In the morning, Ethan seemed worried, asking me what was wrong, but I told him it was nothing, I was just stressed, which was true. I waited patiently for Kole and his family to talk to me. They waited until after breakfast. I didn’t have much of an appetite, which I normally did, but I forced it down. When they were ready, we sat down in the living room.
“I understand you have some questions you want answered and we’ll do our best.” Kole’s dad said. “Please bear with us if it’s a lot to take in. . . I’ll start first by asking you something. You’ve no doubt noticed that Wolves and Birds of Prey have been particularly spiteful towards Jungle Cats in recent times. But do you know why?”
“Wrongful family traditions?” I said with a shrug.
He ignored the admittedly lame attempt at a joke. “In the last year, there have been many Birds and Wolves that have gone missing and each and every case has had evidence of a Hunter that smells of disinfectant and uses a whip as his signature weapon.”
“So? It’s not like the Hunter’s a Cat. . . Is he?”
“We are unsure as of yet what he is or if he even is a he, but we know one thing. Birds of Prey started going missing first. And after a short time, Wolves started disappearing too. But the Jungle Cats . . . as far as we know . . . have remained untouched. And this, understandably, has led to a little extra animosity.”
“Recently . . . there was one that went missing. A Cat named Ty Lan who lives in my apartment complex. I saw his apartment myself. There was blood on the floor and there were what looked like whip marks on the wall.” I could hear the amazement in my own voice. “Wait . . . could it be . . . Let me use your computer!”
Looking confused, Kole got up and returned with a laptop. He handed it to me and I went to my email, not caring that anyone was watching, then clicked the link for the website I had sent to myself. I showed them the pictures, explaining how I’d found it and then searched some more. I hadn’t thought to look before, but there were more pictures.
There were Birds of Prey.
And there were Wolves too.
I looked at one picture for each clan and then searched for the latest updates. I heard gasps from behind and around me. There were pictures that I knew were Kakali, though I couldn’t see her face. And then there were new ones that stole my breath away.
“But . . . But isn’t that . . .” Ethan pointed lamely at the screen.
“Ran.” I whispered. “He . . . He got Ran. . . But I . . . we just saw him yesterday. . . This guy is still working, and fast! We can’t let him do this! We have to do something! Anything!”
“That’s another thing we needed to talk about.” Kole’s dad continued, looking teary-eyed though he tried not to. “Though the information may be useless now since Hikaru cannot remember himself, he was the key to finding our daughter and the many others that went missing. He has shown himself to be something . . . different, something . . . special.” He started pacing, putting his back to us. “Have you noticed something unique about yourself?”
I knew the question was aimed at Ethan and he answered eagerly. “Yes, I have. I’ve found that I heal rather quickly, amazingly so, in fact. And then . . .” He glanced at me, looking nervous, “I . . . I healed her too. . . Twice.”
He nodded, but I could see his eyes light up a little. He was hopeful of something. “My boy . . . let me tell you a story.”
And then, he spun a tale of the mighty warrior Tsukasa who had strange abilities. He was attacked by a girl, Ayumi, and then later saved by her. Together they saved the villagers from captivity under an evil man named Ayden. Part of it was in poem form. It went like this:

The two are here
That once had fought
And now unite
As though they ought
A mighty warrior
And a lovely maiden
Who will rescue the people
From the reign of Ayden

As he told it, I started to understand. He told us that the plot line of the story had happened two different times, in two different ages, in two different places and had been passed down, over and over again. It was like our story had happened in medieval times and had been told as a story to warn us of it happening again. We need to learn from history, because history repeats itself. I stood up and started walking towards the hall, feeling myself begin to shake again.
“Kryn?” I heard Ethan say. “Are you all right?”
“I just . . . need to . . . lie down.” I muttered.
And then I did.
On the floor.