Chapter Twenty Nine

*Caleb*


“Hey kiddo, how are you feeling?” Drake asked Ariya before she headed in to report to Boss after everything happened.
“Tired. Really sore though… I thought we healed?” Ariya asked, trying to stretch her limbs out.
Drake chuckled, “We do but that doesn’t mean you’re not going to feel a little sore the next day. As you get moving around it will ease up and unless it was an extreme injury it will likely be gone by the end of the day.”
“Guys. We don’t have much time.” I interjected.
“Oh, right. Drake, we have a lot that we need to go over but it can’t leave the four of us. No matter what. Keo is the only other one that should know…” Ariya started.
“Is this the famous plan on what happens next?” Drake asked, amused. “Usually you and your brother came up with everything. But this time just you huh?”
“It is, and every single contingency has been planned for. The plan is going to adjust depending on what happens.” I said.
“My brother should be able to come up with a couple alternate ideas as well. If he’s actually still alive like you say.” Ariya said.
“Ariya, he is. Why are you unsure of that?” Drake asked.
“I saw him die.” Ariya whispered.
“He’s alive, Ariya. He really is. There’s one more person that needs to know as well.” Drake said.
Ariya’s eyes narrowed, “Who?”
I honestly thought that Ariya would put up a fight about it. I was intrigued to see that she was willing to listen. I had a feeling I knew what Drake was going to say but for some reason I couldn’t remember. It had been 14 years since we were back in our old lives, but I couldn’t shake the feeling of it being on the tip of my tongue.
“Ivan.” Drake said.
“Who’s Ivan?” Ariya asked.
I looked at Drake, equally confused.
“Right…so I guess I should start from earlier. To protect both of you and Ivan I locked a lot of your memories away. You can get them back with the right key or if I remove it. But removing it takes a lot more time than we have.”
Ariya and I looked at each other and grinned.
“What?” Drake asked, now confused.
“Ariya had a feeling that we were missing information. We argued about it for hours but eventually made a plan for that as well. Better to be safe than sorry.” I laughed.
Drake laughed with me but looked at Ariya full of pride in his eyes, “Of course you would be able to figure that out, Ariya. There’s a lot more. I’m trying to behave and not just spill everything. You need to unlock your memories the right way or it will get messy.”
“What do I need to do?” Ariya asked.
“It’s complicated. Ivan has to get his memories back first, and then he will trigger you getting your memories back but only after meeting a certain criteria. That I can’t tell you. He has to get there on his own. Caleb on the other hand is easier, I can unlock his memories but it will take me a couple days at least.” Drake explained.
“How does locking the memories work? Can anyone just do it?” Ariya asked, deep in thought.
I could see where she was going with this. Our plan was so specific and every single bump, obstacle, and challenge had been planned for. If anyone found out what we were planning and how we were planning it wouldn’t end up working at all. That was the only thing we couldn’t really plan for easily. But Ariya knew we needed to do something about that.
“I can do it. You should be able to do it eventually. But it’s not something you can learn overnight. It took me over 10 years to learn, granted I was alone figuring it out. You are not. So it should be able to be faster. But it’s not something we can teach you now.”
“That’s fine. We don’t have time for me to learn. But the lock blocks everything. Even a Switch right? It could also block a truth serum, or someone who can enter your mind, or someone who was basically a human lie detector right, even if we’re unconscious?” Ariya asked.
Drake narrowed his eyes, “Does something like that even exist?”
“Don’t know. It’s one of the possibilities we planned for. There’s a lot we don’t know. We’re just covering our bases. How does it work?”
“Basically I pile all the memories up, bind them together, and put a ‘lock’ on it. The lock can be opened with a ‘key’. As in the one who created the lock. Or it can be unlocked with contingencies. For instance, if this happens, then this unlocks sort of thing.”
“Can it be done in pieces? Like if this scenario happens in the plan then we immediately know what the next step is based on the plan that’s already been made?” I asked.
