Seeker by Veronica Rossi

Author:Veronica Rossi
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates

CHAPTER 21

DARYN

I read it twice.

As I’m finishing the second time, I can’t stop myself from laughing, with this rising sun inside my heart.

“What is it?” Jode asks.

“It’s … It’s better if I just read it aloud.” I lift the sheet and project my voice.

Jode, Gideon, Daryn, Marcus,

I knew you’d come get me, but I still can’t believe you’re really here!

It’s too dangerous for me to tell you how to find me. Stay near the lake and I’ll find you.

Do you know where the lake is? I marked the way, just to play with safety.

Thanks, you guys. I can’t wait to see you and Shadow. I can’t wait to go HOME!

—Bas

Gideon is the first to react. He jumps off Riot and reaches me in quick strides, peering at the paper. “It could be fake.”

“It’s not fake! It’s from him.”

He takes the paper and reads it. The grim expression on his face never changes.

He hands it to Jode, who reads it.

Jode hands it to Marcus, who reads it, too.

“Could be another relic,” Jode says. “It could be just another false object.”

“No! It’s from him,” I say. “That’s from Sebastian. Look—he even wrote ‘play with safety.’ That’s him. Only Bas would mangle that. He did it to prove to us it’s him. I’m positive. This is how we find him. We go to this lake and we wait there. You guys … this is it.”

Marcus and Gideon communicate in their silent language, but I know what they’re worried about. I feel their skepticism. Jode’s, too. They’re on the verge of discussing ambushes and setups and a hundred other “what if” scenarios. But I’m not standing on the sidelines anymore. I’m not waiting for certainty to come through visions, or strategizing, or any other way. What kind of plan could ever feel solid here, in this utterly unreliable place?

Instinct. Faith. That’s what I can count on. I don’t know what will come of believing this letter. But I do know that I want to be the type of person who can believe in positive turns. Not everything has to be out to destroy us.

Like Isabel said, I’m trusting.

I take the paper from Marcus. “You guys don’t have to go wait for him, but I am.”

“Daryn, hold on.”

“No, thanks.” I keep walking. “I’m going. You can join me or not. Your choice.”

As I walk to Shadow, I pray my momentum is enough to get them moving, to bring them with me.

It is.

Half an hour later, guided by the trail of broken branches Bas left to point the way, we find the lake.

We check the area, following the shoreline one way and then back the other, Jode never lowering his bow for more than seconds at a time. Apart from the begonias, which we’re all becoming used to seeing, there’s no sign of danger, or of Bas. We brush down the forest floor with branches to erase our tracks. Then we set up a campsite away from the banks.

By the time we finish it’s growing dark, so Marcus and Jode gather wood to get a fire going.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.