Tethered Souls | Books 1, 2, and 3

50 | Safe

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• Luna •

Luna watched as Amir stayed put, his mouth slightly opened, a sliver of sweat forming over his forehead.

Knowing Liberty, she was ready to play twenty questions. Luna admired how her sister looked, with her black curls framing her round face, and a small amount of makeup applied to her eyes. She missed doing make-up sessions with her.

Liberty took one step back, looked at Luna, and then ran at her full speed, not wanting to let her go. When she finally did, she smiled brightly at Amir, walked in front of him, and gave him a strong bear hug. Luna chuckled.

"Thank you, Amir." Tears ran down Liberty's rosy cheeks. "You saved my sister, and I'll never be able to thank you enough."

"No thank you is necessary," he said, but her hair made his words hard to hear. "I love her, and I would do anything for her and Sarah."

"That is good to hear," she replied. "Still, you put your life on the line for her, and you beat me to it. We were trying to figure out how to get her out."

Luna put her hands to her chest and was about to cry when somebody else came out. She took a deep breath as she noticed Raul. She was shocked. He had changed since she had last seen him. Stocky, with his facial hair being trimmed. No longer did he have dark circles under his eyes, and his hair had grown out. He didn't look like her age anymore; slightly older.

Amir finally looked at him when he raised his head.

Raul walked over to Luna and gave her a quick hug. She smiled back. "Hi, Luna."

She asked, "What are you doing here?"

"You mean you're not happy to see me? After everything we've been through," Raul joked, and Luna chuckled. "My mom is in there with Sarah because she had to go to the bathroom. There is food and drinks inside if you want to come in."

Amir looked at Luna and said, "It took a long time to get here."

Raul moved out of the way and brought out his hand. "I'm Raul," he said. "You must be Amir, right?" Amir nodded as they shook hands. "Well, this house belongs to my grandparents, and you can all stay as long as you want."

"So you know about the people who live in this community?" Luna asked him, and he nodded. "You know what I am?"

She quickly shut her mouth and wished she had a bag to put over her head. She sounded like she was from another planet.

Maybe our species came from aliens?

But before she could erase that silly thought, tweedle-dee, and tweedle-jokester started laughing. Faisal and Vikram heard her inner thoughts.

Faisal said, still laughing against the Hummer, "That could be true."

She looked up toward Amir. "If you didn't hear what I just thought, never mind."

But he looked at her and grinned. Amir said in her ear, "You might be on to something. Area 51 is out there."

"Just have fun with it, guys," Luna said when she saw Raul laughing. She asked, "What?"

"Aliens, Luna? I guess aliens aren't too far-fetched when you live in a town where people believe in ghosts and hauntings."

"Wait. Did you read my mind?" Her mouth opened after she asked Raul that.

He was a Tethered Soul?

"Sure am. My abilities came after I turned seventeen. But like Vikram, I developed the talent of cloaking my powers."