The Man Beyond The Map

CHAPTER 18 - SOMETHING ABOUT HER

The woman stood beside the aircraft.

She didn't move.

Neither did I.

For a moment, the jungle, the broken runway, the strange silver-eyed creature, even Aria disappeared from my attention.

There was only her.

Dark hair.

A flight attendant's uniform.

One hand gripping the edge of the aircraft door.

And those eyes.

Violet.

My chest tightened.

I had never seen her before.

At least, that was what my mind told me.

My body disagreed.

Every instinct I possessed was screaming something different.

Her.

I took one step forward.

The woman flinched.

"Don't."

Her voice was soft.

Not frightened.

Careful.

I stopped.

"Do I know you?"

She stared at me.

"I don't know."

"You just called me Ethan."

Her eyebrows pulled together.

"I know."

"How?"

She shook her head.

"I don't know."

Aria stepped between us.

"Who are you?"

The woman looked at her.

For several seconds, neither spoke.

Then the woman's eyes widened.

"Aria?"

Aria froze.

"What did you call me?"

The woman took a slow step backward.

"I don't know."

Her breathing became uneven.

"I just... knew your name."

I looked at Aria.

She looked back at me.

Something was wrong.

Very wrong.

The woman lowered her eyes to the ground.

"My name is Aria."

Silence.

My stomach dropped.

Aria—the woman standing beside me—went completely still.

"No."

The hostess looked at her.

"What?"

"That's my name."

The woman stared at her.

Then at me.

Then back at Aria.

"I know."

The jungle suddenly became silent.

Too silent.

No insects.

No birds.

No wind.

Nothing.

The silver-eyed creature at the edge of the trees lowered its head.

Like it was waiting.

I felt something move beneath my skin.

A pulse.

Then another.

My hand went instinctively to my chest.

Pain flashed through me.

I dropped to one knee.

"Ethan!"

Both women moved toward me.

"Stay back!"

My voice came out harsher than I intended.

They stopped.

The pain disappeared.

I looked down.

Nothing.

No blood.

No wound.

But beneath my shirt, something was burning.

I could feel it.

A mark.

The same strange symbol I'd seen beneath the island.

The same symbol from the aircraft.

The same symbol from the underground chamber.

I pulled open my shirt.

A thin black line crossed my chest.

Then another.

Then another.

They formed a pattern.

Aria stared.

"What is that?"

"I don't know."

The hostess whispered something.

I looked at her.

"What?"

She shook her head.

"I've seen it before."

My heartbeat accelerated.

"Where?"

She pressed a hand against her temple.

"I don't remember."

"Try."

"I can't."

"Try!"

She winced.

A sudden sound escaped her.

Not a scream.

A gasp.

Her eyes rolled upward.

And she collapsed.

I caught her before she hit the ground.

Her body was warm.

Too warm.

"Aria!"

The woman beside me knelt.

"I'm here."

"No."

I looked at her.

"I meant..."

I stopped.

There were two women named Aria.

One standing beside me.

One unconscious in my arms.

And neither of them seemed surprised enough by that fact.

The unconscious woman's fingers suddenly closed around my wrist.

Her eyes opened.

Violet.

She looked directly into mine.

"You came back."

My blood went cold.

"Who are you?"

She smiled.

It wasn't happiness.

It was sadness.

"You always ask that."

Then she fainted again.

I stared at her.

"Always?"

Aria slowly stood.

"What did she mean?"

"I don't know."

"You knew she was coming."

"I didn't."

"You knew her name."

"I didn't."

She stepped closer.

"Then why are you looking at her like that?"

I had no answer.

Because I didn't understand what was happening inside me.

It wasn't desire.

Not exactly.

It wasn't attraction.

It was recognition.

Like seeing a place from a dream.

Like hearing a song I'd forgotten I knew.

I looked down at the woman in my arms.

Her breathing was steady now.

