Chapter Twenty One

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Chapter Twenty One

Glenn's eyelids felt like they had weights tied to them. How long had he been here? A few hours? Days? Time didn't exist in the thunderbird's nest, where the storm clouds made the sky simultaneously dark and bright.

The thunderbird was still perched on the edge of its nest, glaring down at him with its one eye. It didn't blink, didn't sleep, and so neither did Glenn. A single moment of weakness could be all the temptation the enormous bird needed. But as Glenn's energy ran dry, so did the thunderbird's strength continue to flag, drained by the Skeptic's Stone lodged in its eye socket.

"I won't die here," he whispered, more to himself than the colossal bird. "I have too much left to do. Too many responsibilities."

Of course, the thunderbird was probably thinking the exact same thing back at him. It, too, had responsibilities. Glenn had his pack. It had its one remaining egg. Glenn lowered his eyes to the egg, which still sat glowing in the center of the nest.

Despite all it had done, Glenn couldn't bring himself to hate the thunderbird. On the contrary, he had a newfound respect for it and its determination to take care of its family. In it, he could see a reflection of himself—

The egg twitched.

A pit formed in Glenn's stomach. "No…"

A crack appeared in its shell.

— — — —

A fine mist had started to descend from the clouds, but with her clothes already soaked from falling into the creek, Clueless barely noticed.

“So, Angel, I’ve been thinking,” Gil was saying. He had started talking immediately after rejoining their group three hours ago, and had barely stopped to take a breath since. “Once we kill the thunderbird, my friends are going to be so proud of me! They might finally even let me come home! Have I ever told you about my home, Angel? Oh my God, it is so cool!”

A little ways behind them, Ember walked with her palms pressed against her ears. She had said surprisingly little ever since Gil had revealed that she’d been leading them the wrong way. Clueless, feeling unusually spiteful after their little “talk” at the creek, would glance back every few minutes and smile at the look on her face, which was somewhere between pure seething hatred, and despondent self-loathing.

Behind Ember came Norrin, like a thunderstorm in and of himself. The look on his face was darker than the clouds above, and while he’d said nothing since they’d left the creek, there was something about the way he moved that made Clueless think that he could burst like a clap of thunder at any second. She had tried puzzling out what might be going on behind those dark eyes of his, but had come away with nothing but blanks.

“It’s so great there,” Gil went on. “You don’t even know, Angel. It’s always springtime. Not too hot, not too cold. And the sun is always shining—not that it couldn’t, if you get what I mean!”

He winked at Clueless.

“Huh?” she asked, blinking at him.

He giggled as if he’d made a particularly clever joke. “Ohh, I can’t tell you! I want to tell you, but I just can’t! I should probably stop talking about it before I accidentally say too much. Can you imagine that, Angel? Me, saying too much? But anyway, all my friends are back there, and as soon as the thunderbird is dead they’ll have to let me come back!”

“Why you not…can go back now?” Clueless asked, having to concentrate to get the words to come out the right way.

She frowned at how the sentence had turned out. She felt like she’d gotten the gist of what she’d wanted to say across, but it still felt…wrong. If Zave or Fey had been the ones talking, they could have said it so much better. Words came naturally to them, to the point where they could talk so fast that it left Clueless’ head spinning. And yet, for as many words as they used, she rarely had trouble understanding them. That hadn’t always been the case. When she’d first been Awakened, she had barely been able to tell one mouth noise from another. That had changed, though. Maybe, she thought hopefully, if she gave it enough time, she would learn to talk better too!

“Oh ho, I can’t tell you that either, Angel,” Gil rattled on, completely oblivious to the mental struggle going on inside her head. “If I did, I’d have to kill you!”

He winked again, and then paused.

“Wait. Should I have told you that?” he asked, frowning.

“Told what?” Clueless asked.

He grinned at her again. “That’s the spirit, Angel! But we should probably, you know, talk about something else now.”

“Okay.”

