Page 147 of A Soul to Steal

“Nobody important,” he stated, before laughing – although quietly since he didn’t want anyone to see them. In some ways, despite the pang in his chest, he felt a little freer.

He sniffed at Gideon’s cheek and let out a low, snorted huff of deep annoyance. “You smell funny, like another creature.”

His smile grew. “They had a dog. He was pretty friendly.” Aleron banked to the right, circling the town, and a spot caught his eye. “There’s one last place I’d like to go.”

It hadn’t originally been on his mental list of destinations, but he wouldn’t mind checking it out. He pointed to a walled-off area that stuck out in this part of town, since it didn’t have any houses within it.

Aleron banked to the left and headed that way.

“Could you land in there?” Just as they began to lose height he added, “Be careful not to break anything. It’ll be really disrespectful if you do.”

The area was dark, with a tree barren of leaves due to the early winter. Its branches looked like gnarly, long fingers, frightfully ready to trap unsuspecting prey in their clutches. Roots hademerged from the ground, the tree large and daunting as it cast webbed shadows upon the dirt.

It was eerie, only because of where it had been planted and what this place signified.

Each one of Aleron’s wing beats disturbed the wet fog that hovered throughout the stone slabs. When they were on solid ground once more, Gideon grabbed his wrist when he looked like he was about to take off.

“Stay with me?” He dragged him along, and Aleron stumbled but readily followed.

“What if someone sees me?” Aleron asked, following him even when he let go.

“No one is going to come here, trust me.” Gideon gestured to the wall blocking out the rest of the town and then the many stone plates surrounding them. “It’s a cemetery, although no one is buried here. It’s just a place we keep so that people can go somewhere to remember those that passed.”

Like it’d been just yesterday, Gideon found the plaque he wanted. He carefully placed his case down as he knelt. After brushing the grime from it, he let out a growl of annoyance. Anger flushed his neck as he looked at his birth parents’ plaque.

There were many names carved into it, but he only had an issue with one: his own.

“You’re fucking kidding me,” Gideon bit out, snatching his heavy case before rising to go find his adoptive family’s plaque. “I barely knew my birth parents, and they carved my damn name on it?”

He struggled to find the plaque he wanted, since he’d never been to it before. He just searched the list of plaques in each row for their last names, before finally coming across the one he thought was correct. It was clean and pristine, as if someone had tended to it recently – unlike the prior one – and his anger deflated out of him.

Tenderness filled his eyes before he let himself fall to his backside to stare at it. He dusted the dirt from his hands as he folded his legs.

Thanks, Beau,Gideon thought, taking in his name crudely carved into it as if someone had used a knife on the stone, rather than a chisel.

He placed his hand on top of his guitar case next to him, while Aleron leaned over the stone plaque.

“This has your name carved into it,” he stated, thumbing it before brushing over the many names above it. “But it is not like the others.”

Gideon gave a sad smile. “Yeah. Someone who cared about me a lot knows that the people who took me in when I was little were my family. They carved my name here for me when I died, since the officials did it on my birth parents’ plaque.”

Aleron stood and tilted his head at it.

Gideon patted the ground next to him. “Could you sit with me? I think I’d like to stay here for a bit, if that’s okay.”

Although there wasn’t much room in the narrow dirt aisle, Aleron sat right where he’d patted. They stared at the stone together.

The air was cool, but Gideon felt warmed by all the excitement, emotions, and just general thoughts that swirled around in his mind. He had much to reflect on, but he knew deep down inside he needed this night more than anything.

He’d needed to see that his first home was decaying, and that his second home had truly burnt down. He’d needed to see that the person he’d once loved had aged, moved on, and looked happy even after his death. He’d needed to know that life had truly moved on without him, so he could move on without it.

For the first time since he’d woken up in this new and confusing life, Gideon took in a full breath that wasn’t laced withregret and guilt. A sense of calmness settled over him, and it’d been forever since he’d been allowed to feel that way.

I feel better.

With his chest, mind, and shoulders lighter, he went to lean back on his hands. Hard, textured warmth greeted his palm, and he darted his hand away in surprise, since he’d been expecting cold dirt. It took him a moment to realise it was Aleron’s hand already resting on the ground.

At Gideon’s sudden retreat, Aleron’s claws dug into the earth. For the briefest second, his orbs flashed blue.

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