Spirit Animals - The Ten Keepers [Book One]

Chapter Twelve - Through The Storm

Ivan's POV

"Get back here," Jef laughed as he chased after Ivan.

They were playing tag, running through Tellun's Pride and making a huge racket.

"Can't catch me," Ivan told him, as he went out the deck.

Ivan kept on running as they passed other Greencloaks who looked at them annoyed. Suddenly, he turned the corner and saw John. He tried to stop on time but he had to much momentum and crashed into him, followed by Jef who was right behind him.

"Ah get off me," John exclaimed, pushing them off.

"Sorry, it was Jef's fault," blamed Ivan.

"What?" Jef exclaimed, "You-"

But Ivan slapped his hand over his mouth so the words sounded muffled.

Just then, Jef pointed up, "Mts brmph."

"What?" Ivan asked.

Jef slapped his hand away and repeated, "It's a bird."

Ivan looked to where Jef pointed and he saw a pigeon flying down towards them. He saw that the pigeon seemed to be carrying something. He saw Eric come out the deck and the pigeon landed on his arm. The others came out the deck as Eric unrolled a piece of paper that the pigeon was carrying. The pigeon flew away as Eric read it out loud.

Next talisman in Northern Amaya,

Meet up with Dwayne,

Copper Falcon.

-Olvan

"What's the Copper Falcon?" Jef asked.

"It's a talisman," Riley answered.

"Essix the Falcon's talisman," Eilene added.

"How did you know that?" John asked, curiously.

"I read it," she answered curtly.

Ivan sensed tension between them and he wondered what happened.

"Well, we're going back to Amaya," Hope said.

"Yes, northern Amaya," Ella agreed.

John's POV

The wind howled and the thunder boomed louder. All ten of the Keepers along with a couple of Greencloaks were drenched with water below the deck. They were sitting around a table as they waited out the storm which came out of nowhere.

Jef moaned, "I think i'm going to be sick."

"I hate riding ships," Ivan agreed.

John glanced over at Eilene who was sitting near the window, watching the storm which seems to get stronger. He still felt guilty for being mean to her but it just came out of his mouth.

"And you told her to think before you do," he jumped and he turned around to see his brother, George.

"Okay, I feel guilty," John admitted, "So can you stop making me feel bad and just help me?"

"I don't see why I have to help you when the answer is very obvious," George said.

"Yeah, obvious," John replied, "Can you just remind me what it is?"

"Apologizing, duh," George answered.

Of course John knew that he had to apologize but apologizing wasn't his...thing. To him, apologizing meant admitting defeat, saying he was wrong. He didn't like admitting defeat but he felt very guilty as he glanced back at her.

"Just try to have a normal conversation with her for once," George went on.

"We do have normal conversations," John mumbled.

George rolled his eyes, "Yeah, fighting and arguing every minute is a normal conversation."

"How can I have a normal conversation with her when she's always so rude to me?" John protested.

"Maybe if you weren't so mean to her the first time you meet her, maybe she might've acted nicer to you," George replied.

John glanced back at her again then looked back at George who was looking at him with a "So?" expression.

John sighed, "Okay, fine. I'll talk to her."

John took a deep breath and casually walked towards her. He saw an empty seat nearby and sat on it. Eilene didn't glance at him once. John looked out the window, the thunders growing louder.

"Looks like the storm is growing stronger," John commented.

Eilene just nodded, not leaving her eyes off the window.

John sighed, "Hopefully it'll stop soon. I want to see the stars tonight."

"Do you really?" Eilene asked, not glancing at him.

"Of course," John answered, "Whenever I couldn't sleep or need time to think, I would always look at the stars. It somehow...calms me down."

"I feel the same," Eilene murmured, "Especially since my mother died. My father which I've never known never came back and I lived with an aunt who never cares about me."

John's eyes widened. He knew that her parents died but hearing this made him sad.

"There were many times I could've ended it right there but," she went on, laughing quietly, "This might sound crazy but the staring at the stars always calms me down. Always...changes my mind."

"I...never knew that," John said quietly.

"Because I never told you," Eilene said, "I always look at the stars and look for the constellations. I managed to sneak out a few books from our library back home to study the stars."

John laughed, "I'm surprised you didn't get caught."

"I have my ways," Eilene smiled, then looked back out the window, "I never thought that I would summon a Spirit Animal."

"Why not?" John asked.

"Cause, it's a rare chance obviously," she answered, "but also because, I wasn't expecting to summon one. There was a time when I really wanted to have a Spirit Animal, a bear especially. I just...like bears you can say."

John smiled.

"But I had a fight with my aunt about summoning one," she went on, "and you can say it got to me really bad. I never saw what the point of living anymore...that is until I summoned Ursa."

"And I'm guessing you named Ursa because of the constellation," John added, "Ursa Major?"

"Yes," Eilene nodded, "The Great Bear."

It got silent between them for a moment.

"I'm sorry," John blurted out, "I didn't mean what I said last night."

"So you're saying that you were actually worried?" Eilene asked raising an eyebrow.

"Maybe a bit," he admitted.

"Then, i'm sorry for getting you worried," she replied, "but I can take care of myself."

"Yeah, I can see that now," John said then added, "I guess George is right. I guess I just need to be more nicer."

"You guess?" Eilene replied, "You mean you know."

"Okay, okay," John said, "I know."

"Do you hear that?" she asked.

John listened, "I don't hear anything."

"That means the rain has stopped," Eilene said, smiling.

John felt himself smiling back.

Please vote and leave a comment of what you think for this chapter. Stay tuned for the next chapters! Now, where's my charger?