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After a moment, Quint felt he was being watched a little too closely.
“This is gonna sound a bit random.” Leo narrowed his eyes. “But I feel like we’ve met before. You’ve got a familiarity to you, and I don’t mean I’ve seen you in the Sainsbury’s Local. I mean… Actually, I don’t know what I mean.”
Leo, he… felt it too. Or he felt something, at least. And now Quint wanted to burst it out. But he couldn’t. Even if Leo was spiritual and open-minded, it would sound like Quint hadn’t taken his meds this morning. But there may be a chance that Leo could accept the truth if he dressed it down somewhat.The rulecould certainly be bent without actually breaking it, after all.
But with Leo feeling something too, there were too many coincidences for him not to be Quint’s Leo, especially with the tie to spirituality. The constant presence of his essence was relentlessly clinging to Quint’s senses, and it seemed as if Leo’s conscious mind was trying to break through and reach out to him, even though Leo had chosen to shackle the part of his brain that would have recognised his soul mate.
Butwhydid Leo choose to reboot? What could the reason have been? When they left each other in TheMediunn, he seemed so adamant that they would be with each other again. He had to have done something… maybe brokenthe rule. Was that why Ariella had gone to talk to Leo as Quint headed into the portal?
From his relatively small amount of time living as a Player, Quint could see how the stress of being weighed down with a lifetime of memories could become too much for some, how the loneliness can consume a person, the frustration of not being able to find those you love becoming too much to bear. But his Leo was more resilient than that. He had to have brokenthe rule.
“Hey. What are you thinking about?” asked Leo, bringing the silence between them to an abrupt end.
“Everything,” muttered Quint.
“Very profound.” Leo nudged him. “Come on, we’ve got some penguins to take the piss out of.”
Up ahead, a crowd formed around the path in front of them, and Quint frowned, picking up on something even before other people started to turn their heads. Then those closest to the gathered started to rush around, some pulling out phones, whilst others ushered people towards the middle of the crowd, seemingly trying to enlist their help.
As they approached the fray, a man lay collapsed on the floor, whilst a woman held him as another man trying to initiate CPR. Perhaps a heart attack? Quint couldn’t be sure.
The man looked to be in his mid-40s, and the fear etched onto his face had Quint pushing his way through the crowd. He recognised the look the man gave to the woman at his side.
“Are you a doctor?” cried the woman, catching Quint’s eye.
She was his lover, that was clear enough by her cry.
“I’m afraid not, but I’ve heard paramedics are on their way. Is there anything I can do?”
“Hold his head,” said the man giving CPR, frantically trying to keep him alive.
Barely moving on the floor, the man held on to his lover’s hand as his eyes hooded over, but when he looked up at Quint, their seventh senses instantly connected. An unspoken truth passed between them that all that was left was to let go.
“It’s time to move on again,” Quint whispered, squeezing the man’s hand.
The man nodded as his partner shot a look Quint’s way. The grip on his hand tightened as the man giving CPR gave it his all, screaming out for the paramedics to arrive.
“The most painful thing for us,” the man uttered breathlessly, and Quint frowned when he nodded back at Leo, “is not being able to tell them.” He reached for his partner’s hand and Quint moved respectfully out of the way, only to have the woman look his way and pull him to a stop.
“What did he say to you?”
“He said to tell you not to be scared for him,” replied Quint gently. It was all he could offer.
The woman’s posture crumpled as she registered her loss, and she fell into silence as Quint stood and moved back toward Leo.
Leo met him halfway, grabbing hold of Quint’s arm, his look concerned, then the paramedics barged through them both, one kneeling at the lifeless body of the man. There was no way they would have made it in time, even if they were metres away. It was all so quick.
Feeling the weight of the woman’s hurt, also an echo of the man’s and having to leave before his lover, Quint turned away and moved Leo through the crowd, knowing that they both needed to get away from the scene. There was nothing more they could do here, and the hurt the woman was going through felt too close to home for Quint.
The man’s dying words resonated with him, rattling inside his head. It made him think about how many times throughout eternity he or Leo had been in that position, drawing their last breaths as they took a lifetime of secrecy with them to theMediunn.Were they the same words that Leo had thought as the water had slowly filled their lungs on Vondiv’d? Leo would have known it would turn out all right, but they had to go through hell to get there.
Leo pulled him to a stop near a bench. “I heard what he said. What did he mean? Why was he looking at me?”
Quint lowered his gaze. Leo’s look felt more haunted, more running away from a trainwreck he didn’t want to look over his shoulder and see. In many ways it made Quint hold his thoughts and tongue because sometimes not remembering was the easier option.
“Quint.” Leo grabbed him by the shoulders. “Are you gonna tell me who you really are, then?”
ChapterSeventeen
