"Yes, hi, Cloud," Mistral said.
Talk about a warm welcome,I thought sarcastically but I didn't let it show on my face.
"Hey, Mistral. Nice day to fly, huh?"
"Mm. Yes. Very nice."
Someone clearly wasn't feeling chatty, but I'd already shoved my foot in the door so I didn't want to abandon the conversation yet.
"What're you up to? Doing spirit things? Making... air?" I asked.
Mistral shot me a look. "What?"
"Sorry, I don't know what air spirits do. Do you make air?"
Mistral pinched the bridge of his nose. "Look. I'm actually a bit busy right now, so could we
have this talk later?"
"What are you doing? I can help," I suggested.
"It's a one-person job." Mistral wrinkled his nose. "And I'm a spirit. I don't need help from mortals."
I raised a brow. "Oh. Okay." I paused, wondering if I should reconsider my words, then decided I didn't care that much. "That's kinda rude, don't you think? Besides, I'm literally descended from a spirit."
Mistral ran a bird-scaled hand over his face in exasperation. "Yes, the four of you never stop mentioning it..."
I figured three of us were me, River and Zak. "Who's the fourth person?"
"Nautilus," Mistral deadpanned.
"Oh." I grinned. Grandpawaspretty proud of us. He was such a cool guy. "Whatever you're doing might go faster if I help, right?"
Mistral gave me a tight, borderline-polite smile. "Thanks, but I really don't need help."
I knew Mistral wasn't the friendliest spirit in the world, but did he have to be such a wet blanket? Here I was offering him an olive branch and he was staring at it like I'd grown a third arm.
I shrugged. "All right, if you say so. Good luck doing whatever you're doing."
Mistral relaxed minutely. "Thank you, Cloud."
He tucked his wings and dove into the forest below us. I sighed. Was I the one who was annoying or did Mistral just have worse social skills than my cousin Leveret?
I hovered in the air, lazily flapping my wings. It was odd how eagerly Mistral disappeared. What business did he have in the forest? I didn't have anything better to do, so my curiosity got the best of me. I wasn't in a rush to follow him or anything—I was sure he'd give me quite an earful if he saw me—but I couldn't just ignore the smell of adventure.
That was when I heard the violent crash of leaves and branches, and heard the high-pitched squeak of a small animal.
My heart stalled.
What was that?
My feathers rippled, fluffing up over my body, accompanied by a weird tingle jolting up my spine. I tried smoothing my hand over my feathers but they wouldn't stay down.
"What the..."
Below me, the chaotic sounds continued. I blinked in confusion. Did Mistral crash land in the branches or something? As a fellow harpy, I knew what it was like to get stuck in the trees. Despite his insistence that he was fine working alone, he might need my help.
I flew down into a gap in the canopy. The leaves were thicker than I expected. My whole vision went green.
