I stood in front of Karlon Yin's house and stared at the one-story building that I had spent some of my childhood with Tygra, Ava, Mal, my brother, and Matt at my side. A ring of keys was in my hands, and I had one key set and ready to get into the door. However, I didn't move from the first step that leads to the house.
"Martha?" Ava asked. Her eyes were wide, and I could that she was nervous. She didn't know most of what I had found out, being that Kalron was the perpetrator that had attacked our clans, but she did know that he was involved in some way. "Are you ok?"
I took a deep, shuddering breath in and let it out with a soft whoosh before I nodded. "Uh... I will be," I said. I licked my lips and cleared my throat before I flicked my gaze away from her and to the door. "Just nervous is all."
"I know," Ava said, and she smiled when I looked at her. "I am too." She shifted on her feet and cleared her throat. "You know that I have never stepped into his house before, right? At least not this one."
I nodded and stayed silent. I knew that was true because Master Yin didn't allow anyone in his house except for me and other wolves that had used him as a teacher under the rules that Faolon had set years ago. "I think I am the only one that had people from different backgrounds over," I said finally with a bitter chuckle.
"Well, what would he have said?" Mal asked. He looked nervous as well, and I knew that this would be hard on him, on all of us, because Master Yin had touched all of our lives and had helped us "see" past the differences that each clan had to make us more unified than the other generations. "That you can't have your friends over?"
"Ya," I replied. I cleared my throat and shifted on my feet. "He could have said that. He could have ordered my parents not to let be friends with you all."
"And then where would we be?" Ava asked. She walked back over to me and held her hand out for me to take before she gave me a sad smile. "I think you started changing this perspective on all of us because you didn't allow your views to change."
I chuckled coldly and took her hand, letting her pull me to the door. "Yes, but at what cost? There are still people that think we should live apart from everyone different, and there is more tension than there had been."
"Which is good," Tygra said and stuffed her hands into her pockets. She shrugged her shoulders and glanced away before she looked at me with her dark brown eyes. "We can't survive apart, which is why there is someone like you. I think it was good that Master Yin had us train together. So," she gestured to the door with her head, "open up, and let's see what secrets we can find."
"What are we trying to find?" Brody asked while I went to the door and unlocked the house. "What are we searching for?"
"Notes, papers, journals," I replied and opened the door. "Or anything that looks like it doesn't belong."
"How will we know if it doesn't belong?" Mal asked while I stepped in, and they followed me. "We have never been to the house before, Martha."
"Yes, but you know his personality and what he likes," I replied and closed the door behind us. "If it looks weird or something, then just bring it to my attention."
"Does anyone else feel guilty for going through a dead man's stuff, or is it just me?" Ava asked. She looked around nervously and licked her lips.
"No, I feel guilty, too," I replied and turned on the lights. I looked and cleared my throat, noticing that the room was dusty as if no one had entered to clean it in a long time.
Sheets covered the furniture, and dust had settled on the sheets. Nothing looked like it had been touched in a while, even though the lawn had been taken care of. It was as if the same person that looked over the dojo looked over the house as well, making sure that everything was intact and ready to be used by someone, someone who wouldn't be back here because of what had happened.
"Why is the yard clean, but this isn't?" Mal asked, looking around. He walked towards a wooden table in the room and swiped his finger across the top, leaving a trail of "clean" wood behind. He moved his fingers back and forth, feeling the dirt before he looked at me. "It's so dusty."
I sighed and nodded. "I don't know why the lawn is like it is," I said. "The dojo is the same way. I wish I knew why, but I will try to find out later. Let's go searching and see if we can't find anything."
"What if we don't find anything?" Mal asked. "What then?" He stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked around before he looked at me. He raised an eyebrow and folded his arms across his chest. "Did we just waste our time?"
"No, because we had never set foot in Master Yin's "actual" house," Ava said. "We get to see the man that Martha had seen when he wasn't at the dojo or his place underneath. That's something we've wanted to see since we've known him."
Mal huffed and pouted before he folded his arms across his chest. "I don't know why I had you talk me into this. I could be going on a date with Julie, but no, I am here, looking through a dead man's stuff."
I rolled my eyes. "We haven't touched anything yet," I said. "Are we going to do room by room as a group or split up?"
"Are you crazy?" Mal asked, looking at me as if I was stupid. "We're staying together. Haven't you watched any horror movies? If we split up, then we get killed easily one by one."
I rolled my eyes but didn't reply. "Fine, then we will search this area as well as the office together and then as a group making our way to the kitchen before hitting the bedrooms and then the basement. Ok?"
"Just for the record, I am not going into the basement of a dead man's house," Mal said. "It could be haunted or have scary pieces of whatever."
"Then you can wait up here while we go down," I replied. "Now," I clapped my hands and cleared my throat, "let's get searching for anything that would be interesting. The faster we get this done, the faster we can leave and go do other stuff."
"Like what?" Mal asked.
"Like training," I replied. "Can't you feel it, Mal? Can't you feel the change in the air? We're running out of time, and I don't want to run out before I get my Tiger form."
Mal studied me and smiled. His whole gaze changed, and a look of understanding flashed through his eyes. "I know," he said. "Even if you don't get it, I am sure that you will give them hell to pay."
I smiled and nodded. "Ok, so, let's get to work."
And with that, we started to go through Master Yin's stuff, and I prayed I could find something that would give me an idea of how he was still alive and not dead, even though he was taken over by the Dark Master that controlled the Dark Forces.
"Just to let you know, if I see any ghosts, I am running. I don't deal with ghosts."
"You don't deal with a lot of things."
"Shut up."