"Go away!"
The voice was muffled. Quinn and I exchanged a startled glance.
"You heard that too, right?" he asked.
I nodded. My hopes lifted. That had to be Mistral's voice, which meant he was here, but where the hell was he?
"Hi there," Quinn said pleasantly. "Is that you, Mistral, uh... sir? Sorry, I don't know how to address a spirit. I've never done this before."
A nasally voice replied: "I said, go away!"
Quinn frowned. "Not very friendly, is he?" he said below his breath.
I put a hand on his shoulder. "Hang on. Let me try something." I cleared my throat. "Mistral, if you're worried about Animus, he's no longer here."
A beat of silence.
"He's not?" the voice piped up.
"No," I said. "I was here last night and talked to Animus. He left."
A grumbling sound came from inside the house, like Mistral was having trouble making up his mind. When he finally spoke, he said, "If either of you are Animus cronies, know that Iwillblow you right off this mountain and it's alongway down."
The lump of blanket on the floor was thrown away and a figure jumped out from underneath it.
Mistral opened the door with a scowl. He was taller than both of us. He had unnaturally bright blue hair and eyes, but the most jarring part of him were his wings. They were attached to his arms and covered in huge cream-colored feathers.
Quinn gasped. "Oh! You reallyarea harpy!"
"A harpy?" I echoed, blinking at Mistral. "I thought they were made up."
Mistral huffed and dusted blanket fibres off his chest. "Proof otherwise is standing right in front of you," he said snippily.
Quinn was beaming with excitement. "I already know harpies are real. My cousin Cloud is a harpy!"
"Your cousin? Sure." Mistral scoffed, then narrowed his eyes. "Wait, you're not one of those relatives of Nautilus, are you?"
"No, not me," Quinn said. "But one of them is my cousin. I think you know him. Does the name Zak ring a bell? Or his mate, Kamari?"
Mistral's expression changed when Quinn mentioned his family. He relaxed but also glanced around in a paranoid way.
"Yes, I'm familiar with Zak," Mistral mumbled, looking over his shoulder.
"Is there a reason you look so scared?" I asked bluntly.
Mistral whipped around to glare at me. "Oh, so the mortals are gonna march right up tomydoorstep and askmewhy I'm freaking out. Typical."
Quinn elbowed me and gave me alet's not get on his bad sideexpression. As annoying as Mistral was, I immediately zipped it. We were here for the spirit's help and me being snarky wasn't going to help.
"Sorry, we don't mean any disrespect," Quinn said, smiling sheepishly and putting up his palms.
Mistral huffed and crossed his arm-wings. "Well? You dragged me out of my house. So now what do you want?"
Quinn deflated. I felt bad for him. This probably wasn't the big meaningful meeting he'd planned. Trying to be as subtle as possible, I reached out and brushed my hand against his back for support. A small smile appeared in the corner of Quinn's mouth.
"Um, great air spirit—"
Mistral waved a hand. "As much as I love hearing that, you can just call me Mistral."
