Sky the Theorist
They pulled down their hood to reveal a young girl with bright red, wavy hair, that looked like it had been hastily cut short. Her face was a mess of pale freckles but it didn't make her look any less intimidating. She bared the knife again bravely as the snow leopard stalked closer to us. I frowned, noticing how young she looked. She looked way to young to have a familiar.
"What are you doing on my territory?" She demanded.
Jason burst out laughing, full blown cackling for a moment before the girls blade suddenly pressed against his neck. That shut him up.
"I assume you, despite my small stature I have to skill to take down everyone in this clearing." She warned.
"We mean you no harm." Eryan said wisely. "We're looking for our friend, he's been kidnaped."
"Craig's friend actually." Jason muttered.
"Jason." Ryan shot him a look that said really?.
"Is he lanky, white hair, with big scars on his face?" The small, tomato-colored, girl inquired.
"White hair yes, but I don't remember him having any scars." I frowned. "I guess it's possible."
"Hang on, who are you? I've never seen you around these parts before." Aurora demanded, looking very confused.
She sheathed her dagger. "I'm Sky, and that's probably because I don't want to be seen."
"Her familiar's not talking. She reminds me of Matri, it's creeping me out." Peri muttered in my ear.
Weird, proceed with caution I guess. "His name is Felix, if that helps."
Sky tapped her chin. "I do believe we're after the same thing. Let me show what I've been working on."
She started romping off through the snow, surprisingly light footed. I looked back at everyone in our group. They all shrugged.
"I mean if this is a trap, it's five against one." Ryan pointed out.
"Plus a polar bear." Aurora added.
"I'd say Chubby's at least three other people." Jason deducted.
I snorted, finding that amusing. Jason glanced up at me and smiled and Kosmos help me. Stop it. Stop that. Stop being so cute. I was in the middle of finding my best friend and had just found what looked to be a good lead, I didn't have time for this. We started following sky.
"Lafayette's saying it doesn't look like trap from up above." Jason informed as the hawk flew slowly over.
"Same from Oratio." Eryan added, as the fox jumped back into her arms. "Ew, you're all wet."
"Is that...a house?" Aurora asked suddenly.
"Yep." Sky confirmed, as we tipped out heads back to look at her house, which was probably a good twenty feet off the ground.
It was built up in the trees. There was a rope ladder hanging down and tied precariously at the bottom. Sky immediately starting up the tree with ease. It suddenly occurred to me I've never been up that high before. Sky's little tree shack looked kinda precarious.
"Uh, Chubbs you're gonna have to stay down here." Aurora laughed nervous, patting his head.
The polar bear shrugged and flopped down onto the snow. Oratio let out a small barking noise and leap out of Eryan's arms to sit on top of him.
"That's settled then." She laughed.
"Does your snow leopard fit up there?" Jason asked dubiously.
Sky stuck her tongue out. "Carra does what she wants. I couldn't care less honestly."
I frowned. That was...odd. Usually people have decent friendship with their familiar. Being around Sky I got a...different vibe. It was like a weird mix of Eryan and Jason compacted into four feet of red headed terror.
Jason promptly gestured to latter. "Ladies first."
I frowned playfully, as I grabbed the first rung. "Ha, very funny."
Peri decided that handing around on my back while I was wavering about recklessly on a ladder was a bad idea so he flew up ahead of me. I decided not to look down and concentrated on the ledge becoming closer and closer.
"Are you afraid of heights?" Peri asked, amused.
"Shut up." I insisted, clutching the rungs with white knuckles as Sky above me swung over the top and rocked the whole ladder.
"Craig." Peri snorted. "You have a bird familiar. Kosmos, I must had gotten the most entertaining human in all of Zoo."
"Yeah well, I must have gotten the most sarcastic familiar in all of Zoo." I puffed back, gripping onto the ledge I was supposed to pull myself up and over.
"Any day now buddy." Jason said from under me, I realized I was holding up the line.
I blushed, and heard Peri snickering gently from a few feet away. Darn Jason and his climbing abilities, messy hair, and cute smile.
On top of the ledge, I could see Sky's house a lot better. It was sturdily built, from pale wooden timbers that stretched in a dome shape. It was a little tree igloo. Carra, Sky's snow leopard, stretched out across the roof lazily, appearing to have not a care in the world.
"Welcome to my humble abode." Sky said warmly, climbing through the small entrance.
"Humble!" Eryan gasped. "Are you kidding? Whoever built this was an architectural genius. Who would have ever thought to put a house in a tree?"
"Is it a good idea for around these parts." Aurora agreed. "Keeps you out of the snow."
"Yeah yeah." Sky replied offhandedly, poking her head out. "My parents built it think. They were nerds."
"Are they around?" Aurora glanced around.
"They're dead." She shrugged. "Come on inside."
Aurora blinked as we got down on out knees to climb through the small tunnel. It was exactly like a tree igloo. It was the inside how ever, that the most interesting. The whole three hundred and sixty degrees of the wall was covered head to toe in red pins and hastily scribbled notes with sketches of people and animals alike. I got a crick in my neck trying to look at it all.
"How long have you been here?" Jason asked, dumbfounded.
"My whole life." Sky rocked back and forth happily, she held up a piece of paper with a sketch on it. "Is this your friend?"
It looked exactly like Felix, the resemblance was uncanny. Except now he had three long scars stretching from the right side of his face to the middle. It was like an animal with big claws attacked him. It occurred to me that maybe it was because of his familiar ceremony.
"Yeah, that's him." I confirmed feeling kind of numb as the longing came back.
Ryan took the paper gently and stared at it. Nodding gently. It was passed around, this was the first time any of them had seen Felix, the guy they all blindly joined this quest to look for.
"What happened to his face?" Jason grimaced.
"I have no idea." I admitted. "I hope he's alright."
"If I'm right, you guys had better be glad you arrived so quickly." Sky warned.
"What does that mean?" Ryan frowned.
"The group that has your friend is called Katestra. They're a rebel group. Katestra is lead by a woman who calls herself Apophis."
"That's a dumb name." Jason snorted.
"Don't interrupt me." Sky raised an eyebrow. "They're made up of purely women, they raid the surrounding smaller villages occasionally, but they haven't been brave enough to touch Zestos yet."
"Wait a second." Eryan halted the conversation. "Only women? But Felix is a guy, and so is Eddie for that matter. Where do they fit into the equation."
Sky tilted her head. "I don't know who Eddie is, it I can tell you they bring in recruits often. Again, it's mostly young girls, but sometimes it guys, only there's a catch. All of the times I've seen them marching through the woods with males, they're on stretchers, and ill-looking. As if they're near death."
I swallowed uncomfortably as I remember Neve telling me how Felix was unconscious after his familiar ceremony and about how sick he was. I felt the urgency to find him now rise up in me again. I could help but feel like we were running out of time.
"That's what happened to Felix from what you guys told us, right?" Eryan confirmed.
Ryan nodded. I felt to sick to do anything.
"What happens to the guys after they take them in though?" Jason brought the conversation back around.
Sky just shrugged. "I don't know. I never see them again after that."
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