Spirit Animals: Life Of Tarik - Book 1

Stars

"Wake up, Tarik!" Ricko banged on Tarik's door as if he was a father waking up his child. Exhausted, Tarik sat up on his bed. He had not slept at all the night before, and he was still terrified that Lynk was somewhere near. He swung his legs over the side of his bed and walked to his wardrobe, Lumeo was watching him from the bed as he had slept next to Tarik to keep him comforted.

There was a mirror inside his wardrobe and Tarik looked into it. He could see large dark circles under his bloodshot eyes due to the lack of sleep. There was no way Tarik could go wandering around the castle looking so awful, but he had to. He changed into some better clothes, fixed up his bandages and laced his boots as quickly as he could. Clipping his cloak onto himself, he brushed his fingers through his hair to at least look somewhat presentable. He knew that today was going to be a big day because he was going to look for Lynk's base with Ricko, Lishay and Dorian. The base he was brought to and locked away. There were reports from other Greencloaks that they saw Lynk leave Greenhaven late at night. Olvan wanted the man arrested, so his group and another group of Greencloaks were going to search for him.

Tarik rolled up his sleeve and looked at Lumeo.

"I can't have you out while i eat breakfast, my friend," Tarik said to the otter.

Lumeo squeaked sadly and with a flash of light, disappeared into a tattoo on Tarik's arm. The tattoo burned for a moment before Tarik left his room. He rubbed his eyes as they stung from the brightness of light. He walked passed a number of Greencloaks on his way to the Dining Hall, head kept low from anyone seeing his face.

"Tarik!" Lishay called from behind him.

Oh no.

Tarik stopped to wait for Lishay to catch up, not looking at her until she reached him. Her expression went from happy to worried when she noticed his appearance.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"Yeah," Tarik replied, almost whispering.

"You look like you didn't sleep," Lishay took Tarik's hand in hers and led him to the Dining Hall.

"I didn't," Tarik replied, then suddenly aware of touching Lishay's hand.

"Why not?"

Tarik didn't know how to reply without mentioning Lynk. They both grabbed some oats and juice before sitting down with Ricko and Dorian.

"Good to see that you both woke up from my knocking," Ricko's smile quickly faded, "Tarik, did you spend the entire night roaming the castle or something?"

"That's what I was about to ask," Dorian joined in.

Tarik shook his head, "I did not."

"You do remember that we're making our way towards Zhong after breakfast?" Ricko's voice was firm, he had pushed his plate of leftovers aside.

Tarik nodded.

Lishay nudged Tarik's arm and motioned for him to eat. He did not respond to her.

"You know, you're a very stubborn boy," Lishay broke a small smile, "worse than my brother actually." She tussled his hair playfully, messing it all up.

Dorian laughed and Ricko simply shook his head.

---

The Greencloaks had set up camp just outside of Trunswick. The second Greencloak group was near them, but they had to be some distance away from each other to avoid travelling in large groups. Tarik's brothers and sister had boarded the ship to Nilo before he left. He watched them leave from the docks, hoping that they would return to Caylif safely.