“I think I’ve found her. But I have to wait. I’m still not sure.”
“No.”
The whisper of the wind calls to me as I sit there with my clan leader. I am lucky enough for my clan leader to see me, but not lucky enough to stay and hear whatever else he has to say. The prophecy dictates a savior for the Primal race, but what he’s told me? After what Clarissa has been through? After what the two of us have been through?
I have to get to her. She isn’t safe without me.
“Thank you for your time,” I say. “I can’t thank you enough for seeing me.”
“Be safe on your journey, Theo. And be on the lookout for those bred for manipulation. They seek to destroy, and nothing else.”
Dread is pumping through my veins as I watch his face morph and his back straighten out. The wind is calling to him. Those from beyond are clawing at his mind. I know how it feels. I know that look in his eye. But the wind is thrashing the trees and pushing out the birds and causing the squirrels to race.
Somewhere, the spirits aren’t happy.
Somewhere, there is danger.
“Go,” my leader says.
“Russia, Theo. Go to them.”
I feel the hairs on my back standing on end. My heart slamming against my chest. I hear her voice, but I also hear the desperation. The selflessness. The need to protect. My Gia, with her darkened eyes and her soft features and her selfless nature and her loving soul.
Calling to me to help save someone else.
“Go!” my leader exclaims.
I’m on the first flight to Russia with no idea as to where I’m going. Where I’m headed. Where I’m needed. But I know the spirits will guide me. I know they will push me along my path. The spirits are restless. My ancestors are awake. The spirit of Gia
calls to me more than she ever has, and I can feel her fear coursing through my veins. The plane is small and rickety, dropping and creaking through the air as the harsh snowy tundra of the Russian landscape appears below me.
So many voices. All clamoring to my mind.
All with one specific message.
“Get to them, Theo. Get to them.”
It’s like they see something I don’t. Something I can’t. I step off the plane and weave my way through the airport as my heart begins to guide me. My soul begins to speak to me. Talking me through where I need to be and what I need to do. The voices are louder than ever, drowning out the cars rushing by and the snow falling to the ground.
It’s cold.
Comforting.
But something is very, very wrong.
I’m standing in front of a hotel, and the wind is practically pushing me. Kicking up from out of nowhere and blinding me with the harsh cold of the country. It shoves me near the door, and I start in, unsure of where I’m going or what I’m supposed to be doing.
I know I’m looking for Clarissa, but I cannot feel her. Sense her. Smell her.
She isn’t here, but I know something is.
I can feel the spirits dying down. The wind outside is calming, and my head is no longer clogged with the thoughts and wishes of those guiding me. Even Gia’s voice is melting away. I walk through the lobby of the hotel and make my way for the stairs, determining to take them one by one until I can feel my body being guided somewhere.
But the door bursts open and out pour Sebastian and Toshi, their eyes round and their bodies limping.
However, Clarissa is nowhere to be found.
“Theo?” Sebastian asks. “The hell are you doing here?”