9 Who is he?

My heart was pounding fast, and I was out of breath. My ribs felt like they had been crushed, and I couldn't sit up. I just laid there as Kai held me in his arms. I looked up at him, and he smiled at me.

"You killed it. I didn't even think I could kill that thing. I must say, I'm pretty impressed. I don't know how you do these things. I kinda wasn't expecting that from you."

I gave him a small smile. "I'm impressed too. I wasn't expecting that from me either." My voice hardly gave any sound as I spoke.

Dean came over and kneeled beside us. "Jennie and Mike… their-"

"I know." Kai interrupted. He dropped his smile and looked away from him.

Dean looked at the ground and paused before he spoke. "I've never seen a creature like that before. This is crazy."

"Yeah. I hope we never have to run into another one of those again." Kai turned his attention back to me. "Can you stand up?"

I nodded, as I slowly sat up. They both helped me stand up. It was a little painful, but it wasn't anything major. My whole body was just very sore.

I looked at the creature. " Did you see how that happened? Those rocks over there took that creature down. I didn't even have to slice its neck."

"Are you sure it was those rocks or you?" he asked.

"That demon wasn't afraid of me this time. I'm pretty sure it was the rocks that killed it," I said.

"Is that the reason those demons ran away from you? Because you were carrying one of those?"

"No. I just found them."

Kai looked at the rocks that were laying on the ground. They each had sharp crystals coming out of them, and they had a bright bluish green color to them. "I have never seen that happen before. Rocks? No one would have ever thought to throw rocks. We've studied a lot of resources here, but we've never tried these on any monster. If any of us would have thought to use these rocks before, we might not have lost any people. We've got to get these samples back for study."

He picked each one up, and put them in his pocket. Then he looked at me with a serious face. "We can't keep searching anymore, Malaika. We've searched for hours, and we've lost some of my comrades along the way. Time is up. We need to get back to the castle before we run into something much worse than that creature."

I paused. "But… we can't stop searching now. I… I won't stop!"

He sighed. "I'm not asking you to come with me. I'm telling you. I'm not letting you stay out here by yourself."

I closed my eyes to hold back my tears. "I refuse to believe that she's dead. Kai… please tell me she's not dead."

He just put a hand on my shoulder and looked at me with seriousness in his eyes. "We're going to get out of here, and I'm going to kill that evil devil. I promise you I will avenge your sister."

I wiped my eyes and held back my tears. "No. I'm going to be the one who kills him."

He grinned at me. "Fine with me."

He turned to walk away but then paused.

"What's wrong?" Dean asked.

Kai pointed over to something that was moving across the forest. "Is that one of our comrades?"

I looked and saw a guy limping past us. His eyes were wide open, and he seemed to be mumbling something. His clothes were also ripped, and there was blood on him.

"Who is that?" I asked.

Kai paused before answering me. "I think it's Jaden. I sent him up to the top of the Mountain to watch over the cave. What is he doing here?"

Kai and Dean ran over to him and I followed them.

"Jaden! Are you okay? What happened to you?" Kai asked him.

He didn't respond. All he did was stare at the ground and mumble words I could not understand.

"He's in shock. We need to take him back to the castle," Dean said.

Kai nodded and put Jaden's arm over his shoulder. Dean took his other arm.

"Come on Malaika. Let's go."

Tears ran down my face as I followed Kai and Dean out of the forest. We all met the others back where we started. No one had seen my sister. Some didn't even make it back.

Kai hid his emotions very well, and I didn't see him drop a single tear.

He and Dean continued to carry Jaden back to the castle. Once inside, the medical people took a look at Jaden. They patched up his wounds and gave him a change in clothes.

While waiting for a response from the people who were helping Jaden. We sat in one of the rooms and explained what we saw to the other people.

"Wow! A demon that huge? And Malaika killed it all on her own? I don't believe it!" someone said.

"Yeah! You're Amazing," Someone else said to me.

I looked down to the ground and smiled a little. "Thanks."

I could see Faye standing in the corner of the room rolling her eyes at me. I didn't know what her problem was. I didn't have time to worry about it either. She wasn't my problem.

"So, we're all heading up to the cave soon? You think that It's our exit out of here?" Yara asked Kai.

