Chapter 4 (1/1)

Imani led them through the jungle, taking them through paths and shortcuts that were not on any map.She saved them a lot of time. She did not speak much, but they did learn that before the insurgents had come, she and the other girls had been simple students. They had found themselves trapped at the boarding school.They were not from this village, but this was one of the few schools in the area that accepted girls. Most of the other students had returned to their homes when rumors of war begun, but she and the four other girls had been unable to return to their village as the insurgents had taken over that village. So they had stayed at the school, unti the insurgents had come to the village. Parents had sent their children to the school hoping the insurgents would be merciful of the children at least, but Sabaa had been smarter and had started sneaking children out of the school, while the insurgents, "negotiated" with the village head, for food and men to join them. All the older boys had been taken, so Sabaa did her best to save the younger ones. And she did, she got most of them out, but when they got to the river, the boats could not carry them all, so Sabaa being one of the older ones, had suggested the young go first, then the older ones would follow. Somehow word got around about a safe passage through the jungle and more people kept coming, so Sabaa kept delaying. Sabaa came from a long line of village shamans, the village shaman were like village parents, " it's ingrained in her, to need to protect people, to make sure they are safe, it is just who she is," Imani explained." And you?" Youngjae asked, " why did you stay, ?" .Imani smiled sadly, " because I needed to."Her words were grim and somber, and Bobby thought to himself, no one, should ever have reason to feel this way. He was going to kill Augustus." That was the school, " Imani said pointing to a burnt down buliding, " I didn't know they had burnt it,. Only a man, would be so foolish as to think burning a school would stop education." she said with an ounce of venom in her voice. Then she seemed to remember that she was currently with a group of men. " I'm not going to apologise for what I just said, though I am sure I should."Fair enough, the men thought to themselves. For all she had been through and for all she had done, she should be allowed to think men were the bane of the earth if she so wished it.Now that they were here, Jb wasn't exactly sure what to do next. The smell of burning embers and bodies was making it hard to pick out Robby's scent, if she had ever been in this village. " Search the village," Jb decided, " maybe we will find something." Robby had indeed left them something, and she just really hoped that they would find it.  She and Thandie had been hiding out in one of the few standing houses, being forced to go this way instead of their original path. When she had seen Augustus and his men coming for them, she knew that they would never escape, not without getting hurt, which happened anyway. So as they had been roughly manhandled into the back of a pick up truck she had discretely dropped and broken her wristwatch leaving it in the ground. She hoped the boys would find it, and of they did she hoped they would recognise it. The gps tracker inside was probably broken, but she was hoping Bambam would be able to do something about that. She also thanked goodness that they hadn't noticed the tracker that she was wearing as an earring. The small square silver stud, was non-descript enough to go unnoticed in her ear, but also looked authentic enough to pass as everyday jewelry. She was currently getting her wound looked at again, since it had started to bleed while they were resting. One of the men in the cell with them had offered his shirt to use to stem the bleeding. But the bleeding would not be stopped, only slowed. She really needed stitches. She really wished Bobby was here.She must have passed out, because the next thing she knew, her eyes were fluttering open and her head was in Thandie's lap." Stay, " Thandie said softly, " you have lost too much blood, so rest, please,". Robby decided to listen to that sweet voice that reminded her so much of her mother, and so she closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep again.She called for Bobby. Bobby stopped walking, stopped so suddenly, Yugyeom who had been walking behind bumped into him." What is it?" Jr asked." This is going to sound crazy, but I swear I just heard Robby say my name." Bobby muttered.Both B.I and Teahyun's eyebrows went up ito their hair, Mino just smirked. Bobby saw them and growled. " Get your minds out of the gutters, we did not, have not, do.. done whatever you are thinking."" Then how do you explain, hearing her,?" Mino asked still smirking at Bobby." I don't know but i'm telling you we didn't." Bobby replied." Explain." Jb interjected before the two of them could get into a juvenile 'did not, did too' arguement.So B.I explained, that just as werewolves had mates, some gypsies did as well, it was rare but it happened. Now unlike werewolves who could scent or sense their mate even before actually mating, for gypsies that uh bond did not become active until after they mated. Yet here Bobby was vehemnetly denying that he and Robby had done any hanky panky.It was actaully kind of funny that the greatest flirt to have ever walked the planet, Mr Bobby, was flustered by the accusation that he and Robby had already engaged in the bedroom tango." May I ask who this Robby is?" Imani asked quietly. Jb thought back to what Sabaa had told him about Imani and decided that it would be safe to tell her who they were going after, besides she'd just heard them talk about gypsies and werewolves and mates and batted not one eyelash.  So they told her." It is possible that being back home has awoken some of her powers," Imani suggested once they were done explainig to her." What do you mean some of her powers?" Mark asked." Well you said she was born here in Lomwe, and that her parents were both village head, it may be superstition but we believed once that the village head was chosen for us by the land and the spirits,and that every girl child born to the village head would be granted a small share of strength from the land. It was mother natures' way of blessing her people. I for instance, in my village they called me the rain child, I always knew when it was going to rain. It may have been coincidence, so I won't say for definite,but perhaps your friend, Robby, also posseses some kind of strength, that remained asleep because she was so far from home."It made sense and the men were not about to scoff at Imani for what she believed, it would be hypocritical to say the least. They were afterall, werewolves and gypsies and if the existence of creatures such as vampires and gumiho's and all other manner of things was understandable and acceptable to them, why then shouldn't Imani's explanation." You should listen for her again." Imani quietly suggested, " try not ignore the voice if she calls for you again."JB could see why Sabaa had given them Imani as a guide,. She was quiet, very quiet, but she understood much, and it made JB wonder about the four other girls he had left in the jugle, perhaps they too possesed some sort of power, strength, but he had sensed nothing off of them. He sensed nothing off of Imani either." I think I found something," Youngjae suddenly said, he was holding up a crushed watch. " Arent't these Robby's initials?" he asked turning the watch around to show it to Jb. They were her initials. " This is good, at least we know we're on the right track," Mark said. Bobby started pacing. Yes it was definitely good that she'd been here and that they were on the right track. But where was she now? That's what he wanted to know. Bambam took the watch from Youngjae and opened the back. He dug into the side pocket of his back pack and pulled out a small tool kit, and started messing with the watch while the others tried to figure out which way to go." Uh guys, I know which way to go," Bambam said breaking into their discussion, " there's a Gps chip in here and it's tracking something, something immobile, "Bobby almost jumped for joy, finally, some good news. " I'm coming Robby, just hold on," he thought to himself." We should go, it's going to rain in five hours and then it will flood," she suddenly said looking up to the sky.They didn't ask her how she knew, just took her word for it and proceeded on their journey.