The Soul Eaters (The Thin Hex Line Book 1) by Gwyndolyn Russell (100 best novels of all time .txt) 📗

as different forms to everyone? One person would see him as a humanoid figure, while someone else would see him as a wolf at the same time.

We talked about him for a while in the barracks. Mjolnir said he looked an awful lot like an ardrizi. I even heard Irzazee say he looked like a verbenass.

Like Reynolds reported, everyone hallucinated strange dreams, fell ill when he was around them for too long.

Fauriei said Fenris was here to stay, and I welcomed him into the barracks to train. He saved my life after all. He saved all of us! Needless to say, no matter how much he creeped me out, confused me, or what have you, I welcomed him with open arms. At a distance.

Little did I know how much was going to change on the ship with Fenris around. Fauriei was cheerful even when she left. She was someone we were going to miss. She lit up the entire room when she was there.

Reaper wanted me to keep an eye on Fenris since he seemed to have taken a liking to me. For a long time I couldn't find that wolf. Checked his room multiple times. Checked the barracks. Checked the sim rooms, all twenty of them. Nowhere.

I was thinking he wandered off the ship when we dropped Fauriei off.

I overheard one of the kotoli engineers through the wall talking about a weird canine that slept way too close to the nuclear core of the ship. They couldn't get it to move, or even acknowledge their existence.

So, I headed down to the engine room. Sure enough, there was a wolf, far from any earth wolf in appearance, curled into a tight ball, a cloak like wings, lazily stretched out across its frame and the floor. The cracks for eyes had no lights, but the other lights that dotted its body breathed calmly. It was almost against the wall just below the nuclear reactor, which was caged in lead. Its warm green glow shined through little peep holes that decorated its chamber.

It was hot down here. Only a few minutes there and I was sweating from head to toe. Usually you needed protective gear to be here. In case of a malfunction that spilled the radiation from the chamber.

"Fenris?" I called softly.

The wolf didn't budge.

"Fenris." I said a bit louder.

The cracks on his face lit up with a dim light.

"Hey, what are you doing down here?"

The lights shifted, growing brighter at the side of his face. He must have been looking at me.

"You know it's not safe here long term, right? You have a room to sleep in."

His cloak moved to cover his frame better. The lights dimmed, shifted to look away.

"Are you... lonely?" I asked, inching a little closer. "Miss your family?"

He snorted. Tossed his head to the side.

I was drawn closer to it. Something inside of me understood him, though there were no words I could form about it. I knelt down next to him. Reached out to touch the back of its head where a thin, long coat of fur whipped out from between its horns. Upon touching it, I realize they weren't loose strands, but thin dreadlocks, poorly separated. Some were braided, decorated with small bones and shiny gems.

He pulled away from me. Sat up and turned to face me. Those wings, cloak, whatever they were meant to be wrapped around his frame like a security blanket.

“I... Sorry.” My breath caught in my throat. “Do you like it down here?”

Of course I got no answer! I got this feeling it was speaking, but I just couldn't understand it.

"Hey," I said. I swallowed. "You don't have to be alone anymore."

His head cocked to one side. He looked right through me. Into my soul. I'm not sure if he found what he was looking for, or not. His cloak lowered to rest on the floor, no longer protecting itself.

I stood slowly.

"If you decide to join us, I'll be in the barracks." I smiled at the wolf and left.

Back in the barracks, Ruby and Sparrow were fighting. Not for training either. They were in a full-blown yelling match. Working with your girlfriend was never a good thing. Too much time together kept them at each other's throats. I remember one day Sparrow almost smacked Ruby for chewing too loud. Maybe it was just one of those days again.

Sparrow was yelling about how something was unfair. She shouldn't be in trouble if someone else wasn't getting in trouble.

Ruby must have caught her in the act, whatever it was.

When I floated into the room, they both stopped mid-sentence and looked at me.

"Just the man I needed!" Sparrow said.

"No. No. I'm off duty." I tried to wave her off, but she grabbed my arm.

"I don't care! I need you to tell Reuben," she began.

Oh, no, I thought. She said his name. This was serious.

"That it isn't right that one person can personalize their weapon, but I can't!"

"Everyone can personalize their weapons within the Federation's legal standards." That should have been the end of it, but she wasn't satisfied.

When she went to speak again, I stupidly cut her off. "You all have the SOGs. You were given one in boot camp and should have kept it and studied it. There's an entire section about legal weapon modifications."

"Yeah? Well I shouldn't be yelled at and have my weapon taken from me because I modified the rails on my weapon! Raddix completely covered his---"

"I don't care what Raddix did." I snapped at her.

Her lips sealed shut. Eyes wide and glistened with flecks of green and brown.

"If someone has broken the rules of our operational standards, then you should bring it up professionally in my office, not assume it's suddenly okay and follow the herd. You're smarter than that."

I took a breath, glanced at Ruby who was dead silent.

"Turn your weapon into the armory to be checked out and re-modified if there is anything illegal and bring me the armorer's certificate of approval with your weapon when