Natural Enemies (Spirit Seekers Book 2)

by Janna Ruth

  “I don’t feel very brave in here,” Aeola murmurs, but I notice she has perked up again.

  Looking at the dark grey walls, I can understand her only too well. “You’re not gonna hide forever,” I promise. “It’s just that, sometimes, we need time to heal between battles.” I know there’s more to come. Either due to her sisters or Wulf. I just wish there was a way to get everyone together without any blood… or rather wind-shed.

  Things are incredibly awkward in the morning. I’m late for breakfast, having slept in after a long night. Still, I feel it sharply when Wulf and Lukas get up the minute I sit down. I don’t know whether Camille has already delivered her debrief, but he’s obviously still angry with me. At least, he hasn’t reiterated his command for me to leave.

  “Hey,” Leon says, the only one who didn’t flee the table since Camille and Miriam aren’t even here. I hope they slept in as well. “Do you want to help me with the new trapping shipment? I could use an extra set of eyes.”

  I know Leon’s main reason for asking me to help him is so I won’t feel excluded, but I instantly feel guilty about his damaged eyesight again. “Of course, I’ll help.” This way, I’m not in danger of running into Wulf, at least.

  We finish breakfast and clean up, then stroll to the storage facility where we keep the spirit traps in. It’s a small room, rather like a basement, though there are a couple of windows. A shelf unit contains about a dozen metallic tubes. A new box stands next to a computer desk, waiting to be unpacked.

  “So, what happens with the spirit when they are trapped inside one?” I ask as I help him scan the new traps into the system.

  Leon balances a tube in his hand and shows me the inside. It still looks a lot like a thermos flask. “They get compressed and stay that way until you let them out again.”

  I turn another tube in my hands. “And when they are released in the wild, they slip back into their shape?”

  “More or less, I think.” He stores two of them on the shelf, using his sense of touch rather than sight. “It depends a little on the spirit. Sylphs and nymphs can be easily compressed and take no harm at all. Gnomes are a bit more difficult. They usually come out deformed, but that’s what happens to rocks. I don’t think they mind much.”

  “How do you know?” I ask, less than impressed.

  Leon shrugs sheepishly. “I guess I don’t. I’ve never seen them. It’s just what they taught us in Earth Science. They eventually regain their shape, or not if they don’t wish to. You have to take into account that most spirits that get sucked into here are already weakened.”

  I think of the translucent wounds in Aeola’s body. “You mean hurt?”

  “That’s not the term that’s being used…” Leon starts.

  Groaning, I shake my head. “This is so wrong. Gosh. It’s like the entire spirit seeker language is set up to dehumanise spirits.”

  “Well, they aren’t humans,” Leon objects before granting me the point. “But I know what you mean. I guess telling prospective spirit seekers that they are going to hurt spirits wouldn’t go over so smoothly.”

  “No.” I grab another set of tubes and punch in their registration numbers. “Better to call them ‘it’ and disregard anything that might make them seem alive.”

  Leon looks down at the trap in his hand. “So, do you think it hurts them, going inside?”

  “I don’t know. It’s not like I could ask one of them.” I hop off the table again. “All filled ones are sent directly to the SSA, right?”

  “Yeah. They take care of the dispo… the release and reset of traps.” He shuffles over a second package.

  I fish out one tube and look at it. “What do you need to do to release a spirit? Like if you captured the wrong one, for example.”

  Leon hushes me immediately, looking over his shoulder to make sure there’s no one in earshot. With his voice lowered, he says. “You could get into serious trouble for that. All tubes are registered. The SSA keeps track of them. Once a spirit is caught, the trap needs to be reset by their technicians. If you just let it free, the tube would be useless. You’d have to send in an empty trap and have some explaining to do.”

  “But you could do it? Theoretically,” I add quickly.

  Leon sighs. “Yeah, sure. Just open the cap and deactivate it. But you’ll have the SSA to answer to.”

  “I’m beginning to really dislike the SSA.” It’s true. I haven’t heard anything good about them yet.

  Leon has, though. “They make sure humans are protected from natural disasters as best as they can. For hundreds of years. They might not be big on spirit rights, but they’re not the bad guys.”

