Terato

7

   "I think she fell asleep," I said after a long moment. Jake didn't say anything.
   "Jake?"
   I strained my ears for a moment, but all I could hear was the faintest whisper of a breeze.
   "Hello? Jake?" I listened closer, but I couldn't tell where he was. I wondered for a moment if he was messing with me, but I knew he wouldn't.
   Okay, this was getting weird.
   The near-silence stretched for a while longer, until it was broken by the crunch of leaves.
   I spun around. Diablo finally perked up- he had been strangely still, too- and lifted his head out of my pocket enough to see, but he quickly jerked back inside with a squeak.
   I clicked my tongue a few times, but I didn't sense anything other than the woods.
   I counted to ten, but nothing else happened. I finally cleared my throat and said as clearly as I could, "Hello?"
   No answer.
   I started walking farther into the pasture, but a sudden sound from the direction of the woods echoed in the still world.
   Crack!
   I spun around and clicked again, but I still detected nothing. I ran back toward the woods and swung myself over the gate. Diablo leaped out of my pocket and shifted back to his normal form, which was the size of a pony. His wings bumped my legs as he ran alongside me.
   I stopped when I reached the edge of the woods. Diablo skidded to a halt next to me, growling uneasily.
   "Weird day, huh?" I commented to Diablo, trying to sound braver than I felt.
   I had an image of Jake and the whole herd of winged horses completely still where they had been before. My heart seemed to stutter when I noticed that Jake had blond hair, but the rest of the image was much more interesting.
   A chill went down my back. Weird was an understatement.
   There's something here, Diablo said. I just can't tell what it is.
   I stepped into the forest. There wasn't anything better to do.
   And then before Diablo or I could react, I was slammed against a tree with a knife against my throat.
   "Hey! Get off me! Who are you?" I yelled, disguising my panic rather well, I thought.
   Diablo leaped at the attacker, but was knocked away. I felt his pain almost like my own. He was pinned to the ground by a massive clawed foot.
   "Easier than I expected," a girl muttered. She didn't say anything for a long moment. "Oh. Damn it. You're right. They did say to do that."
   Caro, I think this thing is a hydra, Diablo said nervously. Aquatic looking dragon-ish thing with five heads. Unless we're really fast I don't think we can get away easily.
   "Anyway, you're Caroline A., I suppose?"
   I suddenly had a cold feeling. I nodded.
   "How much do you know about where you come from?"
   "Um..." I swallowed. I wanted to say it was none of her business, but that didn't seem like a great idea with a knife at my jugular. "Nothing. I was put in an orphanage when I was really young and I've been in and out of foster homes ever since."
   Another pause. I couldn't tell if she believed me. "Okay. So we have to do it. How long have you had the Jersey Devil and how much do you know about your bond and the Riders?"
   "Few weeks, nothing, and not much other than that they're evil."
   The girl sighed heavily. "Okay. So the Hunters have convinced you. If you can see any sense at all, though, maybe we can help you. First of-"
   "Wait," I interrupted. "Who exactly is we?"
   "The Hunters have probably mentioned me by now. I'm Ace, and my hydra friend here is Viisi. Via, Ido, Ira, Sio, and Isom. And if you're not insane, I'm about to become your teacher."
   Ace. One of the most dangerous Riders. Their princess and future queen. Yeah, she'd been mentioned, and none of what I'd heard was good.
   "So, let me explain what's going on here," Ace said. "You're a Rider. We're not evil. We're just people who bond with creatures that most people may or may not believe in. That's all. Got that?"
   "Then why do the Hunters hunt you? They explained it to me. You kill humans and the monsters eat them. If you don't consider that evil, I don't even know what to tell you."
   I felt the knife lower and Diablo was let up. He was next to me instantly and I rested a hand on his back, feeling his steady presence. He was the only person I could be open with about anything and everything. Even my past.
   "The Hunters are idiots," she said with finality. "Oh, don't give me that look. They're after us like the people of Salem on any woman who lived alone with a cat. We don't eat people. Yeah, they freak out when they see us, but we don't kill them any more than sharks. And sharks kill less humans than humans do. We don't need to hurt people. Like- uh, sorry, what's your name?"