“What’s your favorite—”

Suddenly, he froze.

“Favorite what?” Clueless asked.

“Shh!” he said quietly, holding up a hand. “I can sense something nearby. Something evil!”

Ember lowered her hands, her face going pale. “Is it the thunderbird?”

“No, it’s something else,” Gil whispered. “Something worse. I think…I think it’s what made the thunderbird attack you guys’ plane in the first place.”

The group fell silent. Norrin put a hand on Ember’s shoulder and pulled her behind him. The hairs on the back of Clueless’ neck stood up. An evil presence, worse than the thunderbird? Clueless knew only one thing that matched that description, and judging by the looks on the others’ faces, they had come to the same conclusion.

Wendigos.

“If they’re here,” Ember said slowly, a new fire igniting in her eyes, “I’ll kill them. All of them! I’ll make them pay for what they did to Derrick, Jake, and Nat!”

Norrin and Clueless both nodded, probably the first time the entire group had agreed on something. Gil looked at each of them, curiously.

“What’s going on?” he asked. “What aren’t you guys telling me?”

“None of your business!” Ember hissed. “Where are they?”

“They?” Gil asked. “I can only sense one of…whatever it is.”

“Fine! Just show us!”

With her heart beating in her throat, Clueless watched Gil turn in a slow circle. He drew his bow, knocking another Skeptic’s Stone arrow. For the first time since they’d met, Clueless thought she could see uncertainty on his face. He had clearly only expected to fight the thunderbird. A second foe, even worse than the first, threw a wrench in his plans that he wasn’t prepared to deal with.

“That way!” he said suddenly, pointing into the woods.

Ember had broken into a sprint before the words were even out of his mouth. Norrin was close behind her, moving surprisingly fast for someone as big as him.

“Hey, wait!” Gil yelled in surprise. “We don’t have a plan!”

When it was clear the other two wouldn’t listen to him, he reluctantly gave chase. Clueless went last, a terrified chill spreading through her. She could still remember all too clearly what she’d seen back at the old nest. Jake, Nat, and poor, sweet Derrick. The only ones in Glenn’s pack who had befriended her without hesitation. Dead. Violently dead. Painfully dead.

And now she was running straight toward what had killed them.

The woods streaked past in a blur of browns and greens. Up ahead, Clueless saw Ember’s skin change color—no, not her skin. Her fur was growing back! Her thick, bushy tail burst from the base of her spine, lashing back and forth in sheer appreciation of existing again, and she actually began to run faster when her feet slipped out of her shoes, becoming paws again.

Bushy brown fur exploded across Norrin’s body, and his face pushed forward into a fang-filled snout. Claws as long and thick as daggers sprang from his fingertips.

Not knowing what else to do, Clueless changed too. Her golden fur streamed across her body, returning her to the shape that, despite only having it for a little over a week, she had already come to accept as her true self. She wasn’t as sleek and fast as Ember, or a walking powerhouse like Norrin, but she was her, and that was enough.

“Angel, I don’t think they’re going to listen to me,” Gil said, running alongside her. “Whatever’s up there is even worse than the thunderbird. You and I are going to have to work together if we want to survive!”

Clueless looked at him in surprise. In the delicious rush of taking on her true form, she had completely forgotten that he, a human, was there with them. But Gil didn’t look the least bit surprised by their sudden transformations. Instead, he was entirely focused on the fight they were rushing into. Maybe his focus was so deep that he just hadn’t noticed. Or maybe…

Did he already know? she thought in shock. Did he know what we were the entire time?

Then they burst out of the trees and into a clearing. The mountain loomed over them, the ground rising up in a sudden, sharp incline. They had run straight to its base. Two figures stood together about a hundred feet further up the slope. They paused in surprise and turned around.

Wait! No!

Alarm bells immediately began to ring in Clueless’ mind. Something was horribly wrong here. She knew those two shapes! They weren’t wendigos!

They were Zave and Fey!

NEXT CHAPTER: 4/2/2025