~
By the time we filed into the mess hall for lunch, the morning’s history lesson had been forgotten. We loaded our plates with sandwiches and made for our usual table.
“Uh oh,” Rain said suddenly, looking at something over my shoulder. “Uh, Sky?”
We all twisted to see what she was looking at, and my heart seemed to sink all the way down through my body, trickle out of my feet and pool into my boots.
Eleanora was sitting with Phoenix, smiling and laughing away. But the thing that had made me die inside was the fact that Phoenix was smiling and talking back to her. As we watched, Eleanora laughed loudly, tossing her hair over one shoulder.
“What?” I heard myself ask weakly. “Are they... I mean...”
Rain spoke quickly to another student and then leant into the centre of the table.
“Turns out they’ve been dating for a few days now,” she said sadly, her eyes on me. “When we went to Keyes.”
I remembered that Phoenix had stayed behind, and so had Eleanora and the other mages. My heart seemed to leave my person altogether.
“So he won’t talk to me, his own soul mate...” my voice trailed off and I clenched my fists.
I’d had enough.
I stood abruptly and strode from the hall, ignoring Dena’s and the other’s calls for me to come back. I pushed the front doors open and headed out into the bright sunshine, making for the river where I’d arrived.
I was going home. I’d stayed in this new world long enough.
I broke into a run as I neared the forest edge. I could hear the river and I let the sound guide me to it. When I stumbled upon it, I realised it was running much faster than the day I’d burst through its surface and found myself in another world.
I splashed into the icy water. The water was almost up to my chest when the current yanked my feet from beneath me and I realised that I’d made a grievous mistake.
I was pulled under the surface, and for a few seconds I couldn’t tell which way was up and which was down. I floundered, kicking my feet and I managed to break the surface. I managed to gulp down a lungful of air before I was pulled back under.
I was helpless, a ragdoll in the icy grips of the river. I surfaced again and I spied a tree root jutting out into the river just up from me. As I got sucked back under, I remembered where the river ended up.
I’d seen on maps that this river ended in a waterfall, and judging by the increasing speed of the water, I was getting close to it; that tree root was my only hope. I forced my way back to the surface just as it passed. I struggled madly, and my foot hit a submerged rock. I quickly pushed off against it, and my scrabbling fingers came into contact with the root. I gripped it tightly, pulling my waterlogged body to the bank. I was reaching for another root as the other one gave way. I cried out, just once, before the river reclaimed me. Just as I’d resigned myself to the depths at the bottom of the waterfall, hands gripped the arm that I’d managed to wrestle above the surface and heaved. I resurfaced, gasping and crying at the same time. The muddy bank was the most wonderful feeling in the world as I crawled up it, coughing and hacking up river water.
“Are you alright?” someone asked, and I found myself looking into eyes the colour of the sun.
I didn’t answer; I was more concerned with breathing.
“Yeah, I’m ok,” I wheezed eventually, now rather embarrassed. I huddled my legs to my chest, already shaking from the cold. “Thanks.”
“No worries,” my rescuer said. He was wearing a yellow tunic the same colour as his eyes, and strands of dirty blonde hair fell into eyes that were looking at me with concern. “What were you doing?”
“Trying to go home,” I replied, looking at the river distrustfully. “I came here through a portal in the river. I was hoping it would take me back.”
“So you’re from the human realm then?” he asked, and I nodded confirmation. “I’m from here. From Gowar.”
“You probably think I’m crazy,” I mumbled into my dripping sleeve.
“A little,” he replied, though his tone wasn’t unkind. “I’m Dustin.”
“Sky,” I said automatically. “Thanks, Dustin.”
As his name rolled off of my tongue, I realised why he seemed familiar.
“You’re Eleanora’s soul mate.” I said, unable to keep the accusation out of my tone.
“Yeah, so?”
I climbed to my feet, shivering with cold.
“Thanks for saving me,” I said again, and left him sitting on the bank of the river.
He didn’t try to follow me.
Soul Fire Page 20