Crossbreeds Ch. 5

Crossbreeds
Chapter 5

Kaza stretched in her hammock, trying to resist the urge to wake up. Running around yesterday showing Terra around had tired her out. She growled at her pillow, wishing she didn't have to get up. Kaza laid in her hammock for another minute until her stomach growled loudly at her. Kaza groaned, she was still tired, but she was really hungry.
"Ugh...noon...." Kaza said as she glanced at her watch. She rolled out of her hammock and landed on her hands and knees on the ground, glad for her cat instincts. Dragging her feet to the closet she picked out grey sweatpants and a grey tank top, not feeling particularly fashionable. She changed into them, then looked at herself in the mirror.
Glaring at herself in the mirror she thought,Why were mornings made? Kaza sighed, like she would ever know. She picked up her brush and tamed her hair, then gave her long cheetah tail a light brush over. Now at least she looked nicer, but she still was scowling at herself for waking up.
She forced herself to run to the lunchroom so she wouldn't be late for lunch. When she walked in, most of the twenty Crossbreeds were already in the lunch room. As Kaza walked towards the lunch line, she noticed that Terra was sitting next to Jazele, and they weren't tearing each other to pieces. Grabbing a cheese soup and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, Kaza walked to go sit by Drake, who was watching Terra and Jazele.
"So have they tried to kill each other yet?" Kaza whispered as she sat down next to Drake.
"No, Jazele seems to be trying to be nicer. I wonder if Terra helped her with the twins."
"Hm. I thought I saw paintball color on the back of her leg." Kaza glanced around the lunchroom, "Hey, where's Briar? He's usually the first in line."
"I don't know. Haven't seen him all day, speaking of seeing people, where were you?"
"I was sleeping," Kaza replied stubbornly, then started to eat her sandwich.
Drake nodded, then looked up and waved to Dove who had just came into the lunchroom. When she got to the table Drake asked, "Have you seen Briar?"
"Nope, but today is Saturday the seventh, right?" Dove commented.
"Oh yeah that's right. His first exam of June is today."
"Come on, let's get some food before he does show up and eats it all." Dove strode off to the line, Drake rose up from his seat and followed her. Kaza scooted down the table with her tray until she was in front of Terra and Jazele. Terra smiled, and Kaza noticed a glimmer in her right ear.
"Terra? Did you get your ear pierced?" Kaza asked, a little surprised.
After a moment of hesitation Terra replied, "Yes...but I am definitely not getting the other one pierced! It hurt!"
"Terra, sorry to say this, but it looks kinda stupid with only one ear pierced. You need to have the other one match, or just take that one out now before the hole becomes permanent." Kaza replied.
"Hey guess what?" Terra said excitedly, trying to change the subject.
"What?"
"I helped Jazele trap that little brat Tamon after they paint-balled her!"
"Oh really? So one of them was actually caught this time?"
"Yeah! Although I got trapped." Terra was obviously excited, and her tail was wagging, which was seeming to get on Jazele's nerves, but she didn't say anything. Kaza thought to herself, I think its safe to say that she's had a little too much sugar for breakfast.
"Good job. Anyway, are you ready for capture the flag?" Kaza asked before she continued to pick at her sandwich.
"Yeah, although I'm wondering, how many players will there be?"
Kaza stopped picking at her sandwich, and replied, "Well, there will be all twenty of us crossbreeds, and the fourteen Saber kids are going to come play too."
"You mean they won't rip us apart?" Terra asked surprised that the Institute would let the guards and crossbreeds be together.
"Yeah. This is the second time they have ever done this, and that was before we got here." Kaza finished off her soup, then resumed picking at her sandwich.
"Well, I hope they play fair." Terra said, then smiled evilly, "You know how I hate cheaters." Once Kaza was done eating, Kaza and Terra walked up to the rotating racks and deposited their dishes.
On their way back to the table Kaza asked, "So since when is she being nice to you?"
"Jazele? Since she asked me to get the twins, and I did." She paused for a minute then asked, "Hey, one more question. Are traps and stuff allowed? Like what Mason and Tamon do?"
