At this point, I was utterly confused. Still, I trusted Dallas.

"This place is creepy." Will pointed out, wrinkling his nose.

"You don't say." I added, glancing up at the dark walls.

"Come here!" Liam ushered us over to the end of the alleyway to where Dallas stood. "Watch." Dallas instructed without a trace of emotion. We did as he said while he put his hand behind the wall. A slow vibration sounded, and the area on the brick wall around his hand glowed the same forest green as his eyes.

Suddenly, a portion of the wall creaked open, revealing a door. Liam opened it, and we reluctantly walked inside.

"Konstig..." Drew whispered.

"Kon whaaat?" Will questioned.

"That's Swedish for weird." Drew answered, clearly annoyed. The kid couldn't even answer a simple question without rolling his eyes.

"Oh, you're Swedish?" Liam asked.

"My grandparents were born in Sweden. My parents... my parents and I were born here but I still know the language."

"Cool." Liam nodded.

We were in what looked like a secret research lab. There were computers everywhere. Scientists too. Well, they resembled scientists. They wore lab coats and had a ton of papers in their grip. The room itself was fairly large and split into other rooms. It was dark, and lit only by the light emitting from the computers around it.

"ADAM!" Dallas called out, not caring that he was shouting.

"Hmm? Oh Dallas! You're here! Liam too! Oh great you brought the others." A man exclaimed. He was slightly aged, with dark hair. His eyes were a burnt orange, a very deep color. He led us down a hall towards a room filled with more computers. Shocking.

He closed the door and pointed towards a couch for us to sit on. All of us took a seat except Liam and Dallas.

"So you're in on this too, huh?" I asked Liam.

He grinned mischievously. "You'll see"

Those had to be the most annoying words ever.

I groaned, and slouched back, digging myself into the couch. I sat on the far left end, with Chris next me to. Good, I certainly didn't trust the other two yet. Will sat next to Chris, leaving Drew on the opposite end.

Adam motioned towards brown bear and Liam, to say something.

Liam looked excited, while Dallas looked a bit nervous. "So... how do we say this?" Dallas started, turning to Adam. "How'd you tell us?"

Adam shrugged. "I don't know, just-"

Dallas's POV

"Just get to it already." Will interrupted. "I need to be home soon, I have a four year old brother I need to look after."

I nodded, understanding how worried he was. I worry about Havana all the time, if she's okay, if she's happy.

I took in a deep, breath. This wasn't going to be easy to say, and they definitely weren't going to believe me at first. I glanced at Liam, who nodded. Time to spit it out.

"Have any of you noticed a weird mark just above your bicep?" Liam asked, lifting up the sleeve of his shirt to reveal the mark of the wild on his own arm. The mark of the wild. A symbol of heroism. One you can't get rid of.

"Yeah! " Abi exclaimed. "Yesterday night." she pulled down the edge of her sweatshirt, revealing the same mark on her. Hers was a lot bigger than Liams.

"Whoa!" Adam exclaimed. "Can you take your sweatshirt off?" He asked, she nodded, pulling the oversized hoodie up over her head, leaving her in a navy blue nike shirt. She lifted the edge of her sleeve up, furthermore exposing the mark. The boys did the same, exposing their marks as well. I had the second biggest, followed by Will, Drew, Chris, and then Liam.

"How did these even get here?" Drew questioned. "And why do we all have them?"

"It's called the mark of the wild." I explained. I touched my mark, causing it to glow the same green as my eyes. Liam did the same, as his glowed a faint pink like his eyes. Everyone else followed suit. Abi's was lavender, Chris's was a Smokey gray, Drew's Amber, and Will's sky blue.

"You all know what spirit animals are, right?"

Everyone nodded, mesmerized by the marks.

"Well, everyone has one. A spirit animal, as well as an aura. And ever wonder why eye color doesn't get passed down generation to generation? It's because your eye color is always the color of your aura."

"What?" Chris and Will state, clearly confused. Already.

"Everyone has a spirit animal, and an aura. Your eye color is the color of your aura, and that's why eye color doesn't get passed down generation to generation. Each spirit animal is associated with a color. When someone dies, the spirit animal that was guiding them goes into the bodies of a newborn baby, and this cycle repeats."

"Ohhhh! Got it." Abi replied surprisingly unshaken.

