“We are going on a hunt in the morning,” Nokom said.

Kellen, Vex, Kiypu and Professor Gates were sitting around the fire inside their tipi when she’d appeared out of the night, Ira padding along at her side.

A thrill of excitement ran through Kellen. Since they’d reunited with the rest of the band following their expedition into the Wakar Mountains, he’d been eager to watch the Gray Dawn hunters at work or possibly help out.

“How early?” he asked. “What do I need to bring? We can be ready whenever—”

“You aren’t coming,” Ira said, sitting on his haunches next to Nokom.

“What?” Vex said in a loud voice, rising from the spot he’d been catnapping beside the fire. “Why not?”

“It is tradition among the Storm Horse that the men are defenders of the camp while the women hunt,” Nokom said. “I will also join the hunt, meaning you, Kiypu, Vex and Shakraa must protect the band while we are gone.”

That sounded like an easy excuse to leave them behind. And not a very good one. Kellen might have budding mana powers as a Beastcaller but he had little skill and even less experience in the ways of battle.

“Okay,” Kellen said, still somewhat disappointed. He cut off further protests from Vex with a shake of his head. Once Nokom made her mind up, she rarely wavered. It didn’t matter the reason. Arguing wouldn’t change her mind.

“You have both done much for this band and Tama knows it,” Nokom said to Kellen and Vex. “Your time will come.”

With that, she stepped out of the tent, closing the flap behind her. Kellen stared into the fire, the flickers of flame illuminating a scowl.

“Tough pill to swallow,” the professor said. “Don’t take it personally. I got the same answer when I asked for an invitation. I would have loved to watch a Storm Horse tribe hunt for my recordsl.”

“We must each play our role in the tribe,” Kiypu said. “It has been this way since our ancestors first came to this blessed land.”

“I suppose that’s true even for us misfits,” Professor Gates said.

“Yeah, but we don’t do anything except train,” Vex complained.

“We train because when we are called, we must be ready,” Kiypu said. “That is the responsibility of a Beastcaller, during peace or war. Our powers are not for us alone, but for the benefit of all peoples. At least that is the way it should be.”

“Responsibility,” Shakraa cawed. “Benefit!”

The next morning, Kiypu delayed their training so they could see the hunters off. The group was almost the same Kellen had joined over the long miles they’d hunted the slaver Ubira, women Kellen had come to know as only one could from hard day after hard day on the trail. Watching them swing into the saddles of their storm horses, Ishtas, Shinopah, Night Rains, Clouds-that-Burn, Cohwea and Totoso, it felt weird to not be joining. Chief Tama, Shani’s mother, and Nokom’s daughter, was at the head of the group, armed with bow and spear.

“We will be gone three days at most,” she announced to the small group that had gathered to see the hunters off. “There are herds not far away. We will return with word when it is time to travel to the butchering grounds.”

Nokom led her storm horse from the back of the group. Ira was nowhere to be seen and had probably flown ahead to scout for the hunters. A little girl was already in the saddle, clutching a pink rabbit Mana Beast tightly against her chest and shivering in the morning cold. Myri was an orphan who’d been kidnapped before Ubira’s slavers raided Gray Dawn. According to her, she considered Allison an adopted big sister from their time together. Her Beastcaller powers had awakened during the fight in the Snake Cult’s summoning chambers. Though she wasn’t old enough to train with Kellen and Shani, Nokom and Tama had taken the girl under their protection.

Nokom nodded to Kellen as she passed, and Myri waved energetically to him. Kellen waved back, a smile spreading across his face at the little girl’s glee.

“At least someone is happy they got an invite,” Vex said once they’d passed, still a little sullen.

“Oh hush,” Kellen said. “Don’t tell me you’re jealous of a little girl and her pet rabbit?”

“Of course not,” Vex replied. “Though side note: I still wonder if Mehna tastes like cotton candy.”

Before Kellen could tell him for what had to be the dozenth time that he would never find out what the pink rabbit tasted like, Kellen spotted Shani approaching. Inferi followed at her side, eyes downcast. Kellen didn’t know what Nokom had said to them and hadn’t asked. Whether by choice or design, Inferi and Shani had trained alone since the incident and the pair had avoided Kellen and Vex the rest of the past two days.

