The Other Prophecy Child

A Demi-What?

So it turned out that the city would be a harder place to search than I'd thought. Where was I supposed to start? Where would Emily even go. We didn't have any family. We didn't have any friends. There was no one that I could turn to for help since I was still technically a wanted criminal. All I had with me was a picture of me and Emily that had been taken while we were at the orphanage and that wasn't really much for me to go on. Okay, so I jumped the gun a bit. Maybe I should have made a plan, gotten some supplies first, but I was only twelve.

I went into the city again, after having gotten lost and walking in a huge circle the first time, but this time I was planning on a starting point. I managed to steal a nice backpack from one of the many stores I had to pick from. I didn't have much that I needed to carry, but I still thought that it would come in handy. I also got my hands on a bit of money, some food, and a couple of extra sets of clothing. I went back to the alley. I changed into one of the new sets of clothes that I had stolen and packed everything else away. The new clothes weren't much, just a plain black shirt, a pair of blue jeans, and a pair of black shoes, but it felt nice to wear something that wasn't torn to shreds. I was ready to leave now, but there was one thing that I wanted to try first.

I looked out at the entryway to the alley and concentrated. I never could figure out how I had done it before, but I just focused on the memory of it and tried to remember how it felt. It worked. I felt my consciousness reaching out and spreading through the city like wildfire. I couldn't control where it went, but the fact that I had managed to do it was enough for me. The energy retracted, and, a moment later, I heard something running towards me from the street.

Within seconds, a massive dog was standing at the mouth of the alley, glaring at me with its glowing red eyes. I watched it carefully. I had never been attacked by any of the creatures that I had summoned, but that didn't make them any less dangerous. The dog took a step forward and then another. It cautiously walked into the depths of the alley as though it were afraid of getting too close to me. I stood silently until the beast was standing in front of me with its massive tail wagging.

"Hello," I said. (So, Cole, now we're talking to over sized dogs that might want to kill you?)

The beast stared at me.

"I'm Cole," I said. The dog did nothing. "Do you have a name?"

It remained silent and still as ever. I don't know what I was trying to do. I figured that if I could talk to snakes then maybe I could also communicate with these strange creatures that I was somehow able to summon. However, that was not the case. Either these creatures couldn't talk, or this one was just really shy.

"I'm looking for my sister," I told the dog.

It continued to stare at me with its crimson eyes. The creature seemed to have some kind of reaction when I mentioned my sister. I'm not sure why it responded, but it was at least a sign that it might be willing to help me. The beast tilted its head forward as though it were nodding to me. That was when I realized that I was looking at the same dog that had helped me when I was nine.

"Can you help me," I asked, "She looks like this."

I pulled the picture out of my pocket and showed it to the dog. I didn't think that it would do any good to show it what Emily looked like, but it was the only thing that I could think to do. The dog stared at the picture for a moment. Then, it stepped forward and began to sniff at it. It walked away and over to the mattress that we had used to sleep on. It stepped up onto the mattress and began sniffing it as well.

"No, no," I said, "This is not the time for a nap. I need your help."

The dog either didn't hear me, or it was ignoring me. It continued sniffing at the bed as though I were not even there. After a moment, it jumped off and bounded over to me. It stood so that I was facing its side. I looked at the dog, not knowing what it wanted me to do, and after some time, the dog looked back at me like it was waiting for something. I stepped forward, realizing what the dog wanted from me, and climbed onto its back. I secured myself into a riding position and grabbed onto a handful of fur in front of me, since there was nothing else to hold onto.