Spirit Animals - The Ten Keepers [Book One]

Chapter Twenty Two - Drifting Apart

Ivan's POV

Ivan was on the deck with Jef. Olvan had had sent them another message saying that the Conquerors had already gotten the Bronze Eagle. They were to go to Nilo and find Uraza's talisman, the Amber Leopard. Ivan and Jef couldn't wait to go back to their home, to Nilo. They really missed their village and hoped that they would stop there to meet their mothers and their friends.

"Hey you guys," Ivan turned around to see Irene, Hope, and Zoron walking towards them.

"I see you're very excited," Zoron said.

"Of course we are," Jef exclaimed, "We're going home!"

Ivan heard giggling and he saw Riley and John walking onto the decks. Riley was giggling at something John said. Ever since the huge fight, John and Eilene made sure they were not in the same room and John had been spending a lot of time with Riley.

"Hm, they're having some fun," George said who was walking towards them with Zoey.

Just then, Eilene walked into the deck and barely glanced at John and Riley. Ivan looked closely at her and thought he saw a flash of alarm but it was gone too quickly. John had been glaring at Eilene when she entered but got confused when he also saw the flash of alarm.

"Eilene, you okay?" George asked.

"Yes, i'm fine," Eilene replied and Ivan was surprised at how calm she sounded.

He admired how she was so good at hiding her through feelings. He also admired how brave she fought the Conquerors. Eilene walked towards the railings, putting some distance between her and the others and just stared at the sea.

Ever since the fight, she had been very quiet, sitting alone and not talking to anyone at all unless it's very important. Sometimes, George managed to get a few words out of her but they weren't full answers. Besides George, no one tried to talk to her because they wanted her to cool down, or more like they were scared of her. This wasn't the Eilene they know. Ivan barely talked to Eilene because she was either too busy arguing with John or chatting with the girls. Ivan took a deep breath and walked towards her until he was beside her.

"Hey," Ivan said.

"Hey," Eilene mumbled.

It got silent for Ivan didn't know what to say next. He wasn't exactly comfortable talking with girls, besides his mom. Luckily, Eilene saved him by breaking the silence.

"You must be excited to go back home," Eilene murmured.

"Of course I am," Ivan replied, "Everyone's always excited to go home."

"I'm not," she said, "When no one even cares."

That's when Ivan remembered that her mom died, her father never came back, and her aunt doesn't care about. Then, Ivan remembered when they went to Eilene's village and met her aunt. Her aunt told them that she did care and so did her dad. She also gave John a necklace to give it to Eilene. He still haven't given the necklace, probably forgot because he was angry and hurt from what Eilene said.

"We care," Ivan blurted out, "We're a team. We look out for each other, just like a family."

"And guess what happened to caring for each other," Eilene said in a harsh tone making Ivan flinch, "We lost three talismans."

"Yet you still care for him," Ivan said quietly, "You saved him from a poison arrow. You say you don't care but you do, Eilene, I know you do."

"I don't know what you're talking about," she muttered.

"When are you going to stop lying to yourself?" Ivan asked.

Eilene was silent making Ivan go on.

"We both know what the truth is," he said, "So when will you admit it?"

"This is why I wish I haven't met him," she muttered, "It's because I...I care about him. And now I almost died because of that."

Ivan looked at her sadly as she walked away. He kind of understood why she had said those words to John. It's obvious she has feelings for him but she didn't want to. But he sensed there was something more to that.

Eilene's POV

The next day, Eilene walked out onto the deck and saw John and Riley in a deep conversation. She looked away trying to control her jealousy.

"Eric," Zoey suddenly yelled, "It's a messenger pigeon."

Eilene looked up and saw the bird flying towards them. The pigeon dropped a small, rolled up paper to Eric and flew away and Eric unrolled the paper.

"It's from Olvan," he said.

Beware, Conquerors are everywhere in Nilo. Just got a message from Four Fallen. Conquerors make the Bile to force a Spirit Animal bond and is able to control their Spirit Animal. Be careful.

-Olvan

"The Bile," Ella echoed.

"That's just terrible," John exclaimed.

"Oh no," Jef said, "We need to get to Nilo fast. I need to know how my mom is doing."

"We can't risk getting caught as Greencloaks," Eric said, "We need to sneak in."

"Well, how are we going to sneak in?" George asked.

"We'll find out soon once we reach there," Eric answered, "The Conquerors are already spreading. Zhong has already fallen and Nilo and Eura aren't far behind."

"Isn't it weird that Drina and the Conquerors always show up wherever we are?" John asked.

"How would she have known?" George asked.

"Unless there's a spy among us," Riley said, looking around at everyone.

Everyone started looking at each other suspiciously.

"Don't jump to conclusions," Ella said, "Let's just hope that none of us is the spy."

"But I think one of us is the spy," Hope replied, "Remember when I saw someone climbing on the side of the inn? And she looked familiar too."

"Then it's probably one of the girls," Jef said, looking at them.

Eilene saw John glare at her as if she was the spy. Eilene pretended that she hadn't noticed his glare.

"Enough guys," Ella snapped, "Right now we need each other so we need to work as a team. No one will betray each other cause we're all on the same side."

"We need to get to the talismans first," Eric added, "but we can't work together if we don't trust each other. So we need to stand together as a team because we care."

Eilene felt John's gaze on her but she ignored it.

So John and Eilene have been ignoring each other, ey? Their relationship is so complicated! Please vote and leave a comment on what you think. Stay tuned for the next chapters!