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They were heading into the unknown, searching for a fantasy, never knowing if they’d actually find what they were looking for. I’d always thought of them as fools, but maybe I was the fool in the end, because the impossible dream they had been chasing hadn’t been so impossible at all. And now I was following in their footsteps, being reunited with my parents. I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to feel, but the adrenaline had subsided and my body was finally beginning to succumb to fatigue. I could feel my eyelids drooping and my mind grew heavy. Eventually, my eyes shut and they didn’t open again until the morning.
Chapter Ten
I blinked as the sunlight hit my eyes. I strained my neck, as a crick had formed, and reached up to massage the crook of my shoulder. I winced, as I gingerly adjusted my body. The passenger seat of a car was not an ideal place to slumber. I looked behind me and saw that Rick was sitting upright. The nasty marks on his face had subsided to where they were barely noticeable. These men had some wonderfully innate abilities and I had a feeling I was yet to see the full extent of them. Dalton looked tired, with bags under his eyes; he had been driving all this time without stopping, although the car was coming to a halt and I assumed it was this change in momentum that had awakened me.
The scene outside had changed dramatically from what I was used to. Instead of seeing towering city blocks rising up like monoliths, there were flat plains, with mountains rising up from the ground in the distance. The sky was cloudless and blue, and we left the car by the side of the road. I looked up and down the long dusty track and watched the world disappear beyond the horizon. I doubted there were many cars that came this way.
“So, this is where you live?” I asked.
“Almost,” Dalton replied, and then he walked off, away from the road, his footsteps kicking up dust. Rick pulled a bottle of water out from the trunk of the car and handed it to me. He seemed to have recovered well and by looking at him I never would have guessed he’d been mauled by another lion during the night.
“I take it you had a talk with him?” Rick asked.
“I did, but I’m not sure I can give him what he wants. I need time. I don’t know if he’s willing to give me that time though.”
“Dalton is more sensitive than he might seem. It doesn’t always work out for him. I told him to be more direct with you, but he said that you needed time to get used to the idea. I didn’t intend to scare you last night, but we knew Bruce was near and we couldn’t waste any more time. We had to keep you safe.”
“I do appreciate what you did, really,” I reached out and squeezed his arm. He seemed surprised that I would touch him so affectionately. “It’s just a lot for me to take in.”
“I can imagine. Did he tell you everything?”
“You mean that you’re looking for someone to usher in a new generation of lions? Yes, he told m
e, and he told me that my wonderful parents volunteered me for the job.”
Rick smirked. “I don’t think anyone is expecting you to say yes to that, but it is a concern of ours. To be honest I think your parents just wanted to see you again. They speak about you all the time. Dalton and I couldn’t believe it when you came to the club. It’s like we already knew you, based on what your parents told us.”
“And, I’m sure, they did me justice,” I rolled my eyes as we strolled along. We were about twenty paces behind Dalton, who showed no sign of slowing. I held the water bottle and took frequent sips. Despite it being morning, the sun was already hot and it burned my head. I squinted into the distance and noticed that we were walking towards a mountain. “How long have your people lived out here? It doesn’t strike me as the most hospitable climate.”
“You’d be surprised. We’ve been out here for a number of generations now, pretty much as soon as civilization expanded and our ancestors realized we weren’t going to be able to stay hidden. We wanted somewhere we could be ourselves and not always have to look over our shoulders to see who was watching. It’s an awful thing to be ashamed of yourself, but that’s what it feels like in the city, knowing that one mistake might not just mean trouble for you, but trouble for your whole family.”
“I should be honored that you’re taking me there,” I said, with a hint of sarcasm.
“You should,” he replied, without a hint of irony. I pressed my lips together and bit back a sarcastic comment. I felt trepidation rise within me as we approached, and when I got nervous I tended to get more sarcastic, but this wasn’t the time or the place. Not many people got to see this place, and it was their home. I had to remember to be respectful. Rick either didn’t pick up on my sarcasm, or he chose to ignore it. “Your parents did well to find us. Few people would have shown the tenacity to follow the few clues that led to us, but I’m sure they’ll be more than happy to tell you the precise details of their journey.”
“I’m sure they’re happy to finally be in a place where they feel like they belong. It never quite worked out for them anywhere else.”
We walked ahead and the mountain loomed larger. I longed for the coolness of the shadow it cast. I’d been taking frequent sips, more often than I imagined, so the bottle of water was only a quarter full. Despite this, my throat still felt parched.
“So, what makes you and Dalton so special? What brought you into my path rather than other lions?”
“I don’t know if we’re that special, we’re just the right age, and, aside from Bruce, we have been the most powerful lions in the pride. Bruce is the only one who has ever bested us, but he is a loner and prefers to keep to his own company. He sees everyone else as beneath him, and he only wants to command the pride for the sake of his own vanity rather than any sacred duty.”
“Unlike you?”
Rick smirked again. “I won’t rule. Dalton has the mindset for it, but I will help him. We have been friends all our lives. I don’t think either of us would know what to do without the other.”
“I feel that way about me and Jennifer,” I said, and then horror gripped me. In all this chaos, in all this magnificent maelstrom of chaos, I hadn’t paid enough attention to what I was actually doing. “I’ve just left my life,” I said. “How long am I going to be here for?”
“That depends entirely on you. You may even wish to stay with us, but we do have ways of contacting the outside world if you so wish. Your parents managed to get a message to you, did they not?”
My panic calmed as I remembered this fact. “Yes, I suppose they did. I will need to get a message out even if I’m only gone for a few days. I can’t just leave work without any warning. I’m supposed to be proving to them that I’m a reliable employee and deserve a promotion.”
“You should not need to prove anything to them. Just by looking at you they should know you are worthy of all the honor they can bestow upon you.”
I was touched by his words and found myself smiling. “I wish it worked that way. I suppose I might as well mix the truth in with the story and tell Jennifer that I’ve tracked down my parents. She’ll be able to cover for me, at least for a little while.”
“Consider it done,” Rick said.
