She slowed and went around the corner, and Trendan knew this time to let her lean. How had he lived this long and never been on a motorcycle before? He didn’t care that he was behind a woman. He would happily do it all day. He’d declined a helmet and was pleased he did. The feel of the wind on his face reminded him of boat trips a long time ago. Trips he wasn’t supposed to be on.
Sitting this close to her was distracting. He almost fell off more than once. The intense vibration from their souls seemed to level out after they were moving. Considering his reason for existing was souls, he didn’t know nearly as much as he should about them. With anything else, he could look up information. The likelihood that there was a book about souls was zero—unless it was written by some fraud claiming to be a specialist.
As she slowed the bike, he realized they were at the location they’d agreed on. He couldn’t help the feeling of disappointment that the ride was over.
He got off, so she could without hindrance, and then smiled when she took off the helmet.
“You’re not a bad passenger.” She set the helmet on the seat. “What did you think?”
“I think—” He looked at the machine. “I may have to get one for myself.”
Jerika laughed, and it was the best sound he’d ever heard. “Flora and Ava are great teachers.”
He wasn’t sure which ones those were. “Really? You didn’t take a class or something?”
She shook her head as she looked around. “No. Espy wanted one first before most of us were old enough. So, Capri started collecting them—” She smiled at him. “And now we have a very eclectic collection.”
“I’ve noticed.” He wanted to stand here and look at her but knew they had things to do. He looked around. “I suppose we should find the river.”
She nodded and tucked the key to her bike in her pocket. “I can hear it. Any idea what we’re looking for?”
Trendan exhaled as he decided on a direction. “No idea at all.”
“Well, it’s a nice day for a hike.”
He motioned for her to go first. “After you.”
As she walked, he realized he knew nothing about her. Had she always been in the city, or did she come from the country? “I just realized we might get a whole conversation in without having to rush somewhere else.” He felt awkward trying to start a conversation with her. You would think at his age, conversing with anyone would be easy.
“That’s true. I was thinking when we were in Alterealm that we hadn’t had a chance to talk.” She ducked under a branch and then looked back at him.
Trendan lifted it out of his way. “I was wondering if you have always been in the city or if you moved there.”
She paused and turned to look at him. “My story isn’t a pretty one. I’ve always been there.” She started walking again.
He wasn’t sure what that meant. No one’s story was pretty. His certainly hadn’t been. Born a prince. Stuck collecting souls of the dying. “How did you end up with Capri?”
She slowed so she wouldn’t have to stop to answer him. “She found me after my aunt died. I was living on the street trying to survive.” She didn’t look back at him. “I was slowly losing my mind because I didn’t know what was happening to me.” She did turn to him briefly. “Seeing souls isn’t something that’s listed in a doctor’s compendium.”
Trendan touched her shoulder and then stopped. She turned and looked at him. “I feel like I should apologize for what you’ve been through. If my people had…”
“I’m pretty sure it’s not your fault that my bloodline is a mix of four realms.”
He frowned. “No, but we should…”
She stepped closer and put her hand on his arm. “What’s happened wasn’t something one person or realm is responsible for. This was planned a long time ago.” She shrugged. “Maybe not the mixed DNA to the extreme of mine and the girls, but the breakdown of the system was plotted long before either of us were around.” She gave him a big grin. “And yes, I know how old you are, or I have a really good idea.” She looked at his hair. “The long hair looked good on you, by the way. You should grow it back.”
Trendan touched his hair. “I try to keep it with current styles now, so I blend.”
Jerika laughed softly. “The look you give people screams how much you don’t blend.” She started walking.
Trendan was quiet as he followed her. What did that mean? He blended. When he was in Interealm to do his job, he usually elected to be invisible. It was easier that way. You couldn’t just walk up to a person who was in their last moments of life and say, ‘Hey. I’m here for your soul.’ There were enough horror stories out there about soul eaters and worse. Mistakes had been made over the centuries where a soul watcher was seen, and then the masses cried devil’s work. He rolled his eyes and then shook his head.
“We’re close.”
