I fell down beside him. "Well? What's going on?"
He sighed. "I think I saw something on my last trip."
Something fluttered in my stomach when his eyes flicked to the small device I'd begun to leave on always. It would block anyone from listening in with another device, and I'd picked up a few extras on my most recent visit to Hakkon. Enan had some lying around, so I bought them. Well, sort of. Either way, I decided that we were better playing it safe, so three ran at all times. It would be too easy to slip up and mention something important without thinking about it, especially for the unit's less-than-paranoid members.
"It's on. What did you see?" I asked, my motions slowing as my thoughts became too absorbed in the possibilities to worry with silly things like brushing my hair.
He pressed his lips together and twisted around, facing me. Shaking his head, he answered, "I'm not really sure. It was only a flash, right when I landed. I'd just flipped on my Sight, and for an instant, I could have sworn that I caught a glimpse of another Reaper."
My heart leapt, and my monster made its first appearance since I'd changed back after joining. It slapped a hand on the edge of my well as a whispered 'yes' hissed in my head. Did it just… The thought blew away like smoke on a breeze.
I leaned forward, dropping the brush and clasping Axton's arms. "Are you sure?"
Again, he shook his head as time ticked by. Finally, he said, "No. I'm not positive, but…"
He trailed off, and his eyes became unfocused. The moment I was ready to shake the words out of him, he spoke. "I'm almost sure, though. It was only for a second, but at the edge of my vision, a bright, complete soul was there. Then I turned my head, and just that quickly, it had disappeared. Nothing but those dark, faded souls were left."
While I bounced on the bed, my questions tumbled out, nearly running atop one another. "Which planet? Did it leave because it spotted you? Have you told the rest of them?"
Axton blinked rapidly, likely trying to sort out my words. "Well, I went to the one we're calling Dustling. No, like I said, it was only for an instant. I think whoever it was had finished already and in the process of leaving. And also, no. I didn't want to get anyone's hopes up based on a flash out of the corner of my eye. It could have been anything."
I released him, nodding to myself as I tapped on my lower lip, and ran through the possibilities in my head. The urge to leap to my feet and run to the portal gripped me firmly. My monster agreed with that idea, grinning as I thought about chasing this possibility down by myself.
But I couldn't do that. Not anymore. Besides, I doubted the mystery soul would stand around, waiting on me to come to find them. So what to do? Too many ideas and negative thoughts crowded my head, forcing me up as the energy in my limbs increased. I paced in the small space by my bed, and Axton's eyes followed me.
Finally, Axton blurted out, "I'm struggling to decide if I should focus on that world because it is the first possible lead we've had, and we might know that they're currently visiting it. Then again, if it was one of them, they might not come back to that planet for a while because they were there so recently. We don't know if they have a rotation schedule or simply use a planet up before moving on to the next. And how often do they take the essence? Why? Are they even taking them, or is this some strange experiment? Maybe they're just working to destroy all life, one world at a time."
I halted and spun to face him. His words were valid. We hadn't discovered much of anything about the entire operation and nothing about their motives. Still, we now had something, although it could have been a trick of the light. No, if Axton's instinct tells him it is essential, I have to trust that. I have to.
We had no room for doubts, even if they outweighed our evidence. "Okay, I think you should return for at least a set, maybe a little more if they only go on the same binal each set. If you find nothing, then no harm was done,