His basilisk abruptly reared up, cobra hood flaring.We are not alone.
Spencer stopped dead. “Hello? Is someone there?”
No reply.
Yet the impression of light didn’t go away. Spencer blindly swiveled his head, trying to pin down the direction of that faint, phantom glow.
“Hello?” he called again. “Is that someone from the camp? It’s me, Spencer.”
He held his breath, listening, but there was no hint of a response. No shout in return; no hurrying footsteps. Even the owls had fallen silent, if they were still there.
His heart sank, but he tried one last time. “If anyone can hear this, you’re going to have to come to me. I can’t see you. I lost my glasses, so I have to keep my eyes closed.”
Silence.
Then, that faint ghost of light moved. It steadily brightened, coming closer.
“Oh, thank Darwin,” breathed Spencer. Eyes clamped shut, he moved toward the light, waving his arms. “Here I am! Over here!”
Shan skimmed low over the treetops, hunting for any hint of light. Below and behind him, staff members were spreading out in a wide ring, searching the ground in animal form, but it was impossible for even the most sensitive nose to pick out the scent of a single tiny weasel amidst the cacophony of smells surrounding the camp. Tiff had only been able to provide the vaguest idea of which way she’d gone, and she’d been too terrified to notice any landmarks on her way back.
Still, at least the location she’d last seen Spencer should bevisible from the air. Shan flew as slowly as he could, methodically searching for Tiff’s abandoned glow sticks.
Off in the distance, other winged shapes circled, quartering the mountainside—but only a small proportion of the staff members had animal forms capable of flight, and none of them could match his own night vision. He had the best chance of locating Spencer’s trail.
Leonie was back at camp, assigning jobs and keeping everyone calm. With almost all the staff needed to search, it had been impossible to keep the campers unaware of the incident. When he’d last seen her, she’d been reassuring a tearful group of younger kids that there was no need to worry, and Spencer would soon be found.
She’d spoken with utter confidence. Only he’d been able to taste the lie.
He pushed down his own fear, concentrating on the search. He could only hope that the glow sticks would be visible through the dense summer foliage.
And that he didn’t spot anyotherlights.
An owl shot out of the forest like a bullet, straight at him. He swerved, swiping at it in sheer reflex. The bird barely avoided his claws, a few brown feathers swirling away. Despite its near miss, it circled him, screeching.
No animal approached a qiongqi. Not unless there was a human mind overriding natural fear.
And there were no owl shifters at camp.
Fighting down his own predatory instincts, he sheathed his claws. The owl fluttered right in front of his face, then dove back into the tree cover. A second later, he heard it screech again, loud and urgent.
He folded his wings, dropping. No time to look for a gap in the forest. He simply crashed through the trees, branches snapping against his striped flanks.
In a shower of pine needles and splinters, he landedheavily on the ground. There was no trace of either the owl or Tiff’s glow sticks, but he immediately knew he was in the right place. The scent of a juvenile male human hung in the air; fading, but fresh.
He shifted, raising his voice. “Spencer! Can you hear me?”
“Shan?” Spencer sounded relieved, though not as much as he might have expected. “Is that you?”
“Yes.” He turned his head, calculating the boy’s position by hearing and scent. “Stay where you are. I’m coming to get you.”
As it turned out, he didn’t have to go far. He found Spencer sitting on the ground a little way off, back against a tree. The boy looked tired and rumpled, but not particularly distressed.
“I’m here.” Shan crouched at Spencer’s side, putting a hand on his shoulder to stop him from getting up. “No, don’t move yet. Are you injured?”
Spencer shook his head, eyes scrunched shut. “No. But I lost my glasses.”
“Take mine.” He took off his sunglasses, fitting them to Spencer’s face instead. They were too big for the boy, but at least they covered his eyes. “There. It’s all right. You can look now.”
