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Sam lay on his bed and stared at the ceiling. He should have been exhausted, but his mind was buzzing too much to fall asleep.
John and Henri had explained everything on the drive home. Sam’s best friend wasn’t who he said he was, wasn’t even human, other aliens might really haven taken his dad, and his vivid dreams recently made a lot more sense.
Every human knew about soulmate dreams. They were a product of the low-level telepathic field they all had. Some people were more sensitive to the field than others, but everyone shared dreams with their soulmate. It began in the middle of puberty, on average in the mid-teens, thought it got earlier the more sensitive you were.
The field also caused marks to appear on skin, a name or a significant symbol that would identify a soulmate for the less gifted. So far, Sam hadn’t been able to make much sense of the mark that had showed up a few months ago, but the drive back from Athens had shed some light on things.
Without thinking about it, Sam pulled his knee up and shoved up the cuff of his jeans to look at it.
The mark looked like pale old scar tissue, but it was smooth to the touch. The looping swirls of the symbol didn’t match anything Sam had looked up, but he knew what it meant. A soul mark was always intelligible on a subconscious level, thanks to the telepathic bond.
Of course, the number four hadn’t meant anything to him before John and Henri had explained their story. John was the fourth in the succession of the charm that kept the Garde safe. The first three were dead, leaving John stripped of all the protection the charm had offered. Sam’s soulmate was in direct, mortal danger worse than any since he’d left his planet as a child.
Just thinking it gave Sam chills and a stomachache. Chills, because he’d believed in aliens for so long and they were real, and his soulmate was one! A stomachache because John’s life was on the line and there was nothing Sam could do to help him.
In fact, he wasn’t sure John and Henri were aware of human soul mating. Sure, it was mentioned occasionally in class, but not in enough detail for John to have a solid understanding of the concept and Henri might have been too busy to investigate something that wasn’t likely to affect them.
How could Sam explain? He’d been sharing John’s dreams for weeks, but nothing had indicated that John had noticed him. Sam hadn’t even realized they were soulmate dreams himself; he’d thought the vivid alien dreams came from reading They Walk Among Us too late at night.
Maybe, if Sam could get them to understand, John and Henri would train him. Sam didn’t have superpowers, but surely, he could learn enough to help John rather than weighing him down.
If they believed him. If they even wanted him…
After all, he had no idea if the Loric even had soulmates. Besides, John must be expected to help replenish his people, he couldn’t get involved with a human boy. No, there would be a Loric girl for him if they didn’t all get slaughtered. Sam really had nothing to offer, but he had to try anyway.
Sam didn’t realize he had fallen asleep until he opened his eyes in a front yard that wasn’t his. It wasn’t particularly disorienting, but that was how the dreamscape worked.
Sam had been here before, when John wasn’t dreaming about the fall of Lorien. This was the house he’d shared with his grandparents; Sam knew because John knew. The child John wasn’t in sight nor was the man Sam suspected was John’s father.
But John stood nearby, staring absently across the grass. Sam walked over to him, abruptly more nervous than he’d ever been in his life.
Knowing it was a dream changed things. The telepathic connection was no longer subconscious, he could shape what it did in this space. What he said here would be as real as if he said it while awake.
Assuming John’s brain could receive the signal.
Sam cleared his throat, unsure where to begin.
“Hey, John.”
John started, turned toward him with a surprised look that made it clear his mind had never registered Sam’s presence.
“Sam? That’s weird. I’ve never dreamed about a mixture of my lives before.”
Sam shifted awkwardly and rubbed the back of his neck.
“Yeah, that’s kind of my fault. Look, man, there’s something I need to tell you.”
Sam wasn’t sure he explained very well. His knowledge of soulmate theory was pretty basic; he’d been more interested in aliens. Still, there had been some articles theorizing that soul mating and the telepathic field were the result of alien tampering and he was able to bring up the memory of reading them for John to see.
Explaining with the aid of a telepathic dreamscape was better than he’d thought it would be.
They defaulted back to Lorien when he was done. Sam looked around and wondered why that was while John digested this new information. It was possible the Loric had their own psychic abilities, if Henri’s narration in these dreams wasn’t just John’s memory. Given that he dreamed about things he hadn’t experienced in person, it was also probable.
Maybe John’s mind had developed a stronger “personality” and dominated Sam’s inexperience. He might never get an answer, unless Henri or one of the other Loric had any ideas.”
“Henri thinks we only fall in love once, for life,” John said, breaking Sam out of thought. “Maybe that’s a way we’re like humans. I thought that’s how I felt about Sarah.”
Sam felt his heart sink. He’d forgotten about Sarah. Eve if there weren’t any Loric girls, he had more than enough competition in a purely human one.
“I’m not trying to get between you,” he said hastily. “Soulmate bonds aren’t always romantic. Sometimes it only means you’ll be the best of friends.”
He couldn’t mention that his feelings weren't going to cooperate with that option, because his confused, half-ashamed crush on John wasn’t something he wanted to get into yet. They were tackling enough big topics for one night.
“But, Sam, if her soulmate is someone else, that means I can’t be with her forever anyway. Maybe me not being human screws things up, but I really doubt both of you got your bonds messed up the same way. She’ll understand and she’d want you to be happy.”
“John, I can’t ask you to do that,” Sam protested.
John cracked a small smile.
“And I can’t hurt my best friend. You’re the first real friend I’ve ever had.” He looked awkward. “I’m a little relieved, though. I could never involve Sarah in all of this, but I have a feeling I’ll need you at my back.”
“You’ll have me,” Sam promised. “I can’t do what you can do, but I’ll learn everything Henri will teach me. Or if he wants to focus on you, I’ll find online tutorials or classes or something. I’ll figure it out!”
Now John grinned.
“The first thing we have to figure out is how to tell Henri. You can’t download stuff into his brain like you just did with me.”
“Nope, but I can pull up information on the web.”
Sam returned John’s grin. Maybe his entire world had rearranged itself, but his soulmate was ready to face it with him.
He really liked the sound of “we.”