Immortal Read Online Free

toward the Rio Grande.

= 2 =
    Â 

    The sun was headed toward the volcanic escarpment west of town, and the late afternoon sunlight slanted through the trees of the North Valley, setting yellow leaves aglow. I parked on a side street near the entrance to the Nature Center, which was already locked up. A gap in the fence nearby gave access to the bike trails along the bosque, via a wide path with cottonwoods behind the fences on either side.
    Grand old trees, going golden for fall, a few leaves already dropping to brighten the cinder path. I inhaled the dry-leaf smell of autumn and sighed with pleasure.
    The path gave onto a walking trail that ran along a flood-control ditch. I crossed the ditch on a footbridge and headed up to the bosque proper—the forest that ran along the Rio’s flood zone, all through the city. A paved bike trail ran between the bosque and the ditch. I crossed it and went into the woods, turning south, away from the most frequented trail.
    Dust rose up from my footfalls to hang in the late afternoon sunshine. Birds chattered and fussed; I heard some geese calling as they flew over, heading for the pond at the Nature Center. I looked up through the tree branches, peering into the blue beyond the golden leaves, hoping to catch sight of a passing “V” of sandhill cranes. I didn’t see any, nor hear any when I paused to listen.
    I closed my eyes, thinking of Caeran, picturing him beside me, thanking me for showing him these trees, which were nearly as beautiful as the aspen groves up in the mountains. I laughed softly at myself, then walked on, content with the fantasy.
    The sun was heading toward the escarpment and would set before long. I could feel the air getting cooler as the sunlight retreated. I kept going, though, giving myself permission to walk until the sun was actually down. Then I should head back. The bosque was fairly safe, but I didn’t care to walk alone there at night, and I was a bit off the beaten path. Still on a trail, though, even if it was little more than a dusty track through the undergrowth.
    I came around a bend where the trail skirted a thicket of olive trees, and stopped. A few yards away a homeless guy was squatting in the dirt, whittling on a stick with a knife. I was about to back away when he turned his head a little and I saw a familiar jawline. My heart jumped.
    â€œCaeran?”
    He looked up at me in surprise, and I saw that it wasn’t Caeran. It was someone who looked a whole lot like him, though.
    â€œOh—sorry! You must be one of Caeran’s family. Is he here?”
    He stood up and faced me, and I saw that what I’d taken for ratty clothes were a shirt and loose trousers a lot like what Caeran wore. This guy was every bit as gorgeous as Caeran, but not as trusting. He was still holding the knife, which didn’t make me as nervous as it had at first, but I took note of it. He frowned at me.
    â€œHow do you know Caeran?”
    â€œH-he came to the library where I work.”
    The stranger stared at me intently, reminding me of how Caeran had done something similar, though it felt more like a threat with this guy. He didn’t smile at all.
    A tingle started at the back of my neck. The guy’s eyes—green, but darker than Caeran’s—bored into me, and for a moment I thought I saw a faint glow around his head. I felt like he was trying to see right into my heart. Something like a whisper went through the back of my mind. I couldn’t make out the words.
    Then he looked away, leaning against a tree trunk and whittling at his stick again. “Caeran is not here.”
    I blinked. The glow was gone, or I had imagined it. “Oh. Well … when you see him, tell him I said hi. Len, from the library.”
    No acknowledgment. Only the long scrape of the blade along the stick. A curl of pale wood fell to the ground.
    OK, fine. I could take a hint. I went back the way I’d come.
    By the time I got