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Vasily focused on waking Luka up. On the fifth try, he finally got one eye open, peering up at Vasily like he’d suggested slaughtering kittens or something.
“Why,” he asked in a voice of doom, “are you trying to wake me up before birds are even properly awake?”
Oooh, a full sentence that made sense! Had he finally gotten Luka completely awake? “Sam’s here.”
Luka lifted his head off the pillow, spied the not-so-patient archaeologist, and his soul just about leaped out of his body. He made the same mad scramble for covers Vasily had and then froze, staring.
Sam was not to be deterred. “Quick, before you forget anything, what do you remember of your dream?”
Mouth open, Luka made a plaintive sound. Like he was trying to herd words together and failing.
Vasily rather felt the same way about it. First of all, way too early. Second, no coffee.
Without even knocking, Dimitri came right in, door almost bouncing off the wall under his force. His attention laser focused on Sam, trajectory quickly oriented.
“I just wanted to ask questions!” Sam protested.
Dimitri leaned in and scooped him up, right into a bridal carry. “Sorry about this. Meet us for breakfast, though.”
So he still had to get up? Ugh, fine. At least Dimitri was promising him caffeine and food to tide him over. “Yeah, sure. Give us a few minutes.”
It took more than a few minutes, of course. Neither of them were morning people at this ungodly hour, so being coordinated enough to shower and find clothes? Something of a struggle. It took more like half an hour for them to join Sam and Dimitri in the big dining room.
Sam, at least, was sensible in waiting. He’d made coffee, tapioca crepes, and had toppings of melted cheese, chocolate, bananas, and strawberries to choose from. Food, yes, a much better start to the morning.
Vasily sat at the round table, reaching for the coffee. Luka didn’t so much sit as drop into the chair near his, also reaching for the coffee. Vasily deviated, poured Luka a cup first, then handed him the sugar before going back to pouring himself a cup.
Sam was halfway through a plate of crepes. Dimitri looked like he was on his second round, but that didn’t mean Sam wasn’t ready to leap back in.
“You’re awake now, right? What did you dream?”
“I don’t feel like we’re jumping into this conversation so much as storming the beach.” Luka sighed. “I’ll start. I remember nada.”
Sam waved this off like it was to be expected and the question wasn’t really aimed at Luka to begin with. “You didn’t say a word in your sleep, so either you were too deeply asleep to talk, or you didn’t dream of him last night.”
“It disturbs me you know that.”
“Well, why do you think I was at your bedside all night? Vasily, what did you dream?”
He took a gulp of coffee first, because that was priority, and only answered after. “The dream started much the same in a way. But this time, he didn’t start at the ruins.”
Luka, not contributing to the conversation, was already making him up a plate. “Vas, cheese or sweet?”
“Sweet. Thanks, love.” He accepted the plate, cutting into the crepe with a fork as he cast his mind back to the dream, trying to remember every detail. “He asked if I remembered the route he’d shown me the night before. I said yes, so he picked up from the last place I remember flying over.”
“Huh. So he’s very aware and able to converse with you?”
“Yeah. Fortunately. We were flying along, still northwest, but this time I was able to ask him questions. I asked why he was showing me where he was like this, why not just put a pin on a map? And he said he didn’t have a map, this was the only way he could show me where he was.”
“Didn’t have a map.” Dimitri’s face scrunched up in confusion as he poured himself another cup of coffee. “As in, he didn’t know how to pinpoint it on a map?”
“That was my take on it. Hence he’s taking me the same route he once traveled. Which definitely works.” Here Vasily paused, straining to remember. “I feel like he told me a lot, but what I remember him saying was he was far north, almost at the top of the continent. He’s in a very large lake, one with near-constant lightning. He was mad about the lightning part for some reason. I woke up before I could ask him.”
Dimitri had a map standing by. No, let’s face it, Sam had a map standing by. Dimitri was the one sitting closest. He twisted in his seat to open it, holding it with arms stretched out so Vasily could see it.
“What do you remember of the path?”
“We crossed through Mato Grosso, then entered the Amazon. I think we passed Manaus? But I didn’t actually see the city, I just felt like we’d flown far enough to do so.”