"Yes, traps are allowed. The one you ran into this morning was probably set up for the game. Drake asks Mason and Tamon to set a ton of them up in advance, and make maps of each side so the people on their own side won't get trapped in their own traps." Kaza asked to sit down next to Chloe, and she nodded her head. Kaza scanned the lunchroom, looking for someone she wanted Terra to meet.
Kaza kept watching, until she saw him leave the lunchroom. "Terra, I want you to meet someone, but we have to go right now so I won't lose him." They got up quickly, and ran to the door. Kaza had to slow down a little for Terra because she almost hit Chase, the coyote crossbreed, who snarled at her. He glared at Terra the whole way to his table.
When they got outside, Kaza couldn't see where he had gone. "Where is this person you wanted me to meet?" asked Terra, a little out of breath, and peeved at Chase for snarling at her.
"Gone. Darn. He's fast when he wants to be," Kaza turned to Terra, "so, where do you want to go now?"
"Well, I was thinking we should go to the mall and pick out some clothes for me, since I didn't do that this morning."
"Good idea! We need to get the flag and color for the game anyway. Let's go." Kaza led Terra through the almost empty cafeteria to the mall. Terra tried to turn to the store called Shirts, but Kaza hooked her tail around Terra's arm to motion for her to continue walking. Kaza led her to a store that was labeled Paints. Each letter was spray painted with a different color, then accented over with another.
"Why are we walking into a spray paint shop?" Terra asked.
"Because this is where we get the flag and spray paint colors. Drake is probably in here right now, so we will decide team colors."
Terra smiled enthusiastically, "Do we get to spray-paint the flag to our color?"
"No, we will chose a brightly colored flag, like orange or pink, then color bands around our wrists and ankles with the paint." Kaza led Terra to the back of the store, where sure enough, they spotted Drake and Dove choosing their flag color.
"Hey guys, how goes it?" Kaza smiled.
"Oh good, You're here," He said distractedly, "I'm getting the bright yellow flag.
"Drake, you forgot to get your spray paint color," Dove commented to him as he started to walk out the store. Drake turned around and grabbed an orange paint can, then they left the store.
"Well, I guess we aren't orange. I'll get the flag, you get the color," Kaza said, glancing at the list. Terra walked over to the color shelves, then started testing the various color choices. Kaza watched Terra struggle with one paint can.
"How do I work this stupid thing? Gah!" yelped Terra, accidently spray painting some of her hair bright blue, falling over in the process. Kaza turned around sniggering, then strode over to the flag racks.
Kaza browsed the flags, trying to decide between hot pink or bright gold. She decided on the gold flag, then carried it back to Terra. When she reached Terra, she had managed to spray paint her fingers green.
"Did you have fun with the spray paints?" Kaza asked, trying not to burst out laughing.
"Why yes I did!" She held up the light blue paint can, "This one! Sapphire Diamond!"
"Okay then, let's go to the lounge, it's almost two." Kaza carried the flag, which was almost the size of her, while Terra carried the cans of spray paint. Kaza led her back towards the lunch room, but then to Terra's surprise Kaza turned to an almost inconspicuous door off to the side.
Kaza pushed the door open with her back, then walked in. All the rest of the Crossbreeds were already there, talking amongst themselves.  Kaza deposited her flag and spray paint color onto the table in the front of the room, then laid down on the giant beanbag in the corner. Terra flopped down next to her and sighed.
"I'm tired." She stated.
"What do you mean you're tired? We haven't even started running around the forest yet!"
Before Terra could answer, the fourteen Saber kids with five of their superiors came in through the door. All of them, including the girls, were muscular, the biggest being almost as large as Briar. About half had ears, and a few of them had short lion-like tails. Some even had large canine teeth extending down to their chins. Kaza felt a stab of pity as she saw the three young Sabers, who couldn't be older than eleven.
The room went quiet, and one of the adults growled, "Play nice children," in a mocking voice, then the adults left. Everyone was staring at the Sabers, and they stared defiantly back. One Saber growled lightly at anyone when they moved. Terra's ears were flat against her head, uncomfortable around the Saber kids. She glared at them, as if daring them to attack.
Drake walked up to the front of the room and said, "Well, now that everyone is here....Kaza? Come up here please."
Kaza got up from the beanbag, which Terra instantly sprawled over to take up all the space, too tired to even growl at the Sabers. "Man, I'm tired." Kaza heard her grumble.
