28. Chapter Twenty-Nine

The look of horror on that woman's face cemented me to the floor. Her eyes held so much hatred for me.

I stumbled backward, hitting the wall, and scurried down the hallway. Her scream lingered until the front doors shut behind me, and I broke free of the building.

Strong hands grasped my upper arms, and Dorran turned me to face him. "Amara, are you okay? You hit your head—,"

"What was that?" I asked, my throat growing dry. "Why does she think she knows me?"

Dorran glanced over his shoulder at the nursing home, and back at me. "I don't know. That was odd. She was fine, and then—,"

"She saw me," I whispered. "There is no way I did anything to that woman."

"Toby said she was losing her mind, Amara. She could have been hallucinating for all we know. We have no reason to believe her. They said she was having an episode. This could happen all the time. It's nothing to worry about."

Taking a deep breath, I wiped away the worry from my face. "We flew all the way here for nothing, Dorran."

"That's not true. She mentioned a forest by the river. Maybe that's a good place to start. We can grab some lunch and ask some of the locals about the river. There is one that runs through here."

"Sure," I said.

Dorran lifted my chin, his deep gaze searching my face for something. "Remember what I said? If today doesn't work out, we won't stop until we find something."

I nodded. "Right."

Dorran and I walked toward the courtyard where most of the restaurants were located. There was a sushi place down on the corner Dorran agreed to go to. I loved sushi, but since I couldn't make it, I rarely had it.

Helena would bring it home occasionally, but never for me.

We slipped into the small Asian-styled restaurant and were greeted by the smallest dragon I'd ever seen. She had Asian features, a beautiful smile, and ebony-colored wings.

"Hi. Welcome to A1 Sushi. Table for two?"

"Yes, please."

The dragon began to seat us at the bar, but Dorran cleared his throat, pointing toward a huge mural on the wall. "Can we have a table over there?"

She glanced back. "Of course."

We followed her toward the table, my eyes searching the wall-length mural with amazement. It was beautiful, and I quickly realized why Dorran picked these seats. There was a giant river running through it with trees and a forest.

She sat us down and took our drink order. "You think this is the river, don't you?"

Dorran glanced at the menu. "It could be. That looks like the front gates of this kingdom," he said.

The server brought back our drinks and pulled out her notepad. "Are you two ready to order?"

"I want the Philadelphia roll," I said, scooting the menu toward the edge of the table.

"I'll have the sampler," Dorran said, pointing his menu toward the mural. "Who drew this?"

She took the menus. "I'm not sure. Someone a long time ago. This place has been here a while, only remodeled once, but the owner kept the mural. I don't blame him. It's beautiful."

"It is," Dorran said. "Is the mural of The South Kingdom?"

She cocked her hip to the side and folded her arms. "I knew you two didn"t look familiar. You must be important to have gained access. Where are you from?"

"The North Kingdom," he answered. "This is my mate, Amara."

I met her kind eyes and smiled. "Nice to meet you."

"I'm Eva," she said. "It's nice to have visitors. The mural is of the river ομορφι?. It means beauty in Greek."

Something slithered down my spine. That name. I'd heard it before.

"It's a beautiful river."

Eva chuckled and looked over her shoulder. "It's not named beauty just because it's beautiful but because of the people that came from it."

"Eva!"

Whom I assumed was her boss, or mother, because they looked alike, stared daggers our way. "Sorry, I'll get your order in."

I watched her walk away. I turned my attention toward my drink. "I think we need to go to the river," Dorran said. "I know we said that we weren't going to stay the night, but maybe we need to grab a room. They have a nice hotel we could stay at."

Nerves skated around in my stomach. The feeling of being stared at surfaced, and I glanced back to see our server and her boss glaring at me. "I feel like everyone is staring at me, Dorran. Maybe it's not a good idea to stay."

Dorran reached across and touched my hand. "Little Mouse, do you think that I would let anyone harm you? I promised that I would find answers for you, and this could be a dead-end, but I think we're getting somewhere. One night, and if the river leads us nowhere, then we'll go back and find another avenue, okay?"

He was right. We needed to figure out what was going on before some other powers showed up and I hurt someone. It was just a river. What was the worst that could happen?