“Your arm is healed,” Shani said in a low voice. Several members of the band watched them. Apparently, word of the incident had spread.

“Good as new,” Kellen told her, anxious at the attention of the crowd and Shani’s demeanor. “Don’t worry about it,” he added, hoping that would end the awkward conversation.

Shani’s eyes looked around everywhere else except him. “I am sorry,” she said, forcing the words out. Rather than angry, she seemed almost ashamed, which was unexpected and unsettling.

“Really, it’s okay,” Kellen said. “Good luck on the hunt.”

She nodded but said nothing more, Inferi trailing behind her. Soon after, the hunters departed and the remaining Gray Dawn people went back to their daily tasks.

“That was awkward,” Vex said. “Do you think Nokom made her apologize?”

“No,” Kellen said. “She wouldn’t have done it if that was the case. I think she actually felt bad.”

“If she felt that bad, she could have offered us her place on the hunt,” Vex said. “And don’t tell me you didn’t want to go. How many times do I have to remind you we basically share thoughts? You can’t hide anything from me. Well, except that thing you did in third grade in Mrs. Cardale’s class. But rest assured, I will crack that hidden vault in your memories and you will reveal everything! Muahahaha!”

The mock evil laugh was another cliché Vex had fished out of Kellen’s subconscious and taken to with glee. “Whatever, dude,” Kellen said, flicking open his hand and side-arming a ball of sun mana at Vex. The lynx-like Mana Beast dodged aside and it hit the ground with a disappearing flash.

“You forget I’m faster than tha—oof!”

The second ball of sun mana bounced off of Vex between his ears. Kellen walked away laughing as Vex hissed and pawed at his head, which was covered in golden sparkles that clung to his fur like glitter.

Kiypu kept Kellen and Vex so busy over the next two days that they hardly had time to think of what they might be missing on the hunt. When they weren’t drilling against the mummy and his skeletal crow, they were testing their abilities against one another.

“You never know when you’ll fight a Beastcaller or when you’ll fight a Mana Beast,” Kiypu often repeated. “So we train to fight together and alone. It will teach you how your partner moves and fights, which is just as important to know in battle. You must be as one mind, in sync with each other.”

Aside from mock combat, the mummy had a whole assortment of other drills, too. If Kellen had thought Nokom’s calisthenics, quasi-yoga and dance steps were odd when he’d first been subjected to them, they didn’t hold a candle to Kiypu’s methods. There were normal things such as seated meditation to channel focused mana throughout the body but also things that seemed born of Kiypu’s broken mind, defiant of any logic. For example, their teacher had instructed Kellen to stand on one leg, channeling all of his mana into the opposite foot while Vex attempted to use his tail to pull Kellen over. Another time, Kellen was told to do a handstand—which he could only do with his head resting on the ground for support—while Vex jumped over his wobbling, raised legs. Thankfully, Kiypu hadn’t tried to bury them alive yet, as he was still prone to do at random times.

“Any Beastcaller can channel mana throughout his entire body,” Kiypu said with the tone of someone who professed to be a new age mystic in online videos. Kiypu’s usual laid back, surfer bro demeanor made it hard for Kellen to take him seriously at times… until he remembered the mummy’s battle against Ubira. When he was on his a-game, Kiypu moved with a grace and displayed a mastery of mana Kellen would not have believed if he hadn’t seen it firsthand. “If you wish to shape the mana within, bend it to your will, you must learn finesse.”

Through gritted teeth, struggling to levitate a pea-sized speck of sun mana between his left thumb and forefinger, Kellen also recalled the many times a member of Gray Dawn had to escort Kiypu to their tent before bed because he’d gotten lost in the camp and forgotten where they slept. Still, it was hard to argue with at least some of the results.

“Good, good, little brother,” Kiypu said. “Now float the mana to Vex’s left ear.”

“Whoa, whoa,” Vex said. “Don’t be sticking your mana peas in my ear!”

Kellen snorted with laughter and his sun mana bead disappeared with a wink of light.

“You talk too much,” Kiypu said to Vex, his dehydrated face cracking into a frown.

“Rude!” Shakraa added.

“When are we gonna learn the good stuff?” Vex asked. “You know, new abilities, techniques, that kinda thing? Let’s get to Guardian already!”

