Queen Of The Beasts

18| We Break And Enter The Zoo

I looked across to the forest and when I did I saw nearby bushes rustle and someone stumble out of it. It was a—boy? He looked about Blaze's age. The convenient store lights illuminated his curly sandy blonde hair and cherry coloured eyes. Something about him looked so familiar, his crooked smile or maybe his evil eyes. He dressed like a homeless person, a raincoat over  stained overalls.

He caught Emi's attention. She kept clenching and unclenching her fists as the boy walked towards the truck.

"Is that him? " Matt asked.

"I'm your hacker, " The boy said. And then I realized who he resembled so much, Aldo. Their hair and eye colors were different, and even their sense of fashion but there was no denying that he looked exactly like Aldo.

"Guys this is, Donatello, " Emi said dryly. The boy grinned and saluted.

"How good are you? " Connor asked, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned against the truck.

"Good enough. " Donatello smirked. My phone vibrated in my pocket. When I took it out, Connor's name lit across my screen. Emi pulled out hers and she looked at it unimpressed, turned it around to show Flora's name.

"Nice trick kid. " Connor cracked a smile. "What do you want? "

"What do I want? Straight forward eh, I don't want anything. Just returning a favour. " He looked at Emi as he said it. He turned around and studied each of us. "Who am I working with? "

"Him." Connor pointed at Matt. Matt smiled and waved.

Donatello scowled at Matt. "Him? He doesn't look very into—the modern world. " He wasn't lying, Matt looked like those surfer boys who wore peace sign shirts and lived in vans, who wore thongs instead of shoes. In fairness though, so did Donatello.

"Kids these days, " Matt grumbled, "always going on about looks, back in my day, it didn't matter if you got a few loose teeth or ten, you'd have just as many ladies flocking. "

I snorted and so did Flora.

Donatello smiled and side-eyed Matt. "When were those days? "

Matt ruffled Donatellos hair. "Ugh, yah little dumb babies—can I call you Donny?"

"No."

"Okay Donny! "

➷

The good thing about having powers like mine is I don't have to do much physical work. I sit and think. I was able to send out a telepathic message that basically told the zoo animals that we meant no harm. They trusted me enough to keep quiet.

Donny said there were three guards on duty, when he hacked into the system. Connor became an eagle and circled the zoo from above, occasionally becoming a bug.

Emi, went with Matt and Donny, to watch out at the lab. Donny said he'd handle the surveillance cams, whatever that meant. Emi trusted him, and I trusted Emi so I gave him a chance. Matt went with him to keep an eye on him and give advice like what to take and what not too. I just hoped Matt knew what he was doing.

Flora told them to take the bird route, and that route only because the chances of them meeting the guards there were the lowest.

And that left Flora and I, we sat outside the zoo on the truck's back, keeping an eye out for anything weird or suspicious. But all was quiet. The crescent moon glowed low in the sky and the air was cold.

"We saw what you did? " I blurted out. "You made Aldo... Run away. "

Flora looked up at me and a small smile played at her lips. "I gave them a spoiler. When you live such an ugly life, most times it doesn't end well. Spoilers ruin the fun, don't they?"

I was speechless. Maybe even scared. I didn't realize how true that was. If I knew how I'd die, I would never be able to sleep or breathe properly, I'd just keep wondering and wondering until it killed me.

I regarded Flora to see that face she always wore. You just couldn't tell what it meant, sadness? Loneliness? Fear? Or maybe even anger?

"Oh," I said and she nodded back. I wanted to ask something but I hesitated and decided not to.

"No I don't know who the culprit is, but I do know that we're going to have to fight him. "

Again I was speechless, but I managed, "How did you know? I wasn't gonna say it. "

"Possibilities, " She said and rubbed her ankles.

Abilities are cool but they had faults, for such powers like Flora's I wasn't sure if she had any. They were incredible. "Does it ever hurt you? Your abilities? "

She dropped her hood and her hair seemed to glow in the moonlight. Her eyes were as distance as ever. "It's boring. "

I was taken aback. She chuckled and I chuckled along.

"I got my abilities late," Flora said and I listened intently, "when I was 10 I got my first vision. I saw a car accident, and my parents were in it. At first I thought it was nothing and I shrugged it off. Every night after that I had the same dream until I couldn't bear it anymore. I tried to tell my parents about it. But one day they went out and the next time I saw them was at their funeral. "

I didn't know what to say or do. I put my arm around Flora, when I saw the tears sparkling in my friend's eyes. "It's not your fault. "

"I—I should've told them earlier. "

I rubbed her back and held her hand. She looked up at me and put on that face.

"You were just a kid. There was only so much you could've done. "

Flora looked down at her crossed ankles. "Thanks Rayne. I thought you'd turn on me. No on wanted me around. They...they called me a monster because I couldn't stop their deaths. "

"Was that a possibility? " I asked, "would I have said that? "

She kept her head down. "I guess I got used to it so much I just assumed it—I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It isn't easy knowing this kinda stuff. So, who do you—uh never mind. "

"I live with my grandma. She was the only one, who didn't abandon me. "

"Is she nice? "

When she smiled this time around she looked happy—genuinely happy but with a tinge of sadness. "The best old lady ever! "

"We should meet her some time. "

"She'd love that. "

My phone pinged suddenly. I took it out to see the time. 15 minutes had passed. I started getting agitated, something must've been disturbing the animals because many of them woke.

Flora hopped off the truck before I could. "They need to get out—10 minutes tops! "

I speed dialled Emi. She picked immediately. "What's wrong? "

"Get out of there, in under ten minutes... " I watched Connor fly towards us. But when he landed he didn't transform.

"Your friend! He was taken." The eagle said telepathically. This was wrong, all wrong, Connor wasn't here because the eagle wasn't Connor.

(A/n: yep Flora's actually not the grim ripper. I contemplated that but then I was nah, too supernaturally. So I just went with this—byeeee)