Page 11 of Randall (The Tenth Step #3)

Flynn

The icy mountain water leeched his strength.

Whenever Flynn’s eyes slipped closed, he forced himself awake, kicking for the riverside and dragging his weary body ashore.

He napped, holed up under thick shrubs or inside a tree until he could feel his toes again, then back into the river he went.

Occasionally, he walked, following the river’s path, but travel was quicker via the water.

He munched on bugs and edible plants, caught an unsuspecting bird who’d wandered too close, and fished when he drifted in a slow current.

Whenever he passed a settlement or city, Flynn dug his claws into the log or branch he’d been clinging to and lowered himself under the cold water until only his nose and eyes were visible.

No one could see him, just like he wanted.

Trust no one, he repeated, again and again. Sometimes, even out loud.

Except… Dark chestnut hair, and big brown eyes…

Silver braid and starbursts in blue… Whenever he dared fall into a deeper sleep, they were there.

The only people he knew he could trust. Always both, standing close together.

When awake, he tried to recall the memory of his dream men.

They’d first appeared when he was a child, but then those images had been fleeting, the men separate.

One night, it would be the brown-haired man who paced and waved his arms about.

Weeks later, it would be the silver-haired Fae in his dreams, sunning lazily, asleep in a field of flowers.

Over the last year, the dreams had come more regularly, almost nightly.

In his dreams, everything surrounding the men had been nothing more than a hazy, silent backdrop, and when he’d wake, he’d feel an incredible pull toward the west and south.

West made sense, since that was where the Fae resided in their hidden lands.

To the south, the plains stretched far and wide before they gave way to the rising hill of Onamond, the capital of Obrusa.

In his more recent visions, they were together, reaching for him, and though he wasn’t sure, he’d long suspected who they were to him. He shied away from saying it out loud for fear of changing anything. But he hoped and wished they were together, waiting for him.

They were together, but where? Where were they waiting? And so Flynn kept watch, his eyes on the shoreline, and prayed to any god and goddess that might listen.