Spirit Child Read online

  Spirit Child

  Prequel to the Spirit Walker Series

  Ella J. Smyth

  Contents

  Foreword

  Spirit Child

  Disclaimer

  Also by Ella J. Smyth

  Get Free Books

  About the Author

  Find the link at the back of the book.

  Spirit Child

  Adi loves animals. That’s not unusual for a little girl. Adi loves all animals even when others don’t see them, even if they aren’t pretty or strong. Like the snake on the landlady’s shoulder that looks more tattered every day and implores Adi with her vertically slit eyes. Today she was too weak to hiss and Adi knows that soon, mom will shake her head and buy a condolence card, even though they don’t like the old woman with her yellow-stained fingers and weird smell. What Adi doesn’t understand is why her goldfish got a proper burial but nobody mentions the snake and when she asks, her parents look at her funny.

  Adi doesn’t want to talk about the animals anymore. When she was younger, she would try to draw her mom’s attention to all the pretty baby critters around her. “Look, mommy, that boy has a cat! Look!” At first, her mom

  smiled and turn around. Then she frowned. “Where, honey?”

  Adi didn’t understand then. The boy was walking right in front of them and a brown-white kitten was sitting on his head, playing with his ginger hair. She tried to explain but her mom got impatient. Then she thought it was a joke and laughed, “Good one, Adi.”

  Adi hated that and got so upset she started crying in the middle of the street, her eyes burning. She knew her mom loved her and she knelt in front of her, with concern written all over her face. That made Adi cry even harder and then they had to go cuddle on a park bench until she calmed down. Now she only mentions the animals around her when she forgets that others can’t see them.

  Adi’s granny is different. Her name is Adalwolfa which is a really weird name and everybody calls her Adi, just like the little girl. Adi calls her Oma-Adi so people don’t confuse them. She only has a little English and doesn’t speak to Adi’s dad much. Her daddy is tall and handsome but he’s not good with languages. His German sucks, or so mom says every time they go shopping in Frankfurt.

  Sometimes Adi gets to speak for him and the girl in the meat department gives her some slices of Gelbwurst which Adi adores. The girl smiles at her and her little fat guinea pig nibbles on her earlobe. Adi giggles and dad squeezes her hand a little. She likes that. At bedtime, she snuggles up to him and he kisses her forehead before concentrating on some boring news program.

  Oma-Adi comes over often and tells her a bedtime story in German. Mom reads from books with her lovely dark voice but her gran tells them with different voices and sometimes they’re scary. Adi loves fairytales but she feels sorry for the wolf because he only follows his nature. The wolf’s victims shouldn’t be so cruel to him because he can’t help himself.

  Tonight the story is about a wolf and seven little goat kids. Oma-Adi’s gray animal lies on top of Adi’s feet and its ears are pricked up. Adi listens to her granny’s voice, rising high for the goats and dropping low for the wolf. She doesn’t like the story.

  The baby goats are really stupid and fall for the dumbest tricks. As if a wolf could eat chalk and make his voice sound like their mother’s. Adi frowns and quickly looks at the she-wolf on her bed. She doesn’t really understand why Oma-Adi tells that particular story. Surely her friend doesn’t like listening to it. The animal has lowered her head on her paws and looks asleep so Adi stops worrying and continues listening.

  Towards the end, the mother goat cuts open the wolf’s belly, fills it with rocks and the wolf drowns when the weight pulls him under. Now Adi is angry. “Oma-Adi, that’s not fair. The wolf has to eat too! And they were really really cruel to him, cutting open his stomach and drowning him!”

  Oma-Adi smiles. Her hands are cold and smooth but Adi likes holding on to them when she gets upset. Her wolf is awake again and the yellow eyes are calmly fixed on Adi’s face. “You’re right, you know,” her granny says. “The wolf needs to survive like everybody else. We all need to be strong and vigilant so the wolf can’t eat us. Some people are stronger than others and they can choose to protect or to destroy.”

  “What am I, Oma-Adi?”

  “You, little sweetheart, are strong like the wolf.” Adi loves that her granny thinks that she’s strong, even though she’s still a little girl. “Do you know what Adalwolfa means?” Adi shakes her head and she sits up straighter.

