“Wait, you do want to try our gifts, Ihaan?” Ihaan noticed a smile tugging at Daphne’s lips, but she quickly swallowed her oatmeal to hide it.
The cool morning sunrays reminded Ihaan of the forest’s sacredness; regardless, he turned on a brave face and nodded at Daphne’s question. “I’m the only one here who doesn’t know much about the world beyond forest. Lightning Spirit visited me in dreams last night and said that I need to try and travel to Red Squirrel Lake, where I had accident, to get answers.”
Beside him, Ro seemed to whimper and moved closer, ruffling her feathers.
Ihaan stood from the log he rested on and added, “Spirit Animals haven’t yet visited me this morning, but I can’t wait around for them.” While Ihaan wasn’t sure where his head was currently, his gut told him he had made the right decision to try the Mystery Gang’s world while solving the mystery.
“You’re not doing this alone, Ihaan,” Velma demanded, standing herself.
“Oh, no way, man,” Freddie included, a grin stretching across his face. “The Mystery Gang is always looking for a new kind of mystery to solve. You taught us that last year.”
Even Shaggy and Scooby were getting excited, and they were the cowards. “Like, does this mean we get to play Pokémon Blue with you, Ihaan?” Shaggy inquired. “You get to meet Scoob and I’s favorite Pokémon, Snorlax!”
“Reah, Rorlax!” Scooby puffed out his chest and made himself look larger, although Ihaan didn’t know why. What he did know was that the Mystery Gang had good intentions. They weren’t forcing change on him; they merely wanted to solve the mystery like him. Not that he blamed them; after all, Ihaan still couldn’t remember anything before the accident—his mother, nothing. Therefore, he probably wasn’t very useful to the gang, which meant they had a hands-on mystery and a new opportunity to explore their friendship.
While they cleaned up from breakfast, Ihaan explained, “Red Squirrel Lake is a day’s canoe trip from here. We cross a few portages to get there.”
“Like, portages?” Shaggy questioned.
Freddie turned on a proud face—“Allow me, Shaggy”—and reached into his jeans pocket, removing a folded piece of paper (it looked like a map). “A portage is…” Fred unfolded the map and began scanning it, occasionally flipping it upside-down.
Velma finally sighed and said, “A portage is a hike through the forest, Freddie.”
Silence, and then Freddie nodded hesitantly and lowered the map. “Right, a hike through the forest. I knew that, Velma.”
She sighed again and took the map from him.
With Ro resting on his arm wrapping, Ihaan led the gang through the forest to the open area where he reunited with them the day before. Tied up to the dock over the lake, the gang’s canoes and Ihaan’s sparkled under the morning sunshine. It looked like they begged them to take them on an adventure.
Before doing so, Ihaan ducked into the Mystery Machine to try on one of Daphne’s outfits. He kept his boots but slipped on the low-rise jeans, t-shirt, and deep orange jacket. It felt so strange, so wrong to cover up his three painted stripes on his torso and each arm.
Ihaan’s chest heaved, and he clutched his head, hyperventilating. He had to be brave, though. He had to keep the outfit on to let the gang know that they meant well, even though he hated it.
With that in mind, Ihaan inhaled and exhaled, inhaled and exhaled until he felt a bit more ready. Then, with Ro on his shoulder, he pushed open the Mystery Machine’s back doors and hopped out.
Ro pecked his jacket and gripped it, trying to urge Ihaan back into the van, but he pushed her away. “No, Ro, I need to do this.” To stop her from bothering him further, he took Ro off his shoulder and set her on the dirt at his heels. Ihaan left her behind and joined the Mystery Gang on the dock, who had finished loading the last of their dry bags in their canoes. He cleared his throat, and they turned at the same time.
“Oh, my goodness!” Daphne squealed, clenching her fists and shaking them. “It’s perfect, Ihaan! Orange looks so good on you!”
Velma pushed her glasses closer to the bridge of her nose. “It seems that you have not yet reached an X-large with clothes.”
Was that a good thing? Was Ihaan supposed to wear an X-large? He never had to worry about that in the wilderness since he always sewed his clothes.
Daphne lowered her voice and put her hands together. “Do you like it?” she nervously asked.
No. But the word didn’t leave Ihaan’s lips. He replaced it with, “Yes, Daphne,” and she squealed again.
Velma lifted her eyebrow. Did she sense Ihaan’s discomfort? Luckily, her attention moved to something else, and she asked, “What’s that?” pointing across Anima Nipissing.