  Maybe, I really need to get my priorities straight. People are dying from spirit attacks every day. Surely, human lives matter more. If only there weren’t so many innocent spirits caught up in this. “I know.” Then I remember something else. “Hey, Leon?”

  “Mhm?”

  “Do you remember what you said two weeks ago? Before we fought the Erlking?” Judging by the blank face he pulls, it doesn’t seem like he has. “You wanted me to show you how to listen to spirits.”

  His face brightens with understanding. “Oh, do you think it could work? My NAV is so low I doubt I hear anything.”

  “Well, have you tried?” He’s probably right. If it were that easy to improve the NAV, everyone would do it, wouldn’t they?

  Leon smiles. “No, I haven’t. Okay then. Let’s give it a try. How about right now?” He stows away the last few traps.

  I like this idea of undermining Wulf’s anti-spirit stance in his own halls. Or maybe I’m just happy at least one of them is keen to have his mind changed. “Sounds good to me.”

  We get as far as the courtyard before Wulf crosses our path. He’s got his serious face on—does he even have another one? He can’t have found out about Aeola this quickly. Not unless Camille told him. It just so happens that I notice her and Miriam standing together in earshot.

  “I was looking for you,” he tells me, and my heart takes a dive into my stomach.

  “Were you?” Can somebody tell me why my voice is all squeaky? I mean, he’s not gonna make good on his promise to throw me out, is he?

  He comes to a halt and nods. “Your results are here.”

  I let out a big sigh of relief. “Right… What did they say?”

  “As expected, they were very high.” Wulf doesn’t seem so keen on sharing them, though, stalling by exercising the muscles of his mouth. “Maybe we should head inside?” he asks.

  In the meantime, Lukas has come to join us at a distance. As usual, he’s come straight from the gym. Next to me, Leon clears his throat. Some privacy would probably be good, then again the anticipation is killing me. “Just tell me!”

  “512 plus-minus 34.”

  Lukas looks absolutely horrified, so I take it that means they’re good.

  “Plus-minus?” None of the others has ever used that expression when talking about their NAV.

  “It’s an error margin. You can’t really get the NAV down to an absolute value,” Wulf explains. “Mine is 498 plus minus 17, so technically, while yours sounds higher, the error margins overlap, so we don’t actually know whose NAV is higher.”

  That makes no sense at all to me, but I nod anyway. “All right. What happens next?”

  “Now, we inform the SSA, get you enrolled, and then you’re off to Italy,” he says in such a casual voice, I almost don’t pay any attention to the content.

  Almost. “You want to send me away?”

  “I’m not sending you away, Rika.” At first, he thinks it’s a joke, but the laughter dies quickly on his lips. “You need to receive training. Like every other spirit seeker. You also need to be registered…”

  “… and tracked,” I interrupt him. My head feels awfully light. At this moment, I don’t feel like a human but rather like the spirits who have no other choice than to be delivered to the SSA and placed wherever the agency likes them to be.

  Wulf
frowns. “They’re gonna put your details in the database, sure, but there’s no tracking.”

  I know that I need training, but the very thought of leaving here scares me shitless. Wetting my lips, I ask, “For how long?” My voice is already shaking.

  “The training course usually takes about three years. I’m sure they want to fast-track you, though. So, you might be able to graduate in less.” Judging by his assuring tone, he still hasn’t grasped the gravity of what this news means to me.

  “Three years?” My voice breaks a little. “I’ll be gone for three years?”

  Slowly, Wulf catches on. He delivers the following explanation much more carefully. “Three years until you graduate. Then, they’ll decide where you are needed most.”

  I remember what Camille has told me once. Those people with an NAV of under three hundred can often choose their placements, while those with higher values are spread across Europe. Berlin already has Wulf.

  Unaware of my increasing dread, he keeps droning on, “If we let the office know, we can have you on a plane to Italy by tomorrow.”

  By tomorrow. Suddenly, I can’t hold back the tears anymore. “What have I ever done to you?”

  “What?” His eyes are widening. He really has no idea how much this affects me. “I don’t understand.”

