“Cora, don’t fall asleep! You’ll never guess what I’m looking at!”
My girlfriend’s eyebrows rose a smidge, but she didn’t open her eyes. “You gonna tell me or tease me?” she snarked.
I leaned down and pressed my lips to her forehead. “New notification in Purple Road. SassySword reviewed Moons Dancing.”
Cora’s eyes flew open, “What?!” She bolted upright, leaving my lap empty, and grabbed the pad from my hands.
Moons Dancing is out of this world. Truly. This book is special because it doesn’t follow the typical tropes; it creates its own. Lovers of romance will find delight in its pages. The characters are so real, it seems like they’ll come alive and step right out of the book and into your heart. I fell in love with it in a heartbeat, and can’t wait to see more of Ayela Scarsdale.
If you’re in the mood for something otherworldly and steamy, give this one a read. It’s the most real book I’ve read all year.
Cora looked at me in shock, “Woah, Sam. What’s this Discord pretender doing reviewing your web serial now? After all this time?”
I was wondering the same thing as Cora, and yet, I didn’t wanna think of SassySword as one of the bad guys. She’d always felt like a friendly human to me, but was that a trick?
What was Sassy up to? Trying to loop me back into the cyber mafia’s schemes?
I plucked the pad out of Cora’s fingers. “Dunno, love, but it’s an interesting development. You gonna let me school you in how to upload chapters or—“
“I’m going back to sleep.”
She flopped her drowsy head into my lap. Like nothing earth shattering had just happened. I pulled the blanket over her shoulders, and slouched into the sofa.
My thoughts drifted, wandering far beyond the starliner softly humming around us.
In a few hours, we’d be in Five Spheres. Between now and then, I had nothing but time and a curious telepath for company.
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Sitting next to me was Pitch, and it was was his starliner we were taking across Andromeda Galaxy. But the ship was less interesting to me than the man.
Or more specifically, his satchel.
Which held a book I desperately wanted to read.
I’d read a lot about telepathy in the Ayela Arcana Sanctuary on Shurwinn, and I was quite confident that Pitch Joon could hear my thoughts.
I was happy to let him.
He nudged me companionably and opened the satchel, pulling out an ivory book and placing it in my waiting hands. Running my fingers over the goldleaf, I admired its title: Unknown Cosmos.
Out of nowhere, my eyelids drooped with fatigue that was more than days spent busily researching on Shurwinn. I blinked, hanging onto consciousness, opening the pages of Pitch’s book.
Which I could not read.
Not a single handwritten line.
Of course, Pitch wrote in a language I didn’t know. He put the book back in his satchel, smiling softly, and I sagged, exhaustion overwhelming me.
My head tipped onto his shoulder, and a warm hand steadied my cheek.
Soft light filled my brain—comforting, warm welcome. A breeze whispered through my thoughts bringing golden grasses gently swaying. Faces I recognized. Then a new underwater world full of colorful merfolk.
Scenes and faces shifted like dreams layered on dreams. Ferns. Tiny furry creatures dancing and two men I knew only from stories.
Empty pages turning. . .
Blank.
Waiting.
Turning again. . .
Nothing.
“Sam?” soft lips kissed my cheek, and my eyes took in the starliner, reminding me where I was. I’d fallen asleep on the sofa?
My girlfriend kneeled in front of me. “I’m ordering ahead. Want a curry for dinner?”
Blearily, I answered, “Sure. Rice. Medium spice?”
Cora nodded, tapping her pad.
“Cor? You’re never gonna believe this. Hey—where’s Pitch?” I asked.
“Left a while ago. Took HC and Paddy in the back. What am I not gonna believe, babe?” she wondered, and I sat up, grabbing her arm.
“Pitch! I think. . . I dunno. Did he, maybe, put me to sleep then show me dreams? No, I was kind of awake, but I swear to god, Cora! He showed me Ryst and Nayth on a watery world with merfolk! And I saw Peydran and Ren too! Dancing with little furry creatures.”
Now that I said it aloud, it sounded utterly ridiculous.
“Did you read his book?” Cora asked in disbelief.
I shook my head, “Couldn’t. It’s not English or Universal, but he showed it to me,” I pointed to my head.
She nodded, “There’s not much I’d put past him. Who knows what his Talents are capable of?”
“Cora! He showed me—things. Empty pages! And I think he meant OUR story is what belongs on the blank lines!” I pointed around the starliner. “Right now, everything we’re doing. Somehow, this is what Pitch has been waiting for!”
Cora stood up, pacing. “Then I need to see what’s in his book, don’t I?” Her eyes lit with mischief. “I sneak into his room. Take pics to run through a translation app.”
But before Cora could enact Operation Rob The Telepath Aboard His Own Ship, we docked at Uno Transfer Station.
I smirked at her, “Ready for dinner, love? Or you gonna stay aboard and mess with Pitch?”
“Ha! Let’s go, Sam! Time to explore a new world, and let’s find out exactly what that mysterious telepath is hoping to record in his little white book.”
Little did we know that curry in a Nineton cafe would give us answers we’d been looking for since we’d met.