Kaza stood next to Drake, who continued saying, "Kaza and I are the captains, so we'll pick the teams. When we pick you, grab the can of spray paint of your team and color your bare wrists and ankles in the color. My team is orange, Kaza's is blue.....Any questions?"
A Saber teen around Kaza's age stepped forward. He had short golden hair and deep electric blue eyes. He was about mid-sized of the Sabers, but was obviously the one they looked at for leadership. In a mid-deep voice he said, "I would like to say our names, so we are not chosen by being called 'you'. I am Axel," he gestured to the two burly guys next to him, "this is Sayler and Mike. Behind them is Catrina, Nikki, Hayden, and Dylan. The twins are Seven and Sabrina," he said, pointing to two of the young Sabers, "and these five are Theo, Remy, Glo, Abbey, and Taz." He stared at Drake and Kaza challenging them to remember all their names.
"Right then," Drake said, "let's get started, Kaza, you can choose first."
Kaza instantly chose Terra, who walked up and painted her wrists and ankles, then stood behind Kaza looking bored. Drake chose Dove immediately, and waited for Kaza to make her second choice. Kaza thought to herself, should I choose a Saber, or a Crossbreed? I should probably choose a Saber so that they aren't all picked last. "Um, Axel."
"Mason," said Drake.
Kaza took his lead, not wanting to be at a loss of a trap expert, "Tamon." Terra winced a little, since she and Tamon weren't exactly the best of friends after today's incident.
Drake and Kaza continued to alternately call up their team members. Drake's team members were Dove, Mason, Taz, Felina, Jazz, Christy, Dylan, Remy, Mark, Chaos, Vega, Abbey, Mike, Chase, Sabrina, and Chloe. Kaza's team members were Terra, Axel, Tamon, Jazele, Quill, Jake, Aeton, Sayler, Catrina, Nikki, Hayden, Seven, Theo, Glo, Briar and Ace.
Drake said to everyone, "My base is on the northern side of the lake, Kaza's on the southern side. Kaza, here's the map," he handed her a small piece of paper, "carefully lead your team to your base. The game will start when I have Taz roar, and Axel roar in response, got that?" Taz and Axel nodded. "All right then. See you soon." Drake led his team out of the room to the forest.
Kaza shifted self-consciously as all of her teammates turned to stare at her. "Um, does everyone have the color on your wrists and ankles?" Everyone nodded, and Kaza didn't know what to do because she had just become extremely shy.
Ace walked up to Kaza and took the map. He examined it for a minute, then said, "All right, our base is in a nice little thicket, easy for us to contain the caught enemy. Remember to always walk your caught enemy all the way to base. Let's go." Kaza took the lead then, and received the map back from Ace.
Kaza marched up to the edge of the sunset lit forest, and once she was sure of the route they were going to take, she led them in. Next to her Axel was carrying the gold flag, and every so often he would glance over at Kaza when he thought she wasn't looking. Kaza wondered if he was starting to like her. She twitched her tail nervously.
They walked for five minutes, until they arrived at their base. Terra had started to ask Kaza how she knew it was the base, and Kaza showed them the little blue flags to mark the base area. Once everyone had formed in a semicircle around Kaza, she passed around the map and said, "Okay, Sayler, Briar, Theo and Jake will guard the captives. Aeton, I want you to come with me, Axel, Terra, Tamon and Ace hide the flag, then I want you in animal form to stay hidden in the trees and watch over the flag, but make sure you know the distance circle for guarding the flag."
"Hayden and Seven, I want you two in close proximity to the flag acting as capturers. If you hear Aeton screech, it means someone has the flag and you need to stop them. Glo and Quill, I want you to be capturers too, but don't worry about the flag unless you see someone trying to get back to their base with it. I also want you two to be rescuers, help us runners out."
"Everyone else, we are going to attempt for the flag. Terra, I want you and Tamon to team up. All right, move to your positions." Tamon started to protest but Kaza silenced him with a glare. He scowled and stuck his tongue out at Terra. Terra simply smiled, showing off her fangs.
Kaza led the group that were hiding the flag to a spot near a pit trap. She looked around for a good spot to hide it, then Axel came out from behind a tree and whispered, "There is a small hollow at the roots of this tree. We can hide it in there."