  Diablo, the Jersey devil answered.
   "Well, I'm sure you just eat birds and squirrels and maybe deer and that stuff, right?"
   He nodded slowly.
   "And Viisi does too. Or fish, if we're near water. Then why would we eat people? That's just weird. And creepy."
   I tried to argue, but I could see her point.
   "So you see I'm on your side."
   "Not really," I said, my voice low. "What happened to Jake? And the winged horses?" And Atancca? I added silently.
   "Why do you care? They're with the Hunters. They don't care about us."
   "I-"
   I felt her pointed glare.
   "I don't. But Jake saved me when I was attacked by a Rider. I at least don't want him dead."
   "It was a hydra, wasn't it? That they said attacked you?"
   It hit me that Viisi, too, was hydra. And didn't seem much different from the one I was attacked by. "That was you?"
   There was a pause. She must have nodded. "Yup."
   "You burned my arm! And you expect me to trust you?" I ripped off my jacket and rolled up my sleeve to show the burn mark.
   Ace grabbed my arm. I tried to pull it away, but her grip was solid. She traced a seemingly random pattern over the burn.
   "What are you doing?" I tried to pry her hands off, but it didn't do anything.
   "Your hands are cold," she said matter-of-factly. I was about to ask what that had to do with anything when she said, "I can see the mark. You probably have no idea what I'm talking about, but this is bad. If any of them see this, it'll be bad. You and Diablo will be dead."
   Diablo growled and I felt him about to pounce. I tried using Atancca's telepathy trick to tell him not to, and it worked. I made a mental note to go back and see the strange pegasus later to thank her. "What are you talking about? What mark?"
   "Your Rider mark. Didn't they tell you about that? Riders have this mark somewhere on their body. Yours is right here, on your arm. Where I burned you. I had a feeling they were going to get to you before I did, and I didn't want them looking and finding it. Which, if you're slow, would reveal you as a Rider and you would be killed or tortured. Or both."
   I tried to ignore the creeping feeling in my spine. "Why are you after me, anyway?" I asked, still not liking how much sense she was making.
   She was quiet. I could almost feel the wheels turning in her head.
   "I'm here to train you," she said finally, which was not what I expected.
   "How?"
   "Do you know anything about the Riders? Really?"
   "Well..." I thought back to the brief explanation Jake had given me when we first met. "Jake explained a lot of their abilities, yeah."
   "He explained how they fuse with their partners? He explained how they can control elements? He explained the psychic abilities of the royals? He explained how I did that just now?"
   I didn't have a response other than no, and I wasn't going to admit that.
   "I know for sure he didn't say anything about how to use them," she said. "That's what I'm here to do. Teach you how."
   Diablo moved closer to me. Do you really think she'd teach us how to do all that stuff?
   Do we really need to know? I thought back. I would love to know, but at the same time, can we trust her? The Hunters can't be wrong about everything about them, can they?
   Yeah. I'm not entirely sure about this.
   I opened my mouth to respond to Ace. "You know what?" she said, interrupting me. "I know you don't trust me. Midnight, tonight. Meet me in the woods behind your Hunters' house. I'll show you some stuff. Don't bring the Hunters and you'll learn everything you have to know."
   I thought for a moment. I could easily tell Jake and Ethan and Mr. Murphy about Ace. They would take care of her and I'd never have to worry about it again.
   "Oh, and I know what you're thinking. If you tell the Hunters you even saw me I'll tell them everything about you and Diablo. They'll know you're a Rider and they'll treat you like they do all of them. They'll torture you until you tell them everything about the Riders, which you don't know. They'll torture Diablo, too. Then they'll kill you both. Or if they think they can hold you easily, you'll be their captives for the rest of your lives. Which will be much longer than normal humans. Do you really want that?"
   I tried to swallow, but my mouth was already dry.
   "Your options are stay there and wait for the Hunters to discover your little secret, or meet me and learn. Got it?"
   I gave a tiny nod.
   "Midnight. In the woods. Be there or don't. Your choice."