“Who’s leaving?” the older woman asked, setting down the bag of amazing smelling food. We’d been late to breakfast because of the animal situation, but even so, I could feel my stomach growling as the scent wafted out of the bag. It had been an hour since we ate, but with our magic still recharging, I was already aching for more.
“Niam,” Jerry explained.
“What?! Why? Because of this handsome fella?” she pointed at me and I gave her my most charming smile.
I offered her my hand, “Xarius, nice to meet you.”
She shook it, “Betty. Are you a friend of Niam’s?”
I nodded. “I am. I came searching for him.” I would let Niam decide on how many details were needed for our cover story, not knowing what he’d told them.
“But I thought—?” Betty began, but then stopped herself.
Niam smiled kindly at her. “I thought all my friends hated me when I left, but Xari hadn’t been there when I said my goodbyes. He came all this way here to make sure I was okay.”
“Oh,” she said, holding a hand over her heart. “We all need friends like that.” She gave me a look that said the same as her emotions did. She was grateful and happy.
“I was leaving our home town myself, so we decided to travel the world together, spend some time doing what we want to do while we’re young,” I tacked on, hoping it would work for our story.
“I think that’s healthy,” Jerry said, scratching his stubble. “I wish I’d done that myself back in my youth.”
“Oh, you stop that,” Betty chided. “You’re only fifty-one, not dying.”
I laughed with Niam, understanding clearly why he had trouble saying goodbye. They were good people. “I’m glad Niam found you. I can’t imagine what he would’ve done had he not had your kindness to help him out.” I really wanted to thank them for looking out for my bonded, but that wouldn’t do.
“Oh, that was entirely our pleasure,” Betty chuckled while a blush formed on her cheeks. “Niam has been nothing but a sweetheart to us.” She patted him on the arm, “I hope you’ll return to us with many stories of your adventures, but remember to have fun. We’ll still be here when you come back.”
He swiped his tears away, moved by having people care for him. I let him have his moment with them as I filled the van up with gas. I made it my personal mission to see them again before we returned home. I just hoped I would get the same chance with Julie.
Chapter 19
Niam
We drove until Xari reached the same place he’d taken me after our chase in the woods, at least that’s what he told me. It was deep in the forest and we drove on a cleared road until we reached our destination. I figured it was some sort of campsite, not that there was anything other than nature, but the cleared space where you could drive indicated that cars had been there before. The space we stopped at was like a parking lot, a big circle with dried mud on the ground and trees surrounding it. We were the only ones here, free to practice our magic and let out our familiars.
“I was thinking we let our pets out while we work on the locket,” I said, jumping out of the van.
Xari followed. “Sounds good to me. Maybe we’ll get lucky and get a direction we can follow.” I really hoped so. If the two mages that we knew were here weren’t soulmatches, then we had to wait for who knew how long before the others arrived. I wasn’t dying to return, but I also didn’t like living in limbo and since Xari had already lived like that for five years, I wished he wouldn’t have to experience that again.
“Leon come back,” he ordered, and the ostrich came into view, cocking his head as he took in Xari.
“Snowflake,” I said, hoping the name would be enough. He appeared and bumped his head against my waist, purring happily.
“So, you were right not to say their name at the diner,” Xari grinned.
“You’ll find that I usuallyamright,” I sassed, scratching Snowflake behind the ear. “Do you need to hunt for food?” I asked, waiting for Snowflake to indicate he’d understood me. “If you’re hungry you can hunt, we’re staying here for a while, and I’ll call foryou if that changes.” He licked my hand and ran deeper into the forest.
“I guess that meant yes,” Xari laughed, then asked Leon to do the same. Once Leon disappeared into the woods, too, not to hunt exactly, but likely to find something he could eat, we opened the van and sat down on the back between the open backdoors.
Taking the locket out, he handed it over to me. “Do you see any opening?” I examined it, surprised by the weight of it.
“No, but I think we need our combined magic to open it. Look.” I pointed to the two different metals that surrounded it. I took that as a sign two were needed.
“I hadn’t even thought about what they meant.”
I took his hand in mine, guiding it over to my other hand that held the locket. “We need to somehow use magic without me accidentally causing you pain again.” I wasn’t sure how I’d done it yesterday, and I really didn’t want to hurt him again.
“I think our magic will be easier to control now that our bodies aren’t new to it, besides, we have our familiars now, too, and I bet they couldn’t be summoned if we didn’t have enough control.” His words helped reassure me, somewhat. I still feared hurting him, butI needed to at least try. “Think about wanting to open it,” he guided, then closed his eyes. I followed his lead and with my own eyes closed, I began to think about wanting it open. It began growing hotter to the touch, warming between our hands. Then we heard it, a soft click.
