• Mark territory and ID each other
That last one must be what I smelled in Emilía’s room. I keep reading, hoping I can find out how to identify who the scent belongs to.
Animal vs. human
Animals can detect odors humans can’t + smell things from farther away.
• Wolves have 200m olfactory cells, giving them 100x stronger sense of smell.
• Bears have best sense of smell of ANY animal(ugh), 2000x stronger than human. Snouts contain billions of receptors (I can only imagine).
Okay, but what about berserkir? So far all of this seems focused on the animals.
Wait. Here.
Berserkr senses are most heightened while transformed but still have better senses than most humans (and hunters). They can:
• Detect minute traces of scents
• Isolate smells to significant degree
• ID prey, pack, potential threats
Isolate smells? That sounds exactly like what I need to do.
I can’t transform—Iwon’t—but hopefully my sense of smell will still be good enough.
I keep reading.
How to isolate individual smells (takes time + practice)
• Close your eyes.
• Breathe in deeply.
• Notice different scents.
• Categorize each scent individually.
• Identify one + focus on the next.
I close my eyes, hoping Maeve doesn’t notice. I already missed her first class today. When I suck in a deep breath, a variety of scents fills my nose, overwhelming me. I try to focus on just one. The easiest one to identify is the hunters’ leathers. A scent I associate with Amund. A predator’s scent.
If I ignore that, there’s lots of musky, animal-like odors remaining.
There are three unique ones—bear, boar, and wolf.
The berserkr that chased me was a wolf, so I start there. Sniffing a few more times, I realize that Tala smells different from the rest. Her scent is earthy rather than musky. Now that I know each one is unique, I can smell subtle differences between them. She smells different from Isaac, who smells different from—
Wait.
There’s something unique about Isaac’s scent. His seems stronger than Tala’s, even though I’m closer to her. Because I’ve scented him before? I sniff a few more times to make sure. His is rich and somewhat sweet, with a little bit of spicy amber.
It’s the same smell from Emilía’s room.
Isaacwas hooking up with Emilía? I grip my pen tighter as I stare at him in disbelief. But he’s with Tala, isn’t he? So heisa player. She must have no idea that Isaac is cheating on her. Or that he could be a killer. Which means Tala could be in danger too.
I have to warn her.