Kaza went around the tree to examine the hole in the tree roots. It was small, almost too small for the flag to fit in, and after carefully arranging some fallen leaves over the corner that needed to be partially visible, the flag was nowhere to be seen except for tiny glitters of gold.
"Okay, Aeton, where are you?" Kaza whispered. There was a flutter of wings, and a large red hawk flew down onto the tree branch above her. "Ah. Perfect. You hid your clothes right?"
"Yes," He whispered back in his screechy hawk voice.
From somewhere in the forest they heard a loud roar. Axel disappeared behind a tree, then came out in his animal form. As a Saber, he was magnificent. He had tawny colored fur, lightly spotted with leopard-like spots. His shoulders and head were huge, and his canines were at least eight inches long. "Cover your ears," he muttered, then he let out a loud roar. Kaza could feel the ground, and almost the air vibrate around her.
"It has begun," Ace commented as they heard more roars from the other side of the lake, and from behind them at their base. He bristled his german shepherd tail in anxiety.
Kaza moved behind a tree to do the same that Axel had done, take off her clothes so they wouldn't rip when she transformed. Kaza heard a few others transforming too, now that the forest had gone eerily quiet.
She took a deep breath, exhaled it slowly, and started her painful transformation. She gasped as the tingly body numbing pain overtook her, fur was growing on her. Kaza stroked the soft fur on her arm, bracing herself for the real pain. She almost bit her tongue from pain that followed. Kaza clenched her fists as her bones become more catlike. Tears leaked out of her eyes as her muscles shifted over her new bones. Then the pain subsided. Kaza looked at her king cheetah self, admiring her fur.
The sun was sinking into the horizon, sending red beams of light through the branches. Kaza rose her head to sniff the summer air. Knowing that she wasn't in any immediate danger, she stretched her sore body, trying to work all the kinks out of her muscles.
Kaza hoped that Terra would be all right. After all, she couldn't transform until the scientists activated the ability. Kaza sighed, hopefully Terra's martial arts skills would be enough to keep her safe.  
When she was done stretching she stored her clothes in a log that hid Axel and Aeton's clothes as well, then turned towards the enemy's territory. Kaza's ears picked up every sound around her, and she heard a stick snap loudly near her. The fur on her neck bristled, until she realized it was Axel slinking out of the trees.
"Let's go," he muttered. Kaza padded next to him, stalking closer and closer to the boundary. Somewhere off to their left they heard branches snap, some unlucky flag finder had gotten themselves trapped in a pitfall already. They must have been waiting at the boundary. They quickly reached the green-flagged border, and hesitated at the boundary.
"Do you still want to stick together?" Kaza asked Axel, her body tingling with unspent energy. She wanted to run, sprint, and leap all at the same time.
His eyes glinted in the dying sun, then said, "I will head in first, and if I come across anyone I will roar. When you hear me roar I want you to bolt into their territory, then hide in a tree near to where you heard me roar. If I don't roar in the next five minutes, come in, but be sneaky. Okay?"
"Sounds like a plan to me." Kaza sat down at the line, and watched Axel disappear into the trees. Kaza anxiously waited for Axel's signal, and when she heard a howl and barks from the other side of the lake she jumped in surprise. Someone's in trouble over there. I wonder if they were caught. I hope it's not Terra. Kaza recalled the map, and tried to figure out where their base was in relation to her.
After a few minutes Kaza was ready to go into enemy territory, but then loud crashing noise made her jump. In front of her there was the sound of something large barreling its way through the trees, Kaza braced herself to stop whatever was coming at her, in case it was a member of the other team. Her neck fur raised itself up, and she showed her teeth while letting out a warning growl.
The crashing grew louder and louder, then out of a bramble bush came a Saber charging at her. The Saber was covered in scratches, but a few looked as though they were from claws, not trees. Kaza was ready to pounce and hopefully stop the attacker, but then she realized that the Saber's wrists were painted blue. Kaza dove out of the way, and the pursuers stopped on their side of the line.
The Saber came up next to Kaza, her hackles were up and her teeth were bared, "Come on mutts! Get me now!" Chase, Christy, and a Saber, all in their animal forms glowered and snarled at her, Christy and the Saber stalked back into their trees. Chase hesitated, but followed his teammates after snarling at Kaza and her new companion.
