Adi swallowed. "Do you regret giving all this up for me?"
She dreaded the answer, but she had to know. Honi grabbed her hand again and squeezed.
"No. Even before I met you, I knew that this wasn’t my path. And after what we’ve been through, I realized that being a spirit walker was far more important, for my people, and really for all of humanity."
Then he laughed. "That sounds pretty pretentious, right? For all of humanity?"
Adi laughed as well. “Yeah, it does. It’s not wrong though. There aren’t many of us spirit walkers left. If we don’t do our job, the balance might tip. A lawyer can’t deal with that, only a spirit walker can."
Honi nodded, keeping his eyes on the road.
“At one time, before I met you, I thought I could do both. Be a spirit walker and defend my people, you know? I realized eventually that it wouldn’t work. I never told you, but I was in trouble academically before all the stuff went down with you. I was too tired to study, and my mind was elsewhere. I probably wouldn’t have passed pre-law and definitely not my bar exam.”
For a moment their eyes met in perfect understanding. Then Honi slowed the car.
“Okay, we’re here. And look, John beat us to it.”
He pointed at a beat-up pickup truck outside one of the last bungalows in the village.
5
Honi’s nose wrinkled as he took in the general air of neglect. A rusted shell of a car sat outside the yard on cinder blocks. A slightly newer version of the same Chevy was next to it, its rust-colored varnish on the hood dulled with age and exposure.
Honi’s eyes narrowed. There was a boy sitting on the front of the car, head bowed and concentrating on a block of paper in his lap. The kid was maybe twelve or thirteen, skinny, with unruly black hair, dressed in ill-fitting hand-me-downs.
The car stopped in front of the bungalow, and Honi got out. The boy looked up and frowned at the newcomers.
“Hi there,” Honi called out. “What you drawing?”
The kid’s forehead furrowed. He covered up his work with one hand, then jumped off the car.
“What’s it to you, mister?”
He had a point. After all, he didn’t know Honi from Adam. Honi raised both hands, trying to look as non-threatening as he could.
“I used to live here. Are the Fishers in? They’re my parents. I’m Honi Fisher.”
The boy’s eyes lit up. Now that Honi got a good look at him, the kid was probably older than he’d first thought. Sixteen would be a better guess. He certainly needed some feeding, skinny as he was.
“Alright! They’ve been talking about you. I’m Con, your cousin.”
Con’s eyes were bright with excitement.
“No way! I wouldn’t have recognized you,” Honi shot back. Last time he’d seen him was two years ago, when Con had been an obnoxious brat and living a two-hour drive away. Honi hadn’t blamed him then for his abrasive attitude and wouldn’t blame him now. Con’s mom had her own problems, and her son had never been a priority in her life.
“So you’re living here now?”
Con nodded, his eyes to the ground. There was a story there but now wasn’t the time or the place to find out more. Honi made a mental note to ask his parents what was up with the kid. He tried again.
“Can I see what you’re drawing?”
This time, Con smiled and held out his pad. Honi took it off him. His eyes widened. The kid was good. He’d sketched animals—hyenas with their distinctive slanting backs and wolves with their lips menacingly drawn back.
Honi stared at Con. How had he not realized sooner that this was the boy he’d met last night while spirit-walking? There was no doubt in Honi’s mind that the creatures Con had so expertly drawn and shaded were spirit animals. There was something about them, something wild and unpredictable that spoke of realism, but also of something more than ordinary animals.
Honi surreptitiously looked for Con’s own spirit animal. All humans had them, usually from birth. Sometimes it took a little while longer, but by puberty, all humans were matched with their spirit animal. Except for Adi, of course. She was past the age where she should have found hers.
There was no creature near Con, though. Not on the ground or under his shirt. The animals were curious. Con’s should have peeked out from under his clothes or from behind his body to check out Honi. Especially since he was a spirit walker and therefore intimately linked with the other world.
“What do you think?” Con looked expectantly at Honi.
“You’re very good. These are amazing. Do you draw from books?”
