Chapter 11
Roan woke up very early the next morning. She hadn't slept very well for most of the night, but she wasn't tired at all. She had felt wide awake ever since she had touched that mask. She slipped on some slippers and went out into the living room. She went over to the little box on the table and opened it and sat the mask on her lap. She just looked at it and then put it over her face. She then stood up and looked in the mirror above the chest of drawers by the book shelf. She looked quite good in it to be fair. She pulled bits of hair over the invisible string to make it look as if it was stuck on her face with glue. It was quite realistic and Roan liked it. She took it off again and curled up on the sofa for a minute as she slowly put it back in. She placed it back on the table and went back to her room. She quickly threw on some combats and a vest top then rummaged around for her laced up running boots. She made herself look presentable and brushed her teeth. She then quietly slipped out. She wasn't in the mood for breakfast, too twitchy and nervous. She went into the small training room opposite her aunts office and went to the small weapons cupboard. She had a quick look inside and found what she was looking for. It was a collapsible sword. It was very peculiar and strange, but brilliant in design. It came in a pouch the size for a dagger and the handle stuck out at the top. As you pull out the sword it cleverly unfolds itself to make a normal strong and sturdy sword. It was a bit like Mary Poppins! She then decided to do a little bit of practise and to get rid of the adrenaline she had managed to build up. After an hour she was hot and sweaty and hungry. She put the sword away and went straight back up. Stella was cooking bacon when Roan came in and Drew was sat at the table.
"Where've you been?" Stella asked. "You look...erm...hot." She said.
"Practising. Couldn't sleep." Roan answered sitting down opposite Drew.
"Bet you couldn't." Drew said as Stella put plates of hot bacon butties in front of them. Roan licked her lips and dug in. It was gone within minutes and she was up again.
"Oh Roan before you go anywhere, this came for you." Stella tapped something on the counter over in the kitchen. She went over to it and opened the white envelope. It was her drivers test results. She opened it up quickly and smiled.
"I've passed!" Roan squealed.
"Well done love!" Stella hugged her niece and Drew also came over to congratulate her.
"We will get your parents car when we go back for the full moon on Wednesday night." Stella said. Roan nodded and went to put the envelope somewhere safe. When she opened her curtains she looked out of the window as vans started coming up the drive. Hunter's were arriving. Drew and Stella hurriedly got dressed and they leapt downstairs two at a time, to see the first ones in.
As more and more began to arrive they all split off to their normal classes, except Roan who was in a small training room by herself. Stella with her.
"Ok Roan, I can't teach you for these next few weeks, so I've hired someone to do it for me. It's your uncle, or your dad's and my brother, Tony. He is also a hunter and knows what you are and what you can be capable of. You'll like him." She said. She then left the room and began talking to someone outside of the door. Roan patiently waited until a tall man that looked much like her father, with the same blue eyes and button nose. He looked older then her dad and was slightly taller, but even then he was short for a man. He looked down on her.
"Well little niece there is one thing you should know about me. I am strict, but fair. I expect high standard training and I don't like whining, complaining or moaning. So keep that to a minimum. Try to listen to everything I have to say and we will get along fine." He said.
"Great, I have a grumpy twit as a tutor. Brilliant." She muttered. Tony didn't appear to have heard so Roan got on with what he had to say. First of all, he wanted her to be able to shout and attract attention. Roan found this bizarre, but didn't argue. He stacked up about seven chairs and used sets of other chairs to clamber onto it.
"From here, I would like you to jump down and shout." He said.
"Shout what?" Roan asked.
"Stop...yes that would be best. You are breaking up fights after all." He said clambering back down. Roan realised he was right and unlike her uncle, she took a run and leap and swung herself onto the stack. She used her training that she had learnt about jumping and leapt down, bending her knees and she shouted as loud and confidently as she could.
"STOP!"
Tony began smiling and after a few seconds clapped several times.
"Not bad, Roan...Not bad at all. Now do it again, this time really mean it." He said. Roan rolled her eyes as he turned his back on her. She did at again and he nodded. "Now Roan, I am a Breathing Spirit at your mercy. I attack you before the Hunter does, what will you do?"
"Quickly counter, before you get me." She said. He nodded.
"All you have is this little silver knife. I will try and defend as best I can. I want you to try and stab me square in the chest."
"I don't want to sound thick Uncle Tony, but wont that kill you?" She asked. He chuckled to himself and began unbuttoning his shirt.
