The train rocked along the tracks, rocking the cars gentle. The wheels were loud over the tracks but nothing to cause her a stir. She’d been through worse. Things moved fast in the window but she could still keep track of the bare snow-covered trees and the softly lit nighttime towns. Winter had come while she was gone and it was definitely chilly within the car as well.
Pulling her jacket closer around her, Samantha rubbed her hands together with her gloves and sighed. A woman came down the aisle pushing a cart slowly. “Would you like a drink or something warm?” she asked and the girl shook her head. “Alright. If you need anything just give me a call.”
“I will, thank you,” turning to face the window again she leaned her face on her hand. Brushing her fingers through her hair slowly she pulled at one of the curls but paused as she felt her phone going off. Pulling it out she swiped the notification open and the chat appeared for her.
Lily: Samantha you’re on the train right?
Samantha: Yeah. I think we just passed the state line. I should be there in an
hour.
Lily: Good. We’ll be there to see you. We’ve missed you.
Samantha: Lol I haven’t been gone that long.
Dick: Yes the hell you have! You said two months.
Dick: It’s been half a year!
Lily: Aren’t you on patrol?
Dick: Yeah and it’s quiet.
Dick: You’re not the only one missing here.
Samantha: Just because you got Captain Betty’s approval doesn’t mean you
can shirk training.
Dick: She’s being bossy even from here.
Lily: Rude.
Lily: Anyway, I’ll meet you at the station. We can meet him later.
You hungry?
Samantha: No
Samantha: Maybe.
Samantha: I should eat.
Lily: Good. We’ll all get something then.
Samantha: I’m looking forward to it.
Smiling Samantha put her phone away and leaned back in the chair. Taking a deep breath, she leaned her head upward and then closed her eyes. Dick was right in the fact that it had been a long time since they had last seen one another. It had been three months into the new arrangement before she was called by headquarters.
She had worried that it was something serious but it had been a promotion. Apparently how she handled the situation with the wraith was done well. And they valued her honesty with the two new geist warriors. Betty was the one who delivered the news and promised to watch over the two of them while she was gone. The training had been leadership based. It was Samantha’s responsibility to take care of her Dick and Lily so she had to get a crash course in actually leading.
It hadn’t been easy.
But she passed the tests effectively and got the approval to go back home. A phrase she hadn’t thought in a long time. Her eyes opened at the thought and frown slightly. Squeezing her arms she sighed and then winced as she heard a ringing. It had been a very long time since she’d heard that sound.
It was a dull sound and she sighed in frustration, rubbing her ears slowly. She knew that they would hurry to handle it but until then the noise was frustrating to hear. A droning fly that she couldn’t swat away that would grow close enough to be deafening and then fade away to just be distantly frustrating.
Her fingers flexed slowly and she felt her geist anxiously fighting in her mind. It wanted to manifest, perceiving the danger, and the need to protect her but she fought it. Breathing slowly, she rattled off random facts that she didn’t care about but it forced her mind onto a topic that wasn’t the noise.
That wasn’t the wraith.
Taking another slow breath, she mumbled, “Trust your team, Samantha.”
Having enough of fighting herself she got up, stretching her arms above her head and walked down the aisle. Most people were asleep, the final leg of the journey coming on. Her eyes flitted back and forth. A man reading a newspaper and his three year old who had been there since the beginning of the trip. A woman deep in a novel that Samantha couldn’t remember seeing before.
But she caught up to the food cart and took a few bags of pretzels and some water. The ringing was getting loud again which was incredibly annoying. Thanking her, she took a step back and began to turn and ran straight into someone. Stumbling back, she began to apologize but stopped as she stared at the man.
He was taller than her, short hair, scraggly facial hair but it was his eyes. She met them for only a second but they were red. Red to the point of fire. She stared into them, consumed by the brightness and the ringing in her ears was almost screaming.
She gripped the seat behind her and pressed a hand to her forehead and when she looked at him again his eyes were a normal brown and he was frowning, concern there. “You okay?”
She stared at him entirely confused and shook her head slowly. “Yeah. Had a little bit of déjà vu. I just need to sit. Probably went too long without eating.”
She forced a smile on her face as she stood and got her footing. She didn’t stay near him though despite the hand he offered and went back to her seat. When she was sitting and her breathing had stabilized she looked down the aisle but that man was gone.
Sitting in her seat she took a slow breath and the ringing in her ears finally faded. The voice on the intercom announced that they would be entering the city in an hour. As she opened one of the bags of pretzels all she could think about was that he had looked exactly like Dick.
The Harlequin Library 