Convergence

Flea Market

Squeak circled around a very large warehouse and started to descend. Rick had stretched out on her back and used his rucksack as a pillow. I reached over and gently shook him.

"Rick, Squeak found something. Wake up."

He moaned his protest and turned over pulling me into his arms. I tried to wiggle free from his grip, but he was too strong. I stared at his face. He looked so sweet. He smelled surprisingly nice too, like some sort of musk deodorant with a hint of freshly washed laundry. I closed my eyes taking in his scent. I could feel a sudden rise of heat in my cheeks and started to wiggle again.

"Hey."

His soft voice touched my ears and I looked into his dark eyes. His muscles tightened and felt myself gravitate closer to him. I reached out gently grabbing his shirt. My breath quickened as our noses touched.

"Just couldn't resist yourself eh, Princess?"

And that mouth.

I shoved away. "You grabbed me, jerk."

He chuckled. "Jerk? That's not what you were thinking a moment ago."

"How do you know what I was thinking?" I caught a glimpse of the intensity in his eyes. My lips started to tingle and I pressed them together. "Y-you should get ready to land. Squeak found something. We're taking a break."

We landed in the parking lot near some trees so no one would see us. Squeak disappeared right after we slid off her back. The spots closest to the warehouse were filled with people searching for a good deal. I'd only been to a flea market once when my stepmother was looking for some buried treasures. Even with my hair a windblown mess I felt overdressed.

Rick seemed out of sorts. I put a hand on his shoulder to steady him.

"You're tired and you need to eat."

"What about you?" Even his voice sounded groggy. "Do you feel dizzy or anything?"

I shook my head. "I'm okay. I'm more worried about you. I mean you've been exhausted since we left that crazy old lady's house. Did she do something to you?"

He gently touched my cheek with one of his fingers. "I'll be okay, Kari. I've got some bars in my bag and we can grab a bite right now if you're really that worried. I can smell the food from here."

My own stomach started growling at the scents in the air. There were several food trucks set up near the entrance.

After grabbing some gyros, we entered the building. The warehouse was huge with loads of areas separated by aluminum poles covered with black cloth to partition off each individual seller's area. The taller poles with cloth were at the backs of the seller's areas being used like walls, while shorter poles just separated connected areas. Each area was filled with as much stuff as they could possibly fit.

"We should head this way," Rick said slovenly munching the last few bites of the sandwich he took in three giant mouthfuls. He slurped his soda while studying the magic finding stone and not very discretely I might add. At least his energy seemed to have quickly returned.

"You're disgusting. Did you know that?"

"Most men are, Princess." He didn't seem the least bit apologetic as he eyeballed the other half of my sandwich. "You gonna finish that?"

As if walking while eating wasn't bad enough. I let out a sigh and just handed it over. I had an apple and a bottle of water in his rucksack anyway. I held the stone while Rick finished eating. At least he ate my sandwich with a little more class.

We walked slowly following where it was taking us. I stopped at a rack full of old books of all sizes. An old copy of The Cat in the Hat jumped out at me. I remembered back when I was younger and Dad used to read me Dr. Seuss. I picked up the book and smiled caressing the book as the memories flooded back. I hadn't seen Dad for more than ten minutes in the last couple of months. He was really busy traveling for his job. Whenever he came home, he left again almost right away. He was always apologetic and hugged me tightly. It was a little heartbreaking but I understood. Besides, I had Leah.