Page 276 of Hunters and Prey

I knew exactly who I was.

I knew who Black was.

I even knew which dimension I was trying to reach.

I sat up, still breathing hard, and tried to decide if I’d been successful.

I was indoors.

My legs and lower body sprawled, naked on a stone floor that someone had polished to be as smooth as glass. Now that my eyes were adjusting, I realized it wasn’t completely dark.

Light came from above, illuminating parts of the cavernous room.

I looked around, noting the high ceiling, the familiar paintings on the walls, the stone basin that ran down the center of the rectangular hall. My eyes paused on the door at the other end, apparently open to the night air, the flaps tied back to reveal a grassy hill, faintly illuminated by the night sky.

Looking up, I stared at the hole in the roof, a good eighty feet above me.

I looked down at myself.

Apart from a few bruises and scrapes from hard landings and a fight I got into with some kind of wild boar-like thing with tusks, I was pretty much intact.

Now I was sitting on smooth stone, next to a pearl-white basin ribboned with pale blue, the colors sparking and shining where the moonlight hit the granite-like stone under the round hole in the roof. The basin, now absent of fire, stood silent, and for the first time, I really felt the building as a kind of temple.

I climbed carefully to my feet, testing out my limbs.

Stretching out my light, almost nervous now, I felt for him.

I got a hit pretty much instantly.

Allie and Revik’s house.

Of course.

Revik said they would feed him.

He was asleep.

I watched him sleep for a few seconds through my light, feeling weirdly invasive, but too relieved to feel him alive and well and near me to stop doing it anyway. Letting out a sigh, I combed my fingers through my long hair, exhaling out stress I hadn’t even realized I’d been holding in my body.

I felt his light recognize mine, pull on mine.

It was really, really hard not to pull back.

I felt our lights missing each other, and in the end I had to withdraw, biting my lip as I stared towards the door to the long hall, knowing I’d wake him if I didn’t stop.

I started walking towards the door.

It seemed to take forever to cross that cavernous space, but when I emerged out onto the grass, the stillness made me pause again, shivering in the nighttime chill as I glanced around the town square. It felt really late at night. Too late to knock on anyone’s door.

I’d walk up to Allie and Revik’s.

If I walked fast enough, it should be enough to keep me warm.

No one would see me walking naked, not at this time of night, and hopefully it would be close to dawn by the time I got up there. If not, I could probably find a blanket in one of their outdoor sheds for the animals.

That, or I could go swimming on the beach, and just keep exerting myself until the sun came up––then call for Black to bring me some clothes.

Smiling as I thought about that, I decided it was a good fallback plan.

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