5

Jules returned home feeling far more downbeat and exhausted than the situation probably called for. It didn’t help that he had to spend half an hour deleting the flight logs from the aircar’s internal memory and applying a scent neutralizer all over it to eliminate even the barest hint of the Xeus’s scent. Although his uncle didn’t have the aircar keys, Jules didn’t want to leave anything to chance. He wanted his Xeus to get to relative safety, wherever that was. If there was a safe place for a feral Xeus.

“None of your business,” Jules muttered, but the anxiety under his skin didn’t disappear.

The house was mercifully quiet, but instead of calming him down, it only made him more anxious. It felt like the silence before the storm.

After erasing his fingerprints from his uncle’s keys and putting them back, Jules returned to his room. He climbed into his bed and closed his eyes, willing himself to fall asleep.