The Book of Shane 2 by Nick Eliopulos

Author:Nick Eliopulos
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2015-09-20T04:00:00+00:00

Hours passed, and miles, and for Shane there was no sign that they were making any progress, just the endless indistinguishable greenery. He only knew for certain that midday had passed when Achi handed him a stick of dried meat and called it lunch.

“Why don’t you let your spirit animal out?” Achi asked after a long stretch of silence.

“In this heat?” Shane responded, huffing as he followed the boy up a muddy incline. “He’d be awfully sluggish. And the terrain would trip him up.”

“If I had a spirit animal, I wouldn’t ever put him away.”

It never ceased to amaze Shane, the way people throughout Erdas talked about spirit animals as if they were a great gift. He’d spent his entire childhood terrified of summoning one. But in the absence of bonding sickness, people celebrated the bond — and coveted it.

Most of the Marked seemed to consider their spirit animal an equal and a friend for life. Shane’s bond with his own animal was much simpler. He regarded Grahv as a tool. He didn’t call the creature into its active state unless he needed its muscle. Or its teeth.

But he knew what question Achi was waiting to hear, and he asked it.

“What animal do you think you’d summon?”

Achi smiled. As Shane expected, the question thrilled him. “Maybe a monkey? I like to climb.”

Shane grinned. “I noticed.”

“But I fight like a boar.”

“A boar?”

“You saw me.”

“I saw you throw a rock from a very safe distance.”

“I saw you!” Achi countered. “Here’s how Shane fights.” And he flailed his arms and ran around in a tight circle, a look of mock panic on his face.

Shane laughed, a full belly laugh. Achi’s sudden playfulness had caught him completely off guard.

Then Shane felt the heat of the jungle quickly recede, and a chill swept through him, starting behind his eyes and creeping down into his toes. His muscles tensed, and he felt a thoroughly unpleasant sensation in his head, as if a cold, slimy tentacle were uncoiling within his skull.

Shane’s head moved of its own volition from side to side, tilted back to look up into the canopy above, then turned to regard Achi, who had drawn his quarterstaff to reenact his victory over the hyenas.

As quickly as it had begun, the episode ended. Shane felt momentarily hollowed out, like the discarded insect husks he’d seen on trees throughout the morning.

“Shane,” Achi whispered.

Shane shuddered. He knew what had just happened. Gerathon had looked out from his eyes. The snake was checking up on him.

“Shane,” Achi repeated, more urgently.

“Yeah,” he answered, shaking his head clear. “Yes, Achi?”

“Don’t panic,” the boy said. “But we’re being followed.”

Shane tensed. “By who?”

Achi shook his head slowly, holding Shane’s eyes. “Not who. It’s a cat. A big one.”

Shane had an impossible thought. “A cat, like … like a leopard?”

“Maybe,” Achi answered. “I only caught a glimpse of it before it went into the trees.” He inclined his head in the direction he and Shane had come from.

Shane turned. They’d been walking down a natural path through the trees, a space that was mostly free of vines and saplings.

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