Steel: The Transformation

Chapter 26

She brightened up, "That sounds like a really good idea actually."

~*~

The steep incline pulled at my leg muscles but it only felt right, one of the benefits of being Basati was that we didn't really get out of breathe or felt tired as quickly as humans. I looked up at the vastness of the mountain and the trees clinging onto the slopes. I figured being out here was more peaceful than the town and with the wolves lurking around this might be a good way to shake them off for now. The heavy wind pushed its way into my face carrying with it all the scents of the forest. I felt the steepness of incline increase indicating that the small meadow, tucked away on the mountainside was not too far away. The grass was just as high as it had been the last time we had been here practicing. I took a moment to look at scenery whilst Cleo jumped into the meadow bouncing through the high grass with her backpack jostling up and down on her back as she went.

The checkered woolly blanket was pushing down the high grass and the wind was blowing across the meadow, making the high grass around us nod back and forth around us.

"Want some more juice?" Cleo handed me the cup with a smile. We had spent most of the day in content silence but I felt like I needed to talk to her about how she was getting on with everything. I knew that most of my Mentor duties was about teaching her to deal with her abilities but she had been through a pretty dramatic transformation so far and it couldn't be easy to deal with that.

"Thank you," I took the cup from her and downed a mouthful of it. She was half laying down, only propping up her body with her elbow as she looked over at me.

"So how are you feeling about everything?" I was trying to not be too nosey but at the same time she needed someone to talk to that knew about everything.

"It's all ups and downs really," she shrugged her shoulders. "It's been a bit of a rollercoaster."

"I know your transformation has not been the easiest. I know that everyone struggles to some amount when they first change. But you have had more to deal with than most."

"It's been hard. It's strange to think that even to the Basati I'm still considered weird. I mean, I'm being told that I'm this strange thing but even within the community of strange things I'm still the abnormality," a small sad smile crept across her lips.

"I know that your transformation is not considered normal," I could see that my statement upset her, so I carried on explaining myself, "but that makes you so special. You are one of the few that is even stronger, even better than the rest of us."

"Okay," she said, still slightly unconvinced, "I'll try to think of it like that."

"Please do," I confirmed warmly.

"So how are you handling everything else?" I wanted to ask her how she felt about Jackson but at the same time I didn't want to put her on the spot.

"I don't know. Everything got so complicated. I mean with Jackson...," she broke off and a thought passed across her face, "The wolves," she thought for a second longer, "Why do they know so little about the Hunters?"

I shrugged my shoulders, "Your guess is as good as mine on that one."

"Jackson keeps asking me about it and I can't tell if it's because he genuinely needs to know information about them or if it's only a reason for him to talk to me again."

"The wolves society works different from ours. They run in packs and share information with their pack members. Of course they have elders just like we do. But I don't know to what level they communicate with one another," I explained.

"So in which way do the Basati communicate then?" she looked genuinely interested.

"You know about Central. They are our main organisation, they keep records of all information and when we find something new we report it to them or in some cases we send in samples."

"Like my blood and Jacksons?" she added.

"Yes, we don't necessarily need all information we collect. But it's all analysed and tested, building the knowledge to our database."

"Ah," she said and stayed silent for a while as if she was processing this new piece of information.

A small pinecone from a nearby tree had found its way to the edge of our blanket, tangling itself into her hair. I held on to the strand of her hair and gently pulled the pinecone away from the ends of it.

"Thank you," she said quietly before turning over and looking up at the sky.

I looked back at her for a moment before following her example. My thoughts drifted from Cleo, to the wolves and back to Central, to the life I had left behind in Central. Now that I was here, of course I cared for Cleo and wanted her to go through the transformation as smoothly as possible. But taking on this mentoring position was not motivated by Cleo. I had my own reasons for wanting to be a Mentor.

Author's Note: So who's happy to see another chapter in Alec's POV? Let me know which your favorite part of this chapter was?

Song: Body Gold - Oh Wonder