Ariya grinned at me, “That’s what I was thinking.”
“I can, it might be a little shocking if I have it hit you instantly on the next move but you would get used to it. But I don’t think it can be a delayed release. We would need to make these decisions instantly, right?” Drake asked.
“Right. It can’t be delayed. It has to be instant or we might as well not make a plan.” I said.
“Then we need to go over everything so I can work on locking it.” Drake said.
Ariya and I went over the plan in as much detail as possible. We had gotten up early so we had plenty of time before Ariya had to get back to report in. It had to happen now and it wasn’t possible for it to happen last night given the events of that entire day. As we went over each step, Drake’s eyes went wide. He was shocked at how much we had planned. Ariya had hesitated on the decision to tell Drake everything when we finally were reunited with him, but I was positive it would be ok. We might not have been around him for the last 14 years but Drake was still Drake. I could feel it the second I found him. Sure we were mad at him but we’d also felt abandoned. It wasn’t the time to deal with that yet. But we would when things calmed down. Right now, we have work to do. We can’t let our emotions get in the way of what needs to get done or we’d never get anything done.
As Drake placed the last lock in Ariya’s mind for the plan I realized we’d skipped over Ivan.
“Who’s Ivan? You went over the beginning but skipped past who Ivan is.” I looked at Drake.
“Oh! Sorry. Ivan is basically like you, Caleb. He was only a year older than you are, Caleb. Granted you were all very young when you had to go. But when you activated your wolf side you looked a little older as well. Made it easier to pass as an adult. But while you looked older at first, your body aged a lot slower after that first initial shock. And then it stops when you bond with one of us, at least it’s supposed to. As of right now you’re looking more like the age you are.”
It started to click together for me, “Ivan is an original Navi wolf!”
“Right. You two are related, which is why you were able to bond with Ariya. Your relation is kind of a further distance. Ivan is your Cousin, Caleb.” Drake said.
“Wait, is Ivan bonded to Keo then? Who are you bonded to? How have you gone so long without the person you’re bonded to? Better yet, where is Ivan?” Ariya asked.
“He doesn’t remember. That’s the only reason he’s been able to go for so long and without shifting. As for where he is, I don’t know. I was looking for all 3 of you. As for me, the person I bonded to died that night. I’ve been ok. It’s been a struggle but I’ve been ok. We have our ways, I’ll show you some day but hopefully you never have to use it. Though with your plan I feel like you might have to learn it sooner than later. And to answer your other question, no, technically Keo is not bonded to Ivan…” Drake trailed off.
“If Ivan doesn’t remember, how do we know we can trust him? What do you mean technically? I don’t understand.” Ariya asked.
Drake sighed, “I shouldn’t say until your memories come back. But just know that it’s complicated. Somehow Caleb bonded twice. It shouldn’t have happened but it did. I think it’s because he doesn’t remember that he had a bond already. Ariya, you’ll be able to know for the same reason that you can trust Caleb without question. All 4 of you are already bonded for the most part. It won’t make sense until you get all your memories back. Just know that the bond won’t happen if you weren’t completely on the same side. That said, IF for some reason you end up on opposite sides, the bond would break. Ivan doesn’t have all of his memories. But he has some of them. As soon as he has all of them, he will have to make a decision. If he chooses to come back the bond will stay with you 4. If he chooses otherwise, the bond will break and those memories will be incinerated to protect us.”
“He’s not going to die by choosing otherwise is he?” I asked, concerned.
“No, I couldn’t do that to him. Not after everything he did that night. It also doesn’t work like that.”
“So how do we find him?” I asked.
“Carefully.” Drake laughed, “Honestly, I don’t know. It’s a miracle I found you guys. You hid in plain sight and you hid so well you were really only found because I was found and then you found me.”
Ariya gasped and as I looked at her my stomach dropped and I suddenly felt really nauseous. I am not going to like where this leads to.
Ariya looked at Drake and I, wide-eyed. “I think I know who Ivan is.”