Chapter 9: Five Lives

"Uh! My head." I groaned before taking a look at my surrounding before my eyes landed on Elvis who was still asleep. We were in a cage. A very huge one at that. Elvis finally came back to reality with the same alarmed expression on his face that was on mine.

"How did we get here?" He pondered and that was when it all came flooding back to me.

"Who are you?" A voice cried out. We paused before responding making sure we aren't hearing things or it could have been our imagination.

"What do you mean? We are supposed to be asking the questions." I yelled back before a short figure dashed in front of me. I was startled and fell backward.

"Hmm... Children." The deep voice ridiculed us as he chuckled at my reaction.

"We are not children," I muttered still a bit shocked by how he appeared in front of us. The image approached the sunlight for us to see a dark-haired boy. He was probably the same age as both of us.

"Who are you?" He asked most politely. He had a wide smile plastered on his face. The cold demeanor was gone I guess.

"What! You shot us with..."I wanted to yell at him and smack the guy on his head but Elvis placed his hand over my mouth.

"I'm Elvis and he is Jeffrey." Elvis said with an awkward smile."shut up. Notice anything different about him." He mumbled to me. I shook my head.

"Check his arm. He has a J.S. mark on it." He continued. I gave him a look that says 'I don't get it.'

"Hey, have you heard of an old man named John Smith?" The boy's eyes gaped before facing us.

"We have the same mark as you do," Elvis said rolling up his sleeve. Mark? What are they talking about? I don't have any marks.

"I'm sorry. I'll let you out now." The moment he opened the door to the cage, I pounced on him and grabbed his hair.

"We are not children you dunce. We are just as old as you. If only Elvis didn't hold me back..." Seconds later, I was pulled away from the boy by Elvis.

"Give him some breathing space Jeffrey, "Elvis said as he pulled me away. "Sorry about my friend."

"It's okay. I deal with a lot of lunatics." I snapped and went after him but Elvis only pulled me back again. To my annoyance, the boy laughed. He was getting on my nerves. If not for Lucian I would call him the number-one jerk. Lucian is gone, right? So number one it is.

"Firstly, My name is Jake. Nice to meet you guys." He said.

"Nice to meet you," Elvis replied politely while I sulked.

"Secondly, I am eighteen." Wait! I wanted to laugh so hard and make fun of him but Elvis warned me not to even do anything so I had to laugh within as I smiled secretly.

"Thirdly, I know who you are referring to Elvis. John just left this island a year ago."

"How did you survive?" Elvis inquired.

"I went hunting along with the others."They were more people here. Jake showed us where he stayed and introduced us to the others who were about his age and older. It was only a few kids that were like Jin. One of them was Jake's brother, Stuart.

"So that's how you guys got stuck here," Jake said as he took a huge bite from his apple. "It took me some time to grow up and get used to this place honestly."

"I won't call that growing up," I said. " Hey!" I felt an apple hit me on the head. Guessing it was from Jake.

"So Lucian tried to kill you?" He questioned Elvis who just finished narrating.

"Yeah. It was a scary episode. " I answered.

"Wasn't talking to you." Jake pointed out. Jerk! " Why?"

"Albert told him the only way to get rid of his beast nature was by killing someone by taking the heart directly in his beast form and killing me. I assume his aim in his normal form was to make me immobilized with the dagger. " Elvis said with a hand on his chin.

"I've seen them in that state a couple of times. Mostly Daffodil. She was savage then."

"Does she know?"

"Would I still be alive by now? Of course, she doesn't."

"I wish she knew." I blurted out and a second apple came flying but I caught it this time, only to receive another one on my forehead.

"At least Lucian is gone for good," I said again sensing the pain on my forehead.

"You killed him?" Jake asked.

"Yeah, it wasn't a big deal." I felt proud.

"And you believe he is dead?"

" You are starting to get on my nerves. You weren't there when I stabbed him." Who does this guy think he is? What he said was a jaw-dropping scene between me and Elvis.

"Do you know Daffodil died twice in her beast form and normal form?" He said. There was silence."Every beast in that bloodline has five lives. I know Lucian has died thrice. The first one was out of carelessness. The second was because of Wilson, she hates him for that now. The third one is because of you two. " He further explained.

My mind was already as confused as I am. The look on Elvis' face was also alike. He wasn't dead. Well, he died but he is coming back soon. Elvis is not safe at all.

"So we have to kill him twice till he does finally?" Elvis asked.

"Yeah." He answered.

"How do you know all these?" Elvis asked further. Elvis had his doubts that this could be a lie.

"I did a little digging and I might have snuck into Daffodil's room." Wow! Seriously? I'm pretty sure Jake is a stalker.

"It should not be so tough. We can all come together and knock some sense into him." I said like I was a leader. Instead of getting a standing ovation and cheers like what usually happened in movies after an encouraging speech, all I got were stares.

"Trying to attempt that would be suicidal" Jake cried out. So wait, sneaking into a beast room with no plan or fear of death was not suicidal?

"What do you suggest we do?" My eyes not leaving his. He better not say anything stupid or else.

"We hand Elvis over to Lucian."