Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR

PERRY

By the time I finished choking, waved off Mary Kate's concern, and ate the rest of my lunch, it was time to get back to the garage, so I haven't had a chance to get any more information from Aether. Or talk about the fact that he thinks I punched him in a past life. So much to unpack there.

But now I've got my car back, working again—with Bud's assurance that it's good as new, and if something does happen to go wrong, I can call him and he'll come right out—and we're on the road.

Too bad neither of us knows where we're going.

Wait, that's not fair. Aether keeps insisting he knows, and then he points in a vaguely northwest direction and says, "That way." It almost makes me understand why imaginary-past-life me might have punched him.

Luckily, I need to head in that general direction to get back to… nothing, since I'm homeless and jobless. But that's familiar territory, so that's where I'm planning to go after I take Aether to his friends. If they even exist.

Speaking of… "Tell me about your friends. If you haven't seen them in two hundred years, how do you know where they are? Or even that they've been reincarnated?"

He turns away from exploring all the compartments of my car. We had to have a stern talk about what he was allowed to touch and what was off-limits when he tried to engage the emergency brake while we were in motion.

"I know," he assures me. "I can sense them. They're all here, and they're all together. That way." He points again in the direction we're going.

"You can sense them. Great. So… when we get closer, are the directions going to be any more specific? Any chance of an address?" I don't really like the idea of being told "Turn left here!" at the last second in heavy traffic. Not that the traffic is heavy right now, but who knows where we'll end up?

"I don't know the address. It's near the water, though," he adds. "Which makes sense. Aqua loves the beach."

It takes me a second to realize he's referring to a person. "Aqua? Is that your friend's name?" I don't know why I'm surprised. It fits right in with "Aether."

He nods happily. "You like him. Well, past yous did."

It sure would be nice if past mes would share some of their knowledge. Oh wait, they can't… because they don't exist. Aether's really into this bit, though, and I don't see any reason to upset him by arguing about it. Since I made it clear in the diner what I believe, he's been very respectful of my personal space.

"What about your other friends?" I ask.

"You like them too."

Yeah… no. "I meant, what are their names?"

"Ha, whoops! There's Aqua, Flame, Zephyr, and… well, I don't know the last name yet. He likes to change it up with every incarnation. I'll find out when we get there."

Aqua, Flame, and Zephyr. If they were siblings, I'd say their parents were even weirder than mine, but since they seemingly chose the names themselves, I guess they're the weird ones.

But this does raise the question of whether his friends are going to be any more capable of looking after him than he is himself. I take one last shot at getting a home address from him. "Since you haven't been staying with your friends, where have you been living lately?"

To my surprise, he laughs. "My Perry, I don't think you're ready to hear that yet. Let's wait until you're not driving." He returns his attention to the scenery through his open window, chuckling. "Now I understand why you were asking such silly questions before."

Well, I tried.

We're about ten minutes from the outskirts of town—and wow, I drove a long way this morning when I was all mopey and distracted—when he says, "We need to go more that way," and points diagonally to the right. Which, since we're driving toward the coast, means north-ish. There's an exit coming up that will take us on a more northwesterly route, but…

"Did you say before that your friends are near the water? The ocean?" If they are, we can keep on the highway for now and then turn onto Route 5 and head north. It's shorter than the meandering road coming up.

"Yep. I can sense it."

I nod, like that's a completely normal thing. If nothing else, I'll get a nice drive along the beach.

In traffic. But it's not like I've got anything else to do.

"Then we'll stay on this road and keep heading west for now. There's another road further on that can take us north. Just let me know if we pass them or anything, okay?" I can't believe I said that like it's completely logical.

"Okay. I'm not used to these new roads yet. Things were different last time."

I bet.

As we get into more populated areas, Aether seems fascinated by it all. The roads, the noise, the buildings. Traffic lights. Occasionally he'll ask me what something is, and when I tell him, he says, "Of course!" as though he's heard about it but never seen it before. I'm starting to get worried about this whole situation. Has he been locked up or something for his whole life?

Eventually we reach Route 5 and I merge on northbound. Aether sighs and settles back in his seat. "We're heading right toward them."

Great. I try to remember what's north of here. "Do you know how far?"

"Not far," he says confidently. "Maybe half as far as the garage was from here?"

