From the corner of my eye, I saw Zak visibly withhold a loud groan. I was seconds away from doing the same. Even now Mistral had to joke around. But then again, maybe that was his way of coping with the situation. Making light of it.
Animus clicked his tongue. "Nonsense. It's been too long since we've seen each other."
Mistral's jaw tensed like he was grinding his teeth, but as if under a spell, he stiffly walked over to Animus, who towered over him.
What the hell was he doing? This couldn't be good. My muscles bunched, ready to spring into action and help Mistral.
But as the two spirits closed the gap between them, Animus simply smiled as he embraced Mistral, who stood there awkwardly.
"There," Animus said. "Was that so bad?"
Mistral looked pale. I bit my lip. Did Animus steal his powers through the hug? Or was Mistral just terrified Animus was going to drain his energy at any moment, like a poised snake rearing to strike?
"Kamari!"
My head jerked in the direction of the familiar voice. Galileo waved at me from a few yards away from Animus near the mouth of the cavern. Other omegas from the haven stood behind him.
As I took a step forward, Zak hissed, "What are you doing?"
"I'm going to see what's going on," I said.
Zak grunted. "I'm coming with you. I'm not letting you go near that guy by yourself."
I nodded, then gave Animus a wide berth as we passed him on the way to Galileo. Zak stood between us like a shield. But Animus made no movement to interrupt. He simply smiled at us, unmoving.
"This is really weird," Zak mumbled, loud enough so only I could hear it.
He was right. This wasn't how I expected a malicious spirit to act. He was so casual, so... normal. But I knew it had to be a cover for his true self. He had to be luring us into a false sense of security before he struck.
When I got close enough to Galileo, I broke out into a run and hugged him. My friend let out a breathless laugh of relief. "Kamari, you're back! We were getting worried!"
"Let's catch up later," I said, giving him a pat on the back. "Right now, we have bigger problems."
Galileo nodded, his brown hair flopping across his forehead. He shot Animus a sidelong glance and said, "Do you know that guy? Er, is he even a guy? He can't be human but he doesn't really look like a shifter, either."
"No, he's not human," Zak said quietly. "He's a spirit, like Nautilus, but a bad one."
Galileo paled. "A bad spirit? Oh, great. Just when things went back to normal, we have more crap to deal with..."
"Did he hurt you?" I asked. "Or any of the omegas?"
"No. He just showed up and started ominously looming. It freaked us out enough to gather out here."
I looked at the line of omegas behind Galileo. Malke was among them, looking scared but brave. Even though they didn't know what was going on, the omegas were all ready to stand and fight any potential threats. They wereallincredibly brave, I realized with pride blooming in my chest.
Zak was right,I thought.They don't need my constant hovering. They're capable of taking care of themselves.
"He did ask if we knew where Nautilus was, though," Galileo said with a grimace.
A pang of anxiety shot through me. "What did you tell him?"
Galileo shrugged. "The truth. I said we didn't know."
I lowered my voice. "Don't react when I tell you this, but we found Nautilus. He's safe. For now."
Unfortunately, my sweet Galileo wasn't the most tactful person in the world. His eyes snapped open and his voice raised in volume and pitch as he cried, "You found him?"
I sighed. I should've known better than to say anything.