"I am wearing a full body shield Roan. It is a very light metal body armour, that will protect me, for any type of Hunter weapon. I use it for my team of Hunters. I only have adults you see and we class ourselves as professionals." He said. Roan looked at the grey skin over her uncles chest.
"Not modest in the slightest then." She said. He laughed and buttoned back up his shirt.
"When you are a Hunter and good at what you do, being modest about it is a good thing." He said. "Right come on show me what you've got."
Roan used her speed to slightly cheat, but she could and it took a couple of minutes, but she got to his heart in the end.
"Not bad Roan, but with your speed you should be able to do that in seconds. This is what I am going to teach you. How to use and respect the weapons, but how to use them quickly and how to respond when being attacked by them as well. You have a lot to learn in little time, but we can do it. I know we can." He said. Roan nodded and took his word for it. However, she could not help feeling worried about it all.
As evening came Roan had had three breaks which included a lunch break. She had been training for hours and in her last five minutes she managed to lunge a knife into her uncle's heart within three seconds. He clapped her as her training had paid off. Roan as tired, but pleased and knew that her first mission tomorrow would be a success. She just knew it.
**************
Morning came too quickly. Stella was helping Roan get ready for her first mission. She was wearing a white vest top and black leggings and Stella gave her an all in one leather suit, which zipped up at the front. Roan went and looked in the mirror at herself, she frowned.
"What?" Stella asked.
"I don't like it. It looks too well planned." Roan said taking off the suit.
"All right then, what do you want to wear?"
"Black and green." Roan answered. She then found her black jeans and pulled on one of her hunter training tops. She grabbed her black leather jacket and stood in front of the mirror. "Better." She said. Stella rolled her eyes as Roan placed very small silver hoops in her first piercing on her ear and then a diamond stud in the one next to it. She kept the cuff round the top. She put on some make-up and brown gloss on her lips.
"Brilliant." Stella smiled. Roan beamed and went into the living room, where Drew sat waiting.
"You look...well..."
"Amazing, gorgeous and extremely sexy?" she asked. Drew laughed.
"Definitely!"
"Come on devil in disguise, grab your mask and lets get you out of here."
Roan did as she was told and pulled on her lace up biker boots before going out the door.
"Good luck!" Drew shouted. When Roan got downstairs about fifty hunters were waiting for her in the hall. They were all dead quiet as she came down the stairs.
"Ok do I really look that awful?" Roan asked. They all laughed and clapped her on shouting 'good luck' and things like that. Stella pushed her forward and they climbed into the van she sat in only a couple of months ago. Stella handed her the little pouch with the collapsible sword and Roan attached the whole thing ot her waist.
"Ready?" Stella asked. Roan nodded and her Aunt started the engine and they were off. They came straight out of the long drive and were away. They were driving for about an hour and a half when they came through a small town. Roan then spotted what she needed.
"Stop! There's my first mission." She pointed at a boy of her age running from two young men and a woman.
"How do you know?" Stella asked.
"Your tracker says the boy is a Breathing Spirit." Roan answered.
"So it does. Ok, good luck Roan." Stella nodded and while Stella waited at a red light, Roan leapt out of the car and chased her victims. They were slowly moving away from the little town and nearer to where people actually lived. She was closer to them now, so she tugged on her mask and kept running. She wasn't quite out of breath yet, but she willed herself not to go to her maximum speed limit as people would be watching. The boys turned down a street and at the end was a big brick wall. He looked to be only just transforming, so leaping up and over was out of the question. He turned and faced the three hunters who were grinning and laughing. They drew out knives and walked towards the terrified teenager. His eyes were wide and his face had drained of colour.
"Leave him alone!" Roan shouted. The hunters turned their backs on the boy, but Roan had already leapt straight over their heads and landed just in front of the boy. The hunters turned back around and looked at the mysterious girl in front of them. Roan drew out the sword.
"I'm warning you, leave the boy alone, or you will suffer the consequences." She said. The hunters, not knowing who she was, turned and looked at each other.
"Will we really?" The woman asked.
"Who are you, to tell us this?" One of the men asked.
"I am the Unknown and believe me, if I tell you to do something, you had better do it, because I am not nice when I'm angry." She snapped. The hunters just laughed again and Roan's temper was bubbling inside of her. "Right you asked for it!" Roan bared her fangs and growled. The hunters stepped back in surprise and she slashed out with her sword. She cut the woman across the cheek, one man across his right him and the other on his left shoulder.
"Now I wont kill you, if you do something for me. Leave the boy alone and spread the word of who I am and what I want." Roan said.
"Which is?" The woman spat, wiping the blood that ran down her cheeks.
