PHOBOS (King of Beasts)

The Only One

"One." I begin to count whilst Phobos lies upon the grass floor with his right hand held over his face covering his eyes as a form of shade from the burning rays of the hot sun.

"Two." I mutter under my breath making sure to search thoroughly. It can be quite tricky he warned me of this.

"Three and...four! I am done." I smile wide as if I have accomplished a big mission proud of myself. If I fail at this exercise I can at least reason with him saying I said the numbers properly.

Phobos sighs turning on his side peering up at me through his sleepy eyes. He seems to look so tired these days. Has his training gotten harder or is he just not getting enough sleep? The dark circles that paint his skin beneath his eyes make him look like a panda. I snort as a weird laugh flies past my lips.

He frowns and playfully glares at me knowing my thoughts are definitely of his appearance. He is quite used to me now and has gotten to know my antics better than my brother which is quite surprising for my brother has the ability to predict my actions before I do them.

"Search again. You are not looking properly." He raises his wristwatch to read it. "You have a minute left." He utters and drops his head back onto the floor his eyes snapping shut whilst a small yawn flies past his lips.

Pouting I peer back into the book searching for more wild hares. Where are they hiding? I did find four but I cannot see more. Phobos is teaching me how to improve my eyesight saying it shall be useful for when he teaches me to hunt.

Mother would have my head if I said I was going to learn to hunt as well as be in close contact with arrows and spears. I begin counting again leaning closer to the book going over the wild hares I had already spotted.

Only four. There are only four! I peek back at him from beneath my lashes. Is he playing around with me? No, Phobos would never do that whilst I am in training for he is always serious. Scratching the side of my head trying to ease the tension my headband is causing I fiddle around with the book.

My fingertips trace the page sweeping past the hares in plain sight. Where are the res- What was that? I felt something, it halted the smoothness of my path. I begin to trace the page again my eyes widening when I find a small hidden partition within the page.

Digging my nails into the small layer I begin to tug on it. It seems as though there is an opening or a block that I can remove.

"You have twenty seconds left. I think you might fail this one, Theia." Phobos pipes in telling me of his doubts about my accomplishment of his exercise.

Grinding my teeth I claw on it and adding pressure to it has a piece pop up from the page. I startle dropping the book to the grass floor, caught off guard. Peering in I see fur peeking from underneath the piece. Time is running out. Taking a small breath I slowly tear the piece from the book.

It comes off easily as if it was meant to whilst uncovering a small picture of four baby wild hares sleeping in a basket. There weren't merely four hares but eight.

"T-There are eight hares! Eight like my age." I proclaim still filled with doubt for there could be more pieces that are that I haven't uncovered.

Phobos gives a curt nod and gets up swiftly to sit up in front of me. "Are you sure of your answer, Theia? I shall not give you another chance."

I look back at the page chewing on my lower lip. I might be wrong, I hate being wrong. But I can...I can learn to be better. "Yes. I am certain."

His eyes plunge into mine as if he is waiting for me to change my mind as if he is waiting for me to waver but I do not. I stand by my answer.