  “It’s an ancient germanic name that means Noble Wolf. It’s given to people that have the strength to follow their way in life with honor and integrity.” Adi frowns. She understands what honor means because daddy reads Prince Valiant to her, but integrity?

  “Integrity means to be true to what you believe in. When you grow older, you’ll find out what’s important to you and then every decision becomes so much easier.”

  “Like when I find out that somebody gets bullied at school and I tell the teacher? Even though Thom…, I mean the bully then takes it out on me?” Oma-Adi and her wolf both lift their heads and look sharply at her. Adi shrinks a little but then remembers that she’s strong and sits up again.

  “Exactly like that. Doing the right thing, even when it’s difficult, that’s integrity.” Then Oma-Adi takes a breath and asks, “Adi, are you being bullied in school?” Adi wishes she hadn’t said anything. Now Oma-Adi won’t think she’s strong anymore and mom and dad will find out and then it’ll get worse.

  “Not really,” she whispers, eyes firmly down. Oma-Adi waits a moment, then sighs. “You know you can talk to me if you have problems, right?” she finally says. Adi nods and glances at her gran. It would be so cool if she had a wolf at her side to protect her between classes. Nobody would push her and call her names like ‘weirdo’ if they were afraid of her. Oma-Adi kisses her goodnight and with a final huff, the wolf jumps stiffly off her bed and trods after her human friend.

  Her mother always tells Adi how lucky she is to be able to walk to school by herself. The old-fashioned houses are taller than the trees lining the road. There’s a kiosk on the corner and sometimes when Adi is early, she stops to leaf through some of the Asterix comics on display.

  Today she sees Yvonne at the street corner ahead of her and Adi rushes to catch up. Yvonne sits next to her in first class and they chat happily about Yvonne’s birthday coming up. When they finally sit down next to each other, at first Adi doesn’t notice the whispers. But when she pulls her pens out of her bag and sits up straight, a large boy stands in front of her table.

  Thomas glares at her and his cat animal spits when she looks up. Just then the teacher walks in so he hasn’t time to say anything but Adi knows there’ll be trouble later. She’s so worried she can barely concentrate on what Miss Ruth says. She automatically opens her book to the correct page and tries to focus. Adi stares at her piece of paper. She holds her ink pen tightly and tries to concentrate.

  Every time she looks up, Thomas is staring at her. And if he isn’t, his cat is. The animal is so mean-looking with its ears back and its teeth showing every time it snarls. The other creatures in the classroom are quiet and resting, only Thomas’s cat spits and hisses at her. It's very disruptive and Adi remembers what Oma-Adi said to her just a few days ago. She wants to be honorable and do what she believes is right.

  Thinking of her gran and the love she saw in her face makes her feel better. She can show that stupid boy with his stupid cat that she is strong and won't be bullied. That thought carries her through the rest of her task and when the teacher collects the paper, Adi heaves a sigh of relief.

  Thomas is waiting for her in the hallway. Adi sees him leaning against the wall next t
o the language lab, talking to some other boys. She walks slowly towards the staircase. With every step, heat rises in her cheeks and she is breathes a little faster. Come on, come on, she tells herself.

  The steps are within view and the main exit is right beyond them. Her mom is waiting outside and she doesn't need to be afraid of some stupid smelly boy. Then she trips. She nearly falls and barely catches herself against the wall. Her bookbag isn't so lucky and tips upside down. She turns around and Thomas is smirking at her.

  "Watch where you're going, freak,” he says, just quietly enough that he can't be overheard by Miss Ruth.

  "I'm not a freak and you tripped me!” Adi backs against the wall and trembles with part rage, part fear. There is nowhere for her to go and Miss Ruth is still in the classroom. She swallows hard and clasps her empty bag against her chest. Maybe if she ignores him, he'll get bored and walk away. So Adi bends down and picks up the first book. A smack on her hand forces her to drop it again.

  “What is your problem?" she asks angrily.

  "You tattled on me, freak".

  Just then Miss Ruth walks by and stops for a moment. "Everything okay, kids?,” she asks.

