Elias firmed his jaw and took a deep breath. “Do your worst.”
Dakarai, picking up where he left off, said, “You don’t fall in love easily, but when you do, youreallydo.”
The smile fell right off Elias’s face.
“What? You’ve never been in love? Or you don’t believe in it?” Dakarai asked.
“Both, and how do I know you aren’t basing this ‘reading’ on things you already know about me?”
“Because you are the most talkative closed book I’ve ever met. You distract people by talking a bunch of shit,” Dakarai said. “They don’t even realize you haven’t revealed anything about yourself. I may as well have met you five minutes ago.” He ran his fingers along Elias’s hand one last time before closing it up and giving it back to him like a sacred offering. “The calluses on your hand make it hard to see where your heart line ends, and I can’t see the lines on the side that would tell me how many serious relationships you’ll have.”
“My handwouldbe the one to tell me I’m going to be alone forever,” Elias said with a grin. He let out a breath and then leaned back, propping himself up on his arms again. “Enough about me, already. What doesyourheart line say?”
Dakarai’s hands were long and bony, with veins that ran up his arms like tree roots. The edges of his nails were stained black, presumably from paint or some other art supply that was resistant to washing—the true hands of an artist.
“Well, according to my palm, I’m a true romantic, because I’ve got one deep soulmate line.” He showed Elias, pointing to the side of his hand below his pinkie. The line was as dark as if something had burned it into his skin. “But according to me, who knows?”
Elias examined his own hands. Dakarai was right: Either he didn’t have any soulmate lines, or his hands were just too damaged to tell. “You don’t believe in soulmates? You seem like you would.”
“I don’t know anymore.”
“I think you only start believing in stuff like that after it happens to you anyway,” Elias said, “like people who don’t start believing in God until they have a near-death experience.”
The two fell silent, both leaning against the rail, their backs to the city. Dakarai’s dark eyes bored straight into Elias’s, making his heart beat loudly in his ears.
“It’s such a nice night,” Dakarai said after a few moments of comfortable silence. He had one of those voices that could cause a hush over a room, which seemed to startle Dakarai every time he spoke. He always started his sentences louder than he finished them.
“Do you like how you talk?” Elias asked, catching Dakarai off guard.
“What?” Dakarai laughed. “You mean my voice?”
“Yeah, or just how you sound.”
He was quiet a moment. “I’ve never really thought about it. Do you like how you talk?”
“Hell no,” Elias retorted. “Every time I open my mouth, it’s like my whole neighborhood comes out.”
“You do saytalkweird.Tawk.”
“Youtawkslow as hell. Everybody down here does.”
“You got somewhere to be?”
Elias bit back a smile. “Yeah, and so do you. We have a scavenger hunt to get back to.”
He showed Dakarai the phone, and they watched the timer hit zero before a new envelope icon appeared containing another number,1, and the next task.
Random Act of Connection
Make a new friend.
17
Kai
9:33 p.m.
Looking around at the pockets of friends siloed in their own corners of the rooftop, Kai bristled at the thought of having to talk to them. “How are we going to make a friend in ten minutes? I couldn’t tell you the last time I made a new friend,” Kai conceded. “I don’t even think I know how.”