"Are you all right?" Kaza asked, alarmed.
"Yes, I'm Nikki. They ambushed me when I was almost at their base. I managed to get away, but as you saw, just barely."
"I'm going in now. Nikki, do you just want to patrol this border?"
"Sure, thanks."
"No problem." Kaza cautiously stepped across the line, then leapt into the nearest tree. She carefully jumped from tree to tree, cautious to land on thicker branches. When she was halfway to Drake's base, she stopped and waited for any sounds near her. Kaza had a feeling that, like she, Drake had chosen Vega to guard the flag in her eagle form, with Chaos nearby.
The sun had now set, and the moon didn't shine any light onto the ground. From behind her in her own team's land, she heard a roar, Kaza didn't dare move. She then heard a rustling beneath her. She pressed herself against the tree and pushed her claws into the bark as tightly as she could to hide. Underneath her Axel had rescued Catrina and was leading her quickly back to the territory. She almost said hello to him before she realized Chase's group was following right behind them. Kaza held her breath and waited for their footsteps to fade away, then leapt to the ground.
Kaza's paws barely made a noise when they hit the ground, but to Kaza each leaf she landed on sounded like firecrackers. She waited, crouched on the ground for any movements, but there were none. She slowly stood up, then padded in between the trees until she reached the lake. She stepped into the water and submerged herself until she was breathing out her nose with her eyes above the water.
She sniffed for any scents that would lead her to the flag, then finally caught the scent. It was the flag, it smelled of spray paint from being in the store for so long. Kaza slowly walked along the sandy bottom, careful not to rise up out of the water. When she could tell she was getting close she slid herself out of the water and waited on the shore for her fur to stop dripping.
She crept towards where she could smell the flag, then there was a sound that made her freeze. A shrill eagle's cry had pierced the air, someone had gotten the flag, and they had been spotted. Kaza ran to the source of the cry, and almost ran right into dog Ace, who was carrying the flag in his jaws. "Take it and run Kaza! I will distract her!"
He dropped the flag, spun around and leapt with a snarl at the giant black snake with purple diamond marks, Chaos, who was racing towards his legs. Kaza snatched the flag, threw the bulk of it over her back like a cape, and ran. Above her she heard Vega's cries, tracing where she was. To her front left she heard crashing, and one of the other team's Sabers was coming at her full speed, ready to hit her to stop her from taking the flag further. Right before he was about to hit her, Axel and Catrina roared and seemingly leapt out of nowhere and knocked the other Saber away from her.
Kaza growled, she wished she could run full speed, but she would surely end up hitting a tree if she even tried. Chase's group was now right on her tail. She managed to make the Saber hit a tree as she narrowly dodged around it. Kaza ran with Chase and Christy biting at her heels, for what seemed forever, until she finally saw the border line.
Kaza barreled towards it, hoping that there wasn't a trap in between her and the line. Then, Kaza felt her paw hit a tripwire. Crap. The tree branch that held the rope was released from its tension and pulled the rope tight. A rope net sprang up in front of Kaza, and she leapt, hoping she would clear it.
She flew over the top, but when she was halfway over the rope, the net jumped up another foot, and knocked her off balance. Kaza reached out with her paws to try to stop her fall, but her angle to the ground made her paw buckle. Kaza cried out in pain, then she landed hard on her side and crashed into a tree. Kaza wondered why Chase and Christy weren't already taking back the flag. She turned her head and saw that they were entangled in the net. She would have laughed if her paw didn't hurt so much.
Kaza tried to stand, but her front paw gave way and she fell back to the ground. Kaza gasped with pain as she hit the ground. She felt like her fall had broken her paw. Her ribs ached from her collision with the tree. She heard a chattering noise and looked around for who it was. A raccoon was running towards her, and Kaza wasn't sure whether it was Mason or Tamon. As he got closer, Kaza saw his paws were painted blue, and she let go of the flag.
Tamon quickly seized it and ran across the border. When he was safely across the border he yelled, "WE WON! BLUE WON!" Everyone showed up in the next few minutes to where Tamon kept yelling that they had won. Kaza leaned herself up against the tree to watch her team celebrate. Tamon seemed to realize that she wasn't in the group around him and scurried over to her.