"I'm the girl in the mask, the Unknown and I'm coming."
Roan had scared off the Hunters and let the boy go free telling him exactly the same. He just nodded and thanked her. She decided he was probably sixteen and slightly younger then her, but he was a fast runner and he was gone in the blink of an eye. Roan smiled and took off her mask and unzipped her leather jacket. She had enjoyed that and she only knew it was going to get harder.
She made it back into the town and found her aunt sitting on a bench in front of a market. Roan eyed the fruits in front of her and Stella bought her a crispy red apple to eat as she walked her back to the van.
"So how was it?" Stella asked excitedly. The corners of Roans mouth turned up as she bit into the apple. She then told her Aunt exactly what had happened.
"Well done Roan! I am really impressed, but you know it will only get harder. Don't just target the hunters, target the Breathing Spirits as well, but if they strike, kill them. I would rather you didn't kill hunters unless necessary and do not kill anyone from my team, or I will not be happy." Stella said. Roan nodded and took it all in.
They managed to get four attacks done through the day and Roan was shattered by the time they were on their way home. Being the Girl in the mask was hard work and every few days for a couple of weeks, she would have to do this. Something to look forward too. Sort of. Roan fell asleep in the car, she was that tired and when she woke again they were half an hour away from home. She just sat and listened to the radio, staring out of the window at the fields and cattle grazing in the sinking sun.
Finally, they were back and all the Hunters pushed their way out of the building, with eager and nervous faces. It made Roan smile at how curious they all were about the mission. Most of them didn't even know what it was about. Drew, Aimee and Robin were right at the front as Stella parked the van. They both climbed out and Stella stood in front of her team.
"The word will be spread...mission accomplished!" She shouted. The hunters all cheered and Roan's friends came and embraced her in a hug.
"Most of the hunters know what is going on now." Drew explained. "And I have also written an article for the newspaper for Breathing Spirits and Hunters. I'm sure you will make the front page." Drew winked. Roan could only chuckle at this as she went inside. She went straight up to her room and got changed into something more comfortable. She then collapsed on the sofa and breathed.
Drew saw all the Hunters back out safely before coming up and joining her.
"We were all so worried." He said.
"Were you?" Roan asked. He nodded.
"Glad everything went well." He said. Roan knew he must have heard the story twenty times in the passed half an hour. Stella had ordered takeaway pizza as a treat and they stuffed their faces while watching TV. Roan knew she could get used to this! Her life had changed a lot since her parents disappeared, but with this life she knew she could make a difference. After all, her aunt didn't control her...no one did, but herself.
By nine o-clock roan was on the brink off falling asleep when her Aunt looked out of the window and cursed. Both Drew and Roan turned to look at her.
"what?" Drew asked. Stella didn't reply and she ran to the calendar.
"Roan, full moon is tonight, not tomorrow." She said. roan slapped her forehead.
"I knew I felt more tired then usual. I know I've had a busy day, but I've been worse. I felt like I did with my first transformation." She said.
"We have to get her to the sanctuary somehow." Drew said.
"We wont make it. Look at her eyes, they are beginning to go green and by half nine they'll be glowing." Stella said. Roan was panicking now.
"Why doesn't she do the click thing?" Drew asked.
"Because I can't!" Roan snapped. "I haven't been taught anything about my powers remember!"
Drew began biting his nails. Then a light turned on in his head.
"I got it! Stick her in one of the smaller training rooms." He said.
"What? Both Stella and Roan asked.
"She would wreck everything."
"But the sanctuary is safe and closer to nature, why don't I just take the teleport?"
"You won't be able to, these specific ones will only carry humans, it's for safety." Stella answered
"It's all we have." Drew said.
"He's right Roan, I'm sorry. Drew got to the training room opposite my office and empty all the furniture out of it. Then open all the windows on the safety hatch and I will go out to the garden waste bin and get the grass cuttings and leaved from inside it and we'll spread it in there. We can just say that room is out of bounds until we get it cleaned up." Stella said. "Roan go with Drew and don't move from the training room."
She was then straight out of the room and running out of the front door to the bins. Drew shrugged and he and Roan went down to the training room and emptied it, then opened the windows. Stella came back up with a box and bin bagful of grass cuttings and dead leaves. She emptied it all over the floor then she and Drew left her niece on her own. They locked the door from the outside and Roan knew she was on her own. She went to the windows and watched the moon come out from behind a wispy cloud. She felt something tick inside of her and the animal spirit began taking over her body. She felt it consume her and she became a sleek, black panther once more.