Page 21 of A Soul to Steal

Those they did pass spoke a foreign language, and even the wood they used in their buildings was a deep hue of red. He’d never seen or heard of trees like that before.

When he questioned Aleron about it, he claimed he didn’t know.Did Weldir possibly take souls from all over Earth?He couldn’t imagine having that much power or reach to claim an entire planet.

Gideon wasn’t too keen on geography, and many of the world maps he’d seen were obviously unfinished. There were texts about people from foreign lands, with descriptions of them, but it was impossible to explore the world. Demons would sink their ships before they even made it out of the decaying docks.

As they passed house after house, most made of brick, clay, or that red timber, he’d begun to notice a pattern. Quite a few of the homes repeated, as if they had been duplicated for those who inhabited them in different eras.

There were also dozens, if not hundreds, of cats. Their little eyes watched them walk down the main street path from windows, rooftops, and alleys.

They both dodged a Ghost walking towards them, as Aleron fretted his touch to the human could wake her from her memory sleep. They could have gone around the village, but Gideon had been rather curious about it when he’d seen it.

The idea is to explore Tenebris.Hopefully he could show Aleron a library. Even if they were alive, the big Duskwalker’s feathered butt wouldn’t be able to merrily waltz through a town without someone bringing out a pitchfork.

They passed a market that had many wagons with false food but no salesperson. Gideon attempted to take a carrot, apparently a universal food, but it disappeared the moment he picked it up.

Aleron asked him a handful of questions about the people they saw, what they were doing, and why they were doing it. Gideon gave as many answers as he could to the best of his ability, detailing the way humankind often lived.

The more he did, the more at ease the Duskwalker became.

Actually, at ease likely wasn’t the right way to describe Aleron’s current jumping, chaotic behaviour. A warm smile curled Gideon’s lips at his bristling excitement, finding it contagious.Why the hell do I think that’s cute?He figured it was because he never expected a huge monster to be so sweetly inquisitive about the very world around him.

Aleron bounced one way and then the other as he turned his skull in every direction, some movements reminiscent of an owl. He pointed a claw at anything that took his interest, and even dragged Gideon over to a flowerpot or a shrine sitting on a windowsill.

“What are these ones?” Aleron asked, pointing to different herbs from a stall cart.

Gideon looked over his thick arm to check before taking a whiff. “I think that’s mint. It’s really nice in tea.” He pointed to another. “That one is patchouli, maybe? It’s a shame the vinegar smell ruins it, as it’s usually really nice.”

He held the end of his snout as he hummed. “I see.” Then he picked it up by its tiny stem and twirled it. It didn’t disappear like the carrot had for Gideon. “It has a pretty purple flower. I like it.”

Gideon’s eyes softened, finding that quite endearing.

Even when they moved on, the soft expression never fell.

Aleron darted to the side to look at something else, and Gideon shrugged when he returned. He did it a few times. Thankfully, if Aleron did fall behind by inspecting something, he always came back to Gideon’s side with a subtle brush of contact.

At least, that was until he didn’t feel it again, and silence fell over him. The only things he could hear were the mild chattering from strangers and the bustle of a mostly empty street.

Gideon turned with his brows furrowing when he realised the Duskwalker hadn’t come to him for a little while. A small amount of dread struck him, unsure of how they were supposed to find each other again in this weird world.

Aleron couldn’t track Gideon by scent.

Shit, Aleron. Where’d you go?His thoughts were panicked as he sprinted to search down other intersecting streets and between houses. He doubled back the way they came, hoping to find him.

His sudden fear didn’t last long.

As he rounded a bend, he noticed Aleron’s big, feathered backside and wings straight away. The upper half of his torso was jammed inside a window like he’d been attempting to climb inside but couldn’t fit.

Whatever had grabbed his attention, it had done so fiercely. Enough to forget his duty to Gideon.

With a laugh to mask just how stressed he’d been, he swiped back his fallen fringe. “What the hell are you doing, Aleron?”

“I am watching,” he answered without backing out. “There are strange noises coming from inside this human hut. I have never heard anything like them before.”

Excited curiosity was evident in his tone, but also in the way his tail feathers had splayed and almost seemed to vibrate.

It piqued Gideon’s own curiosity, and he shouldered the big Duskwalker over so he could slot himself between the windowframe and his towering body. He only gained room when Aleron retracted himself until just his head was sticking inside.

His back stiffened when a warm and imposing clawed hand wrapped around his left hip and side as Aleron let him into the pocket of space he’d created.

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