Ihaan’s mother… Fred knew it. His theory was correct, but he bet Velma figured it out before him. She just gave him a rare moment to shine because a trap was out of the question, especially now knowing Ro’s identity: a mother named Kate who had watched over Ihaan since the accident, but like she said, never told him.
“Ihaan’s mother?” Daphne, continuing to examine Ro’s message, inquired. “You really are Ihaan’s mother, Ro?”
She responded with another nod, but jumped and quickly scratched away her message when pounding sounded from the forest.
“Like, zombie apocalypse!” Shaggy yelled, sprinting out of the bushes with Scooby.
They reached the gang and fell to their knees, kissing the sand around Velma’s feet.
“Zombie—what are you two cowards talking about?” she said.
Shaggy and Scooby spat out sand and stood.
Scooby buzzed his lips and ran in circles around Shaggy.
“Like, they were all over us!” Shaggy exclaimed. “If not for Ihaan acting as a bug shield, we would’ve never gotten out of there.”
“Wait, bug?” Daphne shivered and reached into her purse for the Deet. She looked ready to swat any bugs that annoyed her.
Giggling emerged from the forest, and Ihaan stepped out of it, looking the most amused Fred had seen him in twenty-four hours. “They are impossible, gang,” he said, tugging his jacket’s collar. “They thought the mosquitoes were a zombie apocalypse.”
“But they were!” Shaggy argued. “The second Scoob and I stopped walking—the mosquitoes swarmed us like the first wave of an apocalypse!”
“Are the bugs really that bad?” Daphne asked. “Well, not to worry, gang. Daphne always comes prepared.” She returned to her and Freddie’s canoe and opened her dry bag, pulling out mosquito nets.
While she did that, Ihaan approached Ro and picked her up. “How are you doing, girl?”
Excitement washed over Fred, and he said, “Oh, Ihaan! We found something out about her that we think you’ll get a kick out of!” He could not wait to see Ihaan’s face when he learned his mother had been with him all along, but before Fred told him, Ro cried out and flapped her wings.
“Whoa, girl! What is it?” Ihaan questioned, bouncing her. Ro’s feathers sparked, and he shouted, “Ow!” letting her go.
Ro plopped onto the beach, and a new charred feather drifted onto her foot.
Scooby came in and sniffed her, repeating, “Rire! Rire!” like the day before.
What did Fred do? Why was Ro beginning to transform again?
That was when Velma said it: “She transforms with strong emotions, gang.”
“Strong emotions?” Ihaan questioned. “Negative or positive, Velma?”
Velma opened her mouth, but shut it. She opened the stage for Daphne, who stepped before Freddie and stopped over Ro.
“Ro is starting to regain her confidence in flying, Ihaan,” she explained with a gentle smile. “Aren’t you, Ro? She flew for a second while you were gone. I think that if we work with her on the way to Red Squirrel Lake, she’ll be flying again in no time.”
“Wait, you flew, Ro?” Ihaan’s eyes rolled down to Ro. “You really flew?”
Daphne handed each of her friends a bug net and placed her hands on her hips. “She nearly flew, Ihaan.” She sighed when Ro’s feathers stopped shimmering. “And if what Velma’s saying about her transforming under strong emotions is true, regaining her confidence might help her control it.” She shrugged and smiled nervously. “It’s worth a shot.”
“Then that’s what we do,” Ihaan said. “We help Ro fly again. See if it helps.”
Great, but what happened to Ro being Ihaan’s mother, then? Fred waited until he disappeared into the forest, carrying a few more bags and his weapons, to ask. “What was that about, Daphne?”
“Uh, hello,” she argued, slipping her bug net over her head, “Ro’s a Spirit, Fred. How do you think Ihaan, a sixteen-year-old boy, will react if we tell him his mother died?”
“Oh, right.” Freddie didn’t think of that, but yes, that was true. A Spirit meant that Kate had died in the canoe accident.
“Like, died?” In an instant, Shaggy leaped into Scooby’s paws. “Ro is Ihaan’s mother? Well, Scooby old pal, I’d never thought we’d see a real zombie again, but”—he gulped—“here we are.”
Velma’s brows furrowed, and she knelt to Ro, whom Ihaan had left behind again. “Ro’s not a zombie, Shaggy,” she explained. “She’s a mother, Kate, to be exact, who’s having trouble containing her grief for Ihaan.” She removed the charred feather from Ro’s foot and showed it to the gang. “I learned this when she chased us this morning: when Ro sees one of her feathers, she remembers who she is beyond the Lightning Spirit—what’s being destroyed, and what she has to do. She’s a living ‘American Pie’, gang. That was why she reacted so strongly to it.”
Daphne grasped her hips again. “I think we should wait until we get to Red Squirrel Lake, Fred.” She looked at Ro and crossed her arms. “What do you think, Ro? We’ll help you tell Ihaan together and solve this mystery.”
Ro seemed lost in thought for a moment. She pecked the charred feather in Velma’s palm—and even exchanged a few looks with Scooby—but she finally slightly opened her wings, faced Daphne, and nodded.
“Oh, wow,” she said, putting her hands together. “So, this means you trust us, Ro?”
A hopeful look crossed Ro’s face, and she turned to the portage, whistling.
