Chapter 4

I whirled around to see a blonde female Healer hang up her white coat on a hook in the wall across the hall.

"Dancing Stars?" I asked, as if I had no idea who she was talking about. "We were looking for Swirling Rapids. We thought he was in room 324."

"Swirling Rapids?" the Healer asked. "He's the one just out of surgery?" We both nodded. "Come with me," she motioned for us to follow her with her hand. We did. "I know what room he's in. You're on the wrong floor."

We walked in silence for a few seconds before I asked, "Did you say Dancing Stars has been discharged?"

Without looking back she said, "Yes, he has a very important mission. He's in the body of one of the last surviving human bodies. We're lucky his insertion went smoothly. None of the Healers has had to insert a soul in a long time. He's now in conference with his Seeker, and hopefully he's able to access this human's memories. You know, this case isn't too unlike one we had a couple of years ago. It was a female that time. She was also a member of a secret human society. We tried inserting a soul who had made herself quite popular with the Snow Bears." Sunny looked at me, and I tensed. The Healer didn't notice anything, and continued, "Unfortunately, that soul and her Seeker have been missing for some time. We believe that the human in that body overcame the soul—poor thing—but we don't have any idea as to what happened to the Seeker."

"Oh," I said.

"Well, with any hope, Dancing Stars will remember…everyone climb in." We all stepped onto the elevator that had just arrived. This time we were not the only ones on it, and the Healer was talking to another Healer on board. Sunny and I just stood there, awkward and scared.

We were on the elevator longer than we had been last time, because of all the people who were in the elevator before us. They all had to go to different floors. We were the second to last group to get off, and when we stepped off at the second floor, the Healer immediately started walking faster.

"I'm sorry, girls," she said, "I'm supposed to go help diagnose a patient on the fourth floor. I'm afraid I'm only going to be able to drop you off at room 234, and then I've got to go."

I sighed with relief, and said "That's okay. I think we'd prefer the privacy."

"Of course," the Healer smiled, and suddenly stopped. "Here it is: room 234." I was about to thank her when she opened the door and gestured with her hand for us to go in. I panicked, and looked at Sunny. Her eyes were very wide. We had no choice but to enter the room. Hesitantly, I led the way in, praying that Swirling Rapids was asleep. I saw that he was, and when Sunny and I were both in the room, we thanked the Healer. She smiled at us, and let the door swing closed.

Sunny went to the window in the door to tell me when the Healer was out of sight. We had to get back down to the cars, and we both knew it. The others had already been there for several hours, and our only hope of finding Ian—or his body—was to get down there and hope that we saw him walking around somewhere. "Oh no, she's stopped to talk to someone." Sunny informed me.

"Well, she can't be there that long," I reasoned. "She's got to give a diagnosis, remember?"

"Okay, it looks like they're just comparing notes or something. This should only be a minute or so."

"Do you want to switch? I can watch the door." I offered, even though I could barely see through the tiny window.

Sunny seemed to remember this, and with a sympathetic smile she said, "It's okay Wanda. I got it. Just sit down for a second. We'll be out of here within two minutes."

* * * * *

It was a lot longer than two minutes. After ten, I got tired of sitting, so I stood and walked to the side of the patient's bed. He was a strong looking young man who looked to be about 18, my real age, though everyone who knew me thought we had just celebrated my nineteenth birthday. He had short, dark hair, and straight eyebrows that cut across his forehead right above his eyes, which were closed. His lips were curved and full and perfectly outlined, neither one out of proportion. Right above the right corner of his mouth was a small brown mole, noticeable, but certainly not huge, which only added to his overall appearance. It was a reminder that he wasn't entirely perfect. Even I, who was completely in love, had to admit that he was beautiful. Without realizing it, my hand reached out to stroke his cheek. I was horrified at myself. He wasn't that handsome, and I loved Ian, not this stranger. I had to think very hard in order to pull my hand from his face, only to have it drift back once more. I was about to pull away, stand up, and retreat to the other side of the room, when suddenly I was hit by a memory…

I had just taken leave of Cloud Spinner, after collecting my jacket of course, because once again, it was raining. Even though my hood was up, I could feel many tiny little drops of water hit my face. I was shivering, but I didn't want to wait with Cloud Spinner. I wanted to be alone when he came. I couldn't wait for him to get here, and, getting caught up in my bliss, I turned my face upward to the rain, and let my hood fall back. I turned around slowly, as I had seen in so many movies. I knew it was cliché, but there was no other way to express happiness in the rain than to be free.