  "Yes Miss, just helping Adi pick up her books.” Thomas smiles at her.

  "I'm glad to see that you're trying, Thomas.” The teacher frowns a little but then smiles back and walks off. How could she not see that Thomas isn't a kind boy? Normally Miss Ruth is Adi's favorite teacher but today she feels let down. And there's the problem of Thomas still kneeling in front of her, glaring again.

  "When did I tattle on you?,” Adi finally asks.

  "I don't know when but my parents got a letter yesterday that I bullied you. Now the teacher wants to see them and I'm going to be in real trouble!"

  His voice is getting sharper and more nasty and he spits the last few words at her. Adi wipes the moisture off her cheek and thinks. Maybe Oma-Adi had told her mom and dad about the conversation they had a few days ago. She didn't mean to tattle but as she looks at Thomas in front of her, she isn't sorry. He deserves his just rewards.

  "I didn't tattle, Thomas,” she finally says. "You are a bully though and maybe if you get punished, you'll think again before pushing and tripping people." Thomas looks shocked. He probably didn't expect her to tell him what she thinks of him. Adi knows she's bright-red in the face now and her hands are sweaty.

  Even though she’s shaking inside, she forces herself to stare straight at the boy. That’s how she notices something strange. The animal on his shoulder still hisses but seems sickly somehow. Its eyes are dull and one of those sharp teeth are chipped. She looks closer. One of the animal’s ears is torn. It looks sore and there are small beads of congealed blood around the wound.

  “What happened to you?” Adi whispers. Thomas pales and swallows audibly. Now that Adi has noticed the cat’s injuries, she sees their equivalent in Thomas's face. Her eyes grow wider and flick between Thomas and his cat. The boy has the remainder of a black eye and the side of his face is bruised.

  “Did you get beaten up?” she asks. The color drains out of Thomas’s face and he quickly stands up. “N-no,” he stutters. "Mind your own business!" Then he turns around and runs off. Adi is left kneeling on the ground, wondering what happened.

  The next time she sees Thomas and the cat, they are sitting in class, heads down and quiet. Adi had all but forgotten the encounter of the week previously, but is reminded when she sees the animal looking so listlessly. The boy sits in class with his coat on, never lifting his head, never raising his arm, and only speaks when the teacher asks a question.

  Eventually Miss Ruth walks up to him and says, "Thomas, what is going on? You were sick all week, are you sure you’re feeling better?" She puts a sympathetic hand on his shoulder. From where Adi sits, she sees Thomas flinch, his face contorting into a grimace. Miss Ruth quickly pulls her hand back and looks sharply at him.

  "Please take off your coat,” she says, then jumps a little when the boy shouts, “No!" Everybody holds their breath for a moment before the teacher says quietly, “You're right. This is nobody's business but yours and mine." She offers a hand and pulls him out of his seat. A substitute teacher takes the rest of the class.

  During recess, a lady Adi hasn’t seen before, a tall man in uniform and Thomas walk to a police car. Visible to all is a huge bruise on Thomas's shoulder. He is crying and Adi feels awfully sorry for him, even though he’s a spoilt brat. Some older kids whisper and she hears something about his father and how they’re taking him away. Adi isn’t sure what that means - are they taking Thomas away because he’s mean?

  That evening, Adi is more quiet than usual. When Oma-Adi asks her, she tells her everything. Oma-Adi listens without interrupting until Adi says: “And you know, I knew there was something wrong because his cat looked sick! Do you think it’s Thomas’s fault it was sick?”

  Oma-Adi’s takes off her glasses and absentmindedly polishes them with the hem of her shirt. Mom always says she shouldn’t because it scratches them but she does it anyway. Finally she raises her eyes and looks steadily at her grand-daughter. “I don’t think Thomas did anything to his pet. I think that his father may have hurt him, from what you told me happened today.”

  Adi is confused. “But why would his daddy hurt him? My daddy wouldn’t hurt me, would he?”

  Oma-Adi quickly says, “Of course not. Your daddy loves you very much and would never raise a hand against you.” She hesitates, clearly thinking about how to put it. “Not every father is like yours though. Sometimes adults have problems and when those problems grow too big, they take it out on their families. I’m sure Thomas’s dad loves him too but when his problems overwhelm him, he lashes out. It’s a good thing that it’s out in the open now and that Thomas and his father can get the help they need.”

