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• Amir •

It was Friday evening in Louisiana when Amir connected to Luna.

After he spotted her, he ended up standing in the back of a crowded dance floor. While sitting in his car to meet Faisal at the lab, he wanted to see her for a moment and discuss something important.

Luna wore a jean jacket with a white top and gray stripes, and her hair was down, dancing around her shoulders. A thin woman with bright red hair had stayed close to Luna as they smiled and took a picture together. A tall brunette man wearing glasses swayed beside them and laughed as they danced rhythmically to the music.

Amir bobbed his head lightly, feeling a little out of his comfort zone, gradually joining in as he ambled in Luna's direction.

As he caught her gaze, she brought her hands up behind her neck and tied her hair into a thin ponytail. He leaned close to her ear, but then he sensed other tethered souls in the building. The others were hard to point out as the DJ played an R & B song loudly, and the base of the music boomed roughly against the walls.

The redhead slowly moved in front of her and yelled over the music.

"Great song, right?"

"Yeah, Lynette. I love Drake."

Amir smiled. "Hi, Luna."

"Hey."

"Can we go somewhere less crowded and talk?" he asked, glancing around the red and blue strobe lights beaming from the ceiling. "I can sense others like us."

Luna nodded and tried to shuffle herself out of the cramped space.

Before she could scurry away, the brunette man with the glasses grabbed her by the arm and slurred his words. "Where're you going?"

"I'm heading home. It's hot," Luna yelled, fanning herself.

"Will you be okay to drive home?"

"Yes. I've had nothing to drink."

Then the redhead rushed up and said to Luna, "Are you leaving?"

"Yeah. I'm going to call it a night," she replied.

"Okay. Do you want anyone to walk with you?" She shook her head as she glanced at the doorway. "Be safe and call me if you need anything!" her friend yelled out as Luna began walking away.

Reaching for her keys, Luna turned to Amir and asked, "What brings you by?"

"Oh, nothing. Just coming by to check on my friend," he said, coming closer to her gray Range Rover.

He figured starting slow and easing into the conversation he wanted to talk to her about would be easier at the moment.

"That's sweet. It's what . . . Saturday morning over there in P—K?"

Amir laughed, hopping into her passenger side. "I see you're using my country's initials, slowly becoming accustomed to us. I could get used to this."

"I'm sure you could," she replied. "So, what shall we do, Mr. Khan? Wanna check out haunted places with me?"

Amir made a face. "That's not exactly what I had in mind. I was thinking we could go on a little adventure."

"Ooh, an adventure! That sounds exciting! Where to, sir?"

"How about Islamabad? I could show you my area, and you could show me your city."

"Hmm . . . I have to think about that for a moment."

Amir chuckled. "Do you have to get back home soon?"

"Nope. Chase is on a business retreat, and Sarah is with Mera. I have about . . . two hours. I need to pick up my daughter by midnight."

"Okay, Cinderella has until midnight. I think I'll have time to show you a whole new world, Aladdin style," he said, and Luna snorted as she took a sip of her water. "Don't get sick on me now. I might be a trained doctor, but I can't help you here."

"It's just — Sarah, and I was watching Aladdin after school today. I thought of you. I had a feeling you might pop by on a magic carpet ride."

"I'm not that lucky. Magic carpets do not exist."

"But tethered souls do," Luna remarked, cautiously backing out of her parking space.

"They do." Gradually approaching a red light, Amir then said, "How is Sarah? How's Chase?"

"Did you seriously ask how my fiancé is doing?"

"Yeah. He's a part of you and Sarah. They're your family."

"Thank you for asking. We're good. I'm just ready for Sunday to get here."

"Why Sunday, Luna?"

"That's my rest day. Actually, I rest on Saturday mornings, but Sundays are when no one bothers me. I turn off my phone the night before and fall into an endless slumber."

Amir chuckled, noticing her car's needle hovering over the 40 MPH line as she cruised slowly. "Not anymore, Ms. Carlyle. Now that you've met me, I could easily show up one morning and sing 'Henery The Eighth I am.' I'll even sing it in Urdu."

Luna gasped. "You wouldn't! You do that and I'll block you out for a month!"

"I can't have that. You'll be putting me in isolation, and I may go stir crazy in isolation."

"Keep that up, Mr. Khan, and you'll see what I'm really like, then wish you were never paired with me."

Probably not.

