Thunders Legacy [B. Barnes] [Thunder Wolf B.2]

Chapter 13

"Thunder, you're freaking me out a little."

"I'll start from the beginning. I crash-landed in the forest when your father was 15; he and your grandmother cared for me until I regained my strength. As a thank you, I promised to bless his future children. When the fire happened, I was ready to leave the forest –vowing to come back within five years. I waited for days because your father said the humans would kill the fire, but the animals were so scared, losing their homes and loved ones. I couldn't take it any longer and started the famous rainstorm you were told about. I had used to so much power I couldn't leave the forest. I thought it was best to make a nest and settle in the woods until I was strong enough to leave.

"Months passed by. I felt strong again, but by then, I had come to like the easy-going forest and the humans living there. My life as the Queen of my kind wasn't a worry; I was happy to have a break for the first time in many years. I knew my kind would find me if they needed me, and if I ever wanted to go home, I could. There was nothing genuinely binding me to the forest.

"A few years passed, and there was a new presence in the forest. Your father brought your mother home for the first time. In a way, I paid no mind to them; your father had been away for a few years, but something about your mother piqued my interest when your father introduced us. She was a normal human; nothing was extraordinary about her besides her knowledge of plants and animals. It took a few more years and your two older brothers for me to understand what was so special about her. Can you guess what that was?"

"Me?" Fern watched the Thunderbird as if she was a child meeting Santa for the first time. Completely engrossed in the story.

"You. You were always what made your mother special. I remember flying down to the house the day they brought you home, your brothers screaming because they were excited to see me and that your parents were finally home. I didn't meet your brothers when they were first born. Your father brought them to me; I will say they were special, I don't know where the powers came from, but they were nothing compared to you.

"So, when I was waiting at the house when your parents brought you home, your father knew something was going on. At first, your mother was scared I would take you from her. You cried until your father took you in his arms and brought you to me. For only a second, your beautiful hazel eyes became shimmering gold. You were the one thing in the world that mattered most to me after that. Your mother was skeptical, but your father knew. I didn't have to tell him anything. He always said that he just knew. So we talked; I told him everything I could, how to care for you, what to expect because anything was on that table." Thunder paused, and Fern watched the eyes of the creature gloss over.

"Hold on, so my brothers had powers as well? Why did Hydra kill them, then? Wouldn't they have kept them too?" Fern's heart sank. How could she not remember something like that? They were her brother; they played together constantly, never apart, so how could she not remember them having powers.

"Patients, child." Fern huffed. "I watched over your family and the forest, just like you remember me doing. I guess you don't remember when we almost lost you. That day changed everything. It was a warm, sunny spring day; you were only about three. Your family was having a picnic a short distance from the house, and your mother, having forgotten something, ran back to the house to grab it; your father, while keeping an eye on you, was busy chasing around your brothers. So you sat, continuing what you had been doing for hours, building stick houses for the little woodland creatures that gathered around you. At such a young age, your powers were flourishing. Today was the downside to your abilities. I sat a few yards away from you, watching. Not a single animal scared you, not even the mischievous raccoons who would break your newly built houses. That was why when I looked away to see what the rest of the family was doing, you got up and walked away without a sound.