His words make me halt my steps.
He must hear me stop because his movements grow slower, and he peeks back at me. His forehead furrows, and his jaw looks sharper. Maybe it’s the angle, but from where I’m standing, it’s like a strange look passes over his face. It resembles concern, but at the same time, it feels like bewilderment, like he’s confused. But what is he confused about? The way he cocks his head and stares at me, it’s almost like he’s confused about his reaction to me. Not really sure. But I’m curious to find out.
“Everything okay over there?”
“Yeah, of course.” I pick up my pace and fall in line next to him.
Together, in step with one another, we make our way back into the clearing, and as soon as I do, my lids blink against the harsh brightness of the early morning light. I didn’t realize how dark it was on the path.
As my vision adjusts, I notice where Cain is leading me. We are headed toward the parked Wrangler.
I swear I didn’t notice it before. “Was it here before?” I mutter.
“What?” He must notice my confusion because he halts his steps and looks at me with narrowed eyes.
“Was that always there?” I lift my hand and point at the car.
“Yeah. Why?”
My nose scrunches. “I didn’t see it before.”
“That’s because you didn’t enter from this path.” His hand reaches out and points in the opposite direction. “That’s where you entered.” A dense cluster of trees stands in that location. The immense trunks and green pines stretching out into the horizon.
“Oh. I guess I didn’t realize where we were going, huh?”
His response is a soft chuckle, low enough that I’m not sure I actually heard it. “Yeah, how did you find me anyway?”
His question catches me off guard. “I wasn’t looking for you,” I admit.
“What do you mean?”
“The path by my house. I took it for—” Now I feel dumb. I got lost, and now he knows.
“For what?”
I grimace. “Exercise.”
“You have to be more careful,” he snaps, and then his face softens. “It’s dangerous here. The paths don’t all connect.”
“And? I don’t understand the big deal. I got lost. So what? I have been lost before and figured it out. I just would have again, right?”
“You could have gotten lost forever.”
His eyes are wide. He moves closer and reaches his hand out, but then he stops himself. Cain must think better of touching me. He stands there. Looking up at the sky as if he’s willing it to open up and give him the words to say, then I see him swallow. “Come on, let’s go. We have a short amount of time and a lot to see.”
I follow him, feeling like a lamb walking toward the slaughter. Which makes zero sense, but I feel off-kilter.
Maybe it was the run-in with the woman.
Or maybe it’s something else, but as he continues to walk and I trail behind, I don’t have time to think about it.
Instead, I feel thankful that I have my backpack on me with my recorder in it. I didn’t know we would be starting this early.
I also didn’t know I would bump into him on my walk. A chill runs down my spine at his earlier words.
“You say you were inspired by Brave New World?”
“Yes, when I was younger, I read Huxley and imagined a place that was better. A place where people could thrive, and so I came up with the idea for The Elysian. When I first brainstormed the concept, I wanted to prove Huxley wrong. That technology wasn’t inherently evil. That there was a way to achieve the goals without corruption. But when I began to plan, technology hadn’t caught up to my ideas, but now it has. We can create a close to perfect place to live.”
“There is no such thing as perfect,” I tease, my voice soft and playful.
“That may be the case, but we can get pretty damn close.” His tone is velvety, making the corner of my mouth twist up.
I rock back and forth on my heel. “How do you figure?”
“Come with me, and I’ll show you.” This is one of those moments. One of those turning points you read about in books and see in movies. Where the hero or heroine knows that if they take the hand and follow, their life will never be the same.
That’s how I feel when Cain Archer points in the direction of the Jeep Wrangler with an outstretched hand and wants me to follow him.
And I want to.
I take his outstretched hand and let his fingers wrap around mine. When our skin touches, I swear chills actually run down my body.
I’m not sure if I’m excited, nervous, or scared.
I look up so that my gaze meets his, and he has a weird look on his face.