"Kaza? Are you all right?"
"I hurt my paw," she replied bitterly, her paw was throbbing. I hope it's not broken, because then I would have to go see the scientists...
"Oh," Tamon ran over to Axel and whispered in his ear. Tamon led him back over where Kaza sat.
"Are you okay Kaza?" He asked with a worried look on his saber cat face.
"Kind of. I think my fall broke my paw."
"Do you want me to-"
His question was cut short by Terra who was running over and yelling, "Kaza! Kaza! Are you all right?! Who did this to you?" Terra tried to shove Axel out of the way but only managed to move him an inch because of his bulk. Terra was angry, no doubt ready to attack whoever had hurt her.
"Yes, Terra. I'm fine I suppose."
"Aeton, Ace and Tamon are piecing the story together. Ace says he gave you the flag and you ran with it-"
Kaza interrupted, "Ace! Is he okay? When I left him he was fighting snake Chaos!"
"Yeah, he's fine, Chaos didn't bite him. Anyway, back to the story, Then when Aeton heard that someone had the enemy flag he flew to track the one with the flag. He saw you sprinting with the flag, and he managed to stop Vega from attacking you from the air. Tamon, who then saw you coming straight for the trap, tried to warn you, but I guess you didn't hear him. He said you almost cleared the net until it threw you off balance, then you were knocked aside into the tree. You know the rest I suppose," Terra finished with a frown.
"Where were you if you were paired up with Tamon?" Kaza asked her.
"I was coming right behind him when we heard the commotion, but he managed to jump through the trees and get there faster. If I had my wolf form maybe I would have been more help."
"Hm. Was anyone else hurt?" Kaza asked, not wanting to seem dumb for being the only one hurt.
Axel replied, "Yah, Quill gave Taz a face full of quills, Briar was knocked out for a minute because he got whacked by a tree trap, Nikki has some deep cuts, and Dylan and Theo are both really scratched up. Let me see your paw."
Kaza held up her injured paw. Axel leaned closer and put his nose to her paw. Kaza winced at the contact, yet at the same time his touch sent tingles up and down her spine. Terra jumped towards them, her face plainly showing she didn't trust him. Her teeth were bared slightly, with her ears turned backwards in distress. Axel pressed down on parts of her paw. When he was done he stepped back and sat down. "You're fine. Just try not to walk on it, otherwise you will have to go see the scientists."
"So, do you want to go back to the room or go find some dinner?" Terra asked, tail still bristling with mistrust towards Axel.
Kaza laughed, "Let's go to the room. We can have food brought to us. Hey, where did Axel go?" Kaza asked, looking around for Axel who had just disappeared.
"Dunno. I suppose he went to wherever the Sabers go to eat," Terra reasoned, not seeming particularly concerned.
"I want to go get my clothes. I kinda like them."
"No, you don't."
"You're right, but they are useful for days when I don't feel like doing anything." Kaza stood up, careful not to use her paw, and hopped on three legs towards the base. Halfway there, Axel came out of the trees in his human form, already dressed. He was carrying Kaza's clothes to her.
"Here's your clothes. I thought you might want them," he said handing them to Kaza.
"Oh. Thanks, um do-" Kaza started.
"Hey Kaza! Terra! We are having a pizza party in the lounge for the winning team!" yelled Ace as he sprinted over, his tail wagging.
"Pizza! Yeah!" Terra exclaimed, punching the air, "I'm in!"
Axel started to walk away, but Ace called, "Axel! The Sabers can come too!"
"Hm. Thanks. I'll go get Taz and Nikki. You said the lounge, right?" He asked.
"Yep!" Ace shouted.
Axel walked away to get Taz and Nikki. Kaza stared after him, wanting to finish her question. Then she suddenly remembered something.
"Oh! Terra! I almost forgot! This is who I was going to introduce you to before. This is Ace, although now you probably already know him..."
"Nice to meet you Terra. I'm a German Shepherd if you were wondering," He said grinning, his eyes twinkling, "let's go get some pizza."
Kaza remembered what Ace had told her on his first day here, "Hi! I'm Ace! I'm a German Shepherd crossbreed! If you were wondering where I come from, I'm from Iowa, but my skin color is the way it is because I'm half Native American." Kaza thought to herself, He must have been really hyper or excited that day.