Con frowned. “No, I… I keep having these nightmares. Usually I get chased by those things. I know what wolves are, but I’ve never seen these other things before. They’re really ugly, and sometimes, they laugh at me when I run away.”
Honi wasn’t sure how to respond. He waited for Con to say more when Adi cleared her throat behind Honi. She stepped up next to Honi and held out her hand.
“Hi, I’m Adi, Honi’s girlfriend. Nice to meet you.”
Con shook her hand, obviously pleased to be treated like an adult. Then his cheeks flushed and he turned shy.
“Nice to meet you, too. Sorry, I gotta go home; my mom is waiting for me.”
Honi doubted that but nodded. His gaze followed the kid as he ran up the street towards his own home. Adi linked her arm with his.
“What’s up with him? Did you notice the smell?”
As a matter of fact, he had. Con’s clothes had smelled bad, of liquor and old sweat. He didn’t seem drunk, more like as if beer had been spilled on his shirt and pants, and they hadn’t been washed. Honi frowned. The kid could probably use a friend. He didn’t want to tell Adi just yet what Con had told him earlier out of her earshot. She was already nervous about meeting his parents again. Maybe Con was a late starter—there was still time for his spirit animal to show up. Honi had been thirteen when a spirit quest had revealed Ho’neo to him. But he’d heard of others who were quite a few years older.
He made a mental note to ask John what could be done if an intervention was needed. Maybe a spirit quest was just the right thing for the teenager. Honi smiled as he remembered his experiences out in the wilderness. It had been scary, even though he’d never been in any danger. John and his father had made sure of it. But believing he had survived a few days by himself out in the forest had given him a massive boost of self-confidence.
And of course, he’d found his soulmate. Honi’s hand dropped onto the scruff of Ho’neo’s neck. A wet tongue laved his fingers for a moment. Yes, a spirit quest might just be the answer for Con’s problems.
6
The door of the house opened, and an older man stalked out. His eyes lit up as he saw Honi, and Adi witnessed another reunion.
The two men held each other tightly, and Adi saw the relief and love on the face of the older man. She hung back, unsure of her welcome after last night. Honi waved her over and introduced them.
“Adi, this is John. John, meet Adi."
John stuck out his hand and gripped Adi’s in a tight handshake. He smiled—not the broad grin that had popped onto his face when he’d seen Honi—but friendly nonetheless.
"Welcome to Heota. Honi has told me so much about you. I was looking forward to meeting the girl who could make him drop out of college and follow her to Europe at the drop of a hat."
His smile was still on his face, but Adi heard the censure in his words. Oh great, so she wasn’t the devil, but he still resented her for Honi’s actions. She felt her face go tight. This wasn’t the time or the place. She’d have lots more opportunities to discuss this with John.
A sudden movement by his legs made her look down. She concentrated, and with a bit of effort, she saw John’s spirit animal that had popped into existence. A knee-high puma, with sand-colored fur and beautiful brown markings around its amber eyes stared at her.
Adi looked closer—there seemed to be something off about the animal. It wasn’t aggressi
ve or hostile, but its eyes were dull, the tip of its tail was hanging listlessly, and even its whiskers seemed to point downwards. Adi’s forehead wrinkled as she thought. Well, the man had traveled to get here this morning from God knows where, so maybe he was tired.
Spirit animals reflected their humans’ state of mind as much as their physical condition. John wasn’t a young man any more, and it would stand to reason that his spirit animal showed signs of aging. Adi shrugged and dismissed her concerns as John put his arm around Honi’s waist and ushered him towards the open door.
"Come in, come in. Let me show you around.”
The inside of the house was clean, yet showed signs of having seen better days. John’s wife was standing at the sink, washing potatoes. She looked up and smiled as Honi entered the kitchen. He hugged her tightly.
"Oh my God, Honi. You’ve grown since last time."
She looked up at him with so much warmth in her face that Adi was immediately drawn to her. She walked closer and waited for Honi to introduce her. When John’s wife saw Adi, her smile slipped off her face. She recovered immediately, but the warmth with which she’d greeted Honi was gone.
