Lᴏɴᴇʟʏ Fᴀʟʟs || Tʜᴇ Cʜᴏsᴇɴ Eɪɢʜᴛ Bᴏᴏᴋ Tᴡᴏ

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ᴛᴡᴏ || ᴛʜᴇ ᴊᴏᴜʀɴᴇʏ

Tazi

Salt sprayed my face as I leaned over the ship's railing. Ian's black form rippled in and out of view beneath the grey-blue waves. I found myself wishing to join him under the surf.

"Tazi!"

I jumped, turning toward the shout. The whole team was gathered around the ship's central mast, crowded around Tyler. I hurried over, curious now.

"We just received a letter from Olvan." Tyler said by way of explanation as I stepped in beside Sasha. He gestured to where Ryan was struggling to smooth out a scrap of parchment.

"Here's what it says." The other guardian said, having finally flattened out the note enough to read it. "Chosen Eight, it has been confirmed by one of our sources that the Silver Wolf of Briggan is in the Granite Hills, where the Great Beast's own pack once resided," Ryan started. "And we've had word from the Four Fallen..." she trailed off, reading silently. Her brows rose.

"Is that it?" Zay, sounding bored as she picked disinterestedly at her fingernails.

Ryan shook her head and cleared her throat. She glanced at Tyler, but he motioned for her to continue. "They are just leaving for Arctica in search of Suka. There was a horrible battle at the Temple of Dinesh. Many lives were lost. Meilin's father was among them." She paused, looking up then. Her gaze fell on the Zhongese boy to my left. "And so was Sasha's."

It was as if all the life was instantly sucked from the ship.

I heard a soft gasp and didn't have to look to know it came from Lucia.

"He's dead." Sasha repeated, monotone. "Okay. Thank you for telling me."

I snuck a glance at his face. It was stony, unreadable, and I wondered how long it would stay that way once we weren't looking anymore.

"Sasha..." Tyler started to say, but the jaguar summoner shook his head. He turned away, brushing past me, and disappeared belowdecks.

None of us followed. Maybe we should've.

Zay

"We're here!" The cry roused me from my much-needed sleep.

I sat up with a groan and swung my legs off the bed, standing. To be honest, I wasn't sure I'd miss the creaking planks of the Tellun's Pride II. I made my way up the stairs to the top deck, squinting in the sunlight. Xavier, still draped over my shoulders and warm with sleep, let out a low hiss of displease.

"Mm." I agreed, rubbing at my eyes with one hand. I catch sight of Sasha from across the ship. His back was turned, but I could see that he'd been mourning in the slight set of his shoulders. It looked like he'd taken on the burden of the world and was still carrying it. Something like pity flashed through me.

"Hey, Zay!" Ryan's cheery voice made me turn. She was beaming at me so widely I thought her face might crack in half, "are you excited?"

I scowled, "oh yes. I'm sooo excited."

Her face fell, though I doubted she picked up on my sarcasm. "Did you sleep okay?"

I barely managed not to roll my eyes. "Yep, fine." I turned away, signalling the end of that conversation. But, on my other side stood Lucia.

"Oh." She said, "hello, Zay." She didn't sound impressed.

"Hello." My scowl was still plastered on my face. Deeper, now.

"Will we be able to go past my home, do you think?" She asked, acting like I cared.

I just shrugged.

Ryan butted in and saved me from answering. "No, Lucia, we can't risk it. Every other time that we've gone into a city in Eura, something bad happens. I'm sorry." She finished sympathetically.

Lucia nodded, understanding flitting over her features. It was followed by the slightest trace of sadness.

If my parents loved me like hers obviously do, I thought, would I be as eager to return home?

The two moved away, chatting softly about something and leaving me to my thoughts. Xavier hissed gently in my ear, a comforting sound.

I sighed in agreement and pushed any thoughts of my family aside. I walked toward the rest of my team, who were crowded around Tyler.

"Drop us here," he was telling the captain, "we'll swim to shore."

The captain looked unconvinced, but a few more words from Tyler did it. He agreed, and we stopped a ways from the mainland. We got into the water and started for shore.

Sasha muttered something that sounded like a protest as he started climbing down the ship's ladder, dropping into the ocean with a splash. Delar, his jaguar, looked about as impressed as his summoner.

I rolled my eyes, calling Xavier back to passive as I climbed down next. The water wasn't warm, shocking any sleepiness out of my system with its chill.

Tyler looked back from where he was treading water beside Niko, a sympathetic smile on his face. "It's not so bad."

Sasha lifted a hand out of the water, watching the water drip off his fingers with a disgusted face.

"Hey, it could be worse." Tazi pointed out. He seemed to be enjoying it though, his spirit animal drifting silently along beside him.

Sasha glared at him. "Well you got lucky and bonded with a stingray!"

"Keep Ian out of this!" Tazi glared back. 

"Guys..." Ryan started, as Lucia joined us in the water. No one listened, for Sasha and Tazi's argument grew in volume.

"Enough!" Tyler burst out. "Let's go." He sounded furious, turning and swimming with strong strokes toward the shore. Sasha grumbled quietly, but started after him. Everyone else followed suit.

"How are we going to get to the Granite Hills?" Navia asked, after we'd swam in silence for a while. She coughed as water splashed into her mouth, adding, "we don't have horses..." she shot Lucia a glance, "at least most of us don't."

I rolled my eyes, the words bursting from my lips before I could stop them. "No, but the rest of us have feet."

"Can't you be nice, for once?" Lucia snapped, startling me.

I recovered quickly, "can't you-"

"Zay, Lucia!" Tyler said sharply, "knock it off."

We clamped our months shut with a last glare.

"Navia is right," he continued, "we have no horses. So we will, as Zay said, be walking."

That drew some groans and complaints.

Tyler paused as we came closer to shore. He stood from the water, his hair dripping. His gaze swept over us. The disappointment in it made me want to cross my arms like a child. "I don't want to hear another complaint. Or else we're leaving you behind, got it?"

I nodded mutely, hearing the mumbled chorus of agreements from the others.

"Good." Tyler turned and waded away to the beach.

"Well, welcome to Eura, I guess." Lucia muttered under her breath.

I sighed. This was going to be a long trip.

Annnndddd we're back! Sorry I haven't been updating, had finals and stuff, but I am on summer break now so woo-hoo!

edit 25/10/21
bruh it's hella windy here and like,,, i want the power to go out bc then i can miss school but also i don't want it to bc then my phone will die
what a dilemma :/
anyway!! hope you enjoyed xx