Luna smiled as she maneuvered her car to the side of the street and stopped for a moment.

Turning his way, she beamed. "Do you want to see something haunted? It's known to be creepy and spooky."

"You will not let that idea go, huh?" he asked, and she shook her head. "Fine. Take me wherever you want. As long as it's not a haunted plantation. I've seen enough scary movies to last a lifetime and plantations are creepy."

Slowly approaching the French Quarter, Amir watched how busy the streets were on a Friday night. Passerbys walked on tiny sidewalks and strolled in and out of small alleyways. Her radio was on low as they listened to a soft classical melody playing harmonically into the speakers. He was thrilled to finally get a taste of understanding why New Orleans was popular.

Every culture known to man was crammed into the vast city.

"You weren't kidding about it being busy."

How can they walk or drive? It never gets this cluttered in my town.

"You get used to it. Traffic is a real mood killer, though," she said, snickering. "This is the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. It's where the New Orleans Saints play their home football games."

"Wow. It's bigger in person," he murmured, staring at the dome-like stadium. "I've only seen it on TV."

"I'd love to show you the inside, but they're closed off to the public right now."

"That's all right. Thank you for showing me the building. I've always wondered what it looked like."

"Of course! What are tethered partners for?"

After restarting her engine, she pulled onto another busy street and ended up passing by a graveyard with large cemetery vaults settled above the ground. He was amazed at how they looked like the movies he'd seen, and it piqued his curiosity.

SAINT LOUIS CEMETERY NUMBER ONE, Amir read on a plaque engraved onto a concrete post.

She wasn't about to go walk on the ground was she?

"Do you see those houses across the way over there? The ones with the Victorian Antique porches and a Louisiana State flag hanging on the side? They are said to be haunted because they are near this cemetery. This is the burial site of the famous voodoo queen Marie Laveau & other historical notables from the 18th-& 19th-century. I've never been inside the antique houses, but I'm sure scary things go on."

"Oh, don't tell me you believe in all that hocus pocus stuff," Amir remarked.

"I may have lived in this town for a short time, but I've heard stories, stories that make you want to believe."

"Ghosts? Come on!"

She can't be serious.

"Do Tethered Souls ring a bell, Amir?" Luna said, silencing him.

"Our connection is different than ghosts."

"Every time you say you don't believe in something, think of our connection and what other possibilities are out there."

"True. The world is full of possibilities," he said, folding his hands in his lap.

"You amaze me."

He giggled. "How so?"

"You're a spiritual man, who's a devout Muslim, a dedicated scientist that discovers new things every day, and you're a skeptic on most things. Those are two positives and a negative about you. I find that . . . astonishing."

Amir looked away, snickering. "You're right, Luna. I'm a spiritual person and a scientist, who's skeptical. That's almost unheard of. I sound like a fictional character."

"See? I think I'll write a book and base my leading character on you."

"I can't wait to read it." Amir laughed as the sun shone brightly above them in his car. "Where to next, Ms. Carlyle?"

"I'd like to see Islamabad," she said, looking around his area.

Shifting his car onto a paved road, her eyes sprung open as she gazed at beautiful, tall mountains that almost reached the sky. Her smile grew even bigger when she spotted a large building called the Centaurus Mall.

"That mall has a thirty-six-floor hotel, three twenty-three residential and office towers, a five-story shopping mall, and a fantastic food court," he told her.

"Charming," she said, eyes wide.

After passing by many landmarks and giving her a short history about them, Amir mentioned how Islamabad was ranked the number one capital by its ethereal and scenic places.

"Do you know what the number two ranked capital is?" Luna asked, challenging him.

"Yep. It's London," he replied, noticing a sliver of sunlight hovering over the top of her head.

She had a smile on her face until she saw a few women wearing hijabs. He knew she was embarrassed by not wearing one, but he didn't care. He liked Luna for who she was, and it didn't bother him that she wore a head scarf. Because women in the region covered their hair and body, he believed she would want to be on his level. Her emotions made sense.

"You don't have to feel embarrassed, Luna. In our custom, sometimes we wear a covering over their head, and sometimes the ladies will cover their face. It's a way of life for our culture."

"It's not that," Luna whispered.

"What is it, then?" he asked, stopping in front of a busy restaurant.

"If I were here, I don't know how I'd feel. Would I have to cover my face if wanted to walk around?"