Ace led them through the trees to the school building, until Terra set off a trap. Ace and Kaza were careful to get her down, as Terra was suspended by her ankle six feet from the ground. "Well, this seems like a bit of déjà vu," commented Terra, arms crossed across her chest.
Kaza laughed, "Why, I thought you liked hanging upside down!" Terra growled at Kaza. Ace climbed the tree and cut the rope. Terra fell and almost hit the ground, but Ace had managed to grab the rope again.
"I hope you aren't going to get stuck in another trap Terra, they'll eat all the pizza before we get there!" Ace smiled, his tanned skin looking bronze in the moonlight. Terra's face expressed plainly that she wasn't amused at being trapped again.
Terra sulked all the way to the lounge, but at the sight of the pizza she immediately was in a better mood. Kaza dismissed herself to the bathroom so she could change back to human form. Several painful minutes later Kaza stood in front of the mirror looking at her face. I wonder if I will ever get out of here. I hope my dad is doing okay. Then Kaza thought sadly, He's probably still drunk and doesn't know I'm gone.
Kaza traced her tear marks with her finger, I wonder if he would even know it's me. My hair is shorter, and golden brown, my face has this pattern on it, and I have a tail. He'd never recognize me.
Outside the bathroom she heard someone say, "Kaza? Are you okay?"
"Yes, I'll be out in a minute Drake." Kaza stepped out of the bathroom, but to her surprise it was Axel.
"Oh, Axel! Why did you come and get me?" Kaza asked.
"You weren't at the lounge and I saw Terra. I figured you weren't far off, and if you don't hurry Terra will have eaten all the pizza." They started walking back to the lounge, which was on the other side of the school. "Kaza?"
"Yes?"
"Why does everyone give us dirty looks?"
"Us who?" asked Kaza, who had a pretty good idea what he was talking about.
"Us Sabers."
Kaza stopped walking, looking at Axel with pity. "Axel, you do realize that the Guard Sabers always bully us?"
"Yes, but why us? Your age?"
Kaza felt uncomfortable, "Because you all will become them. We don't want to get to know any of you because one day you will turn on us for no reason."
"When has that ever happened?"
"I don't-"
"I know," Drake said, walking towards them with eyes like ice, "Circe made friends with one of the Saber kids, much like you. In fact, his friend was training to be a Gate Guard too. Circe had gone to the gates to congratulate his friend for becoming a full time Gate Guard, but the friend took it as if he was trying to escape. The Saber took him to his superiors to ask what to do with him, and they said to...to kill him. He brought Circe out in front of all of us, and brutally killed him to show us what would happen if we ever tried to leave."
"What?" Axel asked growling, "That has never happened before!"
"I saw it with my own eyes Axel," Drake said, not concerned that Axel was growling at him.
"Are you talking about the death four years ago?" Axel nodded, " We were told that that Crossbreed had repeatedly tried to escape and had attacked quite a few of the Guard members."
"Of course they would have told you that," Drake said angrily, raising his voice, "do you really think they'd tell you 'Hey kids! We just murdered a Crossbreed for no reason!'?"
"Well, excuse me for not knowing the exact reason why that Crossbreed got killed!" Axel growled loudly. Drake raised a fist of steel, which was literal in his case.
"Both of you STOP IT!" Kaza snarled, hating the tempered taunts.
Drake regained his cool, "Sorry. I didn't mean to get so worked up."
"I'm sorry too." Axel rubbed his temple as if he had a headache, "I've been having...brother issues."
"Brother issues?" Drake raised an eyebrow.
"My brother Treyan has been acting strangely since he was admitted to the Scientist Guards. He doesn't talk to me anymore." Axel muttered.
"Treyan?" Kaza chimed in.
"Yeah, that's who I said."
"I heard Terra muttering in her sleep! She said the name Treyan, then she muttered about him not being nice anymore or something. Maybe we should ask Terra about it later."
"Yes. The day Terra was changed was the same day that Treyan was admitted to the Guard." All of a sudden Axel yelled, "Dammit! Why did I not realize this before?! Every morning the accepted Guards drink a special drink that us younger Guards are not allowed to have! That stuff must be what changes their attitudes!"