  “Why can’t you just leave me be? Why do you have to get rid of me at all costs?” I no longer care that my voice is all over the place, somersaulting through my tears. “You come here and… oh, forget it! I’ll go. I’ll be out of your hair.”

  I ignore the confusion on his face and Lukas’ smugness, even Leon’s worried look, and run to the main building, pushing past Camille and Miriam to get to my room. Camille is trying to say something, but I can’t hear it through the static in my ears. It feels like all the blood in my body is rushing through my head.

  By the time I reach my room, I’m out of breath. No, not my room. It doesn’t belong to me. Barely anything in here belongs to me. The rest is just borrowed, borrowed like my time in this team.

  I fall to my knees. The room is spinning around me even as I desperately try to hold onto my life. It was all a lie. I don’t have a place here. These aren’t my people. They don’t want me here. Not really, not now, not when they’ve got him instead.

  Why is it so hard to breathe? I need to pack. I need to get out of here.

  Scrambling to my feet, I grab the old backpack that has been with me for so long. But instead of filling it with as much as it can fit, I throw out everything in it until I’m surrounded by filthy, torn clothes, an old toothbrush, tampons, and two hard-as-stone buns. “Where is it?” I shake out the bag until it finally falls into my lap: the wooden tempest Pavel made for me so long ago.

  I hold it so tight that the legs of the spirit horse dig into my palm. The pain helps me centre myself. It helps me draw breath after breath until breathing isn’t such a labour anymore.

  I miss Pavel. I miss the old man who was like a grandfather to me. I miss his daughter Rosie, who made the best pierogies in the world. I miss the other kids, who never told me I didn’t belong. Most of all, I miss my mum.

  The thought of her makes me double over as a new wave of tears threatens to sweep me away. Why did they have to take her away? Why did they target us? And why did they make her disappear?

  Wulf wants to send me away, wants to send me to people that apparently know how to take care of people like me, that will try and tell me what is right and proper. They won’t accept me. They won’t see me. They don’t care because everybody needs to be fitted into their world. Be a valuable member of society. Forget where you came from. Forget what you know. Forget who you are.

  I know in my heart that the only way I will come out on the other side will be broken into pieces. I will be so removed from what I am, I won’t be able to recognise myself in the mirror. They tried to do it once to me; they won’t get a second chance.

  The determination gives me strength. I push my clothes and the other stuff back into the backpack, keeping the tempest figurine in my lap. Looking around the room, I try to decide what else to take. My head tells me I’ll need more clean clothes and the money. But I don’t want any of it. I don’t want anything from them.

  The backpack slung over my shoulder, I open the door just as Camille is about to knock. Startled, she takes a step backward. A few metres down the corridor, Wulf is trailing her. His dark, serious eyes catch mine immediately. He quickly assesses my situation, frowning deeply.

  “Can we talk, please?” Camille’s voice reaches me through the fog in my brain.

  Blinking, I tear my gaze away from Wulf and look at her. So much compassion lies in her eyes, it makes my throat constrict. I can’t answer her, but my head nods, and we head back into my room.

  Camille closes the door behind her, shutting Wulf out. “You’ve packed,” she notes.

  The backpack slides half from my shoulder. “I can’t stay.” It comes out as a whisper, half-choked at the end. And suddenly, the whole realisation drops on me. I can’t stay, but I want to. I never wanted to stay somewhere before, stay with someone before. Not… not since my mum got taken away.

  A gasp tells me I haven’t breathed in for a few seconds. The room starts spinning again, and I stumble backwards, losing my balance. Just when I am about to fall, Camille catches me.

  She grabs my wrists and pulls me into her until she can wrap her arms around me. “Yes, you can. You can stay for as long as you want. I told you that before. It won’t change now.”

  But it’s a lie. As long as I want is still nothing more than borrowed time. “He doesn’t want me here.”

  “He is…” She doesn’t say he’s an idiot because that’s not what Wulf is. He’s nothing like Lukas. “He’s still trying to catch up. He doesn’t understand how important it is that you stay here with us. That you belong here.”