"Oh, Pet!" I heard Cloud Spinner calling. I groaned. I loved her, but I would never be free with her. "Put up your hood before you catch a cold!"

"All right!" I knew I shouldn't be mad at her. It was her nature. She was the nicest soul I knew, and she was positively afraid of humans.

I moved to pull my hood up, but as soon as it was halfway to my head, I heard his car, and my hood was forgotten. I waited until I could see his headlights, and then I ran to the car and jumped in, wearing a smile that felt like it could pull my face apart. I leaned over the barrier in between the front seats to hug him. Randy…I remembered making his nickname. It took too long to say Swirling Rapids. I just said Randy because it seemed to fit him, and because the second word of his name began with "R". Besides, I had always loved the name Randy.

"Did you miss me?" Even though I was looking over his shoulder, I could tell he was smiling. I pulled out of the hug so that I could see it. I loved that smile.

"Yes, probably too much. I think that my missing you may have been hazardous to my health." I smiled and giggled, but then I sobered up. "I'm really glad you're home."

"You know I didn't want to leave," he said. "I had to. They thought they had a lead."

"I don't care," I said. And I didn't. He was all that I cared about. I didn't care that they thought they had found humans in the desert. I didn't care what that could mean for all the souls that existed. I only cared that he was here with me again. I only cared that I could hold him and kiss him again. So I did, I leaned over the seats again and kissed his lips, long and slow. He smiled under my lips, and I couldn't contain myself any longer. I hugged him and began to cry. "I can't believe you're finally home. It's been so long."

"Well, I'm home now, and I'm all yours." Once again, I pulled away from him, but this time his hand followed me and held my face. His thumb wiped away the tears as they fell down my cheeks, and he whispered, "Don't cry. I'm home for good now. And we'll never be apart again." That only made me cry harder.

"Do you promise?" I asked.

"I promise." He swore, very solemnly. "Do you promise?"

I smiled. I doubted I would ever be able to leave him. "I promise."

After that, he drove the car away. We didn't need to talk much. I was content to just look at him and hold one of his hands. My memories hadn't done him justice. He was so much better than I had remembered. We drove for an hour or so without speaking, and when we finally stopped, I recognized the parking lot of my favorite beach.

"Why are we here?" I asked.

"This is your favorite place to be. I remember."

"Yeah, but it's not sunny." Not unlike me, Randy hated the rain.

"I don't need sunshine," he said. He got out of the car and walked around to my door. He opened it like the perfect gentleman that he was and said, "I've got you."

Smiling, I stepped out of the car, but I had hardly touched the ground before Randy had swept me into his arms. He carried me down to the beach and finally set me down right before the tide. He took my hand and we walked along the shore together. We talked of so many things, and I don't even remember what they were. I just remember that I loved every minute of it.

All of a sudden, I was overwhelmed again. Feeling very spontaneous, I turned Randy towards me and crushed my lips against his, cutting off whatever he was saying. At first he seemed surprised, but then he wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed me back fiercely. He lifted me off of my feet and spun me around. I broke away from him to laugh, and before I could kiss him again, I was rendered breathless by his face. There were raindrops running down it so fast that they looked like a constant stream. He was so beautiful. My smile disappeared as I traced his features with my finger. His smile also disappeared, and he set me down.

"What's wrong?" he asked, actually sounding concerned. I hadn't meant to worry him.

"I love you," I said. I had said it before, but it seemed more important to me now for some reason. "I will always love you."

"I love you, too, Pet." He still seemed confused, but that didn't matter. I hugged him and buried my face into his chest, loving the way I felt as his arms wrapped around me even tighter. I would never leave, he would never leave…. Everything was perfect.

As I surfaced from the memory, I realized that I was crying. My cheeks were wet and my eyes felt swollen. I tried to use my hand to wipe my face, but it was then that I realized that another hand had trapped mine against Randy's cheek. Looking at his face I saw that it was his own hand and that his eyes were open and looking at me. They seemed about ready to overflow with tears, too. In a moment of panic, I wrenched my hand away and cradled it against my chest. I regretted that though, because then he looked hurt. He quickly retained a blank look in his eyes though.

"Pet, is that you?"