Ember Gods

Chapter 14

Akeno grabbed Jacob's arm, a huge smile spreading across his face as he stared into the forest. "Whoa!"

"Now it's going to alert the Lorkon," Jacob said. "We'd better get out of here."

"That wasn't a Dust! It was a Wurby!"

Jacob tilted his head. "Are you sure?"

"Positive! How awesome! I just saw a Wurby!" Akeno turned back to the forest, probably trying to catch another glimpse of the creature.

"I don't know, Akeno. You could be wrong."

"You saw the blue robes, right? And the blue eyes? Only Wurbies have eyes like that."

Jacob turned to Akeno. "But couldn't a Dust be dressed like a Wurby and have blue eyes?"

Akeno shook his head. "If a Wurby turns evil, his eyes go dark. If a Dust turns good, his eyes become blue. That's just how their species works. And there's no way a Dust would wear blue. It goes against everything ingrained in them from birth." Akeno turned back to the forest. "I can't believe we just saw a Wurby! How lucky!"

"I don't understand why this is so exciting."

"Gallus told my parents that all the Wurbies had been hunted down and killed. A Wurby hasn't been seen here since around the time Dmitri—well, since the Makalos hid in Taga." He turned back to Jacob. "This means they're not all gone like we'd thought. Which also means they'd be able to help us."

"We need all the help we can get." Jacob sighed. "We've got work to do for now. We should keep our eyes open for Dusts and the Lorkon, though, just in case."

He ran his hand through his hair, then turned toward the people in the scented air. A grin spread across his face when he saw what Matt had done. What he was still doing. Jacob couldn't help but laugh even as he yelled, "Knock it off, Matt!"

Matt had gone around and rearranged the positions of many of the people.

The man closest to Jacob now looked like he was about to dive into a pool. A woman near him had her nose plugged and one arm stretched straight above her, fingers forming the "peace" sign. Another man stood like he was holding a rifle, his shoulders scrunched up, head slightly tilted as if looking down a barrel, which would've been pointing at a person not far away, if the gun existed. That person's hands were in the air, surrendering. The only thing that hadn't changed was their odd smiles—but that just added to the hilarity of the situation.

Jacob jogged toward Matt, laughing. "I'm serious! Stop!"

"Just one more? Please?" Matt's eyes were streaming tears of laughter. He jumped to a man, pulled his hands out, and made it look like he was dancing the Macarena.

Jacob laughed again, dragging Matt away. "They're alive—what if you're hurting them? And what if they remember? You need to have more respect!"

Matt wiped he laughter tears from his face. "Oh, come on. There's no way they'll remember this."

Jacob shook his head, then turned to gaze at the people, allowing another smile to cross his face. "Well, it is funny."

"Seriously hilarious." Matt wiped his hands on his pants. "Some of them are pretty sweaty."

"That's because it's summer here."

"Oh, really?" Matt said with sarcasm. "I didn't notice."

"Okay, okay," Akeno said. "Let's get started."

They decided it would be easiest if they stuck together, going through the people. Whenever they found someone wearing ragged clothes, Akeno would stay in that spot, like a bookmark to show where they left off, while Matt and Jacob pulled the person to Sweet Pea.