The Soul Traveler

Chapter 9

I'm done with NaNoWriMo so now I'm back to focus on writing the rest of The Soul Traveler. Hope you enjoy today's chapter. And thanks for following and reading! :-D

Now that Kyna's back on Earth, back in the Bronx, she just wants to get one thing done. Get her body back from Bellart. She doesn't have time for surprises. Too bad her return is jammed with surprises. Just her luck.

Kyna froze.

To say it was a bit of a shock to find herself on another planet was an understatement. Then to find out she shared some weird ass connection to some maniac who's walking around her body like a human suit jacked it up to what the hell. Finding out she can go home again made things a little bit better. But watching Nica as he nearly strangled to death her missing homeless man felt as if she'd been dropped smack dab in The Twilight Zone.

He's really going to kill him. Kyna mentally shook herself out of her stupor, leaped up and tried to pry Nica off him. "What are you doing," she grunted. His arm was like a band of steel. "Let him go. He's a friend."

Kyna continued to tug as she increasingly grew alarmed at the way the man's eyes were popping out of his sockets. The man gurgled and spluttered, his bony lacerated wrists failing to push Nica off. "Let go Nica. Can't you see he's hurt?!"

Nica tensed and slowly released him. Ignoring the man crumpled at his feet, he stared blankly at her as if seeing her beside him for the first time. What the hell happened, Kyna wondered, that Nica went whup ass on the man. She'd never seen him so lost and so angry.

As tight lipped as he was, she knew she wouldn't get answer. At least now. But she would. First, she had better things to do. Mentally shaking her head, she bent down on her haunches and leaned over her friend as he struggled to drag air into his depleted lungs.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he rasped. "Glad to see you're okay traveler."

"Of course I'm fine...." Kyna's eyes narrowed. Traveler? Dread coursed through her. She can count on one hand the number of people who referred to her as that. She must've heard him wrong. "What did you just call me?"

Please let me have heard it wrong.

"I called you traveler Kyna."

"Wha-how?" Kyna was so shocked that she didn't realized was sitting on the frozen and dirty concrete. Who was this man? She'd fed him extra Mickey D meals after work. Made sure to stop by to say hi and check on him or to find a shelter. She even became worried when she hadn't see his ass the past couple of days. Would've gone to the cops to report him missing if she actually thought they'd do something about it. After all, it's not like she was family.

Now here he was, the blue in his face gradually receding, looking at her with a lopsided and guilty smile. Unable to hold it any longer, the question burning through her mind burst out. "Who the fuck are you?"

He sheepishly chuckled and ran his hand through his already tousled brown hair. Kyna looked up at Nica, rooted like a statue, arms crossed over his chest and utter dislike etched on his face. "Well?" Her head flicked back and forth between the two. "Is anyone going to tell me?"

Fed up, Kyna leaped up to her feet and brushed her bottom. Stepping toward Nica, she pointed down towards the hump of human bones bracing the wall to get back on his feet. "You know who he is Nica, don't you? I know you do. Why else you tried to choke him death when you saw him?"

"It's difficult to explain," the voice behind her rasped. "Guess I'm what you'll call a fairy godfather."

Kyna noted the humor in his voice and wasn't haven't it. Before she wheeled around and lashed out with her growing frustrations, Nica finally spoke up. Stepping past her to stand face to face, he said through clenched teeth, "Lumerio works for the council. His job's to watch over and report on strange activities. And carry out their will. He failed."