We finished our sushi, feeling as if someone was watching me the entire time, Dorran paid and we left to go find a room. The kingdom was nicer than ours was in a cultural stance.

It had charm and an old-timey feel whereas The North Kingdom was more modern. I liked that about this kingdom.

Dorran and I grabbed one of the last rooms in the hotel. It reminded me of something you would find in an older angler's town. With white stone buildings and charm carved into every nook.

Dorran stopped by the front desk and asked for a map of the city. The human working there gladly handed it over, while circling some sightseeing suggestions along the way.

"Where is the ομορφι? river?" he asked. "Here?"

She cringed. "Uh yeah, but I'm not sure you want to go there. It's kind of spooky. Well, it's very beautiful, but there are old stories about that place. I wouldn't risk going, especially with a human with me. You could easily escape if something went array. She couldn't."

Dorran glanced down at the worry written between my brows and slid his thumb against the fold in my skin. "Don't fret, Little Mouse. We won't venture far."

She shrugged. "Be careful."

I let Dorran guide me toward the river, past the courtyard, and down a long trail that looked less rocky on the map. The trees around us began to thicken, and the smell of water hit my nose.

"I smell the water," I said softly.

Dorran looked down at me but didn't say anything.

"What?"

"I don't," he whispered. "Normally I would."

I'd been a fish since birth—or since I could remember—not that Helena let me anywhere near it. I had to sneak to Sasha's pool party when I was nine years old because Helena refused to let me go. Which at the time didn't seem strange, but now, it did.

The sun sank lower in the sky the closer we walked to the river. We had plenty of daylight, but something about the sun going down didn't sit right with me. Dorran stopped us, pointing ahead, I noticed the small shimmer of light reflecting off the water.

Dorran interlaced his fingers with mine.

I wasn't sure if it was for comfort or to make sure I stayed safe. Either way, I was glad for it. We neared the river, and the oddest sense of peace came over me.

It was more of a calm stream flowing over pebbled rocks, and further down it deepened, but none of it seemed scary. My gaze shifted toward the forest on the other side, and the depth of it. The trees were large, like in my memory, and the urge to walk across the river and touch the trees surged me.

I took a step, but Dorran stopped me. "I don't think that's a good idea. Somethings out there."

I searched the tree line, at first, I saw nothing, but then I noticed it. The small head looking out from behind a giant tree. My fingers tightened around Dorran's, and he followed my line of sight.

It wasn't that someone lived out there that scared me.

It was the familiar blonde hair and blue eyes that stared back at me. Many people had blonde hair and blue eyes, but there was something so familiar about this one.

Dorran pushed me behind him as someone dashed around the trees, and grabbed the small child looking at us. The woman stopped and whispered something to him, but then her gaze traveled to Dorran's.

Then they settled on me.

The shock seemed to travel through her. She was surprised to see me as if she'd seen me before. Dorran glanced down at me with questions in his eyes. I wasn't sure which one of us had more.

Dorran lifted his hand as a peace offering, but the woman ran into the forest, almost disappearing before our eyes.

A cool wind whipped at my skin, and I tucked into Dorran's side. "Did she look like she knew me to you?"

Dorran nodded, watching the tree line but no one else seemed to be there. Dorran turned to look down at me. "I don't think going in there, just the two of us, is a good idea. Maybe we'll come back earlier in the day tomorrow, or visit Eva?"

I nodded, feeling the need to leave also. Dorran must have grown tired of my short strides because he picked me up and carried me away. I watched over his shoulder, eyeing the forest for movement, or another sign of life.

There was nothing.

"Can we go into the forest tomorrow?" I asked in a whisper.

Dorran turned his gaze to look at me. "I'm not sure, Amara. They didn't look friendly and we have no idea who they are."

"They looked like me," I said.

"I noticed, and I think they did too."

I curled my hand around his neck as I held onto him. "Do you think they are some kind of cult?"

"Perhaps, but I'm thinking a species of supernaturals. You have powers, don't you?"

"Sometimes."

"I bet they do too, and I don't think it's just sometimes for them. We'll do some digging before we make a decision tomorrow. In case we need to call for backup."

"They didn't look mean to me."

"Yeah, you don't look mean either, and you put Toby on his ass. I think looks can be misleading, Little Mouse. I think those people are more than meets the eye."