Taken

Chapter 18: ...And into the Fire

"Did you get mixed with some parrot DNA, too?" I quipped as my annoyance with the Griffin finally peaked. "You talk about just as much as one. Now, shut up for a moment and let me eat in peace, will you?"

"Oh right, sorry. Y'know? Eloise says the exact same thing! 'Imiter un perroquet' is what she calls me!"

If my facial muscles would've allowed it, I would've visibly frowned in response to the Owl Griffin's statement. Instead, I had to settle for giving one of my ears a passive flick to show the name-less stranager that I had heard her. I guessed that she had forgotten that she was supposed to be quiet while I ate, at the very least.

"I don't understand French." I replied simply as I crunched one of the hare's leg bones between my teeth in order to get at the delicious, treasured bone marrow that was contained within. "English, Spanish, Japanese, and a little bit of Latin are my languages."

"Ohhhhhh! 'Imiter un perroquet' roughly means 'Parrot mimic'. Or something like that. I don't know, my understanding of the French language doesn't really extend beyond the high school level; though, I had a little extra help learning the language from my step-dad. Fun fact! I can translate the entirety of fun.'s 'We Are Young' completely- and mostly accurately- to French!"

I haven't heard that band or song name in years. I thought to myself as I did my best to suck the marrow free from the rabbit bone that I was struggling to hold in place with my forepaws. fun. was one of those artists that I listened to a good amount during my middle school years. One of my favorite memories involved listening to the band's song "Some Nights" while tubing on a boat in the middle of a lake in north Georgia during my first ever sleep-away camp experience the summer of 2012. That was also the first year that the UK boy band One Direction was hugely popular, which I never really got behind while my cousin did- heavily.  The only song of One Direction's that I had actually liked was called "Up All Night" (which I was also introduced to that day on the boat during sleep-away camp along with Jason Derulo's "Ridin Solo" and Lupe Fiasco's "The Show Goes On") and that was only because it was linked to fun memories. 

My middle school years also saw me listening to a lot of Ellie Goulding, Black-eyed Peas, Pitbull, Calvin Harris, Flo Rida, Owl City, JAY-Z, Kanye West, Far East Movement, and Purity Ring. Various notable songs of that era in my opinion included "Levels", "Somebody That I Used to Know", "Mirrors", "Animals", "Feel So Close", and "Thrift Shop" just to name a few of the many songs that defined that period of my life. I chuckled sadly as I fondly recalled my dad listening to Gotye constantly during that time. For a few seconds, I started to miss that period in my life. Things had been so much more simple back then, despite my then severe social incompitence. I remembered actually looking forward to my school's middle school 'dances'; which were really just school-sponsored parties with the occasional slow dance song or two thrown in for the 'couples' of the school that I had gone to at the time (my family had moved from Georgia to North Carolina the Summer before my Freshman year of high school due to my mom's job in I.T.). 

Now that I really thought about it, I wouldn't be the least bit shocked if some of my classmates had been at least under the slight influence of some sort of drug(s) then if all of the grinding that I had remembered seeing was anything to go by. I- of course- was not one of those girls who was brazen enough to grind myself up on one of the guys in my grade at the time. I usually just stood off to the side away from the hot, sweaty throng of people and was simply content with watching everyone else live it up for an hour or two like the socially awkward outcast that I was back then. I guess that I just preferred living vicariously through my classmates as opposed to actually going out there and having fun for myself.

I was so deep in my thoughts, that I had forgotten my current state of being and where I currently was. I had also forgotten about the overly-chatty Owl Griffin; that is, until she spoke.

"Hey, are you alright?" She linked me, concern in her mindvoice.

"What? Yeah, I'm okay." I replied with a wistful sigh as I reluctantly returned to the present. "You mentioned the band fun. and it just brought up some old middle school memories to the surface of my thoughts. Sorry."

"If you don't mind me asking out of curiosity, how old are you?"

"Eighteen... well, probably close to nineteen now, actually." 

"Oh yeah, that explains it. I'm twenty-four, so I remember the music of your middle school years pretty clearly as well. Heard all of those then-popular songs and artists on the radio constantly during that time frame. I'm actually still a big Ellie Goulding fan!"

"I haven't listened to her music since middle school. As I recall, I really liked the sound of her voice."

I tossed the now mostly hollowed-out, gnawed-on leg bone off to the side in favor of a fresh mouthful of surprisingly tender loin meat. Despite the chilly bite and food deprevity of the Winter, this hare had clearly remained well-fed. There was a dull thud, followed by a surprised squawk from the Griffin as the bone finally clattered to the ground.

"Did I hit you?" I asked.

I didn't bother with trying to hide the amused chuckle in my mindvoice.

"By accident." Came the suprisingly equally amused response. "I'm actually kind of impressed that you managed to hit me with that bone without really bothering to look, first! Before we go on any further, let me first introduce myself! My name is Calista, Huntress Extrordinaire and French Translator!"

I had a feeling that Calista and Alasdair would get along quite well if they ever crossed paths, as they were both extremely chatty.

"Clara." 

I shared my own name as I snapped a rib free from the hare's now exposed ribcage and began to absent-mindedly gnaw on one of its' ends after I had made quick work of stripping any meat that had been attached to said bone.

"Another thing." I continued as I gnawed. "Who's Eloise?"

A low, rumbling growl caused both me and Calista to stop what we were doing in order to briefly look for the growl's source. It didn't take long for me to spot the large, white-furred, saber-toothed wolf that had appeared just outside of our rocky shelter.

"That's Eloise." Calista responded with a quick look in my direction. "She's the only Saber Wolf that the scientists created who has somehow managed to keep her Humanity. She is also the one who rescued you from the researchers who brought you here. While she can only speak French, she can understand English quite well!"

So she was the mysterious French speaker and she was also the Saber Wolf who had chased off the scientists yesterday!

Author's note: Happy early/late Holidays to y'all! I'll try my best to release an extra chapter in time for New Year's just for y'all! Thank you for sticking with me this year throughout the entirety of this story! :)