Math has never been my strong point, but I'm pretty sure that'll put us smack bang in the middle of the wealthy communities that kind of act as suburbs to the city. My guess is that his friends are camping on the beach somewhere around there. Those towns tend to be a mix of hippy crunchy types who established the communities back in the sixties and seventies, and trendy wannabe-Insta-famous trust fund babies. It's a weird dichotomy, but it does mean you can get really excellent coffee and really excellent weed on the same block.

"Great! We'll be there in time for dinner, then." Here's hoping his friends will feed us. And maybe let me park my car near their camp overnight. I'll feel safer sleeping in it if there are other people nearby. "Just sit back and enjoy the ocean vistas." It's a joke, since this part of the highway has no view whatsoever, and Aether doesn't seem to get it, if his puzzled expression is anything to go by. Before he can ask, I say, "You'll see a bit further ahead."

He nods but seems just as happy to look at the scrubby trees and shrubs along the side of the highway and all the cars around us.

We've been heading north for nearly half an hour before he says excitedly, "We're close! It's up ahead on the ocean side."

That solidifies my guess about the beach camping, and I feel a little thrill of excitement about spending a few hours by the ocean. I never seem to manage it anymore, even though I love the beach and moved out this way specifically for that reason. "This is our exit, then."

I veer into the right lane and take the exit, looping around the underpass to get to the ocean side of the highway. This is the central part of the town, with a main street of shops (both expensive trendy ones and hippy organic ones… which are also expensive) leading down to a pier and town beach. We crawl along Main Street until we reach the appropriately named Beach Road.

"That way," Aether informs me, pointing north, so I turn right. The further we get from Main Street, the quieter it is and the bigger the houses on our right are. The left is just sand and ocean. Not too far up ahead, I can see some kind of park or reserve, and I figure that's where we're heading.

"It's this house here."

That's so far from what I'm expecting that I'm three houses past it before I slam on the brakes. It's lucky there's nobody behind me. "What?" I glance over my shoulder toward the house he pointed to. It's huge.

He twists around and points again. "That one. Back there. Are we supposed to stop in the middle of the road like this?"

"Sorry. No. Um…" I take my foot off the brake and do a U-turn, creeping back along until we get to the house. As we pull into the driveway, I stare, shocked.

It's set back from the road, the front yard planted with beach grasses and succulents. The house itself is elevated, probably to take advantage of the view without any obstructions, and the triple garage is underneath. Stairs lead up to a wide covered deck.

It's definitely not the rusted-out van and tents I was expecting. "Are you sure this is it?"

Aether is fumbling to get his seat belt undone, and I lean over to help. As soon as he's free, he says, "Thanks!" and kisses my cheek, then scrambles out of the car.

I sit there, reeling from a second shock. Because he may have meant that as a friendly thank-you peck, but the simple contact was like a lightning strike for me.

Pulling myself together, I look through the windshield and see him racing up the stairs. Fuck, I should follow him. Just in case this is some random stranger's house and I'm going to need to manage Aether's disappointment… or mental breakdown.

He sees me coming and waits at the top of the stairs, which is sweet. I take a second to check out the deck. Overhead fans circle lazily, and there are three groupings of comfy-looking outdoor furniture. A surfboard leans against the side of the house, and there's a cooler and a beach towel just randomly left in the middle of the space. This is clearly a well-used part of the home.

I should have been paying attention, because Aether's yanking open the screen door and calling, "Guys? I'm here!"

My heart stutters in my chest, and I lunge for him, trying to grab him before he walks inside. I really, really don't want another police interview today. Especially not one that might end with me in jail. "Aether, stop," I hiss, but it's too late.

A yell sounds from inside the house, and my stomach flips in fear. Please let that be a shocked homeowner and not a furious one. Taking a deep, fortifying breath, I open the door and follow Aether in.

At first, my eyes can't make sense of what they see. A tall, incredibly hot Black man is… hugging Aether? It's either hugging or trying to squeeze to death, and hugging seems more likely. I sag with relief. I guess this really is his friends' house.

As I watch, two other men appear from elsewhere in the house and converge to make it a group hug. There's lots of yelling and backslapping and duuuuuudes, and I can't quite hold back my smile. Hopefully one of these guys will be able to take over Aether's care—or at least contact his carers and let them know where he is.

"Bro, I can't believe you made it!" the blue-haired shirtless guy says, pulling back from the hug. "D'you find us okay? How'd you get here?" He glances toward the door and sees me. "Whoa! You found him already! Duuuuuuude."

Or maybe I need to hang around for a while.