"Your not surprised? Or creeped out? And you believe us?" Liam asked surprised.

"Nope, I believe you." She shrugged.

"I don't." Drew claimed.

"Of course you don't." Abi mumbled, earning a glare from the amber eyed boy.

"What? It's the only logical explanation!" She argued.

"Nothing about this is logical!" He argued back.

"Well, you have any other ideas?" Chris intercepted.

Drew sighed, leaning back into the couch.

Abi smiled in victory, also leaning back. "So, keep going." She urged.

I shrugged, pleasantly surprised.

"Only certain people have the mark of the wild. Chosen people. These people have a duty to protect the city they live in, and before you ask, their is no getting out of it. Once you get in touch enough with your spirit animal, you'll be able to transform into them, first partly and then completely." I pause, expecting someone to say something. When nobody did, I continued. "The scar acts as a a tear between the spirit and human world. A tear causing you to be able to directly communicate with your spirit animal."

"What are your spirit animals?" Chris asked.

I put a hand to my chest. "Mine is Chike, spirit of the Grizzly bear."

"Mine is Iniko, spirit of the Saltwater Crocodile," Liam added, his hands in his pockets.

Adam took over. "Chris, you are guided by Eshe, spirit of the wolf, Drew has Fayola, spirit of the peacock,-"

"I have a peacock?!" Drew exclaimed, while the others burst out laughing. Even I let out a chuckle.

"Is that a bad thing?" Abi asked.

"Yes! How am I supposed to protect the city as a peacock?!?" He rebutted.

Abi shrugged. "No such thing as a useless animal."

"Your a smart one." Adam complimented. She nodded a thank you as he continued. "Usually, wild souls are able to communicate with their spirit animal, and living animals of their species. For example, Dallas can talk to Chike, as well as any living bear. But any chosen ones guided by Fayola, they can talk to any species of animal. Great for spying.

"Spying?" Will questioned.

"You see," Liam started. "There is this evil organization. The Onix Clan. They can, and will hurt you, and they aren't afraid of you. Their goal is to take over the world. Each city on earth has its own set of wild souls, a group of six kids who defend their city. You guys, Dallas, and I, are the wild souls of Austin, Texas. We're gonna have to spy on the Onix clan, fight them, and it's not gonna be pretty."

"What's their drive! What do they want to take over the world?" Chris asked.

"Yeah, it's kinda cliché." Abi added.

"See, on earth, there is a rule. Evil and good must always be equal. Not too much evil, not too much good as weird as it sounds. Like the Yin and Yang. Long ago, on earth, there was another country on earth. We call it the Nanam lair. In it, animals lived together in peace. No humans. There were two kings, a lion and a Siberian tiger. They were brothers." I explained.

"Ugh, why does every question have such a long answer!" Will complained, groaning.

"Well." I snapped. "If you want to go home better be quiet and listen, because you're not making it go by any faster."

After everyone shut up, I continued.

"Their names were Kawan and Zion. They were wise, and got along very well. But one day, Zion, the lion brother, got bitten by a snake. This snakes venom spread evil into the heart of Zion, and he became a monster. Thankfully, Kawan was alright, and protected the other animals from Zion. Some animals decided to go to Zions side, so they wouldn't be killed. The others trusted Kawan and stayed with him. Now that Zion was evil, the balance was uneven. Too much evil." I paused for a long breath. "A war broke out. There were two well defined sides, Good and Evil. The sides were led by one of the brothers each."

"To stop the war" Liam continued for me, "Kawan decided to turn one of each animal species into a spirit. That spirit possesses a human, and guides it through life. Depending on the animal you receive, your good or evil by nature. The scar we have, it points right. But the Onix clan scar, it points left. The scars are otherwise identical, so that's how you tell which side the chosen ones are on. The goal is, the brother that takes over the world, wins. So they send the spirts to help them do it. Secretly. The brothers never turned into spirits, and are still alive somewhere. So every human on earth has a spirit animal, and it could be any animal except a lion or Siberian tiger."

"But the thing is," Adam reluctantly said, slowly turning to Abi. "You are the first of the Wild souls to ever be a girl. Ever."

"What?!?" The guys gasped, while Abi grinned.

"Cool." She replied.

"I still don't understand how you guys are taking all this so well. " I wondered out loud.

