In only ten leaps, Hichy reached the scene of the attack. Even though his powers had grown stronger, it was impossible for him to carry his sister on his back and rise above the cluttered ground with such a load. She would have to join him by retracing her steps as quickly as possible, without shaking Melio too much, whom she held like a small bundle.
To distract the Odilphin and prevent it from claiming another victim, Hichy moved as close as he dared to the animal and taunted it. The savage beast let out terrible roars, and its enormous paws, armed with claws as sharp as a katana, lashed dangerously through the air.
The boy buzzed around the monster like a fly, but without any way to sting it. That only fuelled the Odilphin's fury. It bellowed, whipping its trunk around. It had to weigh at least ten tons, and every movement it made risked crushing one of the long-haired, filthy locals. Hichy tried to lure the monstrous animal a little farther away, but it had no intention of moving from its meal. Rather than chase the boy, it held its ground, ready to plunge its trunk back into the bushes to suck up another victim.
Hichy greeted Inata's arrival with a shout of relief. His sister was completely out of breath from her sprint, but she did not even have time to catch it before she focused all her strength on the huge mass of flesh and black fur. Unfortunately, even though magic worked better now that they were far from Timagic, it still was not enough.
The Odilphin was so heavy that she struggled to lift it more than a few centimetres off the ground. The beast fought with all its strength, furious at no longer being able to brace on its legs. The only thing Inata managed was to drag the monster and push it as far away from the agglomeration as possible. Cowering in their hiding places, not a single one of the dirty little men moved, and since they possessed neither spear nor sword, they would have been of no help anyway.
Lacking a weapon, Hichy grabbed the largest rock he could carry while jumping and dropped it as he passed above the Odilphin. The stone bounced off the animal's coat without provoking more than a startled flinch.
"His trunk!" he shouted to his sister.
"What about his trunk?" she asked.
"He's too big—you can't take him on all at once. You need to focus on his trunk. You could—"
"Tie it in a knot?"
"Absolutely not! It's all slimy. That would never work. No, you'd have to plug it with dirt or something."
When Inata released her grip, the monster went berserk. It was already lunging toward its next victim, determined to gulp them down before the twins' next trick. The girl barely had time to deflect the trunk so it slammed onto a large boulder. Under the pull of that repulsive appendage's overpowered suction, the rock tore free and shot straight into the Odilphin's nasal conduit. The roar that followed—meant to be terrifying—ended in a choking wheeze and a coughing fit.
"Quick! Now the claws," Hichy said as he landed beside his sister. "We have to rip them out before it has time to recover."
One by one, like tearing out a prisoner's nails to torture him, Inata managed to extract those razor blades from the Odilphin's paws. The screams wrenched from the animal, despite the huge stone blocking its nose, were so terrible that the twins felt sick. And yet the fight was not over.
"Now—do you think you can break a bone? Or crush its brain?"
"Why would you want to do that?" Inata asked. "It's harmless now."
As if to prove her point, the Odilphin fled on all fours, shaking the ground as it ran and growling. The first members of the tribe they had rescued waited a long moment before emerging from their hiding places, slowly and fearfully scanning their surroundings. Hichy puffed out his chest, proud of what they had just accomplished.
Yet the governor thanked them with furious shouts as he crawled out of his shelter, where he had camouflaged himself like a coward.
"You're completely insane!" he screamed, shaking a fist at them.
"What do you mean, insane? We just saved you from a horrible death, and that's how you thank us?" Hichy demanded.
"What? You expect gratitude after the crime you just committed?!"
"What crime? Your people were attacked by that monster, and you're accusing us?"
"Precisely. I have never seen anyone make an animal suffer so much. It is utterly inhumane."
"Inhumane doesn't apply here because it's a beast. In-beastly, perhaps, but certainly not inhumane," Inata countered. "What you're doing is anthro… anthropo… anthropomorphism," she finally managed.
"Whatever!" the wiry little man snapped. "It is strictly forbidden to mistreat an animal."
"It just swallowed one of yours," Hichy pointed out.
"So what?"
"So what?!" Hichy exploded. "That's horrific, and it doesn't even bother you! You're upset that we hurt some hyper-aggressive alien, and you don't even care about the atrocious death of one of your own."
Around them, countless pairs of eyes watched through long curtains of hair. Some had only one eye and deep scars in addition to their pustules.
"It's the law of nature," the governor declared, addressing both them and his people. "And no one has the right to disturb the law of nature. Odilphins need to eat, like all of us, and it is therefore perfectly normal that they take one or two individuals from our community to sustain themselves."
"An animal does not have the same value as a human!" Inata cried. "What you're saying is completely absurd."
"Why? Why would an animal have less value than a human?"
"They're completely deranged," Hichy muttered, turning away.
"Wait! You can't leave like that. You have broken many rules, and you are under arrest. Odilphins are not the only living beings with whom we share this habitat. There are also two-headed eagles and giant porcine beasts. For the good of all, it seems perfectly normal to me that you sacrifice yourselves for the community at the next attack, returning your bodily envelopes to Mother Nature, who gave you life."
"So, in plain terms, you want to feed us to them while you hide safely," Inata said. "And what are you going to do? My brother is right. You're completely deranged. Come on, Hichy. We're leaving."
At a gesture from the clan chief, the hostile group that had gathered around them tried to seize the twins. But before they could reach them, Inata sent them flying with a contemptuous flick of her hand. They crashed to the ground like a pile of matchsticks while the two teenagers walked away, shrugging.
Hichy picked up two claws on the way and they continued on without looking back. The material they were made of was almost translucent, and their edge so sharp that no blade—even forged by the greatest Japanese master—could have matched it.
"How beautiful they are!" Inata exclaimed.
"As beautiful as they are dangerous. I don't even want to imagine what would've happened if we'd taken a swipe. Melio's claws are cardboard next to these."
The little cat meowed, as if protesting the unflattering remark. Hichy stroked the magnificent ginger fur of his feline friend, who began to purr.
"I like animals too," he said, hugging him tighter, "but some more than others."
The emotions had exhausted them. They set up camp for the night and collapsed onto a bed of leaves.
"You know what the problem is?" her brother asked.
"No."
"It's that I can't help you move matter, and you can't rise into the air. Why do we have such different powers?"
"I have an idea, but I'm not sure you'll like it."
"Go on."
"Well… magic was passed down to us by Mum in our DNA. If I can mix certain sequences, maybe I can share some of my power with you. And you some of yours."
"All right. And Melio?"
"What about Melio?"
"Doesn't he deserve a little magic too?"
They crouched facing each other, forehead to forehead, the little cat nestled between them. Then they closed their eyes, and Inata breathed deeply. She could see her body from the inside, follow her arteries to her heart. She had to focus on the infinitely small—to those particular elements that make up genetic inheritance and exist inside every one of our cells.
Inata had two X chromosomes, but her brother had one of each type, X and Y. That was something she could never change. Still, within the long sequences they shared—passed down from their father and their mother—she was able to identify those that differed and that might explain why they did not have the same power.
"Are you ready?"
"Yes."
"Meow."
A shiver ran through Hichy's body, as if he were horribly hot and terribly cold at the same time. His mouth went dry. He tried to speak, but he could not articulate a single word. His eyes felt as if they were bulging from their sockets, and a savage headache clamped down on his brain like a vice. His vision blurred and he went blind. His muscles no longer responded and…
Three bodies lay unconscious on the ground: two teenagers and a very cute little ginger cat.