I noticed a small silver pendant around her neck.

A symbol had been carved into it.

My chest burned again.

I reached toward it.

The moment my fingers touched the pendant—

Everything disappeared.

I was standing on a beach.

Not this beach.

Another one.

The sky was red.

Three moons hung above the horizon.

The ocean stretched endlessly before me.

I wasn't alone.

She stood beside me.

The same woman.

Only she wasn't wearing a uniform.

Her dark hair moved in the wind.

She was laughing.

I was laughing too.

Something enormous moved beneath the water.

She grabbed my hand.

"Don't let go."

"I won't."

"You always say that."

"I mean it."

She looked at me.

Her violet eyes were wet.

"Then why do you always leave?"

I opened my mouth.

No words came.

Behind her stood another figure.

A silver-haired woman.

White eyes.

Watching.

And beside the woman—

A child.

Small.

Silent.

Violet eyes.

The child looked directly at me.

"You promised."

The world shook.

The ocean rose.

The sky cracked.

And I heard my own voice.

Not the voice I knew.

Something older.

Something colder.

"I had to forget."

The woman stepped closer.

"Why?"

"Because if I remembered you..."

I looked at her.

"...I would never become human."

She touched my face.

"You chose me anyway."

The vision shattered.

I opened my eyes.

I was on the ground.

Aria was kneeling beside me.

The other woman was sitting nearby.

Both were staring at me.

"What happened?" Aria asked.

I pushed myself upright.

"I remembered."

"What?"

"A beach."

The hostess looked at me.

"What beach?"

I studied her face.

"You were there."

She stopped breathing.

"What?"

"You."

She slowly shook her head.

"I've never been here."

"I know."

"Then how could I be there?"

"I don't know."

She looked frightened now.

Not of me.

Of the answer.

Aria stood.

"We need to leave."

I nodded.

The three of us moved away from the aircraft.

Behind us, the plane remained perfectly intact.

Its engines were still running.

But there was no fuel truck.

No ground crew.

No explanation for how it had arrived.

I looked back once.

The cockpit windows were dark.

Then one of them lit up.

A figure was sitting inside.

I stopped.

"Wait."

Aria turned.

"What?"

I pointed.

The cockpit.

The figure.

It was impossible to see clearly through the glass.

But I knew one thing.

The person was watching us.

The hostess followed my gaze.

"Is someone flying the plane?"

"No."

She looked at me.

"Then who is that?"

I didn't answer.

The silver-eyed creature suddenly growled.

Deep.

Warning.

The figure inside the aircraft lifted one hand.

And waved.

My stomach tightened.

Because I recognized the gesture.

I had seen it before.

In the photographs.

In the underground chamber.

In the memories.

Someone was welcoming me home.

The aircraft lights went out.

The figure disappeared.

Then the plane vanished.

Not exploded.

Not crashed.

Vanished.

One second it was there.

The next—

Nothing.

Only empty runway.

Aria whispered, "What the hell is this place?"

I looked toward the jungle.

"I don't think this is an island."

The hostess frowned.

"Then what is it?"

I remembered the red sky.

The three moons.

The child.

The woman.

And the voice inside my head.

You came back.

I swallowed.

"I think it's a door."

Aria stared at me.

"A door to where?"

I looked at the mark burning beneath my shirt.

"I don't know."

Then something moved in the trees.

Not the creature.

Something else.

Something human.

A silhouette stepped between the trees.

Silver hair.

White eyes.

Watching us.

The hostess suddenly grabbed my arm.

Her fingers trembled.

"That's the woman from my dreams."

The silver-haired woman smiled.

Then she spoke.

Not with her mouth.

Inside my head.

Ethan Cross.

I froze.

You finally brought her back.

My eyes moved to the woman beside me.

Then to the hostess.

The silver-haired woman tilted her head.

Now you only need to remember which one of you is real.

The forest went black.

And when the darkness lifted

She was gone.