The Silver Tree (Spirit Animals Fanfiction)

Chapter 21

Conor watched as Meilin wove through the tables of the Great Hall, following closely behind a boy who appeared to be around their age. Abeke waited until the door closed behind Meilin to speak.

"Who was that?" she asked.

Conor shook his head, his gaze still on the entrance to the Great Hall. "No idea," he replied. "Never seen him around here before."

"There's been a lot of new recruits lately," Abeke said. "Maybe he just joined a few weeks ago."

Conor turned to face her. "I guess," he agreed slowly. "I don't know. Something about him just felt... off."

Abeke nodded. "I didn't like how he grabbed Meilin's wrist."

"Whatever he needs to talk about can't possibly be more important than what we were about to tell her," Conor said, annoyance clear in his voice. His patience had been pretty thin the past week and nothing bothered him more than other people not understanding the urgency and severity of the current situation. This was not the time for petty drama or chit chatting. Erdas was in serious danger. Possibly more than ever before.

"Agreed," Abeke said.

The two of them glanced back at the door as if expecting Meilin to reappear only minutes after she'd left. There was another pause before Abeke spoke again.

"Should we check on her?"

"What?" Conor said, turning back to face Abeke. "Why would we do that?"

"I thought we just agreed he was a creep."

"We agreed he was rude to Meilin," Conor corrected. "But I mean, hey, it's her choice if she wants to waste her time with some jerk."

"But he was acting super weird!" Abeke persisted. "You said so yourself!"

"He was acting a little weird," Conor admitted. "But more nervous than anything. Who knows? Maybe he's worried Meilin will punch him if he tries to kiss her."

Abeke gasped. "You don't think that's what he's trying to do, do you?"

Conor shrugged, but didn't reply. He thought about kissing Abeke a lot—only his immense respect for her and his fear of ruining their friendship kept him from trying it. It didn't seem like much of a stretch that another boy his age might have similar feelings and thoughts about Meilin. Even though Conor knew it was hopeless, normally he would have nothing against the guy shooting his shot. However, in this case, he'd picked pretty much the worst possible time. Right now, in Conor's mind, nothing could possibly be more important than solving the mysteries of the dreams and disappearances.

The conversation lulled for a few moments as Conor went over the details of their research in his head. Abeke seemed to be deep in thought as well, though Conor didn't really pay much attention until she said, "Something's not right."

Conor looked up. "Come on, Abeke," he said. "They haven't been gone that long. Give them a few more minutes before you go charging in."

Abeke gave him a quick, unexpected glare. "Not that," she said, annoyed. "Look around."

Conor took a glance around the large room. He didn't know what Abeke was getting at. Nothing particularly out of the ordinary was happening; in fact, the whole hall seemed pretty calm. Almost... too calm.

"Where is everyone?" Conor asked.

Abeke shook her head. "I don't know. This is barely a third of the usual number of Greencloaks in here at this time of day."

Conor could feel a sense of panic starting to build within him. "You don't think... you don't think Everyone got them?"

"No," Abeke said decisively. "They were all here yesterday. Two thirds of all the Greencloaks gone overnight? Doesn't add up. Plus, most of them are older adults—didn't we agree it's just young people going missing?"