"Yeesh, talk about an attitude adjustment." Kaza commented.
"Only it makes them aggressive and on edge instead." Axel growled.
"Yes, that would explain quite a lot," Drake commented, "let's go get pizza, and keep this information to ourselves please." They all walked back to the lounge, which Drake said was almost empty compared to before. All around the room Crossbreeds and Sabers were eating pizza, and one of the Sabers was entertaining the twins by spiking pizza slices onto his long canines. Kaza spotted Terra lying in a beanbag with two almost empty pizza boxes next to her.
Terra noticed her right after Kaza had spotted her. "Kaza! Get your spotty butt over here!"
Oh God, she's hyper with root beer sugar. Kaza walked over to her and sat down on another beanbag. "Enjoy the pizza?"
"Hm, yes really good pizza. I wonder if Ben made it."
Kaza raised an eyebrow, "Ben? Who is that?"
"One of the kitchen staff. He made me breakfast early this morning." Terra reached behind her beanbag and pulled out a full box of pizza. "Managed to grab you a box of cheese, meat lovers, and supreme split pizza. They disappeared really quick. Root beer?" Terra asked.
"Sure," said Kaza.
"HEY CHASE!" Terra yelled at Chase who was up by the cooler, "ROOT BEER PLEASE!"
Kaza sniggered as he gave her a look that could kill, then he chucked a root beer as hard as he could at Terra's head. Terra snatched up the nearest pizza box, which was punched through halfway by the can. Terra pulled the root beer can away from the cardboard and handed it to Kaza. "I has skills." She said with a mischievous smile.
"Uh, right," Kaza said as she opened the can. Not surprisingly, it started foaming. She tried her best to stop the fizz, but she knew some of it had spilt onto the beanbag.
Kaza ate her pizza in silence, watching the rest of the Crossbreeds and Sabers leave. After a half hour the only people in the room besides herself and Terra were Briar and Jake, who had fallen asleep in their chairs, Axel was reading a magazine, and Quill, who was staring off into nothing.
"So where were you? Get lost?" Terra asked.
"Just in the bathroom, Axel came and got me." Kaza could tell that Terra hadn't heard her. She looked over at Terra, who was staring determinedly at a handle on the ceiling. With her eyes Kaza traces the thin line that marked the hidden place.
"Kaza, do you know what that's for?" She asked, still staring at it.
"Yeah. Help me move the beanbags away from the wall." They moved the four beanbags sitting there, having difficulty with the couch sized one. Once they were moved Kaza told Terra to sit down.
Kaza reached up and grabbed the black handle and pulled down, almost needing all her weight to get it to start moving. Slowly the compartment came down, and revealed a gigantic plasma screen TV. Terra squeaked, her eyes getting huge. "Is that really what I think it is?"
"Yup," Kaza said tossing her a gaming remote, "fun game system too."
Across the room Jake, the Black Lab Crossbreed, quickly sat up in his chair that he had been sleeping in, perked up his floppy dog ears and yelled excitedly, "GAMES!" He ran forward, tail wagging, and seized the third remote, and Quill wordlessly grabbed the fourth.
They played a racing game for a while, until it was obvious none of them were going to win as long as Jake kept playing. After a while Kaza set down her remote and let Axel play. "Terra, I'm going to the room. See you later."
She saw Terra throw her remote to Briar, who had just been woken up by Jake's triumphant yell. They walked back to their room in silence, listening to the gentle sounds of the night. Terra stopped in her tracks as they neared the southern edge of the forest, wolf ears perked. "Kaza, Is it just me, or do I hear a musical instrument?"
Kaza turned towards the forest and heard what Terra was hearing. Somewhere deep off into the forest someone was playing a soft tune on a saxophone. "That's Jazz playing her saxophone. She sometimes does that. She's really good, as you can hear, but she won't ever play in front of anyone except for Felina."
"Well, that seems like a waste of talent," Terra commented sleepily. She let loose a huge yawn that ended in a wolf whine. They started walking back to their room.
"Yes, it does. Mason and Tamon tried to find her once, but they never could," Kaza said as she pushed open the door to their room. "Goodnight Terra," Kaza yawned, and not even bothering to change into pajamas, Kaza fell into her hammock and drifted into sleep.