“What does the market have to do with this?”
“Because you will be able to find someone that is on the line ready to be bought through an auction…You’ve been in the Underground for way too long, nephew… This here, especially in the deep south? This here above ground, is a different ballpark, baby. This is the real world and some of these humans get dark…”
I took another pull on my cigarette just as the cat finally walked up and sat before Raven saying absolutely nothing. Not a purr or meow but Raven suddenly threw her hands on her hips.
“SheWHAT?!” She blurted out. “Well, did you try and bring the girls here first?!”
The cat just sat there like a stuffed animal, and she was the child with the imaginary friend that always dragged the toy with her wherever she went.
“Chile…Felix…You’ve gone soft over the years honey,” she sighed. “Them girls shoulda been right here and you led them straight into danger! Who were they with?”
“What is he saying?” I asked as Himora stepped outside. I avoided eye contact with a shift back towards the cat as the three of us stared at the mute feline.
“Uh huh,” Raven nodded before shaking her head. “Mmmmph…Anansi over here playing tricks. I knew it had something to do with a damn God or some damn spirit lingering around her. They like her type.”
“What?” I let out, confused. Raven sighed as her ponytails whipped around like wings when she stared up at Himora.
“So the girls disappeared behind another door. They were on the train tracks, and they were supposed to be taken to me if he couldn’t get a hold of Namir but the fool!” Lashing out towards Felix who simply stared. “Tried to take em to Namir anyway–––”
“Your cat is not speaking,” Himora stated the obvious. “Cats that have the ability to speak usually do. Yours does not.”
“Baby, it’s between me and him. Don’t knock what you can’t see.”
Himora looked pointedly at the cat as if she was having a hard time believing it.
“Grandmaaaa!” One of the children shrieked.
“Oh shit!” Seth yelled.“OH SHIT!”
Everyone suddenly had outbursts as we all rushed, well I didn’t give a fuck one way or another. I stepped back into the house after putting out my cigarette but saw what everyone else was seeing. The screen was filled with confetti falling into the arena, but they showed a close up on Maggie’s face. My mother cried out before clamping her mouth shut as Raven got her to sit and calm down.
“Well damn…” Seth said as he crossed his arms over his chest. One of the kids walked up to him with a bone in his mouth like an actual dog. Seth nodded and waved him off as two more ran off to follow him upstairs. The entire spectacle was aired live as we watched her, and her roommate fall through the sky. Our mother couldn’t contain her screams when Raven walked her out to the backyard just in time for Maggie to smack the water hard. Carmilla and Draco, who were busy talking amongst themselves, came to watch while the little ones gathered around the TV. Himora’s baby kept babbling on without a care in the world, playing with some sort of beady shaker toy in her balled-up fist.
“So this is unexpected,” Vanessa said as she stood beside me. “Maggie turning up at the games…You think it was planned?”
I didn’t bother to respond or ask if she was speaking to me or not. I slowly looked up at the ceiling, feeling the blood rush to my head as I tried to drown out the commentators speaking about a man attacking my sister. My one and only sister in this lifetime.
“Bellamy?” Seth called out cautiously as I walked out. “Hold up–––Bella–Shit.”
I stepped back outside as Raven tried to calm my mother, but her eyes were blood shot red when she glared at me.
“BELLAMY?!” She shrieked as Raven tried to back her up.
“Don’t you listen to her! We’re supposed to wait until we hear back from my brother!”
“Are we turning up? You bringing YN Belly out?” Seth asked excitedly from behind.
“Hold on!” Vanessa let out. “Trevor is supposed to–––”
“GET MAMA’S SHOES! WE ABOUT TO GO UP TO THIS SCHOOL AND GET THIS CHILE!” Raven hollered while placing a small hand on Cynthia’s arm, but my mother kept her distraught red gaze on me for screaming out.
“GO GET YOUR SISTER! NOW!”
I looked up at the bright sky as my body suddenly sucked into the air before landing in mid walk-in front of the stadium. I saw the dark clouds brewing just over the dome where I could hear cheers and screams from inside. The booths, and parked cars were filled with people watching, tailgating and enjoying my sister being attacked as I walked directly to the entrance before me. With a crack of my neck to the side, I reached to pick at my fangs that were drawn while feeling a second one come up directly behind it.
“Aye!”
I looked back to see Seth walking up in a black t-shirt with black shorts, bright yellow wolf eyes and his hair pulled back. Carmilla, Draco, and now Lovely who wasn’t present before were all trailing behind him along with 8 wolves that tiptoed behind Seth.