  Adi thinks about that and nods. Then she remembers, “It’s not his pet though.” It’s Oma-Adi’s turn to be confused. “Sorry?”

  “It’s not Thomas’s pet. I don’t think he even knows it’s there on his shoulder.” Adi is growing uncomfortable under her grandmother’s gaze and babbles on, “he’s not the only one. Everybody in class has an animal, even the teacher. Some kids have fluffy bunnies, other weird creatures I’ve never seen before. Everybody around me has them, except for me.”

  Now Adi sounds a little sorry for herself. When there is no reply, she looks up and sees her grandmother stare at her in stunned silence. “Oma-Adi?” she asks quietly after a while. Her grandmother shakes her head as if raised from deep thoughts. “Do I have an animal?” she finally asks.

  Adi lights up and points at her bed. “Yes, it’s a really big beautiful wolf! Right there on my legs!” Oma-Adi turns her head but obviously can’t see anything. She takes her hand and strokes it gently. “When did you start seeing those creatures?”

  “When I was little,” Adi says. Oma-Adi smirks and Adi rolls her eyes. “Alright, littler. But I could only see a few. Now I can see a lot more all around me.”

  “Have you told anyone about this?”

  “Not really,” Adi admits sadly. “When I try, kids laugh at me and mom thinks I’m making it up.”

  Oma-Adi squeezes her hand. “I’ll talk to her. Don’t tell anyone else for now, okay?”

  Adi nods tiredly and yawns before snuggling down into her pillow. The she-wolf jumps off the bed stiffly and Adi smiles at her before drifting off to sleep.

  It’s Saturday before Oma-Adi comes visiting again. Adi wakes up early and slips out of bed. Maybe if she’s quiet, she’ll manage to watch ‘My Little Pony’ before mom and dad wake up. They don’t like it when Adi comes into their bedroom too early on the weekend. So she grabs some cereal and milk, and settles onto the couch in front of the large TV in the living room. As long as she keeps the volume down, she should be able to watch a few episodes.

  But when she tip-toes downstairs, her mom and Oma-Adi are talking in the living room. Adi sighs. So much for watching TV in peace and quiet. Then she catches her name an
d a sense of foreboding makes her sneak to the door between kitchen and living room. It’s slightly ajar and she can hear everything. They’re not fighting but her mom is upset.

  “And when were you thinking about telling me that my daughter suffers from hallucinations?”

  “Keep your voice down. They are not hallucinations. Adi has a gift, the same my mother had. Call it sixth sense, call it visions, but Adi sees the representation of a person’s character in the shape of animals.”

  Adi’s mom interrupts her mother angrily, “What a lot of nonsense! Are you seriously telling me that Adi’s some kind of psychic? What world are you living in? Best case scenario, she sees imaginary friends, worst case she suffers from mental illness!”

  “Will you calm down! Your grandmother was a wonderful woman and highly regarded by all who knew her. She could always tell if somebody was sick before they even knew it, just by how their Elfenwesen behaved.”

  “Elfenwesen? Seriously? Are we now sliding into Grimms fairytales? What the heck do fairy creatures have to do with anything?”

  Oma-Adi takes a deep breath and obviously tries hard to hold onto her temper. “That’s what she called them. Elfenwesen. She said that when I was born, she knew I had a wolf-companion and she named me Adalwolfa because of it.”

  Adi waits and waits but her mom stays silent. Finally she says, “I never knew that.” Adi hears a deep inhalation. “Mother, I’m sorry. I don’t believe in fairytales and, and Elfenwesen. I have to look out for my child. I’ll google a few experts and see if I can make an appointment for her on Monday.”

  Adi likes the idea of Elfenwesen but less so of seeing an ‘expert’. Mom probably means a doctor and Adi doesn’t like doctors. While she still ponders what she overheard, her mom opens the door and smiles at her daughter. “Good morning, sweetheart. I didn’t expect you up so early, would you like some breakfast?”