“Hello. You must be Adi. Welcome to Heota.”
Adi smiled, thrown off-balance by the dislike emanating from the woman. It wasn’t the full-out hatred that she’d encountered the night before, but it certainly wasn’t as welcoming as she’d hoped for. Honi was still talking to John and hadn’t noticed the interaction.
Adi blinked, focusing in on the woman’s spirit animal. A Siamese cat with slate-gray fur was perched behind the sink, its pink tongue lapping at the stream of water running out of the tap. It looked up at Adi and hissed.
The animal wasn’t healthy. Its fur wasn’t glossy, and there was yellow mucus encrusted around its nose. Usually, spirit animals mirrored their human’s illnesses. Yet the woman didn’t seem to have a cold.
John called to his wife. “Nora? Did you make some coffee?”.
Adi and Nora turned at the same time as John continued, “You’ll have time for a cup of coffee, right?”
Honi nodded, although Adi could see he wasn’t keen. John boxed him lightly on the shoulder.
"I forgot. Nora, do you know where Judy keeps that disgusting tea Honi likes?"
Adi had to laugh at the relief on Honi’s face. They both disliked coffee and much preferred tea, although Honi could be convinced to drink latte macchiato or cappuccino, as long as there was at least fifty percent milk in the mix. And lots of sugar. And chocolate. Adi had no idea how he managed to drink these concoctions without weighing three-hundred pounds.
Soon they sat around the small square kitchen table. While the couple brought Honi up to date on the gossip in Heota, Adi looked around. The linoleum floor was scuffed, with bits missing in high-traffic areas. Everywhere she looked, it was obvious there was little money. The curry-colored telephone on the wall dated back to the sixties. Adi couldn’t remember when she had last seen this color and a ten-foot cable.
The two cats lay snuggled up to each other underneath the table, both fast asleep. Adi’s eyebrows rose as she stared at the sleeping creatures. This was very unusual. Spirit animals didn’t sleep unless their humans did. John and Nora didn’t look tired. Not tired enough to go to sleep, anyway. There were dark rings under John’s eyes, but the man was in his sixties. Adi didn’t know what he looked like usually. Maybe he was just… old?
By the time they were finished with their tea and the cookies that went with it, Honi was impatient to see his parents.
“They’ll be here any moment. They just had to run an errand,” John reassured him. He turned to Adi, and his eyes softened in the face of her obvious worry.
“Jim feels bad about last night. It’ll be fine."
He smiled at her. Adi nodded, wishing it were that simple.
7
Honi couldn’t sit still. First his foot tapped out an irregular rhythm until Adi shot him an irritated glance. Then he jumped up and paced several times around the kitchen. He couldn’t stop thinking about last night. Even though he knew his parents would be cool eventually, he’d been as shaken as Adi had been by last night’s reception. He had mulled it over again and again, but couldn’t understand why his father had been so rude to his girlfriend.
He knew the elders weren’t impressed with the way he’d dropped his studies, but why would they blame her? It made no sense. Not after John had explained to them what had happened. Not only had it not been his fault, but there was no way he would get into law school now after ending up in hospital from accidentally taking a drug overdose.
“Let’s go outside,” Adi finally said. She took his hand, and soon they were in front of the bungalow. Adi stood in a beam of late-fall sunlight, her eyes closed, head thrown back. His stomach did this weird flippy-thing it always did when he looked at her properly.
So much smaller than him, yet in many ways so much stronger. Her reddish-brown hair moved as the cold wind played with it. Her cheeks were pinched red by the chill that was noticeable in the morning air. And she was so sexy. He was so busy ogling her body that he didn’t realize she’d opened her eyes and was staring right back at him.
“Like what you see?”
The amusement in her husky voice was such a turn-on. He stalked towards her and pulled her into a tight hug. Adi surrendered immediately, her body going soft and molding against his. Her face tipped up, her lips pulled into the I-dare-you smile he loved so much. When he bent down, he brushed his mouth over her forehead, her eyes, peppering featherlight kisses onto her skin until he reached her waiting lips.
