The Gift

Chapter Sixteen-Eli

"What?!" Blizzard jumped off the chair wildly. His eyes wide, his tail wagging, and I saw a hint of a smile. I had just read the note to him , and instead of freaking out, he was shocked.

"You're joking!" He exclaimed. "I'm partners with the most famous girl in the Hidden World!" He narrowed his eyes slyly, bent, wiggled his shoulders and butt, and pounced on top of me. At first I was going to shove him across the room, but he wasn't going to hurt me. Even though I had barely just met Blizzard, I had a connection to his lazy ass anyway. He was my only trustable friend right now.

"You are Nichole Everett, the Sly One." He smirked, and jumped off of me, and ran to hop back on my couch gracefully and looked out the window.

"Man. You know we have a name for you at home? It's Sly. You are always, somehow, slipping out of everyone's grip. Somehow you know that the bad guys are around you. No, of course you don't know who's the bad guys and who are not. Of course, the people you were with, that Joseph man, also wanted you and everyone else there for the same reason as Rufus. Only, Joseph is acting like a good guy, while Rufus is showing his true colors. Man! Now, together, we really will be unstoppable." He jumped around.

And suddenly he crashed into my wall, and he rolled back, groaning.

"I gotta work on that." He groaned. 

"You do." I agreed, and then I stood up. I turned around to see--not Cole. Definitely not Cole. He was in human form. He was the guy I saw at the graveyard. The one that probably tried killing me and Dylan. 

"Is it already starting?" Blizzard narrowed his eyes and stepped in front of me, guarding me with his small, skinny animal body, that didn't look so intimidating. You would think you could just pick him up and cuddle him at first sight.

But then he spoke.

The guy backed up a step, and I felt his nervousness. He reached for something in his pocket, and I gasped, and, out of fear, I was going to warn him to stop. But as I raised my hanss, purple sparks flew from my fingertips. The lights blew out, and the sparks made the guy go flying. He hit against the wall, and slid down groaning. I gasped and looked at my hands. That never happened to me before. I was always able to control it.

The only thing that I was real grateful for at that moment was it was in the daytime. The sun still lit up my room.

And then, the guy pulled out what he meant to get, still grunting in pain from getting thrown against a wall with sparks. He waved a white flag weakly, and then his arm flopped down.

Blizzard frowned.

"Wait, what? A flag? All that work and nerves for a stupid white flag?! Damn! What is wrong with people. I need a sandwich." He muttered irritably. I ran over to the guy, bending down and glaring daggers at him.

"I don't have time for white flags. Tell me who you are, and why you've been following me and why you've been trying to kill me." I snapped at him. He groaned and said, 

"You won't believe me anyway," 

"Try me. I've been having a long day, dude, I don't need this to go along with it." I snapped at him. "Show me your face."

"I can't." He told me, sitting up slightly with his hands, still in pain. Blizzard growled slightly, and the guy snapped, "Calm your tail, I'm not going to hurt her."

"Why can't you?" I demanded. He looked down to his legs, not answering me. I set my mouth in a strict line, glaring at him. "Tell me why!"

"I can't. You won't believe me. You just need to believe that I'm not here to hurt you," he told me. I scowled. 

"I can't believe anything, even if you have a white flag. You've been trying to kill me, and whatever you were doing in the graveyard was a total dick move. I've been afraid to go back, now." I snapped. 

"I never tried to kill you," he snapped. "And the graveyard thing you wouldn't understand."

"I'm so sick of this!" I shoved his hood back, and he ducked his head into his knees quickly. He had the same color hair as Cole. I just needed to see his face...

"I can't show you my face," he grunted. I wanted to scream. I stood up madly, and folded my arms across my chest.

"What's your name?" I asked him.

"Eli." He muttered. I looked at Blizzard, who was still not sure about Eli. He was ready to pounce if anything happened. I looked back at Eli, squatted down, and tapped his shoulder.

"Look, Eli, I don't have time for games. I need to know who you are, and fast. I don't care what you look like, or how your personality is. All I need to know is that I can trust you." I told him. He sighed, and barely lifted his head. Shadows still hid his face, and he barely moved, anyway.

"You won't believe I'm who I say I am." He whispered quietly. "He got to you too soon. I should have fought him off...that dick." He cursed madly, and looked back down.

"Who got to me too soon? Joseph?" I asked.

"Cole." He said the name with distaste and anger. "He should never have found you. I got to you first. He just didn't give me the chance to say hey."

"Cole? What do you have against Cole?" I said, looking back to Blizzard, but he was already at my side, also frowning in confusement.

"What do I have against Cole?" He repeated bitterly. "Everything. There's a reason me and him aren't talking anymore--he went to the bad side."

"The bad side?" I qouted in confusement. "What do you mean?"

"There isn't much time." He said, pulled his hood back on and looked back up. He grabbed my hands, which were like a child's in his. "You have to trust me."

"I've heard that a lot." I muttered, looking down to the floor. "Look, I don't know who I can trust. My life just went insane just about twenty minutes ago. I know a lot of people are after me, and it's scary. It's scary not able to trust anyone. So how do I know you mean good when you won't even show me your face?"

"I'm sorry," he said, squeezing my hands. "I really am. But I'm your only hope. I know everyone. I know who's actually after you. You are not safe here, Nichole."

I frowned. "How--?"

"Everyone knows your name," Blizzard cut me off boringly, "you're hard not to know."

"Nichole," Eli's voice brought my eyes back to him. "You need to trust me. Tell Kim and Jeremy tomorrow morning. Get dressed. Pack a few things. Get ready to run. I'll be here. I promise you. You'll have to trust me. Listen to what they say." 

He squeezed my hands one more time, and whispered, "It's up to you now to find out who to trust." and he was gone. My heart was still thudding wildly, and I looked down to Blizzard, who's jaw was dropped in absolute shock.

"He just...disappeared." Blizzard said in astonishment. I stood up, and ran to my closet. The lights came back on, and I looked around to find some clothes. I knew Eli was a stranger. And the last time I trusted someone like him, I got shot and ended up in a hospital for a long while. I also ended up somewhere I didn't even want to be. Now I found out I was lucky I was smart enough to leave. Joseph was actually bad. Rufus was bad. People were after me...and the only people I thought I could trust weren't good. Not in Eli's eyes.

So as I packed a few bags, putting socks, underwear, clothes, bras, everything I would need, I thought about what I was about to do. I was about to trust a guy that was just like Cole. I didn't know if he was lying. All I knew was he was probably the only person I have left that I could get answers from. And no matter what happened, I would have Blizzard, and we would protect each other. That's all I needed.

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Okayy, now it's getting intense...:) Whoop!! 

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