“Maybe I’ll get eaten by a tiger.”
“We could only be so lucky,” Clarissa thinks back to me.
I forget she can hear my thoughts, which is unnerving since I am not protecting myself at all. Everyone is talking about going to South America, but I’m not so sure that is the best idea. I know I agreed to this whole thing, for Clarissa, but that doesn’t mean that I think she should go hunting through the jungle in search of some ancient Ninjas that are out for more than blood. It sounds like the stupidest risk that we can take, but as I look around the room, the only other person that seems at least a tad bit concerned is Theo, and he is always concerned.
“Whelp,” Toshi yawns, standing up and rubbing his hands together.
“I guess we are headed to sunny Brazil. Not what I was thinking I would do with my week, but hey, beats the heck out of this old abandoned warehouse.”
I stay put, sitting there looking around the room, listening to everyone talking excitedly. I don’t understand what they don’t get. They are heading into the forest to find an old ninja training center filled with assassins trying to kill Clarissa. If anyone should not be going, it is her, and I certainly am not going to get on a plane unless the old man is sitting there right next to me. If we are going to risk our asses on his word, he is going to see it through.
“Hiro is going if we are going,” I speak out loud.
“That isn’t part of the deal,” Toshi says. “He gave us the information, and now we have to decide what to do with it.”
“No,” I reply, standing up. “I am not walking myself and the rest of us head first into a trap.”
“Sebastian.” Clarissa sighs.
“He is right,” Hiro says. “I understand the apprehension. I will go.”
“Thank you,” Clarissa says, shooting me a nasty look. “I guess I need to run back to my house and gather my things before we head off.”
“I’ll take you,” I say, looking up at her. “You aren’t going alone, that’s for sure.”
“Fine,” she says. “Let’s go.”
She walks quickly ahead of me, trying to avoid any more confrontation. I don’t want to fight. However, I do want to talk some damn sense into the girl. I jog forward, catching up to her and grabbing her by the arm. She huffs and puffs, stopping and turning to me.
“What?” she asks, exasperated. “What do you want?”
“I know we’ve had our differences,” I begin. “But please listen to me for a second. I know you blame yourself for Kyle’s death, but it’s not your fault. You don’t need to go on some crazy Rambo mission, guns blazing rolling deep through the Amazon to find these men. This is dangerous. I mean seriously, have you even thought about it? You are taking the word of an old Japanese guy, who is a Cat might I add, who says he trained a bunch of Ninja rogue warriors that went crazy and are now killing anyone. They also happen to be hunting for you.”
“If they are hunting for me, then why, after they killed Kyle, and I came running up the stairs, why didn’t they kill me too?”
she asks, her voice weakening. “Why did they brutally murder him?
Why, if they wanted to get me so bad did they leave me kneeling in a puddle of his blood, unable to even look at his flesh-torn face?”
“I don’t know,” I whisper.
“Huh? You are so smart, right?” she says pushing me. “Then why am I left to suffer?”
“I don’t know,” I say with a growl. “I only know that you didn’t die, and that in itself is something to be happy for. I don’t want you marching off into the jungle. I don’t want to lose you again.”
“Oh, is that what this is about?” She scoffs. “Your damn mate?
Well here’s a news flash. I am damaged goods.”
“It’s not about that, damn it,” I cry out. “Yes, yes, I care about you very much, but no, I am not trying to steal you away from Kyle’s memory. I am looking out for you. I am trying to keep you safe. I am trying to be a voice of reason here in this self-destructive path you are on. Let me go. I’ll take Toshi and Hiro,
and we can brave it for you, report back with anything that we find. You can stay with Theo since I know he is not letting you go off by yourself again, and he doesn’t do well in hot climates.”
“You want me to hide away?” She laughs. “I’ve been hiding my whole life. I hide from the truth. I hide from myself. I hide from the Cats, and now you want me to hide from this Ninja clan.
I can’t keep hiding because no matter how much I do, they still find me. I am going to Brazil, and that is final.”
Chapter 7