Looking At Me • a Brynne and Hira Story (book #1)

[5] • Looking At Me

☆☆☆Brynne☆☆☆

Brynne stepped through the portal. She felt a slight tug above her belly button. Cold air whooshed at her. It's been a while since she used a portal, and she wasn't used to the feeling of being lifted off her feet every two seconds.

Once she got to the other side, Brynne looked up at a sky full of stars spilling over a beautiful black sky. Hira walked out of the portal shortly after and sighed contently. 

"Well, here we are," Hira said, her smile brighter than any star in the sky. She looked up, her eyes reflecting the sky. Over the past few days, Brynne noticed the rakshasi's eyes were a bit different than the average human eye. They were upturned, and her pupils were crescent-shaped, rather than circular. It was terrifying and mesmerizing.

"This place looks different than yesterday's," Brynne noticed, taking in her surroundings. The girls were on top of a rocky mountain peppered with trees. Somewhere behind them, Brynne could hear the sound of aggressive water splashing over rocks. The previous day, they had landed in a forest filled with evergreen trees, but today, there were more birch and deciduous trees around her.

Brynne stuck up her finger in the air, sensing directions. As the daughter of Vayu, she could control the wind and tell exactly where they were. "We're at roughly thirty-five point-five degrees north and seventy-eight point-five degrees west. Yesterday we were way further at forty-four-ish degrees north and like a hundred ten point-six---"

Hira nodded. "This is Shenandoah National park." She pulled her hood up. "We're in Virginia. Yesterday, we were at Yellowstone." Hira grunted as she climbed up a rock and hopped onto another. "I like this place better, though," she said, turning back at Brynne, holding out her arm. Brynne took her hand, zipping her coat up higher.

As the cold front continued moving south, it left the northern states warmer, making Virginia slightly warmer than home in Georgia. "Great. So we're on a National Park stargazing spree."

The rakshasi laughed. "If that's what you wanna call it, Tvarika." Hira wrapped her arms around Brynne's neck and kissed her, smiling against Brynne's lips. "Come on, let's go."

Hira climbed up rocks with such ease and grace, as if she'd done it a thousand times before. Oh wait, Brynne thought. That's because she did. At home in the Otherworld, if Hira had climbed up trees to look at the sky every single night, climbing a few rocks was no challenge for her. Still, Brynne marveled at her new girlfriend as she trekked with inhumane skill.

"Here we are," breathed Hira when they reached a patch of rocky ground hundreds of feet above the ground.

Brynne frowned at the cold slapping her nose. She pulled her hood up. "We're more than four thousand feet up. Is this Hawksbill Mountain?"

"Yeah. The higher up you stand, the closer you are to the stars," Hira mumbled amazed.

The last two days, the girls have made it a habit of sneaking out at night and visiting remote spots to stargaze. Brynne had first suggested it to Hira as an option to get out of the house. Alone. Just the two of them. Hira was more than happy to join her, and, well... here they were.

"The closer I want to get to you," Brynne added, lacing her fingers through Hira's. She let out a heavy sigh. "So... the last day of highway closure, huh? Damn, this passed by so quickly. At least I can still see you at Mini's house." The smaller girl looked up and smiled, but it faded quickly.

"About that... there's something I should tell you," Hira swallowed. "I might have to leave soon."

Brynne's heart dropped to her stomach. "What?"