Page 67 of The Wild Moon
“Let’s followed the river for a bit,” I said, struck by sudden inspiration. “Keeping northward.”
Many ancient cities and civilizations built near rivers. There was a good chance that if we walked the riverbanks, we might come across something.
Aaron nodded, and once more, Alexi lead the way. I fell in step behind him, Aaron at my side, while the others filtered out behind us, with Fred bringing up the rear. I glanced back at him, watching the way he looked behind as much as in front. Was he ex-military, perhaps? I doubted I’d ever get a straight answer from him.
We walked for hours. Twice we came across rocky outcroppings that forced us to move into the forest to get around them before we could continue. We didn’t find anything. With each passing hour, I grew more frustrated, more anxious. Where was it? It had to be out here somewhere. My father wouldn’t have led me out here otherwise.
“This is pointless, isn’t it?” I asked, trying to keep my voice down so the others wouldn’t hear. “There’s nothing out here. I made a bad decision bringing us here.”
Aaron shrugged and signaled for the team to come to a halt. He looked at me. “What’s going on?”
I shied away from the question. “We’re not finding anything. This is a wild goose chase. We came out here for nothing.”
With a flick of his wrist, Aaron sent the rest of the team on ahead, leaving us alone.
“What is it?” he asked more sharply. “What aren’t you telling me?”
I grimaced, unable to stop my eyes from flicking behind us. How did he know, dammit? Aaron was far too perceptible for my liking. I’d been doing my best to ignore it, but as the day wore on, it had been getting harder. Even with Aaron so close by. I was getting distracted because I could feel Johnathan. He was close by and getting nearer by the hour.
“Do you want to take the lead?” I asked. “If you have any suggestions, now’s a good time to let me know. Because I don’t know if I have any.”
“Treasure hunting can be a tedious and boring thing,” Aaron explained. “This is one of the things I meant when I said these are dangerous lands. It’s easy to get lost but also to get dejected. This valley is hundreds of square miles in size. You could hide dozens of old abandoned cities in here and still walk through without ever seeing signs of one. Don’t be so hard on yourself.”
“Thanks,” I said, his little pep talk helping to reinvigorate me. He was right. I’d thought it would be easy, simply waltz in, cross the river, and bam, Shuldar would be waiting. Of course, it wasn’t going to be that easy. My father had spent years looking. I wasn’t going to find it in one morning.
“This is why they pay me the big bucks,” Aaron said with a grin. “For my way with words.”
I rolled my eyes. “We should keep going.”
“Which direction?” Aaron asked.
“Hmmm.” I paused to think, but I couldn’t come up with anything. My senses were being played with.
Behind me was Johnathan, and my Soulbond reached out to him. It called me, guiding me back the way we had come. Part of me wanted to go that way. But underneath that, far more subtle, was the call of the valley. Something had brought me here, had encouraged me to seek it out, against all logic and reason.
Why? What?
I reached into my mind, shoving my way past the golden warmth of the pulsing Soulbond and to the cool power of my wolf. Whereas the Soulbond was linking me to Johnathan, my wolfwasme, a part of me. It was a deeper, stronger bond than anything external could ever be. We wereone, and I called upon her to guide me, to show me the way.
Where do we go? Help me…
I let my wolf in, more than I had on any night except for during the Wild Moons, where she took charge. Where wouldshego if she were free and without the Soulbond?
North.
My feet turned on their own. Away from the edge of the river. Deeper into the forest. Into the unknown.
“That way,” I whispered, lifting a finger and pointing. “We go that way.”
Johnathan followed my finger.
“Looks good to me,” he said, whistling to his team, which had stopped far enough ahead to still be in sight but not able to listen. Then, he pointed.
We headed off again, and I hoped like hell I wasn’t going crazy, that we actuallywouldfind something out there.
I followed, growing more uneasy with every step.
Chapter Thirty-Six
