Animi Motus

17: Felix

After hours of brainstorming, we may have actually come up with a plan that will work. Maybe. We summoned them last night, and it's late afternoon now and still no word. It was Nessa's idea to call the secundum to our aid. All but the five atrocitas. Piget left his ring in his duffel bag, so we were even able to summon his secundum. That means that if we're lucky, one-hundred and twenty secundum are on there way to Grenada right now if we don't count Riley's secundum. If we're not lucky, then we're preparing to go up against an army of malefica and save Ira and Gus with a battalion of four. Needless to say, I really hope we're lucky.

After Nessa came up with the idea to summon our secundum, all it took was a bit of the help of our atlases and a little experimentation. Now we're stuck on a beach in the middle of Grenada waiting and praying that they show up. I've tried to form a channel with Riley several times, but I haven't gotten a response. The malefica must've taken his ring. At least I want to believe that's the reason. I'll admit, for the first time, I'm scared of this imbalance. I'm scared that we won't succeed. But I have to put on a smile and act like everything will turn out.

"Whatcha thinkin about?" Rosalie plops down next to me, eating one of the bananas we found fortunately scattered around the jungle.

"Do you think they'll show up? The secundum?" I look into her blue eyes.

"Yeah, I do," she says with conviction. "I just can't stand the waiting." I nod in agreement.

"Hey!" Nessa's voice rings out loudly, startling me. I whip around in her direction. She's standing about ten fifty yards away, eyes shining. Behind her is a sea of people.

I don't believe my eyes at first. The secundum are here! Scarlett, Rosalie, and I rush over to Nessa, who is gazing at our crowd of legatus. They're all quiet, and I realize after a moment that they're waiting for us to talk. I search for something to say.

"Hi everyone, uh, I'm Legatus Felix, but you can call me Asher if you want. Um... thank you all for coming here, we know it couldn't have been easy to get here so fast," I begin. The crowd murmurs in agreement.

"I'm Legatus Mirandum, or Nessa," Nessa speaks up. Scarlett and Rosalie introduce themselves briefly. It feels so formal it's weird.

"If you don't know why you're here already, it's because there is an imbalance upon us." A few gasps echo throughout. "I know, I know. That was my reaction too." A few snickers. "The malefica have come together with five of our own legatus Atrocitas, and they are trying to create a new set of primus using our blood," I explain.

"The malefica have captured Legatus Ira and Piget as of right now," Scarlett continues. "We don't know what they're doing to them, only that we need to save them, and stop the malefica and Atrocitas. We're going to their camp tomorrow at dawn, and we really hope that you'll come with us. Because, you know, imbalances are bad and it's our job to stop them." No one in the crowd moves. "That's it! You guys can do whatever you want until then. If you need anything, we're here." After a moment, the legatus begin to disperse. One parts though the crowd and approaches us. I recognize his face and long dreads, but I can't quite place where I've seen him before. I only make the connection after I hear Nessa's words.

"Clancy!" She says, delighted. I had forgotten all about the scraggly secundum. I have to admit, it was nice to see a familiar face amid the crowd.

"Nessa, Asher," He greets us with a nod. "And Scarlett and... Rosalie was it?"

"Mm-hm," Rosalie confirms.

"Nessa, I just wanted to let you know that I spoke to all of your secundum, and we have unanimously agreed to fight with you. All of the us have our weapons and armour with us," He says.