Seeker (Riders #2)(69)

Are you real?

Or are you just another one of the Rift's lies?





CHAPTER 25

DARYN

I run to Bas, leaving Gideon behind me.

Caution might be the wiser move. The Rift has fooled me before. But I'll never forgive myself if I doubt Bas and it's really him. If I'm wrong, I'd rather face the consequences. After all he's been through, he needs us now.

Our trust. Our support. Our belief in him.

Sebastian stops Shadow and jumps to the ground. Tears brim in his brown eyes as he walks up, and I see an edge of pain that's new, and sharp. Then he breaks into a dashing smile that's so familiar, so precisely what I need to see, that before I know it, I'm laughing and launching myself at him. "We found you! I was so worried, Bas. We all were. So worried."

"You're here." He lifts me off my feet and spins me around. "I've been praying for this. I can't believe you're here."

"Of course we are. Didn't you know we'd come?"

He sets me down and looks into my eyes. "Aw, Daryn. Don't cry or I will."

"I'm just so happy."

"Not as happy as I am."

We turn as Gideon walks over. Jode and Marcus are with him, just back from the lake. They're wearing expressions that are surprisingly similar, like they're expecting Bas to lay a knife across my throat.

Bas's smile fades. "What happened to them?"

"This place did." They've forgotten how to trust.

"I understand that," Bas says.

I glance at him and see another shadow of pain flash across his face. He's changed in obvious ways. There's a maturity to his features, all traces of boyishness gone, and a new confidence in how he carries his substantial height. He has become, impossibly, more handsome. But he's picked up a quality that's less tangible. I can't pinpoint it. But it saddens me.

The guys stop a few feet away. They go still. Silent and watchful. Everyone is waiting for someone else to make a move.

I can't take it. "No offense, you guys, but this is the worst reunion   ever."

"Exactly," Bas says. "The top worst. This isn't what I pictured at all."

Jode is the first to break rank. He laughs his hilarious cackle and pulls Bas into a hug, pounding him on the back as he utters the same nonsense I did moments ago. 

Marcus comes next. He wears the sweetest smile that's ever been smiled in the Rift, I'm positive. "Bas. Bro … " They embrace, and by the time Bas steps back, he's failing at holding back the tears.

With only Gideon left, somehow the wary vibe returns. Gideon stands in silence, a look of suspicion on his face.

Bas shakes his head. "G, dude. Not a funny joke."

I see Gideon's grin for an instant before he explodes forward and flattens Bas to the ground.

It immediately turns into a dog pile. A horseman pile. Loud and full of elbows and laughs and shoves. Irresistible. I burrow my way in, and I'm swallowed up. It's blissful chaos. Intensely unifying. We're a human fireworks show.

All I can think is that we're whole again.

Complete.

As we draw apart, everyone speaks at once and Bas doesn't know where to look. He tries to answer four people's questions, but no information is actually getting across. Gideon and Marcus give up and jump all over him again.

I look for Shadow, wondering if she feels this-this profound satisfaction-and find her watching me.

In her eyes, I see gratitude, solidarity, and love. I didn't have the Sight steering me to this moment. I had a black horse that knew my pain, shared it, and stayed with me.

"Right, then, you apes," Jode says, his English sense of propriety pushed to its limit. "Can we have some order?" No one wants order. "Can we at least continue this in Nevada where there's not a single one of these bloody trees, or Harrows?"

That settles things down.

"You're right. Let's get out of here," Gideon says. His eyes shine, brilliant with happiness. "Bas, let's get you home, man. What do you say?"

Bas's smile recedes. "No-not yet. I'm not ready yet."

It's like someone has pressed pause. Everything stops.

"Bas," Gideon says. "What do you mean?"

"I'm not ready." He looks around with what I think might be distress. "I can't explain it right now. I just need some time. I was here for so long. I need to get my head right before I leave."

His words dampen our festive mood. None of us has been through what he has. None of us can begin to understand what he's feeling. He's earned this request. Suffered for it. We can do this for him. So we agree.

We set up camp for the night.

It's amazing, I think, as I gather branches and twigs for kindling. There have been so many surprises here in the Rift, but this is the biggest one yet.

We found Bas.

But we're still here.

* * *

Before long, we're gathered around the fire and sharing the food Bas produced from a leather bag. Two kinds of cheese, crusty brown bread, thick slabs of bacon, apples, and huge strawberries. After days of granola bars and trail mix, the sounds and facial expressions around the campfire almost embarrass me. Including my own.