“Mara!” The call came once more before I could figure out what was going on.
“Mama!” My reply was instantaneous. I realized I couldn’t control my speech, and my body, as it started moving in an opposite direction from the one I was taking before the call. “Mama, where are you?” I asked, stepping deeper into the forest.
I wanted to stop, to check my surroundings, but my legs did what they wanted. I was like a prisoner in my body, and could only watch as the little body I had continued walking deeper into the dark. I wasn’t scared. There was this strange emotion I had the deeper I walked. Longing. Happiness. Excitement. Family.
Different emotions coursed through my body, one that puzzled me more than the discovery I had a few minutes ago.
“Mara?”
This time, the voice sounded near.
A smile broke out on my face as I hastened, running towards the direction, with my arms open and my lips spread up in a wide grin. “Mama!” I called out, giggling as I jumped over fallen trees like I had done many times.
The forest that was once looming and dangerous to me didn’t seem like that again. I got a feeling of familiarity with it. Home.
Home?
I didn’t get enough time to dissect the new information before a woman stepped out of the shrubs, smiling with her arms spread.
That’s me!
I thought, running towards my adult self, in my child’s body. Okay. That made little sense.
“Mama!” I yelled out, closing the distance between us as I enveloped her in a hug. Well, I only hugged her legs, since that was where I could reach.
“Oh, my darling.” She squatted in front of me, smiling as she placed her right hand on my head. “How was your training?”
Training? What am I working out for in such a small body???!
“It was wonderful!” My lips once more moved against my will, like they had been doing since I discovered I was in a strange place inhabiting the body of a young child.
I wanted to ask what was going on. Why I was in a kid’s body while calling my adult self mother. I had different questions I wanted to voice out, but none of them left my lips.
“That’s the spirit, darling,” my adult self said as she leaned down and placed a kiss on my forehead. “Mummy is proud of you,” she whispered, her eyes conveying so much. Though she didn’t say it, I could see the adoration in her gaze. The pride there was so much, it even made me sniff. “You are destined for so much, Mara. Remember that. Don’t settle for less.”
“Yes, mum!”
“That’s my darling. Come, let’s go. It’s time for dinner.” She got up and took my hand in hers.
As we stepped down the path, I wondered if this was real. Could this have been my mum? But that makes little sense. I had no recollection of my mum. The only memories I had of the time I was a kid was the orphanage. That was all I had known since I was a kid.
The deeper we wandered into the forest, the more troubled I became. Where was this? Why does my younger self feel at ease with my older self? Why the feeling of home, when we were surrounded by trees? What’s going on?
I peered up at my adult self, who was humming under her breath, wondering what was happening. Was I dreaming?
“Mara -”
“Bunny!”
The yell startled me. I peeked at eye open, wondering what was going on. I expected to see my adult self, smiling down at me, but that wasn’t what I saw. It was a worried Blue, peering down at me.
“Blue?” I whispered, blinking, to be certain my brain didn’t conjure him.
“I’m the one.”
“Where am I?” I sat up on the bed and looked around the room, still expecting to find myself in the forest, with my adult self leading me deeper into the woods.
“Home?” He sounded puzzled by my question. “What’s wrong?” He reached towards me and placed his hand on my forehead, to feel my temperature. “Are you okay?”
“I’m good.” Swallowing, I glanced around the office more. “I just…” I trailed off, not knowing how to tell my dream to him.
“What’s wrong?” He moved close and took my hand in his. “Did you have a nightmare?”
I shook my head at his question. My dream couldn’t be tagged as a nightmare.
“I just -”
The door opened and Fred stepped in, his gaze troubled. “Da Ankora is here,” he confided, glancing towards me. “He said he needed to tell us something urgent,” he completed, still staring at me as if he expected me to flip at his words.
“Da Ankora?” Blue asked, sounding puzzled.
“Yup.” Fred nodded, still looking at me. “I was stunned when I opened the connecting door. You know the kind where you stand for a full minute before reacting?”
“Impossible,” Blue muttered, standing from the bed. “Da Ankora in our house?”
“What’s he doing here?” I grumbled, getting down from the bed, as I ignored Blue and his whispers of awe. It wasn’t as if having the old man in the house was any achievement. Scarlett and the others visit daily. “Hope he’s not here to tell me I’m not human?”
It hasn’t even been…
I turned to check the time on the clock Blue kept on our bedside table. Shit. Have I been asleep for that long? Five freaking hours?
It was almost eight at night.
Clearing my throat, I looked at my mates, who were watching me. They didn’t need to voice it out loud for me to know what they were thinking.
“Come on, you don’t have to make it seem like I might bite your elder.” I stretched my body, yawning. “Let’s check what he has to say.” Smiling at my frowning mates, I walked towards the door, knowing they would follow.
Da Ankora was reclining on the loveseat when I stepped into the parlour with my mates behind me. The moment he heard my approach, he glanced up, his eyes crinkling at the side, and his lips spread in a smile.
Huh?
You would have thought his face would be cloudy when he saw me because of what happened in his house.
“Good evening,” I greeted him before I sat on the couch opposite the loveseat. “What do we owe this visit, sir?”
“There’s something you need to know,” he said, his tone urgent.