Ihaan and the gang looked with her, and Shaggy said, “Zoinks!” jumping into Scooby-Doo’s front paws.
A sudden raincloud, swirling like a cyclone, appeared over Anima. Blue and white lightning bolts flashed within it, and thunder—or was it a screech?—emanated from the cloud. Sunshine covered the rest of the lake, giving the thundercloud a mysterious, ominous presence as the only cloud in the area.
“The Lightning Spirit,” Ihaan whispered, soon recalling that he had left Ro alone. “Ro!” He immediately sprinted across the dock, with Shaggy and Scooby following behind.
“Like, good idea, Ihaan!” Shaggy admitted, leaping down from Scooby’s paws.
“Please, please, please,” Ihaan begged on the way to the Mystery Machine. Sure enough, when he reached it, Ro was gone, but another charred feather was in the dirt where he had set her down. “Ro!” Ihaan said again. Why was the Thunderbird after her? Why not him? Ihaan was the one on his rite of passage.
He grabbed the feather and narrowed his eyes. That Thunderbird would pay. Attacking Ro wasn’t part of the Thunderbird legend, only the person experiencing their rite of passage. How long would it be before it burned Ro alive and killed her, leaving Ihaan to fend for himself in Ontario’s wilderness? He was the only one who knew the Thunderbird legend best; therefore, he had to do this: confront the Spirit himself.
Ihaan turned on his heel, but Shaggy and Scooby had already dived into the Mystery Machine’s back and shivered in each other’s arms.
“Like, don’t tell us you’re going back there, Ihaan,” Shaggy stated, his teeth chattering.
“I have to,” he replied. “Ro is my friend.” With those words, Ihaan left the cowards and returned to the dock, the feather still in his hand. The thundercloud continued swirling in the atmosphere, smaller than before, but still alive with lightning and thunder.
“Ihaan, what are you doing?” Daphne asked when he climbed into his canoe, picked up his bow and arrow quiver, and slipped them on his back. They didn’t fit well with the jacket, but he still refused to remove it, even though it itched.
Ihaan held the charred feather up to the Mystery Gang and answered, “I’m not letting Ro out of my sight anymore. Thunderbird’s got her in that cloud; I’m getting her back. I’m the only one who can.”
“Ihaan, wait!” the gang yelled, but he had already pushed off the dock and quickly canoed toward the Lightning Spirit and his best friend.
In the path leading to the cloud, waves picked up, and Ihaan rode over them, steadying his canoe with every rough landing. Water sprayed in his face, but he blinked it away and clenched his teeth. It was unusual, as the path and the cloud were the only rough areas of the lake, while the surrounding areas remained sunny. That was a definite sign that something supernatural was at work.
Despite the danger, Ihaan kept rowing, drawing closer to the Lightning Spirit.
“Ihaan!” a voice soon hollered behind him.
“Huh?” he said, peering over his shoulder. There was the Mystery Gang, rowing after him, slower but still desperate enough to catch up to him. They brought their two Old Town canoes to a halt and now surrounded him on either side of his wooden one.
“You’re not doing this alone!” Velma shouted over the thunder. “That Thunderbird is not a mystery you can solve by yourself.”
Ihaan removed his bow and quiver and nocked an arrow, aiming it at the thundercloud. “Please, guys,” he said, “I’m the only one who knows these Spirits best, and I’m not going to have them kill my best friend.”
Velma steadied her voice and lowered Ihaan’s bow. “Ihaan, listen to me, you have it all wrong. If you kill that Thunderbird, you will kill your best friend.”
“Huh?” What was Velma talking about? The Thunderbird attacked Ro and broke her wing, and now she was scared of flying. It kept taking her from Ihaan when he was on his rite of passage, not her.
“You can’t kill that Spirit because…” Velma’s voice trailed.
A final thunderclap came from the cloud, and then, slowly and steadily, an enormous figure dropped out of it. The Lightning Spirit, made entirely of blue and white lightning, flapped its wings, sending sparks across Anima Nipissing. It looked like an eagle, and… Oh, no. Ihaan recognized the Thunderbird’s face and dropped his bow. Tears burned in the backs of his eyes. That Spirit… that Thunderbird… Ihaan didn’t want to believe it.
Velma finished his thought. “… because that Spirit is Ro.”
31Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSUOn9uedTr
Prompt: "I'm the Only One" - Melissa Etheridge
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