"Not if you didn't want to. We do things according to our values and customs. No one would bother you to cover yourself."

"Thank you, Amir. You know how to make me feel better."

Of course.

He grinned. "We're going to be in each other's lives, and we might as well get used to our customs and lifestyles."

"That's true. I'd like to see more of Pakistan."

• • •

"Whoa! This place is huge," Luna said, with wide eyes.

"That's the Faisal Mosque, a spacious worship hall, with a well-decorated inside where families gather around to pray," Amir explained, parking near an eight-sided concrete building with a sloping roof and four pillars on each end. "This is where my family prays."

"Oh. Where do you pray?"

"I go to a different mosque. But most of the time, I keep my mat handy. I never know what I'm doing when it is time for prayer."

"Faith is very important to you."

"Faith is the foundation for most people in their morals and values. It depends on how each person views life and what they do with their faith. I will never judge someone based on a different belief than my own. I was raised in an Islamic household, but my family is an accepting group. I'm sure they'd love you and your family."

Luna smiled and nodded at his comment.

As he drove slowly in front of a large lake, with a spillway next to a small park, he came to a stop in the parking lot and turned off his car.

"Where are we?"

"This is the Rawal Dam Spillway. Families and friends come out here to spend time together. We could go for a walk along the walkway if you wanted to."

"Okay," she said as they hopped out of his car. "How long were you going to tell me, Amir?"

"Tell you what?"

What did I not tell her?

"That you've been peeking into my mind," she said, and Amir stilled like his breath was knocked out of him. "You didn't think I'd notice? It started the evening we were in my studio and you were coming up with excuses of why you cut me off."

"I didn't cut you off. I just . . . I distanced myself for a while."

"I'm not upset. I'm trying to find out why you're fascinated with my thoughts."

"I'm not. Somehow, I'm able to connect to you internally. My cousin and Cyrus told me they had merged their memories with their partners and senses when they're in trouble."

"Is that what you've been trying to do? To gain access to my mind?"

He shook his head. "I'm sorry if I invaded your personal space. That was not my intention."

"But you have. I'm not even sure what you've seen, Amir."

"I have seen little, I promise," he told her. "If you're willing, I'd like for us to merge our memories."

"I don't know. Amir . . . my past is dreadful."

"You have nothing to worry about, Luna. I would never judge you for your past."

"All right. So, how do we do this?"

"I think it'll help if we close our eyes and concentrate on accessing each other's thoughts."

As he took her hands in his, they each closed their eyes, and images of their happiest moments slowly unfolded. Memories of happiness and laughter filled his thoughts, like watching a documentary that came to life.

Then his hands trembled as he accessed a sad memory of hers flashing before his eyes.

Luna was seventeen and battling anorexia. It was a pivotal event in her life, and she almost died, twice, from not eating well. She'd just lost Sarah's father, Samuel, six months prior. An inoperable tumor grew inside his brain and caused him to fall ill the day his daughter was born. He had also died in Pakistan.

Sam died in my country?

He realized then that their connection was much more than being tethered to each other.

Standing still, tears fell from her eyelids silently as she accessed a memory when Amir and his family barely escaped a massive bombing in a village. He was seven, young, and scared to death.

Withdrawing her hands from him, she stepped back and panted. "Amir, your childhood was rough," she said, pressing her hand over his cheek.

"It's okay. What happened to me made me who I am today. My experiences weren't great in life, but whose is?"

"But you've seen destruction and people get ill around you. There was even a robbery you witnessed, and you weren't a fighter. You took a self-defense class and went to a shooting range to learn how to defend yourself. You weren't able to save the victim of the robbery, and he had died in your arms. You haven't recovered."

Luna stopped talking for a moment as she brushed away a tear streaming down his cheek. "You are a brave person and have studied so hard to become a geneticist. Some of your memories were heartbreaking."

"My memories have never stopped me from achieving the goals I've set for myself. I've strived through the things I've been through and never focus on the past. I embrace my struggles and enjoy life. I really started enjoying life since the tenth of November."

He may have not gotten a chance to tell her he had deep feelings for her and now looked at her as only a friend. But after what they've shared, it didn't seem to matter anymore. Now didn't seem like the right time after sharing each other's memories. He would feel horrible if he wrecked her life over something he once felt for her, and he realized he'd tell her in his own time.

"That's the day we met," Luna whispered.

"It is," Amir replied, a gentle smile gracing his face.

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