“This was the beginning,” she said lifting a pale hand to indicate the sparks. Most had a blue center with a grey halo. Almost as many had a blue center with a green halo. Only a few had a yellow center with a green halo. Among those, I saw six unique colors and knew whom they represented.
“The Judgements must maintain balance,” she said. “Only they can decide what that balance may be. Every one thousand years you all return, though only one will remember.” She reached forward and touched me softly on top my head. “Choose wisely, or there may not be a world to return to in another one thousand years.”
“What the hell was that?” Luke shouted in my face.
I blinked my eyes open trying to pull myself from my dream. Dream? No, it hadn’t felt like the past. What the heck was that? Every one thousand years I returned? How many lives would I need to relive? Those dots...I’d seen them before. One of us had the ability to see the sparks of people around us.
“Well?” Luke continued to look down at me with a furious expression.
Understanding dawned. “Crap! Did I fall asleep?”
“While I was flying down the road on a two-wheeled death trap? Yes!”
He held me cradled in his lap while he still straddled the idling bike. The heat from his thighs warmed my backside. How he’d managed the switch, I had no idea.
“Put me down. Please.” The last word came out a bit clipped. My stomach was going crazy being so close to him, and it annoyed me.
“Gladly.” He surprised me by setting me down gently.
On my own feet, I rubbed my hands over my face. “I’m sorry. I’m tired.” When I glanced back at him, I caught a fleeting look of pity in his eyes. “Save your pity. I don’t need it,” I said. I didn’t need pity. I needed decent sleep and an assurance those things wouldn’t catch me in this lifetime.
He held up his hands in surrender and took a deep, calming breath. “Are you going to fall asleep again? Because we won’t get far this way.”
“Yes, I’ll most likely fall asleep again. No matter what I’ve tried, I can’t seem to avoid it.”
“Maybe you should stop avoiding it,” he suggested with an edge of exasperation in his tone.
I didn’t bother answering. He wouldn’t understand.
He saw something in my face because he sighed and said, “Loosen the strap of your bag as far as it will go then get on.”
He motioned for me to hurry up when I didn’t immediately do it. Stifling an eyeroll, I did as he asked. Once I sat behind him, he grabbed the strap and lifted it over his head—while it was still around me. Then, he went one step further and tightened the strap so I pressed against his back. He grumbled the whole time, and that was the only silver lining in the whole situation.
“Take both arms out so it’s around your waist,” he said.
Understanding he meant to strap me to his back so I wouldn’t fall, I complied. But I didn’t like it.
As soon as he lifted his feet, the dreams pulled me under.
The Taupe Lady once again stood over a new mother. This woman didn’t put the babe to her breast. She set the quiet infant aside and hurried to bury the afterbirth not yet noticing the Taupe Lady. Lying on a coarse blanket shivering in the light warm breeze, I watched her with new eyes.
“The men tracking you have crossed the river,” the Taupe Lady said.
Fear clouded my mother’s eyes, and she spun to face the lady. “Thank you!” My mother scooped me into her arms.
“I did not tell you so you could leave,” the lady explained. “You need them. They are her only protection.”
“I am her protection,” my mother whispered forcefully as she hugged me to her chest to quiet me.
“You protect her from her father, but he will protect her from those who are much worse. For the love you feel for your child, return to him so her life may be spared.”
“Who are you?” my mother asked noticing for the first time that the lady’s feet didn’t quite touch the ground.
“I am a friend. Save your child and return.”
“If I return, he will kill me.”
The Taupe Lady’s eyes filled with sadness. “Yes, he will,” she agreed.
“Then, I cannot.” My mother ran with me.
I woke lying limply against Luke’s back as he braked hard and turned into the parking lot of a small motel.
Instantly alert, I lifted my head. “What are you doing?”
“You keep twitching. You can’t ride sleeping. It’s not safe,” he said over his shoulder as he parked in front of the office.
Not safe? My whole life was not safe. Riding anywhere with one of them was probably not safe. Adding my narcoleptic tendency to sleep didn’t really decrease my life expectancy that much more.
He loosened the strap as I argued. “Sleeping strapped to you is better than sleeping here. We need to keep moving.”
“Believe me, I’m all for hurrying, but I’m not going to risk you falling off.” He lifted the strap over his head so we were no longer pressed against each other.