The Call of the Woodland Spirit

Chapter 13

"Nomi, I think it's best if you sit down for this." Arashi said softly, rubbing the back of his neck in an uncomfortable manner. I raised a brow. Okay..?

I let him lead me to the four-person couch against the wall. Arashi sat down in between Arrluk and I, sighing as he hit the softness of the cushion under him. He closed his eyes for a few, long seconds. Meaningless words that were too quiet for me to listen to left his mouth, then he stopped and reopened his eyes. He caught mine and held a surprisingly steady gaze, searching mine.

"So," he whispered quietly, I had to lean in to hear him. "You realize every town has its own tales."

I blinked at him, my heart throbbing in excitement. I nodded, understandably. "Of course. Like dragons, ghosts, unicorns, things like that?"

Arashi drew his lips back. "Almost." he said with a hinting look. "Things are a bit different here. The townsfolk here believe in spirits. The gods or deities of Alaska. Eska is, ah.. well—I guess you could say the spirit of death, and darkness."

My eyes widened at what I was hearing.

Arashi continued. "We use his name to scare the children.. in the legend, Eska would have to find humans to hunt for his own food. And, well, the children think he is real. So their parents use Eska's tale to scare the kids into not going out after dark."

Arrluk piped up. "That's right," he said, automatically agreeing with everything Arashi had just said. He leaned over his friend's shoulder, a serious expression across his face. "Eska's story frightens the children, only it used to for those three little devils." he mumbled the last part, as though having swallowed something sour. "They're only children, Arrluk." Arashi said softly. Arrluk snorted.

He obviously didn't like the triplets.

And it seemed to me Arashi quite liked children.

"They've "grown" out of it they told us. Yeah, pretty much only Arashi can tell them what to do now." he said admittedly. I cocked an eyebrow, tipping my head curiously. "Why is that?" I asked. Arashi's eyes unfocused for a moment. "Well, ah.. relationships, really, Nomi. I know their parents well, I've spent many years with them." he said with a small smile. I nodded, scratching at my hair. "So.. Eska's just a fairytale?" I said tentatively, testing them. Arashi searched my gaze for a few, long moments.

Then he smiled.

"Yes."

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I sighed, wiggling myself into the blanket. I rested my head on Arashi's pillow, staring up at the wooden ceiling. Arashi had gone to his secret place once again, he goes everyday—without telling me where. All he did was tuck me in slightly and gave me a few instructions for my own safety before slipping out the door. Leaving me only to wonder the many possibilities where he could've gone. I thought long and hard, scrunching up my face and rubbing my temples, but nothing reasonable came to mind. Why in the world would Arashi go, all by himself, to a mysterious place the moment the sun sets? It just didn't make any sense. He didn't miss a day either, he was perfectly consistent.

But I sighed again, nudging away the brain-stretching idea of thinking about it. I smiled instead, in excitement. Tomorrow was Thursday. Suga had promised we could go on a sled ride. I giggled to myself, the darkness in the cabin that smelled like lavenders growing closer to me every second. A cricket chirped outside somewhere.

I was so exhilarated. My heart thumped against my chest at the thought of being pulled across Alaska's sheets of ice and snow on a sled, dragged by a team of sled dogs. Real dogs. Not just the ones I had always dreamed of having back at the orphanage.