“I think she’s saying she’s doing it for Ihaan,” Velma guessed.
Fred folded his arms. “Well, if that’s the case, so are we. Let’s split up, gang, and get our canoes to the other side of the portage.” He smirked at Shaggy and Scooby. “It’s time to return to Zombie Island.”
***
It seemed that the Mystery Gang had grown closer to Ro. They spent a lot of time with her in the bug-infested portage. That was a good thing because she distracted them from the mosquitoes. After being alone in the wilderness for so long, they had grown used to Ihaan, so no zombies swarmed him, only thoughts about what he would learn about the Thunderbird on Red Squirrel Lake, and why on Earth the Spirit Animals hadn’t yet visited him that day. They visited him every day. Luckily, there was a shrine like the one on Lake Anima Nipissing where he could summon them and figure out what was happening, but for now, Ihaan’s goal was to help Ro regain her confidence in flying.
It took an hour for Ihaan and the Mystery Gang to get their things and canoes to the other side of the portage, even though it wasn’t very long, because they had to hike back and forth from Anima to Carrying Lake, where the portage led to. It was a small lake, so they would reach the second portage quickly; however, it was much longer than the first one.
By the time Ihaan carried his canoe to Carrying Lake and put it in the water, he was sweating under his jacket and jeans, and gosh, they itched! He hated these clothes, but what if the Mystery Gang, his only human friends, forgot about him if he wasn’t like them? No, Ihaan wouldn’t risk that.
Before starting to canoe on Carrying Lake, Ihaan and the Mystery Gang sat on the narrow, thick trail and tried to enjoy lunch, but those pesky zombie mosquitoes swarmed around them. That told Ihaan one thing: they were the only ones on the portage at that moment.
“Like, man, I can’t take this!” Shaggy yelled, tucking his sandwich under his bug jacket. “Can’t Scooby and I just enjoy a little sandwich, zombies?”
“It is like an apocalypse out here,” Daphne admitted. She looked down at her clothes. “They’re ruining these clothes with the Deet smell. And I just got these last week.”
“Really?” Velma sarcastically asked. “They look no different from what you usually wear, Daph.”
“Nah-hah-hah.” Daphne reached for her headband. “I went with a green headband this time, Velma. Thought it fit the wilderness setting.”
Velma rolled her eyes. “I still see no difference.”
That was the first time Ihaan had seen Velma and Daphne arguing—and over fashion, nonetheless.
Fred must have sensed Ihaan’s uneasiness because he said, “Shut up, girls. Shut up,” and gestured at Ro. “Look at Ka—I mean, Ro.”
Wait, what did he say? Ihaan thought he heard Ka. Was the Mystery Gang hiding something from him? Daphne did quickly come in for Freddie when he told Ihaan they had figured out something about Ro, and they did spend a lot of time with her during the whole zombie apocalypse. Nah, Ihaan was overthinking things. If it were more important than Ro beginning to regain her confidence, they would’ve told him. That was what friends did. He and Ro told each other everything.
Speaking of Ro, Fred was right to steer the conversation toward her.
She stood beside Scooby, her wings wide open, and was gently flapping them.
Ihaan’s worries washed away for a moment, and he grinned, standing. “Ro, you’re trying. Look at her, gang—she’s trying! She hasn’t done this since her accident.”
“Brave bird,” Fred said, a slight shiver in his voice, but Ihaan tried not to think about it.
He moved closer to her and said, “You’re doing great, Ro, but we keep practicing.” He pointed at their canoe resting on Carrying Lake. “Try flying from here to our canoe.”
Ro lifted a few feet off the ground but soon landed and shook her head, hiding behind Ihaan’s leg.
Ihaan knelt and pulled her close. “It okay, Ro. We keep trying. Fly when ready.”
Thank you, he saw in her eyes again.
Now that Ihaan knew she was the Lightning Spirit, he wished there was a way to discover the truth about the day she broke her wing. If only Ro could speak, or maybe the Great Spirit could tell him. Red Squirrel Lake was more important than ever now.
“Let get moving, gang,” Ihaan said, offering Ro his arm.
She studied it for a moment before crawling onto his jacket sleeve. Once there, Ro lowered her neck and stomped on Ihaan’s arm. It was a gesture he was all too familiar with now.
“I’ll get you a pike on Carrying Lake,” Ihaan said, tapping her bill.
“Like, pike?” Shaggy and Scooby’s mouths watered. “That’s way better than zombie mosquitoes, Ihaan!” They seemed to get excited at any mention of food, obviously because they dove into their canoe and started paddling out of the river toward Carrying Lake’s central section.
“Hey!” Velma called, crossing her arms and tapping her foot, but Shaggy and Scooby kept paddling.
Ihaan giggled and faced her. “Don’t worry, Velma—you can ride with Ro and me.” A good friend helped someone in need. He learned that from Ro, the one Spirit who’s been with him since that fateful day eleven winters ago.
Ihaan got into his canoe and set Ro down, helping Velma into the bow. Ro gripped a thwart, and Ihaan pushed off the bank into the river, away from Zombie Island and closer to the truth.
14Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2H8U5yWnpz
Prompt: "Zombie" - The Cranberries, and covered by Rad-D
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