"There is more comfort with me," Wyna said, still sounding curt.
"I'm going to stay by the portal. Agent Heidrich can do as she chooses." Boone didn't wait for a response and walked away into the dying sun.
I hesitated. "He's right. We need to wait by the portal. We shouldn't have left it for this long."
Wyna glowered.
"I'm sorry," I said before following Boone.
She didn't follow, and none of the gremlins joined us. I didn't bother trying to catch up with Boone. I was too tired, and quite frankly, I didn't want to talk about what had happened. Plus, there were a thousand things to think about.
For starters, which world had broken into this one? Would that be worth checking to see if it was ours? Then again, it could also be one of hundreds, if not thousands, of other dimensions around ours. It would have to be close, at least, if not ours.
The day caught up to me. The only reason I knew which direction to walk in was because I had followed Boone. As the sun went down and the sky began to turn purple, I lost sight of him. The Path was out of the question. After the day I had, there was no way I could stay in the Path long and still be standing.
Had there been days like this before my soul was broken? I was sure there had been. Times when I had grown so tired, I was unsteady on my feet. But it didn't seem to be the mind-numbing tiredness I felt now. Before Vincent, I couldn't remember a time where I was so tired I lost consciousness or felt so tired I couldn't go on.
How far from the camp was I? Was staying at the camp any better than stopping here?
The light left the sky and stars popped out, brighter than any stars I had ever seen on earth. I stopped and stared at them, tottering on my feet. It was beautiful, and now something threatened the world.
But what could I do about it?
Once I stopped, it was hard to get started again. Two thoughts drove me forward. One, I didn't know what might crawl on me if I slept here in the grass, and two, I didn't want Boone to find me passed out because I couldn't handle the stress I had put on my own body.
"The camp is over here," Boone said.
I jumped. Had he not spoken, I would have walked right past the spot next to the woods.
Wordlessly, I sat across the fire from him. How had I not noticed the fire? Why was he burning one? I was too tired to ask questions.
Unfortunately, Boone didn't see it the same way. "It seemed like you and Wyna got along well."
I shrugged, not sure what he was getting at, and stared into the fire.
Chapter 11
"So," he started again, "all that talk about souls. That's something I didn't see in your file."
I rolled my eyes. "Will I see the state of your soul in your file?"
He didn't say anything right away. "If you can get the full file, I'm sure my history speaks to the state of my soul."
"It doesn't work that way. What happened to me was an accident. It's one I'd rather not discuss, and it's none of AIR's business."
"How does it work, then?"
I countered a question with a question. "What do you know about Readers?"
"I can't say that I know a whole lot about them. I don't know if anyone besides a Reader, and maybe those close to them, know much."
"But what do you know?" I asked.
Boone thought for a for a minute. "You read tracks people leave when they move around."
I raised my eyebrows, waiting for more, but nothing else came. Bone-weary tiredness had truly settled in, but I could see Boone wasn't going to drop the subject.
"Everything leaves traces in the world. This and ours, although the Path here is difficult. When I read what's left behind, I'm looking at an overlay." My mind turned inward as I thought of the Path back home. "It's like a glittering stream that carries everything about the past, present, and sometimes I even catch a glimpse of the future."
"A glittering stream?" Boone said in a level voice.
"Yes," I snapped. "When something or someone moves around, I see the traces it leaves behind, which means I can follow someone back to where they may have entered an area or the movements they took in an area."
"That sounds like a pretty useful talent," Boone said. "What does that have to do with souls? Yours and whoever else you have with you."
I could see his lip curl back involuntarily at the thought and sighed. "I'm getting to that." I was wavering as I was sitting, but I wanted to get this out and sleep. "When I enter the Path, I stretch my mind out. It's hard to explain, but at the edge of my mind, I can see my soul or essence."
"Can you see anyone's soul?"
"No, I can read what traces you leave in the Path, and I can read your emotions when I try. Nothing else." I waited a few beats to see if he was going to interrupt again, but he held his tongue "I'm not sure what's left in the file about last year. On the case where our director died."
Boone shrugged. "Not much. At least that I can see."
"There's probably not much for anyone to see. Anyway, during the investigation, there was an accident. My soul split apart." There was no way I was going to mention Vincent. It would be bad enough if Boone wrote this down in a file somewhere.
Boone looked like he was trying to find the right words. "That sounds uncomfortable."
While yawning, I shrugged at the same time. "You get used to it. It didn't hurt, exactly."
"And Wyna is offering to fix it."
"That's what it sounds like." I tried to make it a throwaway comment, but the truth was, my sleep-deprived brain was still sluggishly trying to figure out what that meant and if it was something I actually wanted.
"She mentioned you have a gremlin inside you. What does that mean?"
"I suppose it's too much to ask that at least part of this could wait until morning?"
Boone said nothing.
"Right." I scrubbed my face with my hands, trying to wake myself up. "It's not that difficult to explain, I guess. It's much harder to understand. Since my soul is broken, it acts like a magnet to other soul fragments around me."
"You're pulling people's souls?" He looked uncomfortable again. "That's a Walker ability."
"I'm not taking out souls and I can't steal someone's soul. Even if your soul was broken, it's yours; I can't take it out of you." I tried to sound confident, but I wasn't completely sure of that fact. "If there are soul fragments lingering around, they are attracted to mine. They want to be whole, so they try to attach to me."
"You're saying there are fragments of souls floating around?"
"No," I said, getting cranky. "They aren't just lying around anywhere. But some really bad guy created them and now they're stuck with me." I tried to make it sound like that was the end of the conversation, but I was too tired to be direct.
"I didn't see that in your file, either."
"Judging by the look on your face, do you think this is something I want to write down where anyone can see? I'd rather it stay out of the files, if it's all the same to you."
"Don't you think this is something your coworkers ought to know?" Boone asked.
"My partners know everything—and in a lot more detail than I'll tell you. When you trust someone to have your back, they have to know who you are and what could go wrong."
In Boone's silence, I took the opportunity to lay down. I could tell sleep was going to be difficult, even through the exhaustion.
"I'd say we're in a pretty tight spot out here, and you haven't been very forthcoming," Boone said.
"You've already said you don't trust me. Has anything I said made you trust me more or less? I'm guessing it's the latter. And I don't see you volunteering details about your past."
"My past doesn't mean much here."
"Doesn't it? So far, you've done more than I ever could to keep us alive. I haven't grilled you about what type of survival skills you have or how you learned them."
He was quiet for a moment. "Fair point," he said at last. "But I'd disagree with me doing more. You knew about the trap in the w
oods, you kept the gremlins off us, and you can see the portal. Maybe even open it."
"I told you before, I can't open the portal."
"Maybe, but your skills are helping keep us alive all the same."
"Sure, right, until I push too far and kill myself."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"You don't know anything about Readers, do you? It's how most of us die. We follow the Path, which burns a lot of energy. If we get caught up in it, it kills us, and chances are we won't notice until it's too late."
"I didn't know that."
“Really," I said, yawning again. "It seems to be one of the only things most people do know."
"Is that what happened a few days ago at the portal?"
"Has it only been a few days?"
Boone ignored the remark. "You tried the portal until your nose bled and you passed out."
I lifted my hands to my face automatically. "That's never happened before. At least not that I know. I didn't notice any blood."
"I wiped it off when I moved you here."
"Thanks," I mumbled, then shifted around, trying to find a more comfortable spot.
"Get some sleep," Boone said.
"You'll keep watch?"
"I'll be up."
"Wake me when it's time for my watch." I thought about that for a moment. "What do you do when you're on watch? I never learned."
Boone chuckled under his breath. "Go to sleep."
Sleep came quicker than I had expected.
I didn't remember much from my dreams. They were disjointed, and when Boone woke me up, they melted away. He didn't say anything, but he looked grumpy and lapsed into an uneasy sleep of his own.
This left me alone with a deep sense of homesickness. My mind wandered to what everyone would be doing this time of the day. Back home, I would be sleeping, that one was easy. Unless we were on a case, there was a good chance I would have been missing a sunrise.
Gran kept odd hours, so it was hard to say when she might be awake or asleep. I guess that depended on what she saw in the future.
Vincent was about as big of a morning person as I was, so he would still be asleep as well. Or would he be working on getting me home?
Logan and Rider were both ‘early bird catches the worm’ kind of people. Rider might be up and running at this time of the day. I had snapped at him before I disappeared, which had left our friendship on even rockier terms.
This was no good. At least Boone was asleep. Briefly, I wondered what he missed back home. Once again, tears threatened until I scrubbed my eyes to make them go away.
The first order of business was getting home. Forget Wyna and her offer.
What did concentrate on getting home mean? What did we need to do?
I stood and stretched, increasing my blood flow while staying as quiet as possible so as not to wake Boone.
The sad truth was the only thing we could do was sit and stare at where a portal should be and hope it opened, or at least showed some signs of life. Maybe if someone started to open it, just gave it a little push, I would be able to help it along.
My mind went to Vincent and wondered if he waited for me at the other end.
That’s a stupid thought, though. He would be busy. They'd all be busy trying to get us back.
And if they weren't, they were going to get an earful from me when I see them.
The sun began to stretch into the sky. Boone had let me sleep most of the night, but since there wasn't anything for us to do, there was no use in waking him up. I thought about going to get water, but Boone's vague indication of where it was located was a recipe for disaster if I went searching on my own.
The rustling noises started in the forest. Something small had to be nosing its way through the underbrush. Now that the sky was getting light enough, I took a closer look at the woods and the meadow. No gremlins lurked in the trees, as far as I could tell. Since I'd shown them I had metal, they'd be back at some point.
Not that I minded. They were cute, in a way. It was hard to believe Wyna when she called them the old ones. They acted like toddlers on steroids. If that's what old age was like, it had an appeal.
I stretched and twisted, getting my muscles to move more after a night on the ground. The blue-green grass was a pretty sight to look at as I twisted one way, then the other. When I turned away from our camp, something sprouted from the grass.
Startled, I nearly tripped over my feet. The person was outlined in the sun, maybe a bit shorter than I was, but certainly not gremlin sized.
"Boone." I received no answer, so I stepped toward him and glanced down. "Boone." I dared to raise my voice above a whisper.
When I looked back at the figure, the person was no longer alone. Three figures stood there.
"What do we have?" Boone rose to his feet next to me and joined me. For all the noise he made, he must have been tiptoeing, unless he was part elf.
"I'm not sure." A tingling on the back of my neck made me turn around. There were more behind us. On the hill, it looked like others were rising from the ground as well.
"Where'd they come from?" Boone asked.
"I swear one minute the field was empty and the next someone was there. And now they're all around."
Boone took in the others before turning back to the first. I kept my eyes on the people behind us and tried my hardest to trust Boone to have my back.
Someone made screeching noises, but I didn’t turn to see who it was.
"Whoever they are," I said, "they're trying to talk. That's a good sign, right?"
"That might depend on what they're saying." Boone cleared his throat and spoke louder. "I'm sorry, but we don't understand the language."
The sun had fully risen and was no longer hiding the features of those that surrounded us. They were people, most of them shorter than I was, which wasn't something I often see. They were also green and had an almost leathery look.
"Gremlins?" I asked Boone.
"Maybe."
The screeches began again. They wore clothes that looked handmade, but constructed well. If they were gremlins, then it seemed odd to think their old people went running around naked after spending their lives in clothes.
"They're moving closer," I said in a low voice the moment they started toward us.
"Here too," Boone said under his breath.
"Is Wyna around?" I called. "We can't understand you, but perhaps she could translate."
"I am here," Wyna said.
I jumped and banged into Boone. Wyna appeared seemingly from nowhere, next to the woods. She stood very near to where the portal had opened.
"Oh, um, hi," I said lamely. My focus was torn between Wyna and the still-advancing gremlins. "It's good to see you. Um, do you know who these people are?"
"They are young ones. Actually, middle ones, but they do not like the name," Wyna said.
"So, they're gremlins? That's good." I looked at the closest gremlin and saw that he had a weapon. "At least I think it is." The weapon wasn't in his hand, which I took as a silver lining.
"Do you know what they want?" Boone asked.
"Yes," Wyna said. "They are here for you."
"Why do they—" I started, but then wavered. My mind automatically reached out and jumped the darkness in at the edge of my mind, taking refuge in the Path. I tried to throw up some semblance of a defense, but the Path had altered in flow around us. Instead of smooth rivers, it ran away as if I were the center of a target which repelled it. It fled.
Some semblance of Path remained, but the awkwardness made it difficult to grab onto.
I couldn't shape the Path as it streamed away.
"Why do they want us?" Boone asked, taking over while I fumbled with the Path.
"They would like to speak with you," Wyna said.
"Okay," I said. "We'll talk with them.
"We will?" Boone asked.
"Why not?" I asked.
Boone sighed. "Okay."
Wyna made a screeching noise, b
ut she kept her eyes on us.
As one, the figures stopped moving forward. The first person that had arrived, shrieked what must have been a reply. Back and forth, they went, and then there was silence. Complete silence.
The gremlins looked into the forest and the air appeared to freeze. The trees didn't blow, and the consistent rustling noise that came from the forest stilled.
Ominous. Foreboding. These words popped into my head. Something lurked in those woods. Whatever it was, no one looked ready to deal with it.
When I looked back at the gremlins that had flanked us, many of them had disappeared. Looking around, only a handful of those that had ringed us in remained.
"What's going on?" I asked, keeping my voice low.
"The creature is moving," Wyna said. "You must go quickly."
The stress that we felt didn't seem to faze Wyna. She kept her back to the forest and looked as though she couldn't care less what was behind her.
However, there was nothing there. Even with the Path behaving oddly, I could see there was nothing close by.
Then, why did it feel like I was being watched?
"Where do we go?" Boone asked.
"They wish to take you to their city," Wyna said, calmly.
"How far away is that?" I asked.
"Many, many harrocks," Wyna said.
"What the heck does that mean?" I asked, still keeping my voice low.
"Far," Wyna said.
"We don't want to get too far from the portal," Boone said.
There was a keening noise, which came from what I hoped was very far off.
"Or maybe we do," I said, watching the woods nervously.
"They will settle on taking you to... a town. Not far from here," Wyna said. "With the beast moving, they will not stay long.”
I could feel the indecision radiating from Boone behind me. The noise sounded far off, but it made my skin crawl. And from experience, I knew that the closer I was to any type of predator, the more they would want to find me.
Hopefully, it would remain far away. I closed the Path, wanting to save my strength for later.
"I think we need to go," I said to Boone.
"And if the portal opens?" Boone asked.
"If it opens once, it will open again. I'd like to be alive when that happens, though."
AIR Series Box Set Page 107
