“Hmm?”
“The fog’s coming in again. We spotted it nearby, so I’m assuming that it’s going to spread soon. It’s just the regular fog, but it’s better to be careful. Anyway, just a heads up in case you or Anne will be shifting tonight.”
Fog.Thefog.
How could he not have thought of it sooner?
As predicted, the fog that circled their area was the regular kind that didn’t dance and didn’t feel sinister, so Nico ventured out further and kept walking until he was far away from their territory. He passed North Bear without a problem, then lingered in the fields outside it, as empty as it had been the last time. But a feeling heightened, instinct telling him this was the place to be if he needed answers so badly.
He stayed an hour, then more. He stood up and dusted himself when it neared two hours, then stopped when he noticed the first swirl rising from the ground and skating its way towards him. The urge to flee was strong, but he locked it in as the fog reached him in no time. With the beast tightly inside, there was nothing to trap, and he remained unharmed, using Anne’s same method of closing and blinking his eyes to avoid being hypnotized.
Nico was quiet for the longest time. Then he could no longer be quiet as he lifted his head.
“Talk to me. I know you talked to her. I know you said things, so you might as well say them to me, too.”
Nothing happened at first and it made him feel foolish. But Anne’s pale face revived in his memory, and he held on to his faith in her.
“Don’t be a coward now. Show yourself as you did with her.”
“You are with evil. He will keep growing powerful, and when he does, it will be too late. He will rise above everyone and bring darkness in his path.”
The voice was harmonious, like someone singing. The words weren’t the same, but the message was. Nico spun in circles until he found its source: the fog darkening on his right, then bubbling up to form a figure. The shadow took the shape of something genderless but with legs and arms like any human. He faced it, feeling bolder than he should have been.
“You talk in riddles. Maybe you need to talk more clearly.”
“He is evil. I sense it. He is growing. He will lead you to destruction.”
“Now, see, anyone can lead me. Or us. You have to be more specific than that.”
The voice repeated the words, phrased differently. He held on to his patience as much as he could, but he was ready to leap either away from or towards the shadow. When the voice was done speaking, he sighed and let his disappointment show.
“You are still not being clear. The more you don’t tell us, the more in danger everyone is.”
Silence.
“I should leave, then.”
There was no response, so he turned to leave. The fog swirled into a frenzy, and he sensed a shift in the air.
“The Western Cub.”
Pain glissaded from the voice, thick and raw. Nico went very still.
“That is what your evil called it after killing us.”
He whirled, the information that no one but their clan should have known pounding in his brain. But the shadow was gone, unable to answer the series of questions that fluttered out at the declaration. Nico gaped at the ground until every trace of cloud had disappeared.
Then he was sprinting back to his home as fast as he could.
***
He mingled with the others, affecting calm and casually roping another clan member in to take his guarding shift—one of the quieter ones who didn’t gossip and wouldn’t make a big deal about it. As a backup plan, he pretended to head towards Anne’s tent, too, but wasn’t fazed when he found it empty and her not in the vicinity. When he bumped into no one, Nico ambled towards the mansion, skipping the office and heading for the back, where a lot of storage space was located.
He skipped the new room that Angelo used and went to the room containing older files, dating back more than five years and dusty from being stored for so long. It was a mess, clearly not as organized as the new room had been, but the dates and general titles gave him guidance as to where to start. He sifted through his memories while he opened folders and read their contents, detailing most of the previous clan leader’s business practices and information. They were all closed now as Angelo had decided to nourish his brewery business instead, refusing to touch something that Dan Bennett’s dirty, racist hands had allowed to flourish.
He read the clan reports next, not as detailed as the business side but with keywords that revealed a lot of things: enemy encountered, territory seized, mission success, and failures. Then he found a folder with a map, and his heart pounded, anticipation bubbling that he was close.
“West. The Western Cub. Now, where is…?”