Ame Perdue

Chapter Eighteen

Thoughts of Elm haunted me the next day.

I had pulled out his locket from my pocket, running my fingers over the letters engraved in it as I walked. I had assumed when I first saw it that he was some tree hugged that loved trees, but knowing his name, I understood the meaning of it. I didn't doubt that he had used it in the past to show people who he was. I couldn't make out the pictures on the inside of it, the fire having burned away the faces. Whoever they were, they were important to him. In all of the visions of him that I had, he had never been without the necklace.

I wasn't really aware of us moving or of the miles that we covered. I don't know what my companions talked about or if they even talked at all. I was dimly aware of one of them trying to talk to me every so often, but they gave up quickly when I never answered them. I couldn't focus on them, not after what I had seen. Not when I knew that whatever that was was real. That he had tried so hard to get me to help him.

Every time I blinked I had flashes of the boy, the rough sound of his voice flickering into my ears. I couldn't get him out of my head, his silent pleas, his pain. I had seen him die, but I couldn't shake the feeling that he was alive somewhere, in pain and unable to voice it. I was certain that he was somewhere suffering, screaming silently against a world that was determined to beat him into nothing. He was suffering and needed help.

And I couldn't help him.

I didn't know how my dream power worked. Everything in Arcadia had been happening as I experienced it, but whatever was happening to Elm felt different. I didn't know if it was the past, present, or future. If it was the future that he was heading toward or a past that he was trying to run from. The only thing that I was certain of was that Elm had been alive a few days ago. I had seen him in person the morning that I was kidnapped.

I silently vowed to figure out who this guy was. He had begged for my help, if he was still alive, I would help him. I would keep that fate from happening to him. There was a pain in his eyes as he stared out at the world, one that I knew all too well. I felt a burning urge to find him, to show him the light that was missing from his world.

I wouldn't let him die alone.

I blinked out of my thoughts when a rock bounced off of my back. I turned around to find that the rest of the group had stopped, their bags sitting on the ground. Acilia held another rock in her hands, "We're stopping to rest," She informed me with a frown, her eyes lingered on me as if she was tempted to ask what was wrong before decided that she didn't care enough to ask, "We'll finish the rest of the way tomorrow."

Looking around, I realized that the sun we had been walking by had nearly set, the other sun starting to rise across from it. We had been walking most of the day. It didn't feel like it had been that long. Now that I was still, I could feel a slight burn in my legs from the exercise, a dryness in my throat. I uncrewed my water bottle, before we left this morning, Acilia had refilled it with water from the stream, doing us the favor of boiling it for it.

Kam tilted his head as I took a sip, "Hey does that taste off to you? They said they didn't taste anything odd in theirs, but I thought that it did." I squished the water in my mouth at the statement, letting the water wash over my tastebuds. I swallowed and shook my head. Kam looked disheartened at my lack of agreement, "Must just be me then."

"Maybe you've been roofie," Milo snorted at my response while the people born in this word looked confused at the term that they had never heard before. I didn't give them a chance to think too hard before I asked, "How far away are we?"

"Five miles," As he spoke, Milo tied his hair back, leading me to believe that he was planning on continuing training while we were stopped. Joy, "It won't take us much longer than two hours to get there, we'll still be fresh as we scope out their camp."