SPIRITBORNE | Book 1 of the Spirits' War Trilogy [excerpt]

11: SEJKA

Image: Black and White Wolf by Julian Simpson

Soundtrack: Enchantress by Two Steps From Hell

***

The few hours of sleep I'd gotten while hiding out in the park were not enough. My mind strains to stay awake and I force my legs to keep moving. I have to race against the snowfall. I have to get back to the forest, and once there, I can Shift. I need my lupine senses to be able to find this trail. Maybe Lauren or David could've done it in human form, but I can't. I smell absolutely nothing but the moist scent of freshly-fallen snow.

Once I reach the far end of a gigantic swath of field, I strip off my soaked clothes and stuff them into my pack. I Shift, shivering as the snow falls heavily onto my fur. The locket still hangs from my neck and I jump as its metallic shape taps against me, ice cold. It taunts me, holding the photograph of my broken family in its frozen jaws. I'm going to find you eventually, Dad. I just need to locate my clan first. They'll help me.

I keep an ear out for potential pursuers. The Earth's Covenant knows. They know we've broken out the two prisoners, and they know now that David's been working against the Covenant. He's a wanted man.

The thought amuses me and I begin to laugh deep in my throat. It's a strange feeling, laughing while in another creature's body. It feels unnatural. But then again, all of this feels unnatural. Every last bit of it.

I'm a mythical creature, my dad is leading a secret army of wolf-men in England, Sean's just been killed...

Don't think about that, Skye. Think about the good things. Keep searching for the trail. If it weren't for the rescue, Thirteen would've been killed, and Sean probably would have been, too. At least he got a taste of freedom first.

But he was so young...

After what seems like hours, I finally allow myself to collapse into the snow. It's so deep now that I've been struggling to take even a few steps forward. There are no traces of any sort of trail left by an earthen organism. I'm completely and utterly alone. My body aches from head to tail and my delirious mind sings with exhaustion.

Don't let your mind lapse. Don't let your primitive emotions get the best of you or you'll lose control and go feral.

I don't care! Sean is gone. The Covenant is onto my family now. I'm going to die of hypothermia and frostbite and whatever else there is out here.

The snow seeps into my joints and I sing out with pain. My body grows numb. My fangs are sharp against my lips. My heart beats slowly against the freezing ground. It beats for the hunt. The hunt...

***

When I come to, my body is sore and my skin is chilled to the bone, but I am still alive. Frozen chunks of snow mat my auburn fur, weighing me down as I attempt to lift my tired body up from the ground. I groan. This is not what was supposed to happen. I was supposed to find the trail. They'll never find me out here.