Page 63 of Solivagant

I could still see him. But I could see more. It wasn’t just Jem I was looking at.

What had happened to him?

Humans couldn’t be reborn. I remembered that now. But I was certain Jem had, or at least his soul was here, in someone else’s body. There were two. Jem, and a stranger.

Last night, for a moment, my Jem had come to me. His eyes were glazed and yet his soul burned bright and beautiful. He’d recognized me.

“Khorli.” He’d said my name in the stranger’s voice. Then he’d fallen into me, and I’d watched as the light of his soul retreated again, replaced with another. But I held him safe. Kept him warm.

Then the stranger woke up and ran from me again. I couldn’t let him leave, so I followed him. But he hadn’t tried to escape me this time. He went to the creek, and then he explored the village. Now he was here.

He was trying to understand.

How much of him was Jem? I didn’t know. I wasn’t sure what to do with him.

I wanted my Jem back. As he was. As I’d left him.

But I couldn’t have him. Not the way he was.

Because I’d been too late.

Because I didn’t save him.

32

JOSIAH

My suspicions were confirmed. Tusks was following me at a distance. But he wouldn’t intervene as long as I wasn’t trying to escape.

I probably should have been trying to, but there were answers I needed, and something that scared me more than the monster stalking me. Something bigger, and far more dangerous. It lived inside me, in the darkest parts of my soul. It stalked me much like he did. With every answer I sought out, I could feel it closing in on me.

Let it.

I wasn’t sure anymore what fate would be worse, letting it catch me or continuing to evade it. But something had to change. And it seemed that was happening with or without my agreement, so I might as well meet it head on.

My knees cracked as I stood again, then I continued walking, looking for anything else that might tell me what the fuck was going on.

Tusks continued to follow. I couldn’t see him, and I couldn’t hear him, but I felt him. The weight of his eyes on me.

Up ahead, I followed the sound of rushing water over rocks, singing insects and frogs.

This place felt familiar too.

River stones crunched beneath my boots as I continued walking, something inside me stirring, either in warning or excitement I wasn’t sure, but it was a good indication that I was heading toward something significant.

That was only confirmed when Tusks stopped his silent stalking and moved—faster than I expected he’d be able to for a creature his size—to block my path.

“What?” I asked, folding my arms.

He huffed.

I tried to step around him and he mirrored the action, blocking my path again.

“Why can’t I go that way?”

A low warning growl was his response.

“So, I can’t leave, but I also can’t explore over here?”