"Yeah. We'll check it out in a few days after we've all gotten some rest. We still have to figure out what's wrong with Jaden too. I still don't understand how he came from the mountains to the Forest of Demons. The way he showed up was very unusual."

Dean looked at him. "Yeah, and I've never seen him look that hurt before. We all know he's one of the strongest members of the team; next to me… Uh….and you of course."

Kai glared at him but continued to talk.

"Yeah, things are certainly changing now. I don't know if that's good or bad. However, I do know that I've been getting a lot more motivated recently. I was almost ready to give up, but I'm glad I didn't. I still have hope." He said as he looked at me.

A girl suddenly walked into the room. She had dark hair, brown eyes, and she wore a warm grey coat.

"He's alright. We fixed him up, but he's still in shock. He won't talk to anyone," she said.

Kai stood up from his chair. "Thanks Mina, but I'm still going to go see him."

She nodded, and they both walked out of the room. Faye suddenly moved from her corner and sat in Kai's seat.

"Isn't it a little strange how these events start happening around the time Malaika shows up?"

I rolled my eyes at her. "Are you blaming me for this?"

She sat back in the chair and looked up at the ceiling. "Well, we hardly know anything about you. How do we know you're not planning something with your stepdad? What if you're pretending to search for your "missing sister" just to get us all killed by demons?"

I couldn't believe her. If there was one thing I ever agreed with my stepdad on, it was sending her to this place. However, Leo didn't deserve to be here. I wondered how she and her brother got trapped here. They obviously knew my stepdad, but what was their connection to him?

"I don't know anything about you either. So how can I trust you?"

"Because I've been here for a while, and you haven't. If I were to betray anyone, I would have done it already. You however, can't be trusted."

I frowned at her. "Well, thanks for telling me that you're old. And no, I'm not planning anything with that monster."

I got up from my seat and walked into the hall. I leaned back against one of the walls and stared at the ceiling. I wondered if my mom was searching for us. Had she even noticed that we were gone?

I wondered if she actually loved my stepdad or was being controlled by him. It scared me to think that way, but it seemed true. She always agreed with everything he said and wanted to always be around him. It seemed like she threw us out of her mind completely. What if he erased her memories of us. It's possible, because I could hardly remember anything about my stepdad.

Suddenly Kai came out of a room across from me. "Are you okay?"

"Uh… yeah. How is your friend?"

"Still not talking and by the way, I told them to analyze those rocks as well. I don't want to tell anyone else about the rocks until we find out more about them and how they work. Also I don't think you should tell anyone about how those demons reacted to you, or they'll be suspicious of you."

"Okay." I said.

I looked through the door and saw Jaden sitting on a bed while rocking in place and staring at the ground.

I wanted to go in and see if I could get him to talk. I didn't know how I could do it. Kai couldn't even get him to talk, but it was worth a shot.

I walked into the room and stood next to Mina, the girl who worked on his wounds. I noticed that Jaden was holding something in his hands, but I couldn't make out what it was.

"What is he holding?" I asked her.

"I don't know. Some type of rock maybe? I tried to take it away from him, but he wouldn't let me."

I sat down in a chair in front of him. "So…did he get attacked by a demon?"

"No. That's the crazy part. I didn't find any Venom in his system. No claw marks anywhere on him either. Just regular wounds."

"Maybe he came in contact with that strange demon we saw."

Kai walked into the room and stood beside Mina. "Maybe, but that doesn't explain how he got from the mountains to the forest of demons in one day," He said.

I looked at Jaden and then back at them. "Do you guys mind if I stay in here with him for a bit?"

Kai looked at me with confusion on his face. "Sure, but don't stay here too long. He needs some rest."

They both walked out, and I was left in the room with Jaden.

"Um… Hi Jaden."

Of course, he didn't respond to me, but I continued to talk.

"What are you holding?" I stretched out my arm slowly to touch it.

He quickly jerked his hand away from me.

"I'm not going to take it. I just want to see what it is."

I softly put my hand on his hand.

"You can trust me. By the way my name is Malaika."

His eyes slowly moved from the ground to me. After a long pause, he finally spoke to me.

"Y... you're Malaika? Malaika Kaari?"

"Yes… how do you know my last name?"

"A little girl named Lia told me that she was missing her older sister, Malaika Kaari. I think she is searching for you."