"Eh, honestly, I just...I don't know, it just feels right. Like, I know your not lying. I can feel it. It's weird." Abi said.

"Anyway," Adam continued. "Abi also has the strongest aura of you six, making her your leader. It's also the strongest aura on record."

"WHAT!?!" The new boys gasped, especially Drew.

"No, I refuse to be led by her." Drew said stubbornly.

"Well sorry pretty boy, looks like you don't have a choice." Abi sneered back. "Wait" she added. "How do you know my name? And everyone else's. We never introduced ourselves."

"Oh, I looked up your files." Adam said casualty.

"FILES!?! Are you guys stalking u-" Chris started.

"It's necessary " I sighed, interrupting the hyper boy.

"Another strange thing." Adam started. "We can tell your spirit animal by your eye color. But Abi, your eye color is new. Never seen it before, ever. And we have almost every animal on record in our databases. Which means you have a new one. New aura, new animal. And it's the strongest yet."

"So you don't know what my animal is? Can you figure it out?" Abi asked.

"Yes. Each person has something, that tells their spirit animal. Not just wild souls, all people. it could be a birthmark, a faint mutation resembling an animal feature, etc. But all six of you, we can tell your animals from your last names." Adam explained.

"I'm Dallas Grizzle and I'm led by Chike, a grizzly bear. Mines pretty easy to figure out, but not all of ours are." I explained, emphasizing the grizzle.

"I'm Liam Saldial. Saldial Stands for saltwater crocodile." Pink eyes explained.

"Oh, so Howlman is wolf, cause wolves howl?" Chris asked, catching on.

"Precisely" Liam praised.

"How am I a peacock? My last name is Koceap." Drew asked, scrunching up his eyebrows.

"It's peacock backwards, without the last c" Adam explained,

"Oh" Drew groaned.

"I'm Will Peregrine. So...?"

"Peregrine Falcon?" Abi suggested.

"Correct. Will is guided by Ekon, spirit of the peregrine falcon."

"Are those like, big birds? Like eagles?" He asked.

"Yeah" Liam answered, while most of us facepalmed.

"So that leaves me. Abigail Syger." Abi pondered.

"Let's figure this out now" Adam advised, while we nodded,

Will muttered something under his breath, but not loud enough for us to hear. Probably worried about his brother.

"Don't worry, your brother will be fine" I reassured him.

He looked down, nodding.

"Ok, first thing that comes to mind when you hear Syger?" Adam asked us all.

"Squirrel?" Chris suggested. We all turned to him doubt etched on our faces. "What? It starts with S" he defended himself.

"Any rhymes?" I suggested.

"Hmmmm" Liam though, before growing scarily silent.

"You got something?" I asked him hopefully.

"...Tiger." He replied.

Oh no. That can't be.

"But we have data on every tiger species already" I argued.

"Not every tiger species. He said, gulping. Remember, we still have the S. Tiger species that starts with an S?"

"Sumatran tiger?" Drew proposed.

"Nope, that's a bottle green aura." Adam corrected.

"That means..." I started, now getting what Liam meant. My face grew white. I didn't want Abi on the team. She meant a lot to me, one of my only and best friends. Being on the wild souls means it's guaranteed that your gonna get hurt. Badly, I've broken several ribs from being on this team. I can't let her get hurt.

But this, this changes everything.

"The only species we don't have." Liam started, taking in a strong breath. "Is the Siberian tiger. Kawan."

The room grew uncomfortably silent while we all processed the information.

Abi was one of the kings. My precious Abi.

"But that's impossible..." She started, looking at her hands.

"Actually, it makes sense." Liam interrupted. "Your aura is crazy strong, your the first girl, to ever get picked as a wild soul, and your aura color is new. It has to be. "

"Kawan..." she whispered. Suddenly her arm glowed an extreamly bright purple, almost blinding us. Kawan answered to her voice.

Crap. This was real.

"That's proof!" Liam pointed out.

Her mark shimmered with the lavender light, reflecting off her face beautifully.

"Kawan." She said standing up. "Lets do this."

A/N

Hey guys! Thanks for reading!

Sorry for posting this chapter late! I had a lot to write for this book and my other one, and I didn't have a lot of time this week.

So this chapter had a lot of information in it 😅

If any of you guys have any questions feel free to ask! You can comment or PM me and I'll respond asap.

Thanks again for reading :D