Traveling Souls

Chapter 16

I sat in silence as he roughly shook awake my friends, and I stood up. I was about to tell him off before he whirled around to face me, making me falter.

He looked extremely fit, and probably could out-run any of us. Strangely enough, he had black hair and blue eyes, and tanner skin, almost just as tan as Talon.

"Don't cha even think about it, doll." he warned me, lifting up Killian as she whined, swatting at his hand.

"L-listen, uh, sir," I faltered again, sucking in a breath. "I'm really sorry we were in your land, but something happened and I saw this meadow and--just please let them go and take just me!"

He turned to me again, raising an eyebrow in confusion. "You act like me and my uncle are going to kill you. We just wanna know why there's four teens, without soul mates it seems, in our land." he explained calmly, shaking awake the two males rougher than me and Killian. "There's a large number of rebel groups recently. Seems like more and more of the hearts aren't working." he clicked his tongue in disappointment.

I nodded, glancing at the ground. It made sense, I guess.

"Lu? What's going on? Who's this?" Killian asked me, stepping closer and grabbing ahold of my arm.

"I'm Julian, and you four are on my uncle's land." he said calmly, giving an annoyed sigh when Dustin didn't wake up.

"I'll wake him up. Don't touch him." Talon snapped at the boy, whacking Dustin on the back of the head, sending him shooting up and looking around blearily.

"W-who--what? When?" he muttered, rubbing his eyes as he stood up. "When did we get a new person? Am I dreaming?"

Julian gave an irritated sigh, putting his arms behind his neck. "Alright, listen. I'm Julian, and you're all on my uncle's land. I'm taking you all back to his house, so just follow me." he repeated once again, pushing past us.

We had no choice but to follow him, everyone looking around worriedly. My heart thumped in fear as we edged closer to a house on the horizon, eventually reaching the log cabin. "U-um Julian, who is your uncle?" I asked him, my voice taking a nervous crack.

"I'd like to know that as well, Julian," Killian voice broke through, gaining back her childish pout.

"You'll see when he opens the door, doll." he said, knocking on the door. He gave a grin as the door opened, revealing a man with light brown hair and blue eyes. "I found 'em."

"Ah! Yes! Come in, come in. These kids don't look dangerous at all, Julian, what are you talking about? They look scared out of their skins, poor kids."  he rambled on, motioning us inside.

I looked back one last time, as if it was my last time seeing the outside, and saw Talon standing there, frozen. "Tal..?" I asked, looking at him worriedly.

"Tal? As in, the name Talon? My sister's boy? Is he here?" the man suddenly looked up, peering over my shoulder to see Talon.

"Reese." Talon choked out, staring at him with shock. "So Julian is my cousin, huh?" he asked more to himself.

I gasped, being pushed back as Dustin rushed forwards, staring at Reese as well, his arm in front of Talon. He's the one uncle that his mother wouldn't give him to, isn't he?

"Uncle Reese. They're with me, so we're not dangerous..we can go now," Talon said hurriedly, ignoring Julian's staring.

"Nonsense, my boy! I want you to tell me all about your adventures with these three!" he exclaimed happily, motioning to Dustin, Killian, and me. "Cindy! Talon's here!" he called out, and out came a woman with medium length black hair and glasses, staring at Talon.