He looked over her head to see if it was visible yet. “I suppose we start looking for whatever we’re looking for.”
“Too bad Crissy and Yuna didn’t give more instruction.”
He smiled. “I don’t think visions come with step-by-step directions.”
“That’s too bad.” She stopped. “There’s the river.”
Trendan stopped beside her and looked around. The river was rushing past them. “I see what Crissy meant about staying out of the water.”
Jerika nodded and moved closer. “Yes. That would not be fun.” She looked along the embankment and then in the other direction. “Did Elyas give any specific details?”
“An arch.” Trendan looked at the other side of the furious water. “He said there was an arch of natural growth near the entrance of the cave.” He glanced at her. “Anything familiar from what you saw?”
She put her hands on her hips, turned slowly, and then shook her head. “The growth doesn’t match what I saw.” She moved just her eyes and glanced his way. “But it was a long time ago. I can’t even be sure the same plant life is here that was before.”
“Great.” He nodded his head slowly and watched the water speed by. “I guess we could walk along one way and then try the other.”
“Okay.” She checked both directions and then went left. “The river I saw wasn’t moving like this.”
“A lot has changed. Development causes the natural flow of water to be altered.” He’d watched that happen to many villages over here. They built up the land, and the water runoff changed or disappeared altogether.
“I guess that’s true.” She slowed and looked into the trees. “I’m actually shocked that there aren’t any buildings here.”
“Might be protected because of the river or against—” He waved his hand around. “I don’t know what they’re called, but it has something to do with the water.” He grinned when she raised a brow and looked at him. “Ulric rambles about a lot of things. All he does is read when we’re not busy. His mother is the same. Only her thing is history.”
“Has anyone talked to her about information to help us sort through this?”
He stopped and then started walking again. “No. To do that, we’d have to tell her everything.”
“I guess you can do that after you’ve announced to the whole realm what’s happening.”
Trendan stopped so fast that his footing slipped. “I do not look forward to that.” He rubbed his hand over his forehead. “Bas wants to just blurt it out, but how can we do that to an entire realm that has been in our care since the start of time?”
“It’s not going to be easy.”
“No.” He started walking again. “So many have suffered because of the low female population.” He narrowed his eyes and looked across the river, then decided it wasn’t a cave he was looking at but a heavy-growth area. “So many watchers forced to live longer than they wanted to.” He glared at the ground. “And we’re just to stand before them and say it was all a lie.”
“It wasn’t your lie. You’ve only been doing what you had to.”
“Do you think they’ll see it that way?”
She studied him for a few seconds. “It’s doubtful.”
“Yes, it is.” He grabbed a branch and pulled it up so she could go underneath. “Have you seen anything that seems familiar?”
She stopped and took a deep breath as she looked around. “No.” Turning, she looked up at him, her eyes searching his face.
He couldn’t think past the coloring of her eyes. “Your eyes are so amazing.”
She scoffed. “You mean weird.”
“No. I mean amazing.” He pointed to his own. “All I see are dark eyes that are dark in any light.”
She moved closer and touched his arm as she stared into his eyes. “I like them.”
He inhaled slowly. Their souls were causing his arm to buzz. He knew if they touched for longer, it would travel throughout their body.
She looked at her hand. “Can you feel it?”
“Yes.”
When she looked up at him, the color of her eyes had changed yet again. “Is it like this so your people can’t miss finding the one?”
“I don’t know.” It was true. “I’ve never thought much about it. I had other priorities.”
“Doing your duty.”
“Yes.”
She tilted her head and continued to study him. “When was the last time you had fun?”
“According to Ulric, never.” He was having trouble thinking past the feeling moving through him. He looked at her warm hand against his skin. How was she touching him? “You’re not wearing your necklace.” How had he just realized that?
She smiled. “I took off before we got on the bike. I didn’t think it would be a pleasant ride if you couldn’t be near me.”
He opened his mouth and then closed it and nodded. “You have a point.”
“I suppose—” She looked around. “—we should continue looking.”
“We should.” He agreed but didn’t move. She didn’t move away either.