Kellen agreed. Advancing from Ward to Companion strength was great but overall the changes in what he and Vex could do were nominal. From what they’d been taught, Companion was the default level every Beastcaller attained, the baseline. The equivalent of a participation trophy. Like graduating kindergarten, nobody got held back.

“Attaining Guardian is not like Companion, not just a matter of acquiring raw power and strength, little brothers,” Kiypu said. “You could fight for years, master the channeling of your mana and your individual techniques and it would not advance you to Guardian. In addition to experience, you need a unity of purpose, a shared reason for growth between Beastcaller and Mana Beast. That, and a powerful mana artifact, which are not easy to come by.”

“We’re already in sync,” Vex said. “We both want to get to Guardian: done!”

“Strength for strength’s sake is not enough. Guardian is the foundation of anything that comes after. It may happen faster for some than others, but it cannot be forced. Once you attain it, Vex will only revert to a lesser form after a great defeat or complete exhaustion of mana. Kellen, your mana pool and abilities will permanently expand as well. Only then will you be ready to walk a path.”

That made sense. Shakraa was only at Ward strength but Kiypu had clearly been stronger when he’d actually been alive. Kellen didn’t think a Beastcaller with a Ward Mana Beast could do the things Kiypu did otherwise. And he’d seen Shakraa all the way up to Guardian form, when she’d been possessed by Ubira.

Nokom was another example of greater power than her current rank. She’d shared with Kellen that before her beast heart—the source of a Beastcaller’s mana—had broken, damaging her mana pool and channels, she and Ira had attained Guardian strength. Ira could no longer take his Guardian form but Nokom still kept a remainder of those greater techniques and abilities, even if she no longer had a Guardian’s Beast Heart.

“No one’s really explained what a path is,” Kellen said. He knew they were the different specialties and areas of focus Beastcallers chose. Nokom had once told him there were countless Beastcaller paths to choose from, aside from the natural strengths each type of mana granted, such as the affinity sun mana Beastcallers had for shielding. “How do we find one? Or know if it’s the right one?”

“Easy!” Vex said. “We go with the one that makes us the most awesome.”

Kiypu chuckled. It sounded like old sandpaper crumpled up with tinfoil. Then the mummy wheezed and fell into a coughing fit. “He’s not as wrong as you think,” he finally told Kellen in between haggard breaths. “Do not worry, little brother. Finding a path isn’t something you do overnight, let alone mastering it. There is time. Plenty of time. Patience is the greatest technique a Beastcaller and their Mana Beast can learn. Now, let us call it a night.”

They’d eaten an early dinner, then spent the last hour of daylight practicing mana manipulation under Kiypu’s bizarre instruction. Kellen fought back a yawn, suddenly weary from the sap of the cold fall air outside and the allure of his blankets. When they reached their tipi, they found Professor Gates already asleep, softly snoring in the warm glow of the smoldering fire. Kellen laid down and wrapped his blankets around him. Once he was comfortable, Vex snuggled in closer, the blue markings on his body fading as the Mana Beast drifted off to sleep.

Kellen dozed for what felt like an hour, mind wandering over the different possibilities of his future as a Beastcaller. Then all at once, he found himself awake again, restless. He stared up at the circle of night sky showing through the vent in the top of the tipi. What was he doing? Inside, the farm boy from Idaho still half-expected this was all a dream. Like he’d told the professor, he felt like there were two people inside him: the old, careful, cautious, run-of-the-mill Kellen and the new Beastcaller Kellen. Sometimes it was hard to say who was making the decisions or doing the thinking for them. This new Kellen might worry a little less and be a little more confident, but he still had no clue who he was.

After hours of tossing and turning, sleep was moments away. Then Kiypu bolted upright from the cross-legged meditation position he assumed at night instead of sleep, being undead and all. Kellen groaned. The mummy’s jumbled brain seemed worse at nights.

“Not again,” Vex said with a muffled groan.

“Prepare yourselves!” Kiypu said, his normal laid back flower-child tone sharp.

Kellen sat up, suddenly concerned, yet hoping this was only some new case of confusion. “What? Why—”

Before Kiypu could answer, shouts of alarm rose throughout the camp, followed by a chorus of shrill war cries.

“Attack!” someone screamed. “Attack!”