She opened on a soft sigh, and he entered her mouth as if he had waited for permission all his life. Adi did this to him. She aroused a hunger in him, a need to be worthy of her, to follow her to hell and back. He lost track of time as his tongue touched hers. This girl was everything. Her scent, the feel of her skin, the way she moaned gently.
A burst of laughter carried on the wind made them jump apart. Yeah, making out in front of his parents’ bungalow right by the road might not be the best idea. Adi stepped away, and he immediately missed the feel of her soft body against him. He shook his head, grinning uncontrollably. This never got old.
Well, there were other things that needed doing around here. Other than his girlfriend. He chuckled at his bad pun before squinting up at the roof.
“It looks like I’m going to have to do some DIY while I’m here," he said, shielding his eyes against the glare. There weren’t any obvious holes in the roof but the tiles looked like some had shifted. Gunk was dripping out of the gutters—rotting leaves spilling over the edges. Adi agreed.
"The gutters need cleaning as well. Once winter comes and freezes the standing water, it can cause all kinds of damage."
“Hey, you guys are still here. Cool.”
Con stood behind them, a big grin on his face. Gone was the cautious, shy boy Honi had met only an hour ago.
“Hey, Con. Did you get done what your mom wanted you to do?”
Like a light had been switched off, Con’s face changed. He mumbled, “I made breakfast if that’s what you mean. She wasn’t up yet.”
Huh. So she wasn’t working and was in bed while her teenage son was out, keeping himself entertained. Honi kept his face still, careful not to show his disapproval. He remembered his mom talking about Melinda’s drinking problems. She wasn’t closely related—his mom’s brother-in-law’s sister, something like that.
They had lived quite a distance away, so he’d never paid much attention. He’d only met Con’s mom a few times growing up. She’d seemed weird to him then, always flirting with the men, married or not. Honi didn’t know what to say to break the uncomfortable silence. He looked at his girlfriend for help, only to find that she was already several yards away.
“I’m checking the back of the house,” Adi called over her shoulder as she wandered off. Her tone clearly said, ‘you deal with it.’ Thanks, girlfriend. He glared at her back before blurting out
, “So about your dreams. Do you get them a lot?”
Con’s eyebrows drew together as he stared at Honi. “Why do you want to know about my nightmares? You some kind of shrink?”
Honi grinned. “Nah, just… I get them, too. I’m sorry, I’m just being nosy.”
“That’s okay. I don’t mind. My mom says she doesn’t want to hear about my dreams because other people’s dreams are always boring. But…” Con trailed off before taking a deep breath and continuing, “I hate them. They’re so scary, sometimes I don’t want to go to sleep.”
Honi nodded encouragingly and waited. Con bit his lip, looking very young and unsure of himself. Honi had to fight off the urge to pull him into a hug. Family or not, he hardly knew the kid. There was something about him, though. Con reminded him of himself—not a kid anymore but definitely not a grownup either. Awkward, a little shy, in his own world. Con’s next words ripped him out of his thoughts and grabbed his entire attention.
“I wake up on top of a hill. There’s grass all around me. A sea of grass. Wind moves it like ocean waves. It’s really pretty, but in my dream, I know something isn’t right. Then they come. At first I just hear them, but then they jump out in front of me. I run. They are fast but I’m faster. Just when I think I’ve lost them, a woman stops me. She stands in front of me and grabs me by the throat. Then she lifts me up. She looks like a witch, and she’s super-strong. She says, ‘Where do you think you’re running to, little rabbit?’ Then she shakes me, and I can’t breathe. She says over and over, ‘Where is she, little rabbit? Where is she?’ I try to tell her I don’t know who she’s talking about, but her hand is so tight, I’m choking. Just when I’m sure I’m dying, I wake up.”
Honi stared at Con in shock. Tears were streaming down the kid’s face. When he noticed the wetness, he wiped at them, furious and embarrassed.
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