  I belong. Together, we sit down on the bed I only just started to sleep in. Camille holds me while I cry into her shoulder, letting myself believe that at least one person wants me to stay.

  Someone clears their throat, causing us both to look up. I haven’t even heard the door open. Wulf is standing with one foot in the room, the other one out on the corridor. He knows he’s intruding on something, and yet, he can’t seem to help himself.

  Camille glares at him, but that only encourages Wulf to come all the way in and close the door behind him. When he lowers his eyes, unable to look into hers or mine, he doesn’t look like the confident, faultless commander anymore. He seems much more like a child that knows it has done something bad but doesn’t understand how it got there.

  “I’m sorry, Rika,” he says, raising his gaze to me. “I didn’t want to give you the feeling that you’re not welcome here.” His gaze flickers to Camille, and I think I know why it took her so long to get here. She ripped Wulf a new one.

  “I think you made it pretty clear that you don’t want me here.”

  Wulf looks at me in dismay. “That’s not it. That’s not it at all.” He comes closer until he’s a metre away from us, then squats down, so he’s no longer looking down on me. “Look, Rika. I don’t claim to know what you’ve gone through to get here. This is just how it normally goes. We find people with a high enough NAV and get them trained.”

  “I’m not a dog.” I don’t want to be trained. Especially not if it means to become a spirit hater.

  His eyes widen in horror. He opens his mouth, but for several seconds, nothing comes out. At last, he takes a deep breath to catch himself. “It’s an education that can get you a damn good job. It’s risky, yes, but it pays well and comes with a lot of other perks. Social security, sick leave, health insurance…”

  “Stop that, Wulf!” Camille interjects. “You’re not a recruiter. Why are you so keen to ship her off?”

  “I’m not,” he defends himself. Then he looks at me. “You’ve got a gift, Rika. Do you know how many active seekers have an NAV above four hundred? Eight.”

  It’s a chill
ing number. Wulf gulps, then adds, “There were ten two months ago. An NAV above five hundred? I’m the one that comes closest to it.” His eyes seem to bore into me, imploring me to see reason. “We need you, Rika. The world needs you.”

  Even Camille has fallen silent now. I get what he’s saying, but it’s too much. Too many expectations, too much pressure. Wulf wants me to become a weapon, a weapon against the spirits. “I can’t,” I tell him.

  The disappointment in his eyes does something to my heart. It twists it around, squeezes it dry, and leaves it hanging cold. And I only now realise that I’ve given him hope. And just as he was about to believe in me, I took it away again.

  Wulf gets to his feet, his gaze passing over me and settling on Camille. “I won’t send her away. If Rika doesn’t want to go, I can’t make her. You promised her a home here, and the citadel is big, but I don’t see how this will work long term.” He knows as much as I that any time here is borrowed. “For now, it’s just as well.”

  “Just as well?” Camille frowns. “What does that mean?”

  “I got a call this morning from Budapest. They’ve got a nymph problem and asked me if I could help them out. I didn’t want to say yes yet because I’ve only just got back from Naples.” His hesitation wasn’t misplaced. Camille stiffens beside me. “Normally, I would advise against it since we can’t risk a civilian life, but it would make me feel better knowing Rika is with you while I’m gone.”

  Slipping out of Camille’s embrace, I stand up, facing him. “I want to come with you.”

  Both Wulf and Camille stare at me. He clears his voice. “What?”

  Believe me, no one is more surprised than me. Just moments ago, I was crying at the thought of leaving Berlin behind, but it’s… Well, it’s Budapest. “I want to go with you to Budapest.”

  “Why?” Dumbfounded, he checks with Camille, who only shrugs, equally confused.

  There is an excellent reason for this, I promise, but I can’t tell Wulf that. “I… I want to… see how you work. I know you want me to stay here to keep Berlin safe. But I honestly don’t think you need to worry about that. The sylphs are very much infighting. It will be some time before they sort themselves out again. The Erlking has left a big hole, and there’s no one to step in. And most sylphs are glad about it. I really don’t think there’ll be anything Camille